Amateur Hour

Tuck sat down on the foot of his bed, after the door closed behind Will, and began the business of waiting. He was good at waiting, ordinarily. The occasional stakeout had trained his patience, as had the more frequent speed trap. The difference was that, rather than waiting to take action, he was now just waiting helplessly.

Lisa would be all right. She had to be all right. She wasn’t likely to smother, wouldn’t have time enough to starve, or become dangerously dehydrated. The cold, though—that was another thing. It might not kill her, but it could sicken her, easily.

Tuck wished he had a cigarette. He’d given them up, years ago, when smoking bans went into effect, for county facilities and vehicles. It hadn’t been easy, to quit. He had smoked about a pack and a half, a day. Admittedly, he breathed better, now, but the craving was still there, sometimes.

He got up and put on a pot of coffee that he didn’t want, just for something to do, and turned on the TV. Both actions only reminded him of the fact that Lisa wasn’t here, to share them with him.

For a half an hour, he stared at the screen, wondering what the hell he was watching. It was some reality show that was more absurd than most he had seen.

“Fuck it,” he declared, at last, and swung his feet back to the floor. There was a convenience store and gas station, about half a mile down the road, into town. In no time, he was shod and jacketed, and on his way.

The weather was raw, with a dampness in the air, but at least it made him feel alert. At the bottom of the stairwell, he paused long enough to remove his remaining firearm from its ankle holster, and place it in his waistband. This was hardly ideal, but it would be more accessible, in an emergency.

Traffic was light, and there was a sidewalk, so the going was easy. It took less than ten minutes to get to the store. There was an awkward moment, when he entered, however. He recognized the cashier as a fellow Deputy, who, by rights, should have been at home and sound asleep. On the other hand, he was out skulking around on foot, at nine-thirty. It was hard to say who was the more embarrassed, of the two of them.

Tuck wandered down the snack aisle, and selected a plastic wrapped slice of pound cake. He didn’t want it, so he figured it would go well with the coffee he didn’t want. Biting the bullet, he returned to the register, and plucked a random disposable lighter from the rack.

“How’s it going, Tuck?” Bonnie Clayton asked.

“Ah… You know. Could be better, could be worse. I’ll take a box of Marlboro reds, too, Bonnie.”

“Sure,” she said, reaching for them. “Anything else?”

“That’ll do it.”

She nodded and rang them up.

“Four twenty-five, for a pack of smokes?” he demanded, experiencing genuine sticker shock.

Bonnie relaxed enough to chuckle. “My cousin just got back from Florida. They’re seven bucks a pack, down there.”

Tuck just shook his head, and reached for his wallet. He was pretty sure she got a glimpse of his gun, but she didn’t react.

“Listen, Tuck—“ she began, as she handed him his change.

“Bonnie, I never saw you moonlighting, and you never saw me buying these.” He held up the pack of cigarettes.

“I never did,” she agreed. “You have far to walk?”

“Nah. Half a mile.”

“Well, you be careful, anyway.”

“You, too.”

“No worries,” she smiled, patting her concealed waist holster.

Tuck nodded. “’Night, Bonnie.”

“’Night, Tuck.”

He waited until he reached the sidewalk again, to light up. If he was going to have a coughing fit, he didn’t want to be seen by someone who knew him. The first cautious drag went down smoothly enough, but it made him feel light headed. He shoved the small bag with the pound cake into his jacket pocket, to free up at least one hand, and continued down the road toward the motel.

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

A series of muffled thuds woke Lisa from her shallow sleep. Was it a car passing on the road, with an excess of bass rolling out of the speakers? It was rare, but it still happened, even way out here.

No. The sound wasn’t rhythmic enough. She got hastily if stiffly to her feet. If it was Noah, she’d do well to be less visible. It didn’t make sense that he’d return to do anything else to her, but nothing he did made any sense.

The thudding ceased, and she heard hurried footsteps above her head. Two sets.

“Lisa?” a male voice called. “Can you hear me?”

