The Cin Fin-Lathen Mysteries 1-3 (11 page)

Billy arrived in time for tea.  Paz was delighted.  She
wanted to impress him with her cooking skills, and after a hundred questions to
Angie and Noelle, Paz was ready to claim she made the meal all by herself.  No
one ratted her out, and we sat down to a feast for a king, or a good-looking
farmer.  Noelle was more interested in her book right then, so Paz had Billy
all to herself.  Angie and I went over to the school and left the washing up to
the young.  Noelle caught up with us.

“Paz kicked me out.  She wanted to play in the suds with
Billy,” she giggled, "I don’t mind. I hate dishes.  What are you two up
to?" 

“We’re going to work on the music until the light leaves
us,” Angie explained.

“Count me in.  I used to help Mom sort music back when she
was the band librarian.  Each time we came to a piece of music for the
bassoons, we would yell, ‘Damn the bassoons!’  We did this because in some
scores they’re in a different place in the order.  After the oboes or after the
bass clarinets.  Besides, Mom doesn’t like bassoons.”

“Really?  I’m surprised.”

“Well, I haven’t had good luck with bassoon players
recently.  They are either wonderful or horrible.  I’ve had more of the latter
I fear.”

“Well then. Damn the bassoons!” Angie called out.  We were
at the top of the hill and her voice echoed out into the vast valley.

“Angie, what’s down there?” I pointed out the overgrown path
leading away from the school on the west side.

“That would be the Rosewood lowlands, a bit of tricky bog. 
If you go out there bring a tall walking stick and test the ground.  I remember
some areas that could swallow a person up if you left the path.  I don’t go
down there anymore.  Billy and his father sometimes hunt birds, but they never
had much luck down there.  Very tricky.  I would stay away from it unless one
of us locals is with you.”

“I think I’ll let it pass.  But I do want to see the Two-way
River.”

“Well, that’s simple enough.  Let’s put the dusty work off
another day.  Come on, it is very easy from here.”

We followed Angie down the side of the hill away from the
bog.  The trees overhead were dressed in their spring leaves, and they made a
beautiful rustling sound as a breeze moved through them.  I was extra careful
of my footing since I had on my only remaining shoes.  I’m sure the shiny
patent leather slip-ons were a bit much for this outing, but I had to make do
with what I had.

We heard the stream before we saw it.  The bubbling and
gurgling sounds made me feel happy inside, and when we came to the clearing
before the stream I felt a surge of energy.  I took off my shoes and socks and
walked over to the water’s edge and dipped a toe in.

“It’s cold but not lethal.”  I reached down and pulled my
jean legs up over my knees.  My legs were hairy, but I’m sure Mother Nature
would forgive me my neglect.  I walked into the water and felt the gentle pull
of the course of the water.

Angie and Noelle looked at each other and laughed.  They
took off their footwear and socks.  Pulling up their pant legs they followed me
in.

“You’re right.  Ooh this is cold,” Angie exclaimed.

“Refreshing.  Oh look fish.”  Noelle pointed out a small
school of slender silver fish.  “So why do you call this the Two-way River?”

“Sometime during the day the stream will change its course. 
Right now it’s flowing south, but it has been known to flow north in the
evenings also.”

“It must have something to do with the tides,” Noelle said
thoughtfully.

“This far inland?” I asked.

“Mom, we are on an island.  Anything is possible.”

“Well, I prefer to think of it as magical,” I said
wistfully. 

“Michael and I used to come here.  It was refreshing after a
hot summer’s day.  He loved to sit here with his feet in the water.  We picked
flowers along the way and set them in the water and off they would float like
boats.  One time the stream changed its flow and the flowers came back.  Funny
thing is that Michael recalled that day to me in a note.  He said, ‘Remember
whatever the direction I leave you, I will always come back.’  Damn wars, they
take the romance out of life.”

“Does it hurt you to talk about Michael?” I asked quietly.

“No, it doesn’t.  I may become misty-eyed, but I do love
talking about him.  He was a peach.”

“Did he write you any love songs?” Noelle asked.

“No, even though Michael was a genius at composing, I don’t
think he liked it that much.  He was more enamored with growing things.  He
always wanted to raise flowers and have a greenhouse for exotic plants.  He
didn’t want to be a composer really, not like Maurice did.  Michael was a shy
lad and didn’t like the pressure of public performance.”

