Measure of Grace (9 page)

Sylvia let out a wail and broke into deep, mournful sobs.

Supper was forgotten.

While the others stayed with Sylvia, Mark rode to town and brought Dr. Philip Warner back with him. The doctor immediately gave Sylvia a strong sedative, telling her it would take effect within half an hour and would help her to get some sleep.

The doctor told William to send for him again if he was needed.

Sylvia clung to her husband. Never once did she utter a word of blame toward him. She told herself William was blaming himself enough. She would not add to his misery.

Holding Sylvia tight, William ran his eyes to the others, then looked back at Sylvia. “I’ll go to Marshal Woodard in the morning, show him the jacket, and ask him to form a search party to help me find Jordan’s remains.”

“I’ll be part of that search party, Mr. Shaw,” spoke up Mark Hedren.

“Good,” said William. “Thank you.”

“Mom,” said Knight, “may I go along, too? I realize it will take me out of school for whatever time we’re gone, but—”

“It’s all right, son,” said Annie. “If the tables were turned, Jordan would do it for you.”

“Thank you, Mom,” said Knight, patting her cheek lovingly. “I’ll catch up on my schoolwork as soon as we get back.”

“I appreciate your letting him go with us, Annie,” said William. “Knight has proven over and over that he indeed was Jordan’s best friend.”

Sylvia was fighting the effects of the sedative, but the stronger force of the medicine was winning the battle. Everyone saw that Sylvia was getting drowsy.

Annie said, “Mr. Shaw, if you’ll help Sylvia to the bedroom, I’ll tuck her in.”

Sylvia’s eyes were droopy as William carried her to their room. Annie hurried ahead and turned down the covers. Lorene followed, and as her father laid her mother on the bed, she said, “I’ll stay with her, Papa.”

“No need for that, child,” said Annie. “You and your papa need some time with each other. You go on back to the parlor. I’ll stay with your mama.”

Both William and Lorene thanked her and left the room.

Sylvia was already asleep. Annie pulled the covers up over her, then slid the rocking chair that sat by the window up next to the bed and eased into it.

As she rocked silently back and forth, Annie whispered to the Lord, praying for this family who so desperately needed Him. She and Buck had talked to the Shaws on several occasions after they were saved, trying to make them understand their own need for salvation, but they had politely told her they had their own ideas about life, death, and eternity.

“Please, dear Lord,” Annie prayed aloud, “let this tragedy work in their hearts and minds so it will result in them receiving You as their Saviour.”

Back and forth she rocked, her work-worn hands clasped tightly in her apron-clad lap.

E
ARLY THE NEXT MORNING
, Marshal Mike Woodard held Jordan Shaw’s tattered, bloody jacket in his hands with his young deputy, Bob Price, looking on.

Shaking his head, Woodard looked at William Shaw, Knight Colburn, and Mark Hedren. “There’s no way Jordan can still be alive.”

“We’ve accepted that, Mike,” said William, his voice breaking. “Sylvia and Lorene had a hard time with it, but they know all we can hope for is to find Jordan’s remains.”

“I understand,” said Woodard. “Not until the remains are found can it come to closure in your hearts and minds. I’ll go to work on it right away. I’d say if we could get another four men, the search party would be the right size. I’ll leave Bob here to watch over the town while I’m gone.”

William nodded. “I’d say eight would be enough. It might get cumbersome if we have too many.”

“Right. Since it might take a few days, you fellows pack up some food and bedrolls for yourselves and wait at the ranch. It won’t take me very long to come up with four more volunteers. See you in a couple of hours or so.”

At the same time William, Mark, and Knight were riding out of Elkton toward the Bar-S, Ace Decker and Keith Nolan were about to leave Jordan Shaw sitting on the floor of the room in their cabin they called his cell, and go to work at the sawmill.

