NaNoWriMo | Mystery | Fiction | Maine | Coast
Grave Secrets (NaNo23 — Pt. 28)
In which events finally start to resolve…
Jack just grinned broadly, and started for the woods. Anna smiled after him and followed.
They moved along the beach next to the woods until they were almost back at the ridge of rocks, then started making their way through the trees. There were mostly pine trees growing on the rock ledge on this part of the island, so the ground was open beneath them and covered in a thick bed of needles. This made it possible to move quickly and quietly.
They hastened forward, trying to keep enough trees between them and the cove that Tony and Tommy wouldn’t be able to see them if they looked at the shore. As they got deeper into the woods, they had to slow down to pick their way through the trees in the reduced light. They moved closer to the shore, hoping to intercept the path. They were getting into a mix of oak and beech trees and had to move more carefully with denser underbrush and fallen limbs and twigs.
They finally reached the opening that signaled the path and paused. To their right, they could make out the boat moored in the cove with the dinghy still at its side. Squinting his eyes, Jack thought he could just make out the motion of someone passing items up into the boat, but the rocking of the waves triggered his vertigo, so he looked back to the ground before him before he could tell for certain.
“I think we have a little time before they finish and return to shore,” he told his mother. “Let’s follow this path to the cabin and find Millie.”
“Jack, we need to be careful,” Anna said, laying a hand on his shoulder to keep him from charging off. “Be smart… we don’t know what we’re going to find, but as long as we’re quiet it will just be the four of us. We don’t want those two to come see what is going on. Remember that!”
Jack felt a flash of panic and found it hard to resist charging off at her words. The thought that Millie might be in danger drove him mad. He could feel a rush of adrenaline flood his system as well as a certain madness. He was glad for Anna’s hand restraining him. He knew it was the concussion, but he wasn’t being rational. She was right. He needed to be careful of how he reacted.
Nodding at her, he said “I understand. We’ll only rush in if she’s in immediate danger.”
Anna returned his smile and released her hand with a nod of her own. “Lead on, Macduff!”
With caution, they moved into the darkened wood.
_____
As Millie had rushed through the woods after Joe, she had let her thoughts run with what she would say when she caught up to him. She had wild thoughts of tackling him and pinning him to the ground, bellowing fierce accusations into his shocked face. Those racing thoughts slowed as she reached denser woods and had to slow her pace.
She imagined sneaking up close to him, then stepping on a twig, alerting him to her. Then she would step out and confront him, pulling him back into the woods while she admonished him for plotting against her and disappointing her with his betrayal. But this thought faded as she had to pick her way more closely not to step on a twig and alert Joe to her presence. She needed to be able to speak quickly once he knew she was there so he wouldn’t have time to raise an alarm. Moving slowly as she picked her way left her further behind him.
Knowing he was at the cabin, she thought about sneaking up and observing. She would watch his actions and look for incriminating behavior. Then she could convince herself that he was wronging her and feel vindicated for attacking him or turning him over to the police.
Deciding that timing was critical, she moved to the path and looked around. Joe was out of sight in the cabin, most likely. Tony and Tommy were in the dinghy, rowing closer and closer to the boat. That put them facing the shore as they pulled with the oars. Actually, she noted… Tony was facing away as Tommy pulled with the oars. Tony shielded him from viewing her. This was her chance. It was a risk, but anything was in this situation, and this risk bought her valuable time. She stepped into the path and raced full speed for the cabin, hoping that she could reach it without being seen.
When she came into the clearing, there was a small cabin against the back left of the open space. She paused to catch her breath and take it in. There was a door with a window visible beside it. She saw no sign of Joe, but the front door stood partially ajar. Glancing back at the cove, she noticed the dinghy just arriving beside the boat. With a deep breath, she strode across the clearing and into the cabin, shutting the door behind her and leaning against it.
The room she was in ran across the front of the cabin with a small kitchen area on the far side. There were two doors leading off the back into bedrooms. Both doors were ajar. There was a lantern lit on a table in the center of the front room and a flickering light in the right-side bedroom. As she stood with her back to the door, Joe appeared at the far door with a candle in his hand. He stopped with a stunned expression on his face.
“Millie!” He cried out. “What are you doing here? Did anyone see you come in?”
Millie felt herself overcome with emotion and tried to speak, but her eyes filled with tears and her throat clenched. She took two steps forward, then fell into a seat at the table with the lantern.
