Eye of the Storm

FOURTEEN



On Monday evening Megan stepped from the crowded funeral home for some fresh air and looked at all the cars lined along the quiet street in Pierce City, a short drive from Jolly Mill. The lot behind the home was full. Practically every citizen of Jolly Mill and many Pierce City residents were here for the evening visitation and funeral being held for Barry Marshal.

After a day of storms and torrential rain, birds sang from the surrounding trees and the air smelled clean and pure. Megan wished her mind would feel so fresh after the storms in her life.

She wasn’t surprised by the turnout despite Barry’s questionable reputation. Folks in this part of the country attended funerals to support family, not necessarily to show respect for the dead. They reconnected to life, to each other, and if the deceased had been loved, then their friends focused on them and relived funny memories. Megan suspected that, for her community, attending a funeral was a way to come to terms with the limits placed on their own lives.

The door rattled behind her and Lynley stepped out, her heels echoing across the porch. Her dark eyes were rimmed with red, and her makeup had all been wiped off a couple of hours ago by the shoulders of friends and neighbors.

“You look awful,” she said as she joined Megan at the edge of the porch.

“Thanks. You too.”

“You heard his death was ruled an accident?” Lynley asked.

“I heard.”

“What would my father have been doing in the lodge? Nora talked Mom into getting the locks changed after Dad moved out, so he didn’t even have a workable set of keys, and there was no evidence of a break-in. Only Uncle Lawson, Mom and Nora had a master key. Have you heard the rumors flying around in there tonight?”

Megan had, but for the sake of Kirstie and Lynley she’d asked the people talking to keep their voices down. “A little.”

“Now they’re thinking Carmen or Nora might have had a private encounter with Dad at the lodge.”

“Then they don’t know either woman very well. Carmen doesn’t even have a key.”

“Nora does.” Lynley crossed her arms and sighed as she leaned against the railing. “As if Nora would ever be stupid enough to have an affair with my father.”

Megan studied her friend’s face. “You’ve held up well.” Despite the smudged and erased makeup.

“I’ve cried all evening and I can’t understand why. It isn’t as if my father ever loved me. We were never close.”

“That in itself is something to cry about.”

“Then you and I both have reason to cry. He didn’t have much love for you either.”

Megan recalled the very brief talk he’d had with her after she found him and Mom together. All he’d said was, “Consider what you lose if you say a word. They’ll hate you.”

“I’m not crying,” she told Lynley.

“No, but right now we’ve got all these shoulders offered to us, so we might as well take advantage of it. Emotionally healthy and all that.”

“No more episodes with Kirstie?”

“None. Nora did exactly what she’d threatened to do—which you would know all about if you’d bothered to take a jaunt through the woods and visit us.”

“What did Nora do?”

“She made Mom sleep with her these past two nights on the king bed in the guest room, complete with handcuffs she borrowed from Moritz.”

Megan pressed her lips together for a second. “Oh, that is so wrong on so many levels.”

“That’s what Mom said, but Nora wouldn’t relent. She said Kirstie would go swimming in the mill pond again over her dead and handcuffed body.”

“You’re serious?”

“No kidding. Any time one of them had to get up to go to the bathroom, the other had to go too.”

Megan burst into laughter. “I didn’t think Nora meant it when she made that threat.”

“She’s determined Mom won’t go missing again. She also hired a housekeeper—a man named McDowell—to keep watch over Mom during the day. He’s driving Mom crazy, but Nora’s been teaching him to bake her cookie recipe, so she may offer him another job after his watchdog role ends. It can’t come too quickly for Mom. But there have been no more blackouts.”

“It’s early yet.”

“Not really, Megan.” Lynley hesitated, cleared her throat. “She had several episodes while I was with her these past few weeks. I just never let her leave the house, and it was our little secret.”

“You didn’t tell me?”

Lynley kicked her toe against the concrete step. “Didn’t tell anyone. I kept picturing some men in white coats coming to take Mom away, and I couldn’t let that happen, no matter what. It would have killed me.”

Ouch. And Megan had been trying to make Lynley lock her mother away. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“I’m glad we kept the clinic closed today. You needed to be with Kirstie.”