Jordan’s boots had been removed and his right ankle was chained to a post, with just enough length to allow him access to the food, water pitcher, and chamber pot close by. The chain was fastened securely to his ankle with a four-inch bolt through the links, and the nut was so tight it would be impossible to remove without pliers and wrench like the ones used by Nolan to put it on.

Since the room was on the front side of the cabin, Decker pulled the window shade down so anyone passing by on the road could not see in. He chuckled and said, “Well Jordan, ol’ pal, we’ll see you this evenin’. You have yourself an enjoyable day.”

Holding the pliers and wrench, Nolan laughed. “This makes me feel good, Ace! In time, this kid’s pa will give him up for dead.”

“Yeah!” Decker laughed. “And the sufferin’ that goes with it is our sweet revenge.”

Jordan closed his eyes and bit down on his lower lip. It was of no use to remind them of how his mother and sister would suffer. As they left the room, he opened his eyes and looked that direction through a wall of tears. He heard one of them shove the bolt on the cabin’s front door, then join his friend at the rear door. Jordan heard a padlock snap in place, and moments later, he heard Decker and Nolan trot their horses from the small corral toward the road.

As the sound of pounding hooves faded away, Jordan broke down and sobbed. He rued the day he first got into trouble with the law. “Jordan, you fool! None of this would have happened if you hadn’t been so hotheaded.”

He wept for a long time, his heart heavy for the suffering his family was going to bear. He thought of Lorene and Mark. Unless he could find a way to escape, he would not be there for their wedding on Saturday, June 18, which was less than two weeks away. And Mark had asked him to be one of his groomsmen along with Knight Colburn.

Gritting his teeth and shaking his head, he said aloud, “I’ve got to come up with a way to escape. I’ve got to!”

Late in the afternoon on the fourth day of leading his search party through forests and canyons, across streams, and into caves in the
Sawtooth Mountains, Marshal Woodard rendezvoused his teams of two at the base of Castle Peak.

His features were granitelike as each pair reported no sign of Jordan’s remains. Woodard had kept William Shaw with him. Turning in his saddle to look at him, he said, “William, from the evidence I’ve seen: the tattered, bloody jacket; the grizzly’s paw prints in the woods where Jordan was chopping wood; all the blood in the area; and the bear’s tracks leading to higher ground, tell me that after the grizzly killed Jordan, it took the body to some remote spot and—well, enough said.”

Wiping tears, William nodded. “I can see that it’s futile to keep searching any longer, Mike. These men need to get home to their families. Mark, Knight, and I need to go home, too.”

With heavy hearts, the men turned their tired horses southward and headed toward lower ground.

William Shaw was in the depths of despair, knowing that this horrendous tragedy was all his fault. If only he not had been so hardheaded and stubborn …

How am I ever going to live with this?
he asked himself as he rocked in the saddle.
How am I going to face Sylvia and Lorene day after day from now on, knowing that Jordan was mauled by that grizzly because of me? And to add to my guilt, there is no way for closure for them. There is no body to bury … no way for them to say good-bye
.

Dusk was on the land as William, Mark, and Knight rode up to the Bar-S corral and dismounted. A couple of ranch hands were near, and after answering their questions about the search, William asked them to take care of the three horses. As the three of them headed for the back door of the ranch house, William was rehearsing in his mind what he was going to say to his wife and daughter.

When they stepped into the kitchen, the women were seated around the empty table. Sylvia slowly raised her eyes to meet her husband’s as Lorene and Annie looked on. The grief etched on William’s face was enough to bear the message, but Sylvia had to ask him.

Drawing a shallow breath, she said, “Find anything?”

Scrubbing a palm over his face, William said, “Not a trace.”

Mark went to Lorene, and Knight went to his mother.

Rising slowly from the chair, Sylvia blinked at the fresh tears in her eyes. William opened his arms, and she stepped into them, collapsing against his chest. Sobs tore from her lips as she cried, “I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it!”

William’s rehearsed words suddenly seemed inappropriate, and he dismissed them from his mind.

