Me Without You (30 page)

"Well, we can't mope around here all
day!" Jerone announced. "There are things to be done! Businesses to
attend to."

Jane sniffed out loud and agreed with
Jerone with a little less conviction, "Well, if that's how we must
handle this, then so be it. I'll have the ceremony arranged with
Fr. Ulysses."

Jerone exited through the front door
while Jane excused herself to change her clothes before
leaving.

It was only when Jane and
Jerone were out of earshot that Hugh told Jonah and Jervais
excitedly, "When I saw the news, I remembered what Jenssen told X
and me back then—about the hyenas. There are people within the
Foundation who caught smugglers of hyenas but it has been kept from
the media. Fr. Ulysses must have known about it. He is after all
the founder of the
Predators Conservation
Foundation."

"But the report says the authorities
are temporarily turning over the beasts to Fr. Ulysses!" Jonah
said. "But you are actually saying that the priest is involved in
this somehow?"

Exposed

"I'll ask Jane," Jonah said. She stood
up from the couch and walked in the direction Jane had
taken.

"You can't tell Jane," Jervais insisted
following Jonah.

"Should I wait here?" Hugh asked. He
also stood up but he stayed to his spot in the living room. Jonah
and Jervais stopped walking and looked back at him. "You've got to
remember the person who said it is nowhere to be found. We don't
have any evidence. We can't just march to Fr. Ulysses and accuse
him of things," he added.

"Jane can subtly—" Jonah
began.

"Jane cannot make him talk," Jervais
cut Jonah off. "The police will!"

"No police," Jonah and Hugh said at the
same time.

"You're beginning to sound like Aunt
Judith," Jervais replied.

"Aunt Judith is right on that
note—about the police I mean!" Jonah said.

"Fine, let's do this the woo-hoo way,"
Jervais said.

"And what is the woo-hoo way?" Jonah
asked.

"We can use the
habak
!" Jervais suggested.
She fingered the little trinkets dangling on her waist. "Aunt
Judith did say it holds a secret of some sort."

"But we don't know how to use it,
Jervais," Jonah said skeptically.

"Just do something with it. Instruct
it. Touch it. Caress it. I don't know—" Jervais answered
exasperatedly. "There'll be a way somehow."

"I'll get the real one," Hugh
said.

Jervais untied the belly chain from
around her waist and inspected it. "You mean this is not the real
one? You've got me fooled over this one. And I happen to risk my
life wearing this. I won't get killed for being the new one. I will
get killed for faking this," she said with mocked anger, which made
Jonah and Hugh chuckled lightly.

"That's not going to happen, Jervais,"
Jonah said. Then she became serious and added, "We'll have to tell
Jane about Fr. Ulysses. She's going there anyway to arrange the
final ceremony for Brice. And perhaps, Jenssen too. Then, we'll
decide where to go from there."

"Good! That's settled then.
I'll give you the real
habak
when you see X," Hugh said and walked towards the
door but he stopped just a few feet away from where Jonah and
Jervais were standing.

"I—" Jonah hesitated for a moment. With
Hugh's eyes on her, she didn't know what she had been meaning to
say. She was planning not to see Xavier for a while until she
settled the confusion that was still bothering her.

"You are seeing him, aren't you?" Hugh
asked. One of Hugh's brows had arched up in an inquiring manner but
there was a trace of an amused half-smile on his face.

However, Jonah finally said, "Yeah, of
course! Later!"

Hugh said, "Later!" And he was out of
the door.

"What's that all about?" Jervais asked.
She eyed Jonah suspiciously. "Is there anything I should
know?"

"Nothing," Jonah answered. "Let's go
find Jane and tell her."

"That certainly did not look like
nothing to me," Jervais argued. "You're not even a widow yet and
you're cheating on—"

"Quit it, Jervais!" Jonah
warned.

"Okay, I'm sorry. It was done in bad
taste. But—" Jervais said apologetically.

"Let's just find Jane, okay?" Jonah
told her. Was she that obvious for Jervais to notice that something
was bothering her about Hugh? Would Xavier notice too? Had Hugh
noticed already? She certainly felt so exposed. Her body, her
expression, her eyes, her words were all litmus tests to how she
was feeling deep within her. And it was so difficult to pretend or
delete the havoc she had created.

Jervais and Jonah went upstairs and
found Jane all dressed up. Jane was about to leave to see Fr.
Ulysses but Jervais and Jonah took her aside. The two relayed what
Hugh told them and Jane could not hold back her shock and rage
about the recent turn of events.

"If Fr. Ulysses is involved in all
these, he had to be brought in for questioning," Jane said. She sat
down at the edge of her bed. "Will your friends be able to testify
to this?"

"Of course," Jonah replied. "But I
thought we shouldn't involve the police in here. They will only
launch a full investigation over the whole thing which will still
leave all of us crying out a hocus-pocus! Let them do their job and
then we can do it our own way."

"How?" Jane asked.

"Ask Fr. Ulysses!" Jervais
said. She went to the bedside table and opened the drawer to place
the
habak
she was
clutching in her hand.

"What is that? Isn't that your mother's
belly chain? How did it get to you?" Jane demanded. She went to the
bedside table and examined it.

"It's fake!" Jervais said.

"Then you are not leaving it here,"
Jane told Jervais. There was a trace of a grin on her lips and a
twinkle of amusement in her eyes."For a moment there, I saw Aunt
Judith looking like she had found her city of gold right in front
of her when she saw you wearing that."

"Really? It was for her benefit. But
she didn't look happy to me! She even looked irked!"

"Believe me! I've known the woman
longer than you do. A frown to her is the same as being angry and
blissful at the same time," Jane said. She leaned on the bedside
table and relaxed her shoulders a bit. "But I am not going to put
up another reason for people trashing my room again. So, you have
got to dispose it!"

