The Sisters of Blue Mountain

by Karen Katchur

  Linnet closed her eyes, listening to the water lap against the side of the boat. Their mother hated the birds. Well, what the hell did their mother like anyway?

  “We can’t tell Pop,” Myna said about their mother’s comment. “Or do you think he knows?”

  “No,” she said. “I don’t think he knows.” She believed she was protecting him by not telling him all the ways in which her mother suffered. “He doesn’t see how miserable she is. He doesn’t see she’s sick and that she has problems.”

  “He loves her,” Myna said. “And love is blind.”

  * * *

  The baseball game ended, Hank’s team losing seven to three. He was quiet as they piled into the van, driving past Christmas tree fields, a smattering of houses. Woods flanked the road the closer they got to home. Within a few minutes, Ian pulled the minivan into the driveway. Linnet turned in her seat and put her hand on Hank’s knee.

  “Tough loss today, but it’s not your fault.” She used her most reassuring voice. “You had a lot on your mind. In fact, I think your entire team had a lot on their minds. The last few days around here have been hard, and everyone was having trouble focusing. Don’t you think?” she asked Ian.

  “Agreed,” he said, glancing in the rearview mirror at Hank.

  “Whatever,” Hank said. “Can I go and get something to eat?”

  She nodded. He got out of the van and dragged his feet into the house.

  “Your sister just pulled in,” Ian said, and opened the driver’s side door.

  They got out of the car and stood in the driveway. She was dismayed to see Pop get out of the rental car. She’d hoped they would have let him into the lab. It had been a lot to ask, she knew. He’d get in the way. He’d retired because they’d forced him to.

  A strange guy climbed out of the backseat of Myna’s car. It took Linnet a moment before she recognized him as the journalist she’d chased off her property. What the hell? She marched toward her sister and was caught off guard by Mr. Rapp wheeling his suitcase down the front porch stairs. She pointed at the newspaper guy and looked at Myna as she walked by. “What is he doing here?”

  “Who?” Myna asked, but she knew damn well who Linnet was referring to.

  “Mr. Rapp,” Linnet said. “What’s going on?” Ian walked over to stand by her side.

  “We’re leaving,” Mr. Rapp said.

  “I don’t understand,” she said.

  “It’s too much,” Mr. Rapp said. “First the birds and then that poor professor.”

  “Yes,” she said. It was too much.

  “Have you been to the dam?” he asked. “Have you seen them out there in their hazmat suits, for chrissakes? It’s downright creepy. This is not the long weekend we had in mind, I can tell you that.”

  “No, of course it isn’t,” she said.

  Mrs. Rapp appeared on the porch, fumbling with a bag on her arm and hobbling with the cane in her hand.

  “Let me help you,” Ian said, and took the bag from Mrs. Rapp, helping her down the stairs. He gave Linnet a look that said, Let them go.

  “I’ll give you a refund, of course,” she said to Mr. Rapp.

  “I should hope so.” He put the suitcases in his trunk.

  Ian placed the bag he was carrying in the backseat of their car. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of it,” he said to the Rapps.

  “I’m sure there is,” Mrs. Rapp said, trying to apologize for her husband’s foul mood. “And we do hope to come back next year. Don’t we, Dear?”

  “We’ll have to see,” he grumbled, and helped his wife into the car. “It’s just so disappointing,” he said to Linnet.

  “It is,” she agreed, and watched as Mr. Rapp got in on the driver’s side and drove away.

  “They’ll be back,” Ian said.

  “The geese or the Rapps?” she asked.

  “Both,” he said, and put his arm around her. Myna and Pop came to stand next to them.

  “I’m sorry about your guests,” Myna said.

  “Why is he here with you?” Linnet asked in a low voice, referring to the newspaper guy. He was lingering in the driveway, staring at his phone.

  “His car broke down on the mountain road, and, well, it’s a long story.”

