Return to Crutcher Mountain (Cedar Hollow Series Book 2)

by Clayton, Melinda

  “Okay, then.” She leaned away from me, smiling. “I’ll contact my supervisor right after the party and discuss all this with her.”

  As we stood to enter the Lodge, I wondered what I’d just gotten myself into. Even more than that, I wondered why. I didn’t have the answers. The sorcery of Appalachia, maybe. I never could be as guarded inside those mountains as I was outside; they were my Achilles heel. I just hoped they didn’t lead to my downfall; no poison arrows in the foot for me.

  I thought of the strange gypsy woman on the plane. Turn your colors back on. The universe is talking to you, and you must listen. If this was what it felt like to turn my colors back on, I rather liked it.

  Chapter 32

  Half an hour later, stuffed with chocolate cake I hadn’t been able to resist, I said goodnight to the children, promising I’d see them in the morning, and went in search of Nora. I wanted to get to the bottom of things regarding the Huffmans and I agreed with John that Nora must know more than she’d been willing to share. I also needed to fill her in on my conversation with Mrs. Cortes. I felt sure Nora would back up my plan, and I was hoping we could call the parent company together first thing in the morning.

  I found her in the common area in conversation with Bryan, the night staff. When she saw me she motioned for me to join them. “We were just discussing Robby,” she said. “Still no word on a placement.”

  I hadn’t planned on discussing things in front of the other staff but given the perfect opening, I decided to go ahead and let Nora know about the discussion I’d had with Mrs. Cortes earlier in the evening. They both grew visibly more excited as I outlined the possible plan. “That’s the perfect solution, if it can work,” Bryan said. He turned to Nora. “Can it work?”

  She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “It just might,” she said. “We have to be so careful about funding streams, but this might actually be workable. They’d have to renegotiate a fee for the Sloan family, of course. If Robby isn’t there during the week their fee will go down, but I don’t think that will be an issue for them. They’re not in it for the money. They know by now the money often doesn’t even cover the expenses.”

  “Can we call the executive director first thing in the morning and run it by him?” I was eager to have some sort of answer before leaving town. I needed to know that Robby was taken care of.

  “Of course,” she answered. “Meet me in my office at eight and we’ll see if we can reach him. Hopefully we’ll get him just as he arrives, before anyone else has a chance to grab him. What a great idea, Jessie. He’s a good kid. I’ve been worried about what’s going to happen to him.”

  “Me, too,” I agreed. I thought back to how excited Robby had been to see Mrs. Cortes and me at the party. He had saved us a seat, and I’d barely sat down before he asked me if I’d met my dad yet. I told him I hadn’t, that I had to think about it some more before approaching Mr. Huffman.

  “I guess you’re being shy,” he’d said, making me smile. “I’m never shy,” he stated with conviction. I had to agree that he certainly wasn’t.

  I wanted to speak with Nora alone but I didn’t want to be rude to Bryan. I needn’t have worried because just then Bryan checked his watch. “I’ve got to get going,” he said. “It’s time to get the kids started on evening routine. I’ll see you guys in the morning; I’m planning on staying a little later on my own time to see the kids off, if that’s all right.”

  “I’m sure they’d love that, Bryan,” Nora answered. “Here’s hoping you have a quiet night. How’s Anthony doing? He looked a little anxious earlier.”

  “I think it was just the buzz around the party that got to him,” Bryan answered. “He doesn’t like changes in routine, but he’s fine now.”

  “That’s good,” Nora said. “If they need a little extra time tonight to relax before bed, it’s fine to give them half an hour extra.”

  “Thanks, that’s good to know. I think we’re okay, but they might enjoy a little extra time together, since it’s they’re last night.” He gave a little wave before turning to leave.

  “I know you’re ready to get out of here, but can I have a few minutes before you go?” I asked Nora, as we watched Bryan rejoin Sarah and the children in the group area.

  “Why don’t you walk me back to my office,” she suggested, “and we can talk in private.”

  I waited until we were settled in Nora’s office before broaching the subject. I hadn’t been sure how to approach her; I didn’t want to accuse her, but I needed to ask her some pretty pointed questions. As I usually did, I settled on a direct approach.

