Men Don’t Cry
They’d struck out at the first three places. Two were empty, no sign of anyone having been there for a long time, and the third was home to a young family who must’ve moved in recent ’cause there were boxes stacked by the garage and a U-Haul parked in the driveway. But this house, on Mullin, it gave Noah the creeps. They’d seen movement half an hour back: a shadow through the drapes. The mailbox had fallen, there was paint cans by the steps, and a wide hole in the roof had been patched with sheet metal.
“Zeb Joseph Fortner,” Raine said again.
They’d already run through Zeb’s file. He’d been in and outta jail since he turned nineteen and got charged with petit larceny after he stole cash from his momma, though that was kicked up to a felony grand when Zeb tried to pawn her wedding ring a week later.
At first glance Zeb weren’t nothing more than a career thief, but he’d been accused of following a local girl named Cassidy Meyers to and from the high school in Colfax a couple times. Sheriff Redell had spoke to him a year back.
“Stakeout,” Noah said, leaning back. “Cop life, ain’t all glamour.”
“Should’ve brought coffee and donuts,” Purv said.
Noah reached under the seat and pulled out a pair of binoculars.
“Shit, how big are those,” Raine said.
“They’re my grandfather’s. I found ’em in the attic.”
“Good sight on ’em I bet,” Purv said.
Noah held them to his face and his arms started shaking. “I should’ve brought the stand.”
“I reckon we should go take a look,” Raine said.
“No,” Purv said.
“Yeah. Maybe we should,” Noah said. “The guy’s dumb but if he’s got Summer in there I don’t reckon he’s dumb enough to let her up by the window for us to get a look.”
“You sure we ain’t better waitin’ it out? I mean, he could have a gun or somethin’. Or a knife maybe. Or there could be other bad guys in there,” Purv said.
“All the more reason to go get her out,” Raine said.
They left the doors to the Buick open in case they needed to get in quick. The road weren’t more than slivers of tar laid thin and driven on before it’d set. Purv nearly fell, so Noah reached out and held his skinny arm.
Noah looked up at the sky and realized how much he’d been missing the starlight. The bad dreams he had when he was small, about the blue machine, he’d wake stricken and cry out and his momma would come in, open his drapes wide, and lay beside him. She’d point and tell him the names of the constellations and he’d say he could see them too but couldn’t ever.
“Let’s go up the side, get a look through the window,” Raine said.
They kept low and moved slow, each step measured and light. They pressed themselves close to clapboards that hung loose and splintered. They didn’t speak of fear but knew, dumb or not, if Zeb saw them there weren’t no telling what he’d do.
“Can you hear anything?”
Raine shook her head, and then just like that all hell broke out.
The Bronco swung up through the chain-link fence and into the front yard, engine roaring loud. They barely had a chance to duck into the back before the doors opened and four men piled out. Raine pulled Noah and Purv to the ground and they stopped still, their chins in the dirt, breathing hard.
The men were big and they ripped the screen from its hinges and began kicking the front door till it split.
Noah felt Purv trembling beside him. He reached out and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. Purv had his eyes closed like he was praying, breath held so long his chest burned.
The guy with the long beard hollered for Zeb to come outside.
Noah was the first to see the back door open and a scrawny guy step out, head low like he was about to break for the trees behind.
Noah stood without thought. “He’s there,” he yelled.
The guys stopped kicking the door and moved toward Noah, who pointed at Zeb as he broke into a run and stumbled. They caught him quick.
The big guy with the long beard grabbed hold of Noah’s shoulder and pulled him forward into the moonlight. The guy had thick arms and the kinda stare that held Noah even while Zeb cried out and scrambled behind him.
“What you doin’ hidin’ out here, boy?”
The other three looked to him to see what was gonna happen next. He nodded toward Zeb and they rained punches that landed hard and clean, and it weren’t long before Zeb was calling on God like he was the one clenching his fists.
“I’m lookin’ for someone,” Noah said.
“Out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“I figured maybe this guy knew where she was.”
The man took a moment. He smelled of whiskey but looked like the kinda man that could handle his liquor.
“We’re lookin’ for my sister.”
The man spun, a hand going to the gun on his belt, but maybe for show ’cause he didn’t draw.
The other guys stopped, caught sight of Raine, and came over while Zeb slumped against the porch.
“What’ve we got here?” the younger guy said.
“My sister’s missin’,” Raine said, glaring at them, not a trace of fear in her.
“She as pretty as you are?” the young guy said, the other two laughing.
Raine pulled the hunting knife from her bag and held it loose by her side. “Yeah, she’s as pretty as I am. But I’m better with a knife.”
There was some laughing but maybe there was an edge to it.
The big guy put a hand up and they stopped just like that. “You’re Joe Ryan’s girl.”
Noah saw a flicker, a change as they lost interest.
