Traveler Ch. 02

Cassie nodded and left the room.

I turned my attention to Cindy. This time I turned to water language. "Find Callum, find somewhere to hide him. Black out for a week and then turn your cell back on. I should have something for you then."

She nodded and was already headed for the door before she stopped, turned around, came over to the bed and kissed me. She noticed the tent in the bed when she left. I heard the smug bitch say 'I still have it' as she walked down the corridor.

A nurse came in just then and caused Maddie and me to pause. She smiled, took my pulse and then pulled a syringe from a metal dish. She then looked around wondering why we were staring at her. "Oh please, don't mind me. His latest tests came back with an iron deficiency; this will correct it."

She then pushed the needle into the bag of saline hanging by the bed and dripping into my arm. Satisfied with her work she left the room.

That left Maddie alone in my room. "I need to talk to Abe. I want him to come with us when we find your sister. If Callum escapes, he's going to try and destroy the evidence."

Maddie went white when she realized what I had said.

Getting out of bed wasn't as easy as I thought. Cassie came through the door as I started to wobble and placed me back onto the bed. It's a shame she couldn't stop the room from going around while she was at it.

Cassie laid me down for a moment, well until the room stood still perhaps.

"It's okay Jason. You did the hard work my friend. It's our turn to carry the load."

Her palm on my chest held me to the bed as well. Realizing she had done this to me, I went to shout at the fucking bitch. The darkness beat me to it.

*******

Maddie stood and looked at Cassie. Her finger pointed towards the now sleeping figure on the bed.

"What.. What did you just do?"

Cassie turned her attention to Maddie. "I'm doing what I had planned to do since we got him here."

She smiled at Maddie's confusion. So she added.

"The last time he did this. Used his gift I mean; it took us three months to get him back. he's been here a week, if he left the hospital now, he will be dead within a few days. We all want to get your sister back, but he's carrying too much baggage, not to mention guilt at leaving your sister at the lock."

Maddie relaxed a little. "So Cindy knows about this?"

Cassie nodded her head and mentioned that they had pulled this plan together when he figured out where your sister was. The nurse helped when they figured he might try to sneak out.

Cassie pulled her cell out and called Abe. She filled him in on the conversation so far and told him it would be in his own interest to be with them when they found Brenda's body. It took all of a New York minute for Abe to agree. Maddie drove as Cassie gave directions and talked to a Police officer from her past as Traveler. He told her that it was considered a cold case.

He assured Cassie that he would speak to the officer in charge and back up her request for a dive team as well as the cold case officer. Cassie gave him the location they would be and the time of arrival. Then they picked Abe up on the way out. Detective Stewart gave Cassie a call twenty minutes later and told them that he would get a dive team together and meet them at the location she had given them.

Cassie then twisted in her seat to talk to Abe. "We're sure we know where Callum hid Brenda's body. Jason believes he killed her as a warm up to killing me at the bar fight. He killed an innocent Abe. He has to be punished; her family has to see justice done, not our justice, but theirs."

Cassie watched Abe, a man who wanted power so much, now came to terms with the fact that the scales of justice were evenly balanced for a reason. Even he finally understood, his son, his own son had killed an innocent.

Abe nodded his head. "Agreed."

Cassie went on to explain that Cindy has him tucked away, when the Police have enough evidence, we'll hand him over.

Abe shook his head; a small smile came to his lips as he said. "Any chance you want your old job back?"

Cassie leaned over and held onto Abe's hand. "I'm retired and loving it. You're Traveler now, and doing a great job of it. It's your son that's threatening to pull us all down."

Abe nodded his head in agreement. "He can't be allowed to do that, too many of our people will fall by the wayside if that happens. The law must do what they have to do. I just hope that Cindy leaves them something to prosecute."

*******

The village of Cinder Creek wasn't much, back in the day when it was a supplier for the canal just across the field. Back then it was all horse feed and supplies for the families that lived on the boats. They even had a blacksmith in case one of the horses threw a shoe.

