Ed glanced uncomfortably at Jack. "He says different," he answered quietly.
Tess spun around, running back to Jack. "Don't do this, Jack, please. Please."
He didn't look at her, and somehow that hurt more than any slap she could imagine.
Anger revitalized her. "No, goddamn it!" She turned to Warbass. "He didn't do it. Don't listen to him, he's?"
"Crazy," Jack said flatly.
Tess reeled back around. "Damn it, Jack, you're not crazy. You're just ... afraid."
"Good-bye, Lissa."
The ground seemed to tilt suddenly. Tess swayed unsteadily. The knot of fear unwound, spilling through her blood in an icy stream. Her insides felt hot and shaky. "Oh, Jack ..."
He turned to her then, and the movement was slow and
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wooden. His face was a cold, emotionless mask, without smile or frown. To someone who didn't know him, he looked like a cold-blooded killer.
Except for his eyes. In the green depths was a pain so raw and consuming, Tess knew it was taking all of his self-control not to crack. His mouth trembled slightly, then drew back into a taut line. "Why?" she whispered. "I have to protect my family."
Tess swallowed thickly. "We're safe with you, Jack. Not without you." She took a step toward him, rested her hand on his chest. "Never without you."
He leaned down and kissed her. It was a short, bittersweet kiss that ended all too soon. "I love you," he whispered against her forehead when finally he pulled away. Tess threw her arms around him and clung to him. Huge, desperate sobs racked her body and scalded her eyes. Her heart was an empty, aching lump in her throat. "Please, don't do this. Please, oh, please, oh, please."
Gently he pushed her away. "I have to, Lissa." His voice thickened and cracked. "I have to."
Tess sagged and almost fell. It felt as if every bone in her body were being slowly, painfully crushed. Her tears turned him into a tall, black-haired blur against a solemn gray sky.
"Good-bye, Lissa."
"No, Daddy, don't go!" Savannah flew down the steps and barreled across the road, throwing herself into Jack's arms. "Don't go, Daddy."
Katie was right behind her. Jack hugged them all for a long time, smoothing the tear-dampened hair from their faces. Then he pushed them away, too.
"I have to go."
Katie looked up at Warbass. Her little body was heaving with quiet sobs. "D-Don't tuh-ake my daddy."
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Warbass tugged on his collar and looked away. "I'm sorry, missy."
Jack reached down and grabbed a satchel from the other side of the fence. Tess saw the bag and felt a surge of anger and betrayal so strong, it obliterated her sorrow for a heartbeat. "Why didn't you tell me last night?"
He turned and looked down at her. His finger breezed across her jawline in a feather-stroke. "I couldn't. You might have talked me out of it."
"He'll be in the jail in Victoria, Miz Rafferty. You can visit anytime before the trial."
Without another glance, Jack climbed up onto the wagon.
Tess clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. Tears blurred her vision and formed a huge, aching lump in her throat. She couldn't breathe. Her knees went weak and she collapsed in a crumpled, desperate heap on the dirt road. Dust spewed from the wagon's metal wheels and clogged her nose and eyes, turning her tears into muddy, clammy streaks.
"Come back," she whispered brokenly, tasting the gritty paste of dirt on her tongue.
The wagon rumbled on.
Tess had no idea how long she sat there, crumpled in the middle of the dirt road, her cheeks streaked with muddy tears. She stared through gritty eyes at the road, waiting, desperately waiting for the wagon to reappear, for Ed to come walking up and say, I'm sorry, Miz Rafferty, it's all been a horrible mistake....
A small, strangled sob escaped her. The rock-strewn dirt road blurred before her eyes.
"Mama?" Katie shuffled toward her and dropped to her knees. "What are we gonna do?"
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"There ain't nothin' we can do," Savannah answered in a tired voice. "Daddy's goin' to jail."
Tess straightened slowly. The kids. She couldn't fall apart now. Not here in front of the children. They needed her to be strong.
Sniffling, she backhanded the tears from her eyes and glanced over at Savannah, who was standing stiff as a knife blade, her face colorless and streaked with tears.
