“He’s capable of doing anything. He’s really smart.”
“No, Ruth, he’s average. But he’s rich, and that confuses people. I don’t know how he ended up in the occult; he didn’t tell me that part. Simply in passing, he mentioned that he knew a source of power greater than the God I worshipped. I felt as though he was baiting me.”
The doorbell rang.
“Excuse me for just a minute, Ruth.” Pastor Clark walked to the front door.
“Hey, I got your message. What do you need?”
Nate! Ruth jumped from the couch. She needed to leave—now!
Nate’s pleasant expression turned hard. “You didn’t tell me she was here.”
“I haven’t finished telling Ruth my theory about the crows. You should hear this, too. And Ruth has some things to share as well.”
Nate’s eyes became bitter orbs. “Lying to me is bad enough. Deceiving my best friends is worse.”
“Nate, you have it all wrong. Please—let me explain.” How many times could her heart break before it stopped beating?
“I want both of you to sit down.” Pastor Clark put a hand on Nate’s shoulder and guided him to the couch.
After a stern stare from the pastor, Ruth returned to her seat. She wanted to run as fast as she could, but the expression on the pastor’s face told her she would never get out of the house.
“Jennifer!” he called over his shoulder.
Mrs. Clark walked into the living room, wiping her hands on a dishcloth. Unexpected guests with confrontational issues must not be unusual at their home as her expression remained soft even though tension blanketed the room.
“I want you to sit in on our discussion, Jenn. You might have something to add.” A moment of eye contact passed between the two before Jennifer sat in the remaining chair.
Ruth positioned herself rigidly on the edge of the couch, too aware of Nate on the other end. Heat flamed from her body. She could still walk out—they weren’t about to hold her prisoner. At least she didn’t think so, but the day had been full of surprises. Emotionally, her tank sat on empty, just like her car when she’d entered Logan the first time. She had nothing to offer when the motor shuddered to a stop, and she had nothing to give now.
Pastor Clark cleared his throat and looked at Nate, who stared back with lips drawn tight. “I was in the process of sharing why I think Joe may be dabbling in the occult.”
Nate blinked.
“I didn’t give it any thought until this morning. But now, I believe Chip may be in danger.”
Nate glared at Ruth.
“It’s not her fault, Nate, but she is the answer. We can’t save Chip without her.”
Ruth’s eyes widened. “I don’t have any answers. I wish I did!” Nerves that were stretched beyond breaking pulled even tighter. Her son, in danger? She looked squarely at Nate. “I love Chip, please believe me. I would never do anything to hurt him. In fact, I’ve been trying to keep him safe!”
His sneer tore at her heart. “You love him so much you want to take him from the only parents he’s ever known?”
“No! You have it wrong!”
Nate stomped toward the door, his heavy footsteps muffled in the brown carpet.
“Sit down!” The pastor’s sharp voice cut into the tension.
Ruth jumped, and Nate stopped but didn’t turn.
“I have known you all of your life, Nate Bishop, and a finer man can’t be found. Nor can one more bull-headed. Now sit on the couch, and don’t get up again.”
Nate positioned himself as far from Ruth as the couch would permit.
“Now, then, do you want to do something to help Chip, or would the two of you rather fight and feel sorry for yourselves?”
Ruth stared at the carpet. Lunch churned in her stomach, and she regretted eating the second helping of mashed potatoes and gravy.
“We all love Chip,” Pastor Clark said. “I remember the day Betsy and Chet got the call that a newborn was waiting for them at Social Services. They beamed ear-to-ear as they fumbled around, trying to figure out how to install the car seat. Then they packed enough diapers and outfits for a whole nursery of babies, and drove off.”
Ruth listened, his story feeding the emptiness inside her. Every word stroked an ache that grew smaller. She drank in his voice and held out her cup for more.
“You remember, Nate. Chet took a week off work; and a good thing because I don’t think he, nor Betsy, slept for several days.
