Spirits in the Park (35 page)

Mr. Hennessy nodded at Wampage. “Hey, you. Long time no see. How you stayed out of the Trap is one story I'd like to hear.”

“Later, Harry Meester,” Wampage said curtly.

“Harry Meester.” Mr. Hennessy rolled the name around on his tongue. “Been a long time since I've been called that. A long time.”

“Is that your real name?” Alexa asked.

“Of course not.” Mr. Hennessy winked at her. “Names are like jackets. They're something for people to grab onto when you're running. That's so easy to wiggle out of. The perfect thing to leave dangling uselessly in their hand as you hightail it down the road. People think names pin you down, but it's the other way around. Your name pins them down and no mistake.”

“Sounds like years of experience talking,” Kidd said drily.

“More than you know,” Mr. Hennessy replied, giving him a faint smile. He shrugged at Wampage, who stared, stone-faced, at him. “You never liked me, did you, Wampage. Didn't trust me.”

“I was right not to,” Wampage replied. “You are a liar.”

“But not a murderer.” Mr. Hennessy pointed to Buck, who was sitting uncomfortably at his side. “That counts for something, right?”

“What happened?” Alexa asked. “Witnesses watched you shoot Buck in cold blood!”

“Yeah, well . . .” Now Mr. Hennessy looked uncomfortable. “Why is this kid burning a hole in my head?” He pointed right at Rory, who looked away. “You look a little familiar. Do I know your mother or something?”

“Something like that,” Rory replied. Mr. Hennessy gave him a sharp look.

Buck spoke up. “I didn't know you were free, Wampage. I am sorry. I would have sought you out. I have done everything wrong.” His face ached with sadness.

“Start at the beginning,” Wampage instructed him, his eyes softening for his old friend.

“Well, like most things, it began with Kieft,” Mr. Hennessy jumped in. “I don't mind telling you that because if that old goat ever catches up with me, this particular story will be way down on the list of secrets he'll make me wish I never knew. Not that I don't wish that already. Anyway, Kieft wanted to get rid of the Munsees. He'd hated them for a long, long time, and he knew that having them around was a threat to his power. They had access to magic he couldn't match, at least not then. So he dreamed up the Trap, with some help, of course.”

“Did you help?” Wampage asked, his voice dangerously soft.

“No, no, that was far beyond me,” Mr. Hennessy quickly assured him. “I had nothing to do with it. But when it came to putting his plan to action . . . Kieft always had a way of making certain I play along with his games. No matter how I might want to throw in my chips and go home, he'd always make sure I was in for the next hand. And that time was no different.”

Rory's stomach twisted as he listened. Alexa put her hand over his, flashing him an empathetic smile. What does she know, Rory thought. Her dad had been one of the good guys, the good guy. His dad . . . he wanted to cry.

“How long had you worked for Kieft?” Fritz wanted to know. Mr. Hennessy shot him a look.

“It's better for all of us if you don't know the answer to that question. Not meaning to be rude, but there it is. Anyway, Kieft had this great plan to gather up all the Munsees in Central Park and trap them there. There was just one problem: he needed the Mayor's help. And Mayor Hamilton loved the Munsees. He was good friends with Tackapausha himself. They'd often let their children play together. Which blinded both of them to what was going on between Buck here and sweet little Abigail.”

Mr. Hennessy's eyes grew soft.

“She was the brightest little kid,” he said, smiling. Buck stared down at his hands, not looking at anyone. “She did not deserve any of what I did to her. I am truly sorry for any pain I caused that poor child. It will haunt me till the end of my long days.”

“What did you do to her, exactly?” Fritz asked.

“Well, Hamilton and Tackapausha may have been blind to their children's growing love for each other, but Kieft wasn't. And there lay his chance. So he instructed me to help the two of them fan the embers of their love into a flame. Which I did, not that it took much.”

“I loved her the minute I met her,” Buck said, his voice overflowing with sadness. “There were no barriers to our love among my people, especially since Hamilton was such a friend to us. But Abigail knew that her father would not approve. She was his joy, and he would not give her over to a savage, no matter how many meals he shared with my father.”

