Crystal Vision

by Patricia Rice

  Like teenagers, they pawed and sucked and ripped off clothes. The damned bandage hampered him, but Mariah yanked off his shirt and covered his neck with kisses so he forgot the pain. She straddled his lap so he could easily reach around her to remove her bra.

  She was sturdy and strong, and he didn’t have to worry he’d break her. He was the one who was weak here. The experience aroused him in new ways—he didn’t want to take and plunder but touch and enjoy and anticipate.

  She leaned over and licked his nipple. He yelped in surprise, then lifted both her breasts and took turns caressing and sucking. In moments, she had his jeans unfastened and was stroking him to the breaking point.

  He muttered an obscenity when he couldn’t lift her enough to yank off her camp shorts. She wriggled out of them without his aid.

  He caressed her between her legs until she cried out and sank down on him with a moan of need to match his own.

  “Condom,” he muttered.

  “Birth control,” she replied. “No sex in two years, no STDs.”

  “Same here.”

  And that was their last moment of lucidity.

  July 11: Wednesday, early morning

  Mariah woke to the dawn song of a mockingbird and a massive block of warmth in her bed. It took all of half a minute to savor the languid aftereffects of fantastic sex, process the knowledge that she’d actually let a man sleep with her, and remember their task for the day.

  She punched Keegan’s ribs and shot out of bed.

  He muttered and stirred as she dashed for the shower. A few minutes later, he joined her, already more than half aroused. He was a damned fine male animal, even with the bandage marring the upper part of his chest and shoulder.

  “You can’t get the bandage wet. Get out of here.” She shut off the water.

  “Good morning to you, too, Sunshine.” He chuckled and leaned over to kiss her.

  He actually had to lean to kiss her. He could almost make her feel small. And a man who didn’t mind her bossiness. . . she couldn’t contemplate at this hour.

  “We need to be out there now,” she protested, pulling away from the pleasure.

  “I am going to take you to a tropical isle with no one on it but thee and me,” he grumbled, flipping the shower back on but keeping his shoulder out of the spray.

  “You let me know when you find one, and I’m all there. But with no airport, we’d have to sprout wings.” She grabbed a towel and headed for her closet.

  “Yacht,” he called. “We’ll go by yacht. Tropical nights in a blue lagoon.”

  Damn, but he awakened dreams she’d long forgotten. Or more likely, dreams she’d set on fire and let blow away like ashes.

  Still totally naked and apparently more comfortable with it than she was, Keegan kissed her again when he emerged from the bathroom. She only had one arm through her shirt and almost fell over from the shock. He chuckled and picked up his clothes from yesterday. She had to sit on the edge of the bed to steady herself and pull on her hiking boots.

  She’d loosened her braid to rinse out her hair. It fell nearly to her waist, so she didn’t have time to rewrap but tied it off, top and bottom, with the twine she made for her nets. “Dinah usually doesn’t come in until six. I’ll see if I can find anything in her kitchen because there’s nothing in mine.” She shoved her keys in her jeans pocket and added her guardian statue to her backpack.

  “I’ve been known to drink beer and eat cold pie for breakfast.” He yanked his jeans over his fine long legs, then grabbed his shirt. “Good thing I put this on clean before the meeting last night.”

  “I daresay they had to cut the other off of you. How does your arm feel this morning?” She filled the rest of her backpack with her usual hiking supplies.

  “Itchy. How do you feel this morning?”

  “Not itchy.” She checked the clock and marched for the door.

  His chuckle did things to her insides she’d never experienced. She was brisk and cold, and he laughed and warmed her all the way through. If this was the kind of man available elsewhere, she’d spent way too much time among trolls.

  Dinah wasn’t there when Mariah unlocked the kitchen, but the diminutive cook had left covered trays of breads and pastries and bowls of fruit on the counter. In the enormous refrigerator, she’d stockpiled sliced meats and cheeses.

  “It’s not eggs and bacon, but I think we’ll survive.” Mariah emptied her pockets of the cash the Kennedys paid her for ghost catching, left it in the register, and began filling up boxes.

