Traveler Ch. 03

Joan looked at the cottage and then at me a couple of times, confusion reigned on both occasions. "What are you going to do with it?"

I smiled before I replied. "Attempt to stop it from falling down is the priority at the moment, then I plan to have it rebuilt. Modernizing it may be tricky but that's my builder's department not mine."

Joan stared at me, still waiting for definitive answer.

"It's mine Joan. I plan to be here for every celebration of the Red Lady this village ever puts on. I plan to bring my family with me every year and even when the little ones hit puberty and start with the attitude."

This time I pointed to the very spot that the Red Lady sat for so many years.

"That's where I plan to sit them down and explain to them that it's because of Brenda I'm alive. It's also because of Brenda that we managed to find her remains and finally put her to rest amongst the family that so desperately wanted her to be alive, even when the lack of sightings eventually proved otherwise. That's my cross Joan, for someone like Brenda Cooper, I have to carry that until it's my time."

I'm not sure she was ready for so many truths. Even when I stopped talking she still stared at me.

"Does Robert know any of this?"

At first, I nodded, then added. "He knows everything Joan, he is my husband and I wouldn't dream of holding anything back from him. I talked to him when we all got back from finding Brenda's body. I sat him down and talked to him again when we returned from Brenda's funeral. He knows I have to carry that weight. Callum killed an innocent, simply because she looked like me."

This conversation had to end, I could already feel my tears of anger welling up in my eyes.

"To some it's nothing but the outpourings of a stupid woman. This woman was born and through her years, she was taught how to lead the families, Traveler and tradition scream for justice Joan. I got justice for Brenda and her family. But I still owe so much to Brenda and every day when I hug my children, I involve her as well."

It was clear to see that Joan was still struggling with my explanation. I was okay with that and understood why. Perhaps I needed to try a more realistic answer that even Joan could understand.

"Jason Beckman gave Maddie Cooper a gift he can't give me. He allowed Maddie to see her sister the day she died; doing that almost killed Jason. The doctors have already told him that if he tries that again he won't wake up. Not only would I refuse to ask Jason to try on my behalf, I flatly refuse to make a widow of my cousin. So I'm following the only logic I know and understand and that, that's called debt. I owe Brenda Cooper my life, I'm paying that back the only way I know how and that's to remember her until my dying breath."

*******

We stayed one more night, Beth came to us for dinner this time, she even invited Joan to stay with her when she comes to do her book. Joan agreed and eleven months later I walked into Bishop's Freight Yard and handed Emit Franklin the new book from Joan Phelps so he can hand it onto his wife. He sure had the look of a guy who was going to get really lucky tonight.

The big five were true to their word and within the month of our agreement, freight was once again going to the families in the same quantities as before.

Abe's son didn't fare too well, he went to jail for destruction of property, namely the cash machine. The defense attorney he hired basically didn't have anything, defense I mean. Cindy and I sat in the court watching it all go badly for Abe's son. Abe was sat in the back row of chairs, real close to the exit.

The court sat through two camera sessions, one was from across the street. It showed him trying his card, when that not only failed but eventually refused to give it back to him; he drunkenly looked around, then staggered about six paces from the cash machine picked something up from the ground and walked back to the machine.

That's when the DA used another camera, this one was facing out from the machine itself, the whole court watched as he staggered over to the machine and attempted to take it apart with a two-foot length of pipe.

Even the judge winced when his attorney tried to claim that since he was drunk he didn't remember any of the evening. He then pleaded not guilty to punching the paramedic, even though the police bodycam proved otherwise. When the judge gave him jail time, the court bailiffs had to restrain him when he tried to climb over the rail and attack Cindy.

We continued to sit and watch all the excitement, more so when it took four of them to bodily remove him from the courtroom. Just as things started to quiet down, Abe stood and called Cindy a treacherous whore and that we were to mark this as gospel. She was going to meet a sticky end. The judge listened to all his threats about how he was going to see to it that she would never see another sunrise before he followed his son down into the cells below.

