The Memory Keeper

by Lisa Stowe

  Chapter 33

  Rachel sat cross legged in the middle of the living room floor. Scattered around her were cardboard boxes, gaping open and spilling papers in total disarray. Florence sat in the armchair nearest Rachel, with a paper tucked into her green blouse, like it was a napkin.

  “How was dinner?” Rachel asked, not looking up from the box she was elbow deep in.

  Cody glanced at Matt. “Fine.”

  “Yeah,” Matt said. “Except that I’m starving.”

  “Men are as bottomless as the mines around here,” Florence said. “Would you like me to fix you a sandwich?”

  “Yes,” Matt said. “Maybe a couple?”

  Florence laughed, waving her hand at him as if erasing his words. She used the arm of the chair to lever herself up slowly, and worked her way to the kitchen, leaning heavily on furniture.

  “She okay?” Cody asked.

  “Why wouldn’t she be?” Rachel said.

  “She looks tired." Cody watched Florence pause at the kitchen door, and then enter the room, trailing her hand along the jamb.

  “I gave her a sedative,” Rachel said. “She was pretty upset just before you got here. I couldn’t reason with her at all.”

  “So what are you working on?” Matt asked, walking to Rachel so he could look over her shoulder.

  “Hailey said my car was a mess, and it got me wondering if anything from the museum was in there. I used to bring work home a lot. So I hauled all the papers up here, and that reminded me of the boxes I’d brought home to look for Cody’s grandfather.”

  “That’s great,” Cody said in surprise. “Then not everything was lost at the museum.”

  Rachel looked up at Cody, smiled, opened the wood stove, and shoved in a handful of papers.

  “What the hell?” Matt looked from the flames to Rachel. “What are you doing?”

  “Burning paper, what’s it look like?" Rachel smiled again. “Should have done it a long time ago.”

  “Rachel,” Cody said, “You love history. And you’re burning it?”

  “Love history?” Rachel asked, gathering up another lap full of papers. “I suppose I do. But what Keith wants, Keith gets.”

  Matt bent down and grabbed papers from Rachel’s hand. “Knock it off. You can’t burn this stuff! It’s irreplaceable.”

  Rachel unfolded and stood easily, then walked out of the room.

  “What’s gotten into her?” Cody asked.

  Matt shook his head, but didn’t say anything. Instead he was riffling through the pages in his hands.

  “Matt?”

  Florence chose that moment to come back into the living room. She was walking carefully, holding out a plate with a book on it. “I think I got carried away with your food,” she said. “It’s heavier than I expected. But I hope you like the sandwich." She held out the plate and book.

  “Thanks Florence,” Matt said, reaching for the plate. “I could use a napkin.”

  “Well,” Florence said, looking around. “Napkins?”

  “How about the one you’re using? I won’t need it very long.”

  “Oh! Certainly, dear." Florence handed Matt the paper in her blouse.

  He added it to the pile in his hand, scanned it, then ran a hand over his face and Cody saw the papers tremble.

  “Matt?”

  He shook his head, not responding.

  “You got here too soon, Matt,” Rachel said as she came back into the room. “I thought dinner would take longer.”

  “What’s going on?” Cody asked. She looked from Matt, grabbing the back of the chair as if for support, to Rachel, who was standing in the doorway with an expression of profound sadness pulling her face into lines someone her age shouldn’t have.

  When neither answered, Cody stepped between them, taking the pages from Matt. He didn’t try to hang on to them, and as they left his fingers, he turned away from Cody.

  The pages were from a green stenographer’s notebook, and they had been torn out roughly, leaving fragmented sentences at the tops. The writing was large and slanted, flowing at a steep angle over the paper.

  “…Nathaniel Johnson, missing since July, called son (BF), from area. BF camping off Bounty, Rachel’s helping him search. BF believes father at Thompson Pass, something to do with mine. Rachel’s taking Crack Horror over to pass, will meet there. Taking BF to station, fill out missing person report, we’ll assist, take him to meet Rachel at mine.”

  “Nate wasn’t missing,” Cody said slowly, trying to make sense of the words. “He didn’t have a son. And who’s BF?”

