The Keeper Returns (The Wallis Jones Series Book 3)

by Martha Carr

  “That isn’t even the most interesting part,” said Esther, who saw the look of anger flash across Wallis’ face. “Alright, I’m sorry,” she said, as she sat back. “My mistake. But Ned is safely back at home. It would seem that the news that your brother, Harry is not only still alive but hanging around town would rank right up there too.”

  Norman’s mouth made a perfect o but no sound came out.

  “That’s right, Harry is in town for a visit.”

  “Where was he seen?” asked Father Donald, who looked a little less relaxed.

  “At the funeral home up on Parham with a few hundred of his new friends. You know the place.”

  “That’s where they took Ned,” said Wallis. “They were showing him off like some grand prize when I got there. They were telling him that he belonged with them,” said Wallis, trying to swallow hard to stop herself from letting out a sob. The image of Ned who had looked so small up on the stage standing next to Richard Bach had made everything that had happened flash back in her mind.

  Richard Bach had chased them across Virginia the last time people had started dying, and had led that murderous woman, Robin Spingler, his boss in Management right to where they were hiding at the Episcopal Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. All to gain a thumb drive. But Richard’s own ineptitude led to him accidentally killing Spingler and he ended up having to give up the drive he had been fighting so hard to take back.

  Wallis had made sure that the Circle had gotten back the thumb drive and it disappeared into the network of agents. She didn’t ask about it after that, grateful it was finally out of her hands and back to its rightful owners.

  After that, they had all come to an uneasy truce and given each other as wide a berth as possible. Wallis only saw him in courtrooms and that was when he didn’t recuse himself from the case. He seemed to want to be around her even less. Suddenly, for some reason he had changed his mind.

  “I’m not having this conversation as long as that woman is here,” said Esther, sneering at Harriet. “I know who you are.”

  “And believe it or not, I know exactly who you are,” she said, looking at Esther. “Don’t look so surprised, not one of you. I’m not that stupid after all,” said Harriet. “I know. Schmetterling,” she said, curling her lip, looking at Esther. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You too. You and your brothers,” she said, waving a hand dismissively at Norman. “I didn’t always know, you did a pretty good job and thankfully, Walter never knew. That would have been a much bigger problem. He was the one who was the direct descendent.”

  “When did you figure it out?” asked Norman, sitting down hard across the table from his mother in law.

  “Don’t you think I would have been just a little curious after so many people in Management were watching this house, and one of them even tried to run down my daughter? That’s right, I knew that too.” Harriet pointed a finger at Norman. “I told you, no one messes with my kin. And the rest of you, you have your heads so far up your ass all you can see is brown.”

  “Mom,” said Wallis, “we’re getting off track again.”

  “No, we’re not, we’re not at all. No one ever wants to listen to me but maybe you’ll have to now. You better decide if this is the hill you want to die on. You think the way to deal with all of this is to avoid them all as much as possible. Act like none of it exists and go back to the way things used to be. I’d love to, myself but that’s not going to happen. You don’t get back the life you used to have. You just get another chance to work with what is, and what is, is Ned is Walter’s grandson. That is a big prize to those fools.”

  “Stop it, Harriet Jones,” said Esther.

  “I’m not going to use my son,” said Wallis.

  “And I’m not suggesting that you do, Wallis. I’m suggesting you use the way they all feel about that little fact. I don’t know why you two don’t seem more shocked to find out that Norman’s oldest brother is still alive but we can put a pin in that for now. You had best mind your elders on this one. I have lived as far inside of Management about as much as a body can and along the way I have learned a few, very interesting things.”

  Esther shifted in her chair. “This is not the right place for a discussion like this. There are too many people listening, inside and out,” she said, turning to look out the window.

  “The Watchers can’t hear inside of this house. Don’t you know, Esther?” asked Harriet, as she pointed up at the crown molding. “Norman buried a unique sound system in the ceiling of every room a long time ago, when the house was built. Makes it impossible to pick up on a conversation even if you managed to get a bug inside of the house. What, he didn’t tell you either?” asked Harriet, looking at her daughter.

  “It was a precaution,” said Norman, “and frankly, one that I forgot about.”

  “After you failed to mention it,” said Harriet.

  “Not your business, Mother, not that part.”

  “Fair enough,” said Harriet. “But I’ll bet Esther already knew. Thick as thieves, all of you. Esther’s not really worried about the Watcher out there, are you?”

  Esther looked down into her lap and seemed to be weighing whether or not she was going to say something.

  Wallis found herself pulling up a chair to get a little closer. It was one of the first times she could remember that her mother wasn’t trying to talk about celebrities or dead monarchs or dish towels.

  “I know you don’t think much of me,” said Harriet, patting Wallis’ hand with her carefully manicured fingers. They were always bright red, no matter the season.

  “But having a strong opinion doesn’t mean you’re right. And you would pay to remember, Esther Ackerman that I kept my only child out of the Management limelight. You didn’t see her attending a debutante ball or joining the Junior League. You think she just told me no and I was such a featherweight I threw my hands up and said, okay? There was a price to be paid to give Wallis her freedom and I paid it,” said Harriet, clicking her nails on the hard surface of the table.