I approached the DA and confirmed a few things and between the judge, the DA and the recordings of Abe's threats, in a courtroom of all places. We got Cindy a permit to carry a concealed weapon. She was so proud of it, she got it copied and framed.

The son managed nine months of his sentence before he met Bubba's cousin; it seems the cousin brought some friends with him as well, going by the three shanks in his chest.

In a fit of rage and stupidity, Abe not only blamed Cindy for his son's death, he went looking for her with a gun in his hand. Cindy had been legal for a few months now, following the threats from Abe after the sentencing of his son. The police and coroner were very impressed at the five bullet holes in Abe's chest. They loved the grouping.

A few months of peace came to the families after Abe's death. Then the last remaining son contacted me, assuring me he was heading for Canada and wasn't coming back. I trusted him and just to verify, sent Cindy to go look for him. He's married now, they even have a daughter; his wife pointed out how stupid he was and pointed to his new child, wanting to know if his child was going to still have a father to walk her down the aisle.

So he contacted me, we talked on neutral ground and we kept it peaceful. They moved to Canada a few weeks later, he works on a ranch, Cindy would go up there a few days a month and kept an eye on him for almost a year. Then I called her back and we concentrated our efforts on the families.

*******

My house at the Cinder Creek lock was finished in eight months. I fell in love with my new house; fortunately for me so did Robert and the children. We as a family had been here from a day out, to a week since it was finished. We had also been to the last two events at the lock that featured remembering Brenda Cooper. One was her birthday, the other was when Maddie called me and asked me to attend a simple laying of flowers at the plaque. The date was to coincide with the date Brenda would have finished her Master's.

Each event still felt like a punch to my stomach, a life stolen. A life snuffed out because she looked very much like me.

When Jason and Cindy came by our home on a visit, we mentioned the new house that was once the lockkeeper's place and between us we sorted out a date that they could spend the week with us at the Cinder Creek Lock house. The date we mentioned, they regretfully remembered they had something going on midweek, but did suggest coming up by car on Friday evening for the weekend. The children jumped up and down, I seem to remember some whooping was involved as well.

True to their word, they arrived mid-Friday afternoon. We gave them the grand tour and let them settle in. The children were playing in the field outside the Lock house, Cindy was helping me in the kitchen while Jason 'rested' on a stool leaning on the breakfast island, when my daughter walked in and said, "Mom, the lady outside in the red coat says she loves what you've done with the house."

We all stopped and stared at my daughter. I looked to Jason for help with me on this one, he took my daughter outside along with Cindy.

It was Jason who mentioned to me later that I had dropped the plate I was holding when my daughter talked about the Red Lady.

They came back half an hour later; he hugged me and whispered in my ear. "She's forgiven you, now you need to forgive yourself."

I held onto Jason as if my life depended on it, and then burst into tears. It was only him that heard "I can't" leave my lips.

*******

Today would mark two years of peace within the families. The only contact I had with any of them was social talk, who was pregnant, what son or daughter was considering college, the odd invite for my family to attend a wedding or a birthday of an elder of the family. Peace had finally returned to the families and it took two years to finally fix the damage Abe had done.

Something else that seemed to have become habit. Joan Phelps sent me two copies of her latest book, one for me and of course one for Emit Franklin's wife. I told Robert that I was going to drive over to Emit to hand deliver his wife's copy to him, spend an hour swapping war stories and then head over to the Cinder Creek lock house.

What I held back from my husband was that something was calling me. A nagging feeling was acting like an itch that I just couldn't scratch. I had thought of bringing Cindy with me, but Jason and Cindy were celebrating her third month of pregnancy.

Cindy came to me, she actually came to me and asked for a private word; as my so-called enforcer she had every right of course. But when we held said meeting, she was embarrassed, something new to Cindy I can tell you. She told me of a conversation she had with Abe, she now wanted a family and would I give her permission to have two please.

I rushed across the space between us and we hugged each other. I will admit to a tear or two along the way as well. In retaliation I gave her permission to have as many children as she wanted, the roll of her eyes a forewarning and being told that two would be enough, set us both laughing.