  “Bigfoot,” Matt said, the word flat, as pale as his face. “It’s what we called Nate, before we knew his name. When people were telling us they were running into a wild man in the woods. Nate was named after his dad, Nathaniel.”

  “But, wait, this doesn’t make sense,” Cody looked at the pages, water stained, imprints of dirt from fingers and shoes. Her own, she suddenly realized, stepping on papers on the floor of Rachel’s Jeep. “These are Kelly’s?”

  “Kelly’s,” Matt said.

  “But, how did you end up with them Rachel?”

  Rachel leaned against the kitchen door jamb. “I took them from Kelly’s notebook.”

  “Why would you do that?" Cody struggled to find some way to keep the pieces from falling together in the way they were headed.

  “The question isn’t ‘why’, but ‘when’,” Matt said. “Kelly’s notes place you in Nate’s camp the day they were shot. They were headed down the trail to the station, and you were going to do the Horror. The route that drops a climber off near Jake’s.”

  “Rachel?” Cody swung around to stare at her friend. “You were up Bounty that day and never said anything? Did you see anyone? Did you see what happened?”

  “I saw you go past on your way to your grandfather’s clearing,” Rachel said. “Of course I didn’t know you yet.”

  “Thank god you didn’t go down with them,” Cody said. “You could have been shot, too! But why didn’t you tell Matt or Jess all this?”

  “Because it places her at the scene,” Matt said. “Because it gives her opportunity.”

  “What are you saying?" Cody’s heart was racing so fast it was like she was back at the Horror, like she was falling again, only this time with no one to catch her.

  “I’m saying Rachel followed them down the trail and shot her friend in the back.”

  “No." Cody shook her head as if that would make the word strong enough to be truth.

  “It’s not something I wanted to do,” Rachel said. “I’ve wanted you both to know since it happened, to understand. But it’s been so hard to find the right time to tell you.”

  “To understand what Rachel?” Matt’s voice was getting stronger, coming back to life. “That you’re a murderer? That you shot and killed two men? Are you the one who shot Jess, too?”

  “I’m not a murderer!” Rachel hit the door jamb with a fist. “If I was, Cody would have died on the climb today! You realize how easy it would have been to just let go when she fell?”

  Cody flashed on how shaken Rachel had been. As if the fall had scared her more than it had Cody. “You thought about it, though, didn’t you?” she asked, clutching the pages.

  “Of course I did,” Rachel said. “It would have solved everything. Climbing accidents happen all the time. And you would never have had to know what I did. But I couldn’t do it. You’re a friend.”

  “You were able to shoot one,” Matt said.

  “Oh, Matt dear, Rachel has always been good with guns,” Florence said, and the cheerful voice startled all three of them. Florence sat in her chair, folding one of the lace antimacassars carefully. “She hunts with her father, and he always insists on gun safety. He should be home any time now.”

  “He’s not coming home, Granny!” Rachel wheeled away from the doorway. “He’s dead!”

  “Of course, dear,” Florence said calmly, and reached for another doily.

  “You see?�
� Rachel swung back to Cody. “Thoughts are melting through her brain like ice cream. There’s nothing I can do except keep her safe and comfortable until her brain forgets to tell her to breathe. She’s gotten worse just since you arrived. She needs round the clock care.”

  “We talked about that,” Cody said. “But Kelly? And Nate? I can’t…you killed them? Just shot them and left them?”

  “Did he know?” Matt asked. “Kelly? Did he know at the end that a friend, someone he trusted, was about to kill him?”

  “No!” Rachel paced a tight circle in front of the door. “Look, you don’t understand. I didn’t want to shoot him. I had no choice with Nate. I was hoping to catch Nate alone, but Kelly was so damn friendly with everyone! He just kept visiting with Nate, walking him down the trail. I couldn’t let Nate go to the mine.”

  “I should have listened to Hailey,” Matt said, straightening. “She said from the beginning it was either you or Jake. But I was too busy chasing Keith down. I screwed up." He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a cell phone.

  “Don’t Matt,” Rachel said. “Listen to me! You and Cody are my closest friends. Once you hear what’s going on you’ll help me. I can make you understand if you just listen a minute!”

