The Book of James (44 page)

by fog, though the sky was a deep, clear blue. Nick had his arm

around James, his little hand resting on his brother’s shoulder. He never looked back as he lured the smaller child to his death.

Cora stood on the terrace until they disappeared into the

woods. Twenty minutes went by. Nothing. Her mind was in agony.

Had something gone wrong? Was Nick unable to do what she had

so careful y planned? She’d raced across the yard and into the clearing after them, frantic, but stopped short just before the swimming hole and froze out of sight behind a tree.

Nick had not been strong enough to keep his brother under-

water. The smaller boy’s head popped up to the surface again and

again, sucking in air. James fought back with all his strength. He’d fought for his life that day. Nick became more consumed with rage as each minute passed, his attempts more violent. The two splashed across the small water hole, limbs flying. The turmoil punctuated by screams.

The struggle continued from the water onto land. Cora

watched from that spot, not far away. James stumbled and fell to

the ground.

“Daddy, help.” The last words he spoke, barely audible. He

hadn’t been calling for his mother that day. It was the comfort of his father that he sought. His only source of kindness. It disgusted Cora.

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Nick had grabbed a nearby rock. He stood over his brother

and looked down, hesitating only a moment before smashing the

rock down on his brother’s head. Cora didn’t see her son, a helpless child, lying on the ground bleeding to death. What she saw was her father. A man who had destroyed her life. Made it almost unbear-able. She watched the light flicker out in his eyes as he died.

Afterward, Nick came to her and held her tight. Then she made

him go and immerse himself in the swimming hole to wash the

blood from his body. She recited part of the baptismal rite while he washed, cleansing the sin from his body with God’s words. He was

born again, this time as her only child. He left silently through the woods, wrapped in a towel, the way he had come.

Cora sat in the dirt and looked at James, lying only yards from

her. Blood oozed from his wounds into the dirt. It pooled around

his head. But even the earth seemed to reject this child, refusing to yield, to accept this simple offering of his blood. His eyes were open. Cora wanted to touch him, to close them, but she couldn’t

bring herself to make even that gesture. The words of God she said over his body would have to suffice. Then she placed her mother’s rosary beads on his chest.

God’s bidding had been done. But at what cost? This could not

be passed off as a simple accidental drowning. She left James on

his back at the swimming hole, his eyes open, very near the spot

where she’d seen her mother lie years before.

She and Harrison never spoke ful y about what had happened

that day. He had done as she asked because he had no choice. He

buried James on top of her brother in the old cemetery. Cora took advantage of one of Bradford’s travel absences and reported nothing to the police until he had returned and she knew the child

would be missed. By then, so much time had passed, most traces of the crime had vanished. The act had bonded Harrison, Cora, and

Nick together the way nothing else could.

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But now Harrison would have to have the strength to take care

of things again. Twenty-seven years, she had carried this in her

soul. Enough was enough.

She heard noise downstairs. It sounded like a door banging.

Before she could turn around, Harrison burst through the door

and grabbed her by the wrist.

“Come with me. I’m leaving,” he said.

“Where’s Mackenzie?” she asked.

He pulled her toward the door. “She slipped through the

damned fence in the cemetery, onto Troup’s property. By the time

I got around there, she was long gone. I saw lights, like police

lights, coming through those woods. We have to go now. If they

find her, they’re coming in here.” They went into the hal way and down the stairs. He was moving so fast she almost tripped and fel .

He stopped suddenly. “Things are bad, Cora. We can get off this

property and go far away—but we’re not coming back.”

“No, Harrison. I can’t leave. You know I can’t leave.”

“Damn it. We should leave while we still have a chance. We

can’t stay here, Cora. They’ll come in after us.”

“We can, Harrison. I know all the hiding spots. I know where

to go. We can stay for months or longer.”

“No.” He pulled at her, but she resisted. Harrison looked down

into her eyes. “Cora. I’d do anything for you. I’ll take care of you on the outside. Trust me.”

She started to cry. She begged. Final y she dropped to her knees

and clung to his pant leg. He would have to drag her off the land. In the end, Harrison gave in. He stayed by her side. He was sure he’d be able to convince her to leave when she calmed down enough to

real y assess their situation. She was positive he wouldn’t.

They descended the marble steps together, arm in arm, to

where it was dark and quiet and peaceful. Harrison had chosen to

stay with her; that was all that mattered. Despite everything, she had kept him by her side. Nick had chosen to leave her those years THE BOOK
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365

ago and get married, but in the end he hadn’t real y betrayed her either. He may have sent his wife here, but he never divulged their secret. The bond she’d forged with him had endured everything.

She had won.

Days later, it didn’t even bother her all that much when she

heard a cavalcade of police invading her home from above.

The area was flooded with police lights when they carried me out.

I blinked and closed my eyes. My head was pounding, and every-

thing blurred. I felt arms around me, and I held on without even

knowing who was holding me. I was so tired. The urge to sleep was stronger than the lights in my eyes. Stronger than the voices in my ears. Stronger than the loud noise around me. I gave in to it.

When I opened my eyes again, bright lights blinded me, and I

turned away. I forced my eyes open again, even though it felt like someone was stabbing my pupils with an ice pick. My head was

pounding, and I was so sore. I looked around. An IV was attached

to my arm, and a colorless fluid was being fed into my veins.

Things I had been thinking about even when unconscious

made their way to the front of my mind. Nick killed his brother.

Six years old, forced to take his little brother into the woods and drown him. What was he thinking at the time? Five years later?

Ten? Did he tell anyone? Ever? Did he cry at night when he thought about it? Did he blame himself? Did his brother haunt him?

