A Circle of Dead Girls

by Eleanor Kuhns

  Rees nodded, understanding both emotions. In Dugard she would surely have been hanged as a witch. As for Rees, well, he did not believe either. But he went willingly and sat across the table from her. He enjoyed watching her small graceful hands lay out the cards and hear her charmingly accented voice as she spoke. It did not even matter what she said.

  Once again he shuffled, unable to remember for a few seconds why exactly he had come here. Then, remembering the gossip, he asked, ‘Do you have any children?’

  ‘Me?’ She uttered a laugh that sounded forced to Rees’s ears. He looked up. She was shaking her head, her face set in a grimace. ‘No, no children. Pregnancy would throw off my balance and I would not be able to dance across the rope.’

  Very quickly she laid out the colorful pasteboard squares and flipped over the first one, signaling the end of the previous topic. ‘The lovers,’ she murmured. After a short silence she said reluctantly, ‘This card expresses your situation right now. Infidelity can lead to marital problems, separation or worse. Be careful to behave wisely.’

  Rees felt the blood race into his cheeks and hoped Bambola did not notice. She flipped the second card. She stared at it, biting her lip. Rees lowered his eyes to the card and gasped. It pictured the Devil.

  ‘This card illustrates immediate influences,’ she said. ‘You face some bad habits, some old ways of thinking. You must fight against them to achieve success. Otherwise you will fail.’ She turned over the third card. ‘Justice, reversed. This indicates prejudice or unreasonable beliefs. Pay attention to what people say. Some are lying to you, attempting to deceive you.’

  ‘I know that,’ Rees said, trying to mock the emotions the first two cards had raised within him.

  Bambola flipped the fourth card. Again, it was upside down. ‘Three of Rods,’ Bambola said. ‘Someone has a hidden agenda. Be very sure any offers of help are genuine. Someone is trying to lead you away from the truth.’ Rees involuntarily nodded, his mind going to Piggy Hanson.

  ‘This card reveals the recent past,’ Bambola said, turning over the next one. ‘The King of Rods. You are strong, dependable, honest. Strong enough to prove your ideas. Don’t be swayed by others.’

  Rees found himself hanging on the ropedancer’s every word. He did not believe, he certainly did not. But what Bambola said hit uncomfortably close. She turned over the sixth card.

  ‘Strength. Again. But this card warns you about the future. Use your head and not your heart. Restrain yourself from impulsive actions. Hold your power in reserve. Your courage and fortitude will bring success.’ The hand holding the next card began to tremble.

  ‘Miss Mazza,’ Rees said anxiously. She quickly turned the card over and put it on the table. This one pictured the moon.

  ‘You are a man with great intuition,’ she said. ‘Rely upon it. All deceptions will be unmasked.’ She turned the next card, a young boy with a sword. ‘The Page of Swords. You will meet an old friend again. Rely upon him. If you do, the outlook is hopeful.’

  ‘Rely on Piggy?’ Rees said involuntarily. That couldn’t be correct. Bambola turned the next to the last card.

  ‘Eight of Swords. You are facing a difficult situation. Don’t ignore it. Face it head on.’ She revealed the final card. ‘Temperance. Reach into the past for help. Only then will you find the answer you seek.’

  When she finished, Bambola stared at the cards for a second or two. ‘Your choices in the next few days will result in success or failure, Mr Rees, with success the more likely. Be careful.’ She hastily gathered up the cards and returned them to their box. Rees nodded and rose to his feet. He turned back as though he would speak to her, perhaps ask her why she suddenly seemed so frightened, but her expression warned him off. She had closed in on herself, excluding him.

  When he turned he saw Otto watching. The strong man shook his head and disappeared between the wagons.

  Why was Otto following him? Recalling the strong man’s large hands, Rees shuddered. If only someone had seen Otto on the road Rees would be certain of the killer. But no one had.

  Worrying at it, Rees walked back to the poles for Bambola’s rope. It still was not up. The men had not succeeded in moving any further forward. ‘What’s the matter?’ Rees asked Billy.

  ‘We need Pip Boudreaux,’ the dwarf said. ‘He’s the only one who knows how exactly to finish this. And he’s tall.’ He turned to eye Rees. ‘You’re tall enough as well.’

