Harvestman Lodge

by Cameron Judd

  All that was really known of her was that she had been trapped as a victim of an international child abduction and trafficking ring that chillingly called itself “the Flower Garden.” It was from that name that the “Broken Flower” appellation had been derived.

  When she was found at last, that finding ironically became the saddest part of her heartbreaking story. Broken Flower’s badly misused, lifeless body was discovered in a trash-filled dumpster behind a convenience market just outside Los Angeles two days before the start of a new year.

  Even after her passing, the little girl’s origins and identity, as well as the exact circumstances of how she had fallen into the Flower Garden’s hands, remained unknown. Broken Flower was a mystery that stubbornly refused to be solved.

  The quest to identify the slain little girl dominated the news for a week after her body was discovered. The state of California, stinging under the shame of being home to the tragedy, made a very visible showing of arranging for the child to be buried in one of LA’s most high-end cemeteries, as if that somehow helped, with a lavish marker marked only with the words “AMERICA’S BROKEN FLOWER”. There was plenty of room left on the gleaming marble for the later addition of her real name, birth date, and so on, assuming those would someday be found.

  The back-story of the little girl, though, continued to prove elusive.

  That is, at least until the evening of July 2, 1985, in the family room of the Buckingham house in Tylerville, Tennessee. Because visible in the background of the video-transferred Super 8 film images playing on the television in that room was a clear view of that same famous-yet-anonymous little girl, being bodily picked up by a small-framed Asian man and carried deftly out a door, a Caucasian man with long hair following after. The faces of both men were caught for a moment by the camera.

  THE SIGHT STUNNED BOTH ELI AND MELINDA.

  The long-haired man’s face looked much like the one that had startled Melinda in that big election party photograph at the newspaper office. The other man, the one who actually carried the little girl out of the room, was Asian, probably Korean. His face appeared to be the same one Eli had seen when he looked out the window of Coleman Caldwell’s disused law office in the Arcade building. The same man, younger.

  Nancy was softly crying. “You okay, honey?” Ledford asked her.

  “Yes … I’m just … it’s just that I’ve always been troubled by what happened to that poor little girl … and I’ve always wondered where she came from. Dear God, Micah, she came from here!”

  “It would seem so.” Ledford turned to Eli. “Are you certain these images are from Harvestman Lodge?”

  “No question about it in my mind.”

  “Eli,” Melinda said, “I hate to mention the shallower side of this, but do you realize we’ve stumbled on a major national news story here? One that nobody, absolutely nobody except us in this room, knows about? Think about it! Ever since that poor girl’s corpse was found in that dumpster, this entire nation has been trying to find who she was and where she came from. Now we know she came from here, and now it probably won’t be nearly as hard to determine who she was, and whose child she was.”

  Eli shook his head. “Listen to me, Melinda: to hell with the news side of this, for now. And even forget about the Broken

  Flower girl … she’s beyond either help or harm at this point. There’s only two things we have to concentrate on. The first is that Megan says she saw an Asian man watching your house, and with him a man who looked like a Parvin. I saw men of that same description in downtown Tylerville. And here is the really frightening part of it: the Asian man we just saw on that film clip my grandfather made appears to be the very same one I saw out that office window in the Arcade building. And we just now watched him carrying away a little girl who went on to become the very symbol of child abduction and abuse in this country.”

  “Oh, dear Lord,” Melinda murmured, putting it together.

  “They’re back, Melinda. And they may have their sights set on your sister. We have to make sure Meggy is safe, in case that’s true,” said Eli. “Before anything else, we need to protect your sister. And right now, she’s probably out in a flimsy tent in her friend’s backyard, clueless and unprotected.”

  “We have to go get her and bring her home,” Melinda said. “Oh, God, God … please protect Meggy, God! Please!”

  “Hey, folks, I’m the old man in this particular room, so let me say something,” Ledford said. “May I do that?”

  “Go ahead,” said Eli.