But it stuck around, as trucks and trains took more of the trade the canal boats had and the boats became less. The people of Cinder Creek held a meeting, the topic was 'stay or leave?' most chose to stay and that's when county got involved, they built better roads off the freeway and actually to the edge of town. The townsfolk got ideas and from those ideas small manufacturing units were built.

People who were born in Cinder Creek decided to stay and the town grew; although trade still traveled the canal and it was engine powered boats now, they still needed supplies and the canal also broadened its horizons. People used the canal network for leisure as well as hauling goods. They still had a blacksmith, because the posh houses getting built on the outskirts of town were quickly taken up by the rich folks who wanted a weekend getaway. They brought horses with them.

The blacksmith also had hidden talents. Initially it was a gift to one of his friends, when he custom-made a gate for his friend with the family name sitting in the center of the gate. He makes two a month now and has a waiting list of six months; people are happy to wait, they like his work.

Then the darkest day in the history of Cinder Creek came to the town. The people of the town knew a girl had died over by the lock. Some say that on a given day they've seen a woman in a red coat sitting on the lock gate, just staring along the canal.

One person even asked the person telling the story why they never talked to the dead girl. Most were afraid she would talk back to them and they would be tarnished with 'seeing dead people'. The ones who had been around long enough had seen many things, mostly to do with the canal and its people. They were smart enough to leave it well alone. On one given day of the year three people from town would lay flowers by the lock. To let the woman in the red coat know that she was never alone and always in their thoughts.

Then one sunny morning a black four by four turned into the parking lot, a big Police van pulled up next to it, on the side were the words 'Dive Team'. Those that had resided in Cinder Creek the longest, hoped against hope that it was to do with the woman in the red coat.

*******

Cassie got out of the car, Detective Stewart did the same and the two met in the middle. They talked for a moment and the detective went back to his car, pulled a file from his passenger seat and placed it onto the hood. Cassie was leaning over it, reading what he had.

Abe leaned over and said to Maddie. "I think this is where you leave me here and help find your sister my dear."

Maddie nodded and thanked Abe before she stepped out and strode over. Cassie heard someone behind her and smiled when Maddie was closer. Detective Stewart scooped up the file and all three walked the path across the field to the lock gate.

Cassie turned to Maddie. "Jason allowed you to see your sister, I need to lean on that knowledge now. When you saw her, exactly where was she sitting?"

Maddie pointed and Cassie asked her to sit at the very spot she 'saw' her sister. Maddie gulped but did as she was asked. Cassie crossed the lock to the other side of the canal and walked along it, both Maddie and Detective Stewart could see her lips moving, she was counting. Twice she stopped and turned to look at Maddie, then moved further along the canal, quietly counting again until she stopped again and looked back at Maddie sitting by the lock.

She then looked around on the ground and her eyes lit up, moved to the edge of the path and knelt down. A rock the size of a soccer ball clutched close to her, she walked to the edge of the path and placed it there. Then looked at Maddie again and started walking and counting again, she did this once more before she stopped, then looked at Maddie and then her eyes traveled along the other side of the canal.

Cassie turned again to the back of the path knelt down and a smaller soccer sized rock came into view. That now also lived on the edge of the path, as Cassie walked slowly back to the lock gate and over it. Detective Stewart met her as she once again set foot on his side.

"Ask your dive team to search under the water and between those two markers. A hole or a crack in the bank of the lock wide enough to fit a human into."

Cassie then turned to Maddie. "You're a brave woman. Thank you."

She held out her hand and Maddie took it, they walked down the path, the leader of the dive team and Detective Stewart were going the other way.

Suddenly she stopped and held up her hand, Detective Stewart stopped alongside her.

"Phone the water ways authorities, get them to close access to this canal at Willow point and Faraday Lock. Your dive team won't be disturbed then."

He nodded, already reaching for his phone as Cassie and Maddie walked on. Both were standing by the car talking to Abe through the car window when Detective Stewart walked up to them.

"The waterways authority say they can't do anything until tomorrow morning."

