Under the Lake

34

Lorna Kelly stopped talking and closed her eyes. Howell watched her anxiously for a moment; her breathing was shallow, but peaceful. There was something like a smile on her face. Finally, he understood why Donal O’Coineen had taken Kathleen out of school in Sutherland, but the information didn’t seem to help him very much. It simply added another twist to the mystery of the family’s disappearance.

Lorna opened her eyes again and gazed levelly at him. “She is in danger,” the old woman said quite clearly. “Little Kathleen is in danger, and so are you.”

Howell took her hand. “Do you really believe she’s still alive?” he asked. She had said something like this before, and after all that had happened to him since, it made less sense than ever.

“She is as alive as you are,” Lorna Kelly replied. “I can feel her presence at this moment. You must protect her. You are all she has to save her.” She closed her eyes again and seem to sink into unconsciousness, her jaw becoming slack.

Howell didn’t wish to tire her; he placed her hand under the covers and walked back into the living room. Scotty had arrived; she and Leonie sat on opposite sides of the room, eyeing each other warily.

“Your mother is sleeping,” he said to Leonie, looking from one woman to the other. “I take it you two have met.”

“Did you find out what you needed to know?” Leonie asked, ignoring his question.

Howell smiled. “Well, she says I know all I need to. You know how she is. I’ve still got some things to figure out. She also says this is her last day on earth.”

Leonie nodded. “Then it is,” she said. “I’d better ring Father Harry.”

Scotty suddenly spoke up. “Why am I here? What’s going on?”

“I think Bo is going to want you and me out of circulation tonight, and he has an excuse, now.” He told Scotty and Leonie about his visit to Eric Sutherland’s house that morning. “Since I found the body, and since you and I are associated, he might use that as an excuse to hold us for questioning while he conducts his business. Tomorrow, when he’s all done, he’d release us, and if he’s planning to quit, then it would be just about impossible to pin anything on him after tonight.”

“He’s really going to be annoyed when he comes back and finds me gone,” Scotty said.

“I hope he thinks you’re on your way to Atlanta,” Howell said.

Scotty still looked worried. “That office is jumping,” she said. “People have been calling in for the last hour wanting to know what’s happening out at Sutherland’s.”

Howell laughed aloud. “Good God, Scotty, I think you’re worried about getting fired! Well, you’ve worked your last day for the Sutherland County Sheriffs Department, whatever happens.”

Scotty brightened. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand what’s going on here,” Leonie said.“

Howell explained who Scotty was and what she was doing in Sutherland. “We think Bo’s going to be up to something at the county airport tonight, and if we can catch him at it, then Scotty has her story, and Sutherland County will get a new sheriff. By the way, can we get to the landing strip from here on foot?”

Leonie nodded. “Sure, but it might be slow going. There’s no path or anything. I suppose it’s about half a mile. Maybe less.”

“Good. I don’t think we can risk it in a car.”

“What time will you go up there?”

“I think just before dark.”

“Then you’ll have supper with us.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

“Well, I’d better look in on Mama, then I’ve got some things to do in the kitchen.” Leonie left them.

“Listen,” Scotty said, “if we go up there before dark, aren’t we more likely to be seen, if there’s somebody there already?”

“Maybe, but we’re more likely to see somebody else, too, and I don’t want to be thrashing around a patch of strange woods at night, making a lot of unnecessary noise and waving a flashlight around.” Howell saw Leonie leave her mother’s room and head toward the kitchen. Now seemed like a good time. “Excuse me, I’ve got to talk to Leonie about her mother.”

Howell walked to the kitchen and found Leonie shelling peas. He sat down at the kitchen table next to her and picked up a handful. “I’ll give you a hand.”

“I expect you’re wanted out there,” she said, coolly, nodding toward the living room.

Howell ignored the gibe. “I’ve found out a lot of things, today,” he said, cracking open a pod and emptying the peas into a bowl along with hers. “I found out, for instance, why you were shoplifting.”

Leonie flushed. “Can’t you just forget about that?”

“I guess a single girl in a town this size can’t just walk into the drugstore and buy a pregnancy-testing kit. Might as well advertise in the local paper. It was positive, wasn’t it?”

She continued shelling peas in silence.

“No, I can’t forget about it,” he said.

“It’s not your responsibility,” she said, her voice softer. “It was my decision. You had nothing to do with it. Well, not very much, anyway.”

“It’s my responsibility, too. I understand, now, why you thought it was the only way.”

“It is the only way,” she said. “Who’d marry me?” She looked him in the eye. “You?”

“I’m already married,” Howell said, and they both knew it was an evasive answer.

She didn’t call him on it. “I don’t want anything more from you. I’ve got what I want, what I’ve wanted for a long time. I’m content.”

“Are you sure you ought to be content? You’re entitled to a life of your own, you know. Why don’t you get out of here when you’re mother’s gone? Make a new start somewhere.“

“I have responsibilities,” she said. “Brian and Mary depend on me. I can’t just lock them away someplace. Dermot’s different, he’s an independent soul. But I can’t abandon the twins.”

“I see,” he said.

“I’m not sure you do see,” she came back quickly. “People like you are footloose; you go where you want to, when you want to. You don’t let yourselves get tied down with things as ordinary as family.”

Now it was Howell’s turn to flush.

“I don’t think you understand that other people are born into situations – or just accept them, live with them and do the best they can.”

“Sure, I understand that.”

“No, not really, John. It’s something you’ve never learned. Maybe it’s the reporter in you; you dig into something, get what you want out of it, then move on. When you’ve finished whatever it is you want to do here, you’ll leave, and you won’t come back. You’ll put yourself first, and I guess that’s the right thing for someone like you to do.”

“Look, I want to help you. I… ‘

“No.” She put her hand on his arm. “Don’t make commitments you may not be able to keep. You’ll just have that much more guilt to bear when you don’t keep them. I meant what I said. I trapped you. It was my decision, and I knew what I was doing at the time. I didn’t do it lightly, and I know how to bear the responsibility I’ve taken on. You owe me nothing. That’s the way I want it.”

“All right,” Howell said, pushing back from the table, “if that’s what you want.” He left her and went into the living room. Scotty was asleep on the sofa. Dermot and the twins had come from somewhere and were sitting on the front porch. Dermot was picking at his mandolin. Howell sat down in a comfortable chair and picked up the photograph he had seen on his first visit to the house.

Kathleen O’Coineen stared back at him with huge eyes. The priest had been right; she was startlingly beautiful. She couldn’t have been more than eight or nine in the picture. There was still that familiarity about her. He thought, for a moment, that he knew why, but then he heard a car engine. He parted the curtains slightly and looked out. A sheriffs car was pulling into the Kelly driveway. Howell stepped away from the window. Bo had moved faster than he had expected. There was no place to run. He’d have to go along and hope McCauliffe could get him out in time.

He peeked carefully through the curtains again. The car had stopped in the drive. The reflection on the windshield concealed the driver; Howell thought he must be taking a careful look at the house, and he was glad that he and Scotty had parked out back. Then the car backed into the road and drove away toward town.

Howell sank back into the armchair and let his pulse return to normal. Then he leaned back and let himself doze. What had he been thinking about before? He was too sleepy to care. He had wrestled with too much today. His mind needed to gather itself for what was ahead.