Touch of Rain

by Teyla Branton

  After I’d returned from my room, Harmony had taken us back inside the main house and shown us the common rooms, including the kitchen Jake supposedly hadn’t seen yet, and the big laundry facilities across the hall from the huge room where the women worked on their quilts. Then we’d toured the married housing, consisting of separate bathing areas for the men and women and rooms slightly larger than those in the singles’ house, each with a smaller attached room for the children. In neither building had we seen any sign of a false wall or hidden room.

  Jake frowned. “Where’d you put them? Could someone just have moved them?”

  “I put them in my top drawer last night after my bath. Inside my underwear. They aren’t anywhere in the drawer or in the closet. Whoever took them—it was deliberate.”

  I didn’t tell him about Victoria coming out of Korin’s office. The two weren’t really connected, were they? She would have no reason to turn over my earrings. It’s not as though she knew something was odd about them. Still, they were missing, and that meant someone suspected me. A shiver crawled up my spine, as if unseen eyes followed us through the trees.

  “We have to hurry and find Marcie,” I said. “This is getting too weird.” I regretted not leaving with Ethan last night. Tawnia was going to kill me—if someone else didn’t beat her to it.

  “I’m thinking if they have a hidden room, it probably won’t be in a high traffic area,” Jake said. “Otherwise people would hear them shouting, wouldn’t they?”

  “Maybe they have and are too scared to care.”

  But he was right. We certainly hadn’t heard shouting or crying during our sneaking around last night.

  We’d entered an area where the trees were different. Fruit trees—at least half a dozen varieties.

  Harmony paused and waited for us to catch up with her. “This is where we’re building the new married housing.” Sure enough, the ground next to the trees was broken and already large cinder blocks were in place as a base.

  “With flush toilets?” Jake asked.

  “Yes, and separate bathing rooms, one for each family.”

  “Good reason to get married.”

  Harmony quirked one eyebrow. “I can think of a lot better reasons.”

  So could I, but after my experience at the outhouse last night, I agreed completely with Jake.

  Harmony motioned us onward, picking up the pace. “And through these trees, we have our biggest barn and pasture, and our grain silos. This is where we house all your typical barn animals and milking cows, calves we are raising for beef, and turkeys and goats. You get the idea. There’s a chicken coop out back.”

  “Even room for a spare rat or two?” Jake asked, as the large barn came into sight, resplendent with a recent coat of red paint. The roof was shiny and made of metal, which I thought was rather practical.

  Harmony trilled her infectious laugh, tossing her head so the ebony tresses caught the sunlight. “More than that, I’d guess. They eat anything, so they keep the place clean, and the cats keep the number of rats down, so it’s a good balance.”

  Spring sneezed. “Excuse me,” she muttered. A gray and white cat came toward us, winding its body between Harmony’s legs and heading toward Spring, who backed away. “I’m afraid I’m allergic to cats,” she said.

  “Oh, sorry.” Harmony shooed the animal away. “I’ll have to remember that when we give you your work assignment. Have you had any trouble so far? We do have a few cats hanging around here.”

  “It’s not usually a problem if they’re kept outside,” Spring said. “But I don’t make a habit of petting them, just in case.”

  “Good.” Harmony put an arm around her shoulders. “Why don’t you wait out here while I show the others inside the barn?”

  I’d been in several barns hunting for antiques, and this one was no different. Large loft for storing hay, stalls for the animals, a barrel of grain, tools on hooks, even space for a tractor. Several young men were cleaning and repairing leather items, while three younger boys chased a chicken. If it had a hidden room, I couldn’t tell.

  “Did you really milk a cow this morning?” I whispered to Jake.

  He nodded. “Right there in that stall. Clumsy thing stepped on my foot.”

  “I’ll stay away from her, then.”

