“Here’s another.” Jimmy put his hand on an oak tree.
We wandered amid evergreens and several leafless hardwoods. My gaze landed on mountain laurel bushes with broken branches hanging like arms bent at the elbows. “This is where we hid from the criminals.”
Jimmy picked up a piece of crumpled paper from beside a rock. “Yeah and here’s evidence.”
My doubts about coming evaporated like morning dew, my heart thumping like a drum. “What is it?”
“I dunno.’”
We sank down on the leaves and dirt, and he unfolded it.
“A note. Wonder what it says.” Jimmy held it out.
Emily stared at it, her brown eyes growing wide. “It’s a letter asking for stanazolol. Sorry, I mean Green Vomit. Turn it over. Maybe there’s a name.”
Jimmy flipped the paper and his lips turned down. “It’s ripped. That part’s missing and guess what? The cops can’t lift fingerprints off it because I touched it.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “That’s all right. Save it anyway. We’ll have the handwriting analyzed.”
“You bet. Let’s look for more clues.” He moved leaves with his long thin hands. Then he stood, peeked under the bushes, and searched behind the pine trees. “Here’s a package of breath mints. Anyone could have dropped them.”
I quivered, excitement surging through me like electricity. “The wrapping isn’t even stained. One of the drug dealers, uh, Stick Men must have left it.”
“Now, the breath mints have my fingerprints on them.” Jimmy’s voice trailed off in a sad tone.
“That’s all right, Jimmy. We’ll find more evidence,” I said.
Emily squealed, jumped up and down, and pointed to a spot on the ground. “Look.”
I bent over.
“Don’t touch it,” Jimmy yelled. He pulled a handkerchief from his jeans pocket and picked up a small piece of brown plastic.
The three of us stood in a circle and put together our heads. The remnant lay like a dark blight on the clean white cloth.
Jimmy put the clue near his nose and sniffed. “It smells like men’s aftershave. Maybe it’s from a sample packet.”
I smelled it. “That’s the same aroma I detected the night the Stick Men stood in front of us. I recognized it because Sean uses it.” I was like a bloodhound with a scent. “I have to find that temple NOW. The trees are all standing straight, but Mad Dog told us to find one that looked like it bowed.” I scanned the surrounding area like a hawk. “There it is.” I ran toward a dogwood with its trunk bent. “Come on, we go to the right here.”
Emily sprinted and caught up to me. “Now, find a creek that runs out of water like Mad Dog runs out of energy.” She stopped, bent forward, and put her hands on her knees. Gasping, she looked up, her face flushed. “I need to catch my breath.”
I fanned her with my hands. “You OK?”
“Uh-huh. I just ran too fast.”
Jimmy and I waited until Emily straightened up.
“It’s over there.” She hollered and pointed to a stream.
We swished past more mountain laurel bushes and underbrush as we headed for the brook.
Jimmy froze. “Don’t move.” Fear rang in his voice.
A yellow snake with black bands crawled out from under a fallen branch.
A scream reverberated inside me, but I didn’t make a sound.
Raising its ugly head, it stuck its pronged tongue out of its mouth. Its slithery body wriggled in front of a tree with a large strip of bark missing.
Jimmy stood as still as a statue.
Emily froze with one black boot in front of the other.
Fear turned my legs to mush, but I didn’t move a muscle.
The leaves rustled as the snake wound around us. It lowered its head then crawled over Jimmy’s sneaker and moved in front of us. It finally slithered underneath a log several feet away.
Jimmy relaxed his stance. “I think we’re all right.”
“I’m scared to sit on the ground, but I’m trembling so much I’m going to fall.” Emily’s voice quivered and the color drained from her face.
I shook so my teeth chattered, but I put my arm around her waist, and she leaned on me.
Jimmy patted her on the back then cut his steady gaze toward me. I’d heard anxiety in his voice when he told us to be still, but his composure sure helped me now.
“We need to go on, but we’ll find a place to rest,” he said.
“I’ll be all right.” Emily gave us a weak smile.
We forged ahead to the creek in silence then sat on top of a huge gray boulder. Cool air wafted from the babbling water, a waterfall splashing in the distance.
A rosy glow returned to Emily’s cheeks.
Guilt for putting my friends in danger gave me a sinking sensation in my stomach. “I’m sorry about the snake. It’s the only thing I can think of that’s as vile as Green Vomit. It could have bitten one of us, and it would’ve been my fault.”
Jimmy gazed at me with caring eyes. “We’re fine. There are lots of things more frightening than that snake.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Emily said in a tone not-too-convincing.
If Jimmy or Emily got hurt, I couldn’t bear it. “Seriously, do you guys want to go home?”
Jimmy stood and stretched. “No, we want to find the temple. Let’s walk along the stream.” He led the way.
Only inches below us crystal clear water cascaded over large rocks shaded by sprawling wild bushes, evergreens, and pine trees. A salamander shot underneath a small stone while the sun danced on the waterfall swooshing down a high granite hill. Such peacefulness pulled at my heart. If only my mind could wander the way Thoreau’s had at Walden. Maybe, someday I’d come back here with Sean. More important things occupied my thoughts today. “Where does this water seep into the ground?”
