Chapter Eight—Bones and Visions on the Ceiling

     Robin went to church with Aunt Martha the next day, as they always did. There were four different churches in Whitewater now because of its size, but most of Robin’s friends had always gone to this one and it was the one she had grown up in. Chris spoke to her briefly, and reminded her that he would pick her up at 7 the next evening.
     “I’ll be ready,” she assured him.
     “Where would you like to go?” he asked her.
     “Oh, I don’t know. You choose.”
     “I get to pick the poison, huh,” he replied, and she laughed softly.
     “Oh, the restaurants aren’t that bad.”
     She felt that she needed to go back to Kilmer’s on Monday because she hadn’t finished working through the final of the accounting books yet. Thomas had taken them when she had left Friday afternoon to do some recording of his own in the main accounting book, so she would need to get her books from him. As always when thinking about him, a horror and a thrill swept through her, a range of contradictory emotions that left her puzzled at her own feelings. But she shrugged it off as best she could. Frankly, she hadn’t thought of him much at all since Friday, and it was only the ride to the Kilmer building early Monday morning that brought him back within the range of her thoughts.
     As she arrived at work, her mind was on the accounting she needed to do that day. She thought she could probably get all the initial introductory “catch up” work done, probably by noon if she didn’t run into any snags, and then might not need to come in again till Wednesday. She hadn’t quite decided how she was going to handle her schedule. Thomas had told her about 20 hours a week, but she figured on at least 25 until she got fully comfortable with the system and it became routine for her. She was leaning to an 8 to about noon schedule every day; that would keep her mornings occupied and leave her afternoons free for whatever else she wanted to do. Maxine Hennings, who oversaw the school’s curriculum and would be her immediate superior when she started teaching, had been by the previous week and given Robin the materials she would need. Since she would be teaching the first three grades, there would be a substantial amount of prep time and she would need to get started on it in the summer. Well, the school system was paying her 12 months, so working some in the summer wouldn’t be unusual. She was actually only one of two 1st to 3rd grade teachers; she had initially been led to believe that she would be only one of two teachers in town, but Maxine had laughed when Robin had told her that.
     “Oh, dear me, no, child. Our city has grown substantially since you were here and we currently have almost 150 students in our system. So we have several teachers now.” It made sense once Robin thought about it—two teachers for a town of 2,000 did seem a little scarce, though she doubted any of the miners had children in the school.
     Anyway, back to work at Kilmer’s on Monday. She was headed to her office when Len called out to her.
     “Robin. Can you come in here for just a minute, please?”
     She was wondering if she had done something wrong; over the years she had gotten a little spooked because of Aunt Martha telling her to “come in here, please.” That was never good. But when she sat down in front of Len’s desk, he smiled at her and that set her at ease. Aunt Martha had never smiled after one of her “Robin, come in here, please” requests. Robin actually smiled at the memory.
     “How are you doing with the books?” Len asked her. “I didn’t get to talk to you before we all left on Friday.”
     “I’m almost caught up with the initial survey and recordings,” she said. “I’ve got one more book to do, and then some comparisons to make, that sort of thing. Once I get that done, and it will take me a few more hours, I think I’ll have everything up-to-date and be ready for any new entries that you may have for me.”
     “That’s fantastic,” Len said. “I thought it would take you two weeks to get to where you are right now. And I’m serious about that. You’ve got a real talent for this, if you ever decide you want to pursue it full-time.”
     She smiled at him. “Are you offering me a job?”
     He smiled back. “Wish I could.”
     She interjected, “Really, what you’re asking me to do isn’t all that complicated. I doubt very seriously I could handle what Thomas does, with the payroll and such.”
     “Well, he said you are doing a bang up job, too.” Robin was glad to hear that.
     “Do you…want to look at the books?” she asked him, still wondering why he had called her into his office.
     He made a face. “I wouldn’t know an asset from a liability, a debit from a credit. I swore off of that a long time ago.” He grinned. “That’s why I’m paying Thomas and you the big bucks.” Robin smiled. She wasn’t going to get rich on what Len was paying her, but as noted before, this part-time job was paying her almost as much per month as her full-time teaching position. She’d be able to save some money this summer, and that pleased her.
     “The reason I called you in was that I’m going out to the mines again this morning and wondered if you’d like to come along. I know you said you have some catching up you still need to get done, but I think it would be a good idea for you to see what we do out there, meet a few people that you might have to deal with at some point if Thomas and I aren’t around, and get a general feel for the mining business, some ‘visual’ of the things you might be recording in your books at some point.”
     Robin didn’t really have an overpowering desire to go to the mines, but what Len said made some sense. Probably the more she knew about the business, the better job she could do, even if it was only a part-time, temporary position. It could serve her in good stead in the future; one never knows.
     So, she agreed. He suggested that she go home and put on some pants—“a dress might be a little awkward out at the mines”—so she did and he came by and picked her up. On the way, he explained some more to her about the company, etc., and it almost sounded to Robin like he was giving her a sales pitch. But she listened attentively, if not with an overabundance of interest.
