Amateur Hour

Tuck had difficulty falling asleep, that night. His annoyance with Lisa had subsided into a kind of amused exasperation. It wasn’t that, which kept him from falling asleep as he usually did, the moment his head hit the pillow. He was thinking, instead, of his own actions, today.

Specifically, he wondered why he had felt compelled to take the pocket watch, when he had also felt the characteristic stiff outline of a wallet, when was searching the skeletal corpse in the trunk. The wallet would have been more likely to contain some kind of identification. He had to wonder what had been going on in his mind. Standard police procedure had gone right out the window, on this one.

He had felt like he was playing a game of Cold, Warm, Hot as he handled the watch, at the table. The initials weren’t what he was looking for. He realized that, when he saw them. He had almost…what? Expected them?

Since he had seen that fob, however, he had been obsessed with the idea that it should be cleaned up and given to Lisa. Not merely as a piece of jewelry, but almost as a talisman– which had to be malarkey. What possible good could it do? But the notion would not go away.

That stone wouldn’t work, he thought, as he drifted off. Black stones did fare ill, in Lisa’s house.

******************************************************************************

“I know someone who can clean it, of course,” Lady Amanda nodded. “You’re wanting a new stone, aren’t you, Tucker?”

“It’s for Lisa. I don’t think a black stone will cut it. The ones you gave her, to replace the first ones? Powdered.”

“Something else, then, definitely.”

“I don’t know much about protective stones, Mandy, and I’m not sure I believe in them, to be honest.”

“You don’t have to,” she chuckled. “I will point out though, that the stones were ruined, but Lisa is unharmed. Isn’t she?” Amanda frowned, at her followup question, and the expression on his face.

“Mostly. She had a small accident, yesterday. Nothing supernatural about it. Just a dull knife being used with excessive force. But, the house seems to be draining her. Maybe that clouded her judgment about the knife. I don’t know.” He scowled.

“Do you know if she has any preference, in stones?”

“She seems to like moonstone,” he replied, sounding distracted.

“Moonstone is a good choice. It would look very pretty in this, too—whatever it is.”

“It’s an old watch fob. Family heirloom. Would it take long to do, do you think?”

“Not if it doesn’t take long to find a stone to fit. Cleaning the metal is a simple process. Give me a couple of days. I might be able to do this, myself. The piece is already made, after all. I have all kinds of cabochons. Sometimes, I order pre-made pendants and set the stones, myself. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“Thanks, Mandy.”

“Any time. I’ll get right on this.”

*************************************

Lisa was less than thrilled, when she learned Tuck had taken off without her, but felt somewhat comforted by Toni’s certainty that he would be back, any minute.

“Did he say where he was going?”

“No, just that he had an errand to run, and that he’d be back.”

Lisa gave the grits a stir, then went back to forming biscuits. Behind her, Toni took cooked bacon off the griddle, placed it on a paper towel covered plate, and threw another batch on, to fry.

The back door opened to admit Will and the dogs, at the same time the front door opened. Lisa put the biscuits in and set the timer.

“Sure smells good in here,” Tuck called, from the front room.

“Hurry, Pa, or you’ll miss the sight of Lisa in an apron,” Will called back. “It does smell good in here, ladies,” he added.

Tuck entered and met Lisa’s eye, with a grin. “That’s very fetching, Ma’am,” he nodded toward the rose sprigged apron she had borrowed.

Lisa sketched a curtsey. “Mission accomplished?” she asked.

“Yep,” he replied, looking cheerful.

“Tell us about the cellar,” Will urged, when they were all seated.

“It’s a cellar,” Tuck shrugged. “Used to be a storm cellar, from the looks of it. Has steps seem to have led to an outside entrance, at one time.”

“There’s food down there, if you don’t mind that it was canned in the fifties,” Lisa added. “There’s not much there, for the Antiques Road Show. A few oil lamps, and some old toys. Someone might be interested in the old electric fans…but the radio is spoken for.”

“Is it one of those big curved ones?” Toni asked.

“I wish. It’s just an ugly rectangular box, with a bunch of knobs.”

“And, it’s mine,” Tuck added.

“So, junk, then,” Toni grinned at her father.

