Thou Art With Me (11 page)

Traci still didn’t wake up. It was a good thing. She needed her rest. And yet some perverse part of him had the urge to reach over and shake her awake so that she would be suffering along with him in the moment.

He was grateful when the urge had passed because he knew that if he had actually given into it the most likely outcome would have been that he ended up with his eyes scratched out.

He closed his eyes and let his body relax back into the bed. He was so tired he was shocked he wasn’t back asleep already. He waited for the sweet oblivion to claim him.

Fifteen minutes later he was still waiting. He tried flipping onto his side and readjusting his pillow. What was wrong with him? He wanted to sleep, he was desperate for it. His mind, however, had begun spinning, cataloguing the events of the day.

He couldn’t get the coded papers out of his mind. When he’d gotten home he hadn’t even had an opportunity to see if Kent and Paul’s codes seemed similar. When he’d walked through the door he’d had just barely enough time to choke down some quasi-warm dinner before heading off to bed with Traci. She had been asleep the second her head touched her pillow so he hadn’t even had a chance to discuss what he’d found with her.

Again he felt the urge to wake her up and again he managed to resist. It was possible that the papers he had discovered in Kent’s files pertained to the truth of Paul’s life and his real identity. That would make sense although he wouldn’t have thought that Paul would have trusted anyone with his secrets. Is that why he’d put Kent through law school? Was it a bribe to keep his secrets? Attorney-client confidentiality could be a powerful thing and if Paul were to tell someone his secrets he’d want it to be someone who couldn’t be called to testify against him. The two best candidates for that were a spouse or an attorney.

Even if that was what the papers were about, though, it didn’t explain the key Paul had entrusted Kent to give Georgia. What could the key possibly lead to? If it was just papers confirming Paul’s real identity, why bother? He could have instructed Kent to just tell Georgia the truth instead of sending her off to find heaven knew what with that key.

And the fact that the key had come with no instructions, just that coded message meant one of three things. Either Paul had expected Georgia to know or figure out what the key was for, or he had expected her to be able to decode his message, or he had expected her to bring Mark in to help.

Well Georgia certainly seemed clueless about the key just as he was. So that meant Paul must have been counting on either Georgia or Mark to be able to decode the note.

“Why couldn’t you have just made it easy?” Mark whispered.

“Who are you talking to?” Traci said suddenly and loudly enough to make him jump.

“That? That you wake up for?” he asked incredulously.

“It sounded important.”

“It is. I found some more things out about Paul, but they’ve only led to more questions than answers. Now I’m left with a bunch of coded papers, a key that fits heaven knows what, and no idea what to do with either of them.”

Traci didn’t say anything.

“Hon?”

Silence.

“Hon, you still awake?” he said, significantly louder.

She snored softly and he rolled his eyes. If he wanted to talk to Traci he was going to have to wait for morning.

From the other room Ryan began to softly cry.

Jeremiah was on edge as he snuck from building to building. He honestly didn’t think he would find Malcolm, or anything that would lead them to Malcolm. It was possible, though, that he’d stumble onto something questionable or downright illegal. If he did that might provide a motivation for someone to have gotten rid of Malcolm if he’d discovered the same thing. As long as no one tried to get rid of Jeremiah or Cindy, everything should be fine.

The only building he’d steered clear of appeared to house some sleeping quarters for staff members staying on overnight. It made sense. There were no activities late at night and no expectation that guests would need anything, but having staff at least present in case of an emergency was smart. Plus he was pretty sure that they took turns patrolling the grounds at night. He had managed to avoid running into the dance instructor as he met up with the yoga instructor outside the dormitory and handed her a set of keys and the flashlight. Jeremiah noticed that both of them were incredibly light on their feet so he knew he’d have to stay alert and not trust to his ears to give him warning of their approach.

The final building appeared to just be a storage facility. There were all manner of items from extra yoga mats to cases of toilet tissue. One wall was even lined with canned foods, the kind that could keep for a long time. He moved through the building, using the flashlight app on his phone to get a better look at some things.

On the far right side toward the back he encountered a door which was locked. He reached into his pocket for tools to help him pick it. Just as he was starting to insert the first metal instrument into the lock he froze.

Something wasn’t right. He could feel it. He held his breath, the better to listen. Then he heard it, a very soft footfall. There was someone else in the building and that person was headed straight for Jeremiah.

11

Jeremiah turned off his phone and shoved it in his pocket. For a split second he thought about going ahead and picking the lock on the door and then hiding in whatever space was behind it. It was too risky, though. He probably had just enough time, but if the door’s hinges creaked at all it would give him away.

He glided back the way he’d come, trying to remember everything he’d seen in the front part of the building. One window in the building high up on the side was letting in just enough moonlight to keep him from tripping over anything in the dark.

He had nearly made it to the front door when he heard the knob twist and the door begin to open. He backpedaled, realizing he was caught between two different people. He looked at the pallets of toilet paper that were stacked on top of each other and realized there was just enough room between them and the wall for him to squeeze in.