  “Nora, Robby overheard the Huffmans talking a few nights ago while he was in bed. He shared the conversation with me, and I must admit it’s a little worrisome.”

  Nora lowered herself into her desk chair, her expression concerned. “What was it about?”

  “Apparently they were discussing me. Mr. Huffman seems to be under the impression that he’s my father. My biological father, whom I’ve never met.” I told her what Robby had said.

  Either Nora was an excellent actress, or my words caught her completely by surprise. As I spoke, her eyes grew wide and she put a hand to her throat. “Oh, my God. Why would he think that? I mean, is there a possibility?”

  I laughed aloud at the question. “Sure, there’s a possibility. I mean, someone is my biological father. It could be him as well as anybody; I certainly wouldn’t know. Technically I guess anyone over the age of sixty could be in the running.” This hadn’t gone the way I’d expected it to.

  “I suppose I was hoping you could shed some light on the topic,” I said, but I was losing hope that she would be able to do that. “Did you know this information before you hired them?”

  “Absolutely not,” she shook her head emphatically. “Not that it would have stopped me hiring them, because they had excellent credentials and there were no warning signs about questionable behaviors. But if I’d known he claimed to be your father, I would have run it by you first, out of respect. Goodness,” she shook her head again. “Give me a minute to get my bearings; I wasn’t expecting this news.”

  I believed her. She looked as shocked to hear it as I had been. “You really didn’t know, did you? I had convinced myself you did.”

  “I really didn’t know,” she confirmed. “Why would you think I did?” She looked at me quizzically.

  “Because whenever I mentioned being suspicious of them, you jumped to their defense.” I felt guilty even saying it.

  “I suppose I did,” she conceded, “but not for the reasons you thought. Before the Huffmans came along we had gone through three groundskeepers and two housekeepers. At the rate we were going, I was thinking I’d have to hire new ones at the beginning of every week. The Huffmans have truly been a blessing to this place, and they came with excellent recommendations and credentials. I checked them out myself.

  “The way it all came together seemed almost like providence, me needing them and them needing a place to go. It just couldn’t have worked out any better than that. What a lesson, huh? If it sounds too good to be true....” She didn’t need to finish the thought. “In hindsight, I guess they made themselves fit what we needed in order to get hired on. Unbelievable.”

  We sat in silence for a minute. “Have you contacted the Sheriff?” she asked finally. “This puts a whole new spin on things. All this time, I had suspected Virgil. Now we have to accept that the Huffmans may be responsible for the things that have happened here.”

  “I talked to Sheriff Moore this afternoon, so he’s aware,” I told her. “He said he’ll check into it. As for whether or not they’re responsible, my friend Michael seems to think it’s possible they did all those things to be able to meet me without having to reveal who they are. If they meant to harm the children—or me, for that matter—they could have certainly done it by now. But as Michael says, even if their intent isn’t to cause me harm, they’d have to be pretty unbalanced to go to such lengths to get me here.”

/>   “Good point,” Nora agreed, “and I have to tell you, I’m more than a little embarrassed by this. You haven’t felt comfortable with them since you got here, apparently with good reason. But I completely missed it. I didn’t pick up on a single red flag. What kind of therapist misses something like that?”

  “Cut yourself some slack,” I advised. “They weren’t acting weird around you, just around me. I always felt like he was watching me, and then that whole business with the toothbrush. Which, by the way, still doesn’t make sense. Why would they want my toothbrush? As some sort of a keepsake? That’s even creepier.”

  Nora sat forward. “DNA?” she suggested. “What else could it be? Think about it. Maybe he wanted a sample of DNA to prove paternity.”

  I thought about that. “That makes sense, but for what purpose? I mean, it isn’t as if my mother is going to go after child support at this late date.”

  “Maybe he’s just curious.” She shrugged. “It’s possible he just wants to be sure. We could always ask him.”

  Now it was my turn to look shocked. “Seriously? Just call him in here and ask him why he took my toothbrush?”

