Hidden Motive

by Alexander, Hannah

  “I…uh…I don’t think I can make it out of here without you.” She could barely stay conscious. “Please, Murph, get help.” Sable felt around her and at last her fingers came into contact with a hard oblong object in the water. “I've found the flashlight. Now will you please go?”

  “Does it work?” Murph asked.

  She grasped it more firmly and tried to pull it out of the water. It wouldn't budge. She moved her fingers farther down and jiggled, dug around the end of the object. How could it have become so imbedded? It finally loosened in her fingers, and she pulled it out. From the reflected glow of Murph's light against the crystals in the cave wall, she saw more than she wanted to see.

  “It isn’t…it’s not the flashlight.” Tingles of shock fled along her arm, once again setting off a pounding pain in her head. Now she knew what the white protrusion was in the water, what had dented her head.

  “Sable, you need to lie back down and remain still until I get back with the others. Will you do that?”

  “Yes.” She clamped down hard on the panic.

  “That means you’ll have to sit here in the dark until I come back.”

  “Yes.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Go now. Quickly. I learned a long time ago not to be afraid of the dark.” But what was in the dark right now? Was the intruder still up there somewhere, waiting? Would she endanger Murph worse by insisting he go?

  He stood. “I'll be back as soon as I can. You need to stay calm.”

  “Do you remember how to get back?”

  “I remember,” he said softly. “You're a wonderful guide. You showed me every marker.”

  Sable heard him moving off and it felt as if a great distance already separated them. Blackness covered her. She might die here. Or Murph might if he wasn’t careful. She couldn’t stand the thought of that.

  “Murph?”

  He stopped. “Yes?” Gentle, so tender.

  “Watch your back.”

  “Nobody’s going to get me.” She heard him turn to walk on.

  “Murph?”

  He stopped again.

  “I mean it. I…couldn't handle it if something happened.”

  “I'll be careful. Stay awake. You can do it.” He raced away, the echo of his footsteps reaching her as she lay with her eyes closed in the heavy darkness.

  The pain in her head slowly receded to a dull throb but her head still whirled and nausea clenched her stomach.

  She had been in complete darkness like this lots of times. The good thing about it was that if she couldn’t see anyone, they also couldn’t see her. Murph had said he'd heard their attacker running away. Whoever it was, they were afraid to be seen. No one could escape through the icy forest surrounding the house. Maybe they wouldn't be back this way.

  * * *

  Shadows loomed huge as Murph raced from a narrow passageway into a shadowed cavern. He scrambled over a slippery rock, then frowned at the forked section of passages.

  He rushed headlong down the right fork. Almost immediately a filmy white mist met him. The mist didn't thicken as he made his way through. Had Craig and Bryce found a viable passage or would he have to search through this labyrinth to get help?

  This cave was filled with tunnels and probably false passages. No wonder Sable's brother had gotten lost down here.

  He ducked his head to go beneath a low rock and as he did so he heard another sound over the splashing water. It was metal hitting rock.

  He swung around and aimed his light back the way he had come. “Who's there?”

  Nothing.

  “Craig? Bryce? Where are you?”

  Still no answer. No sound of retreating footsteps. He backtracked, listening through the silence for a telltale sign of life. No more sound.

  * * *

  Slowly, with great care, Sable splashed her face with water from the small stream that trickled past her. She could only pray that their attacker hadn’t followed Murph.

  Carefully, she shifted positions. Her head throbbed. But she could tell, even through the pain and nausea, that it was getting better. She'd taken falls before, maybe not quite as painful as this one, but bad enough to understand that she might be in trouble this time.

  She splashed more water in her face, wondering about the human bone.

  Nobody in the family had ever taken seriously the story about the previous owners finding silver here, because silver didn't occur naturally in this part of Missouri. If they found it at all, it was only as a by-product of another mineral—a valuable by-product.

