Bone Deep (26 page)

Jill felt numb. “All this time you’ve feared them?”

Claire nodded. “For you and Kate.” She gestured to poor Kate. “She was married to one of them. He could easily have killed her just to get back at me.” She turned back to Jill. “Or you. I couldn’t risk invoking their fury or their suspicions. I learned to keep it all inside and never to make waves.”

It was all just too incredible.

“Mrs. Ellington,” Paul said, “can you tell us who
they
are?”

That was the question no one seemed able to answer. The guardians of the secrets were obvious. The mayor, the chief…Jill’s own father and mother. But who were these monsters?

“I can’t tell you their names because I never knew them. The visitors we had that night were introduced by first name only. But thirty-two years ago three men approached us. I think one of them was a relative of Karl’s. A grandfather or uncle. He had an accent, German or Austrian, and looked very much like Karl. You know, handsome, distinguished. Nordic.” She wrung her hands. “With Karl gone, I have no idea who’s running things now.”

“And Cody?” Jill urged. “Do you know where he is?”

Claire’s gaze rested on Kate. “Two months ago she was in Lynchburg and she saw a boy who looks exactly like Cody.”

Jill bit her lips together to hold back the questions. She had to let her mother talk.

“She confronted Karl. They had a terrible argument. She tried to call you.” Claire made a sound, almost a moan of agony. “I begged her not to drag you into this. Pleaded with her to just be calm and not to make a fuss.” Her lips trembled. “But she was a lot more like you than you realize, Jill. She made a plan. Told me that someone at work was going to help her stop them. It must have been Connie. Kate was going to hide Cody and then she was calling in the FBI.” Claire drew in a big breath. “That’s all I know. The hope that Cody is safe is all that kept me sane through this.” Her eyes begged Jill to understand. “But I had to protect you. So I played the part. I couldn’t let them suspect what I knew. My single goal since the day you arrived was to get you out of here alive.”

Jill blinked back the tears standing in her eyes, steely determination rising to replace all other emotions. “Some place safe,” she said knowingly. “He’s been there all along.” She closed her eyes. “Thank God.”

“If we can get those files,” Paul said in the silence that followed, “with what your mother has told us, we might have enough evidence to ignite a full-fledged federal investigation.”

“They’ll kill us,” Claire said resignedly. “They’ll figure out what you’re doing. There are no secrets in this town.” She looked away a moment, then confessed yet another sin. “They made me drug you the other night.”

Jill stiffened. “What?” The memory of the nearly forgotten spider bite zoomed to the forefront of her thoughts. She couldn’t say why it came to mind, but she’d found it the morning she’d awakened so groggy. After... the warm milk. She turned to Paul. “I thought I’d been bitten by a spider.” She reached around, tried to touch the spot. “It’s right there between my shoulder blades.”

The lethal look in Paul’s eyes stole her breath. “How the hell did they come into your room with me right down the hall?”

“They said they needed a control specimen from you or Kate would die. That’s what Arvel told me.” Claire started to weep once more. “I didn’t want to do it, but they said she’d die and that they’d kill you if that happened.”

Jill moved to her mother’s side and tried to comfort her. “It’s okay. They didn’t hurt me.” She glanced at Paul. “Why would they need a spinal fluid specimen?”

Paul shook his head. “I should’ve stayed with you that night.”

Jill had wanted him to but he’d resisted. “You couldn’t have known.”

“You don’t understand how ruthless these people are.” Claire looked from Jill to Paul and back. “They won’t stop... not for anything. Coming into this house undetected is nothing.” She turned to Jill then. “You don’t know how your father and I longed for children. How badly we wanted you. We knew when you came that you and your sister were very special gifts. It didn’t matter how we’d come to have you. We loved you more than life. That’s why I’ve protected them all this time... to protect you. It was the only way.”

“All right.” Paul stood, agitation showing in his posture. “We’ve wasted enough time. I’m taking the three of you to safety.”

Jill got up, sent a warning look in Paul’s direction. She would not argue with him further. “Mother, throw a few things for you and Kate into a suitcase.”

Claire pushed to her feet, looking weary and confused. “Where are we going?”