Cassie looked at Abe, he leaned back in his seat and pulled his cell out of his pocket. Ten minutes later he got out of the car and walked back to talk to the Detective. "Word is spreading among the water people. Two boats are now stationary against the dock gates you mentioned. They will stay there until the water ways authorities turn up in the morning."

The man in charge of the dive team was stood behind Abe and heard everything. "In that case Detective, my men and I would like to start hauling our equipment up to the lock gate and get started."

Word was out now among the water people. Some came in cars, others used their boats along the Penton river, most stopped and tied up on the bank then walked across country. They sat on the hill that overlooked the canal lock and kept out of the way of the dive team. It was predicted that if one of the dive team sneezed, six tissues would appear. That's how keenly the water people were watching the dive team's activities.

It took three hours to move all the equipment they wanted to the bank of the canal; the river people offered to help. The dive team was wary of any help given in case equipment went missing. Even when it was pointed out by Abe that all they wanted to do was help reunite the red lady as she had become known with her family.

The leader of the dive team went and talked to the group now massing on the hill, he thanked them for their offer of help. He got a smile and a nod back, the river people understood.

By the time everything was ready the dive team had an hour in the water left before it would be too dark to see anything, either under or above the water. The dive team looked at the still growing crowd on the hill and decided to make use of that hour.

As the darkness crept across the fields and up the hill, the women organized vigils through the night. The dive leader was going to send his team home for the night and start again in the morning; every one of the team looked at the growing mass of people on the hill and opted to stay.

In the morning, the dive team worked in pairs. There was room for more down there, but they were thorough to the point of it almost being a fingertip search. As the dive team leader would pull one team out, another seamlessly took their place. One of the divers popped up unexpectedly and swam across the canal to talk to the dive team leader. He nodded to two others and they joined those already in the canal.

For a good ten minutes the crowd almost felt like they held their collective breath.

Then one by one the divers emerged and swam back across the canal. They pulled themselves out of the canal and went into a huddle with the dive team leader and Detective Stewart. Information was allowed out but only on the agreement of the Detective. The divers had found a hole in the side of the solid rock wall of the canal. One of the divers went in and found that the hole expanded further on into a small cave with an elevated position free of water from the canal.

The diver had found a body of a woman in a red coat, as well as an umbrella.

That's when all information stopped being fed to anyone.

*******

After the meeting with the dive team, Detective Stewart walked up to Maddie, placed a hand on her arm and guided her to sit on the hood of the car.

"Although I have every reason to believe, I can't confirm until the coroner gets involved. I think we've found your sister. You need to be ready to phone your folks."

Detective Stewart gave Maddie a reassuring hug and left her on the hood of the car, going back to the ad-hoc conference in the middle of the meadow. After another round of discussions and the meeting was over. The crowd on the hill simply watched everything, not a word was spoken by anyone in the crowd. They were even more interested when two of the divers re-entered the water, one of them carrying a body bag.

As the two divers came up, one held up his hand; the whole hill let out a held breath and clapped for the divers. They stopped when a body bag came into view Everybody on the hill stood in respect.

A woman in the crowd started to sing in river language, the woman next to her joined in, then the next and the next. Soon the whole crowd were singing the same song, even as tears streamed from their eyes, they continued to sing this same song.

Maddie turned to Cassie and asked her what was the song?

Wiping her own tears from her eyes Cassie said. "In our language. It's called Cal-un-den. It's usually sung once a year, on Halloween, the day of the dead and also at one of our funerals. It's a song to welcome the dead of our loved ones into our hearts."

Maddie got off the hood of the car as the dive team arrived at their side of the canal with the body bag. "I want to see her. I have to see her."

Cassie grabbed Maddie and pulled her into a hug, Maddie fought her, Cassie allowed it for a moment and then Traveler in her re-emerged and she grabbed Maddie by her upper arms, then pushed her back slightly. What Maddie saw in Cassie's eyes stopped what she was going to yell at her.