“No—“ “Exactly.” Tuck and Lisa spoke simultaneously. They both laughed.
Lisa took a bite of scrambled eggs.

“Will you be returning to the scene, today?” Will asked.

The way he phrased the innocuous question caused Lisa to choke a little.

“Not today,” Tuck said, patting her back. “My knee is feeling pretty good. I thought we’d go for a ride, maybe. After we get back from a doctor visit, and pick up Lisa’s car.”

**************

“So, it’s okay for you to be secretive, but not me?” Lisa challenged Tuck, when they were in the Jeep.

Tuck put on his turn signal, checked the road, and pulled out of the driveway.
“Us,” he corrected her. “I didn’t see you leaping in, to spill about the bones in the box.”

“I was following your lead. I’m messing with you, Tuck. I can’t see any purpose to telling them, either.”

“If it becomes necessary, I will. It’s not quite the same as laying your hand open, knowing that it’s going to be noticed.”

“Point taken.”

“How does it feel?” His tone was conciliatory.

“Not too bad. No sensation of heat, or anything.”

“Good. If you don’t end up with stitches, we’ll keep soaking it.”

***************

Lisa did end up with stitches, however—three.

“Keep them completely dry, for the first two days. After that, it’s okay if they get moist, but don’t submerge your hand. This guy knows how to take care of stitches,” the nurse practitioner remarked, nodding toward Tuck, who had come into the treatment room, with them. She measured out a syringe of tetanus vaccine, and shot it into Lisa’s arm. “I won’t give you an antibiotic, unless you want one.”

“I think I’m good.”

“Come back, if it seems infected. Now, let’s have a look at your mug, while we’re at it, Deputy Rawlings.”

Tuck bent forward, obligingly, and allowed the shorter woman to lift the small gauze pad, and peer at the ER doctor’s handiwork.

“Nice,” she said. “I think those can come out, in about a week. I’ll see you both then.”

“Why do I feel like I should leave her a tip?” Lisa whispered to Tuck, on their way out.

“She is quick and efficient.”

“She just knew there were stitches under that dressing, of yours.”

“What can I say? Della knows me. If she sees a bandage, she knows there are stitches under it.”

A few minutes later, they pulled up next to her car, in the church lot.
Lisa moved to open her door, without waiting for Tuck, but he caught the sleeve of her jacket.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “You think you’re going to get into your car, watch me drive off, then go into the house.”

“I’m thinking that you’re paranoid.”

“Please don’t go back in, without me. If you really need something, we’ll go in together.”

“I don’t. I just don’t want him to think he’s won.”

“Him. The guy in the box who’s been dead for a century and a half. Because, you can’t be talking about the Judge.”

“Not the Judge, no.”

“If you don’t need anything out of the house, let’s just go.”

Lisa looked at him, and frowned. Tuck’s voice was as firm as ever, but his eyes looked almost pleading.

“Okay. I wouldn’t mind an outing on my horse, today. I’ll even lead the way home,” she volunteered, with a smile.

Tuck smiled back.

***************************************

The sky had clouded over, by the time they had saddled up, but there didn’t seem to be much threat of rain. The wind had dropped, and the day seemed warmer than the day before.

Buckshot was as well behaved as ever, but the same could not be said of Luna, who wanted to sidle and dance, for some reason.

“I think she wants to run,” Lisa remarked.

“Run her, then. Give her a couple of laps around the near pasture. Go on,” Tuck prodded, when she hesitated.

Lisa secured her hat more firmly, and tapped Luna with her heels. The mare bucked twice, then took off into a canter. It took little urging to get her to run.
“Did you see the way she bucked?” Lisa laughed, pulling up, at last. “Do you think she was trying to toss me?”

“Just kicking up her heels. You stayed on her.”

She followed Tuck to the gate. “You have to show me how to do that,” she said, as he opened it without dismounting, then closed it.

“You bet. It’s a must, for every cowgirl.”

********************

The north trail was wide enough to ride side by side, so they did. Luna was all calmness and business, now.

“This is the trail you took the first time you went out alone, isn’t it?” Tuck asked after some time had passed with no noise other than the creaking of their saddles.

“Yep,” she said, imitating his laconic style.

“How far did you go?”

“To the top of the hill.”

