The Innocent (34 page)

He reined in his thoughts. Why would she believe he could do anything for her when he couldn’t even keep her dog corralled?

She took another quick look around. “Sister Edna won’t like it, but I must talk to you too.” His heart lifted and then fell when she went on. “About Asher.”

He jumped in front of her words. “That’s what I came to tell you. He got away from Mrs. Snowden. I haven’t been able to find him.”

“I know.” She reached through the clothes on the line to touch his arm.

He wanted to capture her hand and never let it go, but he had no right. Her gesture was innocent, without the meaning he wanted it to have. “You know? How?”

“He found me here.” Instead of the smile he might have expected about that, she looked worried.

“So where is he?” Mitchell looked around. “The Shakers didn’t harm him, did they?”

“Oh, no.” She looked truly surprised by his question. “The Shakers are too kind to hurt Asher.”

Mitchell felt a surge of hope at how she spoke of the Shakers as apart from herself. She hadn’t completely gone over to their ways as yet. “Where is he then? I can’t imagine him being far from you unless he was forced to be.”

“He’s in the West Family barn. We found him under the corncrib last night. He’d been shot.”

“Shot?” Mitchell frowned. “Is he hurt bad?”

“His back leg is damaged, but the brother caring for him thinks it will heal.”

“Who shot him?”

“I don’t know.” She pushed a stray lock of hair back under her Shaker cap. “I have to wonder if he ran afoul of Curt Whitlow.”

“Have you seen Curt?” Mitchell asked. “Since you saw him with Brother Henry.”

When she hesitated, Mitchell pushed her for an answer. “He hasn’t been home and Mrs. Whitlow is worried.”

“I haven’t seen him.” She looked across the pasture toward the woods. “I did glimpse a horse and rider yesterday out in the woods, but I’m almost certain it wasn’t Curt.”

Mitchell kept his eyes on her face. “Did any of those with you get a better look?”

“No one was with me.” She unpinned one of the pillowcases, folded it and carefully placed it in the basket at her feet.

“You were alone? That might have been dangerous, Carlyn.” Her given name escaped his lips before he could stop it.

She wouldn’t meet his eyes as she took down another pillowcase. “I was often alone at my house, but here with the Shakers, it is difficult to have even a moment to oneself without others near enough to hear your every breath.” She sighed and waved her hand to indicate the women around them. “Like now.”

He didn’t take his eyes off her. It didn’t matter who was listening. Only that she was. “But there you had your dog to protect you.”

“And my gun,” she murmured.

“What happened to your gun?”

“The Shakers took it when I came into the village. They said such is not allowed here. Everything is peace. No need for weapons.” She concentrated on laying the pillowcase exactly so in the basket. She looked up at Mitchell. “I am not sure they are right, but I came to no harm in the woods or last night when I waited with Asher for the morning light.”

“You were out in the night? Don’t you realize that whoever set the fire could still be lurking around the village ready to cause more trouble?” He wanted to grab her shoulders and make her look straight at him. “What were you thinking?”

“That Asher was hurt.” She reached to unpin another pillowcase.

Mitchell pulled in a slow breath. He couldn’t let his emotions cloud his thinking. She was right. She had not been harmed. “You need to tell me exactly what happened yesterday.”

“I already told you. I took a walk so I could be alone for a while. Sister Edna was very unhappy with me for neglecting my duties, as she will be again when she sees me talking to you instead of efficiently gathering in the clothes. She is near despair in teaching me the Shaker way.”

That news didn’t make Mitchell unhappy. “All right. So you went into the woods to be alone. You saw someone on a horse but don’t think it was Whitlow.” He waited until she nodded. “But what of last night? What had you out in the middle of the night to find Asher when you didn’t even know he’d gotten away from me?”

“It is a story too long to tell.”

Mitchell crossed his arms and leveled his eyes on her. “Long or not, I’m not leaving until I hear it. I’ve got all day.”

“But I have work to do.” She jerked the last pillowcase off the line, dropped it in the basket without bothering to fold it as she had the others, and bent to pick up the basket.

Mitchell leaned down and put his hand on the basket to keep her from leaving. “Story first. Until I know who set the fire and why, I need to know about anything unusual happening around here. And a young sister wandering around in the dark is definitely unusual here in Harmony Hill.”