  ‘I don’t know what to do,’ Rees said hastily. He did not wish to climb the post; he could too easily imagine himself falling. And the knots at the top looked much too complicated for him to even guess at.

  ‘Maybe if one of us talked you through the task?’ Billy suggested. Rees shook his head in emphatic denial. ‘It is not a difficult job exactly.’

  Over his head, between the wagons, Rees spotted Bambola speaking to Asher. She looked very upset, almost in tears. But Asher? Rees read his expression more as condescension. He regarded the ropedancer with a slight smile as though she amused him. At last he put a hand on her shoulder and, shaking his head, spoke a few soft words. Then he turned and approached Rees and Billy with Bambola trailing behind.

  ‘Oh no,’ Rees muttered involuntarily, wondering if Asher planned to take him to task after that conversation with Bambola.

  ‘I’m trying to persuade Mr Rees here,’ Billy said to Asher, ‘to help us with the rope.’

  ‘An excellent idea,’ he said, examining Rees in his turn.

  ‘No,’ Rees said.

  ‘Perhaps Boudreaux would be willing to return and finish this small job for us if you were here to assist,’ Asher continued, just as if Rees had not spoken. ‘It will only take an hour or two. He could accomplish the more difficult bits – the ones only he knows – and you could hand him what was required.’

  Rees almost said no once again. But Bambola clasped her hands together and smiled.

  ‘Please,’ she said.

  And he was lost. ‘Very well,’ he said gruffly.

  ‘Could you come tomorrow?’ Asher asked. ‘Pip is still at the tavern. I don’t know why he prefers such a menial job when he could be here, with us. But he’ll be willing to join us tomorrow afternoon, I’m sure.’

  Rees nodded. ‘Tomorrow then.’ He turned to leave.

  ‘One more thing,’ Asher said.

  Wary, Rees spun around to face the ringmaster.

  ‘There were two men looking for you,’ Asher said, drawing Rees away from the others and lowering his voice to a whisper.

  ‘Who?’ Rees said in surprise. That was not what he expected to hear.

  ‘Not the magistrate but two others. Rough men. One short with eyes like a weasel and carrying a knife. Clearly the brains – he did most of the talking. A right villain.’

  ‘Farley,’ Rees muttered, recalling the constable in Dugard who had pursued Lydia so relentlessly. Would Farley travel so far from home in pursuit?

  ‘That may have been the name,’ Asher agreed. ‘The other: big, tall, heavy-set. Broad face. Dirty. He didn’t speak much and when he did, I could barely understand him. A simple-minded fellow.’

  Rees shook his head, not recognizing the description. ‘Anything else?’ he asked.

  ‘The clothing worn by the smaller man was too big, and ill-fitting as though he’d borrowed someone else’s for the day. Like a costume, you know? But that knife was no costume.’ Asher suddenly shuddered. ‘He kept touching it, as a man would touch a woman. He frightened me, I don’t mind telling you. Especially when he walked through our camp looking for you. What are you mixed up in?’

  Rees shook his head. ‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘Nothing here anyway.’

  ‘Watch yourself, Mr Rees. I think they mean you harm,’ Asher warned.

  ‘Thank you,’ Rees said automatically. Farley here? Everything Piggy had said when he visited Rees’s farm was a lie. Like it or not, he knew he had to speak to the magistrate now and tell him to call off his dogs.

  THIRTY-TWO

 
When Rees entered the tavern he found Rouge standing in his usual place at the bar. Although he was listening to a group of men discussing the circus his face was carefully devoid of all expression and Rees couldn’t tell what the constable thought. Rees moved closer.

  ‘What if another of our girls goes missing?’ asked one man, his vest stained with at least a week’s worth of meals.

  Rees found it ironic that the Shaker community had always been suspect but now, in light of Leah’s death, the townsfolk of Durham were taking the Shakers as their own.

  ‘Villains, all of them,’ agreed his companion.

  ‘Why don’t you just hang ’em outright?’ a third inquired of Rouge.

  Rees thought that maybe the circus folk had good reason to be afraid of the people in these towns. He looked at Rouge, hoping the constable’s sense of justice was enough to prevent the wholesale execution of innocent people.

  ‘They’ve got some fine horses,’ said the first speaker.

