The Book of James (34 page)

does bother you?”

“No.” The word was clear. Forceful.

“Then take off his clothes.”

James was still on the ground. His eyes, large and round and

blue, were fixed in abject fear. He wasn’t crying, though. He’d

learned that making any sound made things worse.

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ELLEN J. GREEN

Nick had gone to James and sat him up. He’d pulled his shirt

over his head and then lifted him to his feet. He slid off his shorts and underwear. He watched while Cora raised the branch and

brought it down against James’s pale skin.

“This is what happens when you don’t do what I tell you to

do.” She whipped the branch against the child’s bare back and bottom over and over until Nick could see the angry welts and torn

flesh. “This is what happens. Do you understand, Nick? Do you?

Do you?”

“Cora!” Harrison’s hands were under her arms.

“Cora, get up.” She was disoriented, jarred back to the present.

He was lifting her from the floor. “You’re sitting in a puddle of water. Go clean yourself up.” His words were very soft. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t angry about Ginny.

She’d been afraid he would be angry. She had never hurt Ginny

before. She looked down. The bucket was on its side. Water had

spilled out in a circle, teeny soap bubbles spread across the top of the puddle. She touched the water gently with her finger. It was

cold. She had no idea how long she’d been sitting there.

Harrison hooked his hands under her arms and helped her to

her feet. She felt dizzy.

“I saw Virginia,” he said simply. “The index finger on her right

hand is broken. It had to be splinted.”

Cora stared at him. He wasn’t yelling or accusing, but to her

this was worse. She nodded. “An accident.”

He shook his head. “All my life it’s been the three of us, Cora.

From those days we made the fort in the woods, all those days and nights, the three of us together. Traipsing through those woods,

our little school and church. We brought you everything. Ginny

came to see you when it would have been easier not to. We were

bound together, even after I left.”

“But—”

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“No buts.” He held up his hand to silence her. “She’s lied for you over and over. Even now, when it’s hard for her to remember her

name, somehow she knows that she needs to protect you. And”—

he stopped talking and rubbed his hand over his face—“she is, and always has been, on your side.”

“Harry—”

“Cora, you broke her damned finger.” He took her by her

shoulders. “You are spinning out of control. Half the time you’re somewhere else in your head. You’re talking about your father all the time. I don’t even know what you’re going to do next. I can’t protect you anymore.” He shook her. “Stay away from Virginia.

Do you understand? I’m not covering anything up if anything else

happens to her.”

He released her. “I want to let Nick’s wife go. She doesn’t know

anything. And she never will if we get her out of here now.”

“She’s defiling his memory.”

“So let her. Let her defile it in Maine.”

“No.” She stood her ground.

“Cora, I have always done everything you asked of me. I have

stood by your side, I have protected you, I have taken care of you. I have loved you, more than I loved my family or anyone.” He waved

his arm around. “Hel , you are my family. But I have a bad feeling about this. You’re slipping, like you did years ago, only now—now, you’re bringing things down on both of us. I beg you to let this go.”

He walked to the door, then turned to look at her. “Because if

you don’t, I may have to leave you for good.” He walked out.

She put her hand in her pocket and squeezed the metal circle

into her fist. It dug so deep into her skin, she was sure it left an imprint on her flesh. “
What God hath joined together, let no man
put asunder
,” she muttered after him. “Or woman.” Cold, soapy water ran down her leg.

Dylan was sitting on the couch fiddling with the remote control

when I came down the steps. He looked up.

“Are you okay?” He noticed my red, swollen eyes. I nodded at

him with the awkwardness of someone who could point out every

mole on his body through his clothes, if I closed my eyes and concentrated hard enough.

I thought of Samantha sleeping peaceful y upstairs. She’d come

home from the hospital, taken her painkillers, and passed out—but not before she’d picked up on the tension in the air between Dylan and me. She’d said—I quote—“If you turn him away, God knows

when it’ll happen again. We could be old like Cora and Ginny, sitting on some porch somewhere, all dried up, no sex in thirty years, and believe me, you’d regret turning him away. And if you didn’t

regret it, I’d make sure you did.”

Dylan continued to play with the remote, taking off the back

and looking at the batteries. “Hey, listen, Mackenzie, this”—he

motioned back and forth between us—“doesn’t have to be a big

deal, you know. Let’s just forget it.”

“You can do that?”

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“If that’s what you want.” He got up and went into the kitchen.

I felt like kicking myself. How could I be such an ass? He came

back with a bottle of Coke in his hand and sat down. “Do you

want some?” I was thirsty—I think all the tears had left me dehy-

drated—so I reached for the bottle. He pulled it back. “Are you

sure you want some?” he asked. “Because you have to be absolutely positive.”

“Yes.” I gave him a strange look and reached for the bottle

again, and he pulled it back again.

“No, I think you ought to think about it. It’s a big decision.

Maybe you need to take a few days, or a week even, and then let

me know.” He was joking, but I could tell that for some reason he was hurt.

I’d plagued him since our first meeting in his office that day. I had forced myself on him in every way imaginable. Every time he

turned around, there I was with some complication, some prob-

lem. But I was sure that it real y
wasn’t
a big deal. He was still hung up on Meghan. I’d seen it in his eyes that night I let him take off my wedding ring, when he kissed me.

And it wasn’t lost on me when he was on top of me, when

he ran his hands over my body, when I could feel him thrusting

against me. I wasn’t sure it was even Dylan I was in bed with that night. Nick and Dylan had merged into one. At the time I didn’t

care. Or I didn’t think I did. We were both adults. I knew what I was getting into, and I had to resist the urge to ask him,
Where
do you see this going? How do I fit into this?
And the big one:
How
do you feel about me?
Who was I to ask questions when I couldn’t answer any of my own? I had learned the hard way that no one is

real y promised anything more than they have at the moment. I

would just go along for the ride and see where it went.