“So, you didn’t make your way over to the old road.”

“There’s an old road?”

“It sweeps down the other way, parallel to the highway.”

“Is it very close to the highway?”

“No. But it was a main road— you can still see a hint of the wagon ruts. I’ve ridden it back down, toward the house, but I’ve never gotten around to going the other way. You game for an adventure?”

“Sure. I’ve ridden a bucking bronc already, today. What’s a little sightseeing?” She patted Luna, as she spoke, and the mare nickered.

The continued to climb until they reached the top of the hill, then Tuck headed toward a break in the trees. Lisa followed, wondering how he knew so surely where it was, everything looked alike, to her. Sure enough, though, there was a trail, albeit a single file trail.

They emerged from the trees at the side of the old road, which was a broad path of sparse, dead grass, at this time of the year. Lisa could see patches of red clay showing through.

“If you go that way,” Tuck nodded toward the right, “the road heads back toward the house, but before you get to it, it comes out of the trees, and you will find yourself riding along the highway. On Buckshot or Tango, that’s perfectly safe. I don’t know how Luna would like being passed by cars though, even if they’re not too frequent.”

“I won’t take her that way, then.”

“Not alone. Eventually, we’ll desensitize her, to the point where you could ride her anywhere, under any circumstances. She’ll be as solid as this girl.” He patted Buckshot, who snorted. “I’ve ridden her in parades before. Even screaming kids, don’t faze her.”

Nothing more loathsome than a screaming brat.

Lisa gasped.

“Honey? What’s wrong?” Tuck asked.

“Nothing. Ever have a deja vu hit you so hard, it knocked the wind out of you?”

“Can’t say that I have,” he smiled, shaking his head, slightly.

“This way, then?” Lisa nodded toward the left. She gave Luna a nudge, and Tuck fell in beside her. She rode in silence for a while, wearing an abstracted frown.

“Any luck?” Tuck asked, finally.

“Luck?” She looked at him as if she had never heard the word before.

“Figuring out your deja vu.”

“It was less a deja vu than a thought that wasn’t mine. I had the same thought, yesterday, in the cellar.”

“A thought that wasn’t yours. I do not like the sound of that.”

“It was no different than hearing the Judge. Just more malevolent and psychotic.”

Tuck pulled Buckshot up, short. “I think you’d better tell me about it.”
Lisa stopped, too.

“There’s nothing much to tell.” She ran her fingers absently through Luna’s mane. “It…he…not the Judge—the other guy– asked me what I would give for a pinch of salt. ‘What would you give for a pinch of salt, right now?’ he said. Before he said that, it was a comment about how there was nothing more loathsome than a screaming brat. When you mentioned screaming children…that brought it back.” She nudged Luna back into motion.

“What do you think he meant, about the salt?”

“It was a taunt. Amanda advised me to pour salt on the floor, around my bed. I was silly enough—desperate enough, to do it.” Lisa took off her hat and ran her fingers through her own mane. Luna merely continued to walk, despite the slackened reins. “I don’t really want to go back to the rectory, and at the same time, it’s my damned house!”

Her voice was low and fierce. She replaced her hat, and took up the reins again.

“Yes, it is. And, when we sort all of this out, you can live in it again, or burn it to the ground, if you want to, and build a new one.”

“Do you really think those are Noah’s remains?”

“I do. What did you see, when I opened the chest?”

“A skeleton with a shattered leg. Someone must have tried to doctor it, because the pants leg was cut. Or, maybe he bled to death from a severed artery, due to a bone nicking it.”

“Anything else?”

“Other than the clothes? No. I guess I didn’t have time, before I jumped away and screamed.”

“I saw a little more than you. I saw a candle stub and drops of melted wax on the man’s lap. A burnt match. And two loops of rope. One had been worn through. I don’t think Noah was dead, when he went into that cedar chest.”

“You mean, someone stuffed him in there, bound, and included a match and a candle, just in case he managed to free himself? That’s… That’s really sick, Deputy.”

“It’s depraved,” he agreed. He gave Buckshot a light tap, and they began to move on again, up the old road. “So much so, that I wouldn’t be surprised to find that something was also provided to make it possible to wear through the ropes. He suffered physically and mentally, and then he died.”