  Harmony led the way outside again. “There’s another barn and field for the horses on the other side, behind the closer outbuildings, which we’ll see in a while, but if we go through the fields instead of back through the housing area, you can see our greenhouse.” Her eyes went to my bare feet, where the white bandage on my toe was already dirty. “It’s a bit of a hike. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “My feet are tough,” I said. “As long as we aren’t running, I’ll be fine.” Running from a crazed killer, that is.

  “She never wears shoes,” Jake put in. I glared at him, and he added quickly, “At least that’s what she claims.”

  “Why?” Spring asked.

  So I went into the whole convoluted explanation about shoes throwing out my back and my parents being hippies and how I’d liked to freak out my schoolteachers. “Mostly, it’s a habit,” I confessed. “I hate shoes, so I don’t wear them.”

  “I bet you don’t make your bed, either,” Jake said.

  He knew I didn’t. “What’s the point if you’re just going to get back in it?”

  Harmony laughed. “You’re my kind of person, Autumn.” I remembered the bacon she had stolen and had to agree. Of course, she might be involved in a murder, and I most definitely wasn’t.

  As we passed the barn, we saw two older men in a clearing, their skin wrinkled and brown, working on a tractor. If I could judge by the laughter floating over to us, they were enjoying the company and the sunshine. A few younger men had spread out under a tree, talking, though they jumped to their feet when they spied Harmony.

  “Go back to what you were doing,” she told them with a laugh and a wave. They didn’t, though, grabbing buckets and disappearing into the barn.

  We arrived next at a field of herbs, lush and green under the warming sun. Living in a city, I’d never seen so many herbs growing in one spot or so many different herbs growing together. Herbs for healing and cooking—and for selling, of course. I shared a gaze of wonder with Jake, who was even more excited than I was. He walked on the path toward a long, squat greenhouse, mumbling under his breath as we passed different rows, “Comfrey, peppermint, lavender, sweet basil, milk thistle, yarrow, chamomile, feverfew, lemon balm, cayenne.” I was glad Harmony was ahead and couldn’t hear him. I laughed, feeling the last bits of last night’s terror fading away in the sunlight.

  “It’s beautiful,” Jake said with feeling, as we reached the greenhouse. His eyes were on the long drying racks that ran the outside length of the greenhouse, encased in screens that kept the bugs out while the herbs dried naturally in the sun.

  “There’s more inside.” Harmony studied Jake for a long minute, and I wondered what she was thinking. If she was any kind of smart, she’d realize most builders didn’t get that excited over herbs.

  Inside the greenhouse, I wasn’t surprised to see Essence seated on the ground by a bed of seedlings, watering them carefully. Next to her was a slight young man with bright red hair and freckles all over, and I knew him at once for the boyfriend who’d given her the pretty vase in our room.

  “Hi,” I said.

  The boy quickly shoved something into his pocket, his eyes meeting mine and his face arranged in a carefully bland smile. “Hi.”

  Essence nodded her sharp face in my general direction, but her slanted eyes didn’t meet mine.

  “Shouldn’t you be doing your chores?” Harmony asked the boy, who nodded, jumped to his feet, and shot out the door, his steps a little unsteady.

  There was a sweet smell in the greenhouse, one I recognized from my youth. Even hippy parents who didn’t believe in smoking pot themselves knew other hippy people who did. It took me only a few minutes to locate Essence’s
stash in the corner of the greenhouse, growing lush and unchecked.

  “Marijuana,” I whispered to Jake. He looked closer, his mouth rounded to an O.

  “Beautiful plants, aren’t they?” Spring gushed. “All this greenery is so inspiring.”

  Harmony smiled at us, her hands folded across her stomach. I could see in her stance that she was proud of what she and Gabe had built with their followers and also that she had not a clue in the world that Essence was growing pot.

  Or was that an act? For all I knew, she and Gabe put drugs in everyone’s food at night so they would be willing slaves forever. But I was beginning to like Harmony, and I didn’t want to think of her that way.