  Rouge turned and stared at him. ‘We’re not horse thieves,’ Rouge said. He turned to look at Rees. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘Looking for the magistrate,’ Rees said.

  Rouge hesitated. ‘I know there’s bad blood between you,’ he said at last. ‘I don’t want any trouble.’

  Rees might have told him about the two men Asher described but with an audience he elected not to. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘No trouble.’

  Rouge nodded to the back corner of the room. ‘There.’

  Rees turned and scanned the crowd. Sure enough, Magistrate Hanson was seated with his back to the wall and a large plate of steak and eggs in front of him. Rees started for him, threading his way through the mostly empty tables. Piggy looked up, his knife held halfway to his mouth. He lowered his cutlery with an expression of mixed hope and wariness.

  ‘Why did you send two men after me?’ Rees asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

  ‘What two men?’

  ‘Farley and a friend.’ Rees leaned forward.

  ‘Farley?’ Hanson sounded confused. ‘What does Farley have to do with anything?’

  ‘Did you hire them to kill me?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ the magistrate said, eyeing Rees with growing distress.

  ‘I know you hate me,’ Rees said. ‘First you went after my family. Now murder?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m warning you to stop.’ Rees thumped the table. ‘Right now. Because if anyone in my family is hurt, I will come after you.’

  ‘Now Rees,’ Rouge said from behind Rees’s chair, ‘I told you not to cause any trouble.’

  ‘No trouble,’ Rees said.

  ‘We are just having a conversation,’ Piggy agreed, shocking Rees into silence. ‘A very impassioned conversation,’ the magistrate added. Rees turned around to look at Rouge. He appeared utterly confused and suspicious both.

  ‘Very well,’ he said, backing up a few steps. ‘For now.’

  ‘We need to speak,’ Hanson said, leaning forward across the table. ‘But not here.’

  ‘I’ve said my piece,’ Rees said, rising to his feet. ‘Remember what I told you.’ Brushing past Rouge, Rees stamped out of the tavern. He felt the eyes of everyone burning holes in his back.

  He drove home in a foul temper. Why did everyone take Piggy’s side?

  ‘What did Brother Aaron say?’ Lydia asked when Rees stepped through the door. She left the dishes and approached him, drying her hands on a towel.

  Rees cast his mind back. His conversation with Aaron already seemed days ago, not hours. At least the drive home had done some good and he had calmed down. ‘He admitted to following the children into town,’ he began. At that moment, Sharon screamed and both Rees and Lydia looked over. Sharon had thrown herself on the floor while Joseph stood over her with her doll in his hand. Lydia hurried over to separate them.

  ‘What happened?’ she asked her daughter.

  ‘Mine,’ Sharon wailed, pointing at the doll.

  ‘I had it first,’ Joseph said.

  Lydia put the doll on the mantel. ‘She stays here until you can play nicely together,’ she said. She nodded at her husband to continue.

  ‘Shem is Aaron’s son,’ Rees said. Lydia’s mouth formed an ‘o’. ‘And he admitted, with some shame, that he allowed Leah to find her own way home.’

  ‘We knew that,’ Lydia said.

  ‘Yes,’ Rees agreed. ‘But he says he didn’t see her. I’d love to know what Aaron’s crime was—’

  They both heard the sound of Sharon slapping Joseph and he began to squeal. As Lydia hurried to the children she said over the ear-shattering screams, ‘Jonathan might know.’ It took Rees a moment to realize she was responding to his previous comment.

  ‘That’s true,’ he said, his words drowned by the crying of the children as they were put into separate corners.

  ‘I’ll feed the children now and put them both down for naps.’

  Rees nodded, disgruntled. ‘Where’s Annie?’

  ‘In the vegetable garden. David is out in the fields.’

  Rees turned and went out the kitchen door.

  Annie raised a flushed face at his approach. Her sleeves and the hem of her skirt were tied up and her hands were muddy from planting. A basket with early peas and some greens stood at her side.

  ‘We need you inside,’ he said. She raised her eyebrows at his brusque tone but nodded and collected the basket.

  When Rees returned to the kitchen Lydia had the children at the table with bread and cheese in front of them. Annie followed Rees inside and put the basket on the drainboard. She filled the tin bowl with water and washed her hands.

