by J B Hawker
“Well, come on in. Have you eaten lunch? I’ve got lots of this vegan mac and pseudo cheese…”
“No thanks,” Eskaletha replied as she and Elizabeth entered the kitchen.
“At least have a cup of herb tea,” Judy insisted.
“Sure, thanks,” Elizabeth said.
Turning to switch on her kettle, Judy asked, “So, did you find anything? Even a tiny clue?”
“We did find something, but it wasn’t any sign of Naidenne,” Eskaletha replied.
“What was it?” Judy set their cups on the table.
Eskaletha tried to stall by taking a sip of her tea and began to choke at the bitter taste.
“Are you okay?” Judy said, while Elizabeth handed over a napkin.
“I’m fine. I guess the tea was still too hot. What kind of herb tea is this?”
“It’s my own blend. Isn’t it nice? I use some herbs from my garden, of course, but I enhance it with wild herbs I pick in the woods, plus a nice root I found. I think it tastes a lot like sassafras, although that doesn’t grow around here. You know root teas are wonderful medicines. They cure tongue sores, bronchitis, peptic ulcers, hiatal hernia, Crohn's, Celiac, irritable bowel syndrome, and even cystitis, kidney, bladder and urinary tract infections. I’m not sure what my tea cures, yet, except I know it is great for constipation.”
“How nice,” Eskaletha commented, pushing her teacup away ever so slightly.
“You didn’t say what you found,” Judy prompted.
“What we found, dear, is a litter of puppies being kenneled in the old gas station,” Elizabeth said.
“Puppies? Oh, no! Why would anyone leave little baby doggies in a nasty place like that?”
“They weren’t just left there. They were being cared for. They had food and water and a sort of pen. And we think we know who put them there, or at least someone who knows about it,” Elizabeth replied.
“Who?”
“We found this in the puppy’s pen,” Eskaletha handed over the scrap of notebook paper.
“Astilbe? My Astilbe?”
“Is there another?” Eskaletha asked.
“But how did she get a litter of puppies? And why would she keep them in that old station?”
“We were hoping you might ask her. If the puppies don’t belong to anyone, we are willing to find them homes. They are darling little things,” Elizabeth said.
“You know I don’t really believe in keeping our fellow creatures as pets. It’s exploitation and dehumanizes them. But I would rather see them cared for in that patronizing way than for them to be abandoned or shut up in a cold empty building. I’ll talk to Astilbe when she gets home from school and let you know what I find out.”
“Thanks, Judy,” Elizabeth said.
“Did you leave the puppies where you found them?”
“Yes, they are safe there, at least for now, but if someone owns them, they had better move them soon. If no one claims these four pups, and we can’t find them homes, they will need to go to the animal shelter,” Eskaletha said.
“Oh, dear. They kill unwanted animals there, don’t they? Well, I’ll talk to my daughter today.”
Driving away, Eskaletha reminded Elizabeth they were going to renew their search for Naidenne, starting back at square one.
“Sure, but not today, Letha. I’m beat. This whole puppy thing just wore me out. I was up early doing my arthritis exercises and I’ve got a Bible Study to lead tonight,” Elizabeth said. “I can’t keep up with you younger women like I used to, I’m afraid.”
“Okay, I’ll try to get everyone together tomorrow. But I hate to think of Naidenne being out there, wherever she is, for another hour, let alone another night.”
*
Scott was backing out of his driveway when Bunny arrived in her rental car. When he saw her, he stopped and stepped out to greet her with a hug.
“How are you holding up?” Bunny asked with her face mashed against his chest.
“What’d you say?” Scott asked, stepping back.
“I asked how you’re doing, but I guess I can tell. I’m so sorry for all you’re going through. Has there been any news about Naidenne?”
“Nothing since you and the others found the blood smears. The police lab said there wasn’t enough blood for quick tests. Although it is human, we won’t know the DNA results for a week or so.”
“It was from some trespasser, don’t you think? Maybe there were a couple of guys staying there, and maybe they were drinking and got into a fight and the loser…the guy who was bleeding…maybe he ran off and the winner stayed on. Maybe he’s the guy who took Judy’s car.”
“Sure, it was probably something like that…but, Bunny, I had to give them Naidenne’s hairbrush for a DNA sample,” Scott replied, his voice catching as he spoke.
“Is your sister inside? Maybe we should go in and have a nice visit,” she said, trying to distract Scott.
“No, you go in. She’ll be happy to see you, but I’m on my way to that house. I have to see for myself if there is anything the police missed.”
“Shall I come with you?” Bunny offered.
Scott started to say that wouldn’t be necessary, then changed his mind.
“Thanks. I think I could use the company.”
“Just let me pop in and let Rosamund know I’ll be back to see her when we get done,” Bunny said.
She walked up onto the porch and rapped on the door, while Scott waited beside his car.
“Bunny! I’m so glad you came back. Come in, come in,” Rosamund greeted her.
“I can’t, now. I’m going to keep Scott company while he checks out that house…you know, the one with the blood,” she replied, lowering her voice at the last few words. “I’ll come back with him afterward, if I may, then we can have a really good visit.”
