The Buried Book (31 page)

“Thea!” the beast roared.

The flames had spread up the wall. The room clouded with smoke. Everything hazed over into a bad dream.

“Jasper!”

Her voice snapped him awake. She was by his side.

“Go get your uncle. Okay, baby?” She smiled at him reassuringly. “I’m alright. Now go.”

Dazed, he pulled her necklace out from under his shirt and handed it to her as though it were important. “I took this from your room. I’m sorry.”

She grabbed the necklace from him and patted his cheek. “It’s okay, baby. You have to go now.”

He nodded and headed down the steps in a trance.

“That’s a good boy. I love you, baby,” her voice whispered in his ear. He floated through the kitchen, wandering through the hazy cloud of the living room to the front door.
Smoke is good,
he thought sleepily. People would see it and know there was trouble.
Smoke signal.

He stepped out onto the porch and straight into the chest of a giant Manitonaaha warrior. The man picked him up by the shoulders and stared him in the face. It was Motega. Jasper’s head lolled on his neck as the man set him down and rushed into the house.

He watched himself fall back into the long grass. A giant black cloud of smoke darkened the morning sky. Yellow flames leapt up to the clouds, and the crackling sounds of his grandmother’s house burning drowned out the unsteady rasp of his lungs. The echoes of a scream hung in the trees.

Somewhere far away came the crack of a gunshot. And then another.

Sally’s dead,
Jasper thought. Then he fell down the well.

CHAPTER 60

Where is this evidence of federal corruption? Did it just up and walk away?

“Jasper?” A large hand shook him by the shoulder.

He jerked away from it with a scream. A blinding light shocked his eyes.

“Shh . . . it’s alright, son.” Sheriff Bradley crouched beside him. He set the flashlight on the ground. “You hurt?”

Jasper didn’t answer. His eyes adjusted enough to see he was leaning up against a tree.
The woods, Galatas, Motega, the detective, the gunshots.
His whole body contracted.

“You sure gave us a scare. Let’s get you up, son.” The sheriff pulled him onto his feet. Jasper found himself searching the man’s body for bullet holes.

“What happened?” he whispered.

“Don’t you worry about that.”

“Where’s Galatas? And Duncan? Are they dead?”

“I’m afraid so, but don’t fret over it. The world won’t miss a man like Galatas or any of his associates. I can assure you. There isn’t a judge in the country that wouldn’t have sent those boys to the electric chair. I’m not gonna lose one wink of sleep over it. Neither should you.”

“What about Motega? Is he—?”

“I don’t know who you’re talkin’ about, son. Alls I know is that me and a couple deputies followed up on a report of some gunshots and came upon two gangsters digging up bags of narcotics. They’d shot a detective, a US marshal, and buried another police officer out here. As for them Indians, this don’t concern them. They stay on their own land and keep to themselves. Lord knows they have their own troubles. I ain’t seen one in ages. And neither have you. Understand?”

Jasper tried to nod.

“Now Deputy Sims is going to take you on home. We can’t have young boys out wandering the woods, getting lost like this. Can we?”

Jasper struggled to find his footing as he processed all of it. He hadn’t gotten lost, he’d—
the Bible!
“Sheriff?”

“Yes, son?”

“Go look in the detective’s car. You’ll find a book. A Bible. My mother hid some papers inside. About Galatas and the marshal.”

The detective raised his eyebrows at this, then cracked a smile. “Your mother was a good woman, Jasper. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.”

The boy began shaking with tears.

A half hour later, Deputy Sims got out of the car. Out the side window, Jasper watched the officer survey the wreckage of his uncle’s cabin and then knock on the side of the barn.

First Uncle Leo appeared and then Jasper’s red-faced father. The deputy pointed toward the car and waved his hands in the air with a smile on his face. Uncle Leo nodded and shook the officer’s hand while his father shot an unforgiving glare through the car window. Jasper just gazed back at him from behind the glass. It didn’t matter if they beat him or whipped him or killed him for running off. He wouldn’t feel a thing.

Deputy Sims walked back over to the car and opened Jasper’s door, letting his merry voice pour into the backseat. “. . . lucky thing I was in the area. I’m just glad he’s alright,” he was saying over his shoulder. Then, loud enough for the men to hear, he added, “Now, Jasper, next time you want to go exploring, I want you to ask a parent’s permission, understand?” He pulled Jasper out of the car by his good arm and said in a louder voice, “You stay out of trouble now, you hear?”