  ‘After they eat, they should go down for naps,’ Lydia said.

  Now, with Annie in the kitchen, Rees did not want to talk about Aaron. He knew his wife’s opinion anyway; It was unlikely Aaron was guilty. He’d sworn he wasn’t but Rees did not entirely believe him.

  ‘There’s something else,’ Rees said. ‘Piggy is still in town.’

  ‘You saw him?’ Lydia asked.

  ‘I did.’ Rees knew Lydia wanted to hear he’d made peace with the magistrate, but he couldn’t tell her that. He wrestled with himself for a few seconds before finally deciding on the entire truth. ‘I stopped by to see him after I—’ he began. Sharon screamed, very suddenly and very loudly. Lydia hurried to the table.

  ‘She spilled her milk,’ Annie said. ‘It is not a problem.’ Lydia looked at Rees.

  ‘I saw Piggy in the tavern and warned him to stay away from us,’ he said rapidly.

  ‘Are you sure the magistrate is involved somehow?’ she asked as she returned to his side.

  Rees thought of the gloating expression on Piggy’s face when he said he’d made Farley the Dugard constable. Piggy had known Farley would pursue Rees and his family. Then Farley and his sons had come to the farm looking for Lydia; arriving with a rope so they could hang her while she hid in the dairy shed. And later, after Lydia and the children had escaped and fled to Zion, the mob had returned so they could search again for them.

  ‘Of course I’m sure,’ he said sharply. ‘I’ve told you what happened. Piggy allowed Farley to persecute us.’

  Lydia’s forehead wrinkled in thought. ‘But he said he wanted to work with you,’ she protested.

  ‘He’s a liar,’ he said uncompromisingly. ‘I’ll never trust him, never.’

  ‘But what then is the magistrate doing here? He never stays in the towns on his circuit for this long; if he did he would never spend any time at home.’ She glanced at the children and returned her attention to her husband. ‘Surely, if his sole purpose is to find you – which he has – he would have moved on by now.’

  ‘He still wants to punish me.’

  ‘But that is not what he said,’ Lydia argued. ‘He said he wanted to work with you.’

  ‘Is that why he …’ Realizing he was about to tell Lydia about the two men at the circus Rees clamped his mouth shut.

  �
�I think you should listen to the magistrate.’ With her attention once more focused on the children she did not see the angry flush rising into his cheeks. ‘What do you know about Mr Asher?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t see he has any reason to lie,’ he said stiffly.

  ‘Unless he’s protecting someone in the circus,’ Lydia suggested.

  Rees considered that for a moment. Asher was very protective of his people, that was true. Perhaps he was shielding Otto? But Asher had abandoned Boudreaux, a man he had described as like a brother, when he thought the charges against Boudreaux would put everyone in danger.

  ‘Maybe,’ Rees said doubtfully.

  ‘I think you are allowing your fondness for those people to affect your judgment,’ Lydia said.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Rees asked sharply even though he had a good idea. ‘I’m not attached to anyone there.’ She looked at him skeptically. ‘Believe me, I’ve done nothing wrong.’ That at least was true. But a small voice whispered in the back of his mind, ‘Not yet.’

  THIRTY-THREE

  While Lydia put Sharon and Joseph to bed, Rees drove Annie back to Zion for prayers and dinner with the community. He’d volunteered. He felt he needed some distance from his family right then. It was a silent ride. Annie, after one quick glance at Rees’s expression, kept her mouth closed. And even Annie’s silence annoyed him.

  Rees hoped Jonathan would tell him what Aaron had done. But when he found the Elder he at first refused to say anything. ‘When people choose to join us and sign the Covenant,’ he said, ‘they leave their former lives behind them. They are reborn. And we do not hold their previous mistakes against them.’

  ‘You do realize that Aaron, for all he is one of your Brothers, could be a murderer, don’t you?’ Rees asked. He was still irritated from his discussion with Lydia and it showed; he sounded angry. Jonathan took a step backward and his mouth tightened into an even more obdurate line. Experiencing a sudden and very uncomfortable vision of himself as Jonathan saw him: brash, opinionated and habitually angry. Rees held up his hand in silent apology. ‘Forgive me,’ he said. ‘This has been a difficult time.’ Jonathan nodded but did not relax his wary stance.