Christmas Witness

by Aimée Thurlo

  Jake took the pot and led the small procession up the hillside to the shrine. The climb was arduous, and the heavy hearts of those around him touched him, adding to his own burden. He looked at Annie, worried, but Martin was with her and she seemed to be handling everything well.

  Weary from the climb and the sorrow, they finally reached the summit. Jake presented the “feast” in the pot to his ancestors, who were said to be waiting there. Then three feet from the shrine, he dropped the pot, breaking it, according to ritual.

  The people lined up behind him as he drew four lines on the sand. Then spitting out a bit of the charcoal, and turning to the cardinal directions, he invoked the soul of his father, asking him to release his hold on the living.

  He repeated the ritual several times on the way back. Then, at the house, the rite was performed again at the windows and the front door. It was there that he finally rid himself of the last of the charcoal in his mouth. The way back had now been muddied for his father’s spirit.

  “You are free to go. Help us by bringing us long life and abundance.”

  As Jake intoned the words, the procession breathed a sigh of relief. According to belief, his father would now dwell in peace in the land of endless cicada singing.

  As they each prepared to leave, Jake thanked them in the manner dictated by custom.

  Annie was the last to approach him. “May you have life,” he whispered to her, his voice softening instinctively as he spoke to her.

  “Let it be so,” she answered as the others had. Aware that they were alone now, Nick and Martin were saying goodbye to people down the road, Annie gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

  The warmth of her touch wrapped itself around him. No medicine could have healed his wounded soul better than she had with that simple gesture. He captured her gaze, trying to convey with that one look what he couldn’t put into words.

  Her expression softened and the smile she gave him was filled with tenderness. Without words, she’d told him everything he needed to know. In her face, he saw the expression of love.

  Chapter Eleven

  Annie stood with Jake and watched the people walk away. Martin had just gone inside to fix them something warm to eat. As the clouds covered the sun and the temperature dropped, she turned to go inside, but was stopped by an out-of-breath Martin.

  “Wait. Don’t come any farther. We’ve had a break-in,” he said.

  “Stay with her,” Jake ordered Martin, walking past Annie quickly. To Nick, he said, “Let’s make sure the intruder is really gone.” As he went down the hall, Nick followed just a step behind.

  Annie stood by the open door on the portal, remembering the man dressed as Santa Claus who’d appeared out of the dark and knocked her down the day of the murder. Her skin prickled and her heart began to beat faster. But it was daylight now. There were no terrors hidden in the shadows.

  “It’s all clear,” Jake said, returning to meet them. “Come inside and get warm. It’s too cold to stay outside any longer.”

  Martin called the police and they responded within ten minutes. Mora and his men searched for evidence and dusted for prints, but it was clear from Mora’s attitude that he didn’t believe they’d turn up anything useful. The back door had obviously been kicked in.

  Two hours later, after the officers had gone, they gathered in the study.

  Annie glanced at Martin. “You were inside before any of us, Martin,” she said. “Did you manage to catch a glimpse of the intruder?”

  “Mora asked me the same thing, and I’ll tell you what I told him. I heard a noise in the back as I opened the door, but by the time I reached the kitchen, the door was open and the intruder gone.”

  Looking at the chaos in the study, Annie felt her throat constrict. File cabinets had been opened and files lay scattered everywhere. Paintings had been taken off the walls and the contents of the desk drawers were strewn about on chairs and the floor.

  “Did Dad keep any cash here?” Nick asked.

  “Not that I know of,” Jake answered.

  “I don’t think this is a simple robbery. I noticed the gun cabinet in the hall seemed untouched,” Annie said.

  “All the accounting ledgers are gone,” Jake said, searching through and around the file cabinet.

  He looked up at the bookshelf. Some of the books had been pushed aside, and others lay on the floor, but the section in front of the niche had not been disturbed.

  Annie met his gaze, then nodded once in silence. That was “score one for them.”

  “Paul’s bedroom has been ransacked, as well, but it doesn’t look as bad as this place,” Martin said.

  They went upstairs and, as they entered Paul’s former room, Annie spotted the indentations in the carpet that signaled that the nightstand had been moved.

  “Let’s start here,” she said, directing their attention to what she’d noticed.

  Nick and Jake moved the heavy, oak nightstand aside, but there was nothing behind it. Jake crouched by the wall and tapped the wood lightly. Near the edge of the wall there was a seam that looked like a crack in the adobe. Pressing on it with his fingers, he felt it give and a small hinged door came open. The carved-out space was empty.

  “The police didn’t find this spot or they’d have asked about it. Something was kept here at one time, though not recently,” Jake said. “You can see a faint outline of heavy dust on the bottom of this hiding place. Whatever was stored there was small, but it was taken out of here a while back. See the lighter layer of dust deposited after it was removed? From the outline, I think it may have been a book.”

  Jake silently considered the possibility that it might have been the diary. Maybe the blackmailer had come back to the same crevice, hoping to find something else of value there.

  “Unfortunately,” Jake continued, “we have no way of knowing if the intruder found everything he wanted. The accounting ledgers are missing, and I’ll probably find some other business papers gone, as well, but there’s no telling what he was really after.”