My war stories talk with Emit lasted longer than I thought, which meant I parked my car at the Cinder Creek parking lot as the light started to fade. Beth was walking down the hill back home so we had a quick chat in the parking lot before I said that we would catch up more in the morning. Hugs were exchanged and waved goodbyes matched, before my own walk up the hill and into the house.

I had been there maybe ten minutes when I got one of those fight or flight feelings. Something just didn't feel right. I took a torch with me outside and did a walk around the lock gates. A shadow detached itself from one of the darker corners as I passed and the pain in my head as something struck me was like nothing I had ever felt before, my world started to go dark, my knees buckled.

"Daddy says time's up, bitch."

Even in my state of confusion and dropping to my knees, I knew that voice. It seems being married and having a child to look after in Canada wasn't enough after all. Kieran, Abe's last remaining son was still doing Abe's bidding.

I slumped to the concrete; his boot took what little breath I had in me, out of me as he rolled me into the lock.

*******

Kieran watched as Traveler floated face down in the lock and smiled to himself. It only took a tire iron; dad should have let him finish her off, instead of inviting his brothers to get it done.

A woman's scream emanated from nowhere, everywhere. His own torch worked its way around the whole lock system, no one was here except him now, no witnesses and yet that scream was a woman's scream. What worried him was that it had no central point; the scream came from the whole lock itself, then echoing between the walls of the newly re-built house and the hillside across the canal. Causing the scream to take on a life of its own as it built in volume and continued to bounce between the walls around the lock gates.

Kieran ran across the lock and up the hill, over the hill and down to the dirt-bike he had used to get here. The scream continued, it had no pause for breath as it edged its way down the hill towards Cinder Creek. Beth heard it through her open windows, her skin crawled with dread as she rushed out of her house to look up the hill towards the lock. Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, as her hand went to the same pocket, Cal-un-den once again played through its speaker.

Other's from the village left their homes to the call of a woman's scream and the strange reason why Cal-un-den, a song to welcome the dead, was once again heard on each of their cell phones.

Beth turned to her neighbor. "Joshua, get up to the lock and quickly, the Red Lady is calling us, she needs help."

No one who heard Beth doubted her, the affinity the town had with the red lady was too entrenched in them all to doubt Beth, Joshua set off at a run, two other neighbors followed seconds behind.

*******

I was standing at the edge of the lock. Three young men had got to the lock seconds after I had, all had torches. One even knocked on my door and yet all I could do was stand and stare, as everything unfolded in front of me. One continued to knock until another of the young men shone a light into the lock and at my body floating face down in it.

"Please breathe, it will help."

I spun around and stared in shock. The picture the family had of Brenda Cooper was very exact to who I saw now.

Brenda smiled and then said. "Hello, twin."

I giggled, trying not to consider the situation. She patted the part of the lock she was sitting on and I joined her as more of the village folk arrived. One of the men had already jumped in and pulled my body to the edge while the other two pulled my unconscious form back onto the concrete. The irony didn't pass me by, this was the same part of the concrete from which Kieran had kicked me into the water.

"This whole family are sick and twisted, Cassie. Fortunately, it's only in Abe's genes."

I continued to watch as the young man I now knew as Joshua placed his fingers on my nose and pinched it shut so he could blow into my mouth.

"Do you think my husband will forgive me for Frenching a man younger than him?"

We both laughed.

"I must say, you're taking death a lot better than I first did."

This time I just shrugged my shoulders. When I looked at Brenda she was still staring at me, waiting for my reply.

"I'm Traveler, Brenda. I stared at the end of my life when all three of Abe's boys came for me at the bar. Death told me then it wasn't my time."

The look on Brenda's face was priceless.

"No Brenda, I didn't see death. More like felt something standing next to me, even when I afforded a moment to look around, there was nothing there and yet I felt death standing next to me. It didn't help of course when that same voice in my head told me he came for the entertainment."

I'm not sure Brenda was expecting that sort of an answer.

