by Kathi Daley
Chapter 10
Tuesday, October 23
I woke with a smile I couldn’t control. Yes, it was pouring rain, and yes, I’d have to spend the day delivering mail in a downpour. And while I was sorry Tony hadn’t stayed, I was happy to have some time to myself to relive the memory of those few perfect moments when the world ceased to exist as Tony’s lips finally found mine. Not that we hadn’t kissed before. We had: a friendly peck of greeting or departure. But in all the years I’d known him, we’d never allowed ourselves to abandon ourselves as we had last night. I wondered what those brief moments in the rain would mean for us. I was both excited and terrified to find out.
Lord, I was a basket of emotions I had no idea what to do with.
Tang saved me from my self-analysis by batting at my face with his paw. He wasn’t one to be kept waiting once morning had dawned and breakfast was due. I rolled out of bed, pulled on a heavy sweatshirt, and made my way into the living area of the cabin. I opened the door and let Tilly out, then filled the cat bowls with food and water. When Tang and Tinder were taken care of, I started some coffee, then turned on the television to check the weather, which, unfortunately, predicted more than three inches of rain in the next twenty-four hours. I supposed that meant my Halloween lights would have to wait. I hoped Tony would still come over. Maybe we could just build a fire and share a pizza. It would be nice to snuggle in my cozy little cabin while the storm raged outside. I’d text him later to see what he thought.
I touched my hand to my lips. Again, I wondered where our relationship would go from here. Would things seem strange? Would we begin to feel awkward around each other? Would the most perfect moment of my life turn out to be the one I’d live to regret the most?
Tilly barked, letting me know she was ready to come in. I opened the door, then stood back while she shook about a quart of water out of her thick coat. I grabbed a towel and dried her off, then went into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee. Tilly went over to her bowl and began to wolf down her breakfast. My stomach was too topsy-turvy for food this morning so I’d stick with coffee.
“I think I’m going to leave you home today,” I said to Tilly. “No use both of us being miserable. If we get as much rain as predicted, it’s going to be pretty awful.”
Tilly glanced up at me, then returned her attention to her food.
I looked out the window at the rain coming down in sheets. It was nice and warm inside and I had no desire to head out into the storm. But I had a job to do, so despite my desire to call in sick and go back to bed, I headed to the shower and planned to get an early start on the day.
******
“Morning, Hattie. Something smells good,” I greeted Hattie Johnson, Hap’s ex-wife and current girlfriend. I think. I’m not 100 percent sure of the legal status of their relationship. They used to be married but had since parted. They lived in separate homes but continued to see each other and, as far as I knew, their relationship was considered to be exclusive.
“Pumpkin-nut muffins just out of the oven,” Hattie answered. “Do you want one?”
I glanced out the window at the pouring rain. I was only a quarter of the way through my route, but I was already chilled to the bone. “If it’s accompanied by a cup of hot coffee and Bruiser will scoot over and allow me to join him by your fireplace. I’m freezing. It’ll be good to warm up for a minute.”
Hattie glanced at her rescue dog, who was snoring away the morning. “I think Bruiser will be willing to share, and you look like you need to warm up. That slicker you have on doesn’t seem to be doing its job,” she observed as I slipped it off and hung it on a coatrack to dry out a bit.
“It’s the wind. It blows the slicker up, letting the rain get under it. I love rain if I can sit at home and watch it, but if I have to be out in something, I prefer snow.”
“Heard this storm is going to blow though overnight and snow won’t be far behind.”
Great. I tried to smile as I took a sip of my coffee, but I was already tired and I still had most of my day to go.
“Where is Tilly today?”
“I decided to have mercy on her and let her stay home with the cats. Tony’s going to stop by later to let her out. I miss having her with me, but there’s no reason for both of us to be miserable.”
“Sounds like a decision a good mom would make, and I’m sure Tony doesn’t mind helping out. I heard about the mystery you kids have been researching up there at Harrington House. Hap filled me in on Sunday when we had dinner, but he didn’t have all the details.”
“We’ve found out quite a bit since I last spoke to Hap.” I took a few minutes to bring Hattie up-to-date while I drank my coffee and nibbled on my muffin. “I don’t suppose you have any insight about who might have helped Hannah and Houston or what might have happened to Hillary?”
Hattie grew thoughtful. “I have no idea what might have happened to the oldest girl, but I might have an idea who helped the younger two.”
“Who?” I asked, forgetting my discomfort.
“You said someone helped them find the tutor right around the time everyone thought they’d died?”
“That’s right.”
“So that was about sixty years ago?”
“Fifty-nine, to be exact. The tutor said whoever it was is still alive. I figure they’d need to be eighty, or thereabouts. She didn’t say for a fact that this person is still in White Eagle, but my gut tells me they could very well be.”
“Keep in mind, my family didn’t move to White Eagle until after the Harrington House was boarded up and deserted, but something Hap said made me think about Patricia Porter.”
“Pike’s wife?” I remembered Gordy Rothenberger saying Houston used to hang out with Pike from time to time. And I knew Pike was married to a midwife named Patricia in the fifties.
