Broken Bonds

by Karen Harper

  The Lockwood women. Tess was married to a man she had loved for years. Kate was engaged to be married soon. Char, the middle girl...didn’t they always say the middle kid could be trouble?

  He stood in the doorway, quiet at first, taking it all in. Tess sat across the room in a beanbag chair, leaning her head against the wall, asleep, with a young boy in her lap, sound asleep, too. A young girl curled up next to Char, who looked barely awake and seemed to be guarding them all. As angry as he was, he was so glad to see her in one piece.

  She stood carefully, to not disturb the child. They went out into the hall and, not touching, sat on the stairs leading up to the second floor. He could see blood had seeped through the bandage on the palm of her left hand.

  “I’m sorry, but it had to be done,” she said. “I didn’t want to mislead you. I left you a note at the Mannings’ in case anything went wrong.”

  “Oh, great. Very helpful after the fact in case you ended up hurt, missing or dead. Mislead me? Is that a nice way of saying you didn’t want to lie to me? Because you did.”

  “I thought it would be easier to get them out of there than it was. I had a plan that didn’t work out and had to go with theirs—Grace’s—to make the kids cooperate, to con them into going along.”

  “Yeah, well, I know how they feel. Everyone I trusted lately is suspect—even Royce—for a con job, but I thought I could trust you.”

  She sniffed. Tears shimmered in her eyes but she didn’t cry. A strong woman. He’d said before he wanted a strong woman, didn’t he? One who didn’t wring her hands when a car was ready to crash off a cliff?

  “How’s your hand?”

  “Throbbing now—like my heart.”

  “Char, it’s just I—I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.”

  “I feel the same about you,” she clipped out. He saw a single tear slide down her cheek. “I understand why you’re upset,” she said with a sniff. “I agonized over misleading—lying to you, but I had to go alone. Why should you be involved with my family mess—with me?”

  “Because, damn it,” he blurted before he even knew what he would say, “you have come to mean so much to me in such a short time. I need you, need to trust you, want you—”

  He didn’t finish because they came together hard.

  “Watch your hand,” he muttered as he lifted her into his lap.

  “Watch your heart, Matthew Rowan, because I’ve lost mine to y—”

  She held the injured hand up as he silenced her with a searing kiss. He had never wanted a woman so badly. It still galled him that she’d lied to him, yet he understood why. But all that meant nothing compared to the pounding in his head and heart for her.

  He held her in his arms, telling himself to be gentle, but feeling beyond that. She gave as good as she got, moving her hips in his lap, opening her mouth to him, kissing him back. They were breathing so hard they didn’t hear anything at first. Someone knocking, a distant voice?

  Matt lifted his head. Glassy-eyed, he blinked to clear his sight. Gabe was close. Just down the hall.

  “The doc’s here and ready to stitch Char up,” he said, and beat a quick retreat.

  “Mmm,” she said, her voice shaky, her face flushed. “As far as I’m concerned, the doctor’s here already, another one that makes house calls.”

  Matt steadied her while she stood. “You know,” he said, “speaking of that, sometimes I think I could get used to a house full of kids, even sisters-and brothers-in-law. Thanksgiving’s coming. With all that’s going on with your family and Kate still out of town and now this, how about all of you coming to the lodge for turkey dinner on Thursday, my guests?”

  He walked her down the hall toward the kitchen, where they could hear the doctor’s voice. He held her elbow. He was shaking, too. “I was thinking of trying to make reservations,” she said. “But I figured it was too late.” She stopped, lifting her good hand to try to smooth her wild hair. “If we get through this night, we’ll have a lot to be thankful for. Yes, I’ll ask the others. How lovely in the midst of everything.”

  With a gentle hand, he helped her brush her hair back from her face. “I thought it was too late, too—for us—but when I saw you hurt—I knew it wasn’t.”

  Gabe’s voice cut in behind them. “Char, get in here and get stitched up. Jace reports that a van with Bright Star’s band of brothers just pulled up in front. Matt, let’s get the kids and Grace upstairs.”