"Come over here, Vannah," she said quietly.
Savannah moved to Tess's side and kneeled on the hard dirt beside her. Tess put an arm around each girl and drew them close.
"He didn't do it," Tess said softly, her eyes blurring with new tears at the thought. "I know that," Savannah said.
"Then why'd he say he done it?" Katie asked in a small, miserable voice that made Tess want to cry all over again. "Well, honey, that's a hard question to answer. Basically your daddy doesn't think he's a very nice person. And when you don't believe there's good inside you, you're all too willing to believe there's bad." "Oh," Katie said quietly.
"Right now your daddy can't believe in himself, so he needs us to do it for him. We're his family, and families stick together through everything." "Maybe God will help him," Katie said. "I'm sure He will, honey, but God helps those who help themselves."
"What does that mean, Mama?" Tess hugged the girls fiercely. "It means I've waited all my life for someone to love, and someone to love me." She stroked the girls' hair. "I used to dream about you guys. About being part of a family. And now that I have it, I'll be damned if I'll let it go without a fight." "I love you, Mama," Savannah whispered.
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"I love you both, too," Tess murmured in a throaty voice. "So much, it hurts. Now, let's put our heads together and figure out a plan to help your father."
After breakfast, Tess sent Savannah and Katie in search of wildflowers. She needed some time to be alone, some time to think. She walked across the porch, listening with half an ear to the whining creak of the floorboards beneath her feet.
She went down the steps and crossed to the swing, sitting on its familiar seat. Leaning back, she closed her eyes and let the soft, gentle rocking motion soothe her battered soul. As she sat there, it began to rain. Cold droplets knifed past the tree's leaves and plunked on Tess's upturned face. The quiet, ceaseless patter of the raindrops on the grass matched the beating of her heart.
A particularly large drop landed in her eye. She wiped the wetness away with her sleeve and blinked.
A flash of yellow winked at her from the grass. Sliding off the swing, she plopped onto the ground and crawled through the wet grass.
The wilted, broken dandelion crown lay forgotten in the weeds.
She picked up the linked flowers in cold, shaking hands. The bright yellow blurred before her tear-filled eyes. She held it to her chest, smelling the strong, familiar scent of dandelions and grass and rain.
She tried to be brave and strong for the girls and Caleb and Jack, tried to swallow her tears and force her mind away from the pain. But she couldn't do it. Not this time.
And so, kneeling in the wet grass, alone, with a bunch of silly, wilted flowers plastered to her breast, Tess let herself cry. She cried until her throat was raw and her
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eyes burned, until her chest ached and her legs were icy cold.
She cried until she had no more tears to cry. Then, sniffling hard, wiping her bloodshot eyes, she clambered to her feet and walked slowly into the house.
She felt better then. Stronger. Ready to figure out a way to get Jack out of jail.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Tess was out of breath by the time she reached the Hannah farm. She skidded to a halt and concentrated on breathing normally as she walked toward the small house. Rain drizzled from the clouds overhead, sliding down the pitched roof and plunking on the weathered planks of the porch.
Be calm, Tess. Be calm.
Grasping her linsey-woolsey skirt,
she climbed the wooden steps and rapped sharply on the front door. There was a rush of shuffling feet from inside the house, then suddenly the door was whisked open. Minerva stood in the doorway.
She smiled immediately. "Why, Lissa, what a pleasant surprise."
Tess tried to keep her voice from trembling. "Not so pleasant, Minerva."
Minerva frowned. "Come in."
"Thanks." Tess swept into the small, neat kitchen and sat down at the table.
Minerva went directly to the stove, poured two cups of coffee, and set one down in front of Tess, then took a seat herself. "So, what's the matter?"
For a minute Tess couldn't talk. She curled her fingers around the dented tin cup and took a deep breath.
"Jack ..." She glanced away, unable to say anything. 366
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Minerva reached across the table and laid her hand on Tess's. "Jack what?"
She swallowed thickly, tasting bitter, unshed tears. "He thinks he killed the Dwyers."
Minerva gasped quietly, but didn't withdraw her hand.