  “No Rachel,” Matt said. “Kelly was my friend, and a good man, and he’s dead because of you and I’m calling the sheriff.”

  “Don’t make me do this again!” Rachel shouted, tears in her eyes and thick in her voice.

  “Rachel, calm down,” Cody said, reaching out to touch Rachel’s arm. “Please. Let’s figure out what needs to happen.”

  “What needs to happen is that she goes to jail,” Matt said, dialing.

  “No, no, no!" Rachel shouldered away from Cody, dipped down, and came up with a rifle that had been in the corner, leaning against the door jamb.

  Everything in Cody’s body shriveled, froze.

  “This is Ranger Tanner. I’m in Burke, at-”

  The rifle barrel rose, Matt held up a hand and stepped back, and Cody lunged forward as Rachel fired.

  Cody’s palm hit the cold metal, shoving the barrel back. But she wasn’t quick enough. Florence’s scream was an echo to the shot, and Rachel dropped the rifle, running to her.

  “Aw, shit.” Matt’s voice was airy and breathless and as Cody turned, he toppled, taking the side table with him.

  “Not again, not again,” she repeated, so low she wasn’t sure if she said the words or thought them.

  Blood was rapidly flowing across Matt’s knee, soaking into the braided rug. He tried to sit up, reaching for the wound, but as Cody dropped beside him, his green eyes rolled to white and he collapsed on his side.

  “Direct pressure,” Cody whispered, remembering him yelling the words at her when Jess was shot.

  She pressed one hand against the knee, and with the other, swept the floor for his cell phone.

  “Granny, it’s okay,” Rachel said. “It’s okay. Those loud noises happen all the time, you remember?”

  “Loud noises,” Florence repeated.

  Cody found the cell phone under Matt’s hip, by following the sound of squawking.

  “No, Cody, don’t,” Rachel said, scrambling across the floor.

  “I need an aid car!” Cody yelled into the cell phone.

  Rachel grabbed the phone and threw it across the room. “Cody, I said don’t.”

  “Or what Rachel?" Cody had both hands pressed against Matt’s knee now, but there was no slowing the flow.

  “Please,” Rachel said. “You don’t understand.”

  “No, I don’t,” Cody said. “So either shoot me or get the hell out of here.”

  “Granny needs to be taken care of,” Rachel said frantically, kneeling next to Cody. “I’ve gotten myself in serious trouble because of that. I’m going to lose everything!”

  Pressure on Matt’s knee wasn’t helping. Cody’s hands were dark red all the way to her wrists, and yet the blood ran hot and fast. His leg was at an odd angle and his breathing was slowing. She glanced at Rachel, saw the tears streaming, and shoved Rachel over, leaving bloody handprints on Rachel’s shoulders.

  She lunged to her feet, swinging around. She couldn’t see the cell phone anywhere, but Florence, sitting in her chair with lace in her lap, held up the land line and smiled with a sweet gentleness.

  “Do you need a phone, dear?”

  “Granny!" Rachel shouted. “No!”

  Cody reached Florence first and grabbed up the phone, dialing 911 as Rachel struggled to her feet.

  “911, what’s your emergency?”

  “A man has been shot. He’s unconscious and bleeding badly.”

  “What’s your location?”

  Cody felt weight in her stomach as the realization that she didn’t know the address bottomed like a boulder.

  “I’m in Burke, at Florence Blaine’s. I don’t know the address.”

  “Well, I do,” Florence said primly. “Mama made me memorize it.”

  She rattled off the house number and street and Cody repeated it into the phone. The dispatcher told her to remain on the line and asked her if she was safe, but even as the question was forming, Cody tossed the phone to Florence and ran back to Matt.

  She pushed against his knee just like she had pressed against Jess’s wound. She could feel tears of panic burning, and shook her head. There wasn’t time to cry, or to let fear in. She sank her hands into Matt’s blood and started counting each time his chest rose. Counting felt like a promise that the next number would follow, the next breath would enter.

  “My goodness it’s getting cold outside,” Florence said in a conversational tone that was a surreal contrast to the growing sound of sirens. “Rachel is so bad about remembering to shut doors.”

  Cody glanced up.

  Rachel was gone, out into the dark mountain night.