He moved quickly but carefully, making sure not to knock into anything. He reached the pallets and wedged himself behind them then crouched down with one foot on the floor and one on the edge of the bottom pallet. It was an awkward position and he had to brace himself with one hand against the wall.

He heard the front door close and then footsteps, these much louder than the ones that had been coming from the back of the building. The speaker clearly felt confident of his reason to be in the building.

The footsteps stopped not five feet from Jeremiah’s hiding place. He tensed, readying himself to spring out if need be even though he was fairly certain his presence had not yet been discovered.

“Hello,” a male voice called out in a loud whisper.

“There you are,” came an even quieter response. The second voice was definitely female. “Isn’t it a little early to be having this conversation?”

“I thought we should get started. I think we have some interesting prospects this time around.”

“Like that old couple?”

“No, we need to leave the regulars alone,” the man said firmly. “Besides, those two strike me as inseparable.”

“Then who do you have in mind?”

“Jack and Levi. I have a feeling we could get them in a heartbeat.”

“And I don’t think their wives would even notice until it was too late,” the woman said.

Jeremiah was struggling to believe his good fortune in happening into this building in time to overhear this conversation. He thought about Cindy’s sudden insistence that they not wait any longer to check out the other buildings. Maybe G-d had been prompting her. He was grateful that she had stayed back in their room, though. He would never have known that the woman was in the back of the building, in the dark, waiting for someone. He and Cindy probably would have spoken or made some sound that would have alerted her and ruined everything.

The question now was, what did these two think that Jack and Levi were likely candidates for? The woman was right about one thing, Jill and Kim certainly weren’t paying very close attention to their husbands thus far at the retreat and they could likely be gone for hours before they were even missed.

He still wasn’t sure who the two speakers were, but he dared not risk trying to get a look at them at this point. They were so close they would almost certainly catch the movement if he peeked out from behind the pallets.

“Any other likely prospects?” she asked.

“I’m not sure yet. Things should get a lot clearer tomorrow when we have a chance to really work with them.”

So, they definitely were staff members. He’d been certain that was the case, but it was nice to have confirmation. Now he just had to figure out which ones. If he couldn’t get a good look at them or if they didn’t raise their voices louder than a whisper then he’d have to spend the next day watching to see who was watching the guests.

“Are you sure it’s safe, doing this again so soon?” she asked.

“I’m positive,” the man said. “What happened last time was a fluke. And besides, no one can touch us here.”

Jeremiah wondered if the last time that they were discussing had involved Malcolm. If so, it hadn’t gone the way they expected things to go.

For a moment Jeremiah considered leaping out from his hiding place and confronting them. It would certainly be the faster way to get things done. It could also prove highly problematic. They weren’t likely to spontaneously confess to anything. He wasn’t a police officer so he couldn’t just arrest them, and on what little he’d overheard Mark would never be able to come onto the reservation to arrest them. Even if he could there wasn’t near enough evidence of any kind of wrongdoing to be of use.

Of course, he could threaten or otherwise force a confession, but he knew it wouldn’t hold up in court if they confessed under duress. Besides, he didn’t yet know if anyone else was involved, and he didn’t want to risk letting any co-conspirators get away.

Whatever was going on here he’d have to get more information before he or Mark could do anything. He also noted that separating couples from each other was an essential element to their plans. Which meant that aside from being watchful he’d need to stick to Cindy like glue.

“Keep your eyes open tomorrow. We’ll meet again tomorrow night to talk more,” the man said.

“Okay, but not here, please. This building always gives me the creeps after dark,” she said.

“I don’t know why you’re always so jumpy. It’s just a storeroom.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t in here earlier. There were noises.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, just noises. Creaking sounds I guess.”

“It’s a building. They do that at night.”

“Yeah, but for a minute I could swear you were here before you actually came in.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. It was like there was another presence in here.”

“Now you’re just losing it. You’ve been watching too many episodes of that ghost hunting show on the Escape! channel.”

“I have not.”

“Fine. Look, I’ll figure out somewhere else we can meet tomorrow night. Now let’s go before someone catches us in here.”

When he heard footsteps moving toward the front door, Jeremiah risked standing, trying to get a look at them. It was no use, though. It was too dark to even make out hair color or anything else significant about either of them.

He heard the door open and close. He waited a minute then made his way to the back of the building to see if there was anything he hadn’t been able to see in that area before.

It was fortunate that the man had been so dismissive of her concerns, particularly about feeling a presence in the building. If he’d been at all smart he would have at least done a cursory investigation before writing her and her feelings off the way he did.

Jeremiah went through the rest of the building but didn’t find anything suspicious. When he made it back to the front he stood for a moment with his ear against the door. He couldn’t hear any sound from the outside so he slowly opened the door and slipped out, closing it behind him.

He made his way swiftly and quietly back to the bungalow. He didn’t run into any patrolling staff members which was a relief.