“Now, you don't know that, Buck,” Mr. Hennessy said. “Alexander really liked you. Who knows what may have happened without Kieft. As it was, Kieft forced me to tell Hamilton tall tales of how barbaric the mating rituals were among the savages, and on and on. Awful things that no right-thinking man would ever believe. But Hamilton was blinded by his worries for his daughter. I went back and forth, planting ideas in both Buck and Abigail that their fathers would never let them live together. He had me tell Abigail that her father was ready to lock her up rather than let her marry a savage. So she ran to the Munsees.

“Then I went with Kieft to see the Mayor and told him a bald-faced lie. I said that Abigail was renouncing him as her father. She was being adopted by Tackapausha and would be one of the Munsees, throwing away her past. She wanted to be Munsee only, forever. I told him lie after lie after lie—how Tackapausha urged Abigail to curse her father's name, how Buck had three other wives—things no one else would ever believe. But Hamilton was already despondent, so he swallowed them all. Mayor Hamilton turned to Kieft and authorized the Trap right then and there.”

“We should have known,” Buck said. “We should have wondered why he was so upset that his own daughter had come to live with us. But my father believed that one had nothing to do with the other. Hamilton was still a good man, decent, and he wouldn't turn against us.”

“By this point, I was hurtin',” Mr. Hennessy said. “I liked both these kids and I knew what was coming. I wanted to warn them, but I was so scared of what Kieft would do to me. He's done awful things before, to me and mine, and I couldn't bear it. I was weak, and that shame will stay with me always.

“But when the day of the Trap arrived, I hatched a little plan of my own. I knew I couldn't stop the Trap, but I wanted to save Buck and Abigail. So I convinced Buck to travel to City Hall and plead with the Mayor to reconsider his opposition to the marriage—just to get the boy out of the park. Hamilton was already taking care of his own—he'd sent men to take Abigail from the Munsee camp the night before to bring her back home. But things didn't work out that way. For one thing, Abigail was nowhere to be found when the Mayor's man arrived at the Munsee camp.”

Rory glanced at Alexa, who nodded back. That was the night Abigail had followed Kieft. If not for that, she would have been carried off before the Trap was sprung and everything would have been different.

“And Buck . . .” Mr. Hennessy was saying.

“It did not go well with the Mayor,” Buck finished, his face dark. “He had no forgiveness in his heart.”

“But I knew that,” Mr. Hennessy said. “I just wanted Buck out of the park. But Kieft, who was there with Hamilton as usual in those days, made it a point to tell Buck about the Trap, just to make certain he ran back to his people. Kieft didn't want a happily married Buck and Abigail bouncing around the island, reminding everyone that maybe the Munsees weren't so unlike us after all.

“Then Kieft pulled me aside and told me to go after the boy and kill him, in front of the Munsees. To make certain no one ever forgives, he said. And it was here I reached my limit. I had done so many things for Kieft, things I would never tell a soul. And as the years passed, the burden grew heavier and heavier. But this . . . ? Murdering a friend, a boy I watched grow up? I couldn't do it. So I followed Buck back to his people, and just as the Trap was being sprung, I shot him in the back, to wound him while making him appear dead.”

“Why?” Alexa asked. “Why not just run?”

“Kieft wanted Buck dead,” Mr. Hennessy told her. “If he knew that Buck was alive somewhere, nothing would stop him from hunting the poor boy down and destroying both him and me. I had to do it.”

“A shot in the back is a dangerous gamble,” Kidd said. “Weren't you afraid you'd kill him?”

“I know a good healer,” Mr. Hennessy said. “Let's leave it at that.”

Alexa nudged Rory and whispered, “The abbess!” into his ear. Of course, Rory thought. It all comes together.

“But it didn't go perfectly,” Mr. Hennessy continued. “As Buck fell, I saw Abigail standing next to Tackapausha at the edge of the park, and both of them were devastated. I'll always remember that look on Abigial's face. It haunts me to this day. Then the blue light flew up and they were gone. Buck and I holed up until he was healed, and then we snuck down to the dock, hopped aboard the first ship leaving port, and sailed away. We later heard that Abigail had died, which broke our hearts all over again.”