  After leaving the greenhouse, we crossed fields of vegetables and grains used for feeding those on the farm and also for sending to the factory in Rome, where rotating shifts of disciples ground the grain and made most of the muffins and breads they sold in the towns. “We don’t use preservatives, so the finished products only last five days without a change in freshness and taste,” Harmony said. “But we have a truck that freezes them, so we take out in the morning only those we’ll sell that day. When the truck is empty, someone drives it back for more. It works really well, and a few stores order from us quite regularly now.”

  “So that’s what goes on at the factory,” I mused. “I heard someone mention it.”

  “We work in rotating shifts. You’re welcome to sign up for a shift in a few months, but we like people to stay close to the farm for the first while. You know, to really get the feel of life here.”

  And so you’re sure they won’t run away, I thought.

  “And now for the most exciting part,” Harmony said. “The horse pasture.” She was off again, through a field of grapevines. I followed, feeling strangely content, the dirt warm and crumbly beneath my feet.

  The horse pasture also had a barn, small but newer than the one for the other livestock. Harmony was positively glowing as she introduced a beautiful brown horse, whose sides were distended. “Any day now,” she said, “and we’ll have another foal. Do any of you ride?”

  “Never have,” I admitted, as Jake and Spring shook their heads.

  Once again, Jake and I looked carefully around inside the barn during our tour, but again there seemed to be no hidden door. I trailed my fingers along the door, the walls, but there wasn’t a single imprint hinting at a secret room or any emotion at all that I could detect. I shook my head at Jake.

  “So, this is the farm,” Jake said to Harmony. “Very impressive.”

  “Have we seen it all, then?” I asked, an idea forming in my mind.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, because I was wondering where they make the pottery. There were some beautiful pieces in Portland. I was hoping maybe someone could teach me how.”

  Harmony laughed. “Fox, the red-haired boy we saw in the greenhouse, is the one to talk to. He’s our most talented potter, and I’m sure he’d be glad to show you how. Actually, he does most of his work out here on the other side of the horse barn because it’s closest to the kiln. In the winter he drags everything inside the main room, though. Makes a terrible mess. Eventually, we’re hoping to add on a room for the pottery out here.”

  She took us around the far side of the horse barn where a carport of sorts had been added to the structure. It had a roof, half a wall, and surprisingly sturdy shelves built into the side. These were filled with vases and pots of all sizes, like those I’d seen the brotherhood selling near the Willamette River. Two throwing wheels sat in the corner where the half wall met the barn, and a thick power cord ran from them into the woods.

  “What’s in there?” I asked, thumbing toward the trees where the cord vanished.

  Harmony smiled. “The bathrooms. We’ve basically gone in a big circle. We’ll cut through there to get back to the houses.”

  “What’ll we do when we get back?” Spring’s demeanor was weary now, and she looked as wilted as her son sleeping in her arms.

  “You can join the women working on the quilts,” Harmony said to her. To me she added, “I imagine you’ll want to talk to Essence about setting up whatever you need for your remedies. We can order any size plastic containers that you’ll need. We have some already, but you’ll probably need others. Of course, we’ll want to start small, test the waters.” Her voice was filled with subdued excitement. I was standing on her left side now, and I could see the scar along her jaw line. It looked serious, and I wondered what had happened. Had there been an accident on the farm?

  “You’ll have to schedule any kitchen time you might need with Scarlet and her staff. And they can assign you people to help if you need them.”

  “I’d love to help,” Spring said.

  I didn’t know how well that would work with little Silverstar occupying so much of her attention, but as I didn’t really plan to stay, I simply nodded and smiled. “Sounds perfect.”

  “As for you,” Harmony told Jake, “they’ll be starting on the walls of the new house tomorrow, so you may want to go over the plans.” She glanced between us again, a slight smile forming on her lips. “Seeing as how you two have hit it off, you might be needing a place soon, so the faster you can build it, the better.”

  I wondered if her comment came from her observation of us today, or if Korin had told her about finding us kissing last night.

  Jake laughed. “Where are these plans?”

  “Let me show you.” Harmony took his arm.

  “You coming?” Jake looked in my direction.

