Maybe I’d talk to him soon about all my issues.
Or maybe not.
Twenty-One
I did as Dr. Powder instructed and turned left onto the main road. The snowpack still wasn’t daunting, but it could get to be. I told myself that if it started coming down again, I would turn around and go home, talk to Orin. Do some writing.
I was so relieved Dr. Powder didn’t think I’d done further damage to my head that a sense of freedom relaxed my limbs and infused me with new confidence. I even managed to tell myself that I might never have strange Travis Walker visions again. I was over all that. That was the last one. I was going to beat this … haunting, or whatever it was.
About twenty minutes later, I came upon a speck of civilization. On a stretch of snow-covered ground between me and the river were some old houses. There were no trees; just open land stretching toward the river on one side and a mountain range on the other. Houses dotted the foothills, too. Some of them reminded me of the smaller postwar clapboard-and-brick styles down in my neck of the Lower 48—the smaller Missouri Ozark towns. Some were cute, well taken care of; some weren’t. Trailers were interspersed here and there as well. There was no consistent pattern, other than that each home was allotted a good acre of land. I didn’t see any log cabins like the kind common around Benedict.
I spotted a couple of paved driveways, but old cars and trucks were mostly parked willy-nilly. I even saw one old truck that had sunk halfway into the ground.
In another blink I came upon what was probably the downtown. Most of the six small brick buildings looked empty, but two showed signs of life and activity: the post office and one with a sign that simply read “Brayn.”
I parked off the road, but not in any sort of designated parking spot, and stepped through the snow to the doors. The first one was locked, but the other wasn’t. I entered the tiniest post office I’d ever seen.
There was barely room to stand inside and close the door behind me, but I managed. Inside was a narrow counter with one stool behind it. Stamp posters decorated the walls, but the only other item I could see was a bell on the counter. I rang it.
A moment later, a back door swung open.
“Hello, are you lost?” A woman came through.
“No, I just have some questions,” I said.
“All right.” She pushed up her glasses and smiled. Her gray hair was pulled back into a long ponytail and she and I might have purchased our clothes from the same place. We were both dressed in jeans and matching jackets, though I thought the blue color looked better on her darker skin than my paler version. She reminded me of Maper, but with more gray than dark brown hair.
“I’m looking for Tex Southern. Can you tell me where he lives?” I said.
She squinted. “Why?”
There was no reason to lie. There were no believable lies, anyway.
“His girls got lost over by Benedict. I found them and took them into town. I didn’t get a chance to meet Tex or say goodbye to the girls. I was hoping to see them.”
She frowned. “You were hoping to check on them.” It wasn’t a question.
“Well. That’s part of it. Yes.”
She nodded. “Tex is quite an imposing figure, but he’s a good father. He takes care of the girls.”
“I’m glad to hear that. They don’t … didn’t talk. Is that … just them?”
I wondered if she’d be surprised to hear they hadn’t spoken; maybe their silence had been an anomaly, something temporary that had happened because they’d been lost. But she wasn’t surprised.
She shrugged, and in that gesture, I heard the words she didn’t speak: it was none of my business.
It wasn’t any of my business, except that maybe it was. Wasn’t children’s welfare supposed to be everybody’s business?
Granted, this land was not my native land, and maybe things were different, but children were children. They had to be everybody’s business. I didn’t much care if I was stepping out of bounds.
“I really would like to see them,” I said. “They … trusted me, and I didn’t say goodbye. It’s been bothering me.”
I didn’t think she would tell me. I was prepared to leave and start knocking on doors until I either found the Southern family or someone who’d tell me where they were. There were fewer than a hundred houses in town. I could search, if it didn’t start snowing again.
“Keep going the direction you were going.” She pointed and I nodded. “They’re on the river side, a yellow house. You didn’t meet Tex?”
“I didn’t.”
A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. “He won’t like you stopping by.”
“I won’t intrude.”
“You’ll be stopping by—that’s intruding.”
“I’ll be friendly.”
“Do what you need to do, but there’s no reason to bother Tex and the girls. They are well cared for. You might make him angry, and he is … imposing.”
That word again.
“Then I’ll leave if I have to.”
She nodded. “All right. Good luck to you.”
She remained on the stool as I maneuvered the front door open and myself back outside. I noticed electrical poles and wires and wondered if the cell phone coverage was better here than in Benedict. If it was, or if Tex Southern had a landline, he was probably receiving a phone call right about now.
Couldn’t be helped. At least the weather was still cooperating.
On the edge of town, there was only one yellow house on the river side. I pulled off the road and found a spot next to another truck. Smoke came from the chimney of the small two-story house, but I didn’t see anyone.
Though the house was cute—one of the well-taken-care-of ones—stacked along the outside wall angled toward the river was a small mountain of rusted old appliances. I saw everything from a toilet to a porcelain sink, a couple of stoves, a few refrigerators and freezers. The appliances were covered in snow, but just a smattering.
I scanned the area around the house and finally saw someone beside the river. Someone watching me. Tex Southern, I presumed.
