Bound by Blood and Brimstone (25 page)

realizing her words were futile. I was getting through.

“We tell no one,” I interjected. “Not now. Not ever. This is important, Lorrie Beth, so

stay with me. No one must ever, ever know about this. This has to stay between us and only us.

Forever. Do you understand?” Truth had finally laid its heavy cloak around her shoulders, and

she was sagging beneath its weight. I knew even before she spoke, what she was going to say.

“Caleb....”

“Will never know,” I finished. Desperation was mine now, and feeling time’s hot breath

on my neck, I reached for her face with both hands and pulled it into mine. “Lorrie Beth, there’s

no time. We have to make sure no one ever knows we were here, and that means getting back

home before Momma and Reese.

Now, I want you to gather our things and run back as fast as you possibly can. You’ll be

lucky if you make it back before them, in time to do the milking. You’re to go on as if nothing’s

happened, and if they’re already there, you
don’t
know where I am. Tell them that.

You’ll have to just take your tongue-lashing for not getting the milking done. If I can’t

beat them home, I’ll take care of my side of the story. Now, there are some things I have to do

before I can go back. For all we know, Caleb may be on his way to meet Sue Lee here. There’s

other stuff we need to talk about, but there’s not time now. And, Lorrie Beth, no matter what,

you
have
to act normal. If Momma suspects anything’s wrong she’ll worry it like a dog with a

bone.”

“I’m going to jail, aren’t I? Oh, Ember Mae, I’ll go to hell for this!” The agony on her

face was staggering, but I couldn’t let her go any further down this path or jail would be the least

of our worries.

“You’re not going to any jail,” I declared. “I won’t let that happen. And as for hell, if you

wind up there, no doubt I’ll be there to keep you company. Sisters forever, right?” She nodded

slowly. “Now get going. Don’t look back and don’t stop for anything. Remember Lot’s wife.

Hurry!”

Waiting just long enough to watch her retreat through the woods, I forced myself to

remain still in case she turned back for a last look. I had resolved that the full burden of what I

was about to do would be mine alone. The less Lorrie Beth saw, the better. In my judgment, our

futures would hinge upon no one being able to connect us with Sue Lee and this place.

No one must suspect that there’d ever been bad blood between us. Caleb knew, of

course, and had been an intimate party to the endless drama, but there would be no reward for

him in volunteering the details. I accepted the likely prospect of his showing up to join his

partner in crime, but I questioned whether or not Sue Lee would’ve actually told him about her

plan to commit murder on this day.

She’d revealed enough to indicate that he wouldn’t have been a willing participant, and if

I was correct, there might be a slight chance I could carry this off with no one the wiser,

provided, of course, I could get back to the house in time.

For roughly two seconds, I thought about leaving Sue Lee just as she was, to be found by

hunters or wayward teenagers, but the gash in her forehead couldn’t be taken as a slip-and-fall. It

was too obvious deliberate force had been applied, and with considerable aim. That would lead

to questions about who else could’ve been present.

When all was said and done, it was that blasted necklace that nearly did me in. Had I

taken the time to analyze all the implications of its discovery, I would’ve been glued to that

bloody spot of ground until midnight. Squatting beside Sue Lee’s head, I released the latch on

the chain and stuck it in my pocket along with the killing stone.

I searched for a stout limb with a sharp point that could be used for a spade. Less than

five minutes later, both necklace and stone were safely buried and covered with leaves, far from

the body. I worked methodically, without frenzy, my mind locked in ice.

Looking down for the last time into the face of Sue Lee Jacobs, I was tempted to close

the lids over those sightless eyes, but couldn’t bring myself to touch her so intimately again. Life

had abandoned her, leaving her shrunken somehow, alone, even forlorn. I had no fear of her

now.

I grasped her by the shoulders and heaved upward. The sheer weight of her unyielding

flesh forced me to my knees and wrung sweat from every pore before I’d taken two steps. I

grunted and strained, dragging her backward bit by bit, until eons later, I reached the lip of The

Gorge. Without the luxury of one moment for rest or thought, I shut my eyes, rolled her over the

edge, and listened for that faint thud of final impact.

What I heard before that, the crackle of broken branches, the scudding of pebbles and

loose rocks, the sickening thumps of a hurtling body, were the stuff of nightmares, but in the

searing stillness of those few seconds, they held no terror for me at all.

Like a well-oiled machine, brain and body clicked together in perfect harmony, a

symphony in function; no tremors, no ragged breathing, no second-guessing. All was simple,

smooth, and efficient, as I finished up those last crucial details like a second party watching the

first from a vast distance.

I say that because it didn’t feel like me raking leaves and moss over drag marks with my

bare hands, and it didn’t feel like me standing naked in a stream, washing dirt and sweat and

blood from my hands and clothes. It didn’t even feel like me running the race of my life through

the approaching nightfall. It was somebody else, and I just looked on.

I ran so fast my clothes and hair were dry by the time I reached the edge of the woods to

peer through the brush at our front yard. Fully prepared to take my punishment for being caught

away from the house, I had my story rehearsed and ready. It was a simple one, designed to keep

me from tripping myself up later.

I’d just gotten a wild hair, I would tell them. Out of the blue, I’d cooked up the idea to

head to Wonnie’s, but had stopped before reaching her cabin to relax by a creek and read my

new book. It had been miserably hot, hot enough to melt your eyeballs in their sockets, and I just

had to get somewhere cooler, I would say. Then I’d grown drowsy and fallen asleep.

Of course, my story included the assurance that Lorrie Beth had known nothing of my

erratic plan. Her own side of the story was the missing link, and I could only pray that she had

beat Momma and Reese home. If not, she was on her own, and her story had better be one I

could work with. As it turned out, fate had smiled on me for once in my life. Though full dark

was only minutes away, there was no sign of Momma, Reese, or Baby Sam.

