Mystery at Saddle Creek (11 page)

13

 

TANBARK WEDGER

Tan felt a quiet presence in the white room. It was gentle and loving. It was his mother. Mom. Mommy. His eyes burned with salty tears. He sighed in halting bursts, then completely relaxed for the first time in a long while. Everything would be all right now. Everything would be fine. He closed his eyes and slept.

BY THE TIME BIRD AWOKE the next morning, the clock read eleven. Her head felt fuzzy and her mouth tasted awful. She rolled over to take another look at the clock. Yep. Eleven. Light poured through the crack in her curtains. She threw off her blankets and stretched.

The events of the night before crowded her brain. The note, her impulsive ride to the hospital, what she'd seen there, her escape. She cringed, amazed that nothing bad had happened to her.

Bird tried out her voice, hoping that the deep sleep had cured her. Nothing. Not even a squeak. Maybe there was still a chance it was smoke damage, thought Bird. She vowed not to let it bother her.

From outside in the field below, Sunny's playful whinny brought her thoughts to the impending horse show. Today was Thursday. Her heart leapt. Tomorrow! Tomorrow was the Palston Horse Show and she wasn't in the least bit ready!

Jumping out of bed, Bird stubbed her toe on the frame. Her mouth opened to yell but not a sound emerged. She hopped on one foot to the chair where she'd left her clothes. She got dressed and ran downstairs.

Hannah was in the kitchen, taking a coffee break and reading the newspaper. Bird knew she'd already given ten kids riding lessons. Five at eight o'clock and five at nine-fifteen. Hannah looked up. “Well, rise and shine! You really needed that sleep, I'd say.”

Bird nodded vigorously and grabbed her pen.
The show! Is it really tomorrow?

Hannah nodded. “Do you still want to go?”

Bird was unsure. Was she ready? Maybe yes, maybe no. Was Sundancer ready? She'd made a deal with him. He'd carried the wild man up the Escarpment because Bird had promised that they'd compete. She owed him. Bird wrote one word: Yes.

“Well, then,” said Hannah. Her tone was strangely flat. “Get some breakfast in your tummy and let's do a little work.”

Bird looked at the newspaper, spread out on the kitchen table. There, in black and white, was a big picture of the wild man's face as he lay in bed in the hospital. Underneath, the caption asked, “Who is this man?”

Hannah followed Bird's gaze and smiled sadly. “I can answer that question,” she said,her voice barely above a whisper. “I know this man, Bird. He's my half-brother. His name is Tanbark Wedger.”

Bird's heart skipped a beat. She stared at her aunt.

“Yes. You heard right.”

Bird plunked herself down in the nearest chair, her heart pounding now. His name was Tanbark? He was her mother's and her Aunt Hannah's half-brother? Did that make him her uncle? Half-uncle? Her mind whirled.

“Something about him was nagging at me — something I was missing. When I saw this picture, it all came clear.” Now Hannah began her story. “Twenty-five, maybe twenty-six years ago, my father had an affair with a very nice woman who worked for him. Her name is Alison Wedger. They had a child — a son. Nobody knew about it for quite a while, but as the son grew he looked more and more like my father, and people talked. There were rumours. Alison was beautiful and my father was known to be a lady's man, so it made sense. My mother refused to discuss it.” Hannah paused absently to sip her coffee.

Bird's head was reeling. The wild man was her uncle?

“Your mother and I met Tanbark one day by chance when he was about fifteen years old. It was just before Christmas, when the town lit up the big tree in the park. We knew right then that he was related to us. He looked like our family, somehow.” Hannah stared into her cup as she remembered. “We had a great time that day. He was smart, charming. Lots of friends. He had a great sense of humour, and he teased us about being relatives — outlaws, not in-laws, he said. Eva even asked him to come to the family Christmas party. He declined.” Hannah chuckled. “Good thing, too, because our mother would've had a coronary.”

Bird studied the picture in the newspaper on the table, searching for the family resemblance. There was something around the eyes and brows. The forehead. Even the shape of the lips.

