Dakota (Ch 10)

Christmas had come and gone. A new year had dawned. Things were slowly changing. Every step she took was new, small. Rebekah was reentering the world. She got a job, got out of the house, and stopped calling him. She was getting over him. She didn't understand why it was so hard for her, why it was taking so long. She didn't seem to appreciate what she had at the time.

She liked working at Macy's. Sure, she was just a sales associate, but it was refreshing. She felt valued. She felt she could make something of herself. Most days she worked in the Misses department but today was different. Everyone seemed to get shifted around because of people being out with the flu. Rebekah wound up on the third floor, menswear. She hated working on that floor. She hated seeing the men browsing for new jeans, dress shirts, underwear. She wasn't fond of helping them either. Today was no different.

It was just after lunch when things really went down hill. That's when he walked in. He brushed by her as she was folding cashmere sweaters. She threw her hair up over her shoulder and caught his eye just as he turned to offer an apology. Her stomach pushed into the bottom of her throat. She swallowed and returned to folding. She placed the soft blue sweater on the table and moved to the other side. She wanted to watch where he went. She couldn't believe he hadn't recognized her. Or maybe he had? No. No. He hadn't. He couldn't have. If he had, he would have talked to her. He would have stopped, not kept going. Right? Right. She folded another sweater.

He had moved to the business attire and was browsing the selection silk ties. He fingered each one, lifting it to the collar of his shirt and contemplating its appeal. The corner of his mouth tilted upwards as he considered his options. He carefully returned each one to the table and moved left to the dress shirts. She couldn't see him. A group of mannequins blocked her view.

Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe it was just a look-a-like. She needed a closer look. He continued to browse the dress shirts. This was her opportunity. She moved from the sweaters and walked directly towards him. She stepped next to him and spoke.

"Excuse me sir, would you like me to measure you?"

He didn't move. His eyes met hers. Brown. They were brown. It wasn't him. She was wrong. Once again, her mind played a game at her expense.

"Actually, if you could measure my neck. I've been working out a lot, I think I might need to start wearing a larger size."

She tried to focus. He was talking. She wasn't listening. She saw his mouth moving, but her mind was elsewhere. Blink. Blink, blink. She cleared her mind.

"I'm sorry, my mind was somewhere else. Yes or no to the measure?"

"Just the neck, please."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her tape measure. She unrolled it and stepped behind him.

"Like I said, been to the gym a lot, doing a lot of lifting. I think I might need a larger neck size."

"Maybe, let me see here. 17 inches. It'd be best to go with a 17 1/2 neck for you. You need the arm length?"

She hoped he didn't. She tried to ignore his paltry attempts to flirt. He didn't look like he'd been to the gym, ever. How did she confuse him with him. The more she looked at this creeper the more she realized how different he looked from Jake. Jake's eyes were blue, piercing blue. Jake was fit. Jake hadn't worn a tie in all the years she'd known him. She had to stop doing this to herself. She needed to move on.

"Miss, Miss."

"Sorry, yes Sir."

Her mind flashed back to the present.

"I said, 'I'm fine.' But are you OK?"

"Yes, sir, sorry, it's been a long day. Let me know if you need anything else."

She turned briskly and hurriedly walked to her counter. She kept her back turned and dropped her head. She rubbed her eyes and then her neck. She reached for the back of her ankle. She still wasn't comfortable wearing heels all day. What was she doing? She was never going to get over him. She wasn't. She needed to see him. Calling wasn't an option. He was never going to answer. He had moved on. But maybe seeing her would make a difference.

"I have to do it. I have to."

She spoke to herself with a confidence and conviction she hadn't felt since that day he left her on the shoulder of the road. Her mind seemed clearer. She held an optimism she didn't believe she could still muster. Her shift was almost over. It was decided. She was going to him. She was going to Dakota. She had no choice.

/ / /

Life for Janie and I was day to day. Some were better than others. Some were complete disasters. Janie's return had brought all the emotions back to the surface for me. It was like starting over again. Then there was Janie's story. I had yet to hear it. I don't know if she will ever tell me everything. And honestly, I don't know if I want to hear everything. I don't know if I can handle hearing what those monsters did to my little sister. It might just be better this way.

Financially, I was good for a while. But Janie, well, Janie came home because she ran out of money. She needed a job. I couldn't provide for us forever. I wasn't exactly working. The problem? Janie had never held a job for more than a few weeks. Wessington wasn't like the places she'd been. There weren't a lot of options. She couldn't just bail. But I was proud of her for trying.

