Роберт Паркер - Robert B. Parker's Revelation

Tillary was having a hard time with his sight, his emotions, and his shaking hands. He handed the letter to me.

“Would you mind?” he said. “I’m sorry.”

I took the letter and continued.

“Let’s see...” I said. “‘Therefore I feel it imperative that I provide some underlying detail of this dishonoring dismay. I am nothing but ashamed of myself. I simply could not face my family over this spectacle. I think you know mistakes and weakness have plagued the better part of my life. I thought by taking on this remote job and marrying Eleanor, a woman of stature, of principle, would prove to my father that once and for all I was a solid man with promise who was standing on firm footing. It was, however, only a short amount of time after marrying Eleanor that I realized there was no way in hell I would hang on to her. At first she could not see through me, see my weakness. In the beginning she was blinded by my pedigree and unfortunate good looks. Good looks that I got from my father, no less, but her fascination with me quickly faded. I am only my father’s son and nothing more. She never let on in public, to you or anyone else, that she was disillusioned. At least I don’t think she did, but here, behind closed doors, it was another matter. I masked my consumption of alcohol as much as I could, but I’m certain it’s no shock to you that I have drunk myself to sleep every night for the last year.’”

I looked up to Tillary. He met my eye, then looked to Virgil and nodded a little.

“‘This next bit of information,’” I read, “‘however, most certainly will come as a shock to you and most, Mr. Tillary: Eleanor was responsible for the men escaping from prison.’”

Tillary swiveled his head like he’d been slapped.

“What?” he said.

I stopped reading and looked to Virgil and Tillary staring at me.

“My God,” Tillary said. “What? That’s insane. Nonsense... What in God’s name is he talking about? I’m sorry... Please continue.”

Tillary, looking as if he was about to pass out, dropped into a chair next to the wall as I continued to read.

“‘She also took all the money. Twenty-five thousand dollars I had in my safe. She took my best guns and two of my finest horses, but most important, she took the last bits and pieces of my heart and certainly my pride... The following is what I believe was the sequence of events.’”

I stopped reading out loud and read a bit to myself. Then I looked to Virgil and shook my head some.

“‘I was passed out when this happened. I believe she got my key and released Donnie Lonnigan from the Tomb.’”

“Donnie Lonnigan,” Tillary said. “My God. Seriously?”

I nodded, looking at Tillary.

“Fucking Donnie Lonnigan!” he said, shaking his head.

I continued to read. “‘I am not certain how the other men from compound C escaped, but she let Lonnigan out, set him free, of that I am sure. The events that followed I am, however, unsure about, but I knew in my pitiful heart that she was enamored and in love with Donnie Lonnigan. Last, please tell my family that I love them and that I thank them for all they have done for me and that I am truly sorry, Sincerely, Scholes Flushing the Third.’”

I looked to Tillary, then to Virgil.

“Good God,” Tillary said.

Tillary was hit hard by this news. He said nothing as he gathered some rags and went about the task of cleaning up the mess that Scholes Flushing had made of himself. After Tillary cleaned the blood off of Scholes’s face and hands, we helped him get Scholes into a fresh shirt, then laid him out on the long table and covered his body with a bedsheet.

“I’ll get some of the men to gather him and we’ll get him back to his family right away,” Tillary said, then shook his head in disbelief. “They will be devastated.”

“You have any idea about his wife,” Virgil said. “About her having a liking for the inmate?”

“In hindsight,” Tillary said, “maybe.”

“How so?”

Tillary shook his head.

“I’d say I don’t believe it. But the fact of the matter is I do believe it, or better said, it seems as though I have to believe it.”

“Why do you say that?” Virgil said.

“She started a Bible study program for the inmates. Giving them Bibles and so on.”

“What do you mean by ‘so on’?”

“She would meet with them and talk with them about God.”

Virgil looked to me and shook his head a little.

“Where?” he said.

“How?” I said. “Not in their cells?”

“Oh, no, outside of their cells, always escorted by a guard,” he said. “She was convinced, or convinced her husband, anyway, that there was need in the men’s lives for rehabilitation.”

“She preach to them?” I said.

“No. She would just talk with them. On Sundays a preacher comes through. Not all Sundays, but some. He comes and preaches to the men in the yard.”

“All the men?”

He shook his head.

“Those that are interested in listening.”

“And Mrs. Flushing was part of the service?”

“Mrs. Flushing would lead the hymns.”

“This Lonnigan was allowed to partake?”

“Much to my dismay. Him and others. Believe me, it was something that I was dead set against, but she influenced Scholes and he did what she wanted. She had that way about her.”

“What way, exactly?”

Tillary shook his head.

“There is something about Eleanor. She has that thing that makes men weak... especially Scholes, and she so... she gave off that air, you know?”

Tillary stared at the floor for a moment like he was lost in thought.

Virgil looked to me.

“Air?” I said.

“Oh, hell... I don’t know. Look, I liked her very much, and I looked at her like a daughter, really, and Scholes like a son, but her interest in God seemed, hell, I don’t know, less than genuine. She seemed more interested in getting attention from men, and she got a lot of it.”

“But you did or did not see the connection or relationship with Lonnigan,” I said.

“Not really, no... I didn’t. The thing is, when Scholes was in the yard and on duty I was not around. We alternated. On numerous occasions, however, when I returned I would find Lonnigan in the Tomb yet again and Scholes’s explanation was always the same. He had it coming. I asked the other guards and they told me that they had no idea why, but that they did what they were told to do.”

Tillary picked up the wedding tintype of Scholes and Eleanor and looked at it sadly.

“I thought she was here at the house,” Tillary said, shaking his head. “All these days since the escape I had no idea something like this had happened. I thought she was up here.”

Tillary set the tintype back on the table and moved to the open back door and looked out across the expanse. He leaned against the doorjamb.

“The thought never crossed my mind and Scholes let on nothing other than, well... like I mentioned,” Tillary said, turning back to us. “The few times I laid eyes on him he was a drunken mess and now I know why...”

Virgil picked up the tintype and looked at it closely. He studied it for a moment, then looked to Tillary.

“This woman here,” Virgil said. “This is her, Mr. Tillary. This is Mrs. Flushing?”

“Yes,” he said with a nod. “That’s Eleanor and Scholes, that is their wedding photograph.”

Virgil looked at the tintype again for a long moment.

“Everett,” he said, then removed his eyes from the tintype. “The woman here in the photo, Eleanor Flushing. She look familiar?”

Virgil handed me the tintype and I looked closely at the woman.

I looked from the tintype to Virgil, then back to the tintype.