Imposing was putting it mildly. He wore a bearskin coat. His long brown hair and long brown beard matched the coat. He was probably fifty yards away as he worked on a table made of two-by-fours set up next to the river. He was large—somewhat round, but mostly just tall and wide-shouldered.
I swallowed. I was beyond intimidated, but I wasn’t going to stop now. I wanted to check on the girls, and not even a big guy in bearskin was going to stop me. I got out of the truck.
Tex turned so that I could see the large knife he held. With an irritated stab, he stuck the tip into the table before he gave me his full attention. His long strides toward me made me feel like my legs scissored funny as I worked to meet him halfway.
“Help you?” he said, from somewhere under the beard, his voice appropriately deep.
“Hi, I’m Beth Rivers from Benedict.”
“Okay.”
“Your daughters knocked on the door of where I work. I took them into town.”
“And?”
He wasn’t going to invite me in.
“I didn’t get to tell them goodbye. I was hoping to see them.”
“You were hoping to check on them,” he said.
“I was,” I said as boldly as I could manage.
His brown eyes flared with something I might have defined as anger, but he didn’t behave as if he was going to send me away, knock me down, or threaten me with another knife he might have had hidden under that coat.
I looked at him closely. There was something else that struck me. A warmth. Despite every impression he’d made in the last couple of minutes, I sensed something so unexpected that I almost gasped. I felt drawn to him.
Silently, I checked myself. What the hell? I didn’t even know the man, and yet something in me wanted to move closer to him.
I was messed up. That’s all I could think—that my time with Travis Walker had messed
me up so badly that my senses, my signals, were way far off. I’d hit my head again earlier today. I was worried about the girls. There were so many reasons that the unreal sensation of attraction had happened. It couldn’t be normal.
“Please,” I said as I took a small step away from him. “I really would just like to say hello.”
His brown eyes didn’t become friendlier as he studied me for another long moment. I wanted to look away, and I didn’t want to look away.
Oh boy.
“All right. Come in. They’re okay, but they were scared. Leave if seeing you upsets them.”
“Absolutely.”
Without further ado or invitation, Tex turned and marched toward the house. He pushed through the door and went inside. He didn’t hold the door or wait for me. I kept up.
The house wasn’t cozy. It was warm, but sparse, reminding me of Lane’s house but with furniture that had come from a store, not homemade things. The upholstery on the couch was worn through in a couple of spots but the few things in the room were in good shape.
“Girls!” Tex called up a narrow stairway. “You have company.”
The small front room was crowded. Any room that Tex stood in probably felt immediately filled up.
He swung out of his massive coat and dropped it on the couch. Tex didn’t take up much less space without the coat.
“Girls!” he exclaimed up the stairs again. “Now!”
The thumps of their feet came through the ceiling and then down the stairs. Tex hadn’t looked at me again, let alone asked me if I wanted to sit or wanted something to drink. Not that I expected him to.
The girls noticed me the second they came down the stairs. They both smiled and ran to me, throwing their arms around me.
“Hey, it’s great to see you two,” I said.
They looked up and smiled. They didn’t speak.
“I didn’t get to say goodbye. I wanted to let you know it was good to meet you.”
Annie stepped back and signed something. They hadn’t spoken with sign language while they were in Benedict, at least as far as I knew.
I looked at Tex.
“Annie says thank you for helping them,” he said.
“I didn’t know they knew sign language,” I said.
“You understand any of it?” Tex asked.
“No, I’m afraid not,” I said.
“That’s why. What’s the point if no one can understand? They shut down when others don’t understand them.”
“They can hear?” I said, even though I already knew they could.
“Of course,” Tex said suspiciously.
“Oh yes, I did know that.” I looked at them. “I’m sorry we didn’t understand you. I’m glad your dad found you.” I looked at Tex. “I asked them for a parent’s name. I would have just found you, but they didn’t give me any information.”
Tex nodded. “I think they were afraid of getting in trouble, but I’m not sure I understand that completely myself yet. I’ve told them they shouldn’t have been afraid to tell people where they live. I guess it’s something we need to work on.”
I nodded.
Annie grabbed my hand and led me toward the stairs. I looked at Tex again.
Annie signed something and he sighed as he looked at the girls. “I have work to get done, but if you hurry, you can show her around. Make it quick.” He looked at me. “They’d like to show you their room.”
Annie and Mary nodded.
It had been the briefest of exchanges, but it had told me a lot. The girls weren’t afraid of their father. He might be brusque and to the point, but he didn’t seem mean. If they were mistreated, they wouldn’t have just grabbed my hand to show me their room. They would have either waited for their father to answer them, or not even tried.
“I would love to.”
I followed them up the stairs and into the attic. It was unquestionably their room, their space. Still furnished and decorated in old furniture, it was all very girly, with pink and girl things everywhere. Their wardrobe wasn’t too different than mine, but I spotted a couple of dresses hanging in the closet, which didn’t have a door.