  “I can see something starting to happen here,” Ledford said. “There’s a feeling of panic setting in, and if you don’t mind me saying, it’s too early for that. We’ve jumped from seeing something that happened over a decade ago to all at once declaring Melinda’s little sister to be in danger. That’s too big a leap to be credible at this point.”

  Eli said, “But we’ve seen the faces of the two men, both past and present.”

  “We’ve seen them on that TV screen there. You are the only one who has seen them here in town in the present.”

  “True. But I know what I saw.”

  “Do you? You have to admit that it’s a little dicey, trying to say with any certainty that a face on an old film from years ago, and a face you saw through an office window and a car window, are the same man. There are a lot of Asian people in this country, and that could have been anybody, just passing through town.”

  “He had a Parvin with him. And there’s a Parvin on that old film clip, with him.”

  “But like I said, you can’t know for sure it’s the same ‘him.’ You really can’t even know that it’s a Parvin either in that film, or in the car you saw. It could be somebody in both cases who simply happens to bear a resemblance.”

  Melinda spoke. “I wasn’t with Eli when he saw the man in the car with the Asian, but I can say without any real doubt, that the man in the film is absolutely a Parvin. I know that distinctive family look very, very well. And they’ve almost all got it.”

  “You just strengthened my case, Melinda,” Ledford said. “The very fact that so many Parvin men bear such a strong resemblance to one another makes it impossible to be certain which one you’re seeing. And when you throw in the big gap of years between the film and the man Eli saw in town, things get even more shaky.”

  Eli said, “Micah, you should have been a lawyer. Everything you’re saying makes good sense, and I can’t find a flaw in your logic. Even so, let me tell you that I remain absolutely sure that the men carrying out that little girl in that old film, and the men I saw in the car outside Coleman Caldwell’s old law office, are the same men. All I can ask is that you trust me on this.”

  “And I’ll add this,” Melinda cut in. “I’d rather err on the side of over-protecting my little sister than in turning the benefit of the doubt in the other direction.”

  “That makes sense to me,” Ledford said, his wife nodding agreement. “So exactly where is your sister now?”

  “At a friend’s house. The Bill Lane family … their daughter Hannah is Megan’s age, and one of her best friends. I’m going to get her,” Melinda said, and rose.

  Eli followed, and Ledford and wife found themselves in the odd position of being suddenly abandoned in another family’s home.

  “I hope she’s okay,” Nancy said as Eli’s rambler turned onto the street from the driveway. “Melinda’s sister, I mean.”

  “Me too, honey. Dear lord, what a strange evening it’s turned out to be!”

  THEY FOUND THE TENT IN THE BACKYARD of the Lane house, as it should be. The house itself was dark, sleeping. There was no evident sign of anything amiss, or of shadowy strangers lurking on the perimeter of the property. Despite that, Melinda wanted fervently to be near her sister, to guard her.

  Eli had the same impulse. As he parked the car on the side of the street, he said, “Once we get Megan home, I’m staying at your house tonight. I know it’s probably silly, but I have a feeling of danger that I can�
��t shake off.”

  “Same here,” said Melinda. “And I’m glad for you to stay and stand guard tonight. I’ll even put Dad’s pistol into your hand. The same one he shot Rawls with. Just promise you’ll stay awake, and that you won’t get groggy and trigger-happy and shoot somebody you shouldn’t. Like me or Meggy.”

  “Melinda, have you considered that you might be in danger from these people, too? You’re an attractive young woman.”

  “I doubt anyone of my age would be of interest,” she said. “I remember well when the Flower Garden was in the news. The victims were like our ‘Broken Flower’ – very young, just children. A sick, sick business. You saw how young that girl was when they snatched her at Harvestman Lodge.”

  “Let’s go over and get Meggy.”

  “She’ll not be happy about it … she loves her ‘camping’ visits at the Lane house. She won’t want us to bring her back home.”

  “Sometimes the grownups just have to be the grownups. That’s what my mother always said to me when she made decisions for me that I didn’t like.”

