Return to Crutcher Mountain (Cedar Hollow Series Book 2)

by Clayton, Melinda

  “Anyway, Rogers would track him down to one little town doing some odd job or another, mainly construction, and by the time he got out there, they’d have moved again, going where the jobs was at. ’Bout the time Rogers would start to feel like he was getting closer, me and Opal would have to save up some more money before he could get out there again.

  “Finally, Rogers tracked Bowden down to Flagstaff. Flew out there again and sure enough, that’s where he was at. SDB, that big construction company, was working out there and Bowden was contracting with them. But when Rogers got there....” Mr. Huffman glanced at his wife, and I caught the look of uncertainty on his face. “Opal?” he asked.

  “Ms. McIntosh,” Opal addressed me. “You’ve waited a long time to learn these things. I know all of them must be troubling to you, and some of them are just plain bad. Do you want Richard to go on?”

  I thought carefully before answering. “Mrs. Huffman, it isn’t so much that I want him to go on. I need him to go on. Now that I’ve learned this much, I need to know all of it.” I turned to Mr. Huffman. “Whatever it is, I can handle it. Just tell me.”

  He nodded. “All right, then. Rogers caught up to Floyd Bowden. Followed him a couple days but something was off. Bowden was living in a rental. Had two kids with him, a girl around about eleven or twelve and a younger boy, looked to be seven or eight. You’d have been close to eighteen by that time, but there wasn’t no sign of an eighteen year old girl. Wasn’t no sign of Lindy, neither.”

  “She had left him?” I asked. It seemed the logical explanation. “But why would she have left the kids with him?”

  Mr. Huffman shook his head. “She hadn’t left him.” He reached for the nearly empty water bottle and drained it. “That’s what Rogers thought at first, too, but that wasn’t it. There had been a house fire.”

  At first what he was telling me didn’t sink in. “A house fire?”

  “Bad one,” he said. “Happened about six months before. Bowden told Rogers Lindy didn’t make it out. Said she died trying to make sure the kids got out. From what they could tell, Lindy thought Lenny Sue had made it out first. When Lindy got out there, she didn’t see Leroy so she ran back in to find him. She never made it out. Later, they found out Leroy was the one who got out first, ran over to a neighbor’s to call for help.”

  I sat quietly, trying to take it all in. I didn’t know what to feel. For nearly all of my life I’d believed my father had abandoned me at conception and my mother had abandoned me to a monster. In the space of two hours I’d found out that wasn’t the case. Now my father was sitting across from me and my mother was dead. My head was spinning.

  Beside me, Nora cleared her throat. “It’s late, and I know we’re all tired. This has to be emotionally draining for all of you. Richard, bring us to how you ended up here, at the Lodge, and then let’s all call it a night. We have a busy day tomorrow and I know all of you are going to need some time to process.”

  Mr. Huffman removed his glasses and rubbed his face. “Rogers found all that out from Bowden when he finally confronted him. He asked Bowden where you was at. Said the man looked surprised. Said Bowden asked him, ‘Jessie? Lindy’s older girl? Lindy didn’t bring her. Left her there with her their daddy,’ and he pointed at the two kids.

  “Well, you can imagine how I felt when I heard that,” Mr. Huffman said. “At first I didn’t want to believe it. All them years, you’d been back here with that man, just a few miles from me and Opal. I tell you what, it was about more than I could stand to hear. My heart just plumb broke in two when I heard that.

  “Rogers got back from Arizona and come straight here, to Cedar Hollow. Went right up to that old shack but could tell right away wasn’t nobody there. The woods had done grown over it, looked like it’d set empty for a long time. He went down to the town, then, and stopped in at the diner. Said he asked the woman at the counter if she’d ever heard of you. I don’t recall her name now, but I believe it was the momma of the woman there now.”

  “Peggy,” I told him. “It was Peggy’s diner.”

  “That’s right, the name of the place. Should have remembered that,” he said. “Anyway, Rogers said as soon as he spoke your name everybody in the place shut right up. Just stopped talking and stared at him. Said the temperature must have dropped thirty degrees. Peggy come from around the counter and pointed at the door. Told him she didn’t know who the hell he was or what the hell he wanted, but he didn’t have no business coming around her place asking nosy questions. They just about run him out of town, I tell you.”

