by Bill Bright
His bad leg ached worse than it had in recent memory, giving him a headache so severe he could barely see straight. He leaned more heavily than usual on his cane as he hobbled up the front porch stairs.
He saw Camilla in the window, watching his progress. As soon as he reached the door, she opened it for him. She was nursing him even before he crossed the threshold.
“Let me help you with your coat,” she said, kicking the door shut in the arctic wind’s face.
She removed his coat and hat, then his muffler and gloves and cane. She became his cane, assisting him to the sofa that was already situated in front of a roaring fire.
Asa welcomed the blaze as he would an old friend. His leg got him as far as the sofa and no farther. He collapsed onto the seat.
“I have coffee on the stove,” Camilla said.
She bolted for the kitchen, as though Asa’s life depended upon a quick infusion of coffee.
“Who moved the sofa?” Asa called after her.
She didn’t reply. Maybe she hadn’t heard him.
Asa let his head fall back. He closed his eyes and tried not to think. It hurt to think. That’s all he’d done since entrusting Cyrus Gregg to the care of his housekeeper. Asa had spent every moment since then trying to make sense of his nephew’s irrational behavior.
According to Camilla, Daniel had come home “cold, wet, and frightened”—her words.
Asa had asked her if he’d said anything about what had happened, if he’d said anything about money. At the mention of money, Camilla’s brow furrowed. It deepened when Asa told her that Daniel was responsible for the bump on the back of Cyrus’s head.
Camilla always refused to hear anything bad about someone and in typical fashion had refused to believe that Daniel was capable of attacking someone, least of all Cyrus Gregg. And when Asa questioned her further, she insisted Daniel had arrived home shortly before he and Cyrus had arrived and that upon seeing them, became frightened and ran upstairs.
But she hadn’t told them everything. Asa knew his wife well enough to know when she was holding something back. She would tell him the rest when they were alone.
Somehow Cyrus had seemed to sense it, too, for he had made Asa promise that he would relay everything to him at the earliest opportunity.
“Here you are,” Camilla said, setting his coffee on the Pembroke table, which was also out of place.
The rearrangement of both sofa and table suggested that Daniel had been there longer than just a few minutes.
“I don’t care what Cyrus says,” Camilla began, “I refuse to believe Daniel stole from him.”
Asa reached for his cup and sipped his coffee. It was hot and heavenly. “The lump on the back of Cyrus’s head argues otherwise.”
“I’ve been thinking about that.” Camilla sat on the edge of the sofa, her hands in her lap, her knees turned toward him. “Can Cyrus really know who hit him? The blow came from behind, didn’t it? And people are often confused after receiving a blow to the head.”
“All I can tell you is that Cyrus is certain it was Daniel.”
Camilla appeared thoughtful.
“Tell me everything Daniel said to you,” Asa said. “Tell me what you didn’t tell me when Cyrus was here.”
His wife didn’t appear surprised that he knew. Even so, for some reason, she stared at her hands, as if finding what she had to say difficult. “He says Cyrus tried to kill him.”
“WHAT?” Asa spilled coffee on himself.
Camilla rushed to get a towel and dabbed his chest with it.
While she was still dabbing, he cried, “Of all the lamebrained accusations! What possible reason would Cyrus Gregg have for wanting Daniel dead?”
“You’re forgetting what Daniel saw the other night in the alley.”
Asa waved that off. “That was all taken care of this afternoon. I went to the shop and told Cyrus what Daniel thought he saw. As you might expect, he was shocked and hurt. Turns out Cyrus was nowhere near the alley that night. We called Daniel over and settled everything. When I left them, they had plans to ride together to see a woodcarver about that washing-machine drawing Daniel made. At that point, everything was settled. And I have to say, considering the circumstances, Cyrus was every bit a gentleman about the whole misunderstanding. Any lesser man would have released Daniel on the spot.”
“Gone isn’t good enough! I want him dead!” Cyrus Gregg seethed.
Hat in hand, Epps stood wet, cold, and humiliated on Gregg’s front porch. The warmth from inside the house poured out the doorway, tantalizing him.
“The boy has family here. He’ll write. Or come back. That’s unacceptable to me. I want him dead.”
“I could kill the family,” Epps said.
The offer prompted Gregg to hesitate…to entertain the idea. “No,” he said finally. “I don’t want you to touch her. Do you understand?”
Epps nodded. He understood completely. He understood that Gregg had just revealed feelings for the woman. It was a piece of information he might find useful later.
“But if I know Asa—and I do—he’ll go after the boy. Who knows what might happen on the road? He could have an accident. A fatal accident. He could possibly become a victim of highway robbers.”
Epps nodded. His fee had just doubled. “Tell me what I need to know about the boy and the old man.”
The coffee and the fire had done their jobs. Asa felt warm and comfortable. For the first time all day the pain in his leg was bearable. Another ten minutes and he wouldn’t even notice it.
“What’s for dinner?” he asked.
Her mind elsewhere, it took Camilla a moment to hear what he’d said. “What? Dinner…yes, it’s in the oven. Ready shortly. While you were gone, I packed your bag and put some food in a basket.”