“Yeah,” Raine said.
“I heard about your sister. You reckon Zeb might’ve had somethin’ to do with it?”
“Maybe,” she said, still holding the knife and glancing at the men.
“I got a daughter. Zeb’s been following her round. I’d sooner cut off his dick than let him anywhere near her. I guess Joe would feel the same way.”
Raine nodded.
“I wanna take a look inside,” Raine said.
“All right. While you’re in there we’ll find out if he’s got any inkling where your sister might’ve got to.”
Noah followed Raine up onto the porch, Purv following close behind.
They entered through the back door. The kitchen was a stinking mess. There were take-out cartons piled high, plates thick with some kinda black, and maybe a dozen empty glass jars. Noah watched his step, angling Raine away from a pile of needles on the carpet. They moved through the house quick, trying not to breathe as they went into the bedroom. There were old magazines on the floor, girls lewd and spreading inside.
“Summer ain’t been here,” Raine said, her voice firm like she was certain.
There were only four rooms so they were back outside within minutes, but that was all it took for Zeb’s face to have changed into something Purv had to turn from.
“He don’t know nothin’ about your sister.”
The big guy was breathing hard, blood up his shirt and on his hands and arms.
“You kids all right gettin’ back to Grace?”
Raine nodded.
They turned and left the yard, trying not to hear the sound of Zeb whimpering and muttering and blowing blood bubbles from his mouth.
*
They drove back to Grace in silence. It was late, they were tired but all three knew sleep wouldn’t come easy that night. Raine was anxious. She was thinking about what might’ve happened, what they could’ve found in Zeb’s house.
“We gotta find her,” she said.
Noah glanced over. The Buick bounced along Hallow Road.
“We gotta find her now.”
“See all those jars in the kitchen back there?” Noah said.
Raine nodded.
“The kind Merle sells his shine in,” Purv said.
“Don’t mean nothin’, but if that’s the sort of guy Merle knows -–”
“Then we should go see Merle,” Raine said.
*
The dark was total by Merle’s barn, not even slips from Windale made it out to them.
They stood in a close line, shoulder to shoulder. Raine had banged the door till they were sure Merle weren’t inside.
The barn was tall and burnt and thin trees lined each side. Noah took a couple steps back and aimed a flashlight up at the windows. They were high and square, five holes cut in the wood with plastic sheeting keeping the weather out.
“He’s probably at the Whiskey Barrel,” Purv said. “He’s there most nights. Ain’t got money to drink so he’s into Hank Frailey for a couple hundred bucks. Hank tried calling it in a few times but Merle said he’d look at the Trans Am for him.”
“So, what, we head back?” Noah said.
“What about next door?” Raine said.
Purv flinched. “You wanna call on Pastor Lumen and the Angel at this hour?”
Raine glanced over at the Lumen house and saw a light burning downstairs. “Momma wants Pastor Lumen to get up with the White Mountain people, and the Windale churches. They still reckon he’s some kinda savior.”
“Pastor Lumen’s back in the hospital,” Noah said. He’d seen him at Mayland the last time he’d been in for dialysis, the pastor was sitting out by the parking lot smoking a thin cigarette. Noah hated the old man, had done since the pastor told his momma Noah was being punished for past sins. He told her about righteousness and transgression and the consequence of absolution till she fled St. Luke’s in a fit of tears.
Raine shrugged. “So we’ll ask the Angel to help.”
They crossed the rough ground, passed Merle’s farmhouse, and walked onto Lumen land. Noah and Purv hung back a little as Raine walked along the wood porch and pressed her face to the window. She straightened up fast and took a step back.
“What?” Noah said. “You see somethin’?”
*
The situation went bad real quick.
Raine gripped the gun in two hands. Noah and Purv stood to the side and watched, both breathing hard. She held it level, eyes down the sight and pointed straight at Samson’s chest. It was a .48; from this kinda range it’d tear a messy hole in him, and from the look in Samson’s eyes he knew that too.
Her hands weren’t shaking, which was something. The only way the gun would fire was if she meant it to. She’d pulled it from her bag the second he’d opened the door.
The light was bad in the Lumen place, just one lamp, the glow nothing but a smudge on the gloom. The floor was oak and might’ve been polished and grand once but that was a long time back.
Noah looked around and saw a flower pressed in a frame, and black-and-white photos of the pastor.
“Raine,” Noah said, gentle as he could.
She ignored him, eyes locked on Samson.
“Where’d you get the book, Samson?”
Samson swallowed. He had his palms up like he was being robbed. His hands shook and his pink eyes blinked fast. The skin on his cheek was mottled red like he’d been slapped or burned. His mouth was tight, blush lips pulled like he was hurtin’.
“That’s Summer’s book you was reading. Purv, open the cover.”
