Graveminder (4 page)

“Do you know her?” Byron tried to place the girl, but he’d been back in Claysville only a few months, and he didn’t recall seeing her anywhere. She didn’t look like anyone he knew either, so he couldn’t peg her as someone’s daughter or sister.

“They stopped bringing her milk.” The girl’s expression turned wistful as she stared past him to the porch. “Yesterday there was milk, and today there’s not. I’m hungry.”

“I see.” Byron took in her frayed jeans and dirty face. There weren’t any homeless shelters in Claysville
.
He wasn’t sure if there was even a foster-care system. Relatives took in those that needed taking in, and neighbors handed over whatever extra they had to the folks who lacked.

He opened his jacket and pulled out his phone. “Do you have a home? Relatives here in town? I can call someone to come for you.”

“No, I’m not going anywhere. Not now,” she whispered.

The skin at the back of Byron’s neck prickled, but when he lifted his gaze from his phone to look at her, she was already gone.

Chapter 6

C
HRISTOPHER HAD DRIVEN FROM
M
AYLENE’S HOUSE DIRECTLY TO
R
ABBI
Wolffe’s. The young rabbi was on the duty roster this week.

From what Christopher had read in books and seen on the television, he knew that Claysville was peculiar in the way they ran things. Their mayor was joined in his governance by a joint secular and spiritual town council; any resigning council members picked their own replacements—as did the mayor. Between the town proper and the outskirts there were fewer than four thousand living citizens, but under the leadership of Mayor Whittaker and the council, Claysville had next to no serious crime. Hardly anyone moved away, and those few who did always came back. It was a safe, predictable town, and to assure that it stayed that way, the town leaders had policies in place for anomalies. The sheriff had only to follow protocol.

“I hate this part.” Christopher cut off his engine, but he stayed in the car for an extra minute. The rabbi was relatively new to town, so he tended to forget that there were topics that most of the town couldn’t discuss. He, and the rest of the council, never got the headaches that everyone
not
on the councils got when forbidden subjects were broached.

The door to the well-kept Craftsman house opened, and the rabbi stepped out onto the wide front porch. He’d obviously been working: a pencil was tucked behind his ear, and his shirtsleeves were rolled back. For the rabbi, book work was as distracting as the carpentry projects he had started up in town: both sorts of activities required folding up his sleeves.

Christopher got out of the car and closed the door.

“Everything in order, Sheriff?” Rabbi Wolffe called. The question wasn’t said in any alarming way, but they both knew Christopher wouldn’t be stopping by if things were in order.

“I thought we might talk a minute, if you have the time.” Christopher made his way up the flagstone walk.

“Always.” The rabbi stepped aside and motioned Christopher into the house.

“I’d just as soon stay outside, Rabbi.” Christopher smiled. He liked the young rabbi, and he was glad the man had chosen to come to Claysville, but longer talks with him always made the headaches come.

“What can I do for you?”

“There are a few odd details about Mrs. Barrow’s passing.” Christopher kept his voice bland. “Not that I think the whole town needs to know, but I thought you might mention it to the council. Maybe one of you all could pay a visit to William.”

“Is there something in particular that we should tell him?”

Christopher lifted his shoulder in a small shrug. “Suspect he knows. He’s seen her body.”

Rabbi Wolffe nodded. “I’ll call the council to a meeting tonight, then. Do you know—”

“No. I don’t know a thing,” Christopher interrupted. “I don’t want to either.”

“Right.” The rabbi’s features were unreadable. “Thank you, Sheriff.”

Christopher shrugged again. “Just doing my job, Rabbi.”

Then he turned and got back in his car as quickly as he could. He didn’t run from fights or anything like that, but he didn’t want to know what he didn’t need to know. Anyone who paid attention understood that there were plenty of times that avoiding questions was the best way for things to work out.

Chapter 7

A
FTER TAKING CARE OF ERRANDS AND GOING FOR A LONG RIDE TO CLEAR
his head, Byron settled in at Gallagher’s, his regular evening hideaway. Gallagher’s was the best sort of tavern: wooden floor and wooden bar, pool tables and dartboards, cold beer and good liquor. Here, he could believe he was in one of any number of neighborhood bars in any town or city, and usually he could relax—both during open hours and after the bar was closed.