"He didn't do it, of course, but he's so afraid...."
Minerva set her coffee cup down with a clank. "Of what?"
Tess forced her gaze up. "He had a ... bad experience in the war, and he can't forget it. That's why the fireworks set him off. The sound makes him remember things he'd rather forget, and he goes a little ... crazy. But he'd never hurt anyone."
Minerva studied Tess for a long, thoughtful moment.
Tess shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny. Suddenly
she remembered Jack's words: Be nice to them. She
thought of all the times Amarylis had undoubtedly been
rude to this nice woman, and Tess winced. Please don't
hold her against me. Not now. I need a friend so much....
"No," Minerva said quietly. "I don't believe he would
either." Minerva forced a lackluster smile. "Not that that'll
help you much."
Tess sighed. "I don't even know why I'm here. I guess I thought you could help me think of something to do. Anything. I can't just sit around that house and do nothing while he rots in jail for a crime he didn't commit."
Minerva's gaze dropped. She stared thoughtfully at her coffee for a long time. Slowly she looked up. "I'm sorry, Lissa."
Tess bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling. Tiredly she pushed to her feet. "Well?" Her voice sounded thick with tears, so she cleared her throat. "Well, if you think of anything, I'll be at home."
Minerva got to her feet. "I'm sure he'll realize he didn't do it and tell Ed the truth."
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Tess nodded stiffly. "I'm sure you're right." But as she gazed into Minerva's caring blue-gray eyes, Tess faltered. The words were a lie. Jack would never recant.
Minerva opened her arms. Squeezing her eyes shut, Tess stumbled forward, letting herself be enfolded in the comforting warmth of her friend's embrace.
The next morning Tess was wakened by someone banging hard on the front door. ~"~~
"Lissa! Open the door. Lissa!"
Tess stumbled out of bed and threw on her wrapper. The wooden floor felt icy cold beneath her bare feet as she staggered through the house.
The banging came again. Harder. Thud. Thud. "Lissa!"
"I'm coming." The words eked from her mouth in a mangled, morning-harsh slur. At the door, she paused to rub her tired, aching eyes, knowing they were still puffy and red from a restless night. Plastering a smile on her face, she opened the door.
Minerva, Jim, and Ed Warbass were standing on her
porch.
Tess gasped. It was all a mistake. She had a flash of hope so strong it left her breathless. Then she looked in Ed's solemn eyes, and the hope vanished.
Minerva thrust a shotgun at Tess. "I found this in the barn last night."
Tess shoved a tangled lock of hair from her eyes. "Oh." She eyed the long, ugly weapon. "Nice."
"It's Benjamin and Harvey's gun?"
"Our boys," Jim interjected.
Tess looked back and forth between Minerva and Jim. She could tell something was going on?something important?but frankly she was tired as hell and she'd
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cried half the night and she didn't feel like hearing about the boys' gun. "Look, Minerva, I?"
Minerva dismissed her protests with an impatient wave. "After you left yesterday, I kept thinking about how much you'd changed lately, about how Jack and even the girls had changed, and I wanted to help. Long after everyone else had gone to bed, I lay awake, tossing and turning. I kept thinking I knew something, something important, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I'd just about given up when it came to me.
"I remembered that the boys had loaned a gun to Joe and Kie Nuanna. For some reason that stuck with me. I kept thinking, the gun, the gun. I got up and put on my robe and wandered through the dark house. Before I knew it, I was in the barn, looking for that darn gun. When I found it?and saw the blotches on the stock?everything slipped into place, and I remembered the missing shot pouch."
Minerva sidled past Tess and took a seat at the kitchen table. Ed and Jim followed. Then they all stared up at her as if waiting for her reaction to the startling bit of information that a shot pouch was missing.
Minerva set the gun on the table, then looked up at Tess. "I can tell you're trying to figure out why we're here, babbling about a lost pouch. It took me awhile to make sense of all the pieces, too. But just bear with me, okay? I want you to really understand everything."
Tess nodded. "Okay."