She hesitated; heard what sounded like a muffled consultation. Then a female voice called her name. It could only be Toni.

Lisa took in a deep breath to shout back, and found that she couldn’t. Her throat was too dry to produce more than a squeak. She turned on her light, and found the remains of the old ladder. The rungs had completely separated from the long piece, on one side, and she was able to use it to hit the hatch, four times, before it broke in half, nearly catching her, in the face.

“Stand away from the hatch, Lisa,” Will called, through the floor.

Even if she hadn’t heard him clearly, she would have complied, when she heard the power tool whine to life, and saw the sawdust start to drift down. She stepped back, just as her light failed. A few seconds later, the sawed square fell to the floor, a yard from her toes. Lisa had the presence of mind to drag it out of the way of the ladder, as it was lowered.

“Lisa?”

“I’m here,” she squeaked, then coughed at the sting in her throat.

“I’m coming down. Sit tight. Hand me a bottle of water, Toni,” he added to his wife.

When he was fairly down on the floor, in front of her, Lisa flung her arms around Will, who laughed softly.

“Now, I know you were scared,” he observed.

Lisa wasn’t a demonstrative person, but she held onto him, for a moment, shuddering like a frightened rabbit. She made herself let him go.

Will pulled the water bottle out of his jacket pocket, and Lisa tore the mask off her face, while he opened it, for her. She’d never tasted anything so good, in her life, and she downed half of it in long greedy swallows.

“Thanks,” she rasped, coming up for air.

“Plenty more, where that came from. Toni made you some soup and some coffee, too.”

“I think I’d kill for some coffee,” Lisa managed a smile. Her voice was already sounding better.

“Think you can climb, without shaking yourself off the ladder?”

“I think so. I’m not hurt. A little stiff, from falling asleep.” She drank more of the water. It did nothing to warm her up, but she was so parched.

“Is this something you want?” Will asked, noticing the tin box.

Lisa nodded. “But, it can wait.”

“Toni— toss down that rope would you?”

“Okay. Stand back,” Toni said, before dropping a length of braided cordage down to land at their feet.

Will made short work of tying the rope in a way that would support the box at each end and both sides, while Lisa finished off her water.

“Boy Scout?” she quipped.

“You know it,” he grinned up at her, then straightened. He secured the free end end of the rope to his belt. “Up you go. I’m right behind you, in case you have any trouble. Take your time.”

Taking her time was the last thing she wanted to do, but she had to pause for a moment, when she was a little more than halfway up, to catch her breath. It seemed like she wanted to hyperventilate, with freedom so near.

“Easy does it,” Will said. “No one’s in any hurry.”

“I am,” Lisa joked, over her shoulder.

Toni all but tore her off the ladder, when she reached the top. Unlike herself, Toni was the demonstrative type.

“Stop it, or I’ll start crying,” Lisa grumbled.

“Right. We don’t want that,” Toni laughed. She snatched the blanket from over her arm, and draped it around Lisa’s shoulders.

“That’s so warm,” she gave Toni a grateful smile.

“Get some soup into her, or some coffee, while I pull this box up,” Will suggested.

“Which do you want, first?” Toni asked, heading for the windowsill where the two thermoses had been placed.

“Coffee. Definitely coffee.”

Toni poured out a cup and handed it to her, while they watched Will sit down on the floor and brace his feet against the far side of the hole.

Lisa had to smile a little. Toni looked at her husband the same way Lisa looked at Tuck—with a combination of concern and admiration. For such men, every task looked like a rodeo event.

“Cowboys,” Lisa murmured, leaning toward the other woman.

“Right?” Toni chuckled, and put a companionable arm over Lisa’s shoulders.

“How’s mine?”

“Will says he’s okay, after a little ride farther away from town. He’s back at the motel, waiting for word of you.”

“Noah took my phone.”

“Want to use mine? Or, do you need a little time to get unshaken? If you do, I can call.”

“I’ll do it. Do you mind if I—?” Lisa gestured toward the front of the house.

