Part 25 (1/2)
”Those bones I found in the tunnel-” I began.
There was wry understanding in her e es. ”No, Laurie. They don't belong to Noah, and I didn't shoot him, though I might have wanted to. I'm afraid they date from a long-ago escapade of my father's. No one ever told me outright, since I was a child when it happened. But he was supposed to have shot a man who probably deserved it in the lights of that dav. The body was undoubtedly hidden in that old tunnel Dominoes dug into the mountain. A tunnel that was convenient!} allowed to be lost after that. Those bones you found, Laurie, v ere probably his victim's. I only wish they could belong to Noah Armand.”
She closed her eyes and Belle moved quickly to her side. Relief washed through me in a tide that left me a little giddy. It was better to have Noah alive and still dangerous than to believe that my grandmother had killed him.
But for now I'd had enough of guns.
2j6 ”Let's clean out the back parlor soon,” I urged. ”Let's get rid of all the ghosts and make it into a new room.”
Persis heard the relief in my voice, and she opened her eyes and smiled at me. For just an instant I glimpsed the handsome woman she must have been in her prime. For that moment of sudden intensity it was as though age had evaporated and she and I were the same. Years meant nothing to the inner youth that had never left her. She held out her hand to me and I took it with a new recognition.
”When will you start?” she asked me.
”Perhaps tomorrow morning. Could Edna help me? You've never seen so much dust, so many cobwebs!”
”Let it wait a little. Tomorrow morning I want Mark Ingram to come to see me, and I want you here. I'm ready to talk to him now. Will you tell him for me, Belle, when you go for your things?”
”I'll tell him. And I expect he'll come running. But he won't give up, you know. Not just because of the signing of a new will. He knows how to hara.s.s and threaten. He'll go right on trying to drive you out. And Laurie too. I must say I was surprised, though, when Hillary Lange turned things around and wouldn't let Mark pack Laurie off to New York. He had to swallow that. Of course if she marries Hillary and they stay, perhaps you'll have another soldier for your army, Mrs. Morgan.”
”I'm not going to marry him,” I said. ”I'm not going to marry anyone.”
”Just testing,” Belle said, and grinned at me. ”Sure, I'll tell Mark you want to see him, Mrs. Morgan. And then I may be out of a job. He's not too pleased with me as it is.”
”You'll come back here to work,” Persis said. ”You don't have to be loyal to that man forever. I need you now.”
”I don't have to be loyal to him at all. It's just that old habit dies hard. Maybe for him too. Maybe there's still a tie between us. Maybe he's even fond of me-in his way. But could be it 2/7.
will do him good if I make a break on my own. Soon as this storm's over, I'll go have a talk with him. Though not for a while, I think. Laurie, you're looking frazzled. Why don't you put that gun back where it belongs and go lie down in your room for a while? I'll stay with your grandmother.”
Suddenly I knew how tired I was. And besides, there were so many things I needed to be alone to think about, to begin to digest.
When I'd put the deringer back in its box beside the empty mold that should have held its twin, I bent to kiss Persis' cheek and caught the scent of verbena. She was really coming to life, consenting to a touch of vanity. I loved her for it.
When I went downstairs I moved with a lighter step, for all my weariness. The back parlor still made me uneasy, but I was not afraid of it anymore. I returned the box to its table and went up to my room. Healing had begun for me at last. Now, finally, I could rest in this house and feel wholly safe.
For a little while longer I could feel safe.
XVII.
I undressed and got into bed, expecting to lie awake. Instead I fell asleep almost at once, and slept for the rest of the afternoon.
When I opened my eyes to the sight of continuing rain at the windows, I thought of Domino being churned into mud, its crumbling timbers soggy-wet and gray, as they had lain disintegrating under countless rains and snows. And I thought of the mine tunnels, where outdoor sounds of storm would scarcely penetrate, where water might collect deep in the earth, but old, white bones would lie entombed, protected and dry. But they were only bones that belonged to history, and they needn't make me afraid.
I turned my thoughts instead to rain drumming on the roof of Jon's cabin, and after a moment I got out of bed and went barefoot to the window. The pathway to the ranch buildings shone wet and muddy, but I could barely see the shapes of the nearest mountains. Old Desolate had vanished. Closer in, the cabin stood with its outline blurred and brown, a light in one of the windows. Jon would have taken Red inside, I knew, and I could imagine them both stretched before a roaring fire. Jon would lie on the sofa, reading perhaps, while Red slept on the hearth with his head on his paws. I wanted to be with them.