“And you needed to be with Gerard?” Lynley spread her hands. “Just guessing, not interfering. I thought you wanted to avoid him.”

“You know how much you love chocolate? Yet when you try to break the habit you crave it even more?”

Lynley grimaced. “I know that has to be difficult, especially since he’s trying to set up shop here.”

“You have no idea.”

“You love him.”

Megan nodded.

“Then what’s the problem? He’s obviously crazy about you. I mean, look at what the man’s doing here. He’s here because you are, plain and simple.”

“First of all, I can’t get Joni’s death out of my mind, and with him here it’s even worse. Second, sure he’s here now, but what if he suddenly decided he needed to return to the mission in Texas?”

“I think he’s made it clear he plans to settle here to be with you.”

“But I need to love him enough to return with him to Corpus Christi if he goes. And I can’t do that right now.”

“Because you don’t love him enough?”

“Because I’m terrified. Besides, my thoughts about God are not the best thoughts after what happened with Joni, and a shared faith is vital. I’ve seen that with your mom and dad. The spirit—whatever spirit it was—in Barry hated the Spirit in Kirstie.”

“So which spirit do you choose? Barry’s or Mom’s? You’ve seen evidence of both. You’ve seen tons of evidence in Gerard. It kind of seeps out of him like sunlight through a clean window.”

“I don’t have what it takes to keep up with Gerard’s God.”

“Okay.” Lynley placed a gentle hand on Megan’s arm. “Take your time. Hey, seriously, you’ve missed so much action at the Thompson home the past three days.”

“Fights between Nora and Kirstie?”

“Well, sure, there’s that. You know Mom and Nora can’t be in the same room for ten minutes without arguing. I think Nora loves the company, though, and she experimented with a new cookie recipe. I thought you’d at least stop by.”

“You had a funeral to plan, and I didn’t want to interfere.”

“Stop that. You know you’re family, even if I did behave like a shrew the other night.”

“How have you felt over the weekend?”

Lynley’s eyes narrowed as she studied Megan in silence for a moment. “Civil today. You and Nora both seem to think there’s a leak or contaminant in the house that’s affecting Mom, and maybe even me, though neither of you has come right out and said it.”

Megan nodded.

“What kind of contaminant?”

“Wish I knew.” Megan had picked up the mail for the clinic today. Kirstie’s toxicology screen was negative, which wasn’t surprising, but it was disappointing. Now they had to keep looking.

“You could have told me,” Lynley said.

“It wasn’t my call.”

Lynley nodded. “Mom. There’s nothing like a mother’s loving protection to make a grown woman want to gnaw on bones.”

The door opened and Gerard stepped out. “You ladies behaving?”

“What’s it to you?” Megan stuck her tongue out at him. Their comfortable companionship had fallen back into place today as they’d worked together, side by side, silently searching for land and local history. No kisses, no romance, just friendship. He seemed to have known what she needed.

Gerard beckoned them. “Reverend Gripka’s getting ready to start.”

Lynley looked at Megan. “Do me a favor? Reverend Tom’s probably going to have people stand up and say all kinds of nice things about Dad. If I start to interrupt or argue, pinch me?”

“If you’ll do the same for me.”

“Deal.”





Kirstie sat between Lynley and Megan on the hard wooden pew in the front row of the funeral home. As she had expected, the minister breezed through the eulogy about Barry and segued into a short sermon about righteous living. She smiled. That was why she’d chosen him to conduct the service. No lies about the deceased. No ugly truths either. He left the attendees to form their own opinion about Barry amongst themselves.

The service concluded quickly, and she sat watching friends and neighbors as they filed past the casket and walked over to hug her and Lynley once more. She saw few tears, and she couldn’t bring herself to shed more, though she’d managed to weep a time or two upon their arrival and when viewing the body, when she’d suddenly started to wonder what life would have been like if she’d married a man who had been steadfast as a husband and father. That was the saddest thing of all—Barry’s choices.

During most of her adult years Kirstie had attended dozens of visitations and funerals, and she was typically replenished by them. Most of the funerals she’d attended had been for people who’d known for years that when they died they would be in Heaven. Barry had never cared. He had only maligned Kirstie for her faith.