“Not at all.” Toni handed Lisa her phone. “Take the coffee bottle with you,” she suggested. “I’ll stay here and supervise Will.”

“Thanks, Toni.”

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

Tuck answered the phone, on the first ring.

“Toni—is she—“

“She’s fine, Deputy,” Lisa’s voice interrupted him.

“Lisa,” he groaned her name, in relief. There was a long pause. “I don’t even know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’, doesn’t even begin to cover it. I should have listened to you. I should have waited for Will to get home. I—“

“It’s over, now. I was thirsty and cold, but there’s no real harm done. As we speak, Will’s hauling up an interesting box I found. I found another one, too, with a big padlock on it. That one is very heavy. Looks like it used to be carried on poles, by four men, from one conveyance to another—“

“Lisa, you’re going to have to talk to me.”

“I thought I was.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do know. But I can’t, right now.”

“Fair enough.” Tuck pulled out another cigarette, his fourth, since he got back to the room, and lit it. “Will you be staying at home, tonight?”

“I don’t know.”

“You probably should. Toni will want to feed you, and it’s not getting any earlier.”

“I don’t know,” she repeated. “It’s still not quite my home, if you’re not there.”

“Oh, that’s horse shit. Where are you, right now? In the living room, at the rectory?”

“Yes.”

“Look around you. Do you see any goofy brown dogs? Smell any recently cooked food, or fresh coffee? Do you hear a radio playing, in the kitchen? Is there anything in your fridge that’s still edible? Do you even have a bed, to sleep in? Is that home?”

“No,” she sighed. “I don’t think it ever will be, again. Whatever happens, I’m going to have to move.”

“Yes, you are. Straight into my house. A home should feed you, not feed off you.”

“I hate it, when you’re right.”

“I know. I hate it, when you’re right, too, if that makes you feel any better.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Tucker. Or, it wasn’t all your fault. Not even mostly yours. I forgive you for the part that was, if you’ll forgive me for not just staying at home. I could have done that, but I didn’t even think to.”

“Oh, honey—I never blamed you, for an instant. It no more occurred to me to leave you behind, than it did to you to stay behind. I’m afraid I’ve come to see us as a sub-unit of a four person whole.”

To his relief, Lisa laughed. “Same, here. I’ll try to escape from Toni, as soon as I can.”

“Ha! It’ll be harder, getting away from Will. It might not even be possible; so, if you don’t show up, I’ll understand.”

“I hate that I can’t call you. I don’t suppose you still have my phone.”

“No, but we’ll replace it, first thing, tomorrow.”

“Ready to go home?” He heard Toni ask. “You can take your conversation, to go,” she offered.

“It’s okay, Toni,” Tuck said. “Lisa needs to get some food in her, and catch her breath. We’ll talk later, Darlin’, he added, to Lisa. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Tucker.”

When the call ended, he slumped against the back of the chair, and leaned his head against the picture window, weak with relief. Lisa was safe, and she still loved him.

“You lose, again, Noah,” he said, aloud.

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

“Is it okay for me to ask what’s in this thing?” Will set the tin box on the coffee table, in the living room. It was roughly the same size as Noah’s makeshift coffin.

“I suppose it is, since you dragged it out of the cellar, without falling back in, yourself,” Lisa replied. “It’s full of handwritten manuscripts. I don’t really know what they are, or who wrote them. Didn’t have enough juice left in my flashlight to find out. But I couldn’t resist.”

“Good enough,” Will nodded. “I’d be curious, too.”

“Sit down, in front of the fire, Lisa, while I warm up some stew,” Toni directed. “You must be starving.”

“I could eat, but it’s only a couple of hours past dinner time.” Lisa smiled at her friend, and obeyed. It was always better just to obey Toni. Besides, the fire was inviting. She could feel herself beginning to shake off the worst of the cellar experience.

Will settled onto the love seat, companionably, and Gil came to collapse at her feet. Lisa reached down to stroke his soft ears.

“We missed our class,” Lisa remarked, just realizing it.