Jimmy tilted his head. “I don’t know. We’ve hiked a good fifteen minutes. Do you think we have the wrong stream?”
Emily stomped her foot. “We followed Eight-ball—oops, I mean Mad Dog’s directions.”
“We’ve walked in a circle. There’s the tree with the bark missing. That’s where we saw that horrid snake,” I said.
Jimmy propped his tennis shoe against a log. “All right, what do we need to do?”
“Use our Meriwether problem-solving ability.” Emily pushed her hair behind her ears.
“Yeah, or just watch where we’re going.” Jimmy chuckled.
We all laughed, and the mood lightened.
It kinda ends and seeps into the ground like it ain’t got quite enough water to keep going. If I repeated Mad Dog’s words in my head, maybe they’d make sense. “Ah, ha, the creek turns into a fork trickling into the ground. It’s on the other side.”
Emily knitted her eyebrows. “Why didn’t that old guy tell us that?”
Jimmy took his foot off the log. “I think he’s a few French fries short of a full order.”
Emily picked a pine needle off a tree and fidgeted with it. “Maybe he wanted us to think that.” She threw it down and took a step toward the water. “I don’t want to wade through here.” She pointed to a spot where a line of stones formed a walkway to the other side. “Let’s go up there.”
Jimmy raised his arm and signaled us forward. The waterfall’s roar drowned the sound of our footsteps until we reached the place where Emily wanted to cross. Up close the pathway looked hazardous with water rushing over the tops of the boulders.
Emily leaned over and ran her hand along a rock. “These are really slick. I’m not athletic like you two, and I wasn’t thinking. I wore boots with leather soles. I could slip and break my leg or crack my skull.” Her shoulders slumped.
A hug might not tell Emily how much I appreciated her, but maybe it would let her know I was here for her. I gave her one. “After all you’ve done for me I won’t let you fall. I promise I’ll hang onto you.”
“OK, let’s go.” Trust rang in Emily’s voice.
Jimmy took det
ermined strides to the edge of the first boulder, a film of water washing underneath the soles of his tennis shoes. He picked up his right foot and positioned it. As he placed it on the smaller second stone he pushed up the ball of his left foot. He balanced himself there then proceeded to the third and final stone.
With my arm around Emily’s waist, we moved carefully onto the huge rock and tiptoed together to the end of it.
Emily stopped, her eyes wide as she stared at the second stone.
Jimmy glanced at her then me. “Be careful. There’s room for only one shoe at a time, but once you’re across it’s smooth sailing. This one reaches to the other side of the creek.”
I looked Emily square in the eyes. “You can do it. Lean forward as far as you can then take the step. I have you covered.” My heart could stand no more tragedy, no more guilt, no more wishing I’d done something I hadn’t. Oh, please, God, please keep Emily from falling.
Emily took a wide leap, but not far enough.
Panic struck me like lightning as her shoulders tilted backward. My hands flew out instinctively and pushed on the small of her back, and her body propelled forward. Jimmy seized her outstretched hand and pulled her to safety on the big boulder.
I bounded onto the second stepping stone, but my foot slipped as I headed off it toward Jimmy and Emily. Pain pierced the calf of my leg. Trembling inside like a leaf in a hurricane, I tried to stay calm. I put one foot on top of the other and pulled up my jeans. A cut bled freely. With my body wobbling, I squatted, reached my cupped hand into the creek, and splashed cold water over the cut. It didn’t look as big as I’d thought it would and the droplets running down my calf soothed it. I stepped onto the big rock.
Emily’s mouth gaped. “Margaret, you’re hurt.”
More blood oozed out. I bent down, scooped up handfuls of water, and doused the gash again and again. Alarm shook my insides when I couldn’t curb the bleeding.
Emily pulled a Band-Aid out of her jeans pocket. “Here.”
My hands trembled as I stretched it over the cut, but the horror screaming inside me settled down. “Thank you, Emily. You’re so smart to bring these. It never crossed my mind.”
“You’re not the sissy.” Emily laughed and hugged me.
Water trickled down my sock as I stuck out my soggy sneaker. “I suppose it would be a bad pun to say, ‘I’m getting cold feet.’”
We all laughed as we walked away from the brook. My prayer for Emily not to fall had been answered. Neither a minor wound nor a cold creek dampened my spirits. My feet couldn’t take me to the temple fast enough.
We forged ahead, winding our way through fewer trees until we approached a clearing. Twenty yards in front of us stood a large log cabin with a plank porch stretching across the front of it.
A gasp escaped as the building I’d only heard of, dreamt about, and yearned to find became reality. “The temple? I was expecting something grander.”
Jimmy lifted me off the ground and swung me around.
Emily squealed as she fanned herself. “No, no. Buddhist temples can be modest.”
Relief fell over me like pixie dust.
We ran across the well-kept grassy yard to the middle of the verandah flanked by mountain laurel bushes at both ends.
Emily took off her shoes and placed them beside the rustic wooden door.
Jimmy and I did too. Then he pushed on the black, wrought iron handle.
