by Peter Ponzo
What was happening to him? He was no murderer. This was stupid. He wasn't thinking straight. He wanted to kill Cassandra, only Cassandra. Maybe that would free Liz. Maybe Liz would wake up from her coma.
But what about the others? The Friends of Willow? Would they be after him then, or would they come out of some spell? He was gambling that it was a spell - they would come out of it when Cassandra was dead.
What had Cassandra done - really? Did she kill anyone? Weren't the willow tree deaths caused by the willow tree itself? Did he have any reason to believe that Cassandra killed anybody? Maybe he should concentrate on the willow tree - kill it.
What willow tree? It was gone. Just some roots were left, by Willow Walk. Would it be sufficient to kill those roots? What about the other stuff made from the tree - the baskets and chairs? Did he have to kill those too, somehow?
He was getting a headache. It was a puzzle - a mathematical puzzle. He always hated mathematical puzzles.
It was a chess problem. White to play and mate in two moves. If he did this, then they would do that, then he would do this. He hated chess problems. Not worth the effort.
He had to do something. Liz's life was at stake. Liz wasn't here. He was alone on top of the tree. Liz was nowhere to be seen, just the field of wild flowers: goldenrod, Queen Anne's lace and wild strawberry, oxeye daisies and blue violet. The horizon was a million miles away and the clouds were clinging to the hazy purple hills. The tree began to sway and he reached out to steady himself on a thick and twisted branch. It spun around his wrist, its teeth biting his hand, cutting his hand, bleeding. He drew back and fell. It was a thousand miles to the ground and he fell for hours and the branch caught him just before he reached the ground, pulling him high into the air, spiralling about his waist, then his neck, then he couldn't breath.
He awoke gasping for breath, sweating and frightened. He jumped off the sofa, walked about the room, shaking, then returned to the sofa.
The dream again. What did it mean? Anything? No ... nothing ... just a dream.
He must think of another plan. He must think of how to free Liz - and all the others. He must think clearly, logically, like a mathematician. He must state and prove a theorem.
Theorem: All Friends of Willow will be restored to normalcy if ??? is destroyed.
If what is destroyed? Cassandra? The willow?
He fell back into the sofa and closed his eyes.
Some theorem.
Some theory.
Theory?
Sam had a theory.
Bryan sat up. What was Sam's theory? Liz had explained her theory, then Sam had - had - had not explained his theory. He had left to go home. But Liz had said something about Sam's theory. What was it? When was it? Think. He had a terrible memory, but he must remember now. Sam's theory was in Sam's notebook.
Bryan got off the sofa and looked around as though he would see Sam's notebook on a table or chair. He pulled a pillow from the arm of the sofa and looked under it. Stupid. Liz had taken Sam's notebook from his study that night when they had broken into Sam's house. Where would she have put it?
Bryan began methodically, logically, starting in the bedroom, going through all the drawers and closets and clothing and pockets and shelves. He finished with the kitchen and stopped. It was not in the apartment. Liz had hidden it. Of course she would hide it, as she had hidden the book beneath the sofa. She was under a spell. She wouldn't want him to find it. It held the secret. No one must find it. She would destroy Sam's notebook. It was gone, burnt, trashed. Damn!
He sat dejectedly on a chair in the kitchen and stared at the opposite wall. The dish towels hanging from the rack were filthy. He must wash them - soon. Why was he thinking of washing towels? Why had Liz put her dress on that rack, with the dirty towels - her print dress with ruffles at the collar? She rarely wore that dress, but that was no reason to -
Bryan leaned forward. Something about that dress - and the notebook. What was it? He pulled the dress from the rack and a notebook fell from the pocket.
His heart pounded as he picked it up and walked very slowly to the living room and sat on the sofa. He was afraid to look inside. It was clearly Sam's notebook, Inspector Jaffre's notebook. It could have an answer, or maybe it contained nothing, nothing at all. He leafed through and saw the notes of old Inspector Jaffre. At the end Sam had added something:
Bones of a child - give the tree a soul.
Destroy the bones and the soul is destroyed.