She was hugging yet another neighbor when a familiar figure caught her attention from across the room. She felt herself tense. A few pieces of blackness fell away when she recognized Alec Thompson. Just Alec in a suit. But Alec seldom wore a suit, and the one he wore tonight was actually one his father had once worn in his sales job. How strange that it looked fashionable on Alec’s broad shoulders. Fashion always went in cycles.

How much the son looked like the father, Eaton, except for the dark, exotic eyes of his mother.

She tapped Megan on the shoulder. “Honey, how old was Alec when his father left on that hunting trip and never returned?”

Megan looked up from the memorial card she was reading and glanced toward Alec. “We were seventeen. We’d been dating a few months.”

Kirstie hugged Barry’s aunt Sally and gently agreed that this was a loss for the community. Obviously, Barry hadn’t been able to face his own blood kin with the truth about abandoning his wife. It was a mercy, in some ways, that Barry’s parents had already passed on.

When Sally walked unsteadily down the aisle, Kirstie turned back to Megan. “How did Alec react to his father’s abandonment?”

“Upset.” Megan frowned. “He kept waiting for his dad to return, and he and Nora actually asked rangers to search Eaton’s favorite camping spot in Mark Twain National Forest. They found the truck but not Eaton. Because the truck was parked in a campground in Missouri, all anyone could figure was there’d been an accidental shooting and he was too deep in the brush to be found. Believe it or not, I think Alec might have been a little relieved too. Life at home wasn’t smooth for him.”

“Did his father hit him?”

“No, never. You know Nora would never let anyone lay a hand on Alec. I think if she could’ve gone to Afghanistan with him, she’d have done it. But if you’re worried about how Lynley’s going to handle Barry’s passing, she’ll handle this okay. She’s a lot older than Alec was.”

Kirstie gave a brief shake of her head. “Nora never talked much about her life with Eaton, but I knew he wasn’t a kind person. I’m not sure why, but Eaton keeps coming to my mind. Doesn’t Alec look a lot like his father?”

Megan wrinkled her nose and glanced down the line of well-wishers. “I don’t remember much about him except his breath. Alec doesn’t drink much. I think he’s more like Nora.”

More pieces of Kirstie’s blacked-out memories fell into place, both recent and past. The circle took shape again—and it was the size of a man’s ring. It had a topaz in the center of it, with sharp edges that could cut skin.

Kirstie nudged Megan’s shoulder again. “Remember the ring Eaton always wore? He never took it off. It was shaped like a lion’s head with a topaz. He used it to hit Barry in the face the night Barry asked him to leave the restaurant for disorderly conduct.”

“I remember the scar he left.” Megan straightened and looked around the room. “Lawson was putting in that new addition, remember? He was getting ready to pour a foundation for a huge sunroom between the lodge ballroom and restaurant and the suites. Didn’t Barry tell everyone he’d fallen in the site where the construction workers were digging the foundation?”

“He was embarrassed to have anyone know Eaton gave him that gash.”

“What about the ring, Kirstie? Is that the one you keep seeing in your blackouts?”

“It could be. Things seem to be falling back into place a little at a time.”

“Lynley said you’re doing better.”

Kirstie nodded. But why was she so focused on Eaton’s ring?

Alec drew closer in the line—moving slowly, of course, because everyone knew the minister, everyone knew each other, and half the people didn’t even seem to consider that they were in any kind of line, they were just there to hang out and talk.

Kirstie glanced at Alec’s hands. No rings of any kind. Unlike his father, Alec was not into ostentation. Also unlike his father, Alec was not cruel. Kirstie remembered that on her second date with Eaton, he picked her up with alcohol on his breath and got belligerent when she called him on it.

She’d warned Nora about him, but Nora had always been tougher than Kirstie—not as sweet. Definitely not a people-pleaser. For years Kirstie lived in admiration of Nora, that she could marry a man as hard to handle as Eaton, raise a sweet son, build an empire without Eaton’s inebriated help. Also, to Kirstie’s shame, she’d been relieved for her friend when Eaton took off on one of his weeklong hunting trips and simply didn’t return.