Hattie nodded. “Hap mentioned that Houston spent time with Pike. He would have been a young man back then. Newly married, from what I understand. From everything I’ve heard about Patricia, she was the giving and nurturing sort. Just the type to help a couple of kids in need.”
“That makes sense, but Patricia’s dead.”
“One of Patricia’s best friends is still alive, and she lived here back then.”
Bella, I realized. Bella Bradford hadn’t said a thing to indicate Hannah and Houston hadn’t died when I’d spoken to her, but then, she wouldn’t. Maybe now that we knew the truth, and Mike had said he had no plans to arrest anyone, she’d share the rest of the story.
“I need to talk to her. That will mean I’m never going to finish my route on time, but now that I’ve come this far, I feel like I need the last few details. Thanks for the coffee and the conversation.”
“My pleasure, dear. I hope you find the answers you’re looking for.”
I decided to finish at least the first half of my route before going over to Bella’s. I wanted to find my answers, but I didn’t want to be irresponsible. People depended on me to get the mail to them in a timely manner, and that was exactly what I’d do. I’d just need to keep my head down to avoid conversations about the weather. It was the hot topic of the day, but I managed not to be drawn in to chatter about it until I got to Bree’s bookstore.
“Did you talk to Mike?” she asked the minute I walked in with her stack of only slightly damp mail.
“I spoke to him yesterday, after he spoke to the tutor.”
“Can you imagine keeping a secret like that all these years?” Bree picked up a pile of books and started to shelve them. “I mean, I guess I understand why she did, but wow.”
“I’m glad Mike isn’t going to pursue the matter. I totally understand why she did what she did and consider her a hero, but some cops might look at it differently.”
Bree paused with a book in her hand. “Mike’s a good guy. He cares about people. He does his job, but when it comes right down to it, he puts people first. I should have remembered that when I got so mad at him over Donny.”
“But if you
hadn’t gotten mad over Donny, Mike wouldn’t have had reason to play your secret admirer and send you gifts at Valentine’s Day, and you might not be together today.”
“True. I guess things turned out just the way they were supposed to.”
“Listen, I have to go so I have time to chat with Bella Bradford during my break. I’ll call you later. Maybe we can make plans for the weekend.”
“Okay. Try not to catch pneumonia. It’s really nasty out there.”
Nasty, I decided, was an understatement, but I chose this job and tried to enjoy it in good weather and bad.
By the time my lunch break came around I was exhausted, but I still wanted to talk to Bella. I’d suspected she knew more than she’d let on and remembered she’d been the one who gave me Rena Wiggins’s name. I supposed giving us a clue that would lead us to the person who seemed to have most of the answers we were looking for might have been her subtle way of helping us find our answers without betraying a trust. She’d said she didn’t know what had happened to Hillary, but she’d never said what she knew about the death of Hannah and Houston. In fact, when we’d asked, she’d steered the conversation to Henrietta’s death.
It really did make sense that Bella, along with Pike and Patricia, could have helped those kids. She would have been in her twenties then, so she most likely had resources to help them. Bella, like Rena, had been a teacher, so they might have known each other. And from everything I’d heard about Patricia, she was just the sort to dive in and help out when there was a need. I could see her asking Bella for help.
By the time I arrived at Bella’s, I was more than exhausted but determined. She appeared to be surprised to see me when I knocked on her door, but I briefly explained why I was there and she invited me in. I took off my wet outerwear but was still damp beneath it, so I declined the offer to sit on her sofa and instead took a seat on the raised fireplace hearth.
“Thank you for agreeing to talk to me,” I started in. “I’m still working on the mystery of the Harrington family and have a few more questions. First off, let me catch you up with what I’ve learned since I was here last week.”
A thoughtful expression crossed Bella’s face as I shared what I knew. When I got to the part about figuring out that Hannah and Houston hadn’t really died, she looked surprised but also relieved.
“I’ve lived with that secret for so long. It was the right thing to do, but still, it was a difficult secret to keep.”
“I agree with you,” I said, “and Mike thinks so as well. He isn’t going to press any charges against Rena or anyone else involved in the cover-up. Based on what I’ve figured out, it seems as if it might have been Patricia who asked you to help out?”
Bella nodded her head. “Yes, it was Patricia. After the nanny died, Houston started coming into town. He was only fourteen, so I’m not sure why he started hanging out in the bar, but Pike was a nice guy back then, and Houston seemed to enjoy his company, so Pike would give him a cola and they’d chat while he swept up before opening for the day. In the beginning, Pike didn’t know the nanny was dead, but eventually Houston told him the truth. He also shared with him his fear of what might happen if his father found out the nanny had passed away, and his desire to track down the tutor who, according to Houston, was the only adult he’d ever really cared about.”