  My family. I had to smile. Those people were my family, keeping me safe from what they perceived as a threat. Why would they have thought otherwise? As far as any of them had known—as far as I had known—I had no kin. There was no reason for anyone to be asking about me unless they had some sort of malicious intent.

  “Rogers did some digging around,” Mr. Huffman was saying, “and was able to piece together that Roy Campbell had taken off years back, when you’d have been twelve or thirteen, and the woman over at the grocery had raised you after that. We went over there, me and Rogers did, to that store.”

  That both shocked and frightened me, and I’m not sure why. The closeness of two worlds colliding, maybe, both to do with me but only one known by me.

  “Met Billy May Platte, the owner. Nice woman. Very nice woman. It put my heart at ease a little bit, that this was the woman raised you. We made small talk with her, found out you was at Marshall by then. She was a sharp woman, too. After a couple minutes of talking to her, she squinted up at me and said, ‘Who are you, and what is it you really want?’”

  That would be my Billy Momma. Yes, indeed, she was smart. My heart swelled.

  “I looked down at her then,” Mr. Huffman said. “She was a tiny woman, but she was a tough one. I seen my search was over. She had took good care of you, that woman had. You was grown by then. You’d made it. I didn’t reckon you’d have any need of me, and I heard by her words that y'all was close. I’d heard enough about Roy Campbell by then to know what them couple of years with him must have been like for you. She had saved you from that when I hadn’t.”

  He watched me, but I gave nothing away. It was over. No point in bringing Roy up again. Besides, over the last week I’d begun to believe that there might be some sort of contentment out there for me. I was longing to break free from the past that had held me hostage for so many years.

  Mr. Huffman continued to study me. “I reckon I know what he did, anyway,” he said. “I reckon I do, the bastard.” He pulled his handkerchief out and blew his nose again. “Didn’t figure you’d have any use for me. After all I’d found out, I couldn’t blame you. I’d failed you. I reckoned if I was you, I wouldn’t want nothing to do with me, either. Kept in touch with Rogers, though. Went to your graduation from Marshall. Went to all your premiers. Always kept up with you.”

  This absolutely shocked me. He’d kept up with my career?

  “Heard about Ms. Platte’s passing, too, and about you opening up this place,” he said. “It was the perfect opportunity, you know. I couldn’t pass it up. I needed to see you.”

  “Why?” I asked. “After all these years, why now?”

  “I’m getting old,” he said. “Haven’t been well these last few years. Heart disease. It’s genetic, from what I understand. Cholesterol is the problem. Always high, my whole life, no matter what I did. They tell me my children will likely have the same problem.” He paused.

  “So the toothbrush, the hairbrush you dropped, Mrs. Huffman, when I surprised you this evening. For DNA tests? Was that the idea?” I had to get to the bottom of that.

  “It was,” Mr. Huffman confirmed. “I always felt in my heart you was mine, but I didn’t want to burden you with medical stuff if you wasn’t. I had to make sure.” He sighed. “The truth is I’m on borrowed time. Ain’t going to be around too much longer. Now Opal,” he said, when she stirred beside him, “you know it’s true.”

  He look
ed back at me. “Ms. McIntosh, all them years I tried to find you to provide for you, I set that money aside. I been saving it up for you, just kept on saving it even after you was grown and didn’t need it. A hundred a month is what I saved. It ain’t much, but it’s all I could do, and it rightfully belongs to you. Needed to make sure you got it before I’m gone.”

  I waved that away; the last thing I was concerned about was money. Suddenly, I felt as if I couldn’t listen to anymore, not that night. “Mr. Huffman, and you too, Mrs. Huffman, I’m truly grateful to you both for explaining things to me, but as you can imagine, it’s a lot to take in. I hope you won’t think I’m rude if I excuse myself. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. Nora, I appreciate you staying so long, but you must be exhausted. You should go home, and I really think it’s time I head to my room.”

  I didn’t mean to be rude, but it was just too much. I found myself unable to continue.