Someone tapped on my door, and I threw on a robe and went to open it. Caleb looked worn, driven-and no more friendly than before.
”Do you want to come down to supper?” he asked. ”It v.ill be ready in a little while. Belle is still here, and she'll join us.'
”I'll come as soon as I can dress,” I said. ”I've been sleeping.”
”I know.” His tone was dry. ”Your friend Lange has phoned twice. I came to your door and you didn't answer, so I thought it best to let you sleep.”
I thanked him and he went away. I wasn't ready to face Hillary. I didn't know how to make him understand the change in me when I didn't understand it fully myself. Nor did I v ant to hurt him. Today at the Opera House he had pulled me back from terrible danger. There were some people in the world v. ho believed that the acceptance of a favor acknowledged debt to the giver. Debt in proportion to the favor done. I didn't ant to owe Hillary my life, but the fact remained that I did.
I pulled on navy slacks and a white sweater, swirled rm hair on top of my head and pinned it in place. My face in the mirror looked wan and hollow of eye, and I added lipstick, but left off eye shadow. My eyes were shadowed enough.
When I went downstairs, Belle and Caleb were going into the dining room. Belle took Gail's place and gave me her cheerful grin.
”I've been fired,” she said. ”I phoned Mark to tell him that Mrs. Morgan needs me, now that Gail has left, and he said I might as well stay on. I gather that Gail has offered to help out at the hotel for a while, without her uniform. Though I'm afraid all those costumes of mine aren't likely to fit her.”
I met Belle's look across the table and smiled, glad that she was here, with her good sense, her capability, and her wry, real- 280 .
istic outlook. I wondered what she would think of the debt of a life.
”Anyway, Mark wants me to keep an eye on things over here,” she went on casually. Caleb choked on a piece of bread and she smiled at him kindly. ”Don't worry. I'm not much good as either a spy or counterspy. I'm too much given to telling people what I think.”
”What have you told Ingram?” I asked.
”That he ought to pull out and leave your grandmother alone. Then your young man came on the phone and asked about you, Laurie. I'm afraid you've upset him badly.”
”I don't think it will last,” I said, and knew that was probably true. Hillary's real love was his profession.
Caleb said little through most of the meal, and I asked no questions. If he was working on the draft for Persis Morgan's new will, that was for her to follow. Belle, at least, was talkative enough for the three of us.
Mostly my attention wandered. I was still haunted by an unsettled feeling, by something restless that drove me-though I could find no real direction in which I felt I must go. I ought to make plans, confer with Persis about the coming confrontation with Ingram, but I felt at sea, not knowing how to begin.
When we left the table, Caleb returned to his work and Belle said she would look in on my grandmother and then go over to the hotel for some of her things since the rain had about stopped.
I had paused uncertainly at the foot of the stairs, and when I looked out the front door I saw Hillary coming up the walk. He moved with his usual lively, eager step, and his face lighted when he saw me. It was disconcerting to realize how little I'd gotten through to him.
”We need to talk, Laurie,” he said as he ran up the steps.
I opened the door. ”Yes, of course. We can go into the par
lor if you like. There's no one around right now.”
He made no attempt to kiss me, his manner matter-of-fact as
he sat in one corner of the red plush sofa. I sat in the other, and he began to speak at once.
”You'd better know what Mark is up to, Laurie. I don't much like something he did this afternoon. It may mean real trouble for your grandmother.”
”Tell me.”
”Not even the storm stopped him. I heard all about it later. He put on a poncho, took two men with him, and rode up to the mine. They removed the door from its hinges and went in. Mark couldn't go into the tunnels very well, with all that uncertain footing, but he directed the other two with their lanterns and flashlights. They found the pa.s.sage old Dominoes dug-the one from which Jon rescued you-and they located those bones. I heard all about it when they got back.”
”So?” I said, thrusting away my memory of that pa.s.sage. ”What does it matter? The bones have been there a long time.”
”They knew what they were looking for, and they found it. The .4i-caliber bullet that came from that deringer, Laurie. The bullet that killed Noah Armand.”
Somehow Ingram had inoculated Hillary with a rather dreadful excitement, and for him excitement was the essence of drama.