Not tonight.

He did all right at first, but as the night stretched on, his nerves became increasingly jangled. He looked at the clock for the third time in as many minutes; he considered going to the airport. Hell, he’d started
driving
there earlier, only to pull over and turn around again.
Twice.
As much as he wanted to see Rebekkah, he wasn’t sure that being there was going to help, so he sat at the bar and told himself that being met by an undertaker—
especially me
—wasn’t liable to help her mood.

“Are you drinking or just taking up a stool, Byron?” Amity smiled to ease the bite in her words. She’d been a welcome diversion since he’d been home, never demanding, never asking for more than he could offer.

“Byron?” she prompted, her tone a little less sure this time.

“Drinking.” He tapped his empty glass.

After an assessing look, Amity took his glass and scooped ice into it. She was pretty, with plenty of attitude. Skeleton-hand barrettes held back pale blond hair; thick-rimmed red glasses framed dark eyes heavily made up in purples and grays. Her curves were accented by a tight black shirt decorated with a picture of a cartoon monster and the words
GOT STAKES?
on the front and
GOT SILVER?
on the back. She was four years younger than he was, so she wasn’t old enough to notice when he was in high school, but in the few months he’d been home, he’d definitely been noticing her. Amity was uncomplicated, and he was able to give her exactly what Rebekkah had asked for from him: no strings, no hang-ups, no future talk.

Maybe I’ve changed.

Amity darted a glance at him, but didn’t speak as she tipped the bottle over the glass, pouring a triple shot of Scotch.

He held out a credit card.

She set the glass on a new coaster in front of him with one hand and took his card with the other. “It’ll be okay.”

“What?”

She shrugged and turned to the cash register. “Things.”

“Things,” he repeated slowly.

She nodded but didn’t look up. “Yeah. Things will be okay. You have to believe that ... it’s what we’re all doing since she died.”

Byron froze. Amity’s words emphasized how little they actually talked. He knew very little about her life, her interests, her. “Maylene?”

“Yeah.” She swiped his card and while it was printing slid the Scotch into the empty space on the shelf. “Maylene was good people.”

Byron paused, took a drink, and then asked, “Did she come in here? I didn’t see her around.”

“She came in, but not much.” Amity leaned on the counter for a moment and leveled her gaze on him. “I mostly know her through my sister. Maylene went to council meetings, and Bonnie Jean took a seat on the council last year. So ...”

Byron looked at the clock again. Rebekkah’s flight should’ve landed.

“Hey.” A soft touch drew his attention: Amity covered his hand with hers. He glanced at it, and then his gaze flickered between her hand and her eyes.

“Things will be okay. You
need
to believe that,” Amity assured him.

“Why does it seem like you know something I don’t?”

“Most folks don’t get to leave like you did. Sometimes a person who stays around here knows things ... different things than those who were able to go.” She squeezed his hand. “But I’m guessing you know things
I
don’t.”

Byron didn’t pull away, but he did pause. Amity usually kept the conversation light—if they even talked at all. He took a long drink to stall.

“Relax.” She laughed. “No strings, right? You think I’m changing the rules on you or something?”

He felt his tension drain away as she laughed.

“No,” he lied.

“So ... after I close ...” She let the offer hang in the air.

Most nights he stayed until closing only if he intended to accept that offer. Tonight he couldn’t. It was foolish to feel guilty, but he did. He couldn’t be with Amity when Rebekkah was in town. He also couldn’t say that to Amity. Instead he smiled and said, “Rain check?”

“Maybe.” Amity leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Go see her.”

He gripped his glass tightly, but tried to keep his expression neutral. “Who?”

Amity shook her head.
“Rebekkah.”

“Rebek—”

“You’ll feel better if you make sure she’s home safe.” Amity slid the credit-card slip and a pen over to him.

“How did you—”

“People talk, Byron, especially about you two.” Amity’s expression was unchanged. “Just so you know, though,
she
doesn’t talk about you ever. When you were away and she visited, Maylene introduced us and we got to know each other, but she’s never
once
mentioned you.”

