The Witness Series Bundle

by Rebecca Forster

  "What about the others?" she asked. "What did they do?"

  "Melody had a twin sister who was very pretty and not damaged at all. When Melody was younger, she slashed her pretty sister with a knife."

  "Did she die?" Billy asked.

  Glenn shook his head. "No, but she looks pretty bad as I understand it. Melody cut off her nose and part of her ears and lips. That's why she has to tend to Pea. Pea is beautiful so Duncan tempts Melody with Pea. Then she saw your arms," he pointed at Hannah. "Sorry, but she told us about your arms. Duncan said that proved she had to care for you. You would be pretty when you got better and the scars would remind Melody of what she'd done to her sister. So now she has to look at both you and Pea. I thought she was handling things very well, but maybe not. I mean considering what happened tonight. Maybe she went off the deep end."

  "Hannah," Billy said. "Jesus, Hannah."

  She held up her hand. They would talk when Glenn was gone. Right now he was on a roll and she wanted to hear the rest. Glenn happily ran through everyone in the house but they barely heard about the little people, and they just caught the end of Foster's tale. They tuned back in just in time to hear about Teresa and Robert.

  ". . .And Robert. He beat up his mother because she laughed at him and told him how ugly he was. He's huge – as you saw – so it didn't take much to hurt her bad. She's a vegetable, I hear. So he has to take care of Teresa no matter how she treats him. And Teresa has to take of him like he is her child. You know, mother and son squared off every day."

  "What did Teresa do?" Billy asked.

  "She tried to kill her children and herself. She gave them sleeping pills." Glenn adjusted in his chair, warming to his subject. "That's an interesting story. She couldn't take care of them, and she didn't want to see them given away because they were so special. Teresa thought she was doing it out of love. Duncan says it doesn't matter why things were done, it matters that they are done. He says a mother's sin is the greatest of all. Sometimes I wonder if Teresa's going to be healed. Sometimes I think Duncan hates her. That would only be normal except that he's, well, Duncan and so close to God. I don't think he can hate if he's the one God chose."

  Hannah lifted her casted leg closer to the edge of the bed. She wanted to be on her feet if anything happened. She glanced at Billy to see if he was thinking about running. His head wagged. He brushed his long hair behind his ears, flipped it back, and did it all over again.

  "Why would Duncan hate her so much?" Billy asked. "I mean, isn't he like the go to guy for all of you? Shouldn't he want to heal you all the same?"

  "He should, but I can see where it's difficult for him. I mean, it was Duncan and Pea she tried to kill," Glenn said. "Those are her real children. Duncan and Pea."

  ***

  Duncan trudged through the snow. It was late, but the lights still burned in the house. Usually, at this hour, everyone was asleep except for him. This was the time when he sat by Pea's bed and listened to her breathing. He had no idea what it was like for Pea to sleep. He assumed she was removed from heavenly grace, but one never knew for sure. He was truly curious about Pea's state of mind tonight. He wondered if she felt the same joy he did. He hoped so because he was fairly drunk with it.

  He danced up the three wooden steps. Snow had piled up on the porch. It was snowing so hard, it might actually be up to the top stair by morning, but right now the white stuff looked like a festive garland around the house.

  Duncan threw himself at the door and burst through like a favorite uncle arriving just in time to open the Christmas gifts. He whipped the scarf from his face. He pulled the gloves from his hands. He unbuttoned his jacket and threw it off his body as he called.

  "Everyone. Come everyone! Come down. Come out! Come here!" He looked down the hall to the dining room, he looked in the living room, and then he looked up the stairs. "God will forgive if you're in Hours. Come now. Off your knees!"

  The flock appeared as they had when Robert called them from the river: one by one, in their own time. Unlike that day, they were not curious about why they were being called. They were fearful. The order was disturbed. Duncan had not been Duncan at all when he left them behind to fend for themselves. Melody was stricken that he had not embraced her.