  “The family secret, yet again,” said Wallis.

  “Oh, Harriet, not again,” said Norman. “Not after the day we’ve had.”

  Harriet lifted her chin, defiantly.

  “You said you’d kill me first,” said Wallis, in a whisper. “That summer when I was only three. You held a pillow over my face. I remember. They dragged you away before you could really do anything.”

  Norman stood up slowly and said, “I’m going to need a drink. We’re going down the rabbit hole, clearly.”

  “She never tried it again,” said Wallis, looking at her mother, “besides, you weren’t really trying all those years ago, were you? That would explain a few things, like why Dad ever left me alone with you again.”

  “At last, someone is thinking for themselves,” said Harriet. “Of course not. I knew your father and some of his cronies were about to come through that door.”

  “Aunt Lisa said I was unconscious when they did.”

  “Aunt Lisa is soft in the head and yes, you were unconscious. You don’t take half measures with Management unless you’d like to find yourself tucked away in some corner living out the life they designed for you.”

  “Or dead,” said Esther, leveling her gaze at Harriet.

  “Or dead, true. You know, I wasn’t sure you remembered at first, Wallis. Of course, once you were a teenager you brought it up rather regularly. But I had to make sure they knew I would do anything to have my way.”

  “Agreed,” said Norman, as he came back into the room carrying a bottle of Bowman Brothers small batch bourbon and paper cups.

  “Fortunately, your father wasn’t strong enough to just get rid of me, either. I won that one. The fact that you were a girl helped back then, just a little. I knew they were waiting to see if maybe they’d get a boy. I made sure that wouldn’t happen either.”

  “But then Ned came along,” said Father Donald.

  “That’s right, then Ned came along and
with a new wrinkle. His father’s family is in the Circle. It was a good obstacle to throw in their way. I liked it.”

  “Why didn’t they just kill you off at some point?” asked Father Donald.

  “Sure, the minister thinks up that one,” said Norman, pouring the minister two fingers worth of bourbon in the small paper cup.

  “Are these Dixie cups from your bathroom?” asked Father Donald, as he took a sip and smiled. “Sorry, I interrupted you. Why are you still among the living?”

  “Because I know their oldest secret,” said Harriet, smiling as she held out her hand for a paper cup.

  “Enough,” yelled Esther. “Enough of this nonsense.” She got up to leave and edged her way around the table. “You have said too much already,” she said, pointing a finger at Harriet.

  “Leaving won’t stop me from telling them what I know,” said Harriet.

  “I know I don’t like it when she gets that smile,” said Norman.

  Wallis looked at her mother and realized she had only seen that look once before in her life. When Harriet had sat next to a dying, Oscar Newman and whispered something in his ear just before he died. The man had looked shocked and he had looked like he was in some kind of twisted pain that was separate from the hole in his gut.

  Wallis had decided that she didn’t want to know what her mother told Oscar. Everything that happened was a dark enough memory without having to know exactly what her mother was capable of doing to a dying man, no matter how much she may have hated him too.

  Esther stopped moving around the table and instead, placed both hands on the top, leaning across the wide, dark expanse toward Harriet.

  “You say this and there will be no coming back from it. Not ever.”

  “What possible thing could my mother know that you are afraid of as well?” asked Wallis. “You two can’t possibly have anything in common.”

  “Oh, but we do,” said Harriet. “We both want a balance to be maintained. There’s a difference though in what we’re willing to do to keep that balance. Esther may not have a limit but I do. No one messes with my family.”

  “More riddles,” said Norman, pouring himself another drink.

  “Mother, focus. Not another drop till you tell me what you’re talking about. Why did Management let you live?”

  “I know something about their beloved founder, William Reitling, your ancestor, Wallis. I know a secret about him that none of the royalty in Management or even the Circle wants anyone to know about. If it got out, everything would change.”

  “Like a genie out of a bottle,” said Esther, frowning.

  “Now, you’re talking,” said Father Donald, as he pulled up a chair and held his cup out to get just a little more to drink. “I always love a good story and in my profession I’ve found that the origin ones are always the best.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “William Reitling never lived,” said Harriet, slowly.

  “I have to say, I did not see that coming,” said Father Donald, sitting back and crossing his legs. “Do go on.”

  “Who is William Reitling?” asked Wallis.

  “You really have done an odd job of raising your daughter,” said Esther, more carefully eyeing Harriet.

  “I have my reasons,” said Harriet. “It’s not easy to break a chain.”

  “If you felt like this whole thing was just chains, why did you marry Dad?” asked Wallis. She could feel a headache starting and shut her eyes for a moment, trying to calm down.

  “Hold on, hold on,” said Norman. “What the hell do you mean, William Reitling never lived?”

  Wallis didn’t know what they were talking about but she could see from Norman’s face that something had happened, something important.

  “Anyone want to fill me in?”

  Norman looked at Wallis and shook his head as he started pacing the room.

  “It’s the foundation of this entire fight, dear,” said Esther, letting out a deep sigh as she sagged back against her chair. “He’s an idea that started a way of life that made the Circle a necessity and has led us all to this moment and those idiots sitting outside your house.”