There is but one soul - redeemed from the child - absorbed by the tree.
There was a diagram with boxes labelled BONES and SOUL and WILLOW andTREE PARTS. They looked like a tree upside down, with lines joining the various boxes. Below the diagram:
Remove the root and the whole tree dies.
Remove the soul and the whole tree dies.
Remove the bones and the whole
The last line wasn't finished but the meaning was clear:
Remove the bones and the whole tree dies.
The bones of the child - of the twin, T1 - he must destroy the bones.
He had his theorem:
Theorem: All Friends of Willow will be restored to normalcy if the bones are destroyed.
Bryan got up, excited, and paced back and forth. He would destroy the bones. That would destroy the tree - the willow - Willow, the twin T1 and all the parts, the chairs, the baskets.
He was elated.
But where were the bones? Bryan sat down again. Sam had the bones - hadn't he said that? His grandfather had kept them and Sam had acquired all his grandfather's possessions. The bones were in Sam's house. He would go there and find them. He would let himself in just as Liz had done. He'd break a basement window.
But Cassandra would already have done that - wouldn't she? If the bones held the soul of her twin then she would have taken them.
Of course! The night Sam had disappeared!
Bryan could see it all very clearly now. He squinted, placed his hands on his cheeks, rubbing, caressing.
It was like finding the truth in mathematics - proving a theorem. Near the end it all came clear. After the jumble of contradictions and false starts and dead ends it became clear. Then he would write up the mathematical result for publication; just the clear progression to the truth. No dead ends, no false starts. The papers he wrote made it seem as though he saw everything clearly from the beginning. Now he did see clearly.
Cassandra had taken the bones from Sam's house. Sam had seen her, met her, joined her, coerced into the secret cult, the Friends of Willow. He had disappeared for two years, serving Cassandra's evil purposes. Then he returned to coerce Liz.
Liz was about to have a baby.
Cassandra needed that baby.
She needed the soul of an unborn child!
CHAPTER 28
Dune WILLOW
Bryan must tell somebody, talk to somebody. If he had someone to talk to he could decide what to do - how to find and destroy the bones. Who could he talk to? Who could he trust? So many people spoke in those damned half-sentences. That was a sign of membership in the Friends of Willow - wasn't it? Sam, Liz, the girl at Marco's Pizza, the officer at the station, even Bruno.
He put on his coat, went to his car and drove to the New Bamberg General Hospital. When he reached Liz's room the nurse was just leaving. Liz was the same - eyes closed, breathing slowly, still. He sat by the bed and whispered:
"Liz? Let me tell you what I think. I think that Melissa Kumar had twin girls. She killed one of them - God knows why. But the other ... the other is Cassandra Brubacher."
He looked at Liz. There was absolutely no response. What had he expected? Did he think she would jump out of bed and tell him what to do - where to find the bones? But he felt better, explaining his thoughts to Liz. It was his custom, it was natural. He continued in a low whisper, speaking slowly so that it would come out clearly, concisely:
"They shared a sou
l, and the premature death of the twin guaranteed that the soul was tainted with original sin - evil. The surviving twin acquired that evil nature. The first twin was killed and buried beneath a willow tree. The willow became evil, absorbing the evil from the unborn sister. Cassandra doesn't distinguish between the tree and her sister buried among its roots."
Liz didn't move. Bryan stared at her face for a moment then continued. Explaining it to Liz somehow made it clearer in his own mind.
"Now Cassandra seeks another soul - a free soul, from an unborn child. Your child. She had established a cult to assist in gathering the pieces of her sister, the tree, the twin. The Friends of Willow collect the baskets and the chairs - store them in the basement of Willow Towers."
He paused, still staring at his wife who had not moved, but lay with her eyes closed, her hair framing her face. Then Bryan took her hand and kissed it gently.
"Liz, I know how to destroy the cult and the spell that Cassandra has on these people, on Sam, on you. I will destroy the bones of the child buried under the old willow tree." His voice was rising, trembling.
Bryan looked up at Liz.
Her eyes were now wide open, staring directly at him.