Still, as Kirstie hugged Alec and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, she wondered. Alec had always had his father’s build and strength. Perhaps she should have paid more attention to Nora, her son and their needs when their husband and father disappeared, but Nora appeared to be handling everything fine, as she always did, and at that time there were other heartbreaks on which to focus.

About the time Eaton took off, Uncle Lawson was diagnosed with lung cancer. Unable to find anyone else to run the whole operation and too ill to run it himself, Lawson was forced to shut down the resort. He didn’t need the income. He never opened the resort again.

Today before the funeral Kirstie had finally worked up the nerve to call Lawson and break the news to him about Barry.

“Sorry to hear about that, sugar,” he’d said in his deep voice. “I have to say the timing is interesting. I was just getting ready to cut his name from the will, and now I won’t have to.”

That had surprised her. “But why? You always loved Barry.”

“I have no time for a man who doesn’t have enough love and loyalty to see his wife through the hardships of life.”

“You knew he left?”

“You have friends who aren’t afraid to hurt my feelings, Kirstie. I just wish you’d been willing to stick up for yourself. You know, now that I think about it, I’m still taking any of his accidental offspring out of the will, just in case.”

Since he’d brought up the subject, Kirstie had decided to mention something that had been on her mind a lot these past few days. “Uncle Lawson, speaking of the will. You know I’m not going to have the knowledge or ability to run the resort.”

“Don’t worry. I knew what you had in mind when you brought Vance here the other day.”

Tears had smarted Kirstie’s eyes. She would miss Lawson so much. “Is that going to affect your will?”

“If he follows through with his plans, the place is his. I’ve checked the whole family out and I can’t think of a better group of people to do what they’re doing.”

“Neither can I.”

“It’ll mean less for you and Eugene.”

“You think either of us cares about the money, Uncle Lawson? You’ve been the treasure in our lives.”

There was a long silence, and Kirstie had heard the flow of oxygen. “I love you too, baby. Come and see me in a few days. Bring Vance back with you if you can. We need to get this all hashed out while I can still think straight.”

“We’ll be there,” she had assured him.

The funeral music fell silent, and Megan placed an arm around Kirstie’s shoulders, drawing her from her melancholy. “Hey, don’t tell me you’re blacking out again. What’s on your mind? Everyone’s waiting for us to follow the casket out. We’re going to the cemetery.”

Kirstie glanced at Nora standing beside Carmen and their friends at the back of the chapel. So many other friends had stood beside her through this awful time. She prayed a silent blessing for them as she walked down the aisle beside Lynley, followed by Megan. She had been given a wonderful gift in her friendships.





After the interment Megan drove home alone, despite multiple invitations to join the family at Nora’s. Gerard would be there. She needed time to slow down and think, and there’d been so little of it today. When she was with Gerard, even working silently by his side, she was so focused on him she couldn’t focus on anything else. The struggle wore her out.

Actually, what wore her out was trying not to think about being without him—especially if he settled here, as it appeared he was determined to do.

She stepped into the empty cottage, dropped her dressy carryall beside the door and locked up behind her. She had a drink of water and eyed the bed, tempted to lie down and sleep without her usual nightly ritual of changing into her pajamas and brushing her teeth…she was so tired.

And yet, tired as she was, she needed to make one call before she went to sleep. She’d waited on purpose until after the funeral. She dug her cell phone from the bag and pressed her mother’s number. And braced herself. It had been at least six weeks since she’d spoken to any family members. They didn’t know what was happening in her life right now, not even her brother because he was horrible at keeping secrets.

The evening sky still held a touch of light from the long-set sun, reminding Megan that the storm had passed completely and summer was on its way. They would still be in for a few more storms—at least, she hoped so. They needed more water than they’d received today.

Her mother answered on the third ring.

“Megan? Is this really you?” Mom’s typical sarcasm. “Are you dying or something?”

Megan gave a long-suffering sigh. “Hi, Mom. I’m not dying.”

“What are you doing up so late? It’s nearly nine.”

