The Innocent (22 page)

“Yea,” Sister Edna added. “But let us get back to the business at hand. You have established that Curt Whitlow was the man Sister Carlyn saw talking with Brother Henry, Sheriff. You can question him about his purpose here.” She started to stand.

“Leave if you want, Sister Edna, but Mrs. Kearney will have to stay. I have a few more questions for her.” Sheriff Brodie’s voice was calm but firm.

“Nay. Sister Carlyn is my duty. I will not leave until she leaves.” Sister Edna huffed out a breath and lowered herself back down in her chair. “So get on with whatever you want to ask.”

The sheriff didn’t seem bothered by Sister Edna’s irritation. Instead he smiled when he turned his eyes back to Carlyn. She had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from smiling back at him. She could not help liking the sheriff, but it would be better if Sister Edna did not guess that.

“Were you close enough to hear what the men were saying?”

Carlyn hesitated. The day before, she hadn’t been completely truthful with Sister Edna about what she had heard. The woman would note that if Carlyn answered the sheriff honestly, but how could she do any differently? Carlyn
managed to conceal her sigh. She would pay for what Sister Edna would consider bending the truth.

“I couldn’t hear everything. Brother Henry’s voice was so low I only heard some of his words.” Carlyn stared down at her hands that she once again gripped so tightly her fingers ached.

They waited for her to go on, but when she stayed silent, Sister Edna poked her arm. “Get on with it and tell the man what you heard. Don’t you remember?”

“I remember,” Carlyn whispered.

“Take your time, Carlyn.” Sheriff Brodie leaned forward in his chair and didn’t seem to notice he’d spoken her given name again.

“Actually I don’t remember every word exactly. But the Shaker—that is, Brother Henry—was talking about someone else who was going to be upset about whatever Curt wanted. Then he told Curt he didn’t know what he was doing. But Curt said he knew exactly what he was doing and that they had a deal. He said nobody went back on a deal with him without paying a price.” Carlyn hated the tremble she heard in her voice. She took a breath. She had no reason to fear Curt Whitlow now, but it had been obvious that Brother Henry feared him or perhaps the other man he mentioned.

“What did Brother Henry say then?” Elder Derron spoke up. “Be sure you answer rightly, Sister.”

“He started to say something, but Curt cut him off and told him it was too late to claim a conscience.” Carlyn looked up at the elder, who was obviously distressed by Carlyn’s words casting suspicion on the brother he admired. A brother who was dead and could not defend himself or explain the words she’d heard. It could be they wouldn’t believe her.

She let her eyes slide over to Sister Edna, but the sister wasn’t looking at her. Instead she was watching Elder Derron, perhaps to see if he was going to allow Carlyn to continue speaking against their departed brother. The elder leaned his face in his hands as though suddenly weary.

“Did you hear more?” Sheriff Brodie asked.

Carlyn nodded and pulled in another breath. It seemed wrong to speak ill of the dead. “Curt told him to tell the other person what he said and Brother Henry said, ‘He won’t like it.’”

“He?” Elder Derron raised his head out of his hands. “Did he give a name?”

“Nay. Curt said he, whoever he was, shouldn’t have made the deal and that’s when Brother Henry said it was a deal with the devil.” Carlyn looked at Sister Edna. “That’s what I told you. That they spoke of the devil.”

“But you heard much more you did not reveal to me.” Sister Edna twisted her mouth in disapproval.

“Forgive me, Sister, but I didn’t want to think about Curt Whitlow or talk about him.”

“Wrong is wrong however you try to excuse it.” Sister Edna narrowed her eyes on Carlyn, then the sheriff, and last the elder. She seemed to see wrong in them all.

“So what did Whitlow do then?” Sheriff Brodie asked.

“He laughed. I think he liked that the brother was afraid of him.” A tremble was in her voice again. The sheriff would think she had no courage at all. She swallowed hard and went on. “I tried to slip around behind the chicken house without them seeing me, but two hens squawked and gave me away.”