  Keegan threw larger bills down with hers and did the same. “Coffee?”

  The man was not only generous, but useful. Mariah appreciated that. Or maybe it was just the afterglow from the best sex she’d ever known.

  By the time they left the diner, their arms loaded with boxes and trays of coffee carafes, the others had begun gathering in the parking lot. The more efficient had already eaten, but the bleary-eyed gratefully fell on the food while Walker organized his troops.

  Mariah noticed Sam’s mother was there, looking lost and wary in a blue hoodie over her graying blond hair. To her immense surprise, Val stood beside her, a long black cloak with a hood thrown over her usual veil and gown. Surreptitiously, Mariah scouted the crowd, finding Lance with his nephews over on the far side, with the other Nulls.

  “Wow, impressive turn-out,” she murmured. “We’ll scare off half the county.”

  Keegan followed her look. “Or fill up the county emergency room with snake bites and broken legs. How often do these people hike?”

  “Val, surprisingly, hikes all day and half the night. Looks like she’s brought a box of Daisy’s guardians to hand out to those who may have forgotten theirs. Maybe you should get one.”

  “I have one good hand,” he muttered. “Should I wear it on my head?”

  Ignoring his Nullness, Mariah nodded at a stranger inappropriately outfitted in Abercrombie & Fitch jacket and khakis. “Who’s that over there?”

  “No clue. Shall I ease over and find out?” Keegan tore into his meat-filled bagel and studied the scene as she did.

  The stranger talking to Kurt was older than the resort manager but not old enough for silver to thread his dark, thick hair. His tanned face spoke of time outside, but this was California. That meant nothing. “Might be a good idea to know,” she said warily. “I don’t trust strangers.”

  As Keegan worked his way over to Kurt and the visitor, Mariah joined Sam and Teddy, great sources of information now that they were sleeping with two of the town’s most influential men. “Do we know who the new guy is?”

  “He was introduced as Caldwell Edison,” Sam whispered. “Walker said he joined them over breakfast at the lodge, said he was interested in buying land here, and wanted to come along. Walker tried to get rid of him, but they couldn’t tie him to a post.”

  “Kurt told me Edison is the son of a politician.” Teddy looked worried. “He’s a regular guest at the lodge, and his father represents this district, so Kurt can’t tell him to mind his own business.”

  “Edison?” Mariah asked, coming alert. “Son of Bradford Edison? The musician wearing a bear claw in the mural? Can he be the man in Daisy’s sketch?”

  Nineteen

  July 11: Wednesday, early morning

  “Put your lie detector hat on,” Mariah ordered Teddy. “I don’t like a mural guy showing up after Keegan just got shot.”

  Teddy wrinkled her nose. “He’s son of Mural Guy. And he doesn’t look like Skanky Man in the sketch. He looks perfectly respectable.” Still, the petite jeweler fell into step with Mariah.

  “Believe me when I tell you that respectable people can hide secrets, not all of them nice. You play the pretty smiling face, while I’ll be the annoying one. I’ll see you don’t lose any potential customers.”

  Mariah walked up to the men as if she’d been invited. She’d survived in a man’s world by mimicking their arrogance. She held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Mariah. Will you be joining our
troop?”

  She sensed Keegan smothering a smile and resisted her usual obnoxious reaction to any male noticing her. It might be time to grow up. Kurt hastily introduced the stranger as Caldwell Edison, a real estate marketer. The stranger looked bored and a little irritated at her interruption, but he shook her hand. His kind was the reason for her hostile reaction to men.

  “I’m just an observer,” he said stiffly.

  “As are we all,” petite Teddy said, possessively taking Kurt’s arm and beaming. “It should be a lovely day for a hike, if you don’t mind getting up at this hour.”

  Mariah didn’t think the polished stranger looked like the type accustomed to watching the dawn, which made his presence even more suspicious.

  “If you’re looking at real estate in the canyon, have you talked with the Ingerssons yet?” she asked. “They own most of the road and the land back where we’re going.”

  “I understood the canyon was Menendez land.” Edison still didn’t seem interested.