When he walked into the room Cindy got up from where she’d been sitting at the table, ran over, and hugged him tight.

“I was so worried!”

“I’m okay. I’m here,” he said, lightly stroking her back.

She finally pulled away and moved to take a seat on her bed. “Did you find anything?” she asked.

“Nothing tangible, and no sign of Malcolm, but I did overhear two staff members conspiring together.”

“What about?”

“That’s the thing. I’m not entirely sure.”

He quickly filled her in on what he’d overheard. She listened intently and when he was finished she sat silent for a moment.

“Any thoughts?” he asked.

“Do you think they’re only targeting men?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. It’s possible they’re targeting a certain profile and it just so happens that the initial obvious candidates are men. Of course, they lumped Dorothea and Flynn together. That could have been deliberate or just them being imprecise.”

“They have money, but I don’t know how well off Jack and Levi are in that area.”

“It might be worth finding out. I know Mark had mentioned that Malcolm was wealthy.”

“I would almost think that whatever they’re doing, Malcolm couldn’t have been the first,” she said.

“Given what they said and how they said it, I came to the same conclusion.”

“Do you think Mark can track down some of the former guests here and see if anything strange happened to them?”

“Not without a list of who has been a guest,” Jeremiah said. “I might be able to get him one off of the computer system.”

Cindy nodded. “Before we risk that, let’s talk to him.”

“Agreed.”

“So, what now?”

“I think we should get some sleep. I have a feeling we’re going to need to be on our toes tomorrow.”

Jeremiah and Cindy sat on pillows, legs crossed, facing each other. They were less than an arm’s length apart and the first thing Jeremiah noticed was that it promoted an immediate feeling of intimacy. It also meant that they were invading each other’s personal space. He had been closer to her before, holding her, kissing her. They had rarely been this close in public, though, except for the occasional quick hug.

He had to remind himself that no one was looking at them. Everyone in the room was busy looking at their own partner. He still felt like they were on display, though, for all the world to see. It made him uncomfortable.

He wasn’t ready for their relationship to be public. Once people knew that they were dating it would change so many things. It would also put incredible pressure on both of them. Disapproval was bound to come from both sides. While some couples might just have to deal with friends and family, Cindy and he had to concern themselves with the synagogue and church families that they worked for. While not families in the strictest sense of the word, they tended to act like families with all the good and the bad that came with that. He was fairly certain they wouldn’t be getting much, if any, support from the synagogue. He suspected that it would be the same for the church.

If they both had different jobs, different lives, they could hold their breaths and wait out the storm. The problem was, they didn’t. He was the rabbi, the spiritual leader of the synagogue and expected to set an example. He could already hear what people were going to say. It didn’t help that he’d already gotten a taste of it both from Marie and from his family in Israel.

Cindy worked for the church. It was only a matter of time before someone decided to object to paying the salary of someone who was dating outside the faith. In his mind he pretty much was sure how things would ultimately play out. The only question was, which one of them would get fired first?

“What’s wrong?” Cindy asked, frowning as she stared at him.

“It’s nothing. Sorry, just lost focus there for a moment,” he said.

He was stressing out too much. He needed to just slow down and handle one problem at a time. And the problem at hand was figuring out what had happened to Malcolm.

For this first large group session Arnold was in charge and he was walking around the perimeter of the room as everyone got settled, urging different couples to sit closer together. By chance the closest couple to them was Dorothea and Flynn. Other familiar faces weren’t that far away. Whether or not that was by accident or design, he wasn’t sure.

Cindy was wearing another new looking outfit. She was wearing a turquoise silk tank top and white shorts that were very short by her standards. With her legs crossed it made the shorts seem even shorter. He’d certainly never seen as much of her legs as he was staring at now.

She wasn’t the only woman in the room in shorts. It was a pretty warm day for February. On top of that the buildings were temperature controlled which meant that it was very comfortable inside.

“Alright, everyone, we’re going to start by spending an entire minute staring into your spouse’s eyes. Don’t say anything, just look. Don’t break the eye contact. It might be intimidating, but trust me the shared vulnerability is a good thing. I will tell you when you can stop, and it will seem like longer than a minute has passed, but I assure you it won’t have. Alright, look each other in the eyes beginning now.”

Jeremiah stared into Cindy’s eyes. She was smiling back at him for the first several seconds. Color began to creep into her cheeks slowly and it made her look a bit more agitated. He could relate. He didn’t often allow himself the luxury of staring at her this intently. When he did it always brought so many emotions to the surface.

Cindy was biting her bottom lip now. He wondered what she was thinking about.

After what seemed like an eternity Arnold spoke up. “Okay your minute is over. Now I noticed some of you followed directions while others seemed to be having a hard time with simple instructions. Don’t worry, you get another shot at doing this right. This time I want you to picture the person across from you as they were when you first met and fell in love with them. Don’t think of everything that has happened since. Ignore the wrinkles, the gray, the fights you seem to repeat over and over. Just look at them and see the person you first connected with. Ready, go.”