  “Yeah.” I wanted to get my bearings back at the compound before I tried to find the greenhouse again. Otherwise, I might end up lost.

  Spring fell into step with me, her movements stiff. “Can I carry him for you?” I asked. My body was aching, but she appeared ready to drop. Her eyes were red, and she was sniffing. I looked around for cats, but I didn’t see any.

  Spring hesitated. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. I should have offered before. Don’t worry. My wrist is fine.” My face and arm hurt far more at the moment, but she didn’t need to know that.

  Spring handed him over carefully. Silverstar’s head landed on my shoulder, on one of my bruises, to be exact, but I endured the pressure since I didn’t want to wake him.

  “Jimmy usually carries him when we go for walks,” Spring said out of nowhere.

  My stomach clenched. “Do you miss him?”

  “No.” We walked for a few minutes more, the silence broken only by the low hum of voices drifting back to us from Harmony and Jake.

  After a while, Spring sighed and began again. “Being around these women, especially Scarlet—well, it reminds me of my mom. They’ve been so supportive, and I wonder if maybe she would have been too.”

  “You didn’t talk to her about what was happening between you and Jimmy?”

  Spring shook her head, her eyes wide and sad. “What could she do? What if he hurt her? That’s the first place he’d look for me. Besides, I was thinking maybe she’d tell me ‘I told you so,’ or maybe that I had to lie in the bed I’d made, but I could have been wrong. She didn’t want me to marry Jimmy in the first place, you know. She said he had mean eyes, small and beady, and that she was afraid for me. Of course, I was in love and didn’t listen. I mean, lots of people have small eyes and they aren’t abusers.” She paused, considering. “Now I’m thinking she might have helped me.”

  “Well, you’re away from him now, and it’s nice here.”

  She smiled. “Yeah. But I think I might be allergic to all these animals.”

  “I hope not. Wouldn’t be a good place for you, long term, if you are. They don’t seem to be much into medication.”

  “Maybe I’ll get over it. Do you think they would let me go into town and contact my mom? You know, just tell her I’m okay and not to worry?”

  She hadn’t told her mother she was leaving? Maybe that’s what separated youth from maturity. I would never have disappeared without letting those clos
est to me know. I’d learned the week Winter had been missing that not knowing what happened to a loved one was like a kind of death.

  “You could ask,” I said. “They should let you. If they don’t, maybe you shouldn’t be here.”

  Spring’s face creased in a frown. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m just saying they should let you.” On my shoulder, Silverstar was moving, digging his face into my bruise. I took the opportunity to switch him to the other side. “But if by some chance this place doesn’t work out for us, I want you to know that you always have a place to stay with me.”

  “You have a place?”

  I didn’t want to say too much. “I know how to make a living. And you’re always welcome wherever I go.”

  Her eyes filled with tears, and she tilted her head toward mine as we walked. I tilted mine too, and since we were about the same height, our heads were touching. “I wish,” she said softly, “that I’d met you last year.” Then she gave an impatient snort and added, “Well, we’re here now—Spring and Autumn. All we need is Winter and Summer.”

  My parents, I wanted to say. But I didn’t. Because Winter, having been the last person found after the bridge collapse, was still fairly well-known in Portland and talking about him might lead to a discussion of who I really was and my reasons for being here. I stayed quiet.

  Back in the square, I got directions from Harmony and started out again for the greenhouse. Jake caught up with me before I’d gone far.

  “Nothing,” he said. “Absolutely no place for a hidden room.”

  “What do you mean? There’s three hundred acres here. It could be anywhere.”

  “I meant in the main areas. I thought finding it would be easier than this.”

  “We may have to wait for the police. Once they get interviewing people, someone will talk.”

  “But don’t you see, Autumn? Even if the police come, with no body they only have your word.”

  “I’ll tell them about the guard’s buckle.”

  “Like they’ll believe that.”

  “Detective Martin would,” I said, not knowing if it was true. “I already helped him find one murderer.”