I found her in the armchair in the corner, book in hand, and Ramses draped across her lap.
Ramses. I had forgotten about him. I didn’t think taking him to the farm was a good idea. It would be far too easy for him to hide himself somewhere, and it could take hours to find him. He was a devious little rascal, darn him. I despaired of his ever being as trustworthy as Diesel.
I’d figure it out in a moment. First, I told Alissa I had interesting information to share with her and that I wanted to go back to the farmhouse to search for more papers, primarily in the attic.
“That’s fine,” she said, laying her book aside and pushing Ramses gently out of her lap. “As long as I can avoid that one room. I’m curious to see the attic.”
“Good. Diesel is going with us, but I think Ramses needs a babysitter.”
“Really?” Alissa frowned. “Can you leave him by himself here?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. There’s no telling what he might get into left on his own, and I don’t like crating him. I’ve never done that.” At least since he was a small kitten, I added silently. I would tell Alissa before long how Ramses came to be part of the family. Her extended family, as it turned out.
“I’m going to call Azalea and see if we can take him to her house. He’s stayed with her quite often on weekends, and maybe she’ll be able to keep him for a few hours.”
Alissa grabbed her phone and small handbag, and she and Ramses followed Diesel and me downstairs. I was already on the phone to Azalea. She answered right away, and I explained my dilemma. She agreed to keep Ramses the rest of the weekend, and I promised we would be there soon to drop him off.
During the drive out to the farmhouse, I shared with Alissa what I had learned. She listened in silence until I’d finished. The first thing she said was, “This means you’re my cousin, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, my grandfather and your great-grandfather were brothers, so that makes us second cousins once removed.”
“What does that mean? Once removed, that is.”
“Your father was my second cousin, and because you’re a different generation, and younger, you’re once removed.”
“Okay, I guess I understand.” She smiled. “I’m just glad I have more family besides my mother. You’re a nice cousin to have.”
“Thank you,” I said, touched by her pleasure. “I’m glad to have you in the family.”
By now we had turned off the highway and were nearing the farm. Before I realized it, two sheriff’s patrol cars sped by me in the left lane, lights flashing. No sirens, though. I wondered what they were doing. Something urgent, obviously.
I turned into the farmhouse driveway. Alissa, Diesel, and I climbed the steps to the porch, and I unlocked the door. I went inside first, and as I did, I glanced into the parlor. I stopped suddenly, and Alissa bumped into me. I held a finger to my lips and pointed.
Someone had moved the settee aside from its usual spot and pushed the rug and the coffee table on it aside. A trapdoor lay revealed, the door open.
THIRTY-ONE
I motioned for Alissa to step back onto the porch, and she complied without hesitation. Diesel went with her. I closed the door softly behind them. I debated whether I should follow them, but I thought it would be a good idea to close that trapdoor. If anyone was down there, he would be stuck inside until I could call for help. I began to have an inkling of what, and who, was down there.
I moved forward cautiously, but despite my care, a floorboard squeaked. I paused, ready to dart for the door. Nothing happened.
I took a few more steps forward and halted.
Then a few steps more until I was only about four feet from the trapdoor. I held my breath. The door opened away from me, so I had to move around to the other side of it to close it. I hoped there was some kind of latch on this side. I couldn’t see one. I might have to push furniture on top of it to keep it shut.
The settee was fairly substantial, but was it enough? There was nothing else within a couple of feet, however. At least pushing the settee on top of it would give me enough time to get out of the house and into the car. I should have told Alissa to get in the car with Diesel, I realized.
I bolted to the other side of the door. It was heavier than I’d expected but I managed to lift it and let it drop into place. There was no latch on this side. I uttered a rare curse word and immediately began dragging the settee on top of it. Panting, I headed for the front door as soon as I got the settee in place.
“Where the hell you think you’re going?”
I skidded to a stop to see Gil Jackson, rifle in hand, coming down the hall from the back of the house.
“I’m going out to my car,” I said as coolly as I could manage. “I’m going home.”
Jackson laughed and came to within two feet of me. “Yeah, right. You’re not going anywhere, buddy, unless it’s down there.” He gestured toward the trapdoor.
“I don’t care what’s down there,” I said, taking a step backward.
Jackson turned the shotgun on me. “Unh-uh,” he said. “Move.” He gestured with the shotgun.
I walked into the parlor, praying that he had no idea Alissa and Diesel had come with me.
“Move that thing off the door,” he said, keeping the shotgun leveled at me.
“What if I don’t?” I said.
“I’ll kill you right here,” Jackson said matter-of-factly. “I got nothing to lose now. One more dead guy won’t matter to me if they find me.”
“You killed Marty Hale,” I said. “I thought you had.”
“Snoopy little bastard,” Jackson replied. “Caught him down there. Didn’t know anyone was in the house.”
“He found your still,” I said.
Jackson nodded. “Wanted the same cut of the profits his grandfather was getting. I told him no, and he threatened me.” He chuckled. “Smartass like his grandfather. I marched him out in the woods that morning and took care of him.”