Jill moved to the other side of the room. She retrieved the photograph she’d brought from Kate’s house and showed it to her mother. “This is where Cody is, I think. We’re going there.”

“A safe place?” Claire read, realization dawning. “That’s what she said...”

Jill nodded.

“We’ll be safe there,” another feminine voice said.

Jill and her mother spun toward the sound of Kate’s voice. She was standing up now. Hope sang through Jill’s veins.

“Cody’s there,” Kate said, pointing to the photograph. “Safe.”

~*~

The sun was melting into the western horizon at their backs by the time they reached their destination.

“We used to come to the mountains when we were kids,” Jill said, wonder in her voice. “Mother would bring us. We’d go exploring. Kate would photograph everything from bugs to the sky. I spent all my time daydreaming.”

He smiled. “I won’t ask about what.”

“It’s best you don’t.” She surveyed the beautiful mountains. “No wonder Kate brought Cody here. I’d forgotten how beautiful it is here.”

“And remote.” Paul suspected that was Kate’s intent. To get her son to a place where no one would look.

“You see there?” Jill pointed to a distant ridge where the bald spot in the forest stood out like a scab on the mountainside.

“I see it.”

“It’s the one in the photograph. We need to start moving northward, toward it. There should be a left turn coming up soon.”

Kate hadn’t spoken another word since announcing that her son was there...
safe
. Paul still wrestled with the idea that they had gotten to Jill right under his nose. It wouldn’t happen again. He had taken great pains to ensure they weren’t followed out of Paradise. He’d been watching his mirrors the entire two-hour trip. So far they were in the clear.

He saw the turn off and took it. The road was narrow, overgrown, just what they needed for getting completely lost.

“What caused the bald spot?” It didn’t look quite like an area that had been strip-mined. Not that he really cared, but it was a distraction and they all badly needed one right now.

Jill rubbed at the bruise on her forehead. Both she and her mother were likely still sore from the accident.

“If I remember correctly, Daddy used to tell me—”

“A highland flood,” Claire cut in. “A storm passed over and dumped massive amounts of water in a concentrated area in a very short time. It acted like a highland flood, washing away all that was in its path, down to the bedrock.”

Jill looked back at her mother and smiled. “He said nothing would ever grow back there. It was a sign...”

Her words trailed off and this time her mother didn’t finish the story for her.

“What kind of sign?” Paul asked.

“A sign of displeasure from God,” she said softly. “Well, at least we know now what He was unhappy about.”

The rest of the trip was made in silence.

Paul recognized the village instantly. It looked just like the photograph Kate had taken.

Uncertain as to how the villagers would feel about the automobile, he parked the Land Rover well outside the populated boundaries. Jill walked beside him, her mother and Kate bringing up the rear as they approached the small settlement.

The dwellings were rustic, mostly made of hand-hewn logs and mud chinking. Children scurried for home as the strangers approached. They were barefoot and healthy looking. A welcoming committee waited in the center of what they likely considered town. One dwelling looked like an old fashioned general store. Another served as the meat market, with hunks of fresh kills drying in the balmy air. Paul was vaguely familiar with the process. Those who chose not to refrigerate or freeze their meat cured it. He was also familiar with this type of primitive community. There were lots of small settlements in Appalachia. Dirt poor and seriously superstitious groups who lived their own way of life and avoided civilization.

An elderly woman stepped forward, leaving the younger woman and the man waiting two steps behind.

“Kate Manning has returned,” the woman said, looking beyond Jill and Paul.

Paul was surprised that she so easily distinguished one twin from the other. He knew Jill by her eyes and her scent. But this woman was not yet close enough to see their eyes or pick up their scents.

“I’m Jill, her sister.” Jill offered her hand as they moved closer.

The woman gave it a shake. “Have you come for the boy?”

A sob broke loose from Claire Ellington. Jill blinked back her own tears. Paul could see her struggle to keep her composure.

“Yes,” she whispered. “We’re here to see the boy.”

The woman gestured to them. “Follow me.”

As they moved deeper into the village, she said, “My name is Willa Dean. I became acquainted with your sister four years ago.”

Paul sensed that she recognized something was wrong with Kate and spoke about her instead of to her.

“She came here to do a study on how health related to environment. I persuaded the people here to trust her.”

