Dark Witness

by Rebecca Forster

Hannah's eyes adjusted to the darkened room and the first thing she saw were the paintings covering every inch of every wall. The next thing she saw was the bed with its beautiful quilt. It wasn't until she looked at the room a second time that she saw the woman kneeling with her hands against the shutters, her head down, and her white gown puddled around her bare feet. Hannah twirled out of Duncan's grasp and tried to run. She didn't get far. Duncan twirled her back into his body and held her tight.

  "You haven't met your sister-in-law."

  "Let me out of here," Hannah whispered.

  "Un-huh, Hannah. That would be against God's wishes."

  "Not against mine, Duncan. You don't want me if I don't want you."

  "It isn't a matter of want, Hannah," Duncan said. He yanked her toward him and clamped a hand on the back of her neck. "Stop fidgeting. Stop."

  Hannah stared at his chest and tried to calm herself. Her strength was limited. She needed to wait for her moment.

  "That's better," he said. "As I was saying, my life has never been about what I wanted. Now, God has been very clear about why you are here. You are to be my wife. I have followed God my whole life, and I will follow him in this. Okay? Okay?"

  "Yes, Okay," Hannah answered.

  "Okay, Duncan." He pulled her tighter.

  "Okay, Duncan. I'm sorry. But I can't breathe. You're holding me too tight."

  "I'm sorry. You have had a bad time of it," he relaxed his grip a little. "It was so unfortunate what happened with the tea. I had no idea that poison was in my house."

  "What poison?"

  "It doesn't matter. None of it has anything to do with you except that you have survived. Another sign, Hannah. Twice you survived the unsurvivable. I can see why you were chosen. We will still have trials ahead, but nothing compared to what you've been through."

  "I guess. Sure – Duncan."

  Hannah pulled back. She had never been this close to him before and she didn't want to be this close to him now. He was stronger than her but not smarter. But smarter didn't matter because he had the conviction of his faith. Dark and twisted as that faith may be, it was his and she hoped reason could penetrate that wall.

  "My family is here," Hannah said. "They will be your in-laws and–”

  Duncan pulled her so hard and tight the words were pushed out of her.

  "They aren't your family. That is a State Trooper and he has no jurisdiction here. We've done nothing wrong."

  "My friend Archer is here, too." Hannah eased back a bit more. "That hurts, Duncan. Really. It does. Please. You're holding too tight."

  "Alright." He loosened his grip. "Sit on the rug. If Pea chooses to talk with you, she'll do it if you sit on the rug."

  "Thank you." Hannah sat down but kept her knees up and her hands on the floor.

  "You're welcome," Duncan said. "You are safe with Pea. No one will harm you in here for sure."

  "Archer wouldn't hurt me," she said. "He won't leave until he knows I'm okay. I don't want you to get in trouble for helping me and Billy–”

  "Get it through your head!" Duncan screamed and Hannah cringed, startled by his explosive anger. It took everything he had to calm himself, but when he did Duncan said. "Billy is gone and he won't come back." He worked his jaw. "I'm getting a little tired of people talking about him."

  That was it. Hannah had no choice. She stopped trying to make nice.

  "Yeah, well get used to it because I'm not going to stop talking about him," she said. "I know you did something to him, and I'm going to find out what it was. I am going to, Duncan."

  Hannah got to her knees but that was as far as she got. Duncan took a step forward and looked down on her.

  "It's God's will that he is gone. That's all you need to know."

  Hannah smirked. She couldn't play this God game as well as Duncan. But she would play another one; one she had learned watching the cool girls in school. She would play one against the other.

  Hannah's eyes narrowed, and she raised her voice. "Hey! Hey! Pea. Turn around."

  "Stop it," Duncan ordered. Hannah ignored him and started to crawl toward the woman in white.

  "Pea. Hey, Pea! Look at me. Your brother hurt Billy! Do you know Billy? That's not very godly, is it? Hey–”

  Duncan moved faster than Hannah thought possible. He swooped down and grabbed her, pulling her up until she thought he would pull her arm out of its socket.