Byron stared at the credit-card slip for a moment. He wanted to ask if Amity still talked to Rebekkah, to ask if Rebekkah knew that he and Amity ...
Not that it matters.
He shook his head. Rebekkah had made herself perfectly clear years ago, and they hadn’t spoken since that night. Byron signed the slip and shoved his copy of the receipt into his pocket.

He looked at Amity. “I didn’t know you knew each other.”

“You and I don’t exactly talk much, Byron.” She grinned.

“I’m s—”

“No, you’re
not
,” she said firmly. “I don’t want words, Byron, especially empty ones. I want the same things you usually offer. Don’t stop coming to see me just ’cause Rebekkah’s home.”

“Rebekkah and I ... We’re not—”

“Come see me,” Amity interrupted. “But not tonight. I already told Bonnie Jean I might need a ride. Go on.”

Byron stepped up to the bar, reached out, and pulled her close. He dropped a quick kiss on her cheek.

“Your aim’s off.” Amity tapped her lips.

He leaned in and kissed her. “Better?”

She tilted her head and gave him a look that, most nights, would’ve meant that they didn’t make it to her place after they locked the door. “Closer. Definitely closer to better.”

“Next time, Ms. Blue.” He picked up his helmet.

He was at the door when she answered, “I hope so, Byron.”

Chapter 8

R
EBEKKAH STOOD AT THE BAGGAGE CAROUSEL.
T
HE AIRPORT WAS MOSTLY
empty at this hour, shops closed and gates vacant. She wasn’t quite alert, despite several cups of the nastiness the airline passed off as coffee, but she was upright, awake, and moving. At this point, that was about as much of a victory as could be hoped for.

Cherub, unhappy to be in her kitty carrier, mewed plaintively.

“Just a little longer, baby,” Rebekkah promised. “I’ll let you out when we get ...” The words dried up as she imagined going home and finding it empty. Tonight there would be no rose-scented embrace to make everything less bleak: Maylene was gone. The tears that Rebekkah had kept in check the past few hours slipped down her cheeks as she watched the baggage carousel.
Maylene is gone. My home is gone.
The few short years Rebekkah had lived with Maylene, and the next nine years of visiting her, had made Claysville home, but without Maylene, there was no reason to come back here.

Rebekkah leaned against the faded green wall and stared blindly while the rest of the passengers got their bags and left. Eventually hers was the only bag circling. The carousel stopped.

“Do you need help?”

Rebekkah looked up at a man in an airport uniform. She blinked.

“Is that your bag?” He pointed.

“It is.” She stood up. “Thank you. I’m fine.”

He stared at her, and she realized that her face was wet with tears. Hastily she wiped them away.

“Why don’t you let me—”

“Thank you, but I’m fine. Really.” She smiled to take the sting out of the words and walked over to heft her bag off the carousel.

Looking unconvinced, he walked away.

Rebekkah extended the handle of her bag, picked up Cherub, and headed toward the rental-car desk.
One step at a time.
A few minutes later, keys in hand, she turned away from the counter and almost dropped Cherub.

A man in a pair of jeans, boots, and a well-worn leather jacket stood in front of her. His hair was a little longer than usual, brushing his collar, but the familiar green eyes watching her warily hadn’t changed.

“Byron?”

The temptation to throw herself into his arms the way she once had was overwhelming, but he kept his distance.

“It’s been a while,” he started, and then paused. He raked his hand through his hair and gave her a tense smile before continuing, “I know we didn’t part on the best terms, but I thought I’d make sure you were settled in.”

She stared at him, her Byron, here. The past few years had given him more edges, shadows where his cheeks looked too sharp and his eyes too worried, but the gestures were unchanged—so was the wariness.

I earned that.

“I didn’t know you were back,” she said foolishly. Her hand tightened on Cherub’s carrier as they stood there in the sort of awkward silence she’d dreaded when she thought about seeing him again.

After a few moments, he held out a hand for her bag. “Let me get that.”

When he reached out, she jerked her hand away quickly so as to avoid touching him.

The tightening of his expression made clear that he noticed, but he took the bag and motioned for her to precede him.

They’d gone several silent steps when he said, “I’ve been here for a few months now.”