  “With everything going on, do you really think it was smart to pick up a stranger and give him a ride?” She had this way of talking to Myna as though she was her mother rather than her sister, but she couldn’t stop herself when her sister behaved like a child. “And a journalist, no less!” The thoughts she’d been trying to circumvent, the ones about Pop being involved somehow in the young professor’s death, clawed their way front and center. What if Pop had said something he shouldn’t have to that journalist?

  Myna gazed in the guy’s direction. “His name is Jake,” she said. “He seems all right to me.”

  “Oh, well, if he seems all right to you, then he must be.” Ian squeezed her shoulder, signaling her to calm down. He was right. This wasn’t worth fighting over. She was on edge, and having a journalist around, especially this guy who was familiar in some way, wasn’t helping matters.

  “I’m going to the dam,” Pop said, and started walking toward the yard.

  “Maybe we should go take a look while Hank’s occupied inside,” Ian said. “And see what this hazmat suit business is about.”

  Linnet nodded. She did want to see what the Wildlife Health Center was doing with the birds. Ian kept his arm around her as they walked. Myna tagged along. Linnet hesitated, then called over her shoulder, “Aren’t you coming?” If Jake was going to be on her property, she was going to make damn sure she kept her eye on him.

  He jogged to catch up, taking his place next to her sister. “What’s up with the crime scene tape?” he asked, pointing to a tree where a piece had been left dangling.

  “There was an accident on the property with the professor from the university,” Myna said. “I don’t think it’s public knowledge yet.”

  Linnet glared at her.

  “What kind of accident?” Jake asked.

  “If you want to know anything else about it,” Linnet snapped, “you’ll have to talk to the police.”

  Jake didn’t say anything. He seemed to be deep inside his own thoughts, which bothered Linnet more than if he’d asked a bunch of questions. Weren’t journalists supposed to be pushy and irritating? Jake seemed reflective and thoughtful.

  The cardinals and robins flitted about the trees, hollering at the intrusion of so many unwanted guests. Three crows chased a hawk in the sky. But what Linnet noticed most once they’d reached the dam was the lack of geese flying overhead, the unnatural way they floated on the water.

  “They’re not wearing hazmat suits,” she said, and shook her head at Mr. Rapp’s description. The men from the health center wore waders and used poles with claws to pick up the dead geese, much like the pole Professor Coyle had had in the trunk of his car. Other men walked up and down the muddy embankment collecting the birds on the ground.

  Jake used his phone to take pictures. Across the dam in the public parking lot, several TV cameras were documenting the cleanup.

  “CNN,” Ian said. “I can’t believe it.”

  She snorted. “Maybe this is the last of it. Maybe they’ll go away once the geese are taken care of.”

  “They’ll go away when a more shocking story comes along,” Jake said.

  “So we’re supposed to hope for another tragedy?” Linnet asked, thinking of how they already had another one with Professor Coyle, and how things happened in threes.

  “Only if you want them out of your town,” Jake said, and stepped away to talk with one of the men from the center. Linnet was surprised when the man wearing waders and lifting a dead goose with the clawed pole stopped to answer Jake’s questions.

  * * *

  After watching the cleanup at the dam, they returned to the B&B and gathered in the kitchen. Linnet was trying to think of a way she could get Pop alone so she could ask
him questions about Professor Coyle. She’d buried the terrible thoughts as best she could throughout the day, but the longer she waited to confront him, the more urgent the situation seemed. And now with Jake hanging around, she felt the need to be extra careful about everything she said and did.

  Ian hung up the phone. “Chicky’s going to meet us at your car in an hour,” he said to Jake. “He’ll bring radiator fluid to see if that will get it started. Otherwise, he’ll have to tow it to his shop.”

  “Okay,” Jake said.

  Myna was sitting at the table with Hank. They were bent over his iPad playing something called Five Nights at Freddy’s. Every now and again Myna would squeal and laugh and tap the iPad furiously with her finger. Hank laughed along with her. Linnet smiled, but it was quickly replaced with a scowl when she realized Jake was also watching them and grinning.