     She met the two main foremen, Hank Jurgens and Phil Frazier, and they showed her around. When Hank asked her if she’d like to go down into one of the mine shafts, Robin immediately responded “NO!” and that got a good laugh.
     At one point, as they examined some mineral rocks, Robin saw something that looked for all the world like a bone. “What’s this?” she asked Hank.
     “Oh. That’s looks like an old Indian bone. Probably is. This mountain, called Turtle Mountain, used to be an old Indian burial ground, so we’ve run across a lot of bones in our digging.” He made a face. “Kinda creepy, but it’s not like they are alive and going to scalp us.”
     Robin stared at the bone, a thoughtful, perplexed expression on her face. It doesn’t seem right to desecrate somebody’s burial ground…But, there wasn’t anything she could to about it, so, idly, without thinking, she stuck the bone into her pants pocket, wiped her hands on her hips, and followed Hank and Len to wherever they were going to take her next.
     She began to understand as well, and first hand, why there was a “Miner’s Corner” in Whitewater that the city fathers wanted to keep situated in the northwest quadrant of town. She got a whole lot of catcalls and “hey, baby, how ‘bout a date?’ and “yo, sweetheart, you can dig in my mine any time you want to” type comments. Len, Hank, and Phil apologized to her and tried to hush the filthy talk, but that was the way miners were. It was a tough, hard, demanding job, and it didn’t pay very well, so it didn’t attract a whole lot of white collar types, and pardon the understatement.
     Len took her to lunch at Tina’s after the tour. They talked, and it was nice and comfortable, but Robin recognized, and she thought Len did, too, that nothing had really happened between the two of them. She liked him, and thought he was very handsome, and she enjoyed his company. There’s was nothing really negative she could point to about him. But no fires had been lit yet. And she was beginning to doubt they ever would between the two of them. If nothing else, they got along well.
     That, of course, returned her thoughts to Rob. Always full circle back to Rob…and why?…he has less going for him than anybody I’ve met so far…a thief, a murderer, a kidnapper…and he’s dead…and yet, nobody she had ever known…well, it will pass…it hasn’t been that long ago…
     But the feeling hadn’t dwindled much, either…and that frustrated Robin to no end…

     Chris arrived at 7 and took Robin to “The Miner’s Delight,” a new restaurant that had just opened that weekend. And since it was the first week it was open, it was jam packed. And, indeed, Chris and Robin had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table.
     “I’m sorry,” Chris said. “I didn’t realize there would be so many people here. I should have made a reservation. We can go somewhere else if you wish, if you don’t want to wait.”
     “No, I don’t mind waiting. She said it would only be a few minutes. I’d like to try it.”
     “The Miner’s Delight” was largely a steakhouse, but they had other dishes as well. It was a log structure, made up in typical western fashion, including a stuffed buffalo head on one wall. There wasn’t a lot of lighting so it tended to be a little dark in the room, though each table did have a candle inside a small, round red vase.
     They finally got a table near the back. Since Robin had eaten a rather substantial lunch, she opted only for a chicken salad.
     “Is that all you want?” Chris asked her.
     “Yeah. I ate a pretty big lunch at Tina’s. Boss took me out.”
     “Ah,” Chris said with a smile. “My competition.”
     She smiled back. “Yes, him and Bob and Harry and Phil and Waldo and nine or ten others.”
     He laughed. “Waldo?” And Robin laughed, too.
     They talked lightly while they ate. While they were chatting, something very, very interesting happened.
     Thomas Bering came into the restaurant with a lady on his arm.
     He was magnificently handsome in a full black suit, white shirt with lace trim, black tie, spotless shining black boots. It would have been thoroughly gaudy and out of place for anybody except him. His smile was as taunting, superior, and sneering as ever, yet he oozed graciousness and decorum. The devil incarnate…
     His companion was a buxom blonde with a dress cut so low that more of her showed than was hidden. Robin didn’t know her, had never even seen her, but had to admit, she was astonishingly beautiful. It just then struck Robin that she had never seen a ring on Thomas Bering’s finger and thus he must be single.
     Every eye turned to look at the couple as they entered the room. Robin could see a whole lot of jealousy—from both sexes. The males were staring at the blonde and the females at Thomas. As they followed the hostess to their seats, Thomas stopped and greeted several people, mostly women, much to the irritation of their male companions. The lawyer/accountant acted like he couldn’t have cared less what the men thought, which was probably the truth.
     As he held the chair for his date, Thomas’s eyes caught Robin’s. He smiled, his charming, mocking smile, and inclined his head towards her in greeting. His eyes never left hers, until he finally sat down himself.
     Oh, I despise that man, Robin thought, finally tearing her eyes away from him. Yet every nerve in her body was alive and tingling.
     “Wow,” Chris said. His eyes, too, had been on the couple as they came in. “That’s what I call a grand entrance.” He looked at Robin. “Do you know him? He seemed to know you.”
     Robin cast a glance over at Thomas again, but he was talking to his date, smiling at her charmingly, even patting her hand. How revolting and patronizing. But then, he cast a quick glance at Robin, and she knew, she knew he was mocking her. She turned away, and shuddered—from anger, or desire, or a combination of both, she didn’t know.
