First Thrills - Lee Child [101]
My father emerged from the study. “Jules, we must go home, and let these fine folks rest for the night.”
“But—” I began.
“Jules, please,” my father insisted.
Brent stared at me. He was not going to help me. And even Janey Sue, next to Brent, appeared to be a little lost.
I had no choice but to leave with my father. I was not invited to stay.
The next morning, fishermen from Douglas Island boarded the schooner which had brought Johnny home, but not into the docks.
The schooner was empty. There was not a soul aboard her.
My father, commonly looked upon as the people’s leader on the island as we had no mayor or other governmental structure there, listened gravely to the men, then announced that we’d be going out to Fairhaven to speak with Johnny while he sent other men in one of our fastest ketches to alert the proper authorities on the mainland.
Brambles, deeply distressed, opened the door. He told my father that Johnny was doing poorly. He would get Mr. Brent.
Brent, looking worn, came to the foyer and led us into the study. My father told Brent about the lack of a crew or other passengers on the schooner. Brent listened gravely. I thought his face became more ashen as he did so.
“That’s quite a mystery,” Brent said.
“Surely, Johnny can tell us something!” my father said.
“Johnny is sedated right now; he had a very hard night,” Brent said. He grimaced. “I have laudanum, for my hip, you know. Johnny needed sleep, very badly,” he said.
“Well, I must speak with him. Authorities will come from the mainland, and they will demand to know something,” my father said.
Brent nodded. He looked like a man under torture. Still, I was resentful. I was convinced he was jealous of Johnny, and that he was hiding something.
“May I see Janey Sue?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “She is resting, as well.”
“Brent, damn you—!”
“Jules!” My father said with horror. “The war is over. We will not become animals because it existed, or because it is over!”
Brent looked away. “It’s all right, Mr. Shelby. I realize that my own behavior must appear far less than hospitable. Forgive me.”
I wanted to slap his face. My father, however, had my elbow. He apologized for me, and we were quickly out of the house.
“He’s doing something to Johnny—it’s Brent. Father! Maybe he’s trying to kill him. Brent would probably like to inherit the property. You must stop him!”
My father looked at me. He was grave, but didn’t share my fear or my passion. “Child, war is hard on the women who wait. It is devastating to the men who fight, who stare at their fellow human beings, sometimes look them in their eyes, and shoot them or stab them through with their knives or bayonets. Let it be; we will see. Brent knows that Johnny must answer to me. Give it the day.”
I had no intention of giving it a day. I rode out to Johnny’s beautiful Fairhaven, and I came around the back. I left Mathilda, my horse, behind the stables, grazing on long grasses, and I slipped through the kitchen door. I knew my way around the house, and I looked out for both Brambles and Mable as I climbed the stairs.
What I found horrified me.
Johnny’s room had been boarded; there were nails imbedded in the wooden planks that now walled him in. I walked to the door and called his name.
He did not answer. I tried and tried, and then hurried down the hall to Janey Sue’s room. Her door was not barricaded, but she wasn’t there.
I slipped from the house, furious now. Brent was locking his cousin away! What had he done with Janey Sue?
I rode hard, straight back to my home, determined that my father was going to do something, and do that something now. But he wasn’t there, and as I stood in the parlor of our home on Main Street, not far from the docks, I heard the shouting.
The sound was distant, but so loud it carried on the breeze. I left the house and ran down Main Street until I reached the long boardwalk that stretched out so that the larger ships could avail themselves of the deep harbor, and there, found the reason for the horror. People