“Dad has never admitted to having a son. Never denied it, either. But I know it's true. I know Tanbark's my half-brother. And when my parents divorced, my mother confronted Dad with it. She believes it now, too.”

Hannah inhaled deeply. “We never saw each other after that, but I always listened for news of him. He was a star in high school. Lots of sports teams and clubs. The girls loved him, and it seemed like he was a popular guy. He went off to university in Toronto and got his Bachelor of Arts.”

Bird pictured the wild man, and tried to connect him to the person her aunt was describing. Could they really be the same? And was this why he was hanging around Saddle Creek? Was he looking for his family? It made sense. But if so, why now? It was odd that he'd turned up at exactly the same time as Sandra Hall's murder. Could he have done it?

Hannah went on. “It was after university that things started unravelling for Tanbark. He had some kind of mental breakdown when he was in his early twenties. His mother tried to get help for him, but he refused to see that there was anything wrong. He couldn't get a job. He borrowed money. He slept on people's couches and ate their food. He always said he was looking for work, but he never did. It didn't take long before he'd used up all his friendships. But Alison never gave up on him. She kept trying to get him some help, some guidance, but he ran away. That broke her heart. There were stories about him—sightings. Begging on the street in Toronto. Squeegee kid stuff. As far as I know, no one has heard from him, or about him, for years.” Hannah shook her head in wonder. “Imagine him showing up here.”

Bird wrote:
Why did it happen?
She still couldn't fit the person Hannah had described with the man who'd been scaring them.

Hannah raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. “Some people say it's genetic, that it runs in the family. Some people say it's a chemical reaction to drugs or something. The answer is that there's no clear answer.”

Bird knew she'd have to settle for this, at least for now.
We'd better tell the police.

Hannah nodded. “I've already called. They're on their way now. I gave them Alison Wedger's name, too. I didn't say anything about my father, since he's never owned up to it. He's got enough on his plate, anyway, with his insurance fraud case coming up.” Hannah straightened her back and stretched. “The police want to know all about your adventures, too, Bird. I told them about the scratch on the car. That was very helpful. It's been impounded. They're going over it with a fine-toothed comb at the police station as we speak.”

Bird wrote,
Is he OK?

Hannah nodded. “The police put a guard at his door.”

Bird let out her breath in a long sigh. What a relief! Tanbark was so helpless in his present state.
What did the man do 2 him?
she scribbled.

“I was going to ask you. The police will only say he harmed him.”

Bird nodded. He'd sure shaken him hard. She wondered if his plan was to smother him with a pillow, or pull out the intravenous lines. Either way, it made her sick.

Hannah stretched her arms again and yawned. “I called my father this morning. Your grandfather. He should at least know. I left a message. I don't really expect an answer.” Hannah stood up and ran her fingers nervously through her hair. Bird knew that gesture, and how often it was connected to her grandfather.

Bird thought about the summer before, and how her grandfather, Kenneth Bradley, had tried to sell Sundancer out from under them. The resulting charges against him included insurance fraud, misleading the police and conspiring to thwart justice. But to Bird's mind, the most serious problem with her grandfather could be summed up in a few words: she couldn't trust him.

“Enough of this,” Hannah said, suddenly all business. Bird was used to her aunt's sudden shifts away from the subject of Kenneth Bradley. “We've got three others coming with us to the show tomorrow. Liz and Julia will be in the low pony jumper, and Kimberly is doing the metre jumper with Pastor. He's going well for her, now that she's decided she likes him.”

Bird was looking forward to seeing Kimberly again.At school, Kimberly was one of Bird's best friends. Spunky, funny and very kind-hearted, Kimberly understood Bird better than almost any other human. Their common love of horses was another bond they shared.

“We'll get you up on Sundancer after the police are gone,” Hannah continued. “You haven't had much time in the saddle lately.”

Bird felt butterflies in her stomach. She didn't feel at all prepared. She was going to make a fool of herself tomorrow, she just knew it!

Bird didn't have long to fret. After just a few moments, the police cruiser arrived and stopped in front of the house. The same two officers who'd come the night of the town meeting got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Hannah was there to meet them.

“Please come in,” she said. “It's Officer Polito and Officer Richardson, if I remember correctly.”

