Page 50 of Bone Echo

Dudley wanted to punch his face. But more than that, he wanted to know where his brother’s body was hidden.

“Sucker,” the killer hissed at him, and then laughed. A maniacal sound that haunted Dudley throughout the man’s trial and conviction.

Karl von Hoover received life in prison without parole.

His punishment would never be enough to compensate for the loss of Charlie.

CHAPTER 19

Mawmaw’s cottage

His mother’s cottage in small-town Mooreville, Mississippi, proved to be the perfect place for Dudley to combine a compassionate leave with a long overdue vacation. The two of them sat on the front porch together watching a sunset.

The rope swing under a large oak tree in her front yard moved in the breeze, a stark reminder that his children might never play on Mawmaw’s swing again. It was all left up to Gloria Jean, who had primary custody since the divorce.

Still, the peace and quiet of the neighborhood was enough to scab over the worst of the wounds inflicted by his ex-wife.

But nothing would heal the gap left by Charlie until he was found. The Eliminator had kept his secret throughout the trial and still wasn’t talking.

Mawmaw was making up for his silence with nonstop chatter about Dudley’s future.

“This house will be yours when I’m gone, hon,” she told him.

“You don’t have to do that, Mawmaw. You might want to sell it and move into a nice place where they serve two meals a day and play bingo in the parlor.”

“Pshaw. It’s been in this family for generations and I aim to keep it that way. If I go before you retire, you’ll want to rent it out until you’re ready to move in.”

She spoke of death as if she might be planning togoon a vacation with her best clothes packed in her suitcase. Still, the house was important to her.

“I promise you, I’ll do that.”

“That’s good, hon. I’m going to pack up some dishes and small appliances for you to take back to your apartment in that city. You won’t have to buy a thing for it except maybe a microwave oven. And I’m going to give you the bedroom set in your old room.”

“You don’t have to do that, Mawmaw. It’ll leave the room empty.”

“Pshaw! I don’t care aboutstuff.I just care about my boys.”

She still spoke of Charlie as if he might suddenly appear around the corner of her cottage and say, “Man, that was some fishing trip! Did you miss me?” Dudley hoped the memorial service Laura was planning would give all of them some closure. Especially Mawmaw. Charlie was gone, and he wasn’t coming back.

CHAPTER 20

Memphis

Dudley stood in the cemetery in his uniform, the hot sun beating down on his head, his heart feeling like a giant hole inside his chest. His mother and Laura had dressed in their Sunday best. They stood on either side of him, clinging to his arms and silently weeping.

The gravestone had his brother’s name, birthdate, and a simple inscription from C. S. Lewis’ modified to fit Charlie. “His loss is like the sky, spread over everything.”

Laura had asked a minister to read scripture but she delivered her husband’s eulogy. It was from the heart, delivered in broken pieces, interspersed by sobs.

But no one was in the grave to hear. Did the dead even hear the living anyhow? And could there ever be any peace for them if they were not laid to rest in a quiet place where birds sang in the trees and the nearby brook voiced its own song as shallow water rushed over smooth rocks to form small pools where you could sit on the bank and cool your feet.

The memorial ceremony was over too soon. Dudley not only had no closure, but being back at Charlie’s empty-feeling house made him so furious he wanted to ram fist through the wall.

Mamaw saw with Laura on the sofa, drinking tea, which he had declined, and talking in hushed voices.

“I’m going to stay with you a while, hon, so we can both grieve together. Dudley will take me home when I’m ready.”

“Thank you, Mawmaw.” Laura talked about the hydrangea bushes he was going to dig up for her, another reminder of life without Charlie. But when she began to talk about tearing down the garage and planting a garden in its place, it was more than Dudley could bear.

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