Shaking Off the Dust (31 page)

“You like to play doctor with me, but beyond that, I don’t know.” I felt better falling into our banter.

Making jokes was one way of relieving the stress and he knew it was my strong suit.

“You two always glued to each other like that?” Brodie interrupted. “What are you talking about? Tom said it was none of my business, but he’s not talking much, so I figure I’ll hang out with you.”

“Brodie wants to know if we are always glued to each other and what we are talking about,” I said to Takeshi.

“I try to stay glued to her as much as I can,” Takeshi replied. “She’s very strict about not making all the other men jealous. They all want their turn.”

“He always talk that kind of boloney?” Brodie shook his head.

I laughed. “Yes, he always talks that kind of boloney. He pretends I am an attractive woman, despite my likeness to the elephant woman. He thinks I need the moral support.”

“What does that mean, moral support?”

“It means I’m sad and he’s trying to make me feel better. Pretending I’m an attractive woman makes me feel better.”

“When your face is back to normal, I’ll tell you if you’re pretty or not,” Brodie informed me.

“I’ll remind you that you said that. Then I want an honest opinion.”

“She is beautiful.” Tom came up and tried to thump Brodie on the back on his head, but the boy dodged him. “She is beautiful even now. A person’s soul is reflected in their eyes.”

“They look all swollen to me.” Brodie stuck his tongue out at Tom. “You can’t touch me unless I allow it. I know the rules of being a ghost now.”

“You are a brat, boy,” Tom groaned, which made Brodie grin even wider.

“Tom, what a nice thing to say about me.” I teared up again.

“Tom, don’t be nice to her now, give her hell,” Takeshi chided.

“Sorry. Hannah, you’re a pain the ass, straighten up and fly right. Oh, and you should keep your balcony door shut at night. Everyone on the second floor could hear you having sex last night. It was like being back in the dorms.”

I laughed. “Yes, that’s more the thing. Stick with what you’re good at.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Takeshi warned. “He already has a thing for you. Now he’s going to convince himself he would have had a chance with you.”

“I would have, because I would have never introduced the two of you until she was well and truly mine.”

I shook my head.

“What did he say now?” Takeshi frowned.

“Nothing you need to hear. He mentioned what tactics he might have used. I don’t think you or I could say what might have happened. Although I’m afraid nothing would have happened for any of us. It took the hand of God to shake us out of our complacent lives. I think I recognize his fingerprints now.”

“Very funny.” Tom wasn’t laughing. “I plan to meet up with him in a little while, so try not to piss him off as I step into the light.”

I chuckled and told Takeshi. He grinned at me.

“Let’s go back in. I’m ready to face everyone again. Thank you, all my boys helped me but I have to admit, I’m most partial to Takeshi’s warmth.”

“You’re prejudiced against the dead,” Tom complained.

I put my hand out to Tom and touched his cheek. He tried to put his hand on mine. “My sweet Tom, I hope you find all things in the next world. You certainly got gypped here.”

“I hate being left out of the conversation. He said something charming, and I can’t compete unless I know what he said.” Takeshi pulled me with him. “Tom, stop hitting on my woman.”

“I can’t believe I make him jealous. I feel better now too.” Tom grinned.

“I thought he is your best friend? Why would he be jealous?” Brodie asked.

“Because he doesn’t like the idea that Hannah might care about someone else as much as she cares about him,” Tom declared proudly.

“Okay, cut it out.” I walked with Takeshi into the house. “Just be his friend, not his would-be rival. It’s all a moot point now. I am with Takeshi.”

Takeshi stopped us and leaned down. “Marry me?”

“I was feeling so much better,” I said.

I went up to our room to freshen up. The crying had caused my face to swell up more, with red streaks down to my cheek. “Lovely.”

I threaded my way through a lot of rooms until a maid found me. She beckoned me to follow her and we ended up in the kitchen. Takeshi was mixing ink and ash, the rest of our group in a circle behind him. A chair was empty beside him.

“We’re ready. Have a seat.” Takeshi unwrapped a small artist brush. I sat across from him and inclined my head. I lifted my leg and put it on his. I pulled away when I realized it was the leg with stitches.