Officer Richardson nodded and smiled. “Good memory, Miss Bradley.”

“Please call me Hannah. And come on in. Coffee?”

Officer Polito took off his hat. “That would be nice, thank you. Milk and double sugar. Officer Richardson here takes milk.”

They got settled in the kitchen, coffee, cookies and notepads at the ready. Bird watched them and wondered if she was in trouble.

Officer Polito spoke first. “Let me review things, if you don't mind.”

“Not at all,” said Hannah.

“You left a message telling us that Bird found a note in your mailbox at two in the morning. She overheard a one-sided conversation that led her to believe that the man who'd helped her save the horses in the barn fire — a man we now know is Tanbark Wedger — was in danger. She rode her bike to the Orangeville hospital and noticed a car that might have been involved in a hit and run. She also was present when a person was in the process of injuring the patient.”

Officer Polito lifted his head from his notes and stared at Bird. “What possessed you to ride your bike to the hospital in the middle of the night?”

Bird could only stare back.

“Bird was trying to help.” Hannah came to her defence. “And her throat was scorched in the barn fire, officer. She can't talk.”

Officer Polito spoke louder, “Why didn't you contact the police?”

Bird was used to people doing that, as if speaking louder would somehow help her understand. She shrugged and picked up a pen and pad.
It seemed like the right thing 2 do at the time.

He was not pleased. “It was not the right thing to do. You should have walked back into your house and picked up the phone. Period.”

Bird noted how quickly he'd forgotten that she could not speak.

Officer Richardson spoke. “Officer Polito is quite correct. But you sure are a brave young woman.” She caught her partner's glare. “You really should have alerted us, though. You could have been hurt.”

The police had many questions, all of which Bird tried to answer honestly and fully. They wanted descriptions and details and exact recall. Although she listened carefully to their questions, she could not figure out where they were going with the investigation or how all the pieces were connecting. It was still a big mystery.

When the officers were finished, Bird had some questions of her own. She looked at Officer Richardson, who seemed to be the more reasonable of the two.
Is the man I saw in the hospital in jail?

“He's in custody. We're questioning him now.”

What's his name?

“We can't release his name.”

Why's he leaving those notes?

“We can't confirm who's leaving the notes,” the policewoman answered. “We're still trying to find out who's doing that, and why.”

Why did he hit Phil with his car?

Officer Polito interjected. “We don't know that he did, and we're not at liberty to discuss the case.”

Why was he hurting Tanbark?

“I was clear before,” said Officer Polito. “We can't discuss the case.”

Was the barn fire 2 hurt Pierre, or only scare him?

Officer Polito was getting impatient, but Officer Richardson smiled kindly at Bird. “Your questions are all good, but I'm afraid we don't know the answers. Yet. We'll get them, though.”

Bird knew there was no point in asking anything more, even though questions kept popping into her head.

Officer Richardson turned to Hannah. “Can we talk about Tanbark Wedger for a moment?”

“Of course.”

Bird relaxed. It was Hannah's turn to be questioned.

“You recognized him from the picture in the paper?”

“Yes.”

“And contacted us this morning with his name?”

“Yes. I called you as soon as I opened the paper.”

“We've been able to locate and speak to his mother. She has positively identified him, and is with him now.”

“That's good.” Hannah was pleased, and turned to Bird and smiled. Bird felt a weight lift off her shoulders. She realized how much she wanted Tanbark to be okay.

Hannah turned back to the officers. “How is he?”

“Better than yesterday,” Officer Polito answered. “Tell us, how do you know him?”

Hannah hesitated. Bird guessed that she wasn't sure how to answer.

“Let me put it this way,” he said. “Is he, to your knowledge, related to you in any way? Before you answer, let me advise you that Miss Wedger has already spoken to us.”

Hannah looked at her hands. “It is my suspicion that my father is Tanbark's father as well. Please understand, my father has never confirmed this, and will probably deny it.”

Officer Polito wrote in his notebook. “And, just to confirm, your father's name is Kenneth Bradley.”

“Yes.”

“Did you know that Tanbark was in the neighbourhood?”