  Chapter 39

  “One more minute, Jessie,” Nora held out a hand to stop me as I stood to leave. We still don’t have all the answers.”

  I doubted we would ever have all the answers, but I sank tiredly back onto the couch. “What do you mean? Nora, I really don’t want to do this any longer tonight.”

  “The fire,” she said. “The break in. The chemicals. What about those things? Jessie, that’s what got you out here to begin with.” I was reeling so much from all the revelations of the evening that I’d completely forgotten.

  Nora looked at the Huffmans. “Am I to assume you’re responsible for those things?”

  “No ma’am,” Mr. Huffman answered emphatically as Mrs. Huffman vehemently shook her head. “Absolutely not. We didn’t have nothing to do with those things. We’d never do something that might hurt these kids. You’ve got to believe that.”

  “Don’t you think it’s a little too much of a coincidence that they happened right after you started working here?” Nora pressed him.

  “Yes ma’am, I do,” Mr. Huffman answered, “and that worries me. But we didn’t have nothing to do with them things happening. It’s true as soon as Rogers found out about this place we went and applied for a position. Didn’t get hired on at first, so we reapplied when we saw the ads in the paper for a groundskeeper and a housekeeper.

  “I didn’t know how often Ms. McIntosh visited, but I figured before long we’d come in contact with her if we was here. We’d have a chance to get to know her a little bit, have a chance to get some DNA. Up until then, we hadn’t figured how to go about getting a sample. Thought about sending Rogers out to California to see if he could get one somehow, but he’s older now, you know. Not working as much.

  “When this come up, it was just perfect. If it turned out for sure you was mine, Ms. McIntosh, we’d be set to tell you the truth about things. Didn’t know exactly how we’d do it, but that was the plan.”

  “Did you ever consider approaching me directly?” I asked. “Just explaining and asking me for a sample?” It seemed like such a simple solution.

  “Would you have given it?” Mr. Huffman asked.

  That was a good question. I didn’t know the answer. More than likely I would have thought they were kooks. When you have a lot of money, people do unbelievable things to try to get their hands on it. What would I have done if a strange, elderly couple had approached me in L.A., told this fantastic story, and asked for a DNA sample? I probably would have thought they were pulling some sort of scam and called security. I wasn’t sure what made it different hearing it up on Crutcher Mountain, but for some reason it was.

  “Ms. McIntosh,” he continued, “the way we went about planning things out might be wrong, but we didn’t mean no harm to nobody, and we did not do them things y'all are asking me about. I swear to God we didn’t have nothing to do with that.” Mr. Huffman slapped his thighs for emphasis.

  “I suppose it’s really up to the sheriff to figure all this out now,” Nora told him. “Sheriff Moore is aware that Jessie suspected you might be her father. As for your jobs, I’m going to need to sit down and figure out the best way to handle all this and a great deal will depend on what we hear from Sheriff Moore tomorrow.”

  “Fair enough,” Mr. Huffman replied. “Just know we want to stay if you want to have us.”

  We left them sitting side by side, both looking a little confused and even more worried. As Nora and I softly closed their door behind us, she grasped my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  I shrugged. “I’m numb,” I said. “Information overload. It’ll take some time to sort things out.”

  “Yes, it will,” she replied. “And if they’re telling the truth, we still don’t know who’s responsible for the vandalism. I’m not sure what to think about all this, but something still seems off to me.” She yawned. “I don’t suppose we’re going to solve it tonight. I’ll see you in the morning; give me a call tonight if you need to.” She gave my shoulder a pat.

  “Will do,” I said, though of course I wouldn’t. I waved goodbye as Nora turned to go, then let myself into my room. I was beat; what I really wanted was a long, hot bath, but I knew Corinne and crew would be getting worried by now. I had promised to call them. I flopped across the bed and dialed. It was Michael who answered.

  “We were about to send out a posse,” he joked. “Seriously, is everything okay?”

  “It’s been an interesting evening,” I said. “It’s too much to go into tonight, but we’ll definitely have stimulating dinner conversation tomorrow.”

  “I can hardly wait. Can we have a hint?”