“Why didn’t you cut him in on the operation?” I said, curious. “He might have been of use to you.”
“He was stupid. He let slip that this house didn’t belong to his grandfather, but he told me he was going to sue and get it back.”
“So you decided to get rid of him, because you’d lose your secret hideaway.”
Jackson shrugged. “Seemed like the best option. I didn’t know who owned the property until I heard about you. I’ve been working on clearing out that cellar, and I was just about finished until you turned up just now.”
I caught a flash of motion in the hallway behind him, and I hoped he hadn’t seen me noticing. He was too certain that he had the situation under control, however. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I had seen Alissa briefly. If so, she must have come in through the back door. I hoped she had called the sheriff’s department and reported the situation. She could have seen Jackson through the window in the hall from her vantage point on the porch.
What was she doing in the house? She could get herself killed if Jackson found her.
After he dealt with me. I had to keep him distracted.
“How long have you had your still down there?” I indicated the secret cellar.
“Ever since ol’ Martin told me about that secret cellar. He had no idea it was there until he started moving furniture around about twelve years ago.”
I could see Alissa now, half her body against the cased opening into the room.
“No more stalling,” Jackson said. “Open the door.”
I pushed the settee off the door. I paused to get my breath back, buying a few seconds to see what Alissa was going to do. Jackson gestured at me with the shotgun.
“Open it.” He stepped right up to within a foot of the opening across from me.
I reached down and pulled up the door.
Alissa rushed forward and kicked Jackson hard
in the rear. Jackson dropped the gun to try to save himself, and the gun landed several feet away. He couldn’t help himself and fell through the opening.
I slammed the door shut, and Alissa helped me put the settee over it. Then we pulled a small chest onto it as well.
“That should hold him,” Alissa said, grinning.
“Where did you learn to do that?” I said, still amazed by what she had done.
“Self-defense classes,” she said. “When you’re my size, you have to learn to take care of yourself.”
I went to her and hugged her close to me. She hugged back, her arms tight around me.
“Thank you,” I said. “You saved my life.” I released her, and she gazed up at me with a tearstained face.
“I had to,” she said. “That’s what cousins do.”
* * *
• • •
Sean arrived right on the heels of Kanesha and her deputies, Haskell among them.
“Where is he?” Kanesha asked straightaway.
I pointed to the settee and the chest. “Under there.” I felt slightly giddy with relief when Kanesha looked at me like I had lost my mind.
“There’s a trapdoor under all that,” I said.
Kanesha gestured for two of her deputies to clear the furniture away.
“His shotgun is over there.” Alissa pointed, and another deputy went to retrieve it.
“He might be badly injured,” I said. “Alissa kicked him hard in the rear, and he fell in. We slammed the door immediately.”
“Good for you.” Kanesha directed one of her deputies to call for an ambulance.
“She saved my life,” I said.
Sean went immediately to Alissa. “Thank you. I hear we’re cousins. You had one heck of a welcome to the family.”
She grinned. “It was exciting. I just wish I could do it again.” She sobered. “That man killed my brother. I hope he broke his neck.”
Sean and I exchanged looks. I hoped Jackson hadn’t, because I wanted him to go to jail for the rest of his life.
“The still is down there, too,” I said. “That’s why you never found it.”
Kanesha muttered something that I didn’t catch. I hoped it wasn’t directed at me, because I had managed, without intending to, to solve two problems at once for her. I’d found the murderer and the bootlegging operation. The latter she might never have found out, but she might have evidence that linked Gil Jackson to the murder.
I asked her about that, and she nodded.
“Fibers left at the scene. We were on the way to serve a search warrant to find the source of the fibers when Alissa called. We drove straight here to prevent him from killing anyone else.”
“Thank you, but luckily Alissa saved me. I think he would have killed me once he got me down in the cellar. He had no idea Alissa was in the house. I’m sure he would have buried me down there, and no one would know what had happened to me.”
“I’d have torn this house apart, Dad.” Sean looked angry, and I hoped it wasn’t at me. I had stumbled into this innocently. I hadn’t sought Jackson out.
“I’d like for y’all to leave the room,” Kanesha said, her tone brooking no argument.
Sean motioned for Alissa and me to follow him into the room across the hall.
“Where is Diesel?” I had momentarily forgotten him.
“In the car,” Alissa said. “I’ll go get him.”
“No, let me,” I said, anxious to see him and reassure him that I was unhurt.
All four windows of the car were slightly cracked, so he had air flowing. It was warm in the car, but not dangerously so. I had parked in the shade of the large oak, and Diesel appeared fine. He yawned and came out of the car, chirping happily. I sank to the ground and drew him into my lap.
That’s when it hit me, how close I had come to losing my life. I put my arms around Diesel and tried to steady my nerves. I hoped Laura and Helen Louise wouldn’t join Sean in reading me the riot act. I had no way of knowing of the existence of the still in the house, nor that I would find Gil Jackson there with a shotgun. If I hadn’t been so eager to find my great-uncle’s letters to Maudie Magee, I could have waited until later to return to the farmhouse. By then, Jackson would have removed his still, and I would never have been the wiser. At least until I discovered the secret cellar, though that was far from certain.