“Did he recognize you? Whitlow, I mean.” The sheriff leaned toward her again.

Carlyn paused to think. “I don’t think so. I kept my face turned away and my Shaker dress looks the same as any sister’s. Brother Henry called to me, but I pretended not to hear. That’s when I ran back to the other pathway and met Sister Edna.”

“Met me? You almost knocked me over,” Sister Edna said.

“Yea, I was not watching as I should.” Carlyn breathed out a small sigh that brought a darker frown to Sister Edna’s face. Carlyn didn’t care. She was weary of Sister Edna and questions and all of it.

She’d come here to disappear among the sisters and find the peace they claimed in their village. She felt anything but peaceful now, but she had little choice except to continue along the Shaker path and do as they told her.

Work with her hands and give her heart to the Lord. That she could do. And answer their questions. That she must do as well to help the sheriff find those responsible for the fire and Brother Henry’s death.

“So what did you tell Sister Edna?” Sheriff Brodie asked.

“I’ve already told you that,” Sister Edna said.

“Please, Sister, allow Mrs. Kearney to answer.” Again the sheriff held his hand out to silence Sister Edna.

Carlyn was sorry he didn’t use her given name again. Calling her by her married name seemed to keep her at a distance when she so desperately needed a friend. Elder Derron and Sister Edna might claim to be her friends, even a sister and a brother, but she felt no warmth from them. Sister Edna made no attempt to hide her disapproval, while the elder’s mind appeared to be miles away as he stared down at his fingers spread out on his knees. Carlyn was tired of being alone.

Carlyn’s mother’s words slipped into her mind.
I will always be with
you, my daughter, whether I am near or far, but
even better you can count on the Lord to ever
be with you.

As a child she had no trouble believing that, but somewhere along the way, she had lost the freshness of her faith. She still believed in the Lord. Of course, she did. But she was no longer a child, innocently expecting her every prayer to be answered as she wanted.

But have you reached for the
Lord in prayer?
She blocked her mother’s voice from her mind. She could pray later. Now she had to answer the sheriff’s questions. It was expected of her no matter how weary she was.

“Sister Edna demanded I tell her where I’d been. As she said, she suspected that I had purposely strayed down the wrong path, but I had not. While it is true I didn’t tell her every word I heard, I couldn’t see what that mattered since the words were confusing.”

“That was for me to judge. Not you,” Sister Edna said.

“Yea, I realize my wrong now.” Carlyn unclasped her hands and smoothed down her apron. “So I told her I heard them arguing and that Curt was the man I owed money to on my house and that I was surprised to see him there in the village. Very surprised and also concerned he might have come looking for me.”

The elder roused himself from silence. “Why would he do that, Sister? We paid your debt.”

“I wasn’t thinking clearly,” she said.

“It is true that Mr. Whitlow is a hard man with whom to deal.” Elder Derron spoke almost as softly as Carlyn. “And then did you return to your duty in the gardens?”

“Yea, after I answered Sister Edna’s questions. She said
she would need to report what I’d seen to the Ministry after she talked to Brother Henry.”

Sheriff Brodie sat back in his chair, seemingly content to allow the elder to ask the questions.

“Did you do that, Sister Edna? Did you talk to Brother Henry?” The elder’s eyes went to Sister Edna.

The woman lifted her chin and met his look directly. “I did.”

“I see.” Elder Derron stared back down at his hands.

The sheriff broke the odd silence between the elder and Sister Edna. “What did he tell you, Sister Edna?”

“He told me I had no reason to be concerned. He assured me he would take care of the problems the man from the world was bringing to the village. He wanted to know which sister had been upset by their words so that he could apologize to her.”

“Did you tell him?” Sheriff Brodie asked.

“Nay. I thought it unnecessary, as I could tell Sister Carlyn myself that she had no reason to be concerned.” Sister Edna shot a look at Carlyn. “I had not yet had the opportunity to talk with Sister Carlyn about the matter. The fire took precedence.”