"Joe and Kie had borrowed our gun before; it was nothing particularly noteworthy. That's why I didn't think of it before. Once or twice they'd even brought us back some game. They knew I'd made that pouch for the boys for Christmas. The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed that they didn't apologize for losing it. Then I figured out the reason." She gave Tess a meaningful look.
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"They didn't want to admit they'd lost it, because they knew where they'd lost it. The minute I realized that, I sent for Ed, and sure enough, he said I was onto something. Especially after he saw the gun."
Tess looked at the gun again, only this time she really looked. Ugly blackish splotches covered the wooden stock. A tingling thread of anticipation crept through her body.
"It's blood," Jim said quietly. "The only way you'd get blood on the stock is if you used the gun as a ... club."
Suddenly it all made sense. Tess's heart lurched against her ribcage and pounded. She lowered herself slowly onto a chair. In her lap, her hands started to shake with excitement. "When did the boys borrow the gun?"
Minerva looked steadily into her eyes. "Wednesday. The day the Dwyers were killed."
"Oh my God."
Ed scooted closer to the table. His elbows thumped on the tabletop. "I can't tell if it's human blood on the gun, but I'll bet it is. I'll have to send it over to a chemist in Victoria."
Tess understood instantly why the missing shot pouch was so important. She looked up into Ed's earnest eyes and asked quietly, "Did you find the pouch?"
"I can't comment on the evidence in an ongoing investigation." A shadow of a smile moved across his face. "But I will say I found some mighty interesting things in the Dwyers' root cellar."
Tess sagged with relief. "Will you let Jack go now?"
Ed gave her an apologetic smile. "It isn't that easy, Miz Rafferty. He doesn't want to get out. He thinks he did it, and he's scared to death he's gonna hurt someone else."
"He didn't do it."
Ed laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "That's a stubborn man you married. He isn't going anywhere until he's damn certain he isn't a murderer."
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"So what do we do?" Tess asked. Ed frowned. "Well, I'll run on down to the Kanaka camp and see if Joe and Kie are around. If they are, I'll arrest them. Maybe that'll snap Jack out of it."
"Why would the boys kill them folks?" Jim aske
d. "Was it just a robbery that got out of hand?"
"That's the saddest part of all," Ed said solemnly. "The things stolen didn't add up to spit moneywise. Somebody killed those good people for a pocketwatch that Henry would have given away without a second thought." "What can we do?" Tess asked. "Well, another meeting wouldn't hurt. Now we can give folks something specific to go on. Maybe someone saw Joe or Kie on Wednesday and didn't think a thing about it."
"I could talk to the townspeople," Tess said. "Make a personal appeal for help from one neighbor to another."
A pained expression crossed Ed's face. "That might not be such a good idea. The islanders don't trust him ... or you." He winced, as if every word was painful. "They may not be too eager to help you get Jack out of jail."
Tess frowned. Ed was right, of course. Joe and Kie were more trusted on the island than Jack Rafferty. But she'd be damned if she'd let small town prejudices stop her. She looked right at Ed. "I'll convince them to help us."
Ed gave her a slow, grudging smile. "Why do I get the feeling the islanders don't have a chance?"
Tess grinned for the first time since Jack left. God, it felt good to do something besides sit around and wait. "Because they don't."
The walls were closing in on him. Jack's breathing echoed jarringly in the darkened cell. He felt like an animal, caged and alone.
Think, damn it. Remember!
He paced back and forth, counting the steps from one
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end of the cell to the other. Behind his back, his hands were clasped in a sweaty knot. The clicking of his boot-heels on the dirty wooden floor sounded obscenely loud in the otherwise deadly silence.
Nothing. His mind was a huge, aching blank. He had no idea where he'd gone during the blackout, what he'd done. Images and thoughts spiraled through his mind. The blood on his shirt, the size of his boots, the number of nails in the sole. Johnny's dead, accusing eyes. The nearest he could tell, he'd been blacked out for nearly ten hours, maybe more. Long enough.
He went to the tiny window and clutched the iron bars. His whole body was trembling with the effort it took to try to remember. Leaning forward, he closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the cool metal.