Another snide remark about Megan’s typical early bedtime. She grimaced. “I didn’t know if anyone from Jolly Mill had called you.”

“Only three of my old high school buddies. They’d thought for sure you’d have let us know you’d moved back to Jolly Mill to take a job at the clinic. Not something I would expect to hear from my own daughter, of course, but other people are innocent to our ways. Why’d you leave the job you had, and who are you staying with?”

Megan rolled her eyes, ignoring the first question. “I’m in the Thompson cottage. Uh, listen, I just returned home from a funeral and thought you might want to be warned that we found Barry Marshal dead at the Barnes Lodge and Resort on Friday.”

Silence. What, no snide remarks about that?

“Anyway,” Megan said, “I didn’t want you to hear about it later and be taken off guard.”

“And just how did you think it would take me off guard?”

“I didn’t know.” It wasn’t as if they really knew each other. “Look, it’s been a long evening and I’m tired. I just wanted to give you the heads-up.”

“Thank you for the warning, but Megan, you’re way off base if you think I’m going to be upset.”

Megan’s turn for silence. Was that actually a gentle note in her mother’s voice?

“You there, Megan? I’m serious. Barry Marshal has been a bad memory since the first moment I let him touch me.”

Megan held the phone from her ear. She didn’t really want to hear that.

“He was never a friend of mine,” Mom was saying when Megan put the phone back to her ear. “He was the biggest mistake I ever made, especially when you walked in the door and found us. I’ve never been more sorry for anything in my life.”

Megan’s throat was so dry she could barely swallow. “Wow. And you couldn’t have told me that sooner?”

“Would you have listened?”

“Eventually. Did you ever tell Dad?”

“No, did you?”

“No.”

“I did tell Kirstie what kind of husband she had,” Mom said. “And I got myself tested for any kind of disease before I let your father…well…you know.”

Megan jerked the phone away again. Too much information.

“Anyway,” her mother continued, “your father’s retiring in six weeks, and he’s promised me we’re going to travel together from now on. You know, if you got over here more often you’d be able to see how things have changed.”

Megan sank onto the bed. “Kirstie really knows?”

“She always has, Megan. She even promised me she would get tested.”

The silence lengthened on the line until Megan wondered if they’d lost the connection. All these years Kirstie knew, and she’d never said a word. Megan felt as if the sands in her hourglass had broken through their barrier and were spilling out all over the place. Had she held on to this anger with her mother over something they could have discussed and settled years ago?

“Wow.”

Her mother chuckled. “Yeah, I know. We’ll talk about this some more, I hope, but you need to know that I’ve always been crazy about Dad. That thing with Barry wasn’t love. It wasn’t even—”

“Yeah, I get it. Don’t use the words, okay? Kids don’t want to hear these things about their parents.”

Another chuckle. What on earth was going on with Mom?

“Anyway, I hated the travel, all the time alone, raising my kids without the daily input from their father, and I realized, almost too late, that my anger was going to destroy my marriage. And I loved your father too much for that to happen.”

Megan’s mind flashed to Gerard. “Thanks for that, Mom.”

“Why don’t you drive to Cape Girardeau soon? If I recall correctly, there’s no room for us to stay in that cottage of Nora’s.”

“I might do that.”

“And now it’s really past your bedtime,” Mom said. “I appreciate your call, though, Megan.”

“Okay. Well, then, I’ll talk to you…soon.”

“It’s always good to hear from you, Megan. If you called more often, maybe I wouldn’t be caught off guard.”

“I guess not. Bye.”

She punched the disconnect button and then hit Gerard’s speed dial before she could react to the shock of her call. “Hi,” she told his voice mail. “Even though the tox screen didn’t show anything, I still believe there’s a toxin in that house. I don’t think it’s coincidence Kirstie is doing better at Nora’s. We need to get a specialist to check the vents, and you should probably find another place to stay. I just happened to remember that because it’s been cold at night lately, Kirstie would have had the heat on, and several toxins become more potent with heat, including mercury. Barry would have had access to mercury several years ago.”

She disconnected, switched off the phone, slumped over into bed and closed her eyes. Maybe she could sleep without a pill tonight.