  But the two earlier owners who had disappeared—they might well have believed in the stories of hidden silver, and might have prospected for it down here. Had she just fallen on the remains of one of those partners? The men could have drowned in the flood that had taken place at the same time of their disappearance.

  A sound reached her from far away, a rattle of rocks. She caught her breath and struggled to sit up. Her eyes opened wide, peering into the darkness. Did she detect a shade of light? A movement of shadow? It could be Murph coming back with Bryce and Craig. Or it could be their attacker. Wouldn't Murph have called out to her by now?

  Sable scrambled away from the streambed. She was about fifteen feet from the ledge from which she fell, and about twenty feet from that ledge to the other side, which formed the wall of the cave. Her right hand encountered some pebbles, scattering them down the gentle slope to splash into the water. She heard a footfall, then another, but she saw no flash of light. None. How could someone be walking in the darkness?

  The footsteps came closer, softly. She stared into the blackness. Had she suffered some kind of blindness from the head injury?

  Another footstep, this time directly above her on the ledge. She thought she detected a faint—very faint—green glow…like the glow of animal eyes reflected in the headlights of a car, only not nearly as bright.

  Ghost eyes.

  She blinked. The glow dipped and disappeared.

  She heard the clink of something metal, and another scuffle of footsteps.

  She scrambled backward in the mud, feeling for the bone she had earlier thrust aside. If only she could keep her mind clear . . . if only the pain would stay away long enough for her to get her bearings . . . She found the bone.

  She couldn’t be hallucinating…could she?

  She crept backward, feeling her way through the mud until she was pressing against a limestone wall. There was a tiny crawl space about five feet to her right. She had explored it once, barely fitting through.

  She heard a rustle of material, turned back to look toward the ledge, saw the ghost eyes bobbing in the darkness once again. She skittered backward and struck her tailbone on a rock. With a muffled groan she rolled onto her side and reached back for the stone. Still clutching the bone in her left hand, she drew herself onto her knees and flung the rock toward the ledge. It hit with a clatter and bounced back into the cavern.

  The glow disappeared and she heard more sounds of scuffling, the scattering of tiny rocks and dirt. For the first time, she heard the sound of heavy breathing.

  She bent down and felt for another rock, found one, threw it as hard as she could toward the last place she’d seen the glow. Lots of rocks down here.

  The glow reappeared for a few seconds, as if the ghost had turned to get its bearings again before continuing down.

  She scrambled toward the tiny passage.

  * * *

  Murph scuttled beneath the rocky ledge, picking his way with speedy care along the dry streambed. He recognized this place now. It was the passage Craig and Bryce had taken. “Craig?” he called. “Bryce!”

  He had to drop to his hands and knees and crawl over a scattering of rocks for about twenty feet, and then suddenly the ceiling lifted and the passage broadened. Here he encountered more fog, thicker this time, so thick it reflected the beam of his flashlight back at him.

  “Craig! Are you down here?”

  He squeezed through another narrow, passage. “
Craig!”

  A distant voice echoed from the limestone wall. It was perhaps a hundred feet away. He scrambled up a steep incline where the fog was so thick he had to cup his hand over the beam of his flashlight to keep the glare from blinding him.

  “Help! We need help!” He stepped out into another columned room and stopped. “Sable fell! I need help getting her out.”

  “We’re coming!” It was Craig.

  Murph waited. Craig and Bryce emerged through the fog a few moments later, breathless and dirty.

  “What happened?” Craig asked.

  “Sable fell in the crystal cavern. We need help.”

  “Let’s go!” Craig led the way.

  * * *

  Sable threw another rock, and then another. Her head throbbed with the exertion. Finding a break in the limestone wall, she crawled sideways into the protective tunnel.

  Shoes scraped against rock above her. She looked up. The ghost eyes hovered only a couple of yards away. Murph wasn’t going to return in time.

  She screamed. The ghost grabbed her by the throat. Her watch chain broke. She screamed again, falling into darkness.

