"You saw him do that?" I asked.
She looked away and tightened her hands into fists. Her lips moved twice before the next words came from her mouth.
"No. I couldn't see from where I was on the floor. But when he stood back up he was still holding the pillow. Phil was. And he was breathing real heavy."
I didn't believe her. I suspected that she had indeed smothered her own daughter. The horror I was feeling was mirrored in Dell's eyes. In that instant I was certain he hadn't yet crossed whatever bridge he needed to cross in order to accept his wife's rationalization.
Cathy's story wasn't complete, though. I asked, "And the mutilation, Cathy? How did that happen?"
She slid her hand up Dell's arm until it came to a stop above his elbow.
"All the rest was Phils idea. He planned it all in his head for half an hour or so.
He just sat there and planned it all out. When he said he was going to cut off. my Tami's hand, I said I couldn't be a part of it anymore. That I wanted to turn myself in. He said if I said a word to anybody about what had happened that he'd make sure Joey was arrested for the rape and he'd make sure Dell knew about the affair."
"What did you do?"
"What was I supposed to do? What would be left for me if I didn't go along? I mean everything that had happened was just a terrible, terrible accident. If I didn't go along with Phil I'd have nothing-and I'd have nobody. I didn't really have a choice, did I? My Tami was already dead. If I told anybody what I knew, I'd lose my son, my husband, my whole family."
Kimber voiced what I was thinking, what I was certain Dell must be thinking.
Kimber said, "She was your daughter. How could you?"
Cathy exhaled deeply and coughed as she tried to refill her lungs. I expected to hear another verse of the "terrible-terrible-accident, what-was-I-supposed-to-do" song, but she couldn't get any words out. Dell finally spoke.
"Why did I want you to hear all this? So you would understand what Cathy did back then. In her mind what she did, she did to protect the kids.
First she was helping Tami. Then, later on, Joey. With what he's done with his life since then, I think Joey has made all her sacrifice worthwhile." I was stunned by the words. For such a self-aware man, Dell Franklin had just engaged in a world-class rationalization of horror.
"Dell," I said, "you… agree… with what she did?"
"No," he said firmly.
"I do not. I don't condone what Cathy did. But she did what she did to protect the family. I can live with that knowledge. I can." He looked down at her and handed her the shot gun.
"Now, honey need to tie these boys up so we can take them down to join the others in the blow down he said.
"You hold 'em here while I get some line to tie 'em. I'll only be a couple of minutes. We can't afford to mess up anymore; we're almost out of dynamite."
"Dell, I'm tired. Let's just shoot them here."
Cathy looked tired to me.
Dell wanted none of it.
"And then have to drag their bodies all the way back down that hill into the blow down No way. I won't be gone but five minutes."
The second Dell turned his back I felt movement in Kimber's shoulder. He was going for the handgun.
Dell walked away from us slowly. His shoulders were hunched forward and the incline of the slope made every step he took seem a monumental effort. Not once did he look back our way.
Cathy didn't have the arm strength to keep the barrel of the shotgun pointed right at us. It kept drifting down and she kept lifting it higher. Each fresh cycle of effort lasted a shorter time than the previous one. Her muscles were fatiguing.
Kimber turned his head away from her and whispered, "On three, roll away from me."
Cathy heard him speak but probably couldn't understand the words. She raised the gun once more and said, "Don't you try anything. Killing doesn't bother me too much anymore. Killing you now rather than later is nothing more than an inconvenience. This is loaded with birdshot. I don't even have to aim."
Cathy couldn't maintain the angle of the gun barrel. Kimber tapped me with his elbow once, paused, tapped me again, paused, and finally tapped me a third time.
On the last tap I somersaulted forward and started rolling down the hillside. I kept rolling while I waited for a blast from the shotgun, but all I heard was a hollow click. I hoped Kimber was getting away but couldn't risk the time it would take to look back toward him.
I heard him say, "Drop it, Cathy!"
I rolled once more before I crouched behind a boulder. Kimber was kneeling behind an aspen tree that wasn't mature enough to protect him from a blast from the shotgun. He held the pistol in both hands, pointing it right at Cathy Franklin. Her shotgun was leveled at Kimber.
I wondered whether it was actually loaded. It was a twin-barrel over-and-under model. At most, Cathy had only one shot remaining.
I picked up a rock the size of a lemon. Found a second. Cathy yelled, "Dell, I need some help here!"
My cover behind the boulder was better than Kimber's was behind the spindly aspen tree. I threw the first rock at Cathy. It landed near her feet.
She kept her focus on Kimber.
"Dell Franklin, you get over here, now!" she screamed.
I threw the second rock. It thudded hard against her upper arm. She yelped and swung the barrel of the shotgun toward me. I tried to disappear behind the rock as I waited for the roar of the second barrel. Instead I heard three quick claps from Kimber's pistol bounce off the hillsides. The blasts were so close together that the echoes made them sound like a single shot.
I looked up in time to see Cathy fall. She didn't fall backward. She didn't pitch forward. Her knees softened, and a second or two later she crumpled right where she had stood. Her lips were moving as though she was in silent prayer.
The shotgun reached the ground before she did.
I said, "Kimber, are you all right?"
"Fine. You?"
"Good, I think. What do we do now? Dell's probably on his way back."
Before I had a chance to reply, I heard, "How about we do this now? Why don't I take you two to see your friends? I think they'll be more than happy to see you." Dell Franklin was walking back down the hillside toward us. One of his hands was raised above his head like a prisoners. The other one gripped a big chain saw. He took a path down the hill that let him pass at least ten feet from Cathy's body. Not once did he glance over at her. Kimber kept his gun leveled at Dell's chest but Dell didn't seem to notice it.
He looked first at me and smiled ruefully. Turning to Kimber, he said, "Thank you. Thank you both. I didn't have the heart to do that to her. But… I'm afraid that it needed to be done."
Kimber moved over to Cathy's body and rested his fingers against her neck. He craned his neck to look up at Dell.
"Cathy thought the gun was loaded?"
Dell shrugged.
"Not sure what she thought." He didn't expect us to believe him.
We didn't.
"How did you know I had a gun?" Kimber asked.
"Didn't know for sure. I was afraid Cathy had managed to kill the two of you when she toppled those trees down the hill on top of Phil. Since you escaped I kind of hoped you had Phil's gun with you, but if you didn't, I figured I didn't have much more to lose, no matter what. I'd go get some line and tie you up.
Work on plan B." I said, "Flynn and russ? They're okay?"
"I can't be sure, but they were when I left them. Lets go check. We might need this." He hoisted the big saw.
Kimber was still kneeling next to Cathy. He said, "Your wife, Dell? She's still alive."
Dell looked over, down at the mother of his two children, the blood pouring from below her sternum. His eyes were dispassionate as he said, "That's a bad wound she has. She won't be alive for too long." Kimber said, "He's right."
I was the only one who kept looking back at Cathy. The callousness of the decision to leave her there to die made me feel hollow and cruel. Finally, near the boundary of the blow down I yelled to Kimber and Dell that I'd wait with Cathy until help arrived, and I jogged back up the hill. When I got next to her, though, I saw a pool of her own blood that was floating dust and forest debris.