     She said to Chris, “Yes, I know him. He’s the lawyer and head accountant for the Kilmer Company, so I work in the same office with him. Technically, I guess, he’s my immediate supervisor.”
     “Cuts quite a figure, doesn’t he. And seems to be quite a favorite with the ladies.”
     Robin had noticed that, too, as mentioned. There were women, not a few, who were still glancing in his direction. Or if looking at his date, with total and complete disdain.
     “Do you know who that woman is?” Robin asked Chris.
     He snorted. “Yeah. Felicia Warren. Madame Felice. You’ll find her most every night at one of the brothels in the ‘Miner’s Corner’ of town.”
     Robin was appalled. What could Thomas possibly see….Well, it was pretty obvious what he saw in “Madame Felice.” And just about everybody else could see it, too, because she didn’t hide much of it.
     Chris said, and he was still casting glimpses in Thomas’ and Felice’s direction occasionally, too, “Is he…like that on the job?”
     “Yeah, pretty much. Total charm and total taunt.”
     “Must be a great place to work.”
     “It has its moments.”
     The place started returning to normal, with the clink of cutlery on dinner plates, the low murmur of conversation, and waitresses weaving among the tables. Robin forced herself not to look at Thomas again. And when she and Chris had both finished eating, he almost immediately asked her if she’d like to go.
    And just as immediately, her response was “yes.”
     She threw one last glance at Thomas on her way out. And he was looking at her, that lazy, taunting smile on his face. A slight nod of his head in a gesture of good bye. She gave him a smile that would have frozen hell, and she left the restaurant. 
     Robin waited outside while Chris paid the bill. She was upset, and she had absolutely no idea why she was upset. She didn’t like that man, she didn’t care what he did, so what if he was with one of the chief whores in town…Yet she was upset. She was glad when Chris came out. She took hold of his arm while they walked to the wagon, holding on to him as if…as if…the devil were after her.
     Chris sensed something was wrong with Robin, but he had no idea what it was, though he suspected that it somehow had to do with Thomas Bering. So he asked her, “Would you prefer if I took you home?”
     “Yes, thank you,” Robin replied. “But you are welcome to come in if you wish.”
     “Only if you want me to.”
     “I do.”
     “Then I will.”
     She sat next to him in the wagon, still holding on to his arm as he guided the horses through the streets of Whitewater towards Aunt Martha’s house. As always, once out of Thomas’s presence, Robin began to breathe easier and relax. “That was a very good meal, thank you,” she said to Chris. “I hope you didn’t have to take out a loan from the bank to pay for it.”
     “It wasn’t that bad. Cost-wise. And you are right, the food was good, I think maybe the best I’ve had in this town. They’ll probably do very well…”
     Small chatter, and in a couple of minutes, they pulled up in front of Aunt Martha’s house. Chris smiled at her. “You sure you don’t mind me coming in?”
     “No, please do. Aunt Martha will be happy to see you as well.”
     And she was, though her preference remained Len Kramer. It was about 8:30 and getting near Aunt Martha’s bed time, but she stayed up a while and visited. A little after 9, she said, “Well, it’s my bedtime”—and it was, unless Robin was out—“so I’ll say good-night and leave you young folks with it.” She smiled and there was a general chorus of “good night”’s that floated around the room.
     “Good night,” Chris said to Robin with a grin after Aunt Martha had left the room. And she laughed.
     They were sitting together on the couch, but when Aunt Martha was in the room, they showed the propriety not to be right up against each other. When she departed, Chris said, “It’s a nice night out. Would you like to go for a walk?”
     The idea pleased Robin. She had been anticipating this evening ever since, well, ever since Chris had dropped her off near midnight Saturday. Thomas’s appearance at the restaurant that night had thrown a little ice on her anticipation with Chris, but it was slowly coming back. A nice walk would probably help.
     And it did. They walked around the block a couple of times, just idly chatting. She held on to his arm lightly. Chris didn’t ask her anything about work, sensing that that might not be the direction to go in. And by the time they got back to the house, Robin was feeling much better and her mood had moved back in a more positive direction. She was feeling like closing her eyes for a little while…
     But not to go to sleep…
     You figure that one out.

     It took Robin several minutes to fall asleep after she went to bed, so she stared up at the ceiling….and that face appeared again…the face she couldn’t forget yet, the face she could never forgive, the face that controlled her dreams…Rob…she realized that she hadn’t thought of him the whole time she had been with Chris that night…maybe that’s a good sign…maybe—surely—before long, he’ll be a distant memory and won’t haunt my thoughts any more…but still she saw his face…his eyes looking at her…his smile…she closed her eyes…oh, please go away, Rob…you aren’t here any more, you lied to me, you deceived me, you weren’t honest with me…how could you do that?…I trusted you, I trusted you, I trusted you…and I hate you, I hate you, I hate you…a tear ran down her to her temple…
     No, Chris hadn’t replaced Rob from the deepest, nether regions of her soul…but then she smiled…Roberta…I’ll always have Roberta…I’ll always have that part of him…she rolled over onto her sleeping side, very tired now, and closed her eyes, thinking of him, not wanting to think that he was gone forever…
     And then she fell asleep.