JENNY WATCHED OUT THE CAR WINDOW as the Pennsylvania countryside rolled by. Uncle Bobby was driving, and her papa sat in the passenger seat. Jonathan sat with her in the back. They were trying to be respectful to her papa by not sitting too close, but Jonathan had slipped his hand over to hers about an hour before, and she took some comfort in his touch.
They had been on the road for what seemed like hours, and Jenny was tired. So much had happened to her in the past two weeks. Her ankle still hurt, and she had a nagging headache. Her hopes had risen when Uncle Bobby told her about the man who might know about Joseph Bender. But since then she had slipped back into a dark mood. Even Jonathan had been unable to cheer her up. Now she sat staring out the window, lost in her thoughts.
“Jenny?”
Jonathan’s voice brought her back from her musing. “Yes?”
“We just passed the place where they captured us.”
A chill ran down her back as she remembered how close she had come to death, or worse, at the hands of Jorge. She leaned forward to speak to Bobby. “What’s going to happen to Jorge? I feel sorry for him. At first he seemed nice, but he couldn’t break away from his uncle’s influence. Then he tried to…hurt me.”
“I’m afraid Jorge is going to spend a few years behind bars,” Bobby said. “He’s over eighteen, so they’ll try him as an adult. He wasn’t in San Francisco when Jonathan’s friend was killed, but he has been involved in a lot of other crimes. The state will make sure he gets indicted along with the rest of them.”
“Shub wasn’t my friend,” Jonathan said. “I just knew him. I’m really sorry I ever got involved with him.”
Jenny felt irritated at Jonathan’s response. She wondered why he couldn’t just accept the truth that he had done some really foolish things out in San Francisco. Jonathan heard her sigh.
“Are you okay, Jenny? You seem awfully—”
“Uptight?” Jenny asked, with a half-smile.
Jonathan smiled back. “Yeah, really uptight, man,” he said in an exaggerated hippy drawl.
That produced Jonathan’s desired effect—a smile at last. He looked at her face and took her hand again. “Look, Jenny, I know that everything that has happened in the last two weeks has taken a toll on you. I just want you to know that I’m so sorry I ever got you into this mess. I’ve done some really dumb things and messed my life up pretty good. But in the midst of all this I’m beginning to believe that maybe there might really be a God after all.
“I mean, just think of all the things that have happened. How did I end up at that traffic light just in time to almost hit you? How did we end up finding out about my family? How did you find the cave? The list goes on and on. And it seems like every time I pray, I get an answer. I’ve never gotten answers before—not with Buddha or Krishna or any of the drugs I took. Maybe your mom is right. Maybe God is trying to tell me something.”
Jenny didn’t know what to say to this admission.
In the front seat, Reuben smiled.
Bobby Halverson sat at a metal table in a grim, olive-green room at Sing Sing prison. The single fluorescent light above his head made the setting even starker. The man across from him was slouched in his chair, staring at Bobby. A guard stood at the door, and another was outside looking through the observation window. It was obvious that the prison officials considered Sammy Bender worth watching.
“So what do you want from me, copper?” Sammy snarled.
He was a scruffy, heavyset man with bad teeth. Longish black hair curled down his neck, but he was balding on top. The sleeve of his prison issue T-shirt was rolled up and held a pack of Camels. Bobby looked closely at the man. Underneath the Camels, Bobby could see a large tattoo on Bender’s shoulder. Bobby recognized it. It was the same tattoo the man in the pond wore on his shoulder.
“Sheriff,” Bobby said, “I’m a sheriff.”
“Like Sheriff Matt Dillon?” cracked Sammy. “Hey, Chester, woo-woo.” Sammy guffawed at his own joke.
“Not exactly,” Bobby said patiently. “Matt Dillon is a TV marshall. I’m a real sheriff, and I’m here on official business.”
“Yeah? What official business?”
“I want to know about the bank robbery that put you in here. I want to know about the car you were driving, and I want to know about the man who was with you.”
“What man?” Sammy asked. His eyes blinked several times, and he fidgeted in his chair.
“We found the stolen car in a pond outside of Apple Creek, Ohio, in the spring of fifty-one,” Bobby said, ignoring Sammy’s question. “There was a dead man in the pond with the car. Interestingly enough, he had a tattoo just like yours on his arm.”
Sammy jerked upright. “Joe’s dead? I mean…the guy is dead?”
He looked away from Bobby and grimaced as he realized he had given himself away.
Bobby smiled pleasantly. “Now that we know you knew the man, I just need a few details. The man had been in the pond for a few months, so there was no way to take fingerprints. But his tattoo, the one that matches yours, was still intact, and there was a military service number under the statue. Based on that number, we believe the man was Joseph K. Bender, a former naval officer, and since he has the same last name as you he must have been related. Is that true?”