The deputy drove off, leaving Jasper standing in the driveway. He didn’t hear his father coming.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Worrying us all sick like that?” Wendell shook him by the shoulders, knocking his arm out of the sling. Jasper barely registered the pain. “I have half a mind to whip the skin off you! When are you going to learn, Son?”

“Easy, Wen. Take it easy. Look at him. His color. He don’t look right. Christ, is that blood?”

Uncle Leo’s face floated out of focus in front of him as the man knelt down. The closeness of him made Jasper’s stomach recoil.
Don’t touch me.

“Jasper, look at me. What happened?”

“They’re dead,” Jasper told the blur.

“Who’s dead?”

Jasper didn’t answer. A pair of strong arms scooped him up and carried him back into the barn.

Jasper woke the next day on the floor of the cow stall. Wayne was nowhere in sight. For a flickering moment, he told himself it was a dream. Just a terrible dream. He turned to look at the children’s Bible propped against the wall. It was gone.

Jasper balled himself up, but the minute he closed his eyes, Big Bill was standing over him. He sat up with a jolt.

Aunt Velma was cleaning plates and glasses out in the middle of the barn when he poked his head out. She set down a dish and rushed over to him. “Jasper, sweetie. Are you alright?” She scanned him head to toe and searched his eyes for permanent damage.

He was not all right.

“Your father had to get back to the city for work. He wanted me to tell you he’d be back Saturday.”

“He hates me,” Jasper whispered, remembering the red look in his father’s eyes. He hated himself too. He’d done everything wrong.
If I hadn’t gone looking for her—

She grabbed his chin. “That’s ridiculous. He’s worried about you, that’s all. He just wants to keep you safe. That’s what a father does.”

Jasper swallowed hard. “Where’s Uncle Leo?”

“Out in the yard, I expect. And for the record, he doesn’t hate you either. But Jasper,” she said with a stern look, “I’m gonna be furious if you ever scare me like that again.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry.” He hung his head.

“Well, you better go and talk to him. Scoot!”

The scabbed-together barn was looking more like itself again. Boards and shingles had been nailed back into place, and the torn-open end was mended. Jasper walked through the rehung door to find Uncle Leo sifting through the scattered logs of their cabin.

“Hey, Jas!” Wayne trotted over to him and lowered his voice. “What the heck happened? Sheriff Bradley came by to check on you this morning. He said there was a shoot-out last night!”

“Wayne,” Uncle Leo barked from what used to be the kitchen, “leave the kid alone. Go help your mother in the garden.”

“Ah, do I have to?”

Uncle Leo shot him a look.

“Yes, sir.”

Jasper caught his arm as he was leaving. “I’m sorry, Wayne. Did you catch hell for it?”

“A bit. But don’t worry. I’ll be sure to share some with you.” Wayne gave him a stiff punch in the arm and then left.

“Jasper, son, follow me,” Uncle Leo commanded.

“Yes, sir.”

Uncle Leo led him back into the barn. Aunt Velma was nowhere to be seen. It was just the two of them, and Jasper figured the lashings were set to begin.

“I thought we had an agreement you and me that you wouldn’t go lookin’ for real-life trouble anymore.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I just—” Jasper searched the ground for what he could say. There was nothing but the old rag rug on the ground where they had eaten dinner the night before. He should’ve listened to his father. He should’ve stayed in bed. “I just hope I can make it up to you.”

“You’re a good boy, Jasper, but you need to learn there are some things in this world that we can’t fix. We just have to learn to live with them.” The sympathetic bend in his uncle’s eyebrows meant Sheriff Bradley had explained some things. The man reached into his pocket and handed him a small leather book. “Here. I believe this belongs to you.”

Jasper’s eyes widened as his uncle placed the book in his hands. It was his mother’s diary.

“I’m sorry about your mother, Jasper . . . You know, when we were kids, she was like a firefly flittin’ about the yard, full of spark. Man, she could make me laugh. And then one day . . .” His uncle lowered his eyes to the book and shook his head. “I don’t know what really happened.”

“I’m sorry, Uncle Leo,” Jasper whispered, and he was. He was sorry about running off, the house burning down, his grandfather dying, his mother leaving him, everything he’d seen, and everything he’d done. The book felt heavy with all her secrets. Or maybe they were just lies like his uncle said. It didn’t matter anymore. They were his now. He hugged the book to his chest.