  “Well?” Melinda asked. “Do we jump the backyard fence, go to the tent, and risk spooking two little girls, or do we knock on the door of the house and stir the family out of bed to explain something that will sound totally off the wall?”

  Eli hadn’t thought out that part of it, and admitted it.

  Melinda sighed. “Eli, I hate to say it, but I think what we do is spend the night sitting in this car, wide awake, keeping watch on that tent.”

  “I hate to say it, too, but I think you’re right. And we’re probably being silly, doing it at all. But what if? That’s the big question. What if the two men Megan saw really were there, and really were watching your house, and really did have their sights on Megan? So no, I guess we aren’t silly to be out here after all, missing a night’s sleep to secretly guard a backyard tent. Too bad, though, we didn’t think to bring a thermos of coffee.”

  Melinda agreed. “Tomorrow will be a hard day. Just from lack of sleep.”

  “We’re big boys and girls here. We’ll be okay.”

  BEING AFFLICTED WITH BUCK TEETH WAS a particularly poignant curse for one of Tylerville’s younger police officers. His name was Jimmy Beaver, and from elementary school on he’d heard every possible joke that could be derived from the combination of unfortunate name and matching dental structure.

  In high school days, and slightly beyond that time, he’d also been afflicted with a horrifically intense crush upon the school’s most gorgeous girl: Melinda Buckingham. He’d never made any real attempt to connect with her, being too aware of her high standing in the social hierarchy and his nearly total lack of such. He’d seen others bring themselves sadness and embarrassment by aiming at too lofty a relational target. He’d not make that mistake.

  As he told his best friend at that time: “I may look like the biggest goof who ever walked, but I’m not stupid.”

  “You ought to ask her out, Jimmy,” his friend had encouraged. “You’re as good as anybody else in this school.”

  “Not in looks I’m not. She’s just too good-looking for me. She can have her pick of any guy at this school. She can find one that doesn’t look like a woodchuck, and isn’t as poor as Job’s turkey.”

  “If you don’t like your teeth, ask your mom about getting you some braces.”

  “I can’t do that. With Daddy dead and gone, it’s all Mom can do to keep food on the table. Cafeteria lunch ladies don’t make a lot of money, y’know. Besides, Mom has the same buck teeth I do. She’s the one I inherited them from. I can’t tell her I want her to spent what little money she may have so I can make myself not look like her. Know what I mean?”

  So Jimmy Beaver had gone on through high school admiring Melinda from a distance. He had been stunned and offended when she began dating the low-life Rawls Parvin, unable to keep himself from thinking how unworthy Rawls was to so much as touch her hand. As time passed post-high school, though, Jimmy gave up thinking about Melinda, persuaded himself that homelier males than he had found good girlfriends and spouses, and put himself out, so to speak, onto the market.

  He was married now, to a shy little red-haired girl from Carter County. Her name was Sandra and now she was four months pregnant with their first child. Jimmy prayed every day that the baby would escape the inheritance of protruding teeth. If that didn’t happen, he would make sure braces were provided when the child was old enough.

  He’d gotten braces for himself after joining the Tylerville Police Department. He took some kidding for wearing braces as an adult, but kidding was something he was used to, and could handle.

  At the moment, Jimmy Beaver had his mind on a more immediate matter. He was in the midst of routine patrolling through one of the town neighborhoods, and had just spotted a car, a Rambler, parked alongside a fenced-in backyard in which a camping tent was pitched. The hour was just after two in the morning, and though the car interior was dark, Officer Beaver was nearly sure he’d seen movement in it. It could be nothing more than a couple of teens parking and making out. Or it could be potential thieves casing the property.

  It was always heart-racing to approach suspicious vehicles. There was never a way to be sure what would be found. With flashlight burning, he walked to the parked Rambler, and half a minute later was looking into two sleepy-looking faces. One was a male, a stranger in his twenties.

  The other face was that of Melinda Buckingham.