  I smiled. “Sure,” I told him. “Let’s see. My father has been lurking around here trying to get a DNA sample, I’ve been stalked by a private investigator nearly my entire life, and my mother died in a house fire when I was eighteen. Is that enough?”

  It was so quiet I thought the call had dropped. “Wow,” he finally said. “Yes, that will definitely be an interesting dinner conversation. I’m speechless. So the Huffmans are the ones, after all, who set the fire and wrote the note?”

  “They say they had nothing to do with any of that,” I replied. “For some crazy reason, I tend to believe them.”

  “You need to keep your guard up,” Michael said. “If they aren’t the ones, then we still don’t know who is. Are you okay tonight?”

  “I’m fine,” I said, “just really needing some space from it all right now. I’m going to take a hot bath and go in search of a cup of tea. This is all going to take a while to sink in; there’s no need for me to dwell on it anymore tonight.”

  “Sounds like a good plan,” he said. “We’ll see you tomorrow at two-thirty. Call if you need anything.”

  “Will do,” I said for the second time that night, and that time I actually meant it.

  Twenty minutes later, bathed and in sweats, I let myself quietly out of my room and padded barefoot across the common area. My plan was to visit the kitchen in search of teabags. Hopefully, Mrs. Huffman kept a supply. I suppose I could have simply knocked on their door and asked, but I’d had enough of the Huffmans for the night.

  From the office at the end of the children’s wing Sarah looked up and waved. Bryan was apparently just wrapping up a fifteen minute check of the children, clipboard in hand. Just as he looked up to greet me, we both heard a muffled sound.

  I knew that sound. As Bryan immediately started towards the darkened bedroom I stepped forward. “I’ll take care of it, Bryan. I had wanted to visit with him tonight, anyway.”

  “Thanks, Jessie. Fill me in on what’s going on, okay?” Bryan’s expression was worried.

  “I’ll let you know.”

  Bryan headed to the office and I stepped into Robby’s room. He was turned to the wall, facing away from me. I was surprised to see he was on the bottom bunk. All I could make out in the dim light was the vague shape of his little body, curled tight. I could hear Anthony snoring softly on the top bunk. I could hear Robby crying on the bottom.

  I sat on the floor beside his bed and placed my hand gently on
his back. I felt his shoulders shaking as he cried and I knew the loneliness of those tears; I had shed them often enough myself. What I wanted more than anything in that moment was to take his pain away. A little boy should not have to know such pain.

  Somewhere within my memory I recalled a song sung to me by Billy May on a terrible night thirty-four years before. Osda adenedi, I sang quietly to Robby in the language of Billy May’s Cherokee mother. The good spirits will watch over you. One way or another they would; I’d make sure of it. This was the promise I made.

  Chapter 40: Robby

  Hi. Well it is me Robby and I am not having a very good night. No I am not. I told Anthony he should sleep on the top bunk tonight because I thought he would rock and keep me awake and I don’t want to go to sleep. But he did not rock. He went to sleep and now I don’t know how to stay awake. I do not want to sleep because I do not want tomorrow to be here.

  If I fall asleep and tomorrow gets here do you know what will happen? I do. Mrs. Cortes will come for the tour and brunch and stuff. I like Mrs. Cortes and she is a nice lady but she is not a mother or a father or a grandfather. Well maybe she is to somebody but not to me. Everybody else has a mother or a father or a grandfather or maybe even a grandmother coming. I have a caseworker and that is not the same thing. It is not the same thing at all.

  I don’t want to live in the woods like Cody and Dave on Dual Survival. I don’t want to eat plants and bugs and drink my own pee. I want to live in a house with a mom or a dad or maybe even both. That would be awesome. I don’t really want a sister but I will deal with one if that is the only family that will take me and I will be nice to her. I will eat spaghetti if that is what they give me to eat but I don’t like spaghetti.

  Mr. Paul says sometimes you have to compromise. At first I did not know what that means but Mr. Paul says that means people have to work together to make things work out right. I will compromise with a family if one will take me even though I don’t like sisters and I don’t like spaghetti and I have Down Syndrome.