“My bag?”
“I assume you’ll want to start out as soon as we’ve had dinner.”
“Start out…?”
“To find Daniel, of course.”
Asa sunk deeper into the sofa. “You assume incorrectly.”
“Surely you’re going after him!”
“Surely not.”
“Asa! You can’t sit there while Daniel is missing!”
“He’s not missing. He’s run off. There’s a difference.”
“Not to me, there isn’t! Daniel is out there in this dreadful weather.”
“That’s his choice.”
Camilla was fuming. “So you’re going to sit there in front of the fire and do nothing?”
“No, I’m going to have dinner.”
“Then you’re going to have to get it yourself!”
Camilla stormed up the stairs. Seconds later the bedroom door slammed.
Asa sipped the last of his coffee and set the cup on the table beside him. He folded his hands and soaked up the warmth from the fire.
A night out in the cold will do him good,he thought.
The aroma of baked biscuits from the kitchen made his stomach growl.
Daniel’s stomach complained. He’d had nothing to eat since his lunch break at work.
Night’s cloak covered him. Dark and cold.
He’d rolled up one blanket and tied it to his haversack. The other blanket he’d draped over his head and neck. He didn’t care that he looked like a biblical shepherd. At least it kept his ears warm. Besides, no one was around to see him. Traffic on the road was sparse at best. Just to be safe, though, whenever he saw someone coming, he left the road and walked down by the river.
The inky Potomac meandered quietly in the night, his compass to the East coast. When he had first started out, he considered going west through the mountain gap. For some reason, he had turned eastward, not certain why.
Was his old home calling to him? Possibly. But what was there for him? Not his parents. And most of his friends had moved on to schools or jobs. Besides, New Haven was the first place his uncle would look for him. The man still had contacts there, and it would be hard for Daniel to live there undetected. So why ea
st?
The sea? Were his parents calling to him from their watery graves? Some would think the thought morbid. Daniel didn’t think so.
He didn’t know why he chose east. He didn’t know where he was going. All he knew was that he had to get away. From Cyrus Gregg.
From his uncle.
Daniel couldn’t get the image of the two of them together out of his mind—standing united against him in the shop. Two peas in a pod in his uncle’s carriage. It just didn’t make sense that his uncle could be so close to Cyrus Gregg and not know what kind of man he was. His uncle wasn’t blind. He was a smart man. He had to know.
A blast of wind knocked Daniel sideways a step. He lowered his head and redoubled his effort.
He decided it no longer mattered how much his uncle knew or didn’t know. That was in the past. Behind him. His future lay before him.
A thick layer of clouds obscured the moon and stars. At times it was so dark, Daniel had to feel his way from tree to tree along the river’s edge.
He began looking for a place to bed down.
After an hour or so—it was hard to tell the time in the dark—he spied an outcropping of rock that formed a shallow grotto. The opening faced south, protecting him from road and wind.
Daniel searched for and found a tree limb with which to explore the shelter. Unable to see all the way to the back, he didn’t want to climb in and find it occupied.
When nothing growled or jumped out at him, he removed the blanket from his head and spread it out on the ground with shivering hands. He didn’t risk a fire or even a candle—not this close to the main road.
With his haversack for a pillow, he untied the other blanket and pulled it over him and closed his eyes, hoping that sleep would come quickly.
But sleep did not come. His eyes snapped open at every sound. His heart raced. His stomach growled.
It was going to be a long, cold night.
Sweat rolled down Robely Epps’s cheeks. His fury propelled and warmed him. Even if Cyrus Gregg wasn’t paying him, he’d hunt down the boy and kill him.
After that humiliating rebuke on Cyrus Gregg’s porch, Epps broke into a dry-goods store and equipped himself for the hunt. Not only would he catch and kill the boy, he would tie the boy’s scalp to his belt to remind himself not to let other people tell him how to do his job. Had he slit the boy’s throat in the shed like he wanted to, none of this would be happening.
Now, his feet sloshing in the road ruts, Epps focused on the hunt. He had tracked and killed both animals and humans. Two skills had served him well. Observation and anticipation. Learn their patterns and anticipate their moves.
With animals, patterns were largely the same for each breed. One buck acted like every other buck. With humans, each person was different. That’s what made it exciting. There was no finer feeling than to know what a man would do even before he did. To anticipate his moves so precisely and to position yourself so that he came to you.
It made for a sweet kill.
Epps lived for such moments.
From what he’d learned from Gregg, he knew the boy would head east. He also knew the boy was ill-equipped for the journey, probably cold, and tired from anxiety. The boy wouldn’t travel far tonight. He would find a place to sleep and hope to start fresh in the morning.
That would give Epps the time he needed to catch up to his prey. By midmorning tomorrow, the boy would be dead.
Chapter 15
Camilla still wasn’t speaking to Asa as he packed the last of his things in the carriage. He turned and looked at the house, lit by the rosy early morning light. He debated whether or not to go in and say good-bye.
She wasn’t asleep. They’d been married long enough for Asa to know when his wife was asleep and when she was giving him the silent treatment.