“The truth is a funny thing, Jasper. Sometimes you can only believe what you’re willing to believe.” He drew in a deep breath. “I will tell you one thing, though.”

Jasper looked up at him.

“I never liked Arthur Hoyt. Your Grandpa Williams and him had a real falling-out, right before he . . . Right after Althea ran off. After we’d lost the house. Poor girl was only nineteen . . . Well, Hoyt tried to get our whole family thrown out of the church and run out of town. Times got real hard after that.” Uncle Leo gave him a pained smile. “I guess I blamed her for it. For him dying. For everything . . .”

“It’s not your fault,” Jasper whispered.

“No. I should’ve listened. I should’ve tried . . .” His uncle’s voice broke. He took a moment and cleared his throat. “My mother tried to get me to forgive her, you know, but she refused to rebuild the house. After a while she wouldn’t even eat. It killed her, losing Althea and then Pops like that. I was just so angry. But there were rumors, you know. Shoot, there still
are
rumors about Hoyt and the girls he hires to do his housework. I just never believed anyone could ever . . .”

“What sort of rumors?”

Uncle Leo wiped a hand over his eyes. “I’m sorry, Jasper. I shouldn’t be tellin’ you all this. You’re just a kid.”

“No, I’m not,” Jasper barked. He would never be a kid again. “What sort of rumors? I need to know.”

“The sort you don’t say out loud, son.” Uncle Leo wanted to leave it at that.

“Did he hurt them?” Jasper already knew the answer but needed to hear it out loud. “Did he . . . do bad things to them?”

Uncle Leo’s eyes fell to the book in Jasper’s hands, and he said nothing.

“Why didn’t anyone tell the police? The sheriff?”

“It’s not that simple, Jasper. These sorts of things are kept quiet. For the sake of the girls. Proof is hard to come by. You can’t go hang a man on nothin’ but rumors. Your grandpa Williams tried to bring him to justice and nearly got us run out of town. Understand?”

Jasper shook his head. He did not understand at all. They didn’t stop him. They’d let it happen.

“It hardly matters now anyway.”

“How can you say it doesn’t matter?” Jasper glared up at him with tears in his eyes.

“Because he’s dead.” His uncle paused to let the boy digest this. “I went over there to give him a piece of my mind this mornin’. I had half a mind to castrate ’im like a pig, but the good Lord took it out my hands.”

“What do you mean? How?”

“It’s up to the sheriff and the coroner to decide that, but it looked like a heart attack to me. He was lying facedown in the pasture. Looked like he’d been there a while. I only found him because Nicodemus was loose out there, circling the body. I thought the old bull had trampled a coyote or a wolf.”

The air went out of Jasper’s lungs.

“So you see?” Uncle Leo held up his hands. “This isn’t for you or me to worry about anymore. We just gotta have faith, Jasper. God will sit in judgment now. Hoyt can’t hide from it . . . None of us can.”

Jasper felt the barn shrinking around him. He could feel his hand on the latch of the bull pen. He could see Nicodemus charging at Hoyt with the devil in his eyes.

“It’s going to be okay, Jas.” His uncle put a hand on his shoulder as though to keep his feet planted.

Jasper nodded, but none of it was okay.
We’re all sinners, Jasper,
his mother’s voice whispered in his ear.
Even you.

“Just pray for his forgiveness and the strength to move on. That’s all any of us can do.”

Jasper bowed his head and tried.
Please, God. I didn’t mean it . . .

But when he closed his eyes, he could see Motega glaring down at him. Gripping him by the shoulders. Running inside the burning house. Dragging Big Bill to his car and sending it careening into a fuel tank. Carrying his battered mother to Dr. Whitebird. Taking his mother’s necklace and laying it on the grave.
You saved her life . . . I am forever in your debt.

“But it was all my fault,” Jasper muttered to himself.

“You alright?” His uncle put a hand on his shoulder.

There is a bond between you. You must look inside yourself, and you will find her.

He looked up into his uncle’s face and didn’t see concern written in his eyes. He saw guilt.

He saw Dr. Whitebird sending word to his uncle that the boy and his mother were injured. Jasper lying there in a state of shock. His mother bleeding and crying. He could hear his uncle’s muffled voice talking to the doctor, deciding what should be done. It wasn’t Galatas, Marshal Duncan, Detective Russo, or Dr. Whitebird who took her away.

Jasper forced a weak smile. “Where did you take her?”