The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3)
Page 37
Gen. Crandal shook his head. “We don’t really know if they had a boat. We just assumed they did.”
“Has anyone seen any sign of those captives? Or the ones from the West River?” Kevin asked.
Gen. Crandal shook his head. “And it’s been three weeks since the West River raid. There should have been no way for them to make it out of Camden without getting caught, but a key changes everything. They can hit anywhere and then vanish.”
“And there’s not much we can do about it, is there?” Chris asked, looking back and forth between Gen. Crandal and Kevin.
They both shook their heads.
“Guess we might as well let your soldiers go home,” Kevin said.
Gen. Crandal nodded. “I’ll send Lt. Martyn a message to pack up and return to Pylar’s Landing. He won’t like it, but he’ll follow orders.”
“You aren’t going to tell him why?” Kevin asked.
“Not in writing. All we need is for people to find out someone’s going around capturing people with the aid of a key. We’d have a panic on our hands. I’ll tell him and Sgt. Doyle after we pick them up, but I’ll tell them to keep it to themselves. I’m sure Sgt. Doyle will tell his men, and I imagine Lt. Martyn will tell Sgt. Nance, but they won’t tell anyone else.”
“When do you want to go get them?”
“Today’s Tuesday. He won’t get my message until tomorrow evening. How’s Friday around lunchtime sound to you?”
Kevin glanced over at Chris, who nodded.
“Do you want to meet me here?”
Gen. Crandal nodded. “Anything else?”
Kevin shook his head.
“Then I’m done for today.” Gen. Crandal stood up and stretched his back. “It’s been a long one.”
Before he reached the door, there was another knock.
“Looks like yours isn’t over yet,” Gen. Crandal said as he opened the door.
Alek and Rigel looked at Gen. Crandal and then at Kevin.
“Are we interrupting something?” Alek asked.
“No, I was just leaving,” Gen. Crandal said as he walked through the door. “They’re all yours.”
Alek turned to Kevin and asked if they could speak with him for a minute. When Kevin nodded, the two guards shut the door and sat down.
“What’s up?” Kevin asked.
“We’ve got a couple of concerns regarding your security,” Alek answered.
Kevin frowned. “I thought we hashed that out a week ago.”
“We did,” Alek said, “but we may need to rethink some of it.”
“Why?” Kevin asked. “Because of yesterday?”
Alek nodded.
Kevin shook his head. “Yesterday was a fluke. It never would have happened if I hadn’t brought Landis here.”
“And if someone hadn’t leaked where she’d be,” Chris added.
“Just as someone could leak where you’ll be,” Alek argued, looking at Kevin.
Rigel cleared his throat. “When we were working on the plan a week ago, we overlooked the most dangerous place you go.”
Kevin frowned again. “Where?”
“The back porch of the chapel in Milhaven. You’re there at least once a week to take Sister Theresa one place or another for the Sisterhood. If I were an assassin out to get you, I’d have a blind somewhere behind the chapel. I’d be in it every morning by daybreak and stay until after sunset. Within a week, I’d have my shot.”
“He has a point,” Chris said.
“But I can’t take a guard with me every time I pick them up or take them home, and if an assassin’s sitting in a blind somewhere, a guard wouldn’t do much good anyway,” Kevin argued. “I understand what you’re saying though. The only place I’m more likely to show up is across the river where I practice each morning.”
Rigel tried to stop it, but a grin spread across his face.
“What?” Kevin asked him.
“Well, we weren’t going to say anything, but that whole area is checked out several times every day, and it’s under watch from sunset until after you finish your routine the next morning. I’m not saying an assassin couldn’t get to you there, but they’d have a really hard time doing it.”
“So maybe we need to do the same thing at the chapel,” Alek suggested.
Kevin shook his head. “No, we’ll come up with something else. I hadn’t considered the possibility that an assassin could get that close, but I guess one could. And I don’t like the idea my showing up there could put someone else in the crosshairs.” Kevin paused when he noticed frowns on Alek’s and Rigel’s faces. Crosshairs. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt just because they’re standing next to me.”