“I am sure.” He handed me the bottle again, but I just looked

at it. I rolled over and straddled his legs. “I am sure.” I kissed him.

“I don’t need to think about it anymore.” I had both hands on

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ELLEN J. GREEN

his chest when I noticed my ringless left hand. “Do you have my

ring?” I asked.

“No, why? Are you going to put it back on again?”

“After you took it off, I didn’t think about it again until now.”

“We must have left it outside. I assumed you picked it up when

we came in. Do you want to go look?” He rolled me off his lap so I was on my back. He leaned over me and kissed me.

“No,” I said, looking up at him. “I’m still waiting for my Coke.”

Later that day we looked on the glider, on the ground, under

the tree, everywhere. We even crawled around on our hands and

knees. It was gone.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just put it on the bench. I wasn’t even

thinking.”

“It’s okay.” I pushed myself to my feet. “I’d just put it in my

jewelry box anyway.”

He nodded. “If I find it out here, I’ll keep it for you.”

It didn’t escape my notice that it was just a little awkward, and I wasn’t going to say any more about it, but I wanted my ring. Not to put on my finger, but just to keep. It had been a part of my life, and it belonged with me, tucked away with all the other mementos

I’d gathered along the way. I dug my toe into the grass and kicked a few times. Dylan and I were face-to-face.

“So, what now? Do you want to go to dinner?” he asked.

Samantha was still passed out, I was pretty sure.
For God’s sake,
just take it slowly. You should both just have fun and don’t get so
serious—
her words of wisdom to me before swallowing her oxy-codone and pulling the blankets up over herself. Was I starting to get too serious?

“No, I have a better idea. I want you to distract Cora for me.

I want to get back into her office and go through her desk again. I have keys.”

“From where?”

“I found them in Ginny’s room, and I couldn’t help myself.”

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“We can’t just have a normal moment, can we?” He had his

hands on his hips. “How do you suppose I’m going to distract

her? Go to the door and try to sell her encyclopedias? Or I know, find a woman and we’ll go to the door together and pretend to be

Jehovah’s Witnesses and ply her with
Watchtower
literature.”

I tried not to laugh because I wanted to be serious, so I looked

at my feet until it passed. “Dylan, I’m serious. You could go to her door and tell her you need to talk to her about me. She’ll be interested, trust me.”

“And then what? What am I going to say to her?”

“I was thinking you’d give her little bits and pieces of informa-

tion. Just enough to keep her interested without giving everything away. You know, tell her that I’ve been bothering Ginny. She knows that already, but she’ll want to find out more. All I need is about twenty minutes, tops.”

“And you want to do this after seeing those pictures and know-

ing what she’s capable of?”

“I want to do this
because
of those pictures. I’m not going to turn around and give up now. Besides, I’m not a child. I’m not

helpless. She can beat up a four-year-old—”

“I don’t want you to do this. If you real y want to know what

happened, do what Nick did. Hire a private investigator.”

We were toe-to-toe and as close as we’d ever been to having an

argument. “An investigator can’t go in and look through her draw-

ers. Besides, it didn’t get Nick very far, did it? He didn’t find James.”

He shook his head. “And what if I can’t distract her? What

if she shuts the door in my face and goes upstairs? You haven’t

planned all this out very wel .”

“I’ve been upstairs before.”

“You were lucky. Or did you ever consider the fact that she’s

been letting you go through her things and just waiting for the

right moment?” His face was red. Almost like his father’s the

other day.

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ELLEN J. GREEN

“The right moment to what? Throw me out? Gladly.”

“She’s capable of more than that.” Agitation raised his voice.

“How can you be so sure she didn’t have something to do with

Nick’s accident? Doesn’t it strike you as odd that he died only a couple of months after hiring someone? And that he took out a

huge life-insurance policy at the same time?”

I put my hand out. “Wait. Your father told me that he took out

that policy when he made out his wil .”

Dylan shook his head warily. “No, July. He only made three

premiums. The insurance company may take some time before

they pay the claim because of it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before? And why’d your father lie

to me?”

He looked at me intently. “I thought you knew. My father said

he discussed everything with you about the money and the life-

insurance policy.”

“No.” It was a whisper.

He breathed out heavily through his mouth. “Go back to your

room. Give me about a half hour, and I’ll do the best I can.” My

watch said six thirty. “But I have a horrible feeling about this.”

Cora’s office so clearly brought back every memory of the night I got stuck in the closet that just stepping inside made goose bumps break out. I could hear voices downstairs in the foyer. I couldn’t make out the words, but I prayed that Dylan was quick witted and

would keep her occupied for a few minutes. I left the door to the hal way open so I could hear if anyone was coming.

I slid the top drawer open. It looked pretty much the same

as the last time I was here. But this time I wasn’t interested in her financial ledgers. I removed the contents and put them on top of

the desk, sorting through them as quickly as I could. Nothing new.

I put everything back and pulled on the bottom drawer. It wouldn’t budge. I took out the keys from my pocket and flipped through

them. My fingers shook a little, and I tried to breathe deeply and focus. The two voices were still in the background. Poor Dylan.

I couldn’t imagine what he was saying to Cora, but I knew I had

only minutes to finish. The fourth key inserted into the lock was a success.

The bottom drawer slid out on well-oiled casters. It contained

files. At least thirty in al . Some were labeled to give an indication 290

ELLEN J. GREEN

of the contents; most were blank. I had no time to look through all of this. Dylan was stretching it as it was. I’d been up here at least fifteen minutes. I pulled five out and put them in my lap. My fingers moved quickly. Nothing. Just insurance and auto information, old credit-card bil s. I started to put them back into place when I saw something lying in the bottom of the drawer, in the corner,