Bella took a deep breath and then continued. “Pike talked to Patricia about the situation and they both agreed it would be a tragedy to return the children to their neglectful father. Patricia knew I was a teacher and thought I might know the tutor because of it. As it turned out, I’d met her, but I didn’t know where she’d gone after she left here. I agreed to help them track her down. It took a while, but eventually we were successful. Rena wanted very much to help Hannah and Houston, but she was certain their father would never just let them go, so we came up with the idea of faking their deaths. It was easier than I thought it would be. There was already so much speculation about what sorts of things were going on out at the house, no one questioned it when we started a rumor about their deaths. We knew it would be less believable if they disappeared at the same time, so we started with Hannah. She went to stay with Rena Wiggins while Houston stayed behind. He said Hannah had fallen ill and died, that he had buried her, even went so far as to dig up the dirt and provide a headstone in case someone checked, although I don’t think anyone ever did.”
“No one checked on Houston’s story?”
Bella shook her head. “That was one of the saddest parts about the whole thing. I couldn’t believe not one person questioned the fact that he buried his sister on his own. It just shows how bad things were back then.”
“Wow.” I ran my hands through my damp hair. I felt a chill, but I wasn’t certain it was from the cold. “Then what happened?”
“Shortly after the rumors surrounding Hannah’s death began to slow down, we enlisted Wilbur’s help. Houston went to live with Rena, as Hannah already had, and Wilbur started a rumor, which Pike, Patricia, and I supported, that he had gone by the Harrington House to check on the youngest son and found him dead on the patio. It appeared he had jumped to his death from the third-floor window. I was nervous about that one, but no one batted an eye. Wilbur said he’d buried the boy in the family plot and no one looked any further for an explanation. I guess people assumed the nanny moved on after the death of the last child. No one asked about her, but I don’t think anyone imagined she’d been dead for quite some time. I know it was wrong of me not to report her death, but my allegiance was to those poor kids.”
“And the children’s father never came out to check on things?”
Bella tilted her head. “Not as far as I know. I think he left them there to die. Once it was done, he was happy it was over.”
That, I decided, had to be the saddest thing of all.
“And Hillary? You said you didn’t know what happened to her, but…” I let my thought trail off.
Bella didn’t answer right away.
“You do know something,” I said.
“I didn’t at first. But later, after Houston suggested we bring Wilbur in to help with things, I learned something I hadn’t known before.”
I paused for a breath, then forged ahead. “Are you willing to tell me what you know?”
Bella looked at me, then down at her hands. She seemed to be struggling with her thoughts, so I waited quietly, hoping she’d trust me enough to share what she’d learned. Eventually, she began to speak. “When Houston first suggested confiding in Wilbur and seeking his help, I was confused. The man had shot and killed his brother, and there was a lot of speculation still that he was responsible for Hillary’s disappearance. I said as much to him, and that was when he told me that Hillary wasn’t dead, and that he had helped her to escape.”
I didn’t respond, but I wasn’t surprised. In the back of my mind, I had suspected Hillary had done exactly that.
Bella continued. “I guess Hillary and Wilbur had struck up a friendship of sorts. She was miserable being locked up in the house, not allowed to go anywhere, but Wilbur lived close by, so when she did manage to sneak out, it was convenient to go to his place. Like I said before, Wilbur was a simple man with simple needs, but he was a nice man as well, with a lot of compassion. When Hillary asked for his help, he gave it.”
“So she ran away?”
“She did. According to Wilbur, she’d been talking about doing it ever since the family had been left by the father. None of the kids were thrilled with the situation, but Hillary was determined not to spend her life subjugated to the will of a madman. She worked out a plan with Wilbur to disappear. I guess she snuck out of the house and left the bloody clothes in the woods. Wilbur drove her to meet a boy she knew in San Francisco who’d agreed to drive all the way out to the Montana state line to pick her up and take her to a cousin of his who lived in New Mexico.”
I couldn’t help but frown. “I get why she wanted to run away, but I don’t understand why she didn’t tell her sibli
ngs. They went through a lot of worry for nothing.”
“I didn’t know Hillary, but I agree she sounds like a selfish girl. She wanted what she wanted, and I’m not sure it even occurred to her that she would cause the family all sorts of grief.”
“Did she know what happened to Hudson?” I asked. “Did she know he died trying to find out about her?”
Bella shrugged. “I don’t know. No one heard from her ever again. I have no idea if she lived a long life or died young.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “What a tragedy the whole thing was. Did Wilbur ever tell you what happened with Hudson? Why he was shot? How he died?”
Bella nodded. “Wilbur said Hudson came to his place a couple of weeks after Hillary ran away. He believed Wilbur had killed her and hidden the body, so he showed up with a gun aimed at his chest. Wilbur tried to explain, but Hudson wouldn’t listen to anything he said. Everything happened fast. Hudson had the gun and was prepared to fire, so Wilbur grabbed a log from the top of a pile of firewood he’d been stacking and threw it at him. Hudson tried to avoid it, stepped back, and tripped on the trunk of a tree Wilbur had been cutting into pieces. Hudson fell on the gun, which went off when he hit the ground. Wilbur called a friend for help. He went to Pennington, who came out to take a look at things. Wilbur told his story to him, and he decided the physical evidence supported his story. Wilbur was never charged with Hudson’s death. The rumor mill tended to bend the truth as it made its way through the community, but I don’t think anyone who knew Wilbur thought he’d shoot a man in cold blood. Most were willing to let the story stand.”