Joe felt crushed at her reaction and ran to sit next to her and lay a hand on her shoulder. “Jesus, Millie, are you ok? What’s wrong? How did you get away?”
Millie looked at him from tear-filled eyes with a scrunched expression on her face. “How could you Joe? How could you and Tony…”
Joe sat back, arms sagging, a broken expression on his face. “It’s not what you think, Millie,” he said, his tone even and sad.
Get James Mullen’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Millie was regaining her composure now. The sudden rush of emotion on entering and seeing Joe had passed. Now she was remembering what he had been doing, what he had done that evening. She felt a surge of anger wash the tears away. Now, with Joe wilting before her eyes, she felt a growing sense of power and control. She had been wronged, and she would be avenged… somehow.
“They knocked Jack unconscious, kidnapped me, and left me tied up in the woods alone,” Millie stated in a cold, matter of fact voice. “You were part of that, you helped them… Joe, why?”
She stopped, choked up again. Not for sentimentality, but the sheer volume of questions that flooded her mind. Why sabotage my project, why commit a crime, why hurt Jack and I, why leave me for dead… why?
Joe looked as though he wanted to crawl inside himself.
“It’s not what you think, Millie,” Joe repeated himself.
“Then tell me what it is, Joe!” Millie said loudly, slapping the table. “Tell me something I can believe in.”
She got quiet for a moment while that sunk in. “Tell me something so I don’t call the police and have you arrested.”
She felt a shiver through her spine as she said this, as did Joe. He looked up to stare into her eyes. His were broken and dead, hers glinted like steel, cold and hard. His gaze faltered and he looked back at the table.
“I didn’t know. I was reading up on pirates in the library when Mrs. Johnson mentioned the Blackwell book. A couple of days later, Tony and I were talking about your project and I mentioned the book to him. He got all excited, but didn’t say anything. Then he kept asking about your project, how it was going, that sort of thing. I didn’t know what he was planning…” his voice tailed off.
“But you stole the book! You stole the folder! You knocked Mrs. Johnson down and could have hurt her,” Millie was finding it hard not to launch into a tirade of accusations and vitriol. “You broke into my apartment, Joe…” she guessed, settling on the one thing she felt the most violated and betrayed by.
Joe’s head snapped up with a shocked expression. “I didn’t break into your apartment… what are you talking about, Millie?”
“That’s how we knew what you were up to!” Millie burst out. “Jack and I got home tonight and found grammy’s bible on the floor in the bedroom and your footprint on the windowsill leaving the bedroom. Jack knew that the book you had in your room was different than the one we had, and we knew you’d be going to the graveyard. That’s how we found you!”
Jack was alert now. There was confusion all over his face, but life had returned to his eyes. He was realizing that things weren’t what he had thought they were either.
“That wasn’t me,” he said. “What books are you talking about? I didn’t have any book…”
“The one you stole from the library,” Millie shot back. “The one on the Blackwell murders. You had the copy mentioning something about Black Island, but the copy Mrs. Johnson gave us had the paragraph about the false burials. Jack noticed the difference, realized you had switched the copies or something, I don’t remember.”
Jack was shaking his head as she spoke. “No, that’s not what happened. I never stole a book from the library… I wouldn’t do that. I was reading about pirates and Mrs. Johnson showed me that book about the Blackwells. The only time I saw it after she put it back on the shelf was when Jack was pretending to read it upside down when I caught you making out in the research room.”
“Wait, you knew we were making out…” Millie asked, surprised. She felt herself blush despite the situation. Joe grinned a little, looking like the brother she thought she knew for a quick moment.
She felt her heart stir for him briefly and decided that she would give him a chance to explain if they got away. So she decided they needed to get away.
“When will they be back?” She asked Joe. “We need to get out of here.”
“Oh shit,” Joe said, jumping up. “I’m supposed to check in with them…”
He ran into the other room. Millie got up and followed him to the door, looking into a bedroom with a radio set up in the corner. Joe was talking into the headset.
“Come in… come in…” he called, but there was no response.
“What does it mean?” Millie asked.
“It means we need to get ready, they’re on their way back from the boat,” Joe replied.
Ok, this took forever, I know, but here it is… the next to the last chapter. I was hoping, but once I finally started writing it got away from me. It’s going to take another chapter to round it out. Thanks for sticking around, and I hope you enjoy reading.
Please clap, highlight and comment with your thoughts.