  "Pea," Hannah screamed, but Pea paid no attention. Not when Hannah screamed her name one last time, and not when Duncan hauled off and backhanded her. Hannah's head snapped back. Her body went limp. Duncan Thoth dropped Hannah Sheraton onto one of Pea's pillows and then pushed his hair away out of his eyes.

  "The Lord works in mysterious ways does he not, Pea?"

  With that, Duncan stepped over Hannah and left the room.

  ***

  "Guillard!"

  Archer called for the trooper at the same time he ran for the house. He'd seen enough to know that Josie wasn't having a nice little talk with the lady of the house. Behind him, Andre called for Nell to stay put. A man came out of the shed and yelled, "Stop." Archer didn't stop.

  He was up the steps and in the house with Andre closing in fast. There was a woman on the floor of the living room and a pair of scissors on the other side of the hall. Archer reached for her, but she jerked away.

  "Don't touch me. Get out of here," she screamed, but Archer grabbed for her again. This time he got a good hold of her arm only to pull back when he realized he was holding bone as delicate as tinder wood. Then he grabbed her hard and pulled her up. If he broke that arm, so be it.

  "Where is Josie? Where's the woman who was in here?"

  "You will burn in hell–”

  Archer let her go just as Andre stormed into the house. Archer was about to tell him to check the back of the house when both men heard Josie calling Hannah's name. Archer and Andre hit the second floor landing running. Josie was at the far end of the hall, throwing her shoulder against a door.

  "Jo," he called.

  "Archer. She's here. She's here. Somewhere. These are hers."

  Josie waved the jeans at him like a red flag at a bull. Archer barreled down the hall and pushed her back. He put his shoulder into the door but the old wood was solid and all he got for his effort was a whole lot of pain. He was about to go at it again when he heard the lock engage. Andre had come up beside them and together they watched the knob turn. The door stayed closed.

  "Open up. Whoever is in there, open this door," Archer said as Josie called out Hannah's name. Archer looked over his shoulder. "Guillard. You're a cop. I want this door opened. You have cause."

  Before Andre could do anything, Duncan stormed toward them.

  "What is going on here? This is private property. This is a church. Get away! Get out!"

  Andre wasted no time. He turned on his heel and met Duncan half way, blocking him. "Stay back. Stay back."

  Duncan pushed at him. "I will own you. I will sue you. All of you get out of here now."

  "Hannah! Hannah! Where are you?"

  Josie's voice sounded above all the rest and she pounded her hand, flat palmed against the door only to stand back when it finally cracked open. Everyone fell silent. Andre took Duncan's arm and pulled him against the wall opposite the door. Archer stood beside Josie. The door opened wide enough for them to see Robert Butt cowering there. He was massive, wider than the door itself and almost as tall. His face was a mask, red and tough as raw meat on one side and baby-bottom pink on the other. He blinked at them. When he raised his arm, Archer tensed. Robert Butt put his sleeve to his nose and wiped it. Josie was the first to recover; she was the first to speak.

  "Do you know Hannah?" she asked.

  "Robert," Duncan warned but it was too late. Robert was not quick. He blinked.

  "Yes," he said. "Hannah's an angel."

  CHAPTER 30

  I've never been hit like that before. Not backhanded. It felt like everything that ever ticked off Duncan in h
is whole life was behind that smack. This doesn't bode well for a happy marriage.

  The one good piece of news is that he shut down my pity party pretty well. I'm still not feeling great, but I've got my legs working and I'm totally motivated. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get out of here, and I've got to do it before Archer leaves.

  If he hasn't already.

  If he hasn't given up, too.

  Like Billy.

  And then I hear it. That sound I heard on the first night. A trill. A burp. I say:

  "What?"

  The pillow Hannah was lying across felt really good. It was filled with down and covered with fine cotton and she was tempted to lie there and take whatever was going to come. Then she heard the bird-like trilling sound, the one she heard the first time she woke up in this house. She propped herself up on her elbow and hung her head. Her right eyeball felt like it was keeping a drum beat in its socket. Hannah wondered if Billy could tell her what muscles in a wrecked jaw connected with an eyeball. Not that it mattered. He wasn't there. It was just her and Pea.