“Of course. Thanks for keeping an eye on him,” Rosamund said as she gave Bunny a quick hug.
“See you later!” she called cheerfully to Scott and Bunny as they drove away.
When she turned to go inside her face was downcast. She had little hope that the pair of amateur sleuths would find anything useful. With every passing hour Rosamund was becoming more discouraged about Naidenne ever being found.
*
When Ken returned to the manse with their daughters, Judy was waiting for them.
“Please, all of you come sit down,” she said as soon as they came through the door.
“We need to change, Mom,” Paisley complained.
“What’s this about?” Ken asked.
“Our daughters have something to tell us, Ken. Don’t you, girls?”
“What are you talking about?” Paisley asked, wide-eyed.
“We haven’t done anything wrong. We stayed in class all afternoon, like you told us to, didn’t we, Dad?” Astilbe said, turning to her father for confirmation.
“This isn’t about your recent truancy…or maybe it is,” Judy said, suddenly putting two and two together.
“I know where you’ve been going when you’ve been skipping school,” she told the girls.
Hearing this, Ken and the girls sat down, Ken leaning forward, eager to hear, while the girls slumped down onto the sofa, crossing their arms protectively.
“Would you like to explain yourselves, or shall I tell your father what you’ve been up to?”
Ken turned to look at his daughters, his face like thunder, obviously expecting the worst.
“It’s not that bad, Dad. Honest,” Paisley protested.
“We didn’t know what else to do,” Astilbe offered. “We knew you and Mom would never let us have them here.”
“Have who here? Are you involved with some bad kids? Drug users? Boys!?” Ken’s imagination was running away with him. “Don’t tell me you’re pregnant!”
“Dad!” the horrified twins cried in unison.
“Now calm down. It’s nothing to do with boys; at least I don’t think it is. You girls had better start explaining before your father has a stroke. F
rom the beginning, if you please.”
The sisters looked at each other, silent messages zipping through the air between them, then, with a nod, Paisley began to speak, “We found the puppies…”
“Puppies?” Ken interrupted.
“We found them on the way to school one morning a couple of months ago,” she continued, with a pointed look at her father. “They were really tiny and didn’t even have their eyes open.”
“Someone had dumped them beside the road in an old cardboard box! We couldn’t just leave them there,” Astilbe added.
“We knew you wouldn’t let us have them here, not with the way Mom feels about keeping God’s creatures as pets, and you’ve told us lots of time, Dad, that animals don’t belong in a house. So, we had to figure out what to do with them,” Paisley explained.
“We couldn’t let the animal control people just kill them. They’re innocent babies,” Astilbe said.
“When we noticed the open restroom window at that old gas station, we figured we could put them there, just until they were big enough to fend for themselves, you know?”
“So, you have been skipping school to visit and care for these puppies ever since, is that right?” Ken asked.
The girls nodded in unison.
He was so relieved at their relatively innocent offense; it was all he could do to keep from smiling broadly as he spoke.
“Where did you get the supplies; food and water and so on?” he asked.
“We used our lunch money and our allowance,” Astilbe replied.
“You lied to your father and me. Even though you were trying to take care of God’s helpless creatures, you went about it in the wrong way. We are both very disappointed in you.”
“I’m sorry,” the girls chorused.
“How did you find out?” Astilbe asked in a small voice.
“That doesn’t matter, now. We need to decide what to do about these puppies,” Judy said.
“The dogs can go to the pound; that is what it is for. The real question is what to do with these girls,” Ken asserted.
“Oh, Daddy, we were only trying to help. And we won’t cut school, ever, ever again!” Paisley cried.
“You certainly won’t. But there must be consequences for your disobedience and dishonesty. Perhaps having your phones taken away for a month would be appropriate.”
“Not our phones,” the girls moaned.
“Say, Dad, I know… why not give us community service chores, like they do in the courts?” Paisley suggested.
“That might be a good idea, Ken,” Judy said.
“We could polish the pews and throw out the wilted flowers at church!” Astilbe suggested.
“Or help in the nursery,” Paisley said.
“No. Let the punishment fit the crime. I think our daughters would benefit from volunteering at the senior care facility. If they are so tender-hearted about dogs, let them learn to have that same concern for the helpless and vulnerable older people in our community. I’m going to call Mrs. Joiner, who works as the activity director there.”
His mind made up, he left the room to make the phone call, leaving his stunned wife and daughters gazing after him.
Chapter Twenty-three
At last! The shredded fabric was finally weak enough for Naidenne to tear her hands free.
She slumped down in exhaustion, holding her chaffed and bloodied wrists tenderly on her lap, lifting a heartfelt thanks to God.
She knew she should hurry to untie her legs but couldn’t quite summon the strength.
After several moments of inertia, Naidenne forced herself to tackle the apron around her knees.
The fabric had become stretched from her various escape attempts, but the knots were still tight, and her hands were weak. She was just able to push the cloth down over her calves to her ankles, where it was blocked by the apron-tie hobbles.
These were similarly loosened, and she was soon able to push both loops of cloth off over her feet.