Both Rigel and Alek nodded.
“Maybe we could make your coming and going a little less public,” Chris said. “You meet them on the porch, right?”
Kevin nodded.
“What if we made the porch a little larger and then enclosed it?” Chris asked, turning towards Alek and Rigel. “Would that take care of the problem?”
“Hard to hit what you can’t see,” Alek said with a grin. “I think it would work.”
“What do you think?” Chris asked Kevin.
“I don’t have a problem with it, as long as the sisters agree to it. Rigel?”
“Sounds like a good solution to me.”
“We’ll talk to Sister Agnes, and if she doesn’t mind, we’ll get started on it tomorrow,” Alek said.
“Who’s going to do it?” Chris asked. “Just the two of you?”
Rigel shook his head. “We’ll get some of the guards to help. It won’t take long. When’s the next time you’ll need to pick Theresa up?”
“I have no idea. It could be next month or five minutes from now. Let me know when you’re ready to work and I’ll come help.”
Alek and Rigel exchanged looks and then Alek shook his head. “To be honest, we’d rather you stay away from there until we have it done. It’s bad enough Marcus got shot back there on my watch. If you got hurt there too, I’d never hear the end of it.”
“Sorry, but I can’t make any promises,” Kevin said, just as Chris said, “I’ll see to it.”
Kevin looked over at Chris and tilted his head. “How?”
“I’ll make sure you go to the front door until the back porch is finished. You never go to the front door. No one will be looking for you there, and by the time anyone figures out you aren’t using the back door anymore, they’ll be done.”
Kevin raised his eyebrows and looked at Rigel.
“That’ll work,” Rigel said while Alek nodded.
“Okay, I can do that,” Kevin agreed. “Anything else?”
Both Alek and Rigel shook their heads as they stood up.
“Then have a good night,” Kevin said. “And Alek, what happened yesterday wasn’t your fault. You did what you were supposed to do. Landis didn’t get hurt.”
Alek didn’t answer for a moment. Then he gave a slight nod and said thank you.
After the two guards were gone, Chris shut the office door. “He’ll always blame himself for Marcus though.”
“I know, but I wanted him to know I don’t. Anyway, what’s next?”
“Tonight? Nothing.”
“Good.” Kevin stood up and stretched. “Then let’s shut down the office and get out of here before someone else comes.”
~ ~ ~ ~
While Kevin and Chris were talking to the guards, Joan was putting Caitlyn to bed. As she spread the blanket up over the child, she noticed tears in Caitlyn’s eyes. Joan sat down beside her and asked what was wrong.
“I’m afraid I’m going to forget Mommy.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Today, after we talked about the men on the boat, I tried to remember what Mommy looked like, and I can’t.”
“Do you remember what color her hair was?”
Caitlyn nodded. “It’s the same color as mine. Daddy’s was brown, like Corey’s.”
“And how long w
as Mommy’s hair?”
Caitlyn scrunched up her face. Then her eyes brightened and she touched Joan’s arm, halfway between her shoulder and elbow. “It was that long. That’s where Mommy’s hair hit her arm.”
“Good. You do remember. Now, what color were her eyes?”
For a little bit Caitlyn didn’t answer. Her eyes clouded with tears again. “I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
“That’s all right, honey.” Joan gathered Caitlyn in her arms and held her close. She wished she had stopped with the hair. “It’ll come back to you.”
Caitlyn chewed on her lip and shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think I forgot.”
Joan didn’t say anything, she just held the child.
After a minute, Caitlyn asked, “Do you think Mommy’s forgotten me?”
Joan shook her head. “There’s no way in the world your mother would ever forget you. I can promise you that.”
Caitlyn snuggled down in Joan’s arms and began to relax. Joan thought she’d fallen asleep when she asked, “What if Mommy goes back to our house and we’re not there? How will she find us?”