Lorene stood up, weeping, and Mark folded her into his arms.

Annie rose from her chair, and Knight locked her neck in the crook of his arm, holding her tight. As he beheld the sorrow of the Shaw family, he felt his own brand of sorrow. It was more than just the death of his closest friend. It was worse, knowing that Jordan had died without Jesus.

Annie thought of that, too, and of the many times she and Buck had talked to the Shaws about their need to be saved, but she decided that now was not the time to press them about it again. By previous experience with them on the subject, she knew they were not in a frame of mind to listen to her.

When Sylvia and Lorene had gained control of their emotions, Mark said, “Lorene, maybe we should postpone the wedding. You know, so as to let the natural period for mourning pass.”

Moving her head slowly back and forth, Lorene said, “Mark, I don’t think Jordan would want us to postpone it. I really don’t.”

“I don’t either,” said Sylvia. “And besides, even though you two have chosen to have a small wedding with just family and close friends, so much careful planning has gone into both the ceremony and the reception. Everything is set with the minister and the church in Ketcham, and he went out of his way to schedule it on June 18, which he said ordinarily he would only do just for his members. You remember, Mark.”

Mark nodded. “Yes. I know he had already planned to take his family over to the Craters of the Moon area for an outing that day. They had set the date back in April. I just thought the three of you might rather put the wedding off a few weeks. But you’re right. Too many things are already set.”

“Not to mention that relatives on both sides of our family who
live in the Midwest and back East have already purchased railroad tickets,” said Sylvia.

Mark nodded.

“You will have to pick out another groomsman to take Jordan’s place, darling,” said Lorene. “But other than that, everything is in place.”

“I think I’ll ask Bart Collins,” said Mark.

“Good choice,” said Lorene. “Bart is certainly one of your closest friends. I’m sure he will be honored to do it.”

As the days passed, Jordan remained in his cell and in chains when Decker and Nolan were away from the cabin. The more time that passed, the more discouraged he became. There was simply no way he could escape. He told himself he was going to have to wait until his captors took him into the mountains and tied him up in the cave just before they would leave Idaho.

He was glad, at least, that they were not going to kill him. When he was tied up with the ropes instead of bound with chains, he would eventually be able to free himself.

On Saturday, June 11, Decker and Nolan left Jordan shackled to the post in his room as usual, and rode into Elkton. They wanted to hear what was being said about Jordan’s disappearance.

Arriving in town, they dismounted, moved slowly down the boardwalks and into one store after another. Often they heard townspeople talking about Jordan Shaw being killed and devoured by a grizzly; his bloody, tattered jacket being found; the search party led by Marshal Mike Woodard, trying unsuccessfully to find his remains; and the deep sorrow being experienced by the Shaw family.

As they rode back toward the foothills, Decker and Nolan laughed with glee, discussing the mental anguish their former boss was suffering. When they entered the cabin, they went into Jordan’s cell and laughed heartily as they told him what they had heard the townspeople saying.

Jordan’s heart was heavy, knowing he had done this terrible
thing to his family. He wished they would not have to wait so long to learn that he was alive.

At the same time Jordan Shaw was languishing in his cell at the cabin in the foothills, Knight Colburn entered the
Elkton Sentinel
office to find Claude Hayward smiling at him.

Hayward, who had recently turned sixty, said, “I’m sure glad it’s Saturday. If I didn’t have you in here once a week, Knight, I’d have to do all the work around this place.”

“We couldn’t have the boss under that kind of pressure, now, could we?”

Hayward laughed. “Not as old as I’m getting.”

Knight shook his head, grinning. “You’re not old, Mr. Hayward.” He paused for effect, then added, “Compared to Methuselah.”

Hayward made a mock scowl. “I’d fire you for that remark, but there’s too much work that needs to be done around here.”

They laughed together, then Knight said, “So, what’s my first task, today?”