He gasped and held his breath, dropped her hand. She stared but did not move. He began to breath again, staring into Liz's eyes.
"Mr. Laker, would you please leave now. Dr. Banter would like to examine your wife and ... oh my! Her eyes are open! Mr. Laker, please leave now. Dr. Banter will want to examine your wife."
Bryan got up, still staring at his wife. The nurse caressed Liz's forehead, drawing her hand over her eyes and the eyes closed.
"Is she ... is she dead?" asked Bryan, sucking in his breath.
"No, of course not. That sometimes happens ... with the eyes. Nothing to worry about. Now, if you'll leave then I can get her ready for Dr. Banter."
Bryan left, backing out of the door and bumping into the doctor. The doctor started to say something, but Bryan turned and walked quickly down the hall to the elevator.
***
Bryan hadn't eaten for more than a day - and he wasn't hungry even now. He lived on instant coffee, slept fitfully and hadn't bathed in some time. He kept poring over the sheets of paper and notebooks on the kitchen table. There was no clue as to where the bones were. Inspector Jaffre had taken them - from the site of the new apartment building, Willow Towers, when the old willow tree was removed. That was sure. He had sent them to the forensic lab and an identification had been made: a child and a young man. That was sure. Then they disappeared. Isn't that what Sam Jaffre had said? They just disappeared. Bryan was convinced that Cassandra had taken them from Sam's house - on the night that Sam disappeared.
Think. If that were true then Sam wouldn't have said that the bones had disappeared. He had made that remark before he himself disappeared. So the bones had disappeared before the night Cassandra visited Sam's house and even before Sam himself disappeared. Then why had she come to his house at all? Why was she there when Liz and he visited Sam's house?
He knew now - was certain now - that it was Cassandra that he had seen that night when he and Liz had peered into the living room of Sam's house. But why was she there?
Think. Sam was on to something - even Liz had thought that - his theory of the bones and the soul. Maybe his investigations had worried Cassandra and she had gone to his house to determine what he knew, to destroy any evidence he had collected, to get rid of him. But she didn't get rid of him.
Sam was still alive - or was he?
Wasn't that Sam he had seen - recently? Or was it some ghost - some creation that Cassandra had conjured up. Stupid. Of course it was Sam. Cassandra had gone to Sam's house for another purpose - not to get rid of him. What could he give her? What did she want?
She wanted babies - unborn babies. Liz was pregnant and Sam knew Liz ... too well perhaps. Bryan frowned at the thought. He shook his head. Keep on track - think.
Cassandra needed Sam to get Liz into the Friendship - the cult. Sam would have convinced Liz to go, somewhere, and Cassandra would be there and put some spell on Liz. Sounds like a fairy tale - placing an evil spell on Liz.
Okay, then where were the bones?
Cassandra had the bones.
Maybe the bones were back in the ground again, embedded among the roots of the willow at Willow Towers. Hadn't he been entangled in those very roots when he fell off the concrete blocks - looking through the window at Liz, on the table, pregnant and - and -
Bryan put his face in his hands for several minutes. Then he placed his hands, slowly, on his lap and stared straight ahead.
The willow wasn't dead - the willow at the old apartment building. Would Cassandra bury the bones again? She would want to stay with the willow - Willow - her sister. Was Cassandra living at Willow Towers? The meetings were held there and he had been aware of the meetings - at least two of them. But he wasn't aware of anyone living in the building, at least not while he was there. Then where did Cassandra live? The bones would be with her - wherever she lived.
Bryan sipped his coffee absentmindedly, staring at the papers on the table. Then suddenly he knew where Cassandra lived. Where did he get that information? How did he know? He had forgotten - but he did know, once. He read it somewhere. Where?
Had Cassandra Brubacher lived with Arnold Brubacher? The old man was dead. That was in the newspaper. The newspaper had said some nurse was being held for questioning ... that Brubacher had a wife ... and a daughter, Cassandra ... and the newspaper had given Cassandra's address!