  * * *

  A scream echoed through the cave. Murph pulled himself up from the low passage and raced toward the crystal cavern ahead of the others. “Sable!” Panic spurred him through the last two caverns, along the rocky passage, and out the other side.

  They reached the pit. Total blackness.

  “Sable!” Murph shouted. He aimed his light around the darkened crevices of the pit until he saw her blue nylon jacket. She lay prone in the mud.

  He handed his light to Bryce. “I'm going down.”

  “Wait,” Craig said. “We need a rope.”

  “We don't have time to get one!” Murph said.

  Craig took off his jacket. “We can use this. It's denim, it'll hold. Take one end. Can't have you falling, too.”

  Murph grabbed the sleeve and allowed Craig to lower him as far as possible, then jumped the last few feet. He rushed to Sable's side as she raised her head and began to stir.

  She turned glazed eyes toward him. “Someone came after me,” she whispered “They got my watch…couldn’t see…ghost eyes.”

  She wasn’t making sense. He checked her pupils. They were equal and reactive. “You can see me now, can’t you?”

  She peered up at him. “I can see fine.”

  He did a hasty neurological exam and gave her a score of fifteen on the Glasgow scale. Whatever had happened to her a few minutes ago, she was stable now.

  “Let’s get you out of here,” he said.

  With a sidelong glance at the water flowing lethargically past them a couple of feet away, she reached for Murph. “Maybe I was hallucinating. Or maybe we really do have a ghost,” she mumbled as she leaned against him.

  With help from Craig and Bryce, Murph hauled Sable up the side of the embankment. “Let’s get her to the house.”

  Chapter 22

  Murph carried Sable to the house. For the first time in her life she was relieved to escape the cave. She felt outraged and violated. She felt frustrated and desperate. She held onto Murph with all her strength.

  When he carried her into the living room, Audrey was sitting on the sofa. She looked up from her crossword puzzle and gasped.

  “What on earth!” She tossed the book aside and jumped to her feet. “Sable! What happened?”

  “I fell.” She didn’t have the energy to explain.

  “Murph, sit her down on the sofa. Craig, bring me some towels. We'll need to clean her off before we can see where she's hurt.”

  “Murph has already checked me for injuries,” Sable said, relenting enough to allow Audrey to help her remove her mud-caked nylon jacket. “I hit my head. It'll be okay.” She hoped. “Ice, though. I could use some ice.”

  “I’ll get some.” Bryce ran into the kitchen.

  Audrey pulled off Sable's boots. “How did it happen?”

  “I fell.”

  Audrey rolled her eyes, taking the towels Craig brought. “Thanks, that'll be enough. Now Sable, let’s get you up to your room and get these filthy clothes off.”

  “First, tell me where everyone has been since we left.”

  Audrey stopped bustling around Sable. “What do you mean? We've been right here. Where did you expect us to go? Boys, if you’re hungry there’s some lunch in the kitchen. Jerri had KP, but you’ll have to serve yourselves now.”

  “Where is she?” Sable asked.

  “I think she might have gone to the attic.”

  “And Perry and Simmons?” Murph asked.

  “I’m not concerned about those two right now, I’m concerned about Sable.”

  “Tell us where they are.” Sable found strength in her indignation.

  Audrey shook her head. “You people don’t make any sense. You want to let me know what’s going on around here? I heard Dillon growling upstairs earlier and went up to find a face-off between him and Simmons in the hallway.”

  “When did this happen?” Murph asked.

  “I didn’t check the time but not long ago. Couldn’t tell you what the standoff was about but I let Simmons know right quick he’d better not be disturbing anybody’s stuff. He’s kept a low profile since. As long as he keeps the fire stoked, I’m happy.”

  “And Perry?” Sable asked.

  “I saw him carrying water upstairs about thirty minutes ago. Now you men shoo on out of here. I’m getting Sable upstairs. Honey, do you feel like you can walk?”