“The whole church heard about Chip’s first tooth,” Jennifer said, smiling.
“What I remember most, though,” Pastor Clark said, “was Betsy’s first words to me when I went to visit a couple days after they brought Chip home.” He looked hard at Ruth. “Betsy told me that she didn’t know the circumstances that separated the birth-mother from her child, but God knew, and she would pray for that woman every day until she died.”
Tears ran down Ruth’s cheeks. A sob escaped. Betsy had told her the same thing. “I didn’t mean to deceive her.” She turned to Nate. “I thought my baby was a girl. I just found out a few days ago myself, and…”
He turned his head away from her.
“Wait,” Jennifer said. “Ruth is Chip’s biological mother?”
“Ruth, tell Nate and Jennifer your story.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Nate’s jaw tightened.
“If you love Chip you will listen, because it may be the only thing that can save the boy.”
Ruth stammered. She began to talk, and shared her thoughts as much as she had done with Pastor Clark at the church. She began with the death of her father, her mother’s aloof behavior and need to work to support them, and the sudden attention of a handsome young man.
Nate stared at the wall, his face a hard mask of anger.
She shared how Joe gave her money for an abortion and then rejected all her efforts to contact him. Nate’s stern expression cracked when Ruth shared how she refused to abort the baby, and with no way to support a child, had made the tough decision to give the infant up for adoption. Her appearance in Logan was old news, as was Joe’s arrival in town. When she shared Joe’s intent to find the baby and seek custody, Nate looked at her for the first time.
“I believed my baby was with a loving family. It would be wrong to take her from parents who loved her, and give her to Joe, who only wanted a trophy.” She hesitated before continuing. “I had a friend who killed herself because she was taken from the home she loved and forced to live with her mother, who didn’t really want her. I couldn’t let that happen to my baby.
“Joe wants a child. Either he’ll take the one we had, or I can give him another.” She pulled the ring out from under her shirt and held it up to Nate. “This ring represents the vow of secondary chastity I made after I delivered. The only way I can protect our first child is to give Joe another heir. I can only do that if I marry him and then raise the child myself.” Every cell in her body cried for Nate to understand. “You told me no one should marry except for love, and I responded that I was marrying for love, just not how you thought. I love the baby I never got to hold. I love her enough to do everything in my power to protect her. Only now I find out my baby was a boy, and he is Chip. It becomes even more important to keep Joe from him.”
“Joe told me you called the wedding off. That doesn’t sound like you wanted to save Chip.”
“We had the marriage license. And then, after Mr. Charlie died, Joe changed his mind. But instead of marrying him, he had a new condition to keep him away from our child. I had to tell him where the church was meeting. He swore that he needed to know so he could inform the police. The day I confronted him with his lie was the day he showed me Chip’s picture and the signed adoption papers. He told me this Sunday would be the last I would have to report. I have no idea what happened today, why he acted so weird, why the crows died…”
“The crows died?” Mrs. Clark asked.
"They destroyed the inside of my house, but they never touched Chip
.”
The doorbell sounded over and over.
Jennifer glanced at her husband.
He shrugged his shoulders and again pulled himself out of the recliner.
Betsy, her face mottled and streaked with tears, raced to Ruth. “Where is he? Where did you take him?” She pounded on Ruth’s chest, terror jetting out of her eyes.
Ruth stood in shock, trying to fend off her friend’s attack without hitting back.
Chet entered behind Betsy. “Chip is missing.” He groaned and put his hands over his face.
Pastor Clark pulled the distraught woman away from Ruth. “Calm down!” he commanded.
“She took my son!” Betsy’s eyes were wide with hysteria.
“Chet, get hold of your wife.”
Chet wrapped his arms around Betsy’s shoulders.
Pastor Clark’s voice calmed. “Why do you think Ruth took Chip?”
“We put him down for his nap,” Chet said, his words tight, “and when he didn’t get up at his usual time, I went to check on him. He wasn’t in his bed.”