Bryan jumped up and ran to the pile of newspapers in the corner of the living room. He and Liz kept old newspapers for the collection which occurred every month. He sat on the floor and shuffled through the old papers. There!
Mr. Arnold Brubacher was found dead in his bed last night at the Moss Hill Nursing Home. The feeding and antibiotic tubes had been removed as well as all vital sign electrodes. Nurse Sandra Pringle is being held for questioning. Another nurse on duty confirmed that Miss Pringle was the last person to see Mr. Brubacher alive.
Mr. Brubacher had been in the Nursing Home for four years and in the intensive care unit for several days. His wife, Melissa Brubacher, died recently in the same Home.
He is survived by his daughter, Cassandra Brubacher of Dune Road.
Dune Road!
Cassandra lived on Dune Road!
They had gone to see a willow tree on ... on Dune Road! It was in the list of special trees of Waterloo County which were in the Gazette Tree Tour. No. It wasn't on that list. Someone had told them about the willow - and they had gone to see it. They had run out of gas or maybe the battery went dead and - and Liz had actually gone to the house and used their phone.
My god! Liz had actually talked to Cassandra Brubacher!
He knew - somehow he knew that the willow on Dune Road was evil. Didn't he know that? He must have sensed it. He was drawn to the tree. He had insisted. Liz hadn't been enthusiastic, but he had insisted on driving to see the tree.
But he didn't know about the evil witch.
Bryan began to shake, putting his coffee mug carefully on the table. He must go to Dune Road - find the bones - destroy them. They would be buried under that willow, he was sure of that. That meant he had to first destroy the willow, else how could he get the bones out? The willow was evil and would try to stop him.
God, that was crazy. A willow tree trying to stop him from digging out some old bones? He could buy a chain saw - cut down the tree. A shovel to dig up the bones. Gasoline to burn the bones. Then it would be over. The spell would be broken. He would get his wife back.
When he finally got up and left the kitchen he was sweating profusely and his shirt stuck to his back, but he knew exactly what he had to do - and he would do it tonight.
CHAPTER 29
Dune Road
Cassandra stood in the space under the willow and stared at the newly opened ground about the base o
f the tree. The branches hung gnarled and twisted, swaying gently, caressing her.
"Why?" she whispered in a low and trembling voice. "Why do you try to defeat me? Why do you not accept my offerings?"
A thin branch curled gently about her leg.
"No! Do not mock me!" she cried. "I have given you the unborn child. How many times must I do this thing? How many times must I place the child in your care - the unborn child - the soul of an unborn child?"
The thin branch uncoiled from her leg, sliding into the shallow hole at the base of the tree, coiling about the small pink and bleeding body lying there. Cassandra stood back and watched as the branches moved inward, sweeping the ground into the hole, covering the body and sliding over the soil, smoothing it, cleaning away the small stones.
"It is done ... once more it is done. Now you must rise up to join me - we must be together - to survive, together. You have failed each time. I gave you the babies, the Martin babies - both unborn - and countless others - and you have failed. This is the last time. Now you must join me! Now!"
Her voice has risen to a shout, yet the branches moved slowly, quietly, coiling about her leg then uncoiling, rubbing, smoothly, silently.
"Willow, have I erred in this alliance with Ahriman? He mocks me and yet I do this thing, to bring you to my side." Her voice trembled and a tear ran delicately to her cheek. "Willow, give me a sign of your approval, for our mother is gone and cannot - and I must continue, alone."
She waited but there was not a movement of the solemn branches which hung limp and twisted by her leg.
Cassandra turned abruptly and walked out from under the tree, the branches parting to let her pass. She stopped once and looked back. The ground moved slightly and shapes, glowing and luminescent, rose and shimmered in the darkness beneath the tree. She left and the branches slowly descended, gnarled and twisted, hanging to the ground, hiding the shapes in the vault beneath the leafy canopy.
A man, tall and muscular, stood just beyond the porch, staring blankly at the tree, his body straight and motionless. Cassandra went to Sam Jaffre and took his hand.
"Come my lover," she said quietly. "We have done what we must. Now we wait - for Willow."