  Sable stood up. “What have those two been doing since we left?”

  “I didn’t keep track.” Audrey clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Didn’t know I was supposed to. Simmons sure wasn’t thrilled with your dog, though. Let’s get you upstairs to bed.”

  “You’re not really putting her to bed, are you?” Murph asked.

  “I didn’t say sleep, I said bed. I’ll watch her.”

  “I’ll help,” Murph insisted.

  “Not while I help her undress, you won’t. Now give us some room to work.”

  “I don’t need help undressing,” Sable said.

  “You don’t need to be left alone.”

  Bryce returned with a plastic zipper bag filled with ice. Sable took it gratefully and held it against her skull.

  Upstairs, Audrey’s hands were gentle as she washed away the top layer of drying mud from Sable's face and arms. “I don’t see any blood.”

  “Only mud,” Sable said. The ice felt wonderful but her head still throbbed. “How often did you see the others while we were gone?”

  Audrey shuffled through the top drawer of Sable’s dresser, selected a tee shirt, and gave it to her. “I can’t help wondering why you want to know all this stuff right now when your health is more important.”

  Sable changed quickly. “If there were strangers in your home, wouldn’t you want to know what they were doing with their time?”

  Audrey tucked the muddy blouse under her arm and searched through the dresser until she found an old pair of scrub pants. She handed them to Sable. “I was taking a bath before you left.”

  “I thought I heard water splashing in there. Did Perry tote the water for you?”

  “Nope, I heated it myself. Mind you, it was a shallow bath, but it sure felt good.”

  “So you didn’t see anyone for a while. What else?”

  “Jerri hollered at me through the door about finding some jeans she could wear but she had to put a hem in them. I think she was going to find some needle and thread.”

  “I heard that. And then Perry accused her of snooping through his things.”

  “They had a few words about it but she convinced him she had no interest in his silly cookbooks.”

  “What about Simmons?”

  “He made himself scarce most of the morning but he kept the fire going in the basement, which is all I cared about. It’s a big house, Sable. Four people can avoid each other here for a long time.” She sat on the bed while Sable changed
into the scrub pants. “Lay down and keep that ice on your head. We need to watch you for the next few hours.”

  Sable sighed. “I know the drill.

  * * *

  There had been no group meal for lunch. Those who’d been in the cave were getting their own food at odd times. Craig slid a plate across the dining table toward Murph and lifted the lid from the roasting pot, allowing the aroma to fill the room. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on in this house, Murph, or am I going to have to go upstairs and bully Sable?”

  Murph shoved the plate away. He wasn’t hungry. “Someone attacked us.”

  The lid clattered to the table.

  Murph glanced toward the door. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything about this to the others. Someone must have followed us. We were looking at the crystal cavern when that natural bridge seemed to crumble on top of us. Someone had been hiding there.”

  “No idea who?”

  “None. Sable was in front of me and we both got shoved toward the pit. The ledge collapsed beneath her. I couldn’t hold onto her.”

  Craig shoved the pot aside and leaned over the table. “Okay, let me get this straight: First, Sable wrecks her car down in Oklahoma, then—”

  “Keep your voice down.”

  “Next,” Craig said more softly, “she nearly falls into the ravine.” In spite of Murph’s warning the volume rose again with every word. “Then someone tries to drown Simmons in the creek.”

  “You want the whole house to hear you? Cool it. But I’d like to know what Simmons was doing out at the creek in the first place.”

  “Is Audrey still upstairs with Sable?”

  Murph nodded. If Boswell had wanted to fool everyone—if, indeed, Boswell was behind this—Audrey would be a good choice. She may behave like a kind, talkative woman, mature in years, but she was in good physical condition and she was sharp.

  The door opened and Bryce entered the kitchen. “I tried to check on Sable but Audrey wouldn’t let me in. Any food left?”