He glanced at Reel as he walked past bearing the coffin. They exchanged a telling look that might have been interpreted as:
When our time comes, will we even get a funeral?
A black minister spoke, and then Angie and Little Bill said a few words.
The coffin was lowered into the dirt and folks started drifting away.
That was the way it was, the burial ritual. You set them in the earth and walked away to keep living, until it was your turn to be left behind.
Dr. Holloway was waiting for Robie at the line of cars parked along the quiet interior street of the cemetery.
“It was a nice service,” said Holloway.
“Yeah,” said Robie. “As nice as it can be, considering the purpose.”
“Will you be stayin’ on much longer here?”
“Unfinished business.”
“Clancy and the Chisum girls?”
Robie nodded as Reel joined them.
“Anythin’ I can do to help?” asked Holloway.
Robie was surprised by this but said, “Not unless you have a miracle or two up your sleeve.”
Holloway smiled weakly. “I don’t think that I do, sorry.”
Robie stared at him for a few moments and then decided it was worth a shot. Holloway was an educated man. “Does ‘L 18’ or ‘Calvin’ or ‘ROH’ mean anything to you?”
Holloway frowned. “Not ‘Calvin’ or ‘ROH.’ But ‘L 18’? In what context?”
“That’s the problem. We don’t know,” said Reel.
Holloway thought about it for a few moments. “Well, it’s not normally referred to in such a shorthand way, but if the context, for instance, is religious it might mean Leviticus chapter eighteen.”
Both Robie and Reel tensed. He said, “Leviticus—you mean from the Bible?”
“The Hebrew Bible, yes.”
“Do you know what it refers to?” asked Reel. “My biblical knowledge is a little rusty.”
“To the commands given to Moses on Mount Sinai.”
“Regarding what, exactly?”
“Well, the Holiness Code. It lists certain sexual activities that are considered unclean and therefore prohibited. Verse twenty-two of the chapter has caused all the controversy regardin’ homosexuality, you know, that man shall not lie with mankind as with womankind.”
“You don’t happen to have a Bible with you, do you?” asked Robie.
“I have one in my car. You’re welcome to it.”
They went to Holloway’s car, and he gave them the copy of his Bible.
“I’ll bring it back to you,” promised Robie.
“No, keep it. I try to give them out to people as often as I can. I consider it a way of payin’ it forward. I don’t agree with everythin’ in there. I mean we must all come into the twenty-first century. But just the golden rule and its progeny would certainly make the world a better place if more widely followed.”
“Thanks,” said Robie.
“And don’t forget about your arm, I was serious. You don’t want permanent damage.”
Holloway drove off while Robie flipped to Leviticus chapter eighteen. He read down the passages.
“Anything strike you?” asked Reel.
“It deals with homosexuality, like he said. But it also talks about something else.”
“What?”
“Incest.”
“Incest? What kind?”
Robie read a bit more, then looked up at her. “Between brother and sister for one.”
“Yes. And that ties in with Leviticus eighteen, which deals with those sorts of incestuous situations.”
“And Jane Smith?”
“Could be the result of that,” answered Reel. “Not that she was the product of an incestuous relationship, of course, which is what ROH refers to. But if Jane is Laura, twenty-plus years of shame and loathing and emotional scarring could change anyone, Robie. Anyone. Even damage their minds. I’m surprised she’s not even more screwed up.”
Robie looked confused. “Okay, But ROH comes from the product of an incestuous relationship, like you just said. The offspring. So why would someone have written ROH on the back of a family photo if it didn’t have some relevance?”
Reel said, “You’re right. But Jane Smith is forty. She can’t be Laura and her brother’s child. She has to be Laura.”