  “I’ll help,” Char said. “This cut can wait. They might be scared by men they don’t really know. Tess and I can help.”

  Gabe just shook his head. Matt rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Okay, fine,” the two of them said almost in unison as she darted away from them.

  Matt thought about poor Sam McKitrick always fearing the Taliban were outside in the dark. These cult members were terrorists of another kind.

  21

  This time when Char huddled with Grace and her children, she wasn’t afraid. They sat cross-legged, close together on the bed in Tess and Gabe’s guest room. Tess was with them, and Matt and Grant were downstairs with Gabe and his deputy. Still, she jumped when Bright Star’s voice, metallic, piercing, sounded outside. He must be using a megaphone since he always talked so softly.

  “Sister Grace, Sister Kelsey and Brother Ethan, come home! Come home right now.”

  “I’m surprised,” Tess said, speaking loudly as if she could block him out, “that he isn’t giving us some warped Bright Star quote. Gracie, he thinks he’s the messiah, and he’s not.”

  The unmistakable voice boomed out again, repeating word for word what he’d just said. Grace was visibly shaken, yet she looked defiant.

  “Gabe can arrest him for disturbing the peace—for starters,” Tess muttered.

  “Now that we’re safe here, I know what to say to him to make him go away. I used it on him after—once after he was mean to me,” Grace whispered as if Bright Star could hear her.

  Char wondered if that was about nine months ago, but she remembered all too well that Gabe had said not to question Grace about whether the baby she carried was Lee’s or if she knew more about Lee’s death. “Do you want me to take Kelsey and Ethan into another room?” she asked. She gave Tess a look that meant, some big reveal is coming.

  “No, Kelsey and Ethan can stay,” Grace said. “All I need is pen and paper. I found the words myself, memorized them. It will send him away. Only, if I do this, Gabe has to get us a different place to stay, like he said, where that man can’t find us. And, Char, I’m worried for you now, too—all of you.”

  “We’re not afraid,” Tess assured her. “And Gabe’s been working on a safe place for you to stay away from here. We have a friend, Vic Reingold, who works for the Ohio Bureau of Investigation. He promised he has a good home for all of you, until Bright Star can be stopped. I’ll get you something to write on. Is it some kind of threat?” she asked as she scrambled off the bed and rummaged in the drawer of the bedside table.

  Grace put her arms around her children. When Tess came back with pen and paper, Grace spoke. “Please write this down, will you, Tess?”

  Tess wrote down the words Grace dictated.

  And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.

  “See,” Grace said, breaking into the first smile Char had seen from her in years. “That is from the book of Revelation, because I’ve had a revelation. I have to stop that man. And, thanks to Char, I have learned to fight fire with fire.”

  Even as Bright Star’s magnified voice rang out a third time, Char took the note and headed downstairs. To her surprise, Grace followed her into the hall.

  “Char, I can’t t
hank you enough for helping us—to shed blood for us, a sacrifice. You risked your life.” She glanced back over her shoulder and whispered, “I want you and Tess to know that this child I carry—well, I don’t know if it is Lee’s or Bright Star’s, but who fathered him or her is not the child’s fault. It wasn’t allowed, but Lee and I sneaked some time alone. Maybe that’s why Bright Star turned against him, since he knew I still loved Lee. But I will bear and keep this child, claim that it’s Lee’s legacy to me. But to the master’s—I mean Bright Star’s—mind, my baby may be the awaited one. If it’s a boy, that is. And,” she said, frowning and looking down at her belly, “I’m carrying the child high, like I did with Ethan.”

  Char forced herself to close her mouth.

  “You don’t ask if I was willing,” Grace whispered. “I wasn’t. Maybe I was drugged, I don’t know. But I do know, with my three children, I must hide until that man is imprisoned or dead.”

  “Does he—did Bright Star have people’s food drugged?”

  “You mean, could he have intentionally put something in Lee’s food and the others who took sick? It could be. Anything is possible with him.”

  “And the water below the fracking site? Is it poisoned? You allude to bitter water in this note.”