“Well, if I were your mother and I went back to the house and you weren’t there, I’d go to Ashmont. I’d think someone there had taken you home with them to keep you safe until I got back. And when I got to Ashmont, I’d go see Sister Janine or Alma to see if they knew where you were, and you know what? They do. They both know where you and Corey are.”
“So she could find us?”
“She certainly could. Sister Janine would send a message to Sister Theresa, and then we’d take you and Corey back to Ashmont to your mother.”
“Oh. We wouldn’t live here anymore?”
“We’d go see your mother and see what she wanted to do. If she wanted all of you to stay here, you could.”
Caitlyn yawned as she nodded, so Joan eased her back down on the bed. Then she stood up and straightened the covers. “Go to sleep little girl, and dream of bunnies.”
Caitlyn’s eyes fluttered open. “Bunnies?”
Joan nodded. “Yes, nice soft, fluffy little bunny rabbits. Watch them hopping around a meadow, playing in the sunshine.”
Caitlyn smiled as her eyes slowly shut. Joan covered the glowstone on the nightstand but left the small night light over by the door. She had no idea whether introducing the idea of bunnies to the sleepy child had done any good, but at least her last thoughts had brought a smile to her face.
~ ~ ~ ~
After Joan left Caitlyn, she checked on Corey. He was sound asleep, so she went in search of Karl. She found him in the kitchen, with a glass of milk and half a dozen cookies.
“Hungry?” she asked.
Karl shook his head. “Not really. I came in here looking for you. You weren’t here but the cookies were, and they were calling my name. I couldn’t be rude, so I got a glass of milk and joined them.”
“Right.” Joan picked up one of the cookies and took a bite. “They’re good.”
“Oh, yeah,” Karl said as he polished off another one. “Where were you anyway?”
“Putting Caitlyn to bed.”
“For the last half hour?”
“She was upset. I’m afraid I stirred up some memories today when I asked her about the man on the boat.” Joan sat down at the table across from Karl. “She says she can’t remember what her mother looks like, and it’s worrying her.”
“Too bad Steve didn’t know her mother.”
Joan’s eyes opened wide. “What a wonderful idea. I’ll ask him in the morning.”
“Ask him what? To draw a picture of someone he’s never seen? Come on, Joan. The man’s good, but no one’s that good.”
“People do it all the time. Police sketch artists listen to what witnesses say and then sketch the person. Why couldn’t Steve do the same thing?”
“For one thing, he’s not a police sketch artist. There’s a lot of training involved in that.”
“Well, I’ll just ask him if he’d be willing to try. There’s no harm in that, is there?”
“I don’t know, Joan. If you ask him, he’ll say yes, especially since it’s for Caitlyn. And if he’s not able to do it, he’ll feel guilty for letting you down, but even worse, for letting her down. And who’s going to describe her? Caitlyn can’t. Corey might be able to, but I’m not sure we should ask him to try. That wound’s still pretty raw.”
Joan nodded. “Maybe I need to find someone to handle the description before I talk to Steve. I guess I could ask Sister Janine to do it. From everything I’ve heard, she’s very observant and organized, and she’s detached. There wouldn’t be any emotion involved for her.” Joan thought about the woman she’d never met, but whose influence permeated that chapel. “I’m not sure she’d do it though. She’d probably think it was a waste of time, that the kids need to move on.”
“Speaking of moving on,” Karl said, “if a key was involved in the raid, the chances of Kevin being able to rescue their mother just went from slim to none, didn’t it?”
Joan nodded. “She could be anywhere on Terah by now.”
“So should we go ahead and make arrangements to adopt them?”
“I’m not sure. Caitlyn asked how her mother could find her if she went back to their house and they weren’t there. I told her Sister Janine knows where she is, so it would be all right, but if she’s wondering how she and her mother are going to find each other, I’m not sure now’s the time to tell her we want to be her new Mommy and Daddy. She’s not ready to give up on the old one yet.”
“Corey won’t be either. Maybe we should approach this adoption a little differently.”