"Somehow I just can't picture any Brad Pitt or some dude leaning on a grim reaper scythe, with a beer in his hand while he sat and watched me take on all three brothers that night."

My dad sat me down in my late teens when he knew he had but a few years left and told me of his time in Vietnam. Death took many of his friends in the year he spent there. For a while I feared for my father's sanity as he spoke that late afternoon. He in return spoke with as much honesty as he could muster. He, like many who stood beside him that year had to be philosophical about death and staying alive, or indeed what condition they were going to be in when those that survived, returned home.

All three of the young men from the village took turns with compressions and mouth to mouth until the ambulance arrived. I also watched as Beth took a step back and pulled her phone to her ear, I knew she didn't have my husband's number, she did however have Joan's. She told Joan what had happened and what was going on at this very moment.

Like a stabbing pain behind my eyes, I understood everything now. Brenda smiled and her thoughts attacked my mind. "You know how to set me free now don't you?"

I continued to watch Brenda and my heart felt like it was breaking for her all over again. I had the answers now.

While one medic was squeezing a bag valve mask forcing air into my chest, the other was ripping open my shirt/bra after repeatedly pushing on me and placed one pad from the AED in the centre of my chest and the other on the side below my left breast. The mechanical voice from the machine said. "SHOCK ADVISED!"

The medic yelled. "CLEAR!"

*******

He was staring at me when I opened my eyes. Even beaten up, my heart still fluttered when I stared into my husband's eyes. God I loved this man and because of him, our two little munchkins of course.

"Who did this, Cassie?"

For a second I paused and Robert noticed, he then shook his head. "Don't tell me it's water business, Cassie. You're my wife and early in the evening I get a phone call from Joan saying the village folks found you floating face down in the lock."

I had thought about lying, the guilt that I'm lying to my husband would kill me though and I refused to do it. His grip of my hand increased slightly, it was a welcome feeling, although made worse because the place between my legs moistened as well. I'm in a ICU and my husband is making me horny.

Testing my voice was my next task, my throat felt so dry. "How long have I been here?"

I sounded like my throat had a long rubdown with sand paper.

"So far, six weeks, they had to induce a coma because of the brain swelling."

Robert began bringing me up to date. The initial thoughts of the police were that I fell into the lock. Both Beth and Joan dismissed that comment and told them who I was and the chances of that ever happening were minuscule in the extreme, so the police did a search of the area, they found a tire iron on the other side of the hill, no fingerprints but my blood was all over it. They also found tire prints and figured this was the route the intruder used to enter and escape without anyone noticing.

I rasped another question. "Where is Cindy?"

A smirk came to his lips and I was now filled with dread.

It was the next day when the police had exhausted every avenue for clues and left. Jason and Cindy paid a visit to Beth's, she sat them down and told them everything she could remember of the evening. All three went up to the canals lock gates and Jason took a seat on the gate itself, while Cindy and Beth sat on a bench-seat that I had handmade by the local blacksmith and positioned against the house. To the outside world it looked like Jason was asleep, since once he sat down and closed his eyes, he hadn't moved for close to an hour.

Robert still held his smirk when he told me that once Jason opened his eyes he looked over at Beth, then stood and walked over to her, gave her a hug and thanked her for looking after Brenda Cooper all these years.

That lilt in his voice still held me to him as he gave me an abbreviated version of what I had missed, his hand in mine helped. As his eyes met mine, he added. "Cindy waited you out for three weeks, she sat in on every medical meeting we had. Then Jason and Cindy disappeared, they came back yesterday evening. I should imagine that your enforcer will be by sometime soon."

"Hey boss."

Both our heads turned and a smiling Cindy was leaning against the door to my room, and since neither of us had noticed her, we didn't know how long she had been there or even how much she had heard.

I ignored my husband's smirk. Robert got up and said. "I'll leave you two lovebirds to your conspiracy theories, while I go in search of a coffee."

His seat didn't get a chance to go cold before Cindy sat on it, thanking him for thinking about the pregnant woman. His body stiffened for a moment, he knew he was being baited.