As for her drinking, I pretended not to notice at first. I mean, we all have our vices. I have mine. I write. Yeah, it's a little less harmful, I know. But I didn't want her to think I was turning against her. I gave her some time. Unfortunately, I think it may have actually been getting worse with time. The empty bottles piled up in the plastic bin on the back porch. That Thursday when I walked the bin to the end of the lane, the clinking, clanking of the bottles spoke to me. I realized I needed to tell her. I needed to intervene. She couldn't just go on like this forever. Eventually, she would self destruct. It would be ugly. I had to make sure that didn't happen. She was still my little sister. But I had to wait until the time was right. I didn't want to push her away.

I walked back down the lane and started up the car. I needed a new snow shovel. I broke the other one shoveling out the front walk on Christmas morning. I had waited too long as it was. I needed to go now.

I was avoiding crowds. I wasn't interested in driving to the other side of town. I pulled into a spot along the curb and fed the meter. I ran into the hardware store, got my shovel and grabbed a newspaper on the way out the door. I needed some news. I had no idea what was going on in the world around me. I'd been locked up in my house in the woods for almost three weeks.

I put the shovel in the back seat and tossed the paper on the seat beside me. I was ready to sit by the fire with a hot cup of coffee and read the news. Janie would be at work for a few more hours. I pulled down the lane just as Sheriff Holt was returning to his truck. I shut the car off the moved swiftly to his window. My heart began to race. My breathing became labored.

"Sheriff. Is there news?"

"Hi Jake. Didn't think anyone was home. I was hoping to come in for a chat."

"Absolutely Sheriff. Are there new developments? Do you know who did it?"

"Let's just have a seat first, Jake."

"Yessir"

I didn't like his tone. Something was wrong. I opened the door and directed him in and to the armchair by the fire. I sat opposite him.

"What is it? What's happened? What's wrong?"

"Take a deep breath Jake. I'm gonna tell you."

"Sorry Sheriff. I just didn't expect to see you. It's been a while. I started to lose hope, give up."

"Well don't give up, I'm not going to, ever. I told you. I'm going to find the guy that did this. We'll get him. We will."

"I hope so. Jay deserves that much."

"Jake, I'm here because, well, I don't know if you've heard the news. Guessing by the fact that you haven't called me, you don't."

"News? I haven't heard anything. Today was the first I was out in three weeks. They don't plow this dirt road, it's the last road the county clears. The Christmas storm had me trapped for a while. I don't have reason to go out that much."

"Yeah. You're pretty isolated back here. Anyway, uh, I'm just gonna come right out with it. There's been another murder. It's related. It's the same guy."

"Who was it? You think this is just random. It's not random. This guy new my brother. He knew his target. Jay wouldn't have let a stranger in. He wouldn't have let someone get that close."

"I know that Jake. No, I don't think it was random. The victim also knew your brother. In fact, you knew him too. Bobby Murphy."

"Bobby? I don't understand. What's this guy after? Why's he doing this?"

"Those are questions we're trying to answer right now. I don't have much more I can share with you. But I did want to ask you if your brother had mentioned anything about people giving him trouble over what he had been writing for The Telegraph?"

"No. Like I told you before. My brother never said anything about any trouble. For all I knew, he was living a peaceful life up here in the woods. I didn't know anything. I don't think he knew anything either, Sheriff. I think the killer surprised him."

"I'm inclined to agree with you Jake. Also, it looks like your brother was not attacked in the house. Evidence is pointing towards his being transported here. They left him here for dead. Trouble is, you showed up. You scared them off before they could make sure he was dead."

"What about Bobby?"

"Same thing. They killed him somewhere else and then dumped him in the woods down by the dam. Some guy found him when he was out hunting, literally tripped over the body."

"What now?"

"Well, we're trying to determine a motive. The only thing I've got right now is the link between your brother and Murphy's store, the op-ed pieces. Maybe someone didn't like that Murphy's was being saved. I don't know. It doesn't make much sense. It's a stretch."

"Yeah that doesn't seem very likely."

"I'll keep at it. I'm telling ya, I won't let you down. I'm going to get justice for Jason Samuels. And for Robert Murphy."

"Thank you Sheriff. Keep me posted if anything comes up."

"'Course Mr. Samuels."

We rose from our places by the fire and moved towards the door.