“The priest I met on the plane was named after your
Michael.”

“Really?” Angie turned and stared.

“Father Michael Donald Williams.”

“Donald’s son?”

“No, his nephew.  Donald was very impressed with Michael and
while he was here he wrote many letters home.  Father Michael’s parents named
their son after Michael and Donald hoping he would be a great composer like his
namesakes.”

“Is he?”

“Can’t carry a tune, which is very difficult with the normal
duties of a Jesuit priest I gather.”

“A priest that can’t sing,” she said and rolled her eyes.

“He’s a researcher for the church.  He’s in England now.”

“Not many Jesuits here.  More in Ireland I would think. 
Church of England has most of the territory here.  What is he researching?”

“Actually he said he’s doing some personal research.  He’s
looking for his uncle Donald.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Father Michael told me Donald came to England after the war
to see some old friends.  He disappeared somewhere over here.”

“Poor family.  How they must have worried.  Donald was a
gentle boy.  Beyond that I couldn’t tell you much more about him.  I guess I
was all wrapped up in Michael at the time.”

“That was understandable.  Love, there is nothing like it.”

“Hey, Mom!” Noelle called.  She had worked her way
downstream a ways.  “You should see how the sun is shining off that necklace.” 

I looked down but couldn’t see what she was talking about.

Angie
took a couple of steps back.  “Saints preserve us. Cin, this is very
interesting.  Just like a fairy story I heard once.  Sorry, you can't see it. 
The crystal is reflecting the sun to the water and the water is reflecting back
to the crystal.  If you squint your eyes you can see a blue rod trimmed in gold
from your chest to the water.”

“I will have to take your word for it because all I can see
are my feet turning blue from the cold.”  I looked down and wiggled my toes. 
The water stopped flowing past me and swirled and bubbled and before my very
eyes started flowing the other way.  “Noelle, the water!”

“Woo hoo!”  Noelle was dancing in the water getting her
jeans soaked. 

Angie laughed, reached down and splashed water on me.  The
chilly drops hit my face, and I felt wonderful.  Even as I rolled my socks over
my wet feet I still felt fantastic.  “Blessed be,” I said quietly to the
crystal.

“Did you say something dear?” Angie asked as she helped me
to my feet.

“Just talking to myself.”  I looked around as if to memorize
each blade of grass. I wanted to remember this forever.

Noelle walked over with an armful of rocks.  Angie offered
to help her carry them.  “What are these for?” she asked my daughter.

“Souvenirs.”  Noelle smiled.

Angie didn’t feel the need to ask further.  We took our time
getting back to Bathgate.  We arrived just in time to see the arrival of the
team of constables Robert had told us about.  Angie handed over her share of
Noelle’s rocks to her and guided the young men to the scene of her near
abduction in the barn.  I hung around in the drive just in case I would be
needed. 

“Mom, I’m going to go in and have a hot bath.”  She reached
up and kissed me on the cheek.

“What was that for?”

“Thank you for bringing me here, thank you for being so
foolish, and thank you for just being you.”

I reached around and hugged her.  “Thanks honey, I needed
that.  Now go in and have a soak.”  I watched her make her way to the house.  I
swear she was skipping.  My sophisticated daughter was actually skipping.

~

The team of constables left, leaving Cayne to take the first
watch.  Billy and the girls had decided to go to a pub in St. Ives which I
thought was a great idea.  Noelle didn’t seem to mind being the third wheel. 
She held up her book to show me she would be entertained regardless of whether
the pub turned out to be fun or not. 

I had decided this would be a great time for me to go
through the instruments.  I could work off some of the scones I had been eating
by carrying the cases to the performance building.  I would wait and open them
up in the morning.  The light would be much better to photograph them at that
time.  I decided to use the large recital room for this purpose.  Angie and
Cayne were thick in a game of cards, so I knew I could work into the night
without worrying about Angie’s safety.

Starting with the top shelves I carried flutes and clarinets
past the practice rooms out and over to the recital building.  I placed the
woodwinds in one group and the small strings in another.  It was when I was
working on the trombones that I came upon a coach pass.  It was old and printed
on thick paper.  I walked out of the storage room and held it up to the light.