“It’ll be okay. Father Cecil isn’t so strict. He may want to quiz you a little, to make sure you’ve been studying, but I doubt it’ll affect your eligibility to be baptized, with the rest of the class.”

Lisa smiled a little. “I wonder if I could get extra credit, for extra prayers.”

Will returned the grin, not offended by the mild joke. “I’ll bet you did send a few up, at that. Could be that’s why I didn’t get several speeding tickets, tonight.”

“Toni said something about your having taken Tuck for a ride?”

“Yeah. It was the best plan I could come up with, for loosening Noah’s grip—get him as far from the rectory as possible. It worked. Liam is spot on about the proximity thing. Once Pa came back, he stayed in control.”

“Soup’s on,” Toni said, from the kitchen doorway.

They both went out to the kitchen, where a piping hot bowl sat on the table in front of Lisa’s chair, along with sliced bread and butter.

“Toni, this smells like—“ she started to say ‘heaven’, but finished with, “home.”

“It ought to.” Toni’s reply insinuated that Lisa had stated the obvious, but she was pleased, Lisa could tell. “There’s plenty more, if you want it.”

She dug in, with relish. Toni had a way of sautéing the onions, that gave her gravy an amazing flavor.

“When you’re done, you should go straight to bed,” Toni added.

Lisa shook her head, and swallowed a bite. “I have to get back to the motel. I can’t just leave your Dad stranded, there.”

“You can collect him, in the morning.”

“Don’t be mad at him, Toni. This wasn’t his fault. He miscalculated—we both did. Besides, even burying Noah’s bones didn’t seem to do the trick. We’ve missed something, somewhere, all of us. Have Liam and Janice come up with anything, at all?” she asked, trying to redirect Toni’s focus.

“Not much. Noah was reported missing, by his wife.”

“His wife.” Lisa stopped short of biting into a slice of bread.

“Well, yeah. Beatrice was his first wife, remember?”

Lisa wanted to slap herself. She looked at Will, who was staring back at her, with equal consternation. They both turned to gaze at Toni, and watched the realization dawn on her face, too.

“Holy crap,” Toni breathed. “He’s buried next to the wrong wife.”

Will began to laugh. “Wrong ‘beloved’ wife,” he amplified. “Weren’t those his words, Lisa?”

“Yes. Yes, they were his exact words. What a tricky bastard!” She grinned a little, herself, then finished her bite into the bread, shaking her head.

“I don’t suppose there was a name, to go with this wife,” Will remarked, directing the comment at the resident genealogist.

“I don’t remember. Let me look.” Toni pushed back her chair, and hurried off, in search of her laptop.

“’Beloved.’ That should have tipped me off,” Lisa observed, to Will. “Noah despised Beatrice. Thought so little of her, that she didn’t even merit hatred.”

“Yet, it seemed to fit. He married her out of spite. Made perfect sense that he would want to be buried next to her, for the same reason. Tricky bastard, indeed.”

“I hope there is a name listed, in Toni’s tree. Otherwise, she’ll be up all night, trying to find one.”

“No, she won’t. I can distract her.”

“Will!” Lisa made a shocked face.

Before he could retort, Toni reappeared with her laptop. “Took a minute for it to reboot, because of course there was a software update. Anyway…” she trailed off, and brought up the Branches website, and logged in. After a few mouse clicks, she nodded her head. “Here it is—Julia Massey.”

“Julia.” Lisa repeated. “Not Caroline?”

“No. Why would you think it would be Caroline?”

“Just a nothing hunch, based on a dream, of all things.”

She finished her bowl and took it and her utensils to the sink to wash them. “Who wants coffee?”

“I do,” Will said. Toni merely raised a hand, then went back to typing.

Lisa got out cups for them all, and brought the pot to the table. Will filled them all, while Lisa went back for cream and sugar.

“See how little it takes, to unleash the bloodhound?” Will grinned, nodding toward his wife.

“What’s she looking for, now?”