  Linnet wanted to pinch him, tell him her sister was spoken for. Although she’d only ever met Ben once, she knew instantly that he was different from the other guys Myna had dated. Linnet and Ian had taken Hank to Disney World for a family vacation not two years ago. During their stay, Myna and Ben had driven the hour and a half to spend the day with them, going on the rides, eating fried food and cotton candy, getting their pictures taken with Goofy.

  It had been Linnet’s idea to have her sister join them, although Myna hadn’t made up her mind until the last minute whether or not she would. And then she’d brought Ben with her. Linnet had studied the two together, looking for something in her sister, a signal alerting her that she was unhappy and wished to move home. But there was nothing Linnet could find wrong with her sister’s life, nothing bad she could say about Ben. Talking with Ian later that night, she’d admitted she’d never seen her sister happier, the truth of it making her glad, but somehow sad at the same time, realizing that her sister wouldn’t be coming home anytime soon.

  When their time together had ended, and Myna and Ben had headed to their car for the long drive home, Linnet had been convinced Ben was right for her sister. She wondered if Myna had known. It hadn’t been something she’d felt comfortable asking her then and still wasn’t now.

  She glared at Jake, who was still grinning at the sight of her sister and son playing games. “She has a boyfriend,” she said to him about Myna in a low voice that only he could hear. “And she’s very serious about him.” She didn’t know if this was true, but it seemed logical. She’d been living with Ben for a few years now.

  Jake turned his handsome face toward her. “I’m not surprised,” he said, and ran his hand through his hair.

  And that’s when she noticed the ring.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Myna was in the guest room unpacking her suitcase. It was the first chance she’d had to settle in since she’d arrived. She’d hung up with Ben not two minutes before. He’d called her cell phone after watching the six o’clock news and learning the young professor had been found dead on their property. She’d nearly cried out in relief at the sound of his voice. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been missing him, how crazy this short time in Mountain Springs had been so far. He’d called because he’d been concerned. He’d wanted to make sure she was all right even though she’d hurt him—although he hadn’t admitted that last part. She’d heard it in his tone, the careful way he’d talked as though he were choosing his words deliberately.

  “If you need me to come there, I will. I’ll cancel my trips,” he’d said.

  “You don’t need to do that,” she’d said, but a part of her wished he’d hop on a plane and come anyway. “I need to be with my family, but there’s no need for you to miss work because of it.”

  “Your family,” he’d said. “I guess that’s part of the problem, isn’t it? I’m not a part of your family.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” she’d said. Or was it? “It’s complicated.” She had no other way to describe the situation she’d found herself in with her sister and father.

  And also with him.

  Their call had ended soon after when the static in their connection had interfered to the point where she could no longer hear. The mountains made it impossible to connect to the outside world for more than a few minutes at a time. She couldn’t count how many times Hank’s face had frozen on her screen during a lost Skype connection.

  She searched for her pajamas—cotton pants and button-down top—thinking she might as well go to bed. She emptied her pockets, finding Jake’s business card and setting it on the dresser. The room was warm and cozy, decorated in soft yellows and greens. A wicker chair sat in the corner. The four-poster bed was covered in a hand-stitched quilt one of the women in town had sold to her sister at a craft fair. Linnet had purchased quilts for all four beds, giving the guest rooms a down-home country kind of feel.

  It was all very nice, so why did Myna feel as though she were suffocating? She opened one of the windows. A spring breeze blew into the room, knocking the feather she’d packed off the top of the opened suitcase. The gentle breeze lifted it and carried it across the bed before it drifted to the hardwood floor. She picked it up, admiring its beauty, its ability to fly.

  There was a rap on the door. “Hey,” Linnet said. “Are you up?”

  “Yeah.” She quickly tucked the feather underneath the sweater. “You can come in.”

  She kept her back to the suitcase, hiding the feather from her sister and feeling as if she were a little kid caught doing something wrong.

  “How’s Hank?” she asked. It was a lot for him to take in, first the birds and then the professor.