“He must have gone completely mad, before that happened,” Lisa mused. She shuddered. He had gone mad. She had felt it—a kind of sickness that had tinged the words she had heard in her head. Again, they were quiet, for some moments. “Well, he can’t stay,” she observed.

“He has to go, that chest has to go—I’ll take a sledge to it, and break it up—and anything else we can find that might have been associated with him, has to go. I doubt there’s much.”

“There was nothing material at all, with the Judge. He’s still hanging around, on the periphery.”

“You never told him he had to go,” Tuck smiled. “And what could be more material than the church, itself? He helped finance and build it. It did belong to him, in a very real way.”

“So, why…why would Noah’s body—if it is Noah—turn up in the church’s storm cellar?”

“Can you think of a better place to hide someone—anyone– you’ve essentially buried alive? The church had burned, with the Judge in it. No one was likely to be using the storm cellar, for some time.”

“Janice was right. It’s disturbing, how easily you tap into the mind of a criminal.”

“I have sworn to use my powers only for good,” Tuck grinned. “Can’t catch ‘em if you can’t think like ‘em.” He urged Buckshot into a trot.

Lisa rolled her eyes, at his back. Trotting was still the most difficult gait for her to sit, but she was getting better. He stopped a couple of hundred yards, further up, and Lisa drew up beside him. They found themselves staring at a fork in the path. The left leaning fork was a bit narrower, than the one to the right.

“It was someone’s drive,” Lisa pointed to a brick pillar, that was nearly obscured by climbing vines. So much greenery in the dead of winter was jarring. “How are those vines still alive?”

“Climbing hydrangea. Very cold hardy. We have some, in the side yard. Here’s the matching marker.” He leaned over to one side, in his saddle to part another curtain of hydrangea. “Hmm…Looks like there was a name plate or number here, once.”

Lisa looked at the area he was indicating. There was a trace of a dark outline from a sign or plaque that had been pried off the face of the brick, many years ago. It reminded her of something.

“Judge Lovejoy,” she muttered.

“It is the right size and shape,” Tuck nodded. He straightened, and began to ride down the drive.

“Do you think we should?” Lisa frowned.

“Why not? It’s not hallowed ground; it’s just an old driveway. Probably nothing at the end, but a clearing where a house used to be.”

“I’m not loving this,” Lisa remarked. The drive was lined with old magnolia trees, and their heavy dark leaves cut down on what weak light there was, in the day.

“It probably ends, just after that bend, up ahead.”

Lisa hoped he was right.

He was half right, as it turned out. Where the magnolias ended, the drive continued in a circle in front of an old wood-frame house that would have been described as ‘grand’ in its day.

The perceived grandeur would have been mostly in its style, Lisa decided. In size, it wasn’t much larger than Tuck’s house. It was a fine, faded example of a Victorian home, complete with bay windows and gingerbread ornamenting the veranda.

“It must have been lovely,” Lisa remarked. “You really didn’t know this was here?”

“No. Oh, I’d heard that there had been another old home, on the place, but I didn’t think much of it. I had a mental picture of a falling down shanty with vines growing out the chimney, I guess. You see so many of those, along country roads hereabouts.”

“This is still your land?”

“Oh, yeah. I have quite a chunk. Enough that there are places I’ve never seen, on it. I know how that sounds, but it’s true. In the early days, I was a working man, with a wife and a child. I had a few animals, a garden… there was a lot, to take up my time. After Toni went away to school, there was her mother, to care for. That wasn’t unlike having another small child. When she was gone, and the kids moved in…” he trailed off, then shrugged. “Time gets away from you.”

Lisa shivered a little. It was starting to cool down, again.

“Let’s head back,” he suggested. “It’s getting late.”

“You’re not itching to go inside?”

“Not today. It might not be safe, in any case.”

Lisa nodded. “Race you back to the road.”

“I’ll smoke you,” Tuck grinned.

Simultaneously, they turned their mounts and the race was on.
Lisa and Luna won, but it was a near thing.

“Not fair,” Tuck laughed, when he caught up. “My horse is carrying more weight.”
“Whatever you say, Deputy,” Lisa replied, feigning boredom, and examining her gloves, as if she could see her nails.

