“That’s my job.” he said from the doorway.
“No problem fella, you can take it from here” Ed replied, putting the plates in a stack nearest the end of the table to where the boy stood. Joshua picked them up and deftly set the rest of the table, setting three places instead of two without any sign that it was unusual. While the boy did that, Ed mashed the potatoes and added butter and milk while Linda served the rest of the meal.
“What would you like to drink Ed?”
“Oh, I’ve got that covered; I got you a bottle of wine. It’s in the car; I’ll just go get it.” Outside it had gone dark so the lone figure that stood just inside the tree line had no problem looking in on the scene of domestic bliss without being observed himself. He saw Saunders move to the front of the house and come back moments later with a bottle. After a few minutes, the intruder moved much closer to the house so he could get an even better view of the folks inside as they talked, ate and cleared up.
The meal had gone better than Linda could have hoped for. Ed was brilliant with Joshua and after only a few minutes her son had seemed to warm to him, well as much as he warmed to anyone. Ed and Josh talked about cars and planes. Josh told Ed that his granddaddy had flown one of the P-51s hanging over the fireplace in World War Two, for the 8th Army Air Force from a place called Duxford in Cambridgeshire, England. Ed told Josh and Linda about some of his time in Vietnam but mainly about the jobs he had had since leaving the army. After a dessert of fresh fruit salad and ice cream they worked together, washing, drying and stowing everything back in its place. Linda went upstairs with the boy to help him get set for bed while Ed moved back to sit near the unlit fire with a fresh coffee. After a few minutes, she came back down. She had changed from her work clothes into some slacks and a loose top but Ed still thought she looked a million dollars.
“That was the best meal I have had in years. Where did you learn to cook like that?”
She sat opposite him in the other armchair and set about lighting the kindling in the fire.
“My mom was quite frail, she had some kind of degenerative bone disease so by the time I was twelve I was doing most of the chores, including the cooking. Pop couldn’t cook for toffee and my brother was a lazy bum so it was up to me”.
The wood started to crack and snap as she added some bigger logs. They both relaxed back into the chairs and stared as the flames licked higher. They sat that way in contented silence for a few minutes, watching the flames lick higher and higher until Linda broke the silence.
“Okay mister, time’s up, what’s going on?”
Ed knew it would come to this point. During the meal, he had made his mind up to tell Linda the truth, as screwy as it sounded. With a sigh, he started. He told her about driving into town and blacking out, coming around and being in the old car. She stayed silent as he told her about seeing the little girl being abducted in the pick-up truck. He continued staring into the fire as he told her about the flashback he’d had in the motel room, although he saw her eyebrows rise from the corner of his vision when he said about the wet footprints in the room. He finished with finding the grave and his trek back towards town and waking up in the library. By the time he had finished his tail, the fire had died to almost embers with just a few large pieces of charred wood remaining. Linda put another log on the fire then sat back, thinking.
“So you actually found her, Grace I mean?”
“Well I found someone, I hope it’s Grace”.
“And you have never had anything like this happen to you before?” she asked. He shook his head slowly. Eventually, he said “I should go, I knew you would think I was a nutcase but I wanted to tell you the truth. Thanks for the meal”. He began to rise from the chair but she put her hand up to him.
“No! Stop! I do believe you, I believe every word. Sit down, please”. He dropped back down in the comfy seat.
“How can you believe a crazy story like that, even I don’t believe it, and I was there!”
“Well if it hadn’t been for what happened at the library this morning I doubt that I would have believed you”. He looked at her astonished.
“What do you mean? I just flaked out is all.”
“No Ed, you didn’t. When you were lying on the floor in front of me, you were moaning and kicking out like you were in a bad dream, but that’s not it. It’s the cuts, on your arms and face. When you fell through the door you didn’t have them. When I was kneeling beside you, they just… well, I saw them appear… from nowhere. They just came! It was like, oh what do Christians call it?”
“Stigmata?”
“Yes! That’s it, just like stigmata!”
TWELVE
“Will you find your way back okay?” They were standing on the front porch, the only light coming from inside the house, silhouetting Linda in the doorway and giving her an angelic look. They had talked for another hour about what to do about the missing girl and the strange dreams. They could think of no logical conclusions, especially for the small tears in Ed’s skin that Linda had seen appear. Linda would make some subtle enquiries about the disappearance while he finished the last of his meetings in the morning, then they would get together at lunchtime to see what she had uncovered.
“Yes, I’ll be fine. I’m pretty good with directions and I’ve got a map if I get really lost. Well… good night then, and thank you again”.
Reluctantly he turned to go.
“Ed?”
He turned back around towards her and as he did, she leant forwards, put both arms around his neck and kissed him, ever so briefly on the lips. “Be careful”, she said then turned and went inside, closing the door behind her. He stood there, quite stunned, the stupidest of smiles painted on his face. He almost floated back to his car, the Sable’s built-in security approach lamps illuminating the ground around the Mercury. He leant heavily against the hood of the car, looked back at the farmhouse then lifted his eyes up to the clear night sky. He took in a deep pine-scented breath of fresh country air. He had hoped that she liked him, as he liked her, but he had never expected that. Wow! Looking up at the star-filled night he pondered at how minute his place was in the cosmos, but more importantly how quickly he had gathered feelings for Linda; being with her tonight seemed so natural and comfortable as if he had known her for years. A trio of shooting stars sped across the vast heavens and he wondered if he should make a wish on them. He smiled to himself, unlocked the car and slipped inside. Ed started the engine and drove back down the track, the missing girl far from his thoughts, and blissfully unaware of the furious eyes watching him from the shadows.
What on earth was she doing? She leant heavily against the old oak door, listening to Ed start his car and driving away. She hadn’t looked at another man, let alone kissed one since Ben had died, and now, after meeting this strange man only two days ago, she was bringing him home and cooking for him, even kissed him for heaven’s sake. What on earth was going on? But she felt something already for him, she couldn’t deny that and she couldn’t help that kiss either. She had felt something in that brief contact that had gone straight through her body like a bolt of lightning, a feeling she hadn’t felt for many years, something she never imagined she would ever feel again. Did he feel it too she wondered? The pessimistic devil in her head started to wonder if there was any point to any of this, there was no future to be had; he was a travelling salesman for Christ sake. She stopped the negative thought almost as soon as it had formed. Still, the moment had passed, she returned to her normal practical self. Although she rarely locked the doors on her house, all the talk of graves and murder had unnerved her some so she wandered around the ground floor, latching and locking doors and windows. When she felt that everything was secure she quietly took the stairs, stopping at Joshua’s room to make sure he was sound asleep. His Buzz Lightyear side light was still on. She pulled the covers up, kissed him on the forehead and doused the light. She stared at him for a while longer in the half-light offered from the landing. He was so much like his father in many ways; his looks, the way he spoke, even some of his mannerisms; like the way he twitched his eyes when he was really tired, little things, but maybe that was why she hadn’t looked at another man since Ben’s death, he was still very much here. She left Joshua’s door partly open then carried on down the hall to her own room. As she lay under her covers looking out of her window at the dark sky, she thought about Grace Benjamin, laying out there somewhere in the forest and wondered how she could help find the little girl’s body. She finally drifted off to sleep with images of Ed Saunders tending crops behind the farm and Josh playing in the yard while she fed corn to the chickens. She had no way of knowing that this would be the last sweet dream she would have for a while.