“Not so unusual.” She let go of the basket and straightened up. “I’ve been told such happens from time to time. A Shaker sister and brother succumb to temptation and sneak away as Sister Berdine and Brother Payton did last night. But they heard a dog whimpering, and Sister Berdine came back to tell me. She knew I had a dog before I came here.”

“Then what?”

“I coaxed him out from under the corncrib, and he was bleeding. Brother Payton said to take him to Brother Willis at first light. So that’s what I did.” She looked to the west sadly. “But they will not let me go see him now. So many rules.” Her eyes came back to Mitchell. “Will you go get him and take him home?”

“Do you still trust me to keep him? After what happened?”

“He likes you. In time, he will get used to being with you.” She touched his hand lightly like the kiss of a butterfly. “Please.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that she could get used to being with him too, but she’d given no sign she would welcome such words from him. She wanted him to take care of her dog. Mitchell held in his disappointment.

“All right. If he’s able, I’ll take him with me.” Mitchell was rewarded with a full smile.

“Will you come back by here? So I can see him.”

“Only if you make me a promise in return.”

She looked leery of agreeing. “What promise?”

“That you won’t go out alone at night until I catch whoever caused the fire.”

“First Sister Edna wants me to promise that and now you,” Carlyn said.

“Sister Edna?”

“Yea, she made me give my word I would not leave the sleeping room without waking her. I am not to do that anyway.” Carlyn’s smile came back. “But she knows I am prone to ignore the rules if they don’t suit me. As now, talking to you.” Her smile disappeared. “She has not been herself. Something is bothering her.”

“About the fire?” The old sister had seemed to guard her answers the day he’d questioned Carlyn in Elder Derron’s office.

“Perhaps. The fire did upset her.”

“If she has information or even suspicions, she should tell me. Evading the truth is as bad as lying.”

“Sister Edna wouldn’t lie.” Carlyn looked truly shocked. “She says a Believer must confess every sin and I have no doubt she does so.”

“But it might not be her sin, but someone else’s. She could be protecting someone.”

“Who? She would have no reason to protect Curt Whitlow, and he was the one arguing with Brother Henry.” Carlyn ran her fingers along the clothesline between them.

“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” He barely kept from reaching for her hand. “After I see about Asher.”

“Thank you, Sheriff Brodie.” She bent to pick up her basket again and this time he didn’t stop her.

“My given name is Mitchell.” He kept his eyes on her face even as he felt the color rising in his own.

“Mitchell.” She almost whispered his name, but she said it. Her cheeks pinked to match his as she lowered her eyes to the basket of clothes she held. “I must go. Sister Edna already has much to forgive in my behavior.”

“Where is she? I need to find out if what’s bothering her has to do with the fire.”

“Please don’t.” Carlyn looked up, alarmed.

“If she knows something about the fire, she has to tell me.”

“I suppose so, but don’t let her know I said anything to you. She’s ready to lock me away somewhere now.”

“She wouldn’t do that, would she?” Mitchell frowned.

“I don’t think so, but she would be upset to know I spoke of her to you.”

“I won’t mention you.”

“Thank you.” She looked relieved as she turned toward the washhouse. She looked over her shoulder at him. “I will watch for you to come back by.”

The West Family barn was easy to find. When Mitchell went inside, the dog barked, but only once. A greeting. Not a warning. Asher flapped his tail in the straw and struggled to his feet when he saw Mitchell.

“Easy, boy.” Mitchell stepped inside the stall to kneel down by the dog. He pushed him down on the old blanket that must have been put there for him. His back leg was bandaged, but Asher didn’t seem to be chewing on the wrap.

“He’s a smart dog, that one.” A Shaker brother came and leaned against the bottom stall door. He was tall and wiry with hands and face browned by the sun and wrinkled by the years. “He appears to know you. That girl what brought him over this morn acted like he was hers.”

“He is, but she says she can’t keep him here.”

“Yea. Against the rules, but I keep waiting for Mother Ann to inspire the Ministry to change that. I’ve met many dogs that would make fine Shakers.”

Mitchell stood to face the man. “I’m Sheriff Mitchell Brodie.”

“Brother Willis Hayes.” The man nodded at Mitchell but didn’t make any move to shake hands. “So the girl gave you the dog?”