  “There’s also something else to consider. This person knew about the releasing rite being held this morning,” Martin added. “The break-in was perfectly timed.”

  “Paul warned us that the killer is someone masquerading as a friend,” Annie said.

  Although they worked together to restore order to the house, it was hours before everything was back in its place. By the time they finally returned to the study, it was four in the afternoon.

  Nick was silent, his expression troubled. Jake was harder to read. He carried himself with fierce containment as he stood beside the window, staring outside.

  “The killer has been one step ahead since day one,” Jake said, breaking the silence. “Now he has proprietary information about Dad’s business and finances. We’ve lost whatever answers or clues were in those ledgers and accounting books. We have to find a way to turn the tables on him before he gets away with everything.”

  Nick shook his head. “Tracking a killer is the police’s job. Let them do their work.”

  “Our father was killed, and his important papers, including, possibly, the hidden evidence Dad left for us, are now gone. Those facts alone make it our business.”

  Nick was about to reply when someone came to the front door. Martin answered it, and returned with Patrick Kelly. The middle-aged Anglo attorney entered the room and shook hands with both Jake and Nick. “I’m very sorry to hear about your father.”

  Jake gestured for him to take a seat. “We’ve been looking everywhere for a will.”

  “I have a copy and brought it with me. It’s important I review it with you all now because some of the clauses are time dependent.”

  “We’re eager to hear what the will says,” Jake said, motioning for Kelly to use the desk.

  “Everyone mentioned in the will is here now, so let’s get started,” Kelly said, as he waited for everyone to take a seat before he began reading out loud.

  Annie felt the tension in the room cle
arly. It was almost as if the air itself had grown heavier. Martin was the first person mentioned in the will. He had been left a respectable sum.

  Patrick Kelly suddenly stopped reading and looked up. “The rest will be a lot more complicated and, to really understand it, you need to know what was going through your father’s mind at the time.” He held Jake’s gaze. “More than anything else, your father really believed that if he forced you to stay here for a length of time, you would learn to love the ranch as he had, Jake.”

  Kelly then looked at Nick. “Nick, your father knew that, unlike Jake, you liked taking your time before making decisions. But he just wasn’t confident that you could ever be persuaded to commit to the ranch for its own sake. That’s why he felt the future of Black Raven Ranch rested in Jake’s hands. Paul believed that Jake had a gift when it came to working with the horses, and that his love for the animals was the key ingredient needed to keep the ranch going.”

  Kelly looked at Jake. “But he also knew that you would resist staying. That’s why he had me add the following clauses to this will.”

  He resumed reading the will, and no one moved. “Nick, Annie and Jake will have to live at the ranch house for one year before anyone, including Martin, can claim their inheritance,” Kelly said at last, finishing.

  Jake glared at Kelly. “I’ll contest this. There’s no way we can all stay and run this ranch together. I’ve got my own business to take care of and so does Nick. And Annie has her own life. Did Dad just forget all that?”

  “No. He expected you all to find a way to do both. Any of you can leave for up to a week at a time, and still comply with the terms. One more thing. Paul insisted you all begin living at the ranch within a week after the releasing rite. Providing you agree to his terms, you will all inherit one-third of the estate at the end of twelve months. The land itself, of course, belongs to the pueblo, and reverts to them if everything is liquidated.”

  Jake stood abruptly, fists clenched. “My attorneys will have this thrown out of court. I don’t care about the money, but my father can’t be allowed to control our lives.”

  “I have to warn you that contesting this will carries immediate penalties. Should either you, Nick, or Annie choose to circumvent or otherwise act against its intent, then three-quarters of the estate’s assets will be given to the pueblo. Martin will get the remaining portion. If Martin contests it, then all of you must move out within a week, and the pueblo gets everything.”

  Jake looked as if someone had just punched him hard in the stomach. He sat again.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t go along with any of this,” Annie said, rising and walking toward the door.

  “Think before you decide,” Kelly said in his best, most persuasive voice. “This will buy you time to become better known regionally as an artist, and could provide immediate financial security for you and your baby.”

  Annie felt trapped. If she turned it down, would she be sacrificing the needs of her child to save her pride? She needed a place to live and really did want to stay here, where she had friends and the nurse midwife she trusted. If she left, she’d be all alone, and broke. Worst of all, there was also no guarantee the killer wouldn’t come after her, putting her and the baby in even greater danger.

  Tears welled up in her eyes and she struggled not to blink, determined to not let them see her cry as she returned to her seat.

  “Look at it logically, from a business point of view,” Kelly said to all of them. “What Paul has really done is guarantee everyone a place to live and work for at least one year.”

  Annie glanced at Martin, and saw the emotions that warred inside him play across his face. He’d wanted the ranch to survive and so had she. Many depended on it, but being forced to do something against their will was not the right way.

  Kelly pulled a video tape from his briefcase. “I was with your father when he taped this.” Kelly placed the tape in Jake’s hands. “Let him explain in his own words why he’s chosen to do this. I believe everything will make more sense to all of you then.”