Jill, ever the attorney, asked, “What made you trust her?”

The woman paused and smiled. “She has a good heart.” She looked back at Kate. “She has troubles now.”

Jill nodded. “Yes.”

Willa Dean sighed. “Come, the boy will be happy to see his family.” She glanced at Paul. “This is your man?”

Without hesitation, Jill answered, “Yes.” Her gaze moved to his and something passed between them, a feeling that was too precious to name. He was hers... for as long as she wanted it that way.

He would not allow anyone or anything to hurt this woman.

Paul didn’t analyze the epiphany instead he followed Jill and Willa Dean to a large dwelling on the far side of the settlement. The log house sat nestled against the base of the mountainside. He glanced around and couldn’t help getting caught up in the beauty of it. A spicy evergreen scent tinged the fresh air. His gaze drifted back to Jill. She would be safe here.

If he could only convince her to stay.

Willa Dean called out to someone named Dottie. The door to the dwelling opened and a young girl leading Cody Manning by the hand emerged. His blue eyes lit up and he flew toward his mother.

Like Willa Dean, he moved right past Jill and hugged Kate’s legs.

“Mommy, mommy!” he cried.

Claire and Jill sank to their knees and hugged him in turn. He quickly wriggled free and grasped his mother’s legs once more. As if driven by pure instinct, Kate slowly dropped down to the ground and pulled the child against her chest. Though she didn’t speak, she held him close and stroked his blond head.

Paul turned to Willa Dean. “How did he come to be here with you?”

“Kate, she found out that her boy wasn’t of our Lord.”

He understood what she meant. The child was a clone. It wasn’t so inconceivable. Just unconscionable.

“At first she didn’t mind. She loved him so much. Didn’t matter how he came to be. Our children are our children however they may come to us. But then about two months ago she got sick.” Willa Dean shook her head. “Bad problems.”

Jill stood and moved closer, leaving Cody to her mother and sister. “What kind of problems?”

“Bad, bad headaches. Shaking in the limbs. Bad stuff. Very bad.”

Jill looked at Paul then. “I noticed her right leg shaking in the hospital the other day. The nurse said it might be related to the seizure.”

Paul took her hand and squeezed it. “As soon as it’s safe we’ll get her to the right kind of medical care.”

Jill nodded, trying to find comfort in his words, visibly grappling to maintain her composure.

“Kate feared she might be dying but she feared her husband more,” Willa Dean continued. “He was a demon, that one. He had some kind of big test planned for the child. Bad stuff, Kate said. Very bad stuff.”

Jill trembled. Paul put his arm around her. “How long has Cody been with you?”

“She visited me some weeks ago and shared her fears. I told her to come back any time, I would take care of the boy. Last Sunday morning she brought me the boy. I’ve not seen her since.”

Sunday... the day Karl Manning was murdered.

“She didn’t tell you anything else,” he asked, hoping for more. “She didn’t bring any papers with her or other packages?”

Willa Dean shook her head. “She didn’t even bring no clothes or toys for the boy. But we took good care of him.”

“I have to go back to Paradise to finish this business,” he told the old woman. “Can they stay here, where it’s safe, until I get back?”

She nodded. “Good people is always welcome here.”

Jill backed out of his hold. “I’m going with you.” Fury snapped in her eyes. “Don’t even think about trying to talk me out of it. If you go, I go.”

Claire struggled to her feet. “Jill, please listen to him. Don’t go back. Stay here. Please. I’m afraid for you.”

For a moment Paul was certain Jill would be swayed by her mother’s frantic plea. She looked torn.

“I can’t let him face this alone,” she argued. “Paradise is my hometown. The Ellingtons helped start this insanity... we have to help stop it.”

Claire dropped her head. “I can’t lose you.”

Jill embraced her, held her tightly. “We’re going to make it through this.” She drew back then, pushed her lips into a shaky smile. “I love you.”

Claire murmured the words right back to her daughter and pulled her close once more.

Like an out of control roller coaster plummeting toward disaster, Paul watched Jill say good-bye to her sister and then her nephew. She hugged her mother one last time then faced him. “I’m ready. We need those files. Every minute we waste is another they have to beat us to them.”