35

Mitchell was pulling on his trousers before the last chime of three finished sounding in the room below him. He didn’t know what he could do in the middle of the night, but he couldn’t stay in bed another second. After he strapped on his gun, he picked up his boots to go down the stairs in sock feet. No need waking the whole house.

Out on the porch, he dropped down on the steps to pull on the boots. The October air had a nip to it that warned of frost. If only the other warning that had kept him awake was as easy to decipher.

The moon slipped down toward the horizon on its way to the other side of the world as he walked through the town. Nothing was out of the ordinary with all the businesses shuttered for the night. The only light he noted was over the hardware store. The Harleys who lived there had a new baby. Even the saloon at the far end of town was dark.

Down the side street, nothing stirred at Curt Whitlow’s house. No way for Mitchell to know if the man was home. Mitchell went back out to walk the length of Main Street again. But it wasn’t this town that had him awake in the wee morning hours. It was the Shaker town. And Carlyn.

He stopped in front of Billy’s Barbershop. The man might know about the couple who had run away from Harmony Hill, but Billy wouldn’t be there for hours. Mitchell couldn’t wait that long. He’d go to the source. Demand to see Carlyn.

And if she looked like something was wrong, he would tell her straight out to come away with him. She could have his room at Mrs. Snowden’s and he would bunk at the sheriff’s office until she got news about her husband. He could wait. It would be better to wait. To be sure his feelings for her weren’t just some wish-on-a-star dream. To give her the chance to decide if she could ever feel anything for him.

He stared up at the stars overhead, glittering brightly now that the moon was gone. A great place to send wishes. Or better yet, prayers.

“Lord, is it wrong to want her away from those people? To think I’m better for her than them?”

His only answer was the twinkle of the stars and the bay of a hound chasing through the woods to the south of town.

She didn’t belong with the Shakers. He was sure of that. He even thought she knew that, but she believed she had no other way. He could offer her another way. Sister Edna and Elder Derron couldn’t stop him.

The eastern horizon showed the first faint pink trace of dawn as he rode into the village. No Shakers were stirring, but they would be soon.

Mitchell tied his horse in front of the Trustee House and walked through the village. Everything appeared as peaceful here as it had in town. Could be his feeling of something wrong was simply due to his unsettled feelings about Carlyn. He stopped and stared up at the house where she would be sleeping. He imagined her peering out the window to see him there and then slipping down the stairs to come out to him.

He shook away the unlikely thought and made his way around the house to where the Shakers had already cleaned away the refuse from the burned barn. As Mitchell turned back toward the Trustee House to wait for the village to come awake, he spotted a man far down the path. Mitchell stepped behind a tree and waited. If someone had come back to make more trouble for the Shakers, he’d catch them in the act this time.

He fingered the butt of his gun, but didn’t pull it out. It could simply be a vagrant passing through the village. But no. When the figure drew closer, it was a Shaker.

The man hurried through the gray dawn light, peering not only behind him from time to time, but up at the building tops as well. He was obviously worried someone might be watching. Mitchell scanned the area. He expected to see a sister also stealing back to her house after an illicit rendezvous, but no one else was in sight.

Then the man drew closer, and Mitchell was surprised to recognize Elder Derron. The last man he expected to be sneaking about the village.

Mitchell started to stay hidden next to the tree, but he needed to confront the elder sooner or later. Best to get it over with. Besides, the man was acting decidedly nervous. If the elder had come upon another threat to their village, he’d be glad to see Mitchell.

But he wasn’t. Instead, at the sight of Mitchell, the man stopped in his tracks, a look of something very near panic on his face. Mitchell had seen the same look on other men’s faces right before they turned tail to run from the law.

“Elder Derron, is something wrong?” Mitchell spoke before the man could flee.

The elder recovered his composure. “Sheriff, you startled me.”

“Sorry, I should have called out to you.” Mitchell stepped closer to the man. The beads of sweat sliding down the elder’s face didn’t fit with the cool morning.