  Terrified that Duncan would take Pea to task after Melody's revelation, Teresa had rushed after him and thrown her wretched body across the stairs to stop him from trying to see Pea. She collapsed on the bottom step, relieved when Duncan dressed himself and went out into the snowy night.

  Foster stumbled into the living room to have a conversation with himself about what he would do now. It was all mumble and stutter and no one bothered to try to understand him. He took his conversation to a closet and closed himself in.

  Glenn poked at the fire and rearranged the wood in the downstairs room, unnerved by the sudden pall. When he was done, he went off to tend the fires in the other rooms and had not returned.

  Hannah and Billy had gone up to her room, determined to wait out whatever was going on. It was, after all, none of their concern.

  Now Duncan was raising his voice and it carried throughout the house. Slowly they congregated in the front room: Teresa and Melody came from the kitchen, Robert from the corner of the dining room where he tried to hide by turning his chair to face the wall, Foster from the closet, and all the rest. They glanced at Duncan like good dogs waiting for the whip. Duncan didn't notice them cringe or that they gave him wide berth.

  "Wonderful. There you all are. Where is Glenn? Oh, and little Peter is asleep, of course, but where is Glenn?"

  "He took wood upstairs," Teresa said, eyeing him closely.

  She had seen him like this before. In the hospital when he had awakened from the deep sleep the doctors had induced. Pea woke as she always did, silent save for her verses.

  Within the young Duncan had called it.

  Autism, the doctors called it. Biblical savant. That's what Pea was. Prophetess, Duncan insisted and that's what these people believed.

  Now here they were and history was repeating itself. Duncan was waking when she hadn't even known that he was asleep. He stood before them gripped by a new and frantic fervor, waiting to share some Godly revelation. Teresa felt a shiver run through her. If this was the healing and Duncan failed, she couldn't bear it. Not just for herself and the others, but for him and Pea. They had all believed so long that she wished they could simply go on doing it.

  "Teresa. You sit there. There in the big chair," Duncan chirped "Oh, Melody. Blessed, Melody! Come here."

  He took the young woman's hands in both of his and kissed one and then the other. Melody made a nervous little sound; the kind a woman makes when she isn't sure if her man is going to beat her or love her.

  "Melody, you sit over there. On the couch. Yes, yes, near Teresa's chair." Duncan eased everyone into the room and then dashed into the foyer to call up the stairs once again. "Glenn and Hannah and Billy! Come . . . oh, there you are, Glenn. Where are the others?"

  "Aren't they behind me?"

  Duncan laughed. "Yes, actually. They are."

  Glenn passed and Duncan waited as Hannah and Billy came slowly down the stairs. This time Hannah walked on her own, her casted leg goose-stepping, making her progress slowly. Billy was squeezed beside her, his arm around her waist.

  "Let me help." Duncan started up the stairs, but Billy pulled Hannah back and held her tight.

  "I got her, dude."

  "Of course you do," Duncan answered, but the brightness in his voice dulled.

  He hurried away having grown tired of waiting for them. Hannah and Billy could hear him in the living room settling people, asking after their welfare, throwing a compliment here, there, but oh-so-eager to get on with whatever it was he wanted to get on with. When Hannah and Billy arrived, all eyes went to them. No one smiled except for Duncan.

  "Hannah. Please. Sit there on the other side of Teresa. Please. In the other comfortable chair."
>
  Out went Duncan's hands. Up went his palms. His long fingers were extended as he guided her to her seat. Billy stood beside her.

  "Billy, why don't you sit next to Foster there. Please," Duncan said.

  "I'm good here, man."

  "Of course. Sure. Whatever works." Duncan's smile faltered, but didn't disappear. When it came back it was better than before. "Great, now. Here we are. First, I apologize. I wasn't prepared for what happened tonight. Melody." He turned toward her and she almost jumped out of her skin. "Melody, God has blessed you through Pea. I confess to my sin of arrogance. God has spoken through her to me for so long that I never thought he might choose another soul. What happened tonight is proof that you are, indeed, worthy of healing."

