The Beasts Of Valhalla

where I went. It's not that I don't want to, but that I can't. I have to ask you to trust me and believe that I wouldn't intentionally do anything wrong.'

'Oh, I know that, Robby, and it goes without saying that I trust you.'

'I wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt you and Dad, or any member of our family.'

'You wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone.'

'I'm going to ask you not to mention to anyone that I went out last night. That's important. It's not for me.'

'What you're doing is very dangerous, isn't it?'

'Yes,' I said after a pause.

'I heard you come in and clean up, and then I heard you moving around down in the root cellar. Did you leave something down there?'

'Yes, but it won't be there for long. I just have to figure out what to do with it.'

'I won't ask you what it is, Robby. I know you're thinking of me and your father; if you don't want us to know something, it's for a good reason.'

'Did Dad hear me go out or come in?'

'I don't think so. He won't tell you, but he hasn't been feeling well at all. He stays active during the day because he wants to put on a good show for you, but he's exhausted at night.'

'When this is over, the three of us will go away someplace and be together. Okay?'

My mother gently stroked my hair with both her hands, and I was startled to see tears in her eyes. 'I've always loved you so much, Robby,' she murmured in a choked voice. 'You were God's special gift to me-so clever, so good. I've always been so proud. Every day since you were born I've thanked God for you, and for giving me Garth to protect you when you were a boy.'

'Thank you, Mom. I love you very much.'

Tears were flowing freely now, but she still managed to smile. I reached out to brush away her tears, but she grabbed both my hands and clasped them to her breast. 'You want to hear something strange, Robby? Even with all this crazy and dangerous business you've gotten into as a private detective, I've never really worried about you. I know you've almost been killed a number of times-but I still didn't really worry about you. I believed that you were also very special in the eyes of God, and that God wouldn't let any harm come to you. There's something different happening now.'

'God's a very busy woman, Mom, and I imagine I'm hard to keep track of under the best of circumstances.'

'Don't be blasphemous, Robert,' my mother said sternly, unsmiling.

'I didn't mean to be, Mom,' I said quickly, thoroughly chastened. 'Just trying to lighten up the conversation.'

'I've had a recurring dream every night since you and Garth came here,' she said distantly. My mother was still weeping, still deadly serious. 'It's a dream of death and destruction, the same each time. Somehow you, Garth, and a man I've never seen before are at the center of it all. There are strange creatures no one has ever seen before. God weeps over the whole earth as He holds you and Garth in His arms. In this dream both my sons are dead, Robby, and the earth is changed forever.'

I pulled my hands from her grasp, cradled my mother's face, kissed her eyes. 'Believe me, sweetheart, it's just something you ate.'

'Robby,' she sobbed, 'please don't make fun of me.'

'I'm not, Mom. Nothing is that serious, and none of it is worth a single one of your tears. Garth isn't even here-and I don't want him here.'

My mother stopped crying, sighed heavily, stared hard at me. There was still love in her eyes, but there was also a hard glint, like sun on snow. 'Rodney Lugmor didn't shoot Tommy, did he?'

'No,' I said quietly, transfixed by her eyes and her unexpected strength. 'They were both murdered-probably drugged or beaten unconscious someplace else, then taken to the stream on Coop Lugmor's farm and shot. Also, there's absolutely no evidence that they had a homosexual relationship. That doesn't mean a whole lot to me, but it may to you and Dad.'

'It will mean something to Janet and John.'

'Well, they can't know. I'm sorry, Mom. I'm only telling you this because you're old; I don't think even these men will lean on you unless they believe I've shared information with you. I won't ask you to keep secrets from Dad, but neither of you can repeat anything I've said tonight to anyone; not even to Janet, and especially not to John.'

'Do you know who did this thing?'

'I know who pulled the trigger. I know where to find the men responsible, but only one of their names.'

'What are you going to do about it, Robby?'

'Probably nothing.' The words tasted bitter and sharp, but they rang true. As the sun had come up, so had answers and realizations dark and cold enough to eclipse the dawn, at least for me.

'I don't understand, son,' my mother said quietly.

'Mom, ever since I got home I've been lying here, thinking, trying to decide what I can do. I keep getting an image of a single man trying to harvest the Great Plains with a scythe.'

'If these men are murderers, and you can prove it, there must be a way to bring them to justice.'

'You're wrong, Mom. You see, I might manage to cut down a half acre or so; I could… punish… the man who shot Tommy and Rodney, but he's nothing more than a small, very rotten potato who was taking care of other people's business and erasing their mistakes. Knowing that, maybe I get frustrated and start shouting at the sky, telling things I know. You know what happens? A great wind comes up across all those millions of acres I haven't managed to touch. That wind howls like nothing you've ever heard before; it's colder than any winter, and it keeps gaining velocity. It immediately drowns out my shouts and blows me away forever, but it doesn't stop there; it keeps blowing. It comes here, into this home and Janet's home, into the homes of all our relatives. People who've had any contact with me in Peru County could catch cold, Mom. Some of them could die. Do you understand what I'm saying?'

'Nothing that evil or powerful could exist here. This is America.'

'It certainly is. God bless America.'

'Yes,' my mother said with a frown, obviously puzzled by my lone. 'God bless America.' She paused and patted my head, just like a mother. 'You thought my dream was exaggerated, Robby. Well, I think your story about a wind on the Great Plains is exaggerated.'

'It isn't, Mom. Believe me, it can happen if I make the wrong move. In this case, any move at all would be a wrong move.'

'We have laws here. Justice.'

'I can't do something that may harm the people I love, Mom. I should've got smart quicker, gone home sooner.'

My mother slapped me across the face, hard. In the thirty-six years of my existence, it was the first time either of my parents had hit me. I was so stunned by her action that I didn't even feel the blow. Shocked and numb, I simply sat and stared at her as she reared back to hit me again, then thought better of it.

'That's the first time I've ever hit you, Robby, because this is the first time you've ever made me angry and ashamed of you!' Her voice, usually so soft and gentle, was trembling with fury. 'First I hear you tell me you know that your nephew and another boy were murdered, and in the next breath you tell me that you're not going to do anything about it. You won't even tell me who did it. How terribly, terribly arrogant of you, Robert! You're not God!'

'Mom- '

'If you've become a coward so quickly, tell me what you know and I'll damn well do something about it!'

The first time I'd ever heard her swear; it was turning into a week of firsts. I continued to sit with my lower jaw hanging open.

'Oh, Robby, Robby,' she continued, whispering in my ear as she caressed the spot on my cheek where she'd slapped me. 'I'm sorry I hurt you, but you can't worry about me or your dad, or about anyone else. You have to