“Yea, that might have been best.” The elder pulled out his handkerchief to dab at his forehead. “You caught me coming back from the bathhouse. It is good to start the day fresh. Our Mother Ann teaches that good spirits can’t live where there is dirt.”

“I see,” Mitchell said.

The elder moistened his lips. “Did the eldress send for you?”

“I came to talk to your Sister Edna.”

“Yea, of course. But you have to realize she may be out of her head for some time.”

“Out of her head?”

“Yea, such a tragedy that she hit her head when she fell. Or perhaps when she was pushed.” The elder sounded more like himself. “We locked the girl in the vagrant house. Since it seems she was the cause of Sister Edna’s fall.”

“The girl?” Mitchell narrowed his eyes on the man. “What girl?”

“Why, Sister Carlyn, of course. Didn’t they tell you that when they came after you? There has been naught but trouble since she came among us. Men of the world sneaking about our village. The fire. Now, poor Sister Edna. Everybody knew Sister Carlyn had an uneasy relationship with her Shaker guide, but we would have never suspected such a tragic ending.”

“Sister Edna told you the girl pushed her?” Mitchell watched the man closely. Something sounded a little too eager in the man’s telling of what happened.

“Didn’t she tell you the same?” The elder pulled his hat brim down lower on his head and kept his eyes away from Mitchell’s face.

“I just got here.” He could pretend to know more than he did only so long. “I haven’t questioned her yet, but I think I should talk to the girl first. Hear her story.”

“Very well, if you think that best,” Elder Derron said. “I’ll show you the way. But you can’t allow her claims of innocence to sway you in your duty. It is quite plain she is responsible for Sister Edna’s fall.”

“Did someone see her push Sister Edna?”

“Nay, but she is nevertheless responsible. Mother Ann has assured me of that.”

“Mother Ann?” Mitchell gave him a hard look. The woman who founded the Shakers had been dead for decades.

“Yea, I hear doubt in your voice, but though our mother has passed on from this earthly realm, she continues to lead us through visits of the spirit.” The Shaker stepped off the pathway to walk around Mitchell. It was as if he needed to keep his distance. “Follow me. You will see.”

Mitchell was definitely seeing that something wasn’t quite right with the elder. Mitchell studied the man’s back. He kept his shoulders very straight and no longer looked around as he had before Mitchell stopped him. In spite of what he said about coming from the bathhouse, his pants were far from clean and his shoes had dirt caked on them. Strange that he hadn’t cleaned his shoes since he seemed so bothered by dirt.

“Have you been digging this morning?” Mitchell asked.

The elder’s shoulders jerked as though Mitchell had struck him with the words. “Nay.” He shot a glance back at Mitchell. “Why would you think that?” He spoke a little too quickly, almost tripping over his words.

“Your shoes.”

He looked down but kept walking. “Oh. Yesterday I spent time in a garden. I will have to confess that I forgot to properly clean my shoes before I put them on this morn.”

“I’m surprised you found any mud even in the garden. It’s been dry for a while.”

“Dirt can cling to one’s shoes whether there is rain or not when the ground is properly tilled.” He spoke without looking back. “The house is just up ahead.”

The rising bell began to ring and once more the elder jumped. He had to have heard that bell thousands of times in his years at the Shaker village, yet the dongs seemed to unnerve him this day.

At the small house, the door was slightly ajar.

“Oh, dear heavenly Mother, she’s gone.” The elder reached for the doorknob with shaking hands.

“How do you know she’s gone?”

“The door is no longer locked. She knew her guilt. She will be gone.” He pulled the door open wider and moved aside to let Mitchell go in.

Carlyn was not there. Nothing looked touched except for a burned down candle. “Are you sure she was ever here?” Mitchell stepped back outside to where the elder waited.

“Yea, I locked her inside myself.”

The lock showed no sign of being forced open. The bad feeling that had kept Mitchell from sleep grew stronger. “Who has a key besides you?”

“The only key is kept at the Trustee House. On a hook inside the cupboard in the front room so it will be available when needed. We do not turn vagrants away, but neither do we want them wandering about our village in the night hours. We must keep our sisters safe.”