For the first few moments, sitting on the hard floor with her legs splayed out in front of her seemed as luxurious as a resort’s poolside chaise lounge, as she reveled in her limbs’ freedom.
Soon the painful sensation of blood flowing into previously cramped tissues prompted her to try to stand to relax and stretch her knotted muscles.
Her arms were also weak after being tied behind her back for so long. She tried to pull herself up by leaning on a nearby packing box. As soon as she put weight on her right arm, a jolt of pain shot through her shoulder and upper chest.
Her shoulder seemed to have been injured in the fall down the chute.
By keeping her weight on her left hand, she was able to get to her knees, balance against the box and get both feet under her, so she could ease to a standing position, wobbling only a little.
This upright perspective gave her a better sense of her surroundings.
She could see there were no exits other than the high, narrow windows and the way she’d dropped in. Even without an injured shoulder, she would never have managed to navigate either option.
Taking a good look, now, at the wall closing off this area from the rest of the basement, she saw there was no insulation or drywall on this side of the framing. She might be able to break through the single layer of sheetrock to the other side.
She was in no condition to attempt it with her bare hands, though. She would need some sort of tool.
She’d seen high-heeled shoes sometimes used as hammers in the movies, but she’d lost her shoes somewhere and they were only soft-soled flats, anyway.
There had to be something buried in the clutter in the cellar which she could use to batter her way out.
Naidenne was very shaky. When she turned from side to side, looking for an implement of some kind, she felt light-headed and had to sit on the packing box until a wave of nausea passed.
She stood again, slowly, and began taking shuffling steps toward the kitchen cabinets, hopeful the careless remodelers left kitchen utensils in the drawers. A cleaver would be ideal, but even a steak knife would be better than nothing.
Moving across the damp, chilly basement was a torturous process, as weak and dizzy as she was, but she finally reached the counter.
While she opened drawers and cabinets, the disused kitchen sink seemed to mock her thirst.
Although the appliances had been removed before the area was walled off, she couldn’t resist turning the taps, on the slim chance disconnecting the water from this sink had been overlooked.
Her action was a waste of precious energy, resulting in only silence, instead of the gush of refreshing water she longed for. She would have welcomed even rusty, brackish water to moisten her parched lips and throat. Disappointment almost overwhelmed her.
Swallowing her discouragement, she went back to looking for an implement she could use to attack the wall.
In an upper cabinet, out of sight of anyone shorter than she, Naidenne finally found something. It was an old-fashioned can opener, the kind they used to call a church key when she was a kid. Could it be the key to her freedom that would return her to the church parsonage and Scott?
Grasping for any straw of encouragement, she desperately hoped this was a good omen.
Rolling her eyes at this descent into superstition, she nevertheless felt more assured as she steadily worked her way back to the wall, her leg muscles cramping in protest.
*
Driving away from the parsonage, Scott turned to Bunny and spoke.
“I should have said this sooner, but I was really sorry to hear about Max. Are you doing okay?”
“Thanks. It was a shock. I was pretty much a zombie, at first. I couldn’t quite take it in, you know?”
“Yes. I do know.”
“Of course, you do. Losing your first wife and precious daughter, and now Naidenne’s disappearance, is so much worse. I’m sorry for being so insensitive.”
“No, I’m sorry. I should be trying to comfort you, not whining about my trouble
s. This business with Naidenne has sort of driven the pastoral care right out of me. I’m afraid I’ve begun feeling sorry for myself.”
“I wish there was something I could do, or say, to make things better. Not knowing what’s happened to her has to be driving you nearly insane.”
“Nearly? How about completely around the bend? I’ve had my faith tested in the past, but this…this is just about to break me, Bunny.”
“I won’t say all the usual platitudes now, Scott, like God only giving us what we can bear, all things working for good and all the rest, you aren’t ready to hear those things, even though they are true. But I know you. I know how strong you are, both physically and spiritually. Whatever happens, you will get through this.”
“What if we don’t ever find her? What if I never even know what happened?”
“I don’t believe that is going to happen. Not for one minute. And you shouldn’t, either. We are going to find Naidenne, or she’s going to come home on her own, somehow, and everyone is going to be just fine.”
“Is that what you thought when Max flew off on his last flight?”
“Yes, I did. And because I did, I didn’t have to deal with grief and pain one minute before it arrived. Have hope, Scott. We are going to find her. Hang onto that and don’t begin to anticipate unhappiness which may never materialize.”
Scott drove in silence for a while before responding.
“Did anyone ever tell you that you are a wise woman, Bunny?”
“Don’t be silly. Of course, not! Anyway, I only said what you would have said to me, if our situations were reversed.”
“Thanks, anyway,” Scott said and squeezed her hand, briefly.
“I think this is the turn into the driveway,” Bunny said.
Scott parked next to the house and locked the car, slipping the keys into his pocket with a wry smile at Bunny.
“No sense tempting history to repeat itself, I guess,” she remarked with a grin.
Sobering up, the two slowly walked around the house, intent on finding any small clue which might have been overlooked.
“What’s this?” Bunny asked, picking up a gray button with a scrap of fabric attached. What looked like the top of a zipper was still attached to the scrap.