Tossing his cane into the carriage, Asa climbed in after it. Lord willing, he’d make it up to her tonight by taking her to Cyrus Gregg’s Christmas Eve party.
Taking the reins in hand, he glanced one last time at the house, hoping to see his wife standing in one of the windows. But the house stood motionless and silent.
With a snap of the reins, Asa set the carriage into motion. He groused to himself that he was getting too old to be doing this sort of thing. He only hoped that he’d be able to find Daniel quickly and bring him and the money back by tonight. And he hoped that Cyrus Gregg had enough Christmas goodwill in him to forgive the boy one more time.
Aclick woke him. Daniel stirred, half-asleep, half-awake. He tried to lift his head. It felt like a bag of sand.
There it was again. A definiteclick .
He opened his eyes, then blinked several times to bring the world into focus.
Something sharp hit him in the forehead. Crying out from the pain, he raised an arm in defense.
Cheers came from the river.
Sitting up, he saw a barge floating downriver with two boys about his age laughing. Daniel felt his forehead. His fingers explored a small crater. There was no blood.
Anotherclick sounded on the rock above him. Something fell to the ground. Daniel picked it up. It was a small piece of metal, flat and about the size of a coin. He found another similar piece, and another.
Something stung his leg.
“Ow!” he cried.
Again, cheers erupted from the barge.
The boys were making sport by pelting him with the metal.
He saw them wind up and throw again. The pieces of metal dipped and curved as they sailed toward him. One sailed wide left. The other curved right at him. Daniel ducked behind his blanket and heard a thump as the metal hit.
Using the blanket as a shield, Daniel scrambled to his feet and shouted at his attackers to leave him alone. His protests had no effect. If anything, it only encouraged them.
Daniel positioned himself behind a tree and listened to their complaints that he wasn’t playing fair until the barge finally moved out of range.
He rubbed the dent in his forehead, gathered up his blankets, and prepared to set out.
The sky was clear. The air was brisk. Daniel took that as a good sign. Despite the rude wake-up call, it was going to be a good day, the first day of his new life.
Robely Epps surveyed the town as it yawned and stirred to life. From his elevated vantage point, he could see into the heart of Cumberland in one direction, and in another direction, the thinning eastern edge of town. His position also afforded him an excellent view of the main artery that paralleled the Potomac.
He shared his position with a huge bell, having forced his way into an empty church and climbed the circular steps that formed the backbone of a steeple. To keep up his strength for the anticipated chase, he chewed on a strip of dried meat.
Epps felt no anxiety over his decision to take up position here. His instincts told him the boy would not travel past the outlying section of the town on his first night. And so, like a hunter waiting for a rabbit to poke a twitching nose out of its hole, he waited for the boy to venture onto the road in search of food.
He didn’t have to wait long. He spotted the boy scrambling up an embankment onto the road, having spent the night somewhere down by the river.
Epps didn’t allow himself a smile. The boy owed him a life, and he would not feel satisfied until he’d collected the debt.
Chewing the last of the dried meat, he unsheathed his knife and checked the sharpness of the blade just as the first rays of the sun shot over the eastern horizon and hit the steeple.
His breathing labored from the climb up the embankment, Daniel stood with hands on his hips to catch his breath and settle an argument between his stomach and his mind.
His stomach urged him to go left, back into town where he was certain to find something to eat. His mind argued that the first order of business was to put distance between him and the town. Any delay meant risk.
His stomach punctuated its point with a growl.
Daniel took a step toward town.
His mind countered with
an image of Cyrus Gregg, the businessman. The man knew everyone in town. Everyone knew him. Plus, there was the added risk of running into someone who knew his uncle.
The argument was over. His mind won. Going back into town was like crossing behind enemy lines with little to gain for it. Better to press forward. He consoled his stomach with the vague memory of a tavern a few miles down the road.
For now he had the road to himself. Hitching up his haversack, Daniel set his back to the town and began walking.
Every once in a while, he shot a glance over his shoulder. Somehow it seemed like he was being followed. Was it just nerves? Or was someone behind him?
He turned around. The road was clear.
Whatever it was, it set his senses on alert. He quickened his step. He’d be foolish to let his guard down. His uncle could very well be patrolling the streets looking for him. Not that his uncle would do so out of his own concern, but because Aunt Camilla would insist.
Daniel moved closer to the river side of the road, ready to leave the road at the first sign of trouble.
Epps thought the boy was going to make it easy for him. Walk right into his arms.
Having abandoned his sentry post in the steeple, he peered around the corner of a printer’s shop and watched the boy take a step toward him. Then something must have changed the boy’s mind, for he reversed his path and headed away from town.
With the patience of an experienced hunter, Epps let him go. This wasn’t the time or place to make the kill.
He watched as the boy rounded a bend in the road. Then, leaving his hiding place, Epps followed him.
Chapter 16
From a discreet distance Robely Epps watched the boy walk into the tavern. He waited several minutes, allowing the boy to get settled inside. Then, when Epps thought it was safe, he passed in front of the tavern and traveled a distance down the road in search of a suitable hiding place. One that was concealed from the direction the boy would be traveling, yet close to the road so he could be on top of the boy before he had time to react.