He raised his eyebrow at me. “I need that ankle.”

“That’s your bad one. Switch legs so I’m not hurting you.”

He did and I complied. He pulled off my socks and rolled up my jeans. With a small knife, he scraped the skin, dipped his brush in the ink and began to redraw the symbol. When he finished, I called for Tom and Brodie. They both appeared.

I nodded. “They are here.”

He put on another layer, then plastic wrap after it dried a bit.

He redid his own tattoo and wrapped it before he looked at the others. Enrique came forward and pulled back his sweater to expose his left inner arm. In a matter of an hour, everyone was wrapped in plastic. I grinned at how absurd my life felt at the moment.

“We should finish our interview with the other child.” Bill never forgot the job.

Ten minutes later, I was holding hairs in my hand.

Bethann faced the boy standing next to her. He stared straight back at me. Red hair stuck out in every direction and most of his front teeth were missing. It didn’t seem like that was from an accident, but simply a seven-year-old losing teeth and them growing back at varying stages.

“She can thee me?” he asked with a distinct lisp.

“Yes, I can see you. You’re Nicholas, I bet. Brodie mentioned you.”

“He’th mean to me.” Pale green eyes flashed as he glanced over at Brodie.

“I don’t think he means to be unkind, but he is sad and angry and that is how he lets his anger out. He’s mad at the people who hurt him and you and Melissa, but they are not here. So he’s taking it out on you and all of us. He’ll behave better now, I promise.”

“Make him promith,” Nicholas demanded.

“Brodie?” I called and the imp moved next to me. “Promise Nicholas you won’t be mean to him again.

Promise you won’t call him names.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes, if you want to hang out with the FBI and the Spanish agents. Besides we’re going on a picnic tomorrow and if you want to see Spain and come along you must promise him you’ll behave.”

“You’re worse than a teacher.” He turned to Nicholas. “I promise not to call you names or make fun of the way you talk or make you cry.”

“Okay, Nicholas, is that good enough?” I was surprised I got that much out of Brodie.

“How can you thee us?” Nicolas asked.

“She had a brain surgery, that’s how she can see us, moron,” Brodie spoke to him like he was talking to a younger brother.

Nicholas lifted his chin at the other boy, ready for battle before he glanced at me, and then Bethann. “Ith that true? And I’m not a moron, moron.”

Bethann nodded. “She can see us sometimes and she did have brain surgery, but I don’t know if that is why she can see and hear us.”

Brodie shook his head in disgust. “Of course that’s why.”

Tom cut in. “It’s more complicated than that.”

“Then explain it.” Brodie was getting mad.

“Brodie, stop interrupting. You can hear about it later from Tom, when we’ve all gone to bed. Right now I need to hear and tell Nicholas’s story, so be quiet.”

“What’s going on?” Enrique asked. “What do they want Tom to tell them?”

“They are arguing over why I can see them. Brodie says it’s my brain surgery and Tom says it’s more complicated. You heard what I told them.”

“Brodie is a smart young man,” Enrique asserted.

“Where I come from, we’d call him a rascal. Smart mouthed and smart headed.” I looked at him and he puffed up like a peacock. I turned to Nicholas. “Now, Nick. Can I call you Nick?” He nodded. “Can you tell us what happened to you? We want to find those people who took you from your real parents.

These people here are with the FBI and they need to know what happened so they can catch the people who hurt you.”

Nick stuttered out a complicated story about his mother’s boyfriend who stole all their money. They couldn’t pay the rent and lived in a car for a while and then moved into a shelter in New Mexico. He was going to go to a water park with three of the other children living in the shelter. He loved to swim. They ended up at the compound and he never saw his mother again.

His voice quavered as he spoke of the dogs, big black beasts. He was afraid of them, but they made him feed the dogs everyday. They were “dobernams” and they growled and chased him away. One day he fell as he was running and they attacked him. He hit his head and the next thing he knew he was walking through the dogs and then through walls. He wasn’t hungry and he found Melissa, who was like him, so they hung out together, even though she’s really too young for him to play with. When Brodie joined them, he was always picking on him, but told them stories about angels coming one day.