The ticket date was too blurred to make out.  I pocketed it
and went back and pulled out the rest of the trombones.  There jammed in a back
corner I found a wallet.  I picked it up and once again walked out of the room
to the better light.  There were some bills, pounds I think, in the wallet and
an ID card.  The ink was very light and faded.  I held it right up into the
light and read. "Donald G. Williams.  So, Donald did come here."  I
looked down from the light so my eyes could adjust.  I was seeing dark spots
everywhere.

“Donald was here, here in the school,” I said aloud. It was
then I heard a sound in the building.  I thought one of the instrument cases
must have fallen over.  I went to check on it.  Sure enough the trombones had
toppled.  I grabbed one in each hand and walked to the recital room.  I had
just put one case down so I could open the door when I felt someone behind me.  My
head exploded in pain.  I turned to see the tan man holding a long needle.  He
jabbed it into my arm, and as the darkness enclosed around me I heard music.

I dreamt once again I was floating on a black sea.  My hair
spread out in the water and surrounded my body like an aura.  My clothing was pulling
me down.  A soft southern-accented male voice calmly instructed me as long as I
looked to the heavens I would be safe, but as soon as I closed my eyes I would
sink.  The light left and the stars came out, and I tracked a light across the
bushes.  “
Lux in tenebris
,”  I heard myself say.

“Mom, wake up!  Mom, open your eyes but don’t move.  Come on
Mom...” Noelle’s voice broke through the fog.

“What time is it?”  I was so cold and wet. Wet?  Why was I
wet?  I tried to brush my hair out of my eyes.  My arms wouldn’t move.

“Mom!  Don’t move!” Noelle shouted at me from somewhere over
my shoulder.  “You’re up to your neck in a bog...”

“A bog?  How the hell did I get in here?”  I tried to turn
my head but it was impossible.  The more I moved the more something choked me.  “I
can’t move my head...”

“Good,” snapped my daughter, “I told you not to move.  Now,
please listen to me.  You’re in a bog.  All that is keeping you from drowning
in that muck is the necklace around your neck.  It’s caught around a fallen tree
limb.  Paisley has run to get Billy. Try not to move.”

“How did I get here?” I croaked.  The cold metal biting into
the tender skin under my chin restricted my voice.  I found if I clenched my
teeth my jaw hurt less.  “I was just in the walkway carrying trombones.  Wait,
someone hit me on the head.”  I thought a moment, “the tan man stuck me with a
needle.  That’s it.”

“You’ve been missing for the whole night.  Paz and I just
got back from St. Ives and went looking for you.  Angie said you were in the music
school.  The lights were all on but you weren’t there.  We searched the house;
we even went into that creepy attic.  Don’t go there...ever.” Noelle
shuddered.  “Anyway, I couldn’t breathe, so I went to the window.  That’s when
I remembered what the witch’s note said.  It said that the stars shine on your
mom, and I looked up to the sky and said, come on stars, do your business and
then I saw a flash.”

“Flash?”

“A flash of light coming from the sky and into the Rosewood
bog.  There was another pulse of light.  It was brief, but somehow I knew it
was you.  That big ugly crystal at the end of that pagan charm must have caught
some starlight,” Noelle explained in wonderment.  “Paz thought I was nuts, but
I got her to come with me and we went looking in the lowland for you.  Angie
gave us torches, and when we lost direction we stood still and slowly moved the
torches in a circle like a lighthouse until we received a flash back.  We
followed the flashes to you.  Well, we didn’t see you exactly, but we came upon
the charm caught up in the limb, and when I reached for it...Paz yelled at me
to stop.  I nearly fell in the bog.  She caught me by the bra strap.  Those
bras we bought back at home were worth the price.  Anyway, she pulled me back
onto dry ground, and using her torch she started with the charm and followed
the chain slowly and showed me you!  Mary said that charm guarded against harm,
but it may have just saved your life.”

“Great, now I have the pagans to be indebted to...” I
shivered.  My body was waking up from whatever drug was pumped into my arm.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to be.  Hang in there
Mom...I guess you have no choice...” Noelle started laughing.  “I know it isn’t
funny but...”