I’d married a murderer. Maybe it wasn’t his fault, but he was

a murderer just the same. Cora and Harrison were right. I never

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knew my husband at al . I leaned over the side of the bed to throw up. Dry heaves. There was nothing in my stomach. I reached out

and hit the nurses’ call button.

A woman in maroon scrubs came bounding into the room.

She checked the IV bag and looked down at me.

“I see you’re awake. How do you feel?”

I moved my tongue around in my mouth. It was bone dry.

“Water?” I mumbled.

“Not yet. You’re getting fluid from the IV. You were pretty

dehydrated, and we have to flush some drugs from your system.”

She leaned over and repositioned my pillows. “The doctor should

be in to see you later on. If he says it’s okay, we’ll take out the IV and you can have some water by mouth, but not until then.” I closed

my eyes against the light and tried to swallow. “You have someone who wants to see you. Okay?” I nodded and she left the room. A

few minutes later, a cool hand was on my forehead.

“Hey, Mac.” Samantha was over me, smiling. “You okay?” I

nodded. Her hand brushed back my hair. “We were so scared. I

was so afraid they wouldn’t find you.” Her hand went to her lips

and she pulled at the bottom one. A habit she’d had so long I

couldn’t remember the first time I’d seen her do it. She set aside her crutches and lowered herself into a chair near my bed.

“What happened?” I asked. My voice was a croak.

“They found you in the woods. You were in pretty bad shape.”

“Cora?” I tried to sit up.

“It’s okay.” She eased me back down. “They have Cora and

Harrison. When you didn’t come back, we went to the house. Cora

tried to tell us you went to Harrisburg, but we didn’t believe it, and we knew something had happened. We tried to tell the police, but

it took them a couple of days to final y take it seriously.” Her eyes were glassy, almost teary. “Your Jeep was at the train station, but no one remembered anyone of your description getting on a train.

The police went round and round but didn’t do too much. Final y

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ELLEN J. GREEN

they went back to the house and looked for you. But you weren’t

there. That’s when they started to search the grounds. The house

is a mess.” She pulled her lip a little more. “Dylan and I have your stuff, so you don’t have to go back there again. Ever.”

“Nick,” I whispered. “Cora made Nick kill James when they

were just children.”

Samantha looked at me hard. “I know. They found James’s

body in the cemetery. So horrible. Can you imagine what Nick’s

life was like? How can anyone get past that?”

“They don’t.” My voice was just above a whisper. “They just

drag other people into the horribleness. How long have I been

here?” I tried to pick my head up off the pillow, but it felt like it weighed a hundred pounds.

“This is day two. They found you yesterday.”

“Ginny?”

“She’ll be fine. They’d been drugging her. Harrison was. She

probably had some senile dementia, but he was giving her Benadryl and Vistaril. According to the doctor, that’s the worst thing you can give someone with dementia. It exacerbated the symptoms. Made

her more confused.” She shook her head. “She’s in the hospital too, down the hal . Her brother drugged her with sedatives while they

were holding you.”

My eyes fluttered. The desire to close them overpowered

everything else. “She’ll be all right?”

Samantha nodded. “She’s strong.” She stood up. “Sleep. I’ll

come back later.” She kissed my forehead and left the room.

I felt immeasurably better later that afternoon. I had slept. The IV came out. I was allowed water and Jell-O. I wasn’t so groggy. I stared at the dismal wal s of the hospital room, wondering how

long I was going to be kept prisoner. The door flew open and

Samantha reappeared.

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“Told you I’d be back. They’re letting you go in the morning.

Things look good.” She maneuvered herself into the chair next to

the bed and rested her crutches on the rail.

“Yeah, we’re a pair, aren’t we?” I said. “My face feels like a balloon. Some vacation, huh?”

“Someone wants to see you. I told him I wanted to come in

first,” she said.

“Dylan?” I wondered where he’d been.

“One minute.” She stood up and opened the door.

“If you’re going to make me cry, you might as well turn around

now,” I said.

He came in and sat down. “No more tears.” He wiped my face

with his hand and then rubbed his fingers on my sheets. “I think

you need to blow your nose.” I laughed, and he handed me a tissue.

“You look better. I was in earlier when you were sleeping, and you looked like hel .”

“I was wondering where you were. I thought you’d aban-

doned me.”

“Nah, just letting you rest. I figured that was more important.”

We were both silent. “I’ve just been thinking and trying to put all the pieces of this thing together.”

“I thought it was all figured out. No?” I sat up.

He sat next to my bed. “Yes and no. There were still pieces

missing.”

“Your father and Cora?”

He nodded. “It didn’t make sense. The connection between the

two of them.”

“And?”

“I told him what I thought, and he didn’t deny it. He just stared me down and told me I was a good lawyer but I couldn’t prove any

of it.”“You’re making me crazy. Prove what?”

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“I was just going over everything. The letters Cora sent. What

exactly did my father do for her?”

“What? If it’s sexual I don’t want to know.”

“Focus, Mackenzie. No sex. At least not that I know of, though

I think my father was enamored with the whole Monroe bunch.

The money, influence. He and Cora had a sort of alliance—”

“Behind Bradford and Harrison’s back? What’s that, a love

quadrangle? She must have had something that I just don’t see.”

Dylan laughed. “He told Cora where Nick was. How to find

him. Your address so Cora could send the letter and the picture. I think he also told her about you. That Nick was married. Set her

off on a quest.”

“Your father indirectly caused all this?”

“Kinda sorta. She might have found Nick anyway. Eventual y.

Dad sped it up a bit.”

“Then Cora sent that letter that came the morning of the acci-

dent? The one that upset Nick?”

Dylan’s head hung low. “I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean?”

“Cora did send letters to your house, but the one that came

that morning wasn’t from Cora.”