Sammy slumped back down. “My brother,” Sammy muttered. “Joe was my brother.”
“Go on,” Bobby said.
Sammy looked stunned. “So Joe’s dead. I always thought he got away to California.”
He sat in thought for a few moments.
“So the man’s name was Joseph K. Bender?” Bobby asked again.
“Yeah, yeah,” Sammy grunted. “It must have been Joe. We did the heist together. He was outside the bank waiting for me in the car. I messed up and let the teller trip the alarm. The cop on duty shot me. I got off a couple of shots and I guess I hit him and got the teller too. I never blamed Joe for running. I would have done the same.”
Bobby took a chance. “What about the woman and child that were in the car with Joe?”
Sammy looked at Bobby with surprise. “You know about Rachel?”
It was late in the afternoon. Bobby had called and asked everyone to meet him in the restaurant at the motel where they were staying in downtown Ossining. He promised that he had some exciting news. Jenny, Reuben, and Jonathan were waiting in a back booth when Bobby arrived. Jonathan was sitting next to Reuben, and Jenny sat across from them by herself. Bobby walked over to the table and sat down next to Jenny. A skinny teenage waitress came over and asked if he wanted coffee. He nodded, and she left to get him a cup, giving them a strange look as she went. Bobby smiled. It wasn’t often that you found a sheriff, an Amish man, a short-haired Amish girl, and a hippie all seated at the same table.
Jenny looked at Bobby expectantly.
“The man in the car was definitely Joseph K. Bender,” Bobby said. “He was Sammy Bender’s brother. They grew up in Patterson, New Jersey, and started getting into trouble when they were teenagers. Sammy knew about the tattoo on Joe’s shoulder and confirmed that the number was a service number. It seems that when the war came, they both enlisted and got a tattoo. Joe got picked for officer training, so he added his service number under the Statue of Liberty. Not that it makes any sense, but then these guys aren’t noted for their smarts.”
“But the report said he got a dishonorable discharge,” Jenny said. “What about that?”
“From what Sammy said, Joe did pretty well during his first year as an officer. He was trained to be a pharmacist mate, which is like a petty officer. He was assigned to a battleship in the Pacific. I guess he got wounded in one of the battles. It wasn’t bad enough to get him discharged, but he did need pain pills while he recovered.
“Sammy says he got hooked on the medication. He got caught stealing narcotics from the infirmary, and they drummed him out of the service. He ended up in New York and graduated from pain pills to morphine and then to heroin. Sammy got tossed out of the service for slugging a superior officer, and he hooked up with Joe. Their life of crime went from there and ended up with the bank robbery.”
Jenny felt sadness overtake her. So her father was a dope addict. That thought was foreign to her, but she tried to understand it anyway.
Bobby saw the look on her face and took her hand. “Jenny, I’ve got some news for you.”
Jenny looked up. She felt the possibilities for her life getting smaller and smaller. What could Uncle Bobby say that could possibly help?
“Joe Bender was not your father.”
Jenny looked at Bobby with a blank stare. “Not my father?”
“No, he was not your father.”
Jenny felt the darkness beginning to lift from her spirit. “Not my father,” she repeated softly.
Jenny looked at Reuben. He was so strong and handsome. He had always been there for her. He had protected her all her life, cared and provided for her, carried her when she had fallen, encouraged her when she failed, and always loved her. What had she been thinking? Tears formed in her eyes. She saw her papa’s jaw working as he tried to keep his emotions from showing. Jonathan stared at both of them.
Jenny got up slowly and went around the table. She stood in front of Reuben and picked up one of his big, strong hands. She put it next to her cheek and felt his calloused palm against her face. Then she kissed his hand and looked into his eyes.
“Of course he’s not my father,” she said to Reuben. “You are.”
Reuben’s arms came around Jenny, and he pulled her close. “Jenny, Jenny, my dochter, my precious dochter,” he said softly.
Jonathan and Bobby looked at each other and then turned away so they wouldn’t show each other the tears welling in their eyes.
Jerusha suddenly smiled. She had been sitting at the kitchen table, praying for her family. She opened her Bible to the Psalms and was reading through them. She stopped when she came to Psalm 68:6. The words leapt up at her. She reads aloud, “God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains.”
A great weight lifted from her heart. She stood up and walked to the front door, opened it, and walked out onto the porch. The sun was just setting in the west. The smells and colors of fall assaulted her senses, and her faith began to rise up. Away in the east, her daughter and her husband were finding answers, and all things were working together for good. Jerusha smiled again. The words of her beloved Lobleid came to her lips. Her clear, sweet voice lifted in song.
“Lässt loben Ihn mit allen unseren Herzen! Weil Er allein würdig ist!”
“We praise Him with all our hearts! Because He only is worthy!”