  AFTER A FEW MINUTES OF CONVERSATION, the young policeman was still trying to wrap his mind around what he’d just been told.

  “So, let me get this straight, Melinda: your little twelve-year-old sister is having a sleepover with a friend, and they’re camping in that tent. And you and Mr. Scudder here are keeping watch because your sister saw some men who spooked her recently, and you’re wanting to make sure nobody comes creeping across the yard to snatch her.”

  “Jimmy, when you put it that way, you make it sound absurd,” Melinda said in a mildly scolding tone. “There’s more to this than just overactive imagination. There really are men in town like the ones Megan said she saw … Eli saw them too. And it isn’t their first visit. We’ve seen evidence of their presence here at least a decade back … and if they are doing now what they apparently did back then, this is serious business.”

  To Jimmy, this all sounded crazy. “Meaning?”

  “Well, those men were, and maybe still are, involved in organized child abduction and trafficking.”

  “And you have evidence of that? Because that’s no small deal. That’s major crime.”

  “We do have evidence. A piece of Super 8 film that was made, we think by Eli’s late grandfather, in Harvestman Lodge.”

  “Oh my gosh. I’ve not heard that place mentioned in long time.”

  “You know about Harvestman Lodge?”

  “I know those of us on the force are told to leave that subject in the past, and not encourage public discussion about it.”

  “Do you policemen know the secrets of that place?”

  “You’ll find about as many answers to that as there are cops. Rodney and Mick Bowers – you know them? Tylerville’s two black policeman brothers? – they swear that their father told them the Lodge was a front for the Klan.”

  “Do many believe that?”

  “I don’t think so. And to my knowledge there is no real evidence of it … just the rumor, standing by itself. Just like the one claiming the Harvestmen were an organization descended from the Knights of the Golden Circle, looking to bring about a new Southern Secession in the 20th century. That one’s kind of a companion rumor to the Klan idea. And just as nutty.”

  “What do you think the truth is, Jimmy?” Melinda asked.

  “I don’t even pretend to have a clue. But I’ve heard my great uncle talk about it, and he was a Lodge member.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Not much, in terms of details. Mostly he said the place could have become a real force for good in the
community, and started out with that intention, but it was corrupted by some of its later members. They began to turn it into a place where ‘mighty bad things went on.’ That’s the way I remember him putting it. ‘A place where mighty bad things went on.’ And he talked about some of the older members wanting to document the decline of the place in hopes of finding a way to reverse it. Folks like Rudy Hawes, who used to be county sheriff … ”

  Eli said, “I’ve met him.”

  “… And Benton Sadler, of course, and some others. Uncle Sam said one of the most active in trying to get Harvestman Lodge back on the straight and narrow was an old farmer named Will Keller. He had himself a home movie camera, and when he thought things were going to go on at the Lodge that were heading in the wrong direction, he’d set his camera up and record things on the sneak. Documentation, y’see.”

  Eli looked at Melinda. Suddenly the existence of that piece of film in his grandfather’s cellar made sense. Will Keller maybe wasn’t a dirty old man after all. He had an entirely different reason for recording those dancing girls. Nothing prurient in his intentions. Quite the opposite.

  “Will Keller was my grandfather,” Eli said.

  “No! Really?”

  “Really.”

  “You had a good man for your grandfather, then. I’ve never heard a word spoke against Will Keller.”

  “Other people have said the same to me. I’m always glad to hear it.”

  “Where’d you go to high school, Eli? I don’t remember you.”

  “My grandparents and my mother were from Kincheloe County, but I grew up in Strawberry Plains. So I wasn’t in high school here.”

  “I see. Me, I went to high school with Melinda.”

  “Jimmy was one of the nice guys at school,” Melinda said to Eli. “And he’s done well for himself. Police academy, then making the force … and I’ve got to say, Jimmy, you look quite handsome these days. Something’s different about you.” Melinda realized her words had a double edge, and immediately tried to temper them. “That’s not to say you didn’t look handsome in high school … just that you’ve … ”