STOP!
The order was so strong it was almost audible. Cade gritted his teeth so hard that his pulse throbbed against his skin.
“I have to,” he said out loud. Tears filled his eyes. “It really is like suffocating. I have gone so long without it …” he took another step, and that was when he saw it.
The figure was tall, clad in an expensive dark robe made from material so rich it gleamed. It leaned against the saloon wall, grinning victoriously at those who entered and exited. Cade held his breath as the face turned to him: so beautiful with features that were perfect, and skin as smooth as ivory. The beauty was not that of heavenly design, but so unnatural and completely evil that its grin froze Cade’s blood. The dead eyes focused on Cade and an elegant hand lifted with a long finger curving in a beckoning welcome. Cade shuddered and retreated a step, closing his eyes and shaking his head. When he looked up again the figure was gone.
Cade felt his chest tighten as he looked around, feeling he was being stalked by some being he could not see. Even the cool steel of his pistol did not calm him as he turned and ran to the stables.
/
Jeffries closed his Bible as a frantic knock on his door interrupted his study. He knew who it was before he even opened the door. A knock that loud meant a cow in labor or a man afraid of his own self.
Cade’s face was pale, ragged and lined with the worry of a troubled world. “Jeffries,” he croaked.
The manager smiled and moved aside, “Cider and toast?”
Cade smiled weakly and walked into the humble front room where a warm fire seemed to embrace him with safety and comfort as he invited himself to sit on a cushioned chair. Jeffries said nothing as he went to the kitchen and warmed up a pot of cider.
When Jeffries handed Cade a mug, he sat down on the chair next to the fire and said nothing. He let Cade simply stare into the flames and gather his thoughts as he sipped.
“I almost did it,” Cade finally said.
Jeffries nodded. “It will not be the last time that you almost give in.”
Cade frowned and looked up. “I wanted to so bad; there was the disgust, the shame, but the excitement still remained.” He shook his head. “I’m a pathetic man.”
“You are a man,” Jeffries reminded him. “Weaknesses are part of your humanness; that’s why we can’t do this alone.”
“Will it always be this way? Will it always be a fight? A battle that I am barely winning?”
“For a while, it will be, Cade. However, God gives us weaknesses and it humbles us, then He takes those same weaknesses and makes them our strengths. It takes time, but it can happen if we keep working at it, and that is the key. To keep working no matter how many times we do wrong.”
Cade nodded and took a long drink of his cider. When he lowered it, his fingers tightened around the mug. “I saw … something dark,” he said. “When I began to fall for the need. I have never seen something like it before.”
Jeffries did not look surprised. “Evil things are often disguised with the facades of pleasure, harmless enjoyment, even good intentions. Yet every now and then our eyes are opened. It can be disconcerting.”
Cade let out a wry laugh. “Disconcerting is putting it mildly.” He tilted back his head and let out a long sigh. “So what do I do now?”
“Have you told Rose about almost gambling?”
“No,” he said quickly. “I am just now earning her respect. I don’t want to lose it, nor hurt her.”
Jeffries chuckled. “Don’t justify your shame as protecting your wife. Besides, part of the excitement of vices is the secrecy and rebellion of them. Telling Rose will take away the secrecy of it and in turn, it will soothe the need to gamble.”
Cade squinted at the fire. “What if she decides to leave again?”
Jeffries cocked his head. “Well, I cannot speak for her, but Rose left because she did not want Daisy being around a man who had no intention of changing or accepting Daisy as his daughter. You are changing, and you love Daisy, that much is clear. Have a little faith in your wife’s love for you.” He nodded to Cade’s empty mug, “But first let me get you one more cup.”
“I’m sorry about this,” Cade murmured, accepting another cup of cider. “You have enough with Ben and me asking about Camille, and now this murder with Jim and Theodore.”
“Nothing will make me forget Camille. Those memories have never been put to rest, so stirring them up makes no difference.”