  “Lee said there were dead fish, dead beavers. He thought Bright Star knew but ignored it, or maybe wanted to use that knowledge somehow to profit himself. He sent Lee there to tear down an old chastisement room, but Lee said he left it as proof of Bright Star’s evil ways. I think Lee hoped someone would discover the horrors of that valley. It was all Lee had to fight back with, since Bright Star held us all. When Lee died, Bright Star dropped his guard—and now I’ve betrayed him, too. So,” she said, clasping Char’s hand that held the note, “I found a way to fight back just like Lee. And you helped me.”

  She gave Char a quick hug and went back into the bedroom. Char stood staring after her a moment. Of course, she’d tell Gabe and Tess this later, tell Matt that Lee thought the fracking water might be polluting the river and that Lee was the one who intentionally left the waterboarding shed as it was.

  At least she hadn’t exactly gone against Gabe’s warning not to question Grace, because she’d volunteered her information. Char was now the keeper of what not only threatened Grace but her, too. A little knowledge was a dangerous thing, as they said.

  She hurried down to Gabe and Matt, who were outside on the front porch in the dark, keeping an eye on Bright Star and the four men with him. Char heard someone out there speak. “That’s her, Master. The one who was with them.” Did they have night goggles like Sam McKitrick, or had she just been silhouetted in the door?

  Before Matt hustled her back into the house, she glared toward the men on the curb, handed Gabe the note and explained that Grace said it would make them back off. They were barely inside, when Matt put his arms around her and pulled her away from the door.

  “Where’s Grant?” she asked.

  “Watching the back door. Deputy Miller’s outside by their van. Did you hear one of those men point you out?”

  They were both startled as Gabe’s voice boomed out, without a megaphone. Peeking out, they saw he was reading from the paper with a flashlight.

  “Bright Star. A message for you from Grace Lockwood, Mrs. Lee Lockwood.”

  “Send her out. I wish to talk to her.”

  “She doesn’t want to see you, but here’s her message.” He read out the note.

  Char tensed, waiting for Bright Star’s voice, but all they heard was the van pulling away.

  “You realize what those words could mean, don’t you?” Char asked Matt. “Lee’s note for me about poison water was short, and that one is cryptic, too, but it implies the same thing. Bright Star, at the very least, knows about polluted water, but is keeping quiet. Grace told me Lee wasn’t really sure about it, only that he saw dead fish and dead beavers—and he’s the one who left the waterboarding shed there when he was sent to take it apart. I’ll bet his mistake was telling Bright Star he’d be a whistle-blower, or use all that against him somehow—for his making Grace the ‘chosen one.’”

  “Damn,” he whispered, his lips against her forehead. “I’m going to get that Cold Creek water retested fast, then report to Royce. Since the Hear Ye people lived there for years, fished and hunted—punished people in that shack—maybe they still went back after they sold out. Maybe they saw the signs of pollution but kept it quiet. Or what if he’s been blackmailing Royce about it?”

  “Then Royce knows and should do something, not about shutting up Bright Star but taking care of the water. Matt, I know he’s dear to you, but doesn’t he have to know if the fracking’s poisoning the water?”

  “I swear, if he knew, he’d do something, and I’m not going to make accusations or confront him until I have all the facts. At least Grace is getting protection, getting out of here. I don’t want to lose you, but, for now at least, I wish you could hide somewhere, too.”

  * * *

  Just after 2:00 a.m., Gabe roused everyone from where they were sleeping all over the house. Char and Matt had been on beanbag chairs in the day care, utterly exhausted. “The BCI men are here,” Gabe told them. “Time to say goodbye for now.”

  They went out into the kitchen, where a man Char remembered from years ago as well as from his later visits, including Tess and Gabe’s wedding, sat drinking coffee. Two other, younger men came in and leaned against the wall. Behind them, she glimpsed their van, which they’d driven into the now-closed but lighted garage. The side of it read Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The vehicle also boasted the rising sun symbol of Ohio and the attorney general’s name. But would any of that scare off Bright Star’s lackeys if they were spying on the house?