  Finally, Hannah sat up and checked out the room. It was darker than dark in the corners but the fire cast shadows through the tin box that surrounded the stove. She got up slowly and stumbled over to where Pea knelt by the shuttered window. She knelt down. It didn't take long to figure out Pea wasn't going to say anything, so Hannah began to talk. She said the first thing that came to her mind

  "My name is Hannah. I'm just a kid. . ."

  ***

  "She's not dead. She's in that house, Andre. An angel," Josie spat. "That is such bull. We've got to go in now. Warrant or no warrant."

  Josie paced back and forth in front of the fire Nell had built. She moved out of the light and into the dark, out of the warm and into the cold. Archer, Andre, and Nell sat close to the fire and listened. They had stopped exchanging looks of frustration an hour earlier and were simply waiting for Josie to run out of steam. When it was clear that was not going to happen Andre put a stop to it. A man could only take so much talk.

  "We'll have a warrant by morning."

  "Josie, sit down," Nell begged. "Their snowmobile and boat are right here. From the looks of that boat, they aren't going anywhere in that thing."

  Josie stormed back to the fire and planted herself. She looked like some kind of an ancient goddess about to annihilate nonbelievers. "Listen to who's talking. All I heard from you two was how Alaska was different. Nobody follows the rules. So what are we waiting for if there aren't any rules?"

  "Jo, that's a stretch," Archer said. "Andre's a sworn officer."

  "Fine. He stays here. Nell, you stay, too. Archer and I'll go. There's got to be twenty ways to get into that house."

  "And they'll hear us coming a mile away," Archer pointed out.

  "He's right," Andre agreed. "And all that Alaskan independence could get you filled with buckshot. They'd have every right to defend themselves if you break into their place."

  "They're Christians. They aren't going to do that."

  "You must have flunked history," Nell mumbled. Josie turned toward her.

  "I figured you'd be on my side," Josie said.

  "We're all on your side," Andre said. "When we get that warrant, I will go in. Me. The law. I will search the premises. If your girl is in there, I will find her. If she's not there, we'll figure out where she is. It won't take much to get the big guy to talk as long as he's not around Duncan."

  Andre reached for his coffee cup. He was glad they'd been able to requisition a boat with a heater. Archer and Josie would sleep onboard; he and Nell would sleep in the open. That way he would have some quiet. Tomorrow he would have a warrant. Until then, he wasn't going to speculate, buy into Josie's hysteria, or be bullied.

  "That's it then?" Josie asked.

  "That's it," Andre said.

  "Archer?"

  "Sorry, Jo. I'm with him."

  "Okay. Fine." Josie turned on her heel. "I've got to pee."

  "Don't go far," Nell called and all they heard was a grunt of disdain. Nell looked at Archer. "You guys should think of moving up here."

  "Why's that?"

  "To give civilization a break."

  ***

  Billy stopped Mama Cecilia when he saw the store building through the trees. Billy did not want Mama Cecilia going back to Oki by herself in the dark, and she didn't want to hold him back so they struck a pact. Billy would settle Mama Cecilia in the forest far enough away that no one could see her campfire, and Mama would wait until Billy came back with his friend.

  Billy made her a campsite, assured himself that she would be warm enough and that she still had food to eat. She made him eat some, too. They sat quietly together for a while and Mama knew that his spirits were troubled.

  "I'm afraid," he said.

  "All things are afraid of something," she answered.

  ***

  Josie caught her zipper on one of the shreds of her coat. She cursed, worked it free and finally got herself back together. Peeing in the forest in single digit weather was not the most pleasant thing in the world. It ranked right up there with getting yourself lost a few hundred feet from a campfire that seemed to have been as bright as a Klieg light when she was standing in front of it.

  Stuffing her hands back into her gloves, Josie pulled her hat down and looked around. Trees and more trees. Snow. More trees and undergrowth. She had a couple of choices. She could give a shout out and admit she'd got herself lost, she could hope Andre or Nell would come get her, she could act on her best guess, or she could sit down, mope, and freeze to death. There was one other option. She could stand really still because there was something moving through the trees just off to her left.