  Melody gasped. Teresa started. Foster mumbled at Glenn who asked an unanswerable question in return. Robert waddled in just as Duncan made his proclamation. Duncan looked at the house-of-a-man.

  "Robert. Oh, Robert. How could we have begun without you?"

  "You're going to heal Melody?" Robert asked.

  "No, not tonight. But soon."

  Billy looked at Melody. The guy might as well have shot her. Stupid idiot, making her believe like that.

  "But she is worthy. As you all are." Duncan slapped Robert on the back. "Go sit in your chair. No tears. This is a celebration. This is a sign. God has sent a message for me, specifically. That is why Pea spoke to our beloved Melody," he circled around to her again. "I could not hear the message myself for fear it would be dismissed. God and Pea are wise to have chosen Melody."

  Amens were murmured, some a bit more enthusiastic than others. The only one who didn't speak was Teresa. Something bad was coming, something cataclysmic, and she was powerless to stop it.

  Duncan opened his hands, and he raised them not to heaven but toward Hannah. Billy tensed, ready to step between them if necessary.

  "Numbers 12:1," he said. "Numbers 12:1, Hannah. Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman."

  Ecstatic with the importance of his announcement, Duncan's lazy-lidded eyes were bright as stars as he moved closer to Hannah. When no one responded, he paused. He pivoted. He looked from one incredulous face to the other. Billy had enough. His voice sounded like thunder when he spoke.

  "What the heck does that mean, dude?"

  Slowly, Duncan turned on him. His eyes no longer sparkled and his lips no longer broke his face into two happy parts. Those lips were twisted in a disdainful grimace as he looked at Billy Zuni, the beautiful, disrespectful, ignorant boy.

  "Cushite, Billy," Duncan drawled. "Moses married a black woman. That is why God sent Robert to find you. That is why God saved Hannah. I am to take a black woman as my bride."

  CHAPTER 17

  Mama Cecilia could hunt and fish and she could travel long distances just with her feet. She could steer a canoe. Still, it had been many years since she had done any of those things, so she felt lost much of the time she was walking and looking for her son.

  Thinking very hard about what Oki said helped to pass the time and calm her as she searched. She thought that he had been very correct. The wind could only blow the way it would blow and the bear must seek out what it needs. Understanding this, she decided she must take a journey and not just walk in the forest.

  She walked back the mile and some steps to the lodge where Priscilla Wolf Skin continued making reports for the chiefs. When Mama told her of her plan, Priscilla did not offer to go with Mama but she took twenty dollars from her purse and pressed it into Mama's chubby hand. She also gave her the box that was her very own lunch and wished her well. Mama Cecilia knew that Priscilla Wolf Skin shook her head a good long while after Mama left to begin her journey.

  Mama asked Thomas, the good and sober son of Sam Starlight, to take her to where the bus would pick her up on the long road to Eagle, but Thomas ran out of gas half way there. She walked the rest of the long way and waited. Just when Mama Cecilia thought the night would come but not the bus, it arrived. She sat in the very back. The seat was quite comfortable. The ride was very long, she ate the food Priscilla Wolf Skin had given her, and she slept some.

  When the bus arrived in Eagle, she found a boarding house. The owner was very kind but not kind enough to let Mama Cecilia sleep in one of the rooms for free. It cost more money than she expected. In the morning, the owner gave her food and sent her off with good wishes to find her granddaughter.

  Mama did not find her granddaughter and the person at the place where the letter came from asked her if she would like to leave money. She had no money to leave, but she did not say that. She only asked again if she could have the phone number or the address of the girl who had sent the letter. The man shook his head and said 'no, it is the law', and Mama Cecilia knew she had failed. She would go home alone and that made her sad. She had dreamed that the girl would take her arm and together they would save Mama's son, the girl's father. It was a fine dream while it lasted.

  Sometimes a bear found food and sometimes a bear stayed hungry.

  That was the way.

  Outside the shop where one left money for other people, Mama Cecilia realized she had made a mistake. She had not told Sam Starlight's son when she would return. She had spent too much money on the boarding. Now she didn't have quite enough for the bus ticket home. Mama stood with her back against the building, her small feet together, and her hands folded as she waited for her spirits to send her a sign about what she must do.