“How?” Joan asked.
“For one thing, we could let them continue to call us Joan and Karl. For another, we could tell them this adoption just lets everyone know we want them to stay with us until their mother turns up. At least that way they won’t have to worry about someone making them leave.”
“That sounds all right. When should we do it?”
“And how do we do it? What’s involved?”
Joan shrugged. “Guess I need to see Laryn tomorrow and find out.”
“Once we know what’s involved, we’ll decide when.”
Joan nodded. “But I don’t think it should be too soon. Maybe after the wedding?”
“You’ve changed your mind about tying it into the reception?”
“I think so. The ministers’ wives will see them at some point and ask questions, we can’t avoid that, and when it happens, I’ll tell them what happened in Syrando, but I don’t want to put the kids front and center.”
“But you think we can adopt them before Christmas, right?”
Joan nodded. “I could go along with that.” She picked up his empty glass and plate and carried them over to the sink. “And now, I’m ready for bed. How about you?”
Chapter 42
Working Out Some Details
While Joan and Karl were eating cookies, Darrell was at the desk in his room at the guard headquarters poring over the notes he’d made during that day’s interviews. He was only halfway through his original list and he’d already picked up more names to interview than he’d been able to check off. At this rate, he’d never be done.
Every person he’d interviewed had talked to at least one other person that morning, many had talked to half a dozen or more, but most of them weren’t sure whether Landis’s plans had come up or not. But even if they’d said there was no way her plans were discussed, he’d have to follow up anyway. And then their movements had to be checked out, to make sure they were where they said they were and not off meeting with assassins. The problem wasn’t his method, it was the enormity of the task.
He needed help. He needed someone who knew all the people involved, but who wasn’t really friends with many of them. He needed someone who’d lived in the area a long time, who’d been there before Badec was poisoned, someone who could spot anomalies, who would know if someone went somewhere they didn’t normally go, o
r spoke with someone they didn’t usually speak to. He needed someone who paid attention to what was going on around him. He needed someone who thought like a guard, and the only person he could think of who fit all those criteria was Cpt. Lawrence.
But could he be sure of Cpt. Lawrence? So far no one he’d interviewed had mentioned seeing the captain that morning. Maybe his first step should be finding out where he was during the storm, during the time Landis was eating breakfast, during the morning, and up until the time Marcus was shot. And he needed to find out where he was when Saryn was killed, too. If he could rule Cpt. Lawrence out, it would be safe to ask him to help in the investigation, and bringing him in would solve another of his problems. He could interview the soldiers on the list. They’d be a lot more likely to talk to Cpt. Lawrence than to him.
With the decision made to ask Cpt. Lawrence for help if he was cleared, Darrell divided the remaining interviews into two groups. Then he divided the alibis. By the time he was done, his to-do list was still long, but it looked more manageable than it had half an hour ago.
Darrell stacked the papers up and stored them in a hidden drawer he’d found in his desk. He had no idea who’d owned that desk before him, much less whether or not they’d discovered that little drawer, but he’d found it quite handy.
Then he covered the glowstone on his desk and the one on the nightstand, and fell into bed.
~ ~ ~ ~
Wednesday morning Darrell ran into Cpt. Lawrence as both men headed to the dining hall for breakfast.
“Captain, I was wondering if I could talk to you sometime today,” Darrell said as they entered the dining room.
“How about right now?” Cpt. Lawrence asked. “While we eat breakfast.”
“All right, but I’d like for our conversation to be private, so would you mind if we ate off by ourselves?”
“What about over there?” Cpt. Lawrence pointed to a small table set off by itself near the far wall.
“Perfect.”
Miranda had set out coffee, fruit, cheese, and pastries on a table near the kitchen door. At another table, she’d set out eggs, toast, jellies, and something that looked a lot like oatmeal.
Darrell fixed a plate of fruit and cheese, poured himself a cup of coffee, and made his way over to the table to wait for Cpt. Lawrence, who was getting eggs and toast.