  Annie, stunned, walked out of the room with Jake, Nick, and Martin. As they stepped into the living room, Jake led Annie to the massive entertainment center. “Don’t worry, Annie,” Jake said, loud enough for only her to hear. “We’ll figure something out.”

  Jake shoved the tape into the machine, anger punctuating his every movement.

  Annie heard the tape click into the machine, then as Paul’s image flickered on the television monitor, she sucked in a breath. His easy smile, his gentle eyes, looked back at her now. Sorrow for the friend she’d lost filled her heart. “Hello, Jake. Nick. And Annie. I know you’re here with my boys and Martin, and wondering why I’ve done this to all of you.”

  Paul leaned back in his chair. “Let me explain, and maybe then you’ll understand. I know you two boys—now men, may never forgive me for throwing you out of the house, but it was the only way I could think of to end the misdirected competition you had with each other and force you to focus solely on your own futures.

  “If you two had remained at home, with me constantly looking over your shoulders and forcing my opinions upon you, you wouldn’t have come into your own as you have. Part of my legacy was forcing you to find yourselves as men—not as twins, and getting each of you to accomplish something on your own, if only to prove to yourselves how wrong I’d been.”

  Paul stopped a second, cleared his throat and looked away from the camera a moment, then continued. “You never knew this, but I’ve been watching you, Jake, and you, Nick, ever since you left the ranch. There were times I thought I should step in and help one or the other of you boys through a crisis, but I held back, and, sure enough, each time you prevailed. And, though you may hate me for my methods, you’ll have to admit that you are now strong, self-reliant, successful men who owe nothing to anyone else for your accomplishments.”

  Paul took a drink from a glass of water, then resumed his statement. “I’m as proud as any man could be of his sons, and I only regret that we couldn’t have been together again as a family for a while. I wanted that more than anything else in my life. But that has ended now, and it’s time for the living to move on.”

  He paused, then continued. “Annie, if you’re listening to this tape, then it must be before your baby’s first birthday. After that, I’d intended to change the terms of the will depending on what I learned about Jake and Nick, and how your own career was going. I’ve done what I have partly for you, though you may not believe that. You see, I know that your pride keeps you from asking anyone for help and I wanted to make sure you and the baby would be looked after at this critical time in your life. I’m the closest to a father you’ve ever had, and I do love you. I ask you now to trust me.”

  Annie wiped the tears from her eyes. She did trust him. He’d been a loyal friend and mentor. And, admittedly, what he was asking her to do was in her and the pueblo’s best interests. Whether it would benefit Jake and Nick would depend largely on them.

  Paul paused, measuring his words. “Jake, you’re my son, and I love you, but I see you making the same mistakes I made when I was your age. You need to let others into your life, to learn what it really means to care. Unless you learn how to open your heart, you’ll end up as alone as I am, and that’s the last thing I want for you. Annie’s gentleness can teach you a lot and, if I’m right, she’ll touch your heart in the very way you need most.”

  Paul paused again, stared at his desk, then looked up at the camera. “Annie, help my son stop running from the best life has to offer. You know about love. It defines everything about you—your courage, your passion. Help him embrace life as you have. I don’t want Jake to end up like me, and there’s a lot of me in my son.”

  “There’s nothing of you in me,” Jake answered the video image, then looked away in disgust.

  As if he’d heard, Paul leaned back and smiled. “I can hear him protesting, though in his heart he knows it’s true.” He shook his head slowly then, af
ter a brief silence, continued. “Nick, it’s extremely important that you remain at the pueblo. You don’t know it yet, but your greatest joy, and maybe your greatest sorrow, is here, waiting for you. Everything you believe about yourself will be tested. But I’m confident that you’ll eventually embrace your destiny the same way you do everything else—with your whole heart.

  “I know you won’t end up as I have, Nicky. Everything that will define you as a man, the very things you love the most, are here, and all you’ll have to do is find the courage to reach out for them. Your future, and a small surprise—” Paul suddenly chuckled “—will make your stay the most interesting time of your life.”

  Jake studied his brother’s expression. Nick stood rockstill, guarding his thoughts fiercely.

  “But it’s you, Jake, I worry about,” Paul continued. “Trying to be your own man, you’re likely to talk yourself out of the things that matter most. What I’m giving you now is not a punishment. It’s my final gift to you—a son I’ll always love.”

  As the tape faded to black, Annie shook her head. “I know this is all well-intentioned, but Paul overstepped his bounds.”

  “Now do you see that I was right about my father? He always manipulated everyone around him. He’s even trying to do it from his grave.”

  Martin stood. “I’ll abide by whatever you all decide. This is a family matter and that’s the way it should remain.” He walked out before Jake could stop him.

  “As much as I hate to say it,” Nick said, “Kelly is right. We have to think this out carefully before we do anything. This ranch is the heart of the pueblo.”

  “I can’t cast all the hands out of their jobs,” Jake said. “Like it or not, my father pulled the right strings this time. I still intend to come up with a way around it, but I’ll need time.”