  Nora shrugged again. “Why not? I run the place, and that’s a concerning behavior. It concerned you, didn’t it? Yes? Well, now it concerns me. I have every right to ask why he did it. But let’s catch them off guard. Instead of asking them to come in here and possibly putting them on alert, let’s go to them. They should be finished cleaning up after the party by now. Let’s see if they’re in their rooms.”

  I couldn’t believe what Nora was suggesting. “Don’t you think that could be dangerous?”

  “I think it would be worse to leave you here tonight without knowing what’s going on, don’t you? At least now there are people around, more people than usual because of the party. Look, Jessie, they have no history of criminal behavior, at least not within the past seven years, which is as far as we can check. They may be acting strangely, even illegally, but it’s highly unlikely they’ll show violence towards us. As you pointed out earlier, they’ve had ample opportunity to hurt any of us, but they haven’t. Let’s just nip this in the bud right now.”

  Nora had a point. “Okay,” I agreed, standing up, wondering vaguely if this might be the worst decision of my life. I hoped it wasn’t like in the horror movies, when everyone in the audience knows the heroine is making a terrible decision but she doesn’t see it. Not until she’s dying, anyway, with a knife protruding from her chest. “Let’s go,” I said, before I could change my mind.

  We exited Nora’s office and walked briskly across the courtyard to the Lodge. The lights were all on, the children relaxing and watching a video in the common area before bed. We waved at them before we turned down the hallway toward my room.

  I caught a glimpse of Robby’s face as he waved and I could tell he was troubled. I wanted so much to tell him we were working on a solution for him, but I didn’t want to give him false hope in case it didn’t work out. I hoped I’d get a chance to visit with him before bed. I gave him a wink and turned down the passageway.

  I must admit, I was not expecting what we saw next.

  Chapter 33

  “From what I understand, you need a strand with the follicle attached.”

  It was comical, the way they jumped so high at the sound of my voice. Clearly, they hadn’t expected me. Mrs. Huffman dropped the hairbrush she’d been holding—my hairbrush—and to my surprise, burst into tears. “Richard, I told you this was a bad idea,” she said, covering her face with her hands.

  Mr. Huffman patted her on the back, his eyes on me. “So you did, honey. I should have listened to you.” He moved away from my toiletry bag, which was now sitting on my bed instead of on the sink where I’d left it.

  “Richard? I think we need an explanation.” Nora entered the room behind me. “What in the world are you two doing? This is inexcusable, you know, completely unacceptable.” She laced her arms across her chest and stared at him. I moved to stand beside her.

  Mr. Huffman dropped his gaze and sighed, his shoulders slumped. “You’re right, of course. It is unacceptable, and I’m sorry. I’d like to explain, not that that will make it any better. Actually, I’ve wanted to explain since the beginning, but I just wasn’t sure how to go about it.”

  Nora nodded towards the bed. “I think you’d better find a way to go about it now. Your choices at the moment are to either tell us what’s going on, and God knows there better be a fantastic explanation, or pack your bags to go while I put in a call to Sheriff Moore. This is serious business, Richard. You, too, Opal. Have a seat, both of you. We’re listening, whenever you’re ready to talk.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Huffman sat tentatively on the foot of the bed facing Nora, the look on their faces a mixture of embarrassment and regret. Mrs. Huffman sat with her knees pressed together and her head bowed, hands clasped in her lap. Mr. Huffman leaned forward, staring at the floor, elbows propped on his thighs and hands dangling between his legs. We waited in silence until he looked up.

  “This is hard to talk about, because I don’t know where to start.” He pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger, closing his eyes, seemingly exhausted. “The truth of the matter is, Ms. McIntosh, and please forgive me if this is too shocking to you, but I believe I may be your father.”

  So there it was. What Robby had said was true. I hadn’t doubted Robby, but neither had I expected to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. I didn’t respond to him right away. What does one say after hearing such a revelation? The only father figure I’d ever had was Roy, and what a sorry excuse he had been.