Sunlight streamed through huge windows and danced on bamboo blinds at the entryway of the large room. In my sock feet, I tiptoed onto a bright burgundy carpet. A large gold Buddha with a matching disk over its head sat on an altar in the midst of ornate ceramic gold dishes, large and small candles, and an incense pot.
The bamboo clinked and jarred my ragged nerves. A monk in a brown toga and a black ski mask touched my shoulder. My knees nearly buckled under me.
“Who are you?” The monk’s dark eyes glared through two holes in his mask.
No sound came out of my opened mouth. I swallowed a knot as big as a kickboard. “I’m Margaret McWhorter. These are my friends, Jimmy Wilmore and Emily Daven. Emily’s Buddhist.”
He pivoted toward Emily.
She shifted her weight. “I’ve always wanted to see this temple.”
“I see. I’ve been here seven years. I suffered a horrible accident in a fire, an inferno in a temple. I’m disfigured. That’s why I escaped to this mountain to hide my face, to live in isolation, to meditate uninterrupted.” As the monk spoke in a soft, droning tone, his nostrils flared. He rubbed together large hands with black hairs on the knuckles.
Jimmy leaned back, his eyes as wide as egg yolks.
Emily tilted her head and stared at the monk.
One of us should say something, but what? Words eluded me for a moment. “So, you live here alone?”
“Yes, except for an occasional invited guest.” Evil danced in his eyes. “I’m sure you will not interrupt my solitude for long. Now that Emily has seen the temple, how may I help you?”
Emily put her hand on her hip. “Did you come in here to ask Buddha a question?”
“No, I came to pay homage.”
A figure wearing coveralls swished past the bamboo, creating a breeze that separated the strands like an ill wind blowing. Emily glanced over her shoulder and jerked her head back around. “I think we saw a Mad Dog in the woods.”
Emily thought the person in the coveralls was Eight-ball.
“Really.” The monk directed his ominous stare at Emily. “It must have been a wolf.”
Jimmy looked the monk square in the eyes. “I thought you were alone. Who just went by?”
“Oh, that’s the maintenance man.”
Jimmy nodded. “I see. He appeared quite thin, almost like a Stick Man.”
Jimmy thought the mysterious person passing by was one of the drug dealers.
Either way, fear grated on every nerve in my body.
“I hadn’t paid much attention to his physique.” The monk shook his head.
Emily put her hand on her stomach. “I feel sick as though I might throw up Green Vomit.”
I also thought this monk had something to do with drug dealing.
The monk narrowed his sinister eyes to slits. “If you’re going to up-chuck please do it somewhere else.” Harshness filled his voice.
Jimmy looked at the monk, then at Emily, and then at me. “Right, we’re sorry we disturbed your meditation.”
“It’s all right. Just leave.” The monk clasped his hands together in a pious way then turned his back to us.
We hurried out of the room onto the porch and grabbed our shoes.
“Aggravating kids. They’ve got no business in these woods.” The monk’s words wafted outside.
We took quick steps away from the temple to the edge of the woods.
“That monk is an imposter. That’s why I brought up Green Vomit.” Emily’s voice held an accusing tone.
“Yeah, I understood. I didn’t think he was a monk either, but you sound absolutely certain.”
“Oh, yeah, I am. He wore his vestments on the wrong shoulder. Monks only cover their right side when they want to ask Buddha a question. He said he wasn’t going to ask a question.” The tone of Emily’s voice grew shriller and louder with each word.
“Get out of here now.” Jimmy grabbed both our hands and ran.
We sprinted as fast as we could to the other side of the woods.
As sure as the stars twinkled on a clear night that supposed monk was one of the people who sold Sean drugs. Proving it pressed on my mind. The loose ends left hanging swirled around in my head like chains clanging. “Who do you think he is?”
Emily bent over and put her hands on her knees. Raising up, she shook her head, her long dark hair swishing around her face and neck. “I have no idea, but I’m certain who he isn’t, and that’s a monk. Real Buddhist monks are wise and kind.”
I hugged her. “Like you.”
Wrinkles creased Jimmy’s forehead. “
I’m not sure what to do about this imposter. We can’t confront him. He’s too dangerous. We didn’t tell him we were collecting specimens for Emily’s botany class. We could come back, say we’re looking for flowers and foliage for her, and nose around.”
Jimmy was so brave. His plan might work, but I’d sensed a foreboding presence around the supposed monk and the strange figure he’d referred to as a maintenance man. What wickedness were they capable of? “I hate to say it, but I think it’s too risky for us to go alone. Anyway, I’ve always known the three of us couldn’t capture the gangsters.”
“I suppose we could ask for a steroid and purchase something from him,” Emily said, as she rubbed her boot around in a circle on the ground. She raised her head. “If he suspected for one second we were trying to trap him he’d do something terrible to us.”
Her shaky voice told me what I had to do. “It’s time to call Joe. Sorry, I mean Squirrel, but then we don’t need to use the code names anymore. Do you guys want to go with him if he investigates at the temple?”
“Sure, if he’ll let us.” Enthusiasm rang in Jimmy’s voice.
Joy flooded my veins at the thought of seeing those dirtbags arrested. “I’ll call you both as soon as I talk to him.”
“