Cade suddenly thought of Daisy, unable to block the terrible thought of losing her. “Ben asked you about the hair?”
“Yes, he did, “Jeffries sighed as if suddenly fatigued. “I never befriended Jim or Theodore, so I told him that his guess was as good as mine.”
“Might not be yours,” Cade offered.
Jeffries shrugged. “Might not. Might be. Might be from a wooly goat.” He laughed and drew his eyebrows together. “You know, a few days ago my door was opened. I thought that maybe I had forgot to lock it, but then I noticed my brush was gone. I only have one and I keep it near my pomade, so it was easy to spot its absence.”
Cade grinned, then his face went serious, “Did you tell Ben?”
He shook his head. “No, I was a bit in shock. I only thought of it just now.” He shook his head. “I know that sounds unreliable.”
Cade leaned back. “I think someone may be wanting to frame you. Someone who knew about how Camille was murdered.”
“That was years ago, though the papers covered it for weeks. Had me down as some Voodoo demon sorcerer. Not that I cared. After Camille was found, nothing much mattered save the relief I could find in a bottle.”
“I’m sorry,” Cade said again.
Jeffries was silent, slowing drinking before looking at Cade, “You have to tell Rose.”
Cade nodded. Jeffries had lost his wife and daughter to death and violence, and Cade had nearly lost his to pride. By confessing to Rose he could still lose her, but not without a fight.
Forty–One
“I’m not sure I can do this,” Meg whispered. “What if she’s gone to bed already?”
Rose didn’t answer right away, instinctively looking around for Daisy before reminding herself that Daisy was sleeping happily on her grandpa’s chest. “She won’t be in bed, but even if she was, the staff will still be awake. Your presence will keep them occupied. I just need them stalled long enough to search Phillip’s room.”
Meg hesitated, her hands gripping the sides of the pie tin, turning her knuckles white. “What do I say?”
“Words.”
Meg frowned at Rose despite the smile trying desperately to escape. “Words. I can say words. Do you think she’d believe that I was looking for a job? Not that I would … am … it is just …”
“You’ll do fine,” Rose assured her, giving Meg a little nudge toward the front door of the Hugh’s grand house. Before Meg’s foot had touched the porch steps, Rose had sunk into the shadows, following the corners of the house to the back windows. She could hear Meg’s knock and then the door open. The voice was too distant to know if it was Jessica Hugh or the maid.
“Yes, yes, of course, come in,” the voice said. The slamming of the door told her Meg was in. It had to be Jessica.
Grinning, Rose circled the house peeking through the windows until she found what she guessed was Phillip’s room. To her luck the window was unlocked and she pulled herself up trying not to grunt too loudly as she did. She heard a small rip as she wiggled her shoulder and waist through the window.
She let out a quick breath when she realized it would be a bit tricky to get her legs through at a bent angle. Deciding that she could only get them through straight, she grimaced as the window cell indented into her waist and she let her torso fall forward; she caught herself by balancing her hands on the floor, then walking them forward.
Her legs finally made it through the window, and Rose jumped up to look outside. No one was around, so she gently shut the window and began searching.
“Yes, yes,” Jessica replied impatiently and with a tone of superiority. “We pay our house staff much more handsomely than the Castles ever could, but we expect complete loyalty and obedience. I will not lie and say your interaction with their tainted daughter does not cast a less than glowing light on your own character, my dear. Such interaction will have to be terminated immediately. We have a reputation to uphold.”
Rose blocked out the rest of Jessica’s speech, catching only a few phrases here and there. The room held bundles of papers that seemed to be the process of being sorted. Rose decided it was unlikely Phillip would leave evidence of his nefarious works in the open for his mother and maids to see.