  Josie closed her eyes. She slowed her breathing. She did not want to play dead again but she might not have a choice. Whatever was out there was circling. She could feel it. She could smell it. And then she could hear it:

  "They're doing something weird in that house, Miss Josie."

  CHAPTER 31

  Josie stayed on Stu's heels and then scooted in beside him when he ducked behind a boulder. They were close to the south side of the main house, had a decent view of Duncan's place, and a clear opening to the shed.

  "Where have you been?" Josie whispered.

  "Out and about. Too many folks around your fire," he answered. "Keeps us out of trouble if we don't talk to each other."

  "I'd be out of work if everyone thought like you," Josie said. "What's going on in there?"

  "They're having a big meeting. Everybody's all dressed up fancy. Want to go see?"

  "Sure."

  They were off again and made it to the side of the house without notice. They kept close to the wall as they ducked around back. Stu hurried to a structure, lifted one side of an old wooden door that acted as a roof and went inside. Josie followed, feeling her way down a short staircase.

  "Stu? Where are you?" she whispered.

  "Here."

  Josie heard a match being lit and the next thing she saw was the mantle of a lantern glowing. They were in an old root cellar, but Josie wasn't seeing anything good here. Among the bins of potatoes and onions, there were boxes of ammunition and more guns than anyone in their right mind should have.

  "Wow," she said.

  "Nice stash," Stu agreed. "Come on."

  The cellar was low ceilinged and rambling. Josie stooped to keep from hitting her head and followed him to the far end where it was particularly cold and dry and the ceiling high enough for her to stand up. Stu set the lantern to the side and pointed to a hole in the wall. Then he pointed to a box. Josie stepped up.

  She could hear Duncan speaking but couldn't quite make out his words. She could see various parts of other people. She heard the kitchen door open and a woman passed by the peephole, moved around the table, paused and then moved on. Finally, Josie could see her in full. She was serving piles of food and people were digging in as if it were their last meal. Josie dropped down to talk to Stu.
r />   "That's not the same woman who was upstairs," Josie whispered. "This one is older."

  "There's a young one there. Something's wrong with her arm. I saw her."

  "I see Robert Butt. He's the man I want to talk to," Josie said. "The big man."

  "Maybe we can arrange that," Stu chuckled.

  "You've been inside, haven't you?"

  "I wasn't in all of it."

  "We can't go in now. This time they may shoot first," Josie mused. "If they've got an arsenal down here, what do you think they have up there?"

  "I didn't see nothing too interesting, but we don't want trouble. You don't worry, Miss Josie. We're going to figure this all out and get your girl back."

  Josie slid down and put her back up against the wall and said: "Thanks, Stu."

  He did the same, laying aside his gun and tipping his hat forward.

  "I mean, we'll get her back if she ain't dead."

  ***

  Duncan looked around the table. Every bit of food was eaten, nothing was wasted. It was a fitting end of the evening. When Duncan stood up, his flock was happy.

  "My friends," Duncan began. "The Lord gave us three days for the healing. He did not say it had to take three days. The people who have come here want to take away our way of life. I won't have it. The healing will begin and it will end tonight. We will be made whole, and they will leave this place, and there will be peace."

  Duncan's face broke into two happy parts. His soul filled up with joy as he watched their expressions transform from happiness to ones of ecstasy.

  "Robert, Foster, and the rest of you who have no chores to finish up go to your rooms. Get them in order. Spend the time as you would in Hours. I will visit each of you in turn."

  "I deduce this will be a wonderful night," Robert said as he helped little Peter down from his chair.

  "Di...tt...di..." Foster stuttered.

  Melody smiled and so did Glenn. Chairs were moved, congratulations made, and hugs were offered. When they were gone, Duncan sat alone at the head of an empty table. He picked up a fork that Teresa had left behind when she cleared the table and mindlessly let it thread through his fingers. He had one last decision to make: what would he do with Hannah and Pea. He was so lost in thought, he didn't realize that Melody was standing in the doorway watching him. He wondered how long she had been there. Not that it mattered. She couldn't read his thoughts, but he could read hers. He knew her question before she asked it.