“Confirmation,” Toni answered. “Sometimes, people are sloppy. Sometimes hints are incomplete… Julia was born at the right time, if you consider fifteen old enough to be married. Sadly, they did, back then…. Well. Would you look at that?”

“What?” Lisa demanded.

Toni didn’t answer, right away, however. She did some more clicking and scrolling.

“Julia Caroline Massey.” Toni turned the laptop around, at last, so that Lisa could see the screen. Married Noah Lovejoy, two whole weeks after Beatrice was laid to rest.”

“I think the word you’re looking for, is ‘cad’.” Will offered, seeing the offended expressions on the women’s faces.

“I think you’re right,” Toni agreed.

“I’d like to go with something more caustic,” Lisa said. “But I won’t assault your young ears. I should get going, anyway.”

“You should stay. Sleep in your own bed, for a change.” Toni’s remark was innocent, but Will’s snort, which he tried to pass off as a sneeze, was not.

“We’ve been over this, Toni,” Lisa replied, ignoring Will. “The arguments are all the same, and so is the conclusion. I love you both, for coming to get me, and I’m more grateful than I can say. But, I belong with Tuck.”

Toni sighed. “Okay. I had to try.”

“I know you did,” Lisa smiled at her.

Toni’s phone rang, and she answered it. “Hi, Dad.”

Lisa frowned. Despite what she had said to Toni about being mad at her father, Toni’s voice was less than cordial. “No, but I can put you on speaker, if you want. No? Okay. Yes, she’s been fed. That’s not funny—none of this is funny. Okay. I’ll tell her. I said I’d tell her. Yes, but not at you. Okay. I love you, too. Bye.”

Toni hung up and gave Lisa a look that was somehow apologetic and irritable, at the same time. “He wants you to go into his top dresser drawer. There’s an envelope, toward the back, at the bottom. He wants you to take it to him.”

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

“Will you be wanting to take your tin box, with you?” Will asked, when she came back down the stairs, envelope in hand.

“Not the whole thing, but maybe a portfolio, or two.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Will announced. His tone asked her not to argue.

Beside the car, he relieved her of her portfolios, and placed them on the roof.

“I want you to take this,” he said, handing her his phone. “Just to be on the safe side,” he added. “I’ve turned the ringer off, so you won’t get any accidentally get any calls meant for me. Noah shouldn’t know you have it.”

“Thanks, Will.”

“I’d have given it to you, inside, but I don’t want to alarm Toni. She’s more upset about her Dad than she’s letting on. I don’t think you’ll need it. It seems like Noah can only get a grip, when he’s close to the church, and can’t get it back, once he’s far enough away and shaken off. I’d rather be safe, though.”

“But, I’ll actually have to call Toni, if something…”

“It’s okay. I’ll manage to put her phone by my side of the bed. She’s not as particular about where it sleeps at night, as some people are.”

Lisa nodded. “I guess you saw some of my things, in Tuck’s room.”

“It’s none of my business, and I shouldn’t have laughed. Humor just sneaks up on me, sometimes. If there’s nothing going on, then I’m twice as sorry, because that means the problem is with me.”

She reached up to touch his cheek, gently. “Good night, Will. Thank you, again.” She got into her car, and he handed her the ‘folios.

“Drive safe.”

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

Tuck’s heart skipped a beat, when he heard the soft snick of the lock on his door. She was actually there, setting some leather padded folders onto the table, removing her hat, her earmuffs, her jacket.

“Hi,” he barely managed.

“Hi.”

“You…I didn’t expect you’d be able to get away.” He turned down the volume on the TV, which he had been staring at, but not watching.

“Toni would have kept me, if she could have.”

“And, Will?”

“He had the good sense not to make an issue of it,” she shrugged. “I’m in desperate need of a shower.”

“You can use mine. Or, I’ll unlock my side of the connecting door. You can shower in your room, dress for bed, then unlock your side to get here without going outside, again.”

“Let’s do that. It’s to damp out there, to be padding around in a nightgown.”