Hugging the walls of the hall, Rose peeked into each room until she came to a room that had to be Phillip’s room. It was almost too simple. A black safe sat in his closet covered by two wool coats and one lambskin leather one. Rose felt her heart beating as she pulled out her little set of tools. Cade would die if he knew what she was doing. With a disbelieving smile at her own self, Rose knelt down and began to pick the lock.
“Well, think it over,” Jessica Hugh said, seeing Meg to the door.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Meg replied. With the slamming of the door, she let out a long sigh of relief. “Rose?” she whispered, circling around the wagon. “Rose!”
“Here.”
Meg gasped, clutching at her chest. “You about scared me to death. Well?”
“Jackpot!” Rose laughed climbing onto the wagon and taking the reins. “The light was poor, but they seem to be photographs and entries to a diary.”
“Anything connecting him to Theodore’s and Jim’s murders?”
“Look at this,” Rose said, handing her a bundle tied together with twine.
Meg squinted in the moonlight, “I can’t see. Are these drawings of a snake?”
“Copperhead snake. The same snake scratched in the dirt when Cade looked at the bodies. There are newspaper clippings, too, with pictures of sacrifices with the same drawings. One is from twenty years ago, and then these other two are in Colorado; one is a Chinese girl, another Italian.” She slapped the reins with gusto, lurching the wagon forward.
Meg shuddered, carefully taking a photo and holding it under the starlight. “Is this girl Camille? Jeffries’s daughter?”
Rose glanced over at the photo in Meg’s hand and shook her head. “Yes,” she said softly, her face falling. “If you look closely, Camille’s death is slightly different then the last three murders that were committed years later. My guess is that Phillip learned about Camille’s story and liked the idea of a sacrificial death.”
“Any murder this—” Meg thought of a word, “unconventional, I guess, would never be pinned on a wealthy white attorney.”
Rose shook her head. “No. All these girls were immigrants, so I doubt their murders were thoroughly investigated.”
Meg ran a gentle finger over Camille’s photo. “Poor Jeffries, being framed twice. Was the man who killed his daughter ever caught?”
Rose frowned, once again silently committing to protect her daughter in every way. “No. Another black girl dead in a dirty city. You tell me if the police were eager to continue the investigation after my father took Jeffries away.”
“Poor man, poor girls. I believe in God’s mercy and justice, but sometimes I wish there were people that could expedite the process of justice.”
“Well luckily, Cade is on this case. He will make sure everything turns out the way it should.” Rose bit her lip. To her surprise she believed every word.
Forty–Two
“You did what!” Cade’s chair knocked over as he stood up. He ran both hands through his hair. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
Rose sighed, her expression as calm as a summer sunset. “I knew you would be upset.”
“Of course, I am upset. What would have happened had Phillip been home?”
“But he wasn’t. I heard he had left town for a day or so.”
“What if you got caught?”
Rose gave a pensive frown but then said, “But I didn’t.”
“Rose …” he walked over and cupped her face. “We have Daisy now. Both of us have to be careful in our choices and … and,” he let go of her face to slap his knees, “you shouldn’t be putting yourself in dangerous situations just because I cannot solve a case.”
Rose swallowed and took a step back before giving him a patronizing smile. “Cade, I want whatever killers we have in Tall Pine caught as well. I can hardly sleep at night, especially when you are home late, and I think most mothers and wives probably feel the same way.”
“Rose,” Cade bit his lip, “nothing is worth you putting yourself at risk.”
Rose arched a brow. “Not even photos of three women he has murdered. Rose flopped a stack of papers in front of Cade. “The man photographed them alive, dead, and after he ritualized them, along with a diary no doubt describing the inner workings of his twisted mind. They are all copies of Camille’s murder. There are also locks of hair, which I can only guess are from the victims.” She waved at the papers. “It is all there.”
Cade picked them up, skimming through the papers. “Where did you find these?”
“In a safe with a key lock.”
Cade looked up and narrowed his eyes. “And how did you get past the lock?”