“She took him!” Betsy flailed her arms toward Ruth, but Chet held her tight. “We searched the house and the yard. We can’t find him anywhere!”
Pastor Clark rubbed the back of his neck. “So you came here?”
“She wasn’t home,” Chet said, nodding toward Ruth. “We thought you might know where we could find her.”
“Please,” Betsy said, “just give him back.”
“Betsy, I don’t have him!” Ruth turned toward the Clarks. “I didn’t take him.”
“I believe her,” Nate said, his expression hard. “But I can guess who did.” He glanced at Ruth.
“Joe.” Fear mounted.
“The broken engagement. It all makes sense now.” Pastor Clark looked at Nate. “Where would Joe take the boy that would hurt you the most?”
“The church!”
Pastor Clark moved toward the door. “It’s faster to cut through yards than to drive.”
Running through four backyards and across two streets, they staggered into the edge of the church’s back property.
“Wait!” Pastor Clark hissed as Chet started to run across the overgrown yard. “If Joe’s in the building, we don’t want to confront him as a mass. Joe isn’t himself. I think he’s—”
Jennifer reached the group, holding her side and panting. “Shouldn’t we call the police?”
“Let’s see if we can find how he got in first,” Nate said. “I’ll circle around to the right. Ruth, you go around the building to the left. Check for broken windows or doors with the chains removed.”
Ruth stood in surprise but grateful to be included.
“I should go,” Chet said.
“No, I agree with Nate.” Pastor Clark’s expression was grim. “I need you here with Betsy.”
Nate gave Ruth a nod, and she dashed across the yard to the left of the church.
“Anything?” Nate asked in a murmur as they met in the front.
“Nothing. All the windows are intact, and the doors are still chained.”
They sprinted back to the waiting group. “The church is undisturbed. No windows or doors are broken,” said Nate. “I don’t know how else he could have gotten in.”
As Betsy put her hands over her face and sobbed, Jennifer wrapped an arm around her. “We’ll find him, Betsy. God knows where Chip is, and He’ll protect him until we get there.”
Betsy glared at Ruth, her face smeared with wetness. “You know where Joe took him. The two of you are in this together!”
“Betsy, Ruth tried to keep Joe from taking Chip away from you.” Nate rubbed Betsy’s hand. “She was willing to marry Joe to keep the boy safe. Why would she kidnap Chip when she tried to protect him?”
“I’m calling the police,” Jennifer said, pulling her cellphone from her pocket.
“Where can he be?” Chet searched the grassy area as though expecting Chip to come flying around a corner dragging a T-ball bat and wearing a big grin.
Ruth tried to dig into Joe’s mind, to think where he might hide a small boy. Not the office. Certainly not a hotel room. Chet had already checked her house, and Nate had been at his. It came to her as clearly as if she had known all along. “I know where he is!”
35
Sunday Evening, July 28
The late afternoon sun cast long shadows through the trees.
As soon as they turned onto Howard Court, Nate and Chet pulled to the side of the road and parked, the house not visible through the trees and weeds.
As the others tumbled onto the dusty road, Nate motioned for them to come closer. “I’ll run and check the place out,” he murmured.
Betsy grabbed Nate’s arm. “No, I’m his mother. I need to go—”
“Betsy, think about it,” Nate whispered. “If Joe is at Mr. Charlie’s house, he isn’t alone.”
Jennifer remained close to Betsy, the place Ruth longed to be to comfort her friend and at the same time find comfort. But anger flowed so tightly around Betsy that Ruth could never reach her.
“Let Nate go alone,” Jennifer murmured. “He’s the fastest, and he’s been to the house before. If he sees anything, he’ll run back and tell us. And then I can update the police.”
“I thought you called them?” Betsy asked.
“You all were running back to the house for cars. I told them I would call back. I didn’t know where we were going.”
The tall grasses along the edge of the road stood like knives, hard and thick, protecting their right to exist. Nate slipped in among them, the sharp edges making scraping sounds on his jeans as he ran.