Annie led me to a dollhouse. This was the first homemade thing I’d seen in the Southern household. Someone had crafted something beyond a Barbie house, creating a simple but wonderful mansion for their collection of dolls.
“This is wonderful!” I said.
They smiled proudly.
“Girls,” I said, “I’m so sorry you got lost and that you were afraid. I’m glad you’re back home. It all ended well, didn’t it?”
They nodded.
I reached into the dollhouse and grabbed one of the chairs. It was store-bought and seemed fairly new.
“You drew a picture of a different house,” I said with a light laugh. “I was looking around Brayn for that house. I’m glad I found you anyway.”
They shared a silent look before they both nodded again, their smiles fading some.
“That house you drew,” I said to Annie. “Have you ever been inside it?”
She shook her head and then pointed at Mary, who slapped down her sister’s hand and made a frustrated noise.
I grabbed one of each of their hands. “No big deal. I’m sorry I asked. This house is much better than that one anyway, because your dad is here. He’d glad to have you home. I bet you’re glad to be home, too.”
The smiles came back as they nodded.
“Enough up there. Time for our company to go. I’ve got to get back to work,” Tex called up the stairs.
They were fine. There was a reason Annie had drawn Randy’s house, something that might need to be answered or might not, I wasn’t sure. But these two girls were perfectly fine, and were well taken care of, from all indications.
They walked me back down the stairs and hugged me one more time before their father, without his giant coat on, walked me out to my truck. I was sure he had to go outside anyway. I doubt he would have gone out just to escort me.
“What happened to your head?” he asked as I put my hand on the truck’s door handle.
“Oh,” I said, once again having forgotten the scar, and forgotten to put a cap back on. “I fell off a horse.”
He looked at me, brows knitted together. “I’m sorry.”
I blinked at his sympathetic tone. “Thank you. I’m okay.” I got into the truck, and since he hadn’t walked away yet, risked rolling down the window. It worked okay. “Tex, may I ask you about their mom?”
“No mom.” He stood steely still, his eyes locked on mine in what might have been a challenge.
I blinked, but he didn’t say anything else. Finally, I nodded. I wondered if he’d told Gril who their mother, or mothers were. Were they fraternal twins?
“Thanks for letting me see them. They really … I don’t know, touched my heart maybe. That sounds silly, but that’s the best I can explain it.”
“You’re welcome, and I understand completely.”
I frowned. “They got pretty far away from here.”
“I tracked them, through the woods, on the other side of the river. Found their footprints out back, crossed the river, and continued to follow them.” It was the most he’d said to me.
“Did they explore because of the mudslide?”
“I don’t know. They’d never gone that way before, though.” He crossed his thick arms over his wide chest.
He wasn’t a body-builder type. He was just a large human being whose life included a lot of physical activity that gave him muscles.
I pulled my wandering eyes away. What was wrong with me?
“Thanks again,” I said.
“You’re welcome. If we come by Benedict and the girls want to say hello, where can we find you?”
“A room at the Benedict House.”
His eyebrows moved even closer.
“No.” I laughed. “I’m not a felon. I accidentally booked a room there, and it stuck. That’s all.”
He nodded doubtfully. Snow started to f
all again. “You better get back to Benedict.”
“I better,” I said.
He turned and marched back to the table by the river, still not retrieving his coat. I watched him for way too long. He pulled the knife out and reached into a bucket, grabbing a fish. He dropped the fish on the table and then started chopping with the knife. I couldn’t see the gore, but I could imagine it.
He looked back over his shoulder. I hoped he couldn’t see my cheeks turn red. I waved and backed out onto the road. It would probably be a good thing if I never saw him again.
It was as I listened to the quiet of the snow falling that I remembered something. I’d been so worried about my head when I’d gone into Randy’s bathroom to check my pupils that I hadn’t registered everything I’d seen inside the medicine cabinet.
But now it came to me. Maybe my subconscious just needed the time to process it. Maybe all the girl stuff I’d just seen had jarred the memory.
In a cup in Randy’s medicine cabinet, there had been three toothbrushes. One adult-sized—a blue one. And two smaller ones, both pink.
“What the hell was that?” I said aloud to myself.
I couldn’t wait to look in that medicine cabinet again.
Twenty-Two
It wasn’t quite time for me to head to Randy’s, but I decided to be a little early. It had snowed some since I’d last been at his house, but only barely enough to cover my tracks. Though twilight was coming, casting deeper and darker shadows everywhere, I was slightly concerned that Randy would know he’d had an earlier visitor. His truck hadn’t been in front of the mercantile, so I predicted I would find him already at home. My concern transformed and deepened as the house came fully into sight. Something was very wrong.
Two trucks and the van that was kept at the airport were parked there, with their lights illuminating the front of the house. The trucks belonged to Gril and Donner, but I didn’t immediately know who’d driven the van.
“Shit,” I said as I pulled up next to Gril’s vehicle. I couldn’t figure out how any of this had anything to do with me, but it was impossible not to think I might have somehow been behind this gathering. Had I disturbed something to criminal proportions?
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