At her incredulous stare he nodded. “Oh, you picked it, of course, and then—”
“Hid the papers in my corset,” Rose said proudly. She stood up at Daisy’s cry from the floor and kissed Cade on the cheek. “Maybe I should be wearing that badge,” she whispered playfully before leaving him shaking his head.
“This still doesn’t explain Theodore and Jim.”
“No. There is some reference in his scrawl to blackmail and discovered secrets. To be honest, his penmanship is so poor I can barely make it out. I thought about perhaps letting Jonathan have a go.”
Cade frowned, “Jonathan?”
“Doctors are notorious for poor penmanship. He might be able to decipher the secrets in the text.”
Secrets.
Cade sat for a moment saying a silent prayer for courage before he went to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Rose,” he said softly.
“Yes?” she asked, frowning at the seriousness in his tone.
Cade took her hand, “Rose, I have something to tell you.”
Rose looked at him steadily and then gave a gentle nod. “Shall we go sit by the fire?”
Cade nodded and walked over to lower himself onto the new sofa he and Rose had purchased together. Rose sat opposite him and folded her hands, bracing herself for what was to come.
Cade rested his elbows on his knees and lowered his gaze. “I almost gambled... I was real close to giving in.”
Rose’s face was emotionless, which killed Cade because he knew she had a lot of practice in hearing about his addiction. “But you didn’t?” she asked, her voice perfectly even in every syllable.
Cade shook his head. “No, I didn’t, but I wanted to Rose. It hurt not to, you know. I began to justify it like I used to and... well I left and went to talk to Jeffries.”
“Why didn’t you?” Rose squinted her eyes in curiosity.
Cade sighed and leaned back. “You could say that my eyes were opened. I saw the ugliness in it, so to speak.
Rose clicked her tongue. “It is ugly.” She looked away for a second. “Well, I am proud of you for telling me. I am proud of you for not gambling but,” she looked over at him, “the need is still there. It will be there for a while, won’t it?”
Cade nodded. “I wish it were like a thorn, something you can pluck out, but it feels more like a rattlesnake bite that courses through me and has to be sucked out bit by bit.”
“That seems to be an accurate analogy.” Rose placed a hand on her stomach, but then quickly removed it self-consciously.
Rose smiled. “I am... Cade, I’m trying to understand. I have tried to see how this inebriety of yours is like a disease or a poison and not some malicious act on your part. However, for a long time it felt like it was my responsibility to fix you and I couldn’t. It gave me a sense of powerlessness. You once described it as not breathing, but that when you gambled it felt like taking a breath. For me though, to see you make wrong choices and for me to have no effect... it is like drowning in an overpowering current. It is complete helplessness. I finally tried to let go with the help of God, but by then, the sick feeling that accompanied your gambling was already set. So even though I am proud of you, my body still reacts any time I think about it.” She shrugged. “It will go away, but it may be a while.”
Cade clenched his fists. “You know, Rose, I started so many of our fights just so I could justify myself.”
Rose cocked an eyebrow. “Yes, I know.”
Cade let out a huff. “A man is supposed to protect his wife, not drag her down. I only hope that something good can come from all this. Jeffries told me that God can make your weaknesses strong. I hope He can do that for our marriage.”
Rose reached over and squeezed his hand. “I believe He can Cade, and I believe He will, so long as you continue to fight.” She removed her hand and pressed her lips together. “Again, I am proud of you, but please don’t be offended if I need some space.”
“You want me to sleep in the barn?” Cade asked seriously.
Rose laughed. “No, not until Philip is convicted and in prison. You taught me how to punch a man, but not how to shoot one.”
Cade smiled. “I tried and you just about shot off my toe.”
Rose stood with a shrug. “Well, maybe I should give a try at boxing.”
Cade looked up at her. “I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“As well you shouldn’t,” Rose laughed and smoothed her skirt. “Good night, Cade.” She turned and walked to her room to join Daisy.
The Ways of Heaven Page 25