  “Mother, what is Esther talking about? Spill.”

  “Go ahead,” said Esther, “it’s out now. You may as well fill in the details. I’m curious to know how you knew the story too.”

  “I am just curious,” said Father Donald, “about all of this. It’s like watching a puzzle suddenly put itself together.”

  Harriet sat up straighter, looking excited, like she had finally gotten the attention she deserved.

  “It sounds like a ridiculous way to start something that is that important,” said Harriet, smiling, “but a long time ago, a group of merchants in Germany gathered together.”

  “You were never supposed to tell this” hissed Esther.

  “As usual, you have it just slightly wrong, but enough to change the meaning,” said Harriet. “I was never to tell anyone unless certain events happened first and they appear to be happening.”

  “Of course, Germany,” said Father Donald, smiling at Harriet, “where every good plot used to begin. Now, it would have to be the Middle East or maybe Russia.”

  “Stop interrupting,” said Norman, “this is supposed to be Harriet’s moment.” He finally took a seat and sat back. “I’ve heard this story before but it always sounded more like what somebody wanted to be true. I never believed that it could be. Did you know?” he asked, looking at Esther.

  “I knew the story.”

  “Enough,” said Wallis, an edge to her voice. She was afraid of her mother losing her nerve or just getting annoyed and leaving without telling all of the details. “Let my mother speak.”

  “That is a sentence I never expected to hear,” said Norman, as he patted Wallis’ hand.

  Harriet gave a small harrumph but cleared her throat and started over again.

  “These men all owned businesses that were doing well. Each of them was making more than enough money to take care of their families and they lived better than most of the people around them. But that wasn’t enough. They didn’t control the power. That was all still in the hands of a few who inherited it because of their family names. That’s not something you can just earn or create. You’re either born with it or you’re not.”

  “So they hatched a plan,” said Esther. Harriet’s mouth drew into a thin line. “Sorry, go on,” said Esther.

  “Why do you two seem to be more like frenemies,” said Norman, looking at the two women.

  “That’s right,” said Harriet, ignoring him. “They came up with a way to make themselves seem like they ought to make decisions, at least to the rest of the world.”

  “Why didn’t their village just call them out as liars? I mean, if they all owned businesses in the same town then they had been there awhile and everyone would have known everything about them,” said Wallis.

  “Good question, dear,” said her mother.

  “Like a good attorney,” said Father Donald, who still looked amused by the whole thing.

  “They were willing to take their time. They started with a society they named simply, die Geschäftsleitung or the Management.”

  “I wondered how they got that name,” said Wallis.

  “They wanted something that described not only how they saw themselves but their true intention. They thought that because they had actually owned businesses, managed people, kept track of capital that they knew better how to run a town than someone who got it simply because of a birthright.”

  “Good Lord, it actually makes sense,” said Father Donald.

  “Well, of course it does,” said Harriet. “If it didn’t make sense the whole thing would have collapsed at the very start.”

  “And we all would have been better off for it,” said Esther.

  “Not really,” said Harriet. “They didn’t want to build a monarchy. Their dream was to build a middle class that stretched across countries and could rule itself.”

&nbs
p; “Kind of like an early version of the ninety-nine percent if we could rule the world,” said Norman.

  “That’s not too far off of the mark. They wanted to be able to rule themselves and they wanted to give that same gift to everyone else who was just like them. A way up and a way out. From where they sat, they did all of the work but at any moment, they would have to suddenly answer to a king or an emperor who really knew nothing about their lives. So, they started the Management and they created everything that ought to go with a society, all of the trappings. They understood their audience very well. Rules, costumes, rituals and most of all, secrecy.”

  “Sounds a lot like a religion,” said Norman.

  “I can’t say that he’s wrong,” said Father Donald, “except for the part about who’s in charge.”

  “They saw themselves as divinely guided. They saw their new society as what we might even call a democracy these days. They thought that being a leader should be something that someone earns and not handed to them.”

  “All of that sounds really noble,” said Wallis. “What went wrong? When did they turn murderous?”

  Harriet ignored the question and kept talking as if she didn’t hear it.

  “One of the founders believed that all of that wasn’t enough. That one man convinced the others that no one would believe in them enough to give them power if they didn’t have a legend, as well. All of man’s history up to that point told stories of great founders who went on to rule their people. There were no stories yet about someone who rose to greatness and was elected. No one would have even understood what that really meant. People knew how to pledge their fealty, even to a dead man but they didn’t have a clue how to just pick someone amongst them and let him lead for a while.”

  “So they came up with William Reitling,” said Norman in a whisper.

  “Yes, they came up with a legend named, William Reitling, who supposedly lived a hundred years before them in a town a distance away. That gave them the ability to write the story themselves without worrying about anyone doing any successful fact-checking. Family histories were told to the next generation, not written down. No one owned books in those days, except the very wealthy or the Church. William Reitling was a common name so that made it easier for the fictitious man to fade into the past. They included a detail that in order to join the Management back then, you had to be a descendant of Reitling and the original group all somehow created a branch of their family tree that led back to William Reitling. They all became unique.”