“I didn’t know. Maylene didn’t tell me.” She didn’t tell him that she hadn’t—
wouldn’t have
—asked Maylene either. Rebekkah had figured out that dealing with Byron was best done by pretending he didn’t exist, that he was as dead to her as Ella. Managing that feat was a lot harder with him walking beside her. Rather than look at him, she looked at the tag on the keys in her hand, staring at them even though she knew the make and model. “The last she’d mentioned you was ... I don’t know when. I thought you lived in Nashville or somewhere down that way—not that I was checking up on you.”

“I know that.” He gave her a wry smile, and then took a deep breath and changed the conversation back to safer territory. “I’ve only been back a few months. Since late December.”

“Oh.” Lack of sleep and grief were apparently making her foolish because she admitted, “I was here at Christmas.”

“I thought you might be, so I didn’t come back until after Christmas.” He walked with her to the rental-car lot. “I didn’t figure either of us needed to deal with ... any of it then, so I waited till I thought you’d be gone back to wherever you were.”

She wasn’t sure what to say.
This is what I wanted, what I
asked
of him.
Unfortunately, standing in the deserted lot, jet-lagged, grief-stricken, and lost, made her want to forget all of that.
You’re the one who told him to stay out of your life
, she lectured herself as if the words would keep her good sense intact.

But as they walked, his already whiskey-deep voice broke the silence: “I told myself I’d stay out of your way, and I will if you want, but I couldn’t ... I needed to make sure you got in safely. I said I’d give you your distance, and I
have
. I will. I just want you to know I’m here if you need a friend the next few days.”

Rebekkah didn’t know how to reply. They had said words much like those to each other for almost a decade.
Since when Ella was still alive.
Rebekkah knew it was safer not to look at him, wiser not to let herself go there. She glanced at him and then quickly looked at the car in front of them. “It’s this one.”

“Pop the trunk.”

She did so, and he put the bag in while she put Cherub’s carrier in the backseat. Then she stood unsurely at the door.

He held out a hand, which she looked at blankly. When she didn’t move, he said, “You’ve been up all night. You’re exhausted and upset.” He uncurled her fingers and gently took the keys. “Let me drive you to the house. No strings, Bek.”

“Your car—”

“Bike. It’s a bike, not the same one I had before but ... Anyhow, it’ll be fine here.” He walked around and opened the passenger door. “Let me do this. I can’t fix much of anything, but ... It’s a good hour or more to town, and ... well, I’m
here
already. Let me be a friend tonight. After that, if you want me gone, I’ll do my best to stay out of your sight.”

“Thanks for meeting me and for offering to—for
being
a friend,” she said, and then she got into the passenger seat before she did throw herself into his arms. He was the one person who had stood by her side during the two worst things in her life—Ella’s death and Jimmy’s—and now he was here, ready to help her get through a third one. Despite the times she’d stolen away in the middle of the night, the words she’d hurled at him, the calls and visits she’d ignored, he was still willing to help her keep it together.

There were a lot of things she ought to say, apologies, explanations, maybe even excuses, but she was silent as he opened the driver’s-side door and got into the car—and he didn’t push her. He never had.

As they left the lot, Rebekkah relaxed for the first time since she’d received the call. He was the one person left in the world who truly knew her, flaws and all. It felt both comforting and unreal to sit next to Byron. When she’d moved to Claysville during high school, he’d been Ella’s boyfriend, but instead of ignoring Rebekkah, he made sure to include her—enough that she’d thought about him being more than a friend, enough that once, just once, she’d crossed that line.

Then Ella had died.

Afterward, Rebekkah had had a difficult time staying on the right side of the line, and over the years, she’d been in and out of his bed, but it always ended the same way: Byron wanted more than she could give him.

She stole a fleeting look at his ring finger, and he pretended not to notice.

“Do you need to stop anywhere?” he asked.

“No. Maybe. I’m not really sure.” She took a deep breath. “I expect that the cupboards ... that food isn’t an issue.”

“No.” Byron tore his gaze from the dark road only long enough to glance her way. A hesitant look flickered over his shadowed face. “They haven’t started bringing too many covered dishes, but there’s sure to be a few in the fridge.”

“Nothing changes here, does it?” she murmured.