“Go ahead and laugh, it will keep you warm,” I said through
clenched, chattering teeth.  I wondered how they were going to get me out of
this bog.  The muck maintained a gentle but firm downward pull on my body.  The
necklace must have twisted as I fell or was tossed in because it circled my
neck before it caught on the limb.  I was literally hung by the neck.  “Noelle,
talk to me.  If I can keep my mind off of what I am in, I might not freak out.”

“You, freak out?  You must be kidding.  You never lose it.  Wait,
I remember now.  Remember when Grandma and Grandpa were over and it was
suppertime and we couldn’t find Alex?  We looked all over, and just before you
called the police we found him sleeping in the reading chair.  Man, Grandpa
still teases you about losing Alex in the house.  I hear something...hold on.  Don’t
move.” 

I heard my daughter get up and walk away.  Noelle was always
so calm in emergencies.  I remember the snowy night in Illinois when her
brother was a baby and was having febrile seizures.  Luke had to wake her up in
the middle of the night because the ambulance was coming.  She calmly got up,
dressed herself, put boots on, and got into the car with Luke.  They followed
us to the hospital.  Once we were there, you could hear her boots flop, flop as
she walked down the hallway to check up on us, and her boots flop, flop as she
walked back to the waiting room.  Noelle was much calmer than Luke and I.

“Hang on, Mom, help is coming!” Noelle called out.

“I wish you wouldn’t keep using the word
hang
,” I
mumbled.

“Ms. Fin-Lathen, are you alright?” Billy said as he
carefully stepped around the pit.  He had a long stick that he tested the
ground with before he stepped onto it.  Suddenly there was a lot of light, and
I heard the roar of an engine.  “My father is trying to bring the little
tractor as close as he can.  Can you lift your arms?”

I tried to move them and found as I wriggled my fingers of
my right hand that I could feel them with my left.  “Billy, I think my wrists
are tied together.”  I proceeded to move my feet in the same matter and found
they too were in close proximity to each other.  “My ankles must be tied too.”

“Maybe we can get a rope around her neck,” suggested an out
of breath Paisley.

“No, we could break her neck pulling her out,” a new male
voice joined the conversation.  “Billy, I’m thinking the rake...”

“Dad, that’s going to hurt, what about that old ladder Angie
has in the barn?”

“Hello...” I called out.  “Use the rake or pitchfork if you
have to...just get me out of here.”

“Ms. Fin-Lathen, my Dad and Angie are going back for the
ladder.  This is what I think is going to work here.  We’re going to tie or
chain the ladder to the tractor.  I’m going to ease it out to you.  The rest of
them are going to try to use their weight and hold it down as I crawl out and
get a hold of you.”

“Don’t risk yourself...”

“I’d do it for a cow...”

“Thanks, I will take that as a compliment,” I said through
my teeth.

“Mom!” Noelle called out.

“Yes.”

“Paz is lighter, so we’re going to use her.  I’m tying a
rope around her just in case she falls in.”

I heard shouts and a lot of discussion going on.  It seemed
like everyone had a better idea.  I heard Billy’s dad bark something out, and
then all I heard was the tractor start up.  The troops carefully carried the
ancient ladder to the edge of the pit and eased it forward towards me.  I heard
someone shout, but the rumbling of the tractor made it impossible to understand
what was said.  The ladder was held above water by the weight of the rescuers
on the wide end of it.  The tractor sound cut out and the still morning held a
duet with Paisley’s frequent cuss words as she crawled towards me. 

“I’m at the end of the bloody ladder, and I need another
three feet,” she called out. “Come on, it smells freaking horrible out here.  Hang
on, Cin.  Come on, closer, closer. Stop!”

I felt Paisley’s thin arms around me.  She had locked her
hands together after criss-crossing my upper body. “Pull!” her voice pierced my
eardrums not unlike a very bad trumpet player.  I felt my body being pulled,
but there was resistance at my neck and my feet.  The necklace was still
holding me to the tree and something was caught up in my legs.

“Use the freaking tractor!  I can’t hold on much longer!”

I heard the tractor start up and slowly the ladder with the
Paisley hook on the end pulled me towards dry ground.  The necklace tore itself
from the branch and my top half was free.  The sun cut over the far hillside
giving me a view of the pit I had spent the night in.  The dark water was thick
with muck.  As my body was pulled onto the dry ground I could see my knees and
then my legs, tied at the ankles. Between my ankles was a bony hand caught up
in the ropes!  This hand had an arm and this arm had a shoulder and...Paisley
was screaming, her hands clawing into my sides.  A white fleshy face silently
screamed back at her.