Sean called to me from the porch, sounding alarmed. “Are you okay, Dad? Is something wrong with Diesel?” He hurried across the porch and down the steps.
I released Diesel and got slowly to my feet as Sean approached. “He’s fine, and I’m okay.”
Sean grabbed me and pulled me into a fierce hug.
“Damn you, Dad, I swear I’m going to get a microchip implanted in you so we can keep track of you.”
I started laughing, and Sean released me. He smiled. “I was terrified when I walked into that room,” he said.
“Thanks to Alissa, I’m fine, fully intact,” I said. “Did they get Jackson out of that cellar?”
“Not yet. They’re waiting for the ambulance. He’s alert and cussing to beat the band. They think both his legs are broken, a few ribs, and one of his arms.”
“Can’t say I feel sorry for him,” I said.
“I don’t, either, the bastard,” Sean said. He normally didn’t use words like that or curse in front of me, but I understood how high his emotions were running right now. I felt like uttering a few bad words myself.
Diesel butted his head against Sean’s leg and meowed loudly. I thought Sean might have frightened him a little, but then I realized Diesel simply wanted to reassure him.
Sean squatted on his heels, nose to nose with the cat. “Okay, buddy. I’m okay. I’m glad you weren’t hurt. It’s a good thing you missed the action.”
I didn’t want to contemplate what might have happened if Diesel had been with me. Jackson would have probably taken delight in killing him in front of me. I had more to be thankful for. I owed not only my life to Alissa, but Diesel’s, too.
Alissa joined us in the yard. “Deputy Berry said it was okay for us to go home.” She grinned. “In fact, she told me she insisted on it.”
Sean and I laughed.
“I insist on it, too,” I said, and Diesel meowed.
THIRTY-TWO
When the whole family gathered the next day for dinner, our usual custom on Sundays, Sean pulled me aside to give me an update on Gil Jackson.
“Mostly just broken bones,” Sean said. “They had to remove his spleen, but he’ll make a full recovery. As soon as he can leave the hospital, he’ll be arraigned and indicted. You’ll have to appear at the trial, but that’s a ways off yet.”
“I’ll be happy to testify,” I said. “Does he know how he ended up in the cellar?”
Sean chuckled. “The deputies made sure he did. He was apparently pissed as hell that a little woman had done that to him.”
“Serves him right.” I laughed, too.
I had instructed Sean to inform Marv Watkins, the smarmy real estate agent, that I would under no circumstances be selling my land to him and his development group. He would have to look elsewhere for the site of his grandiose houses.
Helen Louise had arrived home around five o’clock last night, and she asked me to her house for dinner. For once, I left Diesel at home. I knew Alissa would take good care of him. I wanted some time alone with my fiancée.
I waited until she had shared the high points of her vacation with me, and over dessert—one of my favorite chocolate cakes from her bistro—I told her about all that had happened while she was gone. I kept details to the minimum without making the story hard to understand. I knew that, with her quick mind, she would grasp all the necessary implications.
I also discussed with her my plans for some of the land. I had decided that I would follow through on my grandfather
’s original promise to Asa Luckney. Instead of leasing the land to him, however, I was going to sell it to him for a dollar an acre. He could buy the land he had been working for so many years, plus the land that Gil Jackson had leased. As much as he wanted. I planned to keep the house and about a hundred acres around it, including the woods, where I suspected the family cemetery must be. Helen Louise heartily approved of my decision.
When I finally finished telling her everything, she sat back, wineglass in hand, and regarded me solemnly.
“All right, Charlie Harris,” she said, her tone stern. “This is the last time I leave town without you. You’re not fit to be left without supervision. I want to get you to the altar in one piece, you understand?” Then she grinned.
“I’d like to get there in one piece myself,” I said, picking up my wineglass. We toasted each other and drank.
We celebrated our reunion upstairs, sans cat for once.
Today she and Stewart busied themselves in the kitchen. They had shooed the rest of us out. We waited for the summons to dine in the living room. Sean and Alex were present with my granddaughter, Rosie, who would soon be one year old. Frank and Laura had Charlie with them, keeping a close eye on him as he meandered around the room. Diesel divided his time between Rosie and Charlie. He loved them both, but I believed Charlie was his favorite because he was the first. He was fourteen months old now, and he chattered to Diesel incessantly when they were together.
Alissa and Haskell formed part of the group as well. Haskell had told her last night about their relationship. She had hugged him impulsively.
“Another cousin,” she said. “This is wonderful. Finding my family is an amazing gift. I don’t want to go back to California.”
I didn’t blame her, given what little I knew of her mother. I was thinking about what to do to help her stay here, and I had a couple of ideas. She had an associate’s degree in literature from a community college in California, and that might help her get a job at the college library here. I knew of two current openings that she might be a good match for.
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