Ruth tried to remember the location of collapsed houses that might provide hiding places for Nate. Mr. Charlie’s house stood in the middle of a clearing. The swamp lay behind it. From the road there was nothing to shield a person’s approach.
Half a dozen black crows landed on the road.
“The crows are back.”
Pastor Clark put an arm around Ruth’s shoulders. “They never left, only moved to a different place. They’re here with Joe. It will be all right. Wait and see.”
His warmth comforted her. “I feel so helpless.”
“That’s how we’re supposed to feel.”
She choked out a laugh. “We’re supposed to feel helpless? How will being helpless do Chip any good?”
“God already has it figured out.”
Ruth admired his faith, but wasn’t sure she liked his attitude. They should make plans, develop a strategy for getting into the house, or at least for getting close to it. Jennifer should be placing that call. She picked at the thumb that had already bled once that day. “Joe said something about finding power.” Ruth continued to stare at the last point she had seen Nate. “Do you think Joe meant his soldiers?”
Pastor Clark stared down the deserted road. “Joe said the same thing to me. I thought he was baiting me, looking for a fight over religion. But after this morning, my thinking has changed.”
“Do you know anything about the light of Logan? Mr. Charlie mentioned it.”
Pastor Clark turned to her. “Unless I’m wrong, we will soon find out.”
The way he searched her face made Ruth shiver. He said she was the answer, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like the solution.
A cloud of crows swirled high overhead.
The grass rustled. Nate reappeared, breathing hard.
Chet raced to his side, and Ruth followed, unsure of her welcome but not caring. She had to know what they were up against at Mr. Charlie’s.
“There are ten cars and twice that many trucks parked along the side of the house. I didn’t see Joe or Chip, but a dozen or so guys, the same ones from this morning, were wandering around the yard in the front. I can only guess there are more in the back.”
The situation was hopeless. There were too many men and no way to approach the house unseen.
Nate and Chet huddled until the tops of their heads touched. “They seem to exp
ect us to show up,” Nate murmured, “but they think we’ll come by the road since there’s nothing but swamp in the back. I can head through the swamp while you go down the road. Take a car; make some noise. Let them know you’re there. See how many you can pull to the front. When I get a chance, I’ll slip through a side window. I’ll grab Chip and head for the woods. As soon as I get to my truck, I’ll call your phone. When you hear your ring, get out of there.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for the police?” Pastor Clark stood beside Ruth. “Jennifer is calling them now.”
“If Joe feels threatened, hard telling what he’ll do,” Nate said. “Best we find out if Chip is in the house and then sneak him out while we can.”
Chet straightened. “They’ll shoot you if they see you. I should go.”
“You don’t know the house. I do. You make the distraction, buddy.” Nate squeezed Chet’s arm and loped across the tangled grass toward the swamp.
Pastor Clark cleared his throat. “I think you women should stay here while Chet and I—”
Betsy stomped toward the car, tiny clouds of dust rising from her feet.
Jennifer followed.
Silently, Ruth crawled into the backseat.
Chet drove slowly, giving Nate time to push through the swamp.
Betsy sat beside him, gaze ahead, back stiff.
Dust billowed around the car, sending its own form of smoke signals toward the house.
Ruth leaned forward, aching for the short drive to be over, the rescue to be completed. What would Joe do when they showed up? She remembered the crazed look in his eyes earlier. Surely, he wouldn’t hurt Chip.
The closer they got to the house, the more crows she saw. By the time they reached the house, crows numbered in the thousands.
Chet pulled to the left side of the road and killed the engine. The silence felt smothering. Fifty yards of knee-high field-grass separated the road from what was left of Mr. Charlie’s house. As Ruth placed her hand on the door release, Chet motioned for her to stay in the car. He took a few steps into the field, the weeds making a swooshing sound with each advancing step.
“That’s far enough.”
Light of Logan Page 28
