Cutler 05 - Darkest Hour

wondering what happened to him. Charles sent Clark Jones over to the Thompsons'."
    "I want to see him," I said. Vera helped me stand and guided me over to Niles. Charles looked up from the body and shook his head.
    "That piece of pipe was rusted in the joints and just couldn't hold his weight. He shouldn't have depended on it," Charles said.
    "Is he going to be all right? Is he?" I asked desperately.
    Charles looked at Vera and then at me.
    "He ain't with us no more, Miss Lillian. The fall . . . killed him. Snapped his neck, I reckon."
    "Oh, please, no. Please, God, no," I moaned, and went to my knees beside Niles's body. Slowly, I pulled the blanket back and looked at him. His eyes were already sewn tight by Death, Death who had visited this house before and gleefully stolen away Eugenia. I shook my head in disbelief. This couldn't be Niles. The face was too pale, the lips too blue and too thick. None of the facial features were Niles's. Niles was a handsome boy with dark, sensitive eyes and a soft smile in his lips. No, I told myself, it wasn't Niles. I smiled at the stupidity of my mistake.
    "It's not Niles," I said, and breathed relief. "I don't know who it is, but it's not Niles. Niles is far more handsome." I looked at Vera who stared at me with pity. "It's not Vera. It's someone else. Maybe it's a prowler. Maybe . . ."
    "Come on inside, honey," she said, lifting me and embracing me. "It's a horrible sight."
    "But it's not Niles. Niles is home, safe. You'll see when they send Clark Jones back," I said, but my body was still trembling. My teeth were even chattering.
    "Okay, honey, okay."
    "But Niles did climb up to see me last night because I wasn't permitted to go to the party. We spent a little time together and then he climbed out of my window and down. He ran off in the darkness and rejoined his family at the party. Now he's home in bed or maybe he's just getting up for breakfast," I explained as we walked back toward the front of the house.
    Emily stood waiting on the porch steps with her arms folded under her chest.
    "What is it?" she demanded. "What's all the shouting about?"
    "It's the Thompson boy, Niles," Vera replied. "He must have fallen climbing down from the roof. A gutter pipe snapped and . . ."
    "The roof?" Emily scrutinized me quickly. "He was in your room last night? SINNER!" she screamed before I could respond. "You had him in your room!"
    "No." I shook my head. I felt light, aloof, drifting like the long, puffy clouds floating across the silvery blue sky. "No, I went to the party. That's right. I was at the party. Niles and I danced all night. We had a wonderful time. Everyone was looking at us with envy. We danced like two angels."
    "You took him to your bed, didn't you?" Emily accused. "You seduced him. Jezebel!"
    I simply smiled at her.
    "You took him to bed and the Lord punished him for it. He's dead because of you, because of you," she declared.
    My lips began to tremble again. I shook my head. I'm not out here; it's not really morning, I thought. None of this is really happening. I'm dreaming; it's a terrible nightmare. Any moment I'm going to waken in my room, in my bed, snug and secure.
    "Wait until Papa finds out about this. He'll skin you alive. You should be stoned, just like the whores of old, taken out and stoned," she said in her most arrogant, haughty voice.
    "Miss Emily, that's a horrible thing to say. She's so upset she doesn't know where she is or what's happening," Vera said. Emily lifted her eyes of fire and directed them at our new servant.
    "Don't you go pitying her now. That's how she gets you not to see her evil ways. She's a shrewd conniver. She's a curse and always has been, right from the day she was born and her mother died giving birth to her."
    Vera didn't know I wasn't Mamma and Papa's child. The news shocked her, but she didn't release her hold on me nor back away.
    "No one's a curse, Miss Emily. You must not say such a thing. Come on, honey," she told me. "You'd better go back up and rest. Come along."
    "It's not Niles, is it?" I asked her.
    "No, it's not," she said. I turned and smiled back at Emily.
    "It's not Niles," I said.
    "Jezebel," she muttered, and went off to look at the body.
    Vera took me up to my room and put me to bed. She drew the blanket up to my chin.
    "I'll bring you something hot to drink and something to eat. You'd better just stay put, Miss Lillian," she said, leaving me.
    I lay there listening. I heard the noises, the sound of the horses,