  Warning alarms clamored. Sam’s mother was married to a Menendez. How had she forgotten that?

  Mariah touched Teddy, the human lie detector, to indicate that she switch on. Teddy didn’t like being assaulted by other people’s emotions, but at this hour, people were barely awake.

  “Are you familiar with the Ingersson commune?” Mariah asked genially. “It’s Hillvale’s history. From here, we have to go through the commune to reach the canyon.”

  Caldwell’s eyes hardened. “The commune is no longer there. It’s just land.”

  “We’re hoping to restore and re-enact that period of time,” she said briskly, inventing the idea on the spot. “I believe your father participated at one time, didn’t he? Perhaps he’d like to help us fund an arts and crafts center there.”

  Teddy pinched her. Mariah hoped that meant she was getting a reading.

  Caldwell looked briefly startled, then hid behind his bored mask again. “My father may have visited. He played in a folk group in college. I’ll ask him when I see him next.”

  His father was painted on Dinah’s mural with the original commune members. He was more than a visitor.

  Living with Teddy, Kurt was apparently more aware of Teddy’s talents than the others and quickly caught onto the reason behind this meaningless discussion. “The ladies are planning a homecoming festival for the commune members and their families. We’ll add you to the list,” he said heartily. “Tell your father, ask if he knows some of the original members. Maybe we can enlist him on the committee.”

  The jeweler was smiling brightly, but her eyes had that far-away look she sometimes developed when consulting with whatever weird monitor she had in her head. Mariah wished Teddy would jump in here with some revelation, but the talented artist hadn’t learned to manipulate her gift well enough to process two things at once.

  Looking uncomfortable, Caldwell muttered what might have been agreement.

  “Excellent. Would you happen to know Trevor Gabriel’s family?” Mariah poked the nest more. “He’s on the mural with your father. Once we identify everyone, we’d like to send special invitations to all of their descendants.”

  “I have no idea who you’re talking about,” Caldwell said, blatantly turning his back on her. “Looks like the sheriff is starting out. My car, gentlemen?”

  “Cars can’t go the last two miles. You’ll need boots,” Mariah warned. “Keegan discovered a nest of rattlers at the trail head. That’s why most of us are going on horseback and carrying sticks. And Orval’s been reporting some rabid foxes, so you’ll need your gun as well.”

  She hid her delight at her meanness when Caldwell’s lined brow drew down in a frown.

  “Kennedy?” he asked, turning to Kurt.

  Kurt shrugged. “Some of the hazards of canyons,” he conceded, without lying.

  “It seems I’m ill-prepared then,” Caldwell admitted reluctantly. “I’ll leave you to your search and come back another time.” He stalked off.

  Mariah whistled under her breath. With a lifted eyebrow meaning he’d want details later, Kurt followed his guest.

  Keegan rested his hand on Mariah’s shoulder and studied Teddy. “Explanations?”

  “Seriously stressed and lying under pressure,” Teddy announced in satisfaction. “And there was a guilt factor in there. He knows of Trevor Gabriel, if nothing else. The guilt played in mostly when you mentioned land.”

  “But we’ve not learned anything useful.” Keegan frowned. “He doesn’t appear to be the kind of man one wants as an enemy.”

  “Ruthless,” Teddy agreed. “Greedy, ambitious, self-involved, I got all that. This is not a man one wants as friend either.”

  “We need to learn more about him, in other words.” Mariah glared at the ATV they walked toward. “Bradford doesn’t strike me as the type to know archery, but he’d have minions, like the guy who tried to break into the bunker. Did Walker ever find anything more about George Thompson?”

  “Only that he lived on the commune as a child, along with the brother who has gone to jail,” Keegan said. “He doesn’t have a bow-hunting license. Whoever shot Daisy was no novice.”

  “Sorry, I’ve got to go. I’m carrying Lucys in my van. I need to round them up. I’ll see you up there.” Teddy abandoned them to head for Amber and several of the older women.

  Mariah climbed onto the ATV seat, still puzzling out pieces. “Canyons are worthless. They burn. They flood. They turn into mud rivers. One does not build in canyons. Any idiot knows that.”