“I sent in a squirrel, when I was on my first shore leave,” Buck said. “I didn't want any of my people to know I was alive. I was ashamed. I could do nothing for them, so I felt it was better if they thought I was dead. The squirrel came back with news that it was true. My Olathe was dead. Once I knew that, there was no reason for me to ever step foot on the shore again.”

“Yep, we've been running ever since,” Mr Hennessy said. “Keeping out of sight.”

“Keeping out of sight?” Fritz asked. “Was that business with Tew's Boys keeping out of sight?”

Mr. Hennessy's eyes went dark. “That was a mistake.” He glared at Kidd. “You'd sunk our ship, Captain. I understand your reasons, but that still left me and ten other men clinging to a couple of planks for weeks. I thought I was going to sink to the bottom of the sea. So I told the other men some things I shouldn't have. Secrets that I certainly would never tell anyone normally, including you lot, so don't bother to ask. I should have kept my mouth shut, just let it die with me. But I didn't. And those secrets were far too dangerous to get out, so I had to use a bit of Munsee magic I'd picked up over the years to prevent anyone from telling any tales. This protected them as much as me, believe me. Some things we'd all be better off not knowing. I only meant for it to be a simple bind, but I'm not really much for magic and I did it all wrong. I made the spell far too strong. It weighed on their souls like anchors dragging them down. And they could never be free. I ruined the lives of ten men that day, and I will forever be ashamed of it. So much to answer for . . .”

No one spoke as her stared off into nothing. Finally, he let out a long breath.

“Anyway,” he said, “that's how we ended up here. And now we've been found out, so I don't know what's going to happen. I'm pretty curious, I have to admit. But for now, would you all mind giving me a moment?”

“For what?” Fritz asked.

Mr. Hennessy looked right at Rory.

“I'd like to speak to my son.”

Rory and his father stared at each other across the table. The others had left them alone, but for a while neither of them spoke. Finally, Mr. Hennessy nodded.

“You've got your mother's nose. And from what Kidd just told me about you coming after me, her stubborn refusal to quit. She could argue a point forever. Usually, I'd just give in. Easier to say ‘yes, dear' than keep fighting.”

Rory didn't answer.

“How's Bridget?” Mr. Hennessy continued uncomfortably. “What kind of girl is she? Smart? Pretty? Quick on her feet like her old man?”

“She's good,” Rory said finally. “She's all those things.”

“I always knew she'd be like her dad. You could see it in her, even when she was a baby.”

“What about me?” Rory asked. “What did you see in me?” Mr. Hennessy sighed.

“I saw a lot of your mother. We should all be more like her.” He paused, steadying his breathing. Rory was shocked to realize his father was barely holding on.

“I can't believe it's you,” his father said finally. “You, of all people. My son, the Light. How did you find me?”

“The abbess told me you were sailing this way,” Rory said, his thoughts awhirl.

“You saw Mary? I'm glad she sent you after me.”

“She was murdered.” Rory wanted to shock his father. But Mr. Hennessy shrugged.

“I doubt that. She's a goddess, you know, and they aren't easy to kill. The Goddess of Remorse. You can see why we'd be such good friends.”

“Why did you leave?” Rory blurted out, the tears running down his face. “Why?”

“I'm so sorry for what I did to you, to your sister, to your poor mother . . .” Mr. Hennessy wiped away a tear. “I was weak. I met your mother and I fell in love. I thought I could hide on the mainland for a while. Buck was doing fine and didn't need me by his side every minute of every day. And I thought, if I stayed up in Inwood, the furthest corner of the island, then maybe I could live at least one lifetime in peace. But then . . . one morning, I saw him. A battle roach, waving at me from the baseboard. I recognized the markings . . . he was a M'Garoth, one of the Mayor's own guard. I'd been discovered! I panicked, and ran for the docks, hopping on the first ship out of port. I told myself I did it for the good of my family. If Kieft discovered me with a family, he'd have killed the whole lot of you just to teach me a lesson. I couldn't chance it. At least, with me gone . . . maybe you'd have a chance at a normal life.”