“Come on. I’ll teach you how to open a gate, on horseback.”

“You did a title search, of course, before you bought the place,” Lisa remarked, as they started back down the old road, which had now become the Old Road, in her mind, in capital letters.

“Of course. And, yes—it was Lovejoy land, passed down to his eldest daughter.”
“Immediately becoming the de facto property of his son-in-law,” Lisa said, with a snort.

“Pretty much, yeah. But technically, it stayed in the family. I was in the right place, at the right time, when it came on the market.” He considered, for a moment. “I guess that’s not entirely true. It was offered to me, before it was put on the market, through a family member I’d never met, before. She said she was giving me first dibs, because she thought it should stay in the family, if possible.

“Now, I did mention to my brother and Kelly that it was available—seemed only fair. They just weren’t interested. I liked the house, and it looked like a great place to raise a family, so I took it.”

“If that was the Judge’s house, back there, he lived a long way, from town.”

“He did. Maybe he kept a set of rooms in town, for when he had to be there for several days at a time, on business. Courts weren’t a five day a week affair, back then. You notice he would have been reasonably close to the church, though. The man had his priorities.”

“I suppose. Speaking of people one has never met, when do I get to meet your brother?”

“You don’t.” Tuck’s voice was flat, and his face grim.

Lisa didn’t press the issue, but she didn’t know what else to say. It was some time, before either of them spoke again. It was Tuck who broke the silence, as they emerged from the little wood that divided the Old Road from the summit of the north trail.

“Parker isn’t a bad guy—but we just don’t see eye to eye on some things. Very important things. If it were just differences of opinion, I could ignore it. The problem is, he acts on his opinions, without any other thought than to dismiss any possibilities that might make him wrong. It’s worse than just being impulsive. Add to that, he’s automatically oppositional, when it comes to certain people.”

“You, being one of them.”

“I’m not always right, and I know that. I used to weigh what Park had to say, very seriously. When we were boys, he was my own pocket Devil’s Advocate. It got…twisted, somewhere along the line. It’s just easier, not to have anything to do with him, these days.” Tuck sighed. “You and Liam have a good thing, going,” he smiled at her.

“Well… I love you, even if you’re not always right.”

His face brightened. “You do?”

“I said so, didn’t I?”

“Yeah,” he grinned from ear to ear. “You did.”

“I’d tell you not to let it go to your head, but I see it’s too late.”

“Far too late,” he agreed.

*****************************

“Luna isn’t ready for this, yet,” Tuck said, when they were once again in front of the gate. “You’ll see why, when I go over it, step by step.”

He proceeded to do so, and Lisa realized that he was right. What looked so easy for him and for Will was a very involved process, when broken down, and she and Luna were both missing some of the fundamentals. She was surprised when he opened the gate, for them, then dismounted when they were all on the other side.

“Let’s see if you can close it,” he suggested. He gestured toward Buckshot’s empty saddle. “I’ll walk you through it,” he said, when she hesitated. “Buckshot will do anything she can, to help. Come on,” he encouraged.

Lisa slid off Luna’s back, and handed Tuck her reins. She approached Buckshot, a bit cautiously.

“She does know you, Lisa. You’re the nice lady who feeds her sometimes, and puts blankets on her. Climb up,” Tuck insisted.

Lisa did, and gathered the reins. Tuck stepped back, and began to calmly give her instructions on how to get the mare to shift her hindquarters; how to move her forward one step at a time; when to move her head to the left or right. She became a little nervous, when Tango and Rocket trotted up, with Polly ambling behind them.

“I’m too slow—“

“They’re not going anywhere. They’re just nosy. Take your time. Just walk it closed. There you go,” he voiced his approval, when she dropped the latch into place. “Good job.”

“She’s amazing,” Lisa laughed, patting Buckshot’s neck.

“I like her pretty well,” Tuck said, as Lisa dismounted, and they swapped reins. “She’s smart enough, for a horse.”

“Which of us are you going to train, first? Me, or Luna?”

“Both, at the same time. When you’ve learned how to manage her with weight shifts, like you did Buckshot, we’ll set up a practice gate for you to work on, in one of the pastures. That way, you won’t be stressing about whether or not you’re likely to let anyone out, and you can practice as much as you please.”