  “No one said he planned on developing the land, just that he’s into real estate. Canyons are pathways into the interior. These hills are filled with minerals. Maybe they’ve located oil or gold. The possibilities are endless.” He kicked the motor into gear, ending that line of speculation for the moment.

  Gold? Or crystals? Crystals were far more likely, but they could be found anywhere, so it had to be these particular rocks if land was Edison’s goal.

  Once they reached the canyon, Keegan swallowed another painkiller and washed it down with bottled water while the unorthodox search party sorted itself out. Anyone down in the bottom had surely heard the assortment of ATVs and horses gathering on the ridge. Walker’s posse wasn’t trying to be surreptitious—the whole point being to drive out intruders, not catch anyone. He got that, he thought.

  While the Lucys tried to find safe deer paths through the chaparral along the ridge, and the Nulls sorted out their equipment for descending into the canyon, Keegan studied the terrain.

  Rejecting the Lucy regiment, Harvey joined him. “How much do you know of the geology here?”

  Keegan shrugged. “It’s a unique mixture of volcanic layers, ocean sediment, and the remnants left from glacier movement, in a terrain weathered by the coastal climate on one side and the desert interior on the other.”

  “Ideal for crystals?” Harvey asked.

  He didn’t know why the musician was interested, but Keegan nodded. “Shale and sandstone are predominate, but they’ve found limestone, marble, gold, iron, silver and quartz in this short range. Most of it isn’t in amounts worth anyone’s time.”

  He’d come here looking for journals and answers to impossible questions. He was unlikely to find either in this canyon.

  But miraculously, this trip had enlightened him to the value of compatible company. He’d always felt out of place anywhere except in his hometown, where his family eccentricities were well known.

  At university, he’d been younger than his fellow students, left out of their sexual exploits and scorned for his intellectual focus. He’d had to take up athletics to garner friends—but competition was not his natural milieu. Paraphrasing Mariah, a nerd would always be a nerd and not a jock.

  In Hillvale, he could talk about minerals and their complex structures, and people listened. Despite his being a stranger, they accepted him and his oddities as one of their own.

  Harvey absorbed his mini-lecture with interest. “So, maybe crystals.” He gr
imaced at the women and reluctantly strolled off to join them.

  Keegan watched Mariah organizing the Lucys. In her drab green linen and khaki camp shorts, she ought to blend into the environment, but to him, she was a shining vision of possibilities. She hadn’t taken time to weave beads and feathers into her glossy hair this morning, but she still resembled an exotic bronzed princess who made his pulse pump an extra beat or two.

  He really didn’t have the heart left for a relationship, especially not with a mystery woman who kept secrets. So he forced himself to listen to Walker organize the canyon party. Keegan didn’t need a horse. He’d hiked higher hills than these and made his way down them again without mishap. He’d rely on his own two feet—he’d be closer to the ground and better able to test the structure of the rocks he encountered.

  While the horses searched for animal paths, Keegan used one of Harvey’s walking sticks and his one good arm and started down. Samantha, the environmentalist, had explained the other night that the lack of evergreens in the canyon meant the original water source had found new outlets, and the soil was too sandy for anything but this vegetation that dried up every summer. So Mariah was correct that the land was effectively uninhabitable for anything but animals.

  As he descended into the narrow canyon, he caught glimpses of the Lucys spreading out above. Val in her black cloak blended into the shadows of the south wall, but her blue-garbed sister could be spotted easily. The sun had already reached Mariah’s north side. Amid the lifeless-looking shrubbery, he caught glimpses of sunlight reflecting from the crystals in their sticks.

  That no one was shooting at them was a distinct relief. He’d prefer not to face an army, although he’d done so elsewhere. He was no adrenaline junky. He’d rather just take his pickaxe and examine rocks.

  While the others took a more direct path, Keegan wandered among the boulders, testing for molecular structure, finding nothing more than the usual quartzes. He scooped up pebbles as he slid into the deeper recesses of the ravine and rolled them in his hand. Sensing quartz, he put them in his pocket for the jeweler to test with whatever obscure power she possessed.