  So great was her faith in her good spirits that they answered her in very little time. They sent her an old man who spoke to her politely and offered her a ride in his boat as far as he was going. It was not far enough, but it was better than staying where she was. He would not leave for another day or two but she was welcome on his boat until the time he went upriver.

  Mama Cecilia accepted his offer saying she would cook for him and mend whatever he had which was torn and, therefore, pay for her passage. He did not object because it would be rude to do so. He also would like to have a meal cooked for him and his things mended.

  While they arrived at the boat, the man handed her up to the deck. When she stepped onto his boat, the old man admired her moccasins and that made Mama Cecilia smile just a little.

  ***

  Archer and Andre hadn't said much to one another in the time they had been together, but they accomplished a lot. They drove a couple hundred miles, stopping at every turnout where a trucker could get gassed up or find a bite of food. They flashed the dead trucker's ID and pictures of the crumpled truck. Archer took out his favorite photo of Hannah standing in front of one of her paintings, all dolled up in the way only Hannah could be. Those startling eyes of hers looked into the camera as if it were a person she wasn't sure she liked. All he got when people looked at the picture were head shakes. It wasn't until their fourth stop that they hit pay dirt.

  It was a filling station with a store, public johns, and an ancient phone booth squatting like an outhouse in the back. In the middle of nowhere, the place looked like a veritable Wal-Mart and like Wal-Mart they got just what they wanted at the right price: a fairly positive I.D. on the driver, solid one on Hannah, and confirmation the girl was with a boy with long hair. All that for the price of a cup of coffee.

  The guy behind the counter looked twice at Hannah's picture. The first time it was to admire her. The second time to confirm that it was the same girl just without the earrings and nose ring and long black hair. She had short hair now. He also remembered it was blond.

  "How can you be sure it's the same girl?" Archer asked.

  "You kidding? Check out the eyes. She looks like she's ready to deck me if I look at her cross eyed, not to mention she's black and she's got green eyes." The man made change for their coffee and pushed the cash drawer shut with his hip. "I see a lot of 'em coming through here. Runaways, hippies, kids thrown out for one reason or another. Most of 'em have some
kind of attitude. Little thieves, really. This one had an attitude but it was an honest one."

  He rested against the counter while he reached for the cigarette he had going. The man took a long, deep drag of his cigarette and the smoke curled out with his words.

  "I'm not going to make you pull it out of me. She bought a jacket. Yellow. Fleece. Looks like that one over there on the sale rack," he motioned to a rounder. "Men's large, but the boy wasn't a large. I was surprised she bought it since she counted the pennies on food. Still, the kid needed it. That was nice of her."

  "Guess what the lab has?" Archer reminded Andre. "They've got some of that fabric." To the clerk he said: "Where did they go?"

  "How am I supposed to know? They were just gone with some trucker. Those guys all look alike to me. It could have been with the guy in the picture. If it was a court of law I couldn't swear, but I'd say it's a good bet he was the one they went off with."

  "Do you remember the rig?"

  "I only remember the spit and shine ones. Those are beauties." The guy was almost done with his cigarette, but he wasn't going to stub it until the last drag.

  "Thanks." Archer gave the cigarette a nod. "Watch your fingers."

  The guy grunted and picked up a magazine as Archer and Andre left. Coffee cups in hand, they paused to take in the scenery. The highway was one long black ribbon that went from somewhere to somewhere. There was no forest here, no mountains, just a flat expanse of nothing. A tanker pulled up and they watched a bleary eyed driver get out of the cab. He nodded to them as he passed and went inside. It was late. It was snowing. Archer tossed his empty cup in the can beside the door.

  "Damn cold here." He zipped his jacket up to the chin.

  "You should be here in January." Andre threw back what was left of his coffee. He didn't wait for Archer to ask the question. "None of this is evidence your kids were in the truck when it crashed, but I'll give you that they were probably in the truck."