Purv picked the book up from the side table and opened the cover. His breath caught when he saw Summer Ryan scrawled across the top.
The front door was still open. Noah could hear a chorus of crickets going on like there was something normal about the night.
“Summer writes her name inside all her books. It’s a habit she got when we was young and we got bought two of everything. See, I’d always make a mess of my things, but she didn’t. Ain’t in her to make a mess.”
Purv set the book down.
“I’ll ask you one more time, Samson. Then I’ll pull the trigger. And you shouldn’t be thinkin’ I won’t, ’cause everyone knows I’m my daddy’s daughter.”
“She gave it to me,” Samson said.
“Why?”
He dropped his head.
“Why?” she said again.
“I walked her back from school, it was raining. We were talking. She brought the book to church one day. She said I’d like it.”
Noah glanced from Raine’s eyes to Samson.
“Why’d she say that?”
“I don’t . . . I can’t understand but she talked about compassion and humanity. And the title and the Lord’s Prayer.”
“Liar,” Raine said.
Samson blinked and tears fell. His hair was bowl cut and blinding white.
Noah hadn’t ever seen a man cry before. It was different to a child’s cry, maybe like it came from someplace deeper.
“Where is she?”
Samson shook his head.
“You’ve done somethin’ to her.”
Samson looked at Noah, his eyes wild. “I wouldn’t hurt nobody.”
“You’ve done somethin’ to my sister.”
“I’m scared,” he cried.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know what’s happening. I was tryin’ to read the book, but it’s tough ’cause there’s long words and then you bust in here and now I don’t know what’s happening,” Samson said, frantic. “It’s not right, none of it.”
She cocked the hammer back.
Samson dropped to his knees and he placed his palms on the wood and a dark patch spread on his pants.
“Raine,” Noah said.
“He’s done somethin’ to her.”
“Raine,” Noah said again.
He took a step toward her.
Her eyes darted to Noah then back to Samson.
Noah reached a hand out slow, inch by inch. He pushed down on Raine’s hand and she lowered the gun. He slipped it from her and passed it to Purv, who clutched it nervous, not knowing whether to aim it at the Angel or not.
“We’ll tell Black. Right now, we’ll go tell Black that Samson’s got Summer’s book,” Noah said.
She took a step back. “He won’t do shit. He don’t care. Summer’s a Ryan and that means she don’t count for nothin’.”
Noah shook his head. “He’ll find out, I promise.”
He grabbed Purv and the three headed for the Buick.
They left the Angel on the floor, wet with piss and tears.
*
Black knocked a glass over when he heard the door, stood sloppy, and walked the hallway.
Raine stood there small and tough, the low lights of a Buick shone from the end of his street.
She pushed past him and he followed her.
“Samson Lumen,” she said, breathless. “The Angel.”
“How’d you hear about that?” he said, sobering but she caught the slur.
“You know? Why ain’t you taken him in? Why ain’t you out there all night like my daddy and the other men?” she said.
“Raine –”
She saw the gun on the table, and the bottles and the pills. She stared at him and then she stared at the wall, at the girls and the maps and the newspaper clippings going back eighteen months.
“You reckon he took Summer don’t you? That’s why you ain’t pressin’ nothin’, ’cause you’re such a fuckin’ mess and you can’t catch him –”
“That’s enough, Raine.”
“You owe me,” she said, pointing a finger at him. “You owe me and you owe my sister.”
He felt her anger so hot it warmed the dark room.
“You know that’s not right, Raine. Your daddy . . . he knew what he was into.”
“You went harder ’cause he wouldn’t cut a deal. Daddy’s got honor and you made him pay for it.”
“That ain’t fair . . . that ain’t the way it works.”
“Don’t matter what’s fair. You broke up Momma’s heart till there weren’t enough to go round. Is that fair, Black? Daddy said all of us is lookin’ for a way out or a way back. You gotta bring Samson in. He might know where she is.”
“I will,” he nodded. “I’m just working –”
“You’re scared of what they’ll say. Pastor Lumen and the church.”
“I need to talk to Bobby and then –”
“Bullshit. Find my sister. Get out there and find her.”
He saw her tears but they didn’t fall.
She held a bag and it was big; her hand trembled and it hurt him ’cause sometimes she looked small like a child.
“You’re the only one that got close to the Bird.”
“I didn’t. I was nearest when the call –”
“Could be it’s Samson, could be it ain’t. But do somethin’ now. It’s been too long. Find Summer. I need her.”
She walked for the door and then turned. “I was gonna take this to my daddy but Noah said you’d listen, that you’d help me. He goes on like you and his father was somethin’ back then . . .” Raine paused to look at him, maybe to see if he’d say something, to see if there was fight left in him.
Black dropped his eyes to the floor.
Raine shook her head. “I knew he was wrong.”