"Listen to me. For the sake of your own sanity, you can't see her now. You have to remember the person that Jason gave you the gift of seeing. If you open that body bag, then that image will superimpose itself and it will live in your life forever. Remember your sister growing up, remember her in those sister moments. Even remember her sitting on that canal lock. But for fuck's sake, don't have the memory of what she looks like now ever enter your head, it will never leave."

Cassie's words held her as the song continued to travel down the hill and across the canal, a song of loss, of hope and finally of coming together, carried over the crowd and over the body bag that the divers stood close by. As the song came to an end, it started again. The divers paused what they were doing to listen to the song. With the help of the rest of the dive team, they carefully carried the bag towards the coroner's vehicle, which was across the meadow and at the parking lot beyond.

With every footfall of the dive team the song followed them, even when the body was placed into the van and taken away, the water people kept the song going, in the hopes that the red lady could finally feel the love generated from the hill beyond the canal.

Maddie looked at her friend, both had tears freely flowing down their cheeks. "Please teach me that song. I want to sing it at her funeral."

The hug they gave each other was ferocious.

Maddie felt Cassie's body stiffen, she pulled away to look at her friend. The smile matched the glint in Cassie's eye, more so when she said. "Perhaps I can do one better than that."

With those words hanging in the air, Cassie pulled Maddie over the meadow, then across the canal's lock and up the hill. Many among the crowd recognized Cassie. Some watched the stranger with Cassie, those that were still singing stopped. Soon the hillside was quiet, but the crowd were curious.

Cassie spotted who she was looking for and with a grin on her face she once again pulled Maddie with her, deeper into the crowd. Once she stopped, she turned to Maddie and said. "Please be patient I need to talk in river language to see if what I hope can happen, will happen. If it does then I will explain, I promise."

Without waiting for a reply Cassie spoke to the woman, Maddie watched with a certain amount of curiosity. The woman looked to be about the same height as Cassie, a red head with blue eyes, the eyes followed anything that moved around her. Once Cassie had finished talking to the stranger, she smiled. Then seemed to look excited and said something really fast in answer to Cassie's question.

Maddie was still standing, and waiting. But her patience was starting to wear thin. The stranger took a step forward and was now in front of Maddie. Causing her to become startled and instinctively take a step back.

"Thank you for your kind comments about our song for the dead. Myself and eight other women would like to offer our services, if you wish. We will sing the song at the funeral for your sister."

Both women had to hold onto Maddie as she seemed to lose the power to stand.

*******

The rest of the week was a whirl of activity. The canal lock became a crime scene, there was even talk of digging down from the bank into the top of the cave. Fortunately, the forensic people took the long route. The waterways authority engineers got involved, they built makeshift dams either side of the location of the hole and drained out the water.

Maddie gave a blood sample to the police and they passed it onto the coroner. A day later Detective Stewart sat not only Maddie but her folks down and gave his condolences for there loss.

Cassie disappeared for a day; Detective Stewart got an anonymous call stating that Callum was in a no-tell motel off Bridge street. The Police found him tied to the bed, he sure looked like he had gone a couple of rounds with someone who beat the shit out of him and enjoyed doing it as well.

Callum had his DNA taken while he was helping with their inquiries.

*******

I was sat in bed, still in hospital watching all this unravel with news updates. Cindy came by the first time in a week, she sported the last traces of a black eye, I raised an eyebrow as she sat next to me, we held hands, had we not been in hospital I would have been holding a lot more of her.

"You let him go first?"

She shrugged and smiled. "In the interest of fairness, yes I did. I also told him that was probably more of a chance than he gave Brenda Cooper. Then I evened the scales on Brenda's behalf."

Cassie and Maddie came by an hour later. I looked at Cassie and with as much seriousness as I could muster, I told her I'm not talking to her ever again. The bitch actually slapped my arm, I showed my wife the place the bruise was going to live and she just laughed, oh true love.

Three other people came by half an hour later. Maddie and Brenda's folks, they brought flowers, the chocolates never got as far as me. The rest of the girls turned it into a taste test. Even when they had finished the damn box, they still couldn't decide which one tasted the best. It seemed my vote never got used.