An End to a Silence: A mystery novel (The Montana Trilogy Book 1) by W.H. Clark

simply said.
    Ward was
on the periphery of the moment between Newton and Alice, and he watched the
pain in Newton’s eyes and their refusal to accept the smile from Alice’s mouth.
He put the photo back into the shoebox and that broke the spell.
    Ward
said, “You say you knew William as good as anybody.”
    Alice
turned slowly back to Ward, keeping her eyes on Newton as long as she could.
She said, “Aside of God, yes.”
    “Do you
know if he had any enemies? Do you know of anybody in his life who might want
to do him harm?”
    “Sir, no,
I don’t. William was a gentle man coming to the end of his days. Who would want
to harm a man like that? Who?” She turned to Newton then.
    Ward
said, “I don’t know. Maybe someone from his past who decided to even an old
score. We don’t know at this stage. But anything you can tell us could help us
catch the person responsible. Is there anything you know that might explain why
someone would want to harm him?”
    “All’s I
know, Mr. Ward, is that there is evil in the world. Way the devil works”—her
smile subsided when she said that—“is he confuses. Turns man against man. Ain’t
always no reason. Ain’t always no motive. The devil is among us and he had his
fingers in this business. That I know for sure.”
    Ward
paused and thought for a minute. He looked at Newton and opened the way for him
to ask his own questions, but Newton shook his head gently.
    “Well,
ma’am. We really appreciate you giving us your time. It’s been a big help.”
    “My
pleasure, Mr. Ward, Mr. Newton. If there’s anything else I can do to help I’d
be more than happy. Please catch the person who did this.”
    “We will,
Mrs. White. I promise you.”
    Ward and
Newton stood and Ward’s eye was caught by all the photos around the room once
more. He looked over them as he made his way to the door, and he flipped open
an album which lay on a bookshelf. He gasped.
    “Now they’s my other babies, Mr. Ward.”
    On each
page were two or three photos of babies, sleeping peacefully. He flipped the
pages and noticed that some were wearing the same clothes. And some of the
babies were so small they didn’t look like babies at all but dolls. He turned
to Alice but words didn’t come.
    “They is
in heaven now, Mr. Ward. Ever’ single one of them carried on the wings of
angels to be with the Lord. They come to me to be dressed. Some call me the
Baby Dresser for what I do. Gives an opportunity for their parents to spend
some time with them before they go on.”
    Ward
shook his head gently. “How… how many?”
    “Some
hundred or so.”
    Ward
flipped pages and was finally stunned into silence. Alice looked at him and he felt
a single tear on his cheek. Alice pointed at his face.
    “That’ll
be the cold.”
    Ward
wiped the tear away and walked to the door. Alice touched his arm as he walked
past and her smile dug into him now and pulled at something. He felt as if he
knew some secret that she had just passed to him and he felt elation and
sadness and wanted to get out of the house quickly. Newton was out already, and
Ward took his hat from the coat stand while Alice passed him his coat.
    “Come
back when you ever want to know more,” she said, and Ward knew that meant
something else.
    “I will,”
he said. “Thank you, Alice. Thank you.”
     
     
    Outside,
Newton looked Ward up and down and then got in the car without a word passing
between them. The gloom had turned to darkness, and the cold ripped away Ward’s
top two layers of clothing and cut into him. He had a feeling of not being
there and he shook his head to clear the mist. He flipped open his notepad to
try and remember what had just occurred. At the bottom of the last page he had
written “Jesus is my savior. Christ is my redeemer” in large capital letters.
He glanced at Newton, who sat in the car staring ahead. Ward said, “What the
hell?” and climbed into the car, his hands shaking as he grabbed the