  I suppose I could have felt angry at Richard Huffman for having left me to be raised by such a man as Roy Campbell. Or I could have felt thankful that a biological relative of mine had come to light after all these years. Watching Mr. Huffman, taking in his haggard expression, I might even have felt sorry for him, and certainly for her, as she sat quietly weeping beside him.

  But instead of those things, what I mostly felt was apathy. I’d had enough therapy to understand that my lack of feeling was likely a defense mechanism, and I was grateful for it.

  I glanced at Nora and she held a hand towards the Huffmans, palm up, indicating that the next move was up to me. I took advantage of it. “You’ll understand my skepticism, Mr. Huffman, but what exactly would make you think that?” I asked.

  “Lindy,” he answered. “You’re Lindy Russell’s daughter, ain’t you?” He leaned his head back, peering into my face.

  “In genes only,” I told him. “I haven’t seen her since I was a little girl.”

  He grunted and looked away. “That’s what I’d heard. It’s terrible it turned out that way, but it ain’t too surprising for me to hear. Lindy did the best she could. You should know that.”

  “Mr. Huffman....”

  He interrupted me. “She was my first love I guess you could say, though I don’t know how much about love a sixteen year old boy really knows. Not much, I expect. Least not enough to have good sense.

  “We was raised up right next to each other. Played together when we was little ’uns. I reckon I fancied myself in love with her by the time I was ten. She was a beautiful girl.” He looked back at me. “You favor her, you know.”

  I was getting impatient with the whole conversation. “Nora, do we really have to listen to this?”

  Beside me, Nora looked transfixed. “Let’s hear what he has to say, Jessie, okay? It might help you in the long run, hearing more about your past.”

  “I’d ’preciate it if I could finish telling you,” said Mr. Huffman. Reluctantly, I nodded for him to go on.

  “Thing was, all the boys was in love with Lindy. Time she was thirteen, fourteen, she already looked....” He hesitated, casting about for the right word. “Mature. She looked like a much older girl, if you know what I mean. It got her a lot of attention. When she started coming of age and boys began taking notice of her, she ate it up.”

 
“So she was the town slut,” I said. “Is that what you’re getting at? Because I really wouldn’t expect any....”

  He interrupted me again, raising his hand in protest. “No. No, that’s not what I’m telling you. That’s the thing. Everybody thought that about Lindy, I reckon because of how she looked and all the attention it brought her. Even I thought that about her, at first. And she did love to tease the boys. But I found out later that’s all it was. She just teased; she didn’t do nothing with them, just made them think she might.”

  Beside him, Mrs. Huffman blew her nose loudly, stuffing the soiled Kleenex back into her apron pocket. He reached over to pat her on the knee. “It’s all right, honey. I should have listened to you, but it’ll be all right.”

  He addressed Nora. “Opal here didn’t do nothing. I shouldn’t have drug her into this. She tried to tell me there was a better way, but I’m a stubborn old fool. I just want you to know none of this is her fault. It’s all mine.”

  “We’ll get all that sorted out later,” Nora told him. “For now, why don’t you finish explaining things.” It wasn’t a question, the way Nora said it, and Mr. Huffman knew it.

  “All right,” he said. “Where was I at? Oh, right. Lindy teasing the boys. That kept them coming around, you see, and she needed them around. Needed to feel like she was loved, you know. They didn’t love her, of course, but I imagine to her at that young age it felt like they did. I know it did, ’cause she used to tell me so. It was the closest thing she had to love, anyway. Other than me, but I’ll talk more about that in a minute.”

  This was turning out to be pretty interesting after all. I leaned against the dresser, waiting for the next revelation. It didn’t take long.

  “Things was always rough for her at home,” Mr. Huffman said. “Her momma was a tough woman, hard on Lindy, and her daddy was a mean son of a bitch. I don’t mean to be disrespectful but there ain’t no other way to say it. Didn’t nobody want to tangle with him. Folks used to say he’d kill you soon as look at you, and I reckon that was true. Wasn’t nobody wanted to find out for themselves. Many was the time Lindy come knocking on our door, crying about something they had said or done to her. More often than not she had a bruise or two to show for it. Momma always took her in, felt sorry for her.”