  Linnet stood in the doorway. Her arms were folded. “I just came from saying good night to him. We had a long talk. He’ll be okay.”

  “You’re doing a great job with him,” Myna said. “He’s such a good kid.”

  “Thanks.” She moved to the dresser and picked up Jake’s business card. “Interesting guy,” she said about Jake. “Good-looking.” She looked at Myna as though she were accusing her of something.

  “I guess,” Myna said. “I haven’t really noticed.”

  “Sure you haven’t,” Linnet said. She kept the card in her hand, and Myna wondered if her sister was going to tear it up. What was she accusing her of anyway?

  She continued. “I have to admit I was a little freaked out about him hanging around us, you know?”

  Myna didn’t say anything. Her sister had an agenda, and until she knew what it was, it was best to say as little as possible.

  “Well, I’m sure it was just a coincidence,” Linnet said. “I suppose there are a lot of guys who wear football rings on their pinky fingers.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You didn’t see the ring?”

  “No.” Her throat was scratchy, and she suddenly couldn’t swallow.

  “I’m sure it was nothing,” Linnet said. “Like I said, it’s probably just a coincidence.”

  They stared at each other, an old wound beating as though it had been given new life, its thrumming stretching between them.

  Myna was the first to speak. “Why didn’t you tell me things with Pop have gotten worse?”

  Linnet touched her forehead as though she had to think about it. Finally, she said, “I didn’t know how to tell you.” She looked at the floor. “Besides, what could you have done about it anyway?”

  “We could’ve talked about it. Maybe there was something I could’ve done to help you. Maybe there’s something I can do now that I know.”

  “Right.” She snorted. “What can you do all the way from Florida?”

  Myna hated that her sister had a valid point. She was too far away to be of any real help in his care, but she could be supportive, talk things through so her sister wouldn’t feel as though she carried the burden alone. “I had a right to know.” She wanted to sound firm, but her voice wavered, making her words sound small, weak.

  “Maybe if you came around more often, you would’ve known what was going on.”

  “That’s not fair, and
you know it.”

  “Myna, Myna, Myna. When are you going to learn? Nothing in life is ever fair.”

  There was so much anger in her sister’s words.

  Linnet dropped Jake’s business card on the dresser. She pulled out her phone, punched in a number, and then pressed the phone to her ear. “Hi, Charlie,” she said, keeping her eyes locked on Myna’s while she talked. “Remember I told you about a journalist I saw on my property. Right. Well, I have his name, Jake Mann. He’s staying at the LG,” she informed him, using the local’s name for the popular pub. She paused, listening to whatever Charlie was saying on the other end. “Maybe the Inn was booked, but that’s where he told Ian he was staying.” She was quiet for a moment, and then she said, “Okay, I will. Thanks.” She hung up. “Charlie has a few questions for your journalist friend.”

  “Come on, Linny. You don’t really think Jake has anything to do with the professor, do you?”

  “Probably not. But he was here that day, and Charlie wanted a list of everyone who was on the property. And he was on the property. Trespassing, I might add.”

  Myna stopped short of rolling her eyes.

  “Do me a favor.” She tapped the card with her finger. “Don’t seek him out. There’s something about him I don’t trust.”

  “Because he works for the paper?” She didn’t wait for a response. “He seems okay to me. He helped me with Pop this afternoon, and he didn’t have to.”

  “What do you mean? What happened with Pop?”

  “The TV crews were outside the lab filming. Pop was confused. I was caught off guard, and I didn’t know what to do. Jake helped me get Pop away from them.”

  “So this is the long story you mentioned earlier about why you brought him back with you? I don’t even understand why you picked him up in the first place.”

  “I couldn’t just leave him stranded,” she said in a quiet voice.

  “Yes, you could have.”

  But that was where her sister was wrong. She couldn’t. It was the one big difference between them. All she could think about was what had happened the last time she hadn’t helped someone when she should have. They both should have.