“Did you put the key back there last night?” Mitchell looked at the grass around the door. The ground was too dry to show tracks.

“Nay, it was after midnight and it seemed reasonable to leave the key at the Gathering Family House so that one of the sisters could carry the girl her morning meal.”

“Did you entrust the key to someone for safekeeping?” Whoever had that key must have let Carlyn out of the vagrant house and would know where she was.

“Things were very frenzied with Sister Edna being carried to the infirmary and the peace of the house in upheaval.” The elder shoved a hand in his jacket pocket and pulled it back out. “The key could be anywhere now.”

Mitchell didn’t know why Elder Derron avoided giving a straight answer, but he was sure the man knew exactly what he’d done with the key. The elder was a man who paid attention to details. “I didn’t ask who had the key now. I asked where you left the key after you locked the door here.”

“Why does that matter? She’s gone. And good riddance.” The elder’s voice rose as he slammed the door of the house shut. “She was nothing but trouble from the day she showed up here, carrying a gun and with that dog. Now that dog is keeping Brother Willis from his proper duties. Nothing but trouble.”

Mitchell had never seen Elder Derron so animated. Or so strange, but Mitchell couldn’t worry about the elder. He had to find Carlyn, and the dog might be the answer. Carlyn wouldn’t leave the village without him. “Is the dog still here?”

“How would I know? I have nothing to do with dogs. No proper Shaker does.”

“Then we better go see.”

“Go if you want, but I am too busy to look for dogs.” Elder Derron’s voice was still too loud. “I must clean my shoes and be ready for my morning duties.”

“Your duties can wait. You need to come with me.”

“Nay.” The elder glared at Mitchell. “I have to clean my shoes.”

“Elder Derron.” A young brother ran down the path toward them. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“You have found me now. Here with the sheriff.” Elder Derron’s greeting was curt. “What say you?”

The young Shaker gave Mitchell a sideways look, but he didn’t allow his curiosity to distract him. “Eldress Lilith insists you must come right away to help with Sister Edna.”

“Why does she need the elder?” Mitchell asked.

“Sister Edna is distraught and keeps calling for Elder Derron.” The boy shifted his eyes from Mitchell to the elder. “Eldress Lilith hopes the sight of you will calm the sister, Elder. She says they can barely keep her restrained.”

“She is awake?” Elder Derron’s voice was faint, almost as if he were talking to himself. “Mother Ann allowed her to wake?”

“Come,” the Shaker boy said. “Eldress Lilith will be unhappy that I have been so long finding you. She’s in the infirmary.”

“I know where she is.” Elder Derron’s voice was firm again. “I cannot go there with dirt on my shoes. Tell the eldress I must clean my shoes.”

“If you come, I will clean your shoes,” the boy said.

“Nay, I must do it myself.” Elder Derron turned and ran across the road.

Mitchell considered going after him, but it would be better to question the eldress. She might know where Carlyn was.

“The eldress is not going to be pleased.” The boy blew out a breath. “But if you come with me, she may be less upset. After I found Elder Derron, I was to ride into town for you.”

“Is Sister Carlyn there with her?”

“Who?” the boy asked, then answered his own question. “Oh, you mean the sister they locked up here last night. Is she in there now?” He peered toward the house.

“No.”

“Then I guess I better tell the eldress that too.” He turned and started toward the stone building in the center of the village.

Mitchell caught up with him. “Did you think Elder Derron was acting oddly?”

“All the elders are odd,” the boy said. “You stay here long enough, you are going to be odd. I don’t plan to stay that long.” He glanced over at Mitchell. “I would just as soon you didn’t tell anybody that. I wouldn’t want them getting all upset. I plan to take off without having to hear them crying woe and telling me I’m on a slippery slope to eternal damnation.”

“I doubt I’ll have need to mention it.”

“Good.” The boy looked back over his shoulder to where Elder Derron had disappeared into the shadows. “But you are right. Elder Derron was acting stranger than usual. But if he said he had to clean his shoes, then he had to clean his shoes. These people make war against dirt.”