“She did, but he tracked her down here.” Mitchell let his gaze slide back to the dog.

“Got hisself shot on the way.” Brother Willis leaned on
the half door. “I picked out the buckshot and lathered him with our healing ointment. In a couple of weeks, he’ll be back on all four. Might carry a limp.”

“Who shot him?”

“No way to know that. But whoever it was must not have had a clear shot. That is, if they aimed to kill the dog. Could be they were merely trying to scare it off.”

“From Harmony Hill?”

“Nay, no Believer would shoot at a stray dog. The poor fellow must have encountered someone from the world before he got to our village.”

“When do you think he was shot?” The dog’s wound probably didn’t have anything to do with the fire, but then if there was a prime suspect for shooting Asher, it had to be Curt Whitlow, who seemed to have disappeared.

“No longer ago than yesterday. The young sister found him in the night.” Brother Willis shook his head. “When she should have been in her bed. Bad things can happen in the dark.”

“So they can,” Mitchell said.

“Yea.” Brother Willis pulled on his chin. “Those of the world refuse to allow us to live here in peace.”

“You’re thinking about the fire.”

“Yea.” A horse nickered in one of the stalls, and Brother Willis looked toward the sound. “It does not surprise me Brother Henry died trying to save his horses. I would be ready to do the same. The horse is a faithful servant.”

“But the fire was intentionally set.”

“Of that, there is no doubt.” Brother Willis looked grim.

There were doubts about other things. Like whether Brother Henry was an intended victim or an accidental one. “Did you see Brother Henry’s body?”

“Yea.”

“He was badly burned. Are you sure it was him?”

“Who else could it be?” Brother Willis frowned. “It was his barn. And he is gone. Why would you ask such a question?”

“It’s my job to ask questions and stop those who might cause trouble.”

“Trouble can best be stopped by those of the world not coming among us stirring up things best left alone.” The Shaker’s face stiffened. It was plain he was including Mitchell in those of the world.

“But a man died.”

“Every man has a time to die. Such is the Lord’s plan.”

“I doubt the Lord planned Brother Henry to be in the fire.”

“The ways of the Lord are far above the understanding of man. It is best for us to accept what has happened and not linger in regret.” Brother Willis shook his head with a look of pity spreading across his face. “That is hard for one of the world to understand, but if you would open your heart to our Mother Ann’s teachings, then you would see. She taught us that if we take all sorrow out of life, we take away all richness, depth, and tenderness. Sorrow is the furnace that melts selfish hearts together in love.”

“I still have a job to do,” Mitchell said.

“Then you should go back to the world to do it and leave us in peace.”

The dog whined, hearing the tension between them. Mitchell was wasting his breath arguing with the Shaker man, so he turned his attention back to Asher. “Should I take him with me today?”

“That would not be wise. Unless you have a wagon and someone to hold the dog to be sure he couldn’t jump out and
make his injury worse.” Brother Willis opened the bottom door to the stall and stepped in beside Mitchell. He bent down to run a hand over the dog’s back. “Better he stays here. Such a good dog will be no trouble.”

“If you think that best.” Mitchell knew the Shaker man was right, but he hated leaving Asher. Brother Willis followed Mitchell out of the stall.

When Asher whimpered, Mitchell looked back at him. The Shaker put his hand on Mitchell’s shoulder. “Worry not. Elder Marcus has assured me the Ministry will allow me to care for the dog since we have a duty to be kind to animals. When the dog is well enough, we will bring him to you in the town.”

Asher howled when Mitchell went on out of the barn. The lonesome sound made him want to turn back and take the dog, but Asher was better off there under the Shaker’s care. If only Mitchell could believe the same was true for Asher’s mistress. Something wasn’t right here in the Shaker village, but whatever it was, none of the Shakers wanted to talk about it.

That included Elder Derron, who was waiting beside Mitchell’s horse. The man stood straight and stiff and offered no greeting.

“Is something wrong, Elder?” Mitchell asked.

“Yea.” The man twisted his hands together, and then pulled them apart to jerk on the corners of his jacket. “I’ve been asked to inform you the Ministry feels it would be best if you did not return to Harmony Hill. It is upsetting to our sisters to have you questioning them.”