“Not really.” He made a sound that might’ve been a laugh. “It’s like the world outside stops at the town line.”

“Is your dad okay?”

“He’s pretending to be.” Byron paused as if weighing his words and then settled on, “You know he loved her?”

“I do.”

Rebekkah rested her head against the passenger-door window. “I feel like I’ve come untethered. She is—
was
...”

When her voice faltered, he reached over and laced his fingers with hers.

“She was my rock. No matter how often I moved, how many jobs I failed at, how much I fucked up
everything
. She was my home, my whole family—not that Mom’s not great, she is, but she’s ... I don’t know, after Ella, then Jimmy ... Sometimes, I don’t think Mom ever recovered from losing them. Maylene believed in me. She thought I was better than I am, better than I could ever be. Her love wasn’t choking, but it wasn’t something I had to feel guilty asking for either.” Rebekkah felt the tears well up again and blinked against blurred vision. “I feel like everything’s just
gone.
They’re all gone. The whole Barrow family. All I have left is Mom.”

Technically, Rebekkah wasn’t a Barrow: she’d taken the name as her own when her mother had married Jimmy. She kept it because it was Maylene’s name, Ella’s name, Jimmy’s name. They were her family, not by blood, but by choice. The only Barrows left—
other than me
—were the ones who hated her: Jimmy’s sister, Cissy, and her daughters.

Briefly, Rebekkah wished her mother had come with her, but she wasn’t even sure where Julia was right now. Like Rebekkah, her mother had serious wanderlust. Unlike Rebekkah, Julia didn’t ever return to Claysville; she hadn’t even come to Jimmy’s funeral. Sometimes Julia talked about him, and it was clear that she still loved him, but whatever had happened between them was enough to keep her from ever setting foot in Claysville again.

Rebekkah pulled her hand away from Byron. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

She shrugged. “You get enough people weeping on your shoulder at work.”

“Don’t. Please?” His voice was harsh, but he held his hand out, palm up. “Don’t use my job as an excuse.”

She wanted to be stronger, to not let him in again, to not open a door that she’d need to close again in a few days, but she couldn’t. At the best of times, it was a challenge to resist the pull she felt to him, and right now was far from the best of times. She slid her hand back into his.

For the next forty minutes, he drove silently while she stared out the window and watched for Claysville to come into view. The stretch of road between the airport and the town limits was desolate. For miles, there was nothing but shadowed trees and the occasional road that seemed to lead into deeper darkness. Then, she saw it ahead of them: the sign that said
WELCOME TO CLAYSVILLE
. She always felt a pressure that she hadn’t even realized she was carrying ease when she passed that line. She’d used to think that it was because she was going to see Maylene, but tonight, with Byron beside her, the feeling of relief was stronger than it had ever been. Before she’d even realized she’d done it, her hand tightened on his—or maybe his grip tightened first.

She pulled her hand away from his as he turned into the drive in front of Maylene’s house and cut off the engine.

Silently, he got out and carried her bag and Cherub’s carrier to the porch. When he started to walk back over to the car, Rebekkah opened the side door and a sob escaped her. She refused to lean on him, but for a moment, the thought of going into the house was too much. She stopped at the door, unable to cross the threshold.

Maylene isn’t here.

Byron didn’t touch her, and she wasn’t sure if she was grateful for that or not. If he did, she’d fall apart, and some part of her needed to stay in control. Another, less stable part wanted nothing more than to crumble.

Quietly he said, “If you need to stay somewhere else, I can take you over to the Baptistes’ B and B, or you can stay at my apartment and I can stay somewhere else. It’s okay if you need time to get your feet under you.”

“No.” She took a deep breath, unlocked the door, and walked inside. Byron followed her in. Once the door was closed, she set Cherub free.

And then she just stood there. Byron waited in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, and for a moment, it was as if time had wound backward.

She looked helplessly at him. “I don’t know what to do. It seems like I should be doing something. She’s dead, B, and I don’t know what I’m to do.”

“Honestly? You should get some sleep.” He took a step toward her and then stopped. Time
hadn’t
wound backward: they had years of distance and words they couldn’t undo. “You’re jet-lagged and in shock. Why don’t we get you settled in, and—”