Hunter’s lips quirked up. ‘Of course you have. Wouldn’t have expected anything different.’
Belinda looked down at Mercy’s feet, drawing their attention back to the phone screen. ‘And that?’
‘That’s Rory,’ Mercy said, and there was a smile in her voice. ‘My cat. Harry gave him to me. Rory’s a comfort to me, especially with Harry gone missing. Beth thought I should bring him, just in case you can’t help me find him. I’m . . . well, I’m at the end of my rope.’
Belinda nodded once, then turned to stare out the window. ‘I don’t know where he is.’
‘Oh.’ Mercy blew out a breath, and then the picture moved again, settling out as she lifted the cat from his carrier and onto her lap. ‘I was afraid of that.’
A few beats of silence passed, and then Liza spoke up, off camera. ‘It must have been hard to leave your house behind. It looked like a real nice place. But this is really nice, too. I love your view. Harry said that you seemed happy here. That he takes you for walks when he visits you.’
‘What’s she saying?’ Gideon asked harshly.
‘There’s a picture of Mrs Franklin in a wheelchair sitting next to one of the benches outside,’ Simpson said, a smile playing on her lips. ‘There’s a man on the bench. You can’t see the man’s face, but he has his arm around her shoulders. It’s a good guess. Hunter, your lady friend is on the ball.’
‘Yes, she is,’ Hunter murmured.
‘He’s a good boy,’ Belinda said sullenly. ‘When he visits.’
‘When was the last time you saw him?’ Mercy asked, still playing her part well.
‘Dunno,’ was Belinda’s reply.
‘It’s important,’ Mercy pleaded softly. ‘I think something awful happened to him. He’s never been missing for this long.’
The old woman was quiet again, then asked, ‘You got kids?’
Mercy’s hands, visible from the camera angle, clenched in Rory’s fur. ‘No. I’m . . . we . . . No. I wasn’t blessed with children.’
Rafe remembered her tortured words from the graveyard the day before. She’d been so scared he’d impregnate her, that she’d live, that she’d bring a child into Eden, a child that Ephraim would own.
I wasn’t blessed with children. Rafe wondered how hard those words had been for her to say, with such sad conviction. Mercy Callahan was the strongest woman he’d ever known.
The old woman sighed. ‘I have two sons. Two boys. Good boys.’ It was as if Belinda had drifted a bit, and was now swaying as she spoke with an odd cadence. ‘Good boys.’
‘Harry and Aubrey,’ Mercy said. ‘They are good boys.’
‘Were.’ Belinda began to rock herself. ‘Aubrey . . . he’s gone. My boy is gone.’
‘I know,’ Mercy said, reaching out to touch the woman’s arm. Just a light touch, brief, then she was back to stroking the cat’s fur. ‘It was terrible.’
Belinda stopped rocking, turning haunted eyes on Mercy. ‘My Aubrey is gone.’
In a move that surprised a gasp out of Mercy, the cat jumped from her lap to Belinda’s. Mercy started to reach for the animal, then curled her fingers into light fists and placed them on her own knees. The cat lightly head-butted Belinda’s hands, and the old woman began petting him, still rocking.
The locket she’d been holding slipped to the floor and Mercy rescued it, sliding it into her pocket.
‘My Aubrey is gone, but I didn’t use the key,’ Belinda said quietly.
What key? But Rafe didn’t ask. None of them did. They waited for Mercy and leaned closer to Hunter’s phone.
‘What key?’ Mercy asked, but Belinda wasn’t listening any longer.
‘Didn’t use the key,’ she muttered. ‘Didn’t use the key.’ Her gnarled fingers petted the cat’s fur. ‘My Aubrey is gone, but I didn’t use the key.’
‘But your other son is still alive.’ Mercy reached out again, her touch now firm as she squeezed the old woman’s arm. ‘I think he needs help. I need to find him. Tell me where to find him.’
Belinda was looking straight ahead, her eyes unfocused. ‘Two leave on foot,’ she mumbled.
Mercy’s indrawn breath was audible. ‘Two leave on foot, one strong and one bold,’ she whispered.
Belinda startled, then froze before turning her head again, slowly. Her eyes were focused now, and harder than glass. ‘What did you say?’
‘Two leave on foot, one strong and one bold,’ Mercy repeated, louder this time.
Belinda stared at her and said nothing.
Mercy cleared her throat, but instead of speaking, she began to sing, her voice shaky and slightly off-key. ‘The sun on the mountain turns everything gold.’ The tune was familiar, but Rafe couldn’t place it. ‘But night comes too swiftly, takes one in its hold.’
Exhaling on a shudder, Belinda sang the final line with Mercy. ‘And when the sun rises, only one will grow old.’
‘What is that song?’ Hunter asked Gideon.
Gideon shook his head. ‘The melody is an old hymn we used to sing in Eden, but I’ve never heard these words.’
Belinda was watching Mercy with an odd light in her cold eyes. ‘You do know him.’
‘Yes, ma’am. I do. I’m his wife.’
‘You know his song. He wrote it. For Aubrey.’
Hunter tapped his screen, changing to Liza’s camera. Now they could see both Belinda and Mercy. Mercy had grown pale, her hands trembling.
‘He sang it to me,’ Mercy said softly. ‘When I couldn’t sleep.’
Belinda stared at Mercy for a moment that seemed to stretch forever, and then she nodded. ‘My chest. Over there.’
Liza was in motion, the camera bouncing a little. ‘This chest?’ It was small, made of wood, and resembled a small treasure chest.
The lid was inlaid with bone. ‘Amos made that,’ Rafe said, and Gideon nodded his agreement.
‘That’s the only one,’ Belinda snapped.
‘It’s a very pretty treasure chest,’ Liza said, then swapped the cat for the chest, the camera bouncing once again as she crouched to put Rory back in his carrier. ‘Was it a gift from Harry?’
‘It was.’ Belinda smiled faintly as she rubbed the inlaid lid with her fingertips. ‘He made it for me with his own hands.’ She lifted the lid and a tinny melody filled the space, sending a new shiver down Rafe’s spine. It was the same melody Mercy had sung with the words of ‘his song’. Belinda drew a tray from the chest, then pulled out a key and held it up to the light from the window.