“And proved that thinking there was no reason to be concerned might have been premature,” Sheriff Brodie said.

Sister Edna turned to the sheriff. “The words between Brother Henry and the man she knew had nothing to do with our sister. It is for you to discover if this man had anything to do with Brother Henry’s unfortunate passing.”

“So it is.” Sheriff Brodie sat forward again. “You can be sure I will talk to Mr. Whitlow, but first, I need whatever answers I might discover here.”

“You are here to question Sister Carlyn, not me,” Sister Edna said.

The elder raised his head to look at Sister Edna. “We are none of us on trial, Sister Edna. The sheriff is simply trying to find out what happened. You have said you talked to Brother Henry. So has the Ministry been informed?”

“I’m sure they know all that’s happened. That is their duty, but I have not offered them a report. As you know, Elder Derron, first I must speak of the matter with Eldress Lilith.”

“As you should.” Elder Derron shifted his eyes away from Sister Edna to stare toward the window while he rubbed his hands up and down his thighs. “But worry not. Mother Ann will watch over us and make it possible to continue our work for the good of our Society.”

“Engaged in our duties we have no reason to fear,” Sister Edna said. “In our assigned, proper duties.”

Carlyn looked up to see if she pushed those words at her, but the woman watched the elder. Outside, the bell sounded to signal the time for the evening meal.

Sister Edna stood. “Come, Sister Carlyn. We have told the sheriff what we know.”

Carlyn got to her feet. She had to do what the sister said, no matter how reluctant she was to follow Sister Edna. She had thought she could be happy here. Or if not happy, then at least content. And safe. But perhaps it had been wrong of her to expect the village to supply more than her physical needs. The Shakers couldn’t give her peace. That had to come from within.

Sheriff Brodie stood too and stepped between Sister Edna and the door. “One more question, Sister.”

Sister Edna screwed up her mouth as though she wanted to refuse him, but instead she nodded once. “Then ask it.”

“Did Brother Henry tell you the name of the other man? The one who had made the deal with Curt Whitlow?”

“I knew nothing about that. Sister Carlyn neglected to tell me there was such a deal. She only spoke of the devil.” Sister Edna narrowed her eyes on the sheriff. “But then anytime we have to deal with someone from the world, we are dealing with the devil.”

When she pushed past him, Carlyn followed her but dared a look up at the sheriff.

The ghost of a smile crossed his face, and he put his hand on her arm to delay her leaving. “If you remember anything else, Mrs. Kearney, please let me know.”

“I will,” she murmured. She wished she could remember more right then to have a reason to keep talking with him. But instead she stepped away from his touch and hurried after Sister Edna down the hallway past the winding stairs and out the front door.

Sheriff Brodie followed them out. Carlyn chanced Sister Edna’s disapproval by turning her head to watch him ride away from the village.

The road beckoned her too. A way to freedom, to life again, while the path back to the Gathering Family House seemed a return to bondage. Bondage she had chosen, she reminded herself. She had cast her lot with the Shakers and she would have to accept their ways, no matter how odd they seemed.

20

The Shakers weren’t sorry to see Mitchell on his way out of their village. That was obvious from how they had a man waiting with his horse when Mitchell followed Sister Edna and Carlyn outside. He didn’t have a chance to say anything more to Carlyn. The old sister made sure of that.

The Shakers were tired of his questions and doubtful the answers would help him apprehend those responsible for the fire.

Brother Thomas had summed up the Shakers’ thinking before he ushered him to the Trustee House to meet with Elder Derron. “Whether you determine who set the fire or not matters little. The damage is done and cannot be reversed. Nay, it is our duty to continue on, sorrowful for the loss of our brother but without anger in our hearts. Such is our way.”

“It’s my job to find the responsible party,” Mitchell said.

Brother Thomas looked sorry for Mitchell as he shook his head. “You must seek answers since that is the way of the world. But Mother Ann will bless us with new barns as long
as we work faithfully with our hands and give our hearts to the Lord. The world cannot defeat us.”