"No, don't!" Jonah quickly said. "It
may come in handy sometime! We will never know." She got the fake
belly chain and hid it in her pocket.

"No, Jonah! You are not going to put
yourself in danger because of this," Jane said and extended her arm
out to Jonah. "Give the belly chain to me!"

Jonah reached out for
the
habak
in her
pocket and gave it to Jane, who hugged her in return looking
satisfied.

"So how are we going to uncover what
the priest may be hiding?" Jane asked.

"We will just ask him point blank and
we'll know from the way he reacts if he is onto something," Jervais
quipped.

"Okay! But I'll have to do that alone!"
Jane replied. "The two of you will have to stay here."

* * * * *

Jonah and Jervais had to promise to
allow Jane to do the talking. And after hearing a warning from Jane
for she had cautioned them that they will be exposed to danger more
than ever, confronting the priest about Jenssen's disappearance,
Jonah and Jervais smiled at each other surreptitiously. They were
able to finally convince Jane to bring them along to meet with Fr.
Ulysses.

And it helped a lot to receive a phone
call from the hospital announcing the good news that Jemmah had
woken up for a while and was out of coma. The three of them were in
high spirits. And it made them even bolder to confront the priest
about what they discovered.

Although Jane's back was so stiff and
her chin was up in the air, it was still very obvious to both Jonah
and Jervais that Jane was containing her nervousness, when they
were seated in Fr. Ulysses' office.

The priest was his usual bubbly self,
chattering about some of the events prepared by the church for its
devotees. He even mentioned a few times about the foundation that
Jenssen was leading.

"I am sorry about Jenssen," Fr. Ulysses
said gravely. "I include her in my prayers everyday. She was a very
hardworking and a good leader. I was looking forward for her to
lead a few of our volunteers in Africa to learn more about our
endangered predators. It is so sad that this had to happen. I hope
that the authorities will find her soon."

It seemed to be just the right moment
that Jane was waiting for when Fr. Ulysses mentioned about Jenssen
and the foundation.

"I think you can shed light on the
matter to the police, Fr. Ulysses," Jane spat out at the priest
ominously. "After all, Jenssen had told someone the foundation knew
of people who caught smugglers of wild beasts."

"What—" Fr. Ulysses stammered. He was
clearly surprised at Jane's words.

"Could the wild beasts be the hyenas
which were found in the warehouse?" Jane interrupted the
priest.

"You are on a dangerous ground here—"
Fr. Ulysses replied. His voice had increased its tone. His face had
turned red and the muscles on his temples were tightening a
little.

"Would you know what the foundation
knew? Surely—" Jane argued leaving the sentence for Fr. Ulysses to
interpret on his own, pushing a little more.

Jonah and Jane kept their eyes on the
priest just watching his reaction. They were glad that Jane had not
given him the chance to say anything. The expression on his face
was enough to tell a lot. Although, they still didn't know the
exact details— they had revealed the truth that the priest had
known.

"Jane, don't tempt me to—" Fr. Ulysses
warned. He rose from his chair. His hands were planted on the table
and he looked like he was about to prance at them.

"To what, Fr. Ulysses?" Jane said. She
also stood up briskly from her chair and met the priest's eyes.
"Are you threatening us?"

"You know—" the priest started to cry
out.

"I know that you are involved in this!"
Jane cut in. Her voice was almost screaming, matching Fr. Ulysses'
tone. She raised her hand and the belly chain coiled around it
flashed before everyone's eyes. "I am warning you! And I want you
to tell whoever you are working for that your hunting days are
over. I am the new one. And I have sealed it through Jemmah! You
can check her out for yourself, alive and well. So don't touch any
member of my family from this day on."

Jane stomped out of the office with
Jonah and Jervais following her heels leaving Fr. Ulysses with his
mouth hanging open. They have reached the end of the corridor that
led another door towards the exit when the priest went out of his
office and shouted at them.

"You're not going to get away with
this, Jane. You know it!" Fr. Ulysses' voice rang out
distinctly.

When the three were inside, cramped in
Jervais' car, they all heaved a huge sigh of relief out of their
mouths.

"I have never been so shaken in my
life!" Jane said. But she was smiling triumphantly and looking
pleased. She wiped the sweat on her forehead down to her temple.
She ran her fingers through her neatly-pulled ponytail. Then, she
exhaled more air out of her lungs.

"But that was brilliant!" Jervais said,
banging her hands on the steering wheel. She turned to look at Jane
who was seating at the backseat of the car. "Just brilliant, Jane!
And how you told them about being the new one and sealing it—God,
they will be staying away from us from this day on."

"I certainly hope so!" Jane
said.

"Oh, they will!" Jonah said. "You were
so convincing as the new one! You could easily fool anybody. Even
Aunt Judith will have no doubt."

"Ditto. You were even more convincing
than me when I had to act it out in front of Gilda Byrne," Jervais
chimed in and laughed out loud.

"You were just acting?" Jane
asked.

"Just acting," Jervais confirmed and
gave Jane a childish grin. "What did you think?"

"I was thinking you were the
new one," Jane said searchingly. "The night you came to my room and
Aunt Judith also came in afterwards—I thought it had something to
do with the
habak
."

"I heard something," Jervais told Jane.
"But Jonah—"

"Fr. Ulysses!" Jonah cried out
suddenly.

Jervais and Jane looked in the
direction Jonah was pointing and saw the priest hurrying outside to
the parking lot towards his car. Once in a while Fr. Ulysses would
scan the area suspiciously.

"Let's follow him," Jervais said
excitedly.

"Let's not!" Jane said.