Strong arms replaced Paisley’s.  Noelle pulled me until I
was able to sit up.  My bonds were cut and my arms were free.  The poor soul
from the bog was still attached to me.  I sat there and watched as the white
skin turned dark red-brown as the morning air worked on it.  Paisley was
crying.  Her sobs intermingled with cuss words.

“Shhhhhh,” I heard myself say.  “I think we need to be very
careful here.”  My hitchhiker looked less and less frightening as the remaining
flesh started to dry.  “I think I was meant to join this one last night.”

“Who do you think it is?” Noelle’s voice said quietly.

“I don’t know, but its wearing clothes and a chain.”  I
carefully eased my legs up. My bog-soaked shoes made this effort very
difficult.  I bent forward, reached down and caught the bonds that had tied my
feet.  I pulled at them and moved the body higher onto the ground.  “I can see
better.  God he’s heavy.”

“How do you know it’s a he?” Paisley’s voice sniffed.

I reached forward and lifted the metal that rested against
what was left of his chest.  I pulled off the pair of dog tags and turned them
over in my hand.  “Did women wear dog tags?”  I rubbed the face of the tags and
read, “Williams, Donald G.”

“Oh my God!” Angie exclaimed just before she hit the ground
in a faint.

I reached out and tenderly touched what was left of his
face.  “Hello Donald, your family has been looking for you.”

~

I sat there until Cayne and three other local constables and
the coroner got there.  The Forensic Science Service, FSS, was called in. 
Billy’s father carried Angie back to the house.  Paisley stayed with her until
the doctor arrived.  Noelle had come up with a blanket and some hot coffee.  I
know I could have left the scene and let Donald fall back into the pit, but I
felt a kinship with him.  Father Michael and his Aunt needed the closure that
Donald's remains would bring them.  He was here all alone for too many years.  He
wouldn’t be alone anymore.  I would see to that.  Noelle and I talked in
whispers so as to not disturb Donald whose weary head and upper body now rested
across my legs.

“How can you stand having that corpse lying in your lap?”

“I don’t know, shock maybe?  Remember how I had to glove
myself to get the dead frog out of the pool?”

“Yes, you were crying.”

“Well, I have always been afraid of dead things.  The
strange thing about it is that the dead can’t hurt you.  You told me that.”

“And you handed me the strainer and told me to get it.”

“You backed away and told me that you changed your mind.  That
the dead smelled horrible.”

“Donald doesn’t smell.  I would think he should at least
smell as bad as I do.  He smells like...”

“Mulch, Peat moss.”

Although the emergency workers arrived quickly, it was
several hours before the FSS team arrived and had found a way to carefully
extract Donald from the bog.  I was now certain that this was Father Michael’s
missing uncle.  How he got in there was a matter for the police.  I told Cayne
what I had found in the instrument room.  I fished out the soggy coach pass I
still had in my pocket.  I felt very strongly my near death and his were tied
together as were Bobby’s fall, the arson attempts and the assaults on Angie.

I had Noelle go in and get Father Michael’s card from my
wallet.  She brought it back and even though I had just seen him in Penzance
yesterday on the card it listed Manchester next to today’s date.  I asked her
to give the card to Cayne. He walked over to me and asked me what Father
Michael Williams and Donald Williams had in common. I repeated the story as the
Father had told me in Penzance.  He scratched his head but seemed willing to
follow up on my request, barring any objections from his superior.

The doctor that doubled as the area coroner insisted I be
taken into the hospital, but I vetoed him.  All I wanted was an hour under a
hot shower.  I gave a brief statement to Cayne and promised to come in for any
other formalities.  Noelle hosed most of the muck off of me in the yard.  My
patent leather shoes were ruined.  I decided to ask Mary about whether a person
could be cursed.  My curse would be that I would never enjoy wearing out a pair
of shoes. 

I stripped off my clothes in the barn and walked through the
throng of men unnoticed in my towel to the house.  Donald held their attention
right now, and I thanked him silently as I headed for the shower.