Like a chicken thieving fox, I crept back to the house to find Lorrie Beth alone in the

kitchen, vomiting in the sink. She turned a ghastly, chalk-white face to me, swiping her mouth

with the back of one forearm.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “Guess I don’t have much stomach for this.”

“Well, you best
get
a stomach for it, and fast,” I retorted. “Are you nuts? What if Momma

and Reese had walked in and caught you like this?” Seeing her weakness enraged me for some

reason, maybe because my knees were threatening to buckle underneath me, and my stomach

was pitching and rocking like a rowboat at sea.

“Sorry,” she said again as she dashed water over the mess in the sink. I tossed my sweaty

hair over my shoulder and glared at her.

“Cut the Loony Bin Act, Lorrie Beth,” I said acidly. “Quit your whining and belly-aching

and get it together. If we’re going get through this, you’ll have to buck up.”

She looked at me out of tortured eyes and swayed slightly on her feet. I was rocked by

pity for her, but refused to give in to it. Instead, I adopted a slightly gentler tone. “Come on.

Let’s get you cleaned up and ready for bed. I reckon if we’re asleep when they get home, at least

we won’t have to talk to them. God knows you’re in no shape for that.”

“Okay,” she said meekly, but she didn’t offer to move nor take a step. Squaring my

shoulders, I reached for her arm and guided her firmly out of the kitchen and into my bedroom.

“We’ll sleep in here tonight,” I instructed, as I handed her one of my worn cotton

nightgowns.

“Yeah, okay,” she said dazedly, her eyes darting wildly around the room as if she’d never

seen it before. Fear pricked me with hot little needles.
Delayed shock
, I thought for the third time

that day. I called her name sharply, and she jerked like somebody yanked out of a sound sleep by

some horrific bogeyman. I’d been an eyewitness to the unthinkable, and now, I’d have to deal

with keeping her glued to the real world. It was my breaking point.

Lightning quick, my hand snaked out and struck her full force on the side of the face.

“Will you snap out of it?” I screamed. Her eyes bulged and glistened with tears, and the crimson

print of my hand was stark against her pallid cheek.

“I swear, Lorrie Beth, if you don’t straighten up and stop wimping around you’re going

to bring us both down, and before I see that happen, I’ll kick your butt so hard you’ll be poopin’

down the back of your shirt!” Suddenly her chin went up and her eyes flashed green fire
. Good
.

She’s mad
.

“Don’t you dare hit me!” she yelled. “You can’t treat me like that! You aren’t my

Momma!”

“Better be glad of it, too!” I could feel my face fill with blood, and my hands were fisted

against my sides. “If I was, you wouldn’t be such a mealy-mouthed cry-baby. I’d make you stand

up on your own two feet and fight your own battles!”

“How can you say that I don’t fight my own battles? How can you say that after today?”

She was practically foaming at the mouth, her neck veins throbbing, her breath fast and

shuddery.

Pure madness. That’s the only explanation for what happened next. I don’t remember

who started it, but there we were, giggling and sputtering, hanging on to each other like

shipwreck survivors, then sobbing out our terror, revulsion, and sorrow. When our insanity had

finally run its course and we were too spent to stand, we collapsed on my bed and lay staring at

the ceiling.

“I just keep seeing Sue Lee’s face and hearing that nasty voice of hers,” she whispered. “I

keep thinking she’s gone forever and that it’s because of me, and nothing that ever happens in

my whole life will change what I’ve done today.”

She sighed and reached for my hand, as the moonlight streaming across the bed bathed

her delicate features in silver. “Then there’s Caleb. He’s going to be without a sister now.” Her

voice trembled and faltered with her next words. “I can’t even think about what it would feel like

to be without my own sister.”

I turned to my side and propped my head on my elbow to look her squarely in the face.

“You won’t ever have to be, long as I got breath in my body.” Neither of us spoke for a while,

but my eyes never left hers.

We’d always been able to talk to each other in heart, without words and, in the deepening

silence, she grasped my message of undying loyalty. I watched as the tears wet her cheeks and

pillow, but still, no words came. She fisted the last tear out of the way and sat up abruptly.

“Caleb will figure this all out, Em. He already hates me enough to kill me. This’ll just be

the last nail in my coffin.” She said it calmly, as if her certain death was something she already

accepted.

Caleb Jacobs has been the albatross around her neck since she was six years old. She still

believes he just pulled Sue Lee in with him and that she was just too afraid of him to refuse.

Until that moment, I’d resolved not to tell Lorrie Beth about finding her necklace. Now I knew

she had to know the sordid truth. Sitting cross-legged to face her, and grasping both of her hands

firmly in mine, I told her.

“So, you see, it was Sue Lee all the time, not Caleb, who really hated you. She was the

one who followed us all summer and threw rocks at us. She was the one who stole your necklace.

Not because she wanted it, but because it belonged to you. She just used Caleb the whole time,

worked him up, got him to tease you in front of the other kids. Probably made him think he’d

look like a sissy or something if he didn’t give you a hard time.”

She blinked a couple of times and shook her head like a dog that’d crawled out of a water

hole. I wondered how she’d deal with the reality of the true evil we had done battle with, so I

braced myself for her reaction before going further.

“You want to know something else? That day she chopped off your hair? I think she

really wanted to kill you that day, and would have if Caleb hadn’t been with her. And today, she

followed us to The Gorge with the full intention of murdering us both.”

She dropped her head, hiding her eyes from me, and just sat there, wagging it from side

to side. “But why? I still don’t get it. Why did she hate me so much and for so long? We were