Nicholas gave us the names of everyone he remembered and where they slept in the compound. I repeated it all. When he finished, I had unshed tears in my eyes. I was not the only one. Even Enrique and Jack looked stunned. These children had each suffered as no one deserves. I was devastated by their journey through life and death.

“There is a picnic tomorrow. After that, I think the youngest ones and I will walk into the light. They have suffered enough in this world. Tell my Bill that I won’t wait any longer. Tomorrow we celebrate.

The next morning we leave.”

I repeated her words to Bill. He looked staggered, but nodded.

Brodie walked over to Tom. “I’ll stay with Tom. I’ll go when he goes.”

Ruffling the boy’s pale white hair, Tom shot me a look before he nodded agreement. He wanted me to think he was doing it as a favor to me, but I understood him better than that now. He did this for Brodie.

“I am looking forward to a day of fun and relaxation. I hope the weather is nice.” I let the hairs fall from my hand onto the table and put on my best excited face. If tomorrow was their last day on earth, we were going to make it a special day for them.

“I have Arturo and Mia’s hairs also.” Takeshi took the hairs I had set down, along with the other two and started to weave them into a braid to make it into a ring shape. “Tomorrow you can wear the ring and they will be with us for the day.”

“In the meantime, Enrique, does your TV get cartoons? We can send them all to a TV set and let them enjoy themselves.” I waited for him to show me the way.

Mateo stopped Takeshi from following us by saying, “We still have questions for Tom, Takeshi and the others. If we are taking off a day to play, I will use the rest of this one to continue our investigation.”

Wandering the house while Mateo held my man hostage, I found my way to the TV room. Nestling into a pillow on the couch, I slid the ring of braided hair on my finger and listened to cartoons, shrieks of children’s laughter and soft words of comfort from Bethann. One by one the children joined me on the sofa. Ignoring the cold, I offered them warmth.

Takeshi found me there late in the evening and bundled me off, scolding me for becoming so cold, then heating my body with his fevered lovemaking.

I woke the next morning as the bed moved. The maid brought in a breakfast tray. I dove into the food and put three sugars in my tea and had downed half the cup before the maid left the room. Takeshi smiled at me and poured himself some. “You are hungry?”

“Yes. Stress does that to me.”

“Sure you don’t want to stay with me for a while?” Takeshi patted the bed.

“You already had your way with me last night. It’s embarrassing how easily you seduce me. How do you do that?”

“I convince your body, not your head. We are tuned to each other now. I would never hurt you, Hannah, your body and you know that. Think of it as a form of meditation, a way to release our stress.”

I snorted loudly at that. “Whatever you choose to believe, Shimodo, oh Mystic of the East.”

Enrique told us to wear warm clothes, sweaters and heavy jackets. The weather had turned unusually cold. I’d decided for layers and then Takeshi insisted I wear one of his sweaters under my jacket. I gave in with very little argument, because he was so cute when he was pouting.

As we reached the car, Takeshi handed me the ring of hair he’d found on the bedside table and I put it

on my finger. Brodie started out with us at breakfast then decided we were too boring, and had gone back to join the other children watching cartoons. I saw they were all now waiting in front of the SUVs.

Enrique, Bill, Takeshi and I went in one, and the others went in the second vehicle. Tom, Brodie, Arturo and Mia sat on the hood. If Enrique were able to see them, his view would have been completely obscured. Bethann and the three children were in the vehicle behind us, their heads sticking out of the roof. It was a forty-minute drive to the small town and we pulled into a grocery store. Takeshi and I started walking in and the children gathered around us.

“Bethann, I need some personal items and I’d like some privacy. Can you take the children elsewhere

’til I get things bagged up,” I requested quietly.

“Of course, Hannah.” She told the children to follow her. Luckily there was a toy section and they found things to occupy themselves. I begged Hector to go along with her so he could pick up different toys and explain what the Spanish writing said. He seemed a little embarrassed at first, but Sharon and Melissa held on to his legs until he gave in. He took items down one at a time to let them see. In the end, Rachel stayed with him and they were all laughing.

Takeshi and I started for the personal products. He carried a basket over his arm. I searched for familiar packaging to go with Spanish words. I found tampons, and Takeshi tossed in condoms and every pregnancy-testing kit on the market.