  “Can’t stay long if I’m going to get our refugee family to their new address,” Vic was saying. He greeted Char by name and was introduced to Matt. Vic was in his sixties. He had an unruly shock of white hair and sharp brown eyes. Char was relieved he’d brought two strapping young agents with him for reinforcement.

  They all crowded around the table or leaned against the kitchen counters, drinking coffee or orange juice and eating doughnuts. Tess had mentioned that Vic was long-distance-dating Gabe’s widowed mother, who still lived in Florida. Char recalled how smitten the couple had been at the wedding, and it cheered her—gave her hope—to know they were building a relationship that had started so suddenly.

  Char’s memory of Vic Reingold from the nightmare days when Tess was missing was vague, but he was still close to Tess and Gabe after helping them out again last year. He seemed to exude confidence and control, somewhat, she thought, like Royce, but without the sharp edges. Surely, Grace and the kids, still upstairs getting dressed in modern clothing the men had brought, would like him. At least the coast was clear, as far as Deputy Miller could tell. There was no sign of Bright Star, the cult van or his men.

  “No one else we’d rather trust with this than you,” Gabe told Vic.

  “So you said she’s almost ready to deliver?” Vic asked. “It sounds like she’s as strong as the Lockwood girls, and I’d love to see that bast—that phony guru Brice Monson, aka Bright Star—get what’s coming to him. So,” he said, turning to Char, “you have now managed to put yourself on that sicko’s hit list. You be careful, understand? Gabe’s shorthanded here, something I’m trying to weigh in on. But it sounds like Bright Star’s finally trapped, and trapped animals are dangerous.”

  “I’ll be careful,” Char promised, lifting her newly stitched up and bandaged hand, as if making a vow. “But I’m not going to hide out or let him run my life. I’ll try to have someone with me all the time—I mean, during the day.”

  Vic’s hooded eyes flicked from Matt to her, then back. “Good,” he said. “But even at night, maybe stay here with Gabe and Tess till this all gets sorted out. I’ll have Mrs. Lockwood—Gra
ce—make a statement, and we’ll go from there. And I’ll call you, Tess, the minute she goes into labor, then Gabe will bring you—make sure you’re not gonna lead anyone to her.”

  When she came downstairs with the bleary-eyed kids, Grace embraced Tess and Char. Char was deeply touched when Ethan hugged her goodbye and Kelsey said, “Even if you’re not really a sister, can you be my aunt?”

  Grace and Char exchanged teary glances. “I’m really your second cousin, but yes, I’d be happy to have you call me Aunt Char—and we’ll be good friends after your mother has her baby, and you can all come back here.”

  “When?” Ethan asked. “I won’t have any friends here since we ran away.”

  Matt was closest to him and crouched to get down to his level. Both children were in jeans, boots and sweatshirts and unzipped, warm coats. “Gabe’s your friend, Grant is and I am, too,” Matt told him, brushing the boy’s mop of hair back from his forehead. “When you get back—after you and Kelsey have helped your mother for a while with the new baby—we’ll go to the swimming pool where I live, learn to ride horses because we’re going to build a stable there, and other fun things. And that’s a real promise.”

  The little boy and the big man shook hands on that. Tears prickled behind Char’s eyelids. For one moment, she glimpsed some sort of summer day camp at Lake Azure, where the mountain kids could come. Ethan’s sad face lit up, and Kelsey clung to her for a moment. She broke down when the BCI van drove away. She was angry, grateful and scared, but most of all, she was falling in love.

  * * *

  Tuesday morning, Char awoke in the guest bedroom at Gabe and Tess’s house. Matt had ganged up on her with them, and insisted she couldn’t be alone. Emotionally and physically exhausted, she longed to stay in bed, but Matt would be here soon to take her to retrieve her truck, and she’d arranged to meet Henry Hanson for his first day of delivering the mountain kids to school. She had planned to drive on her own, following him up Pinecrest, but, once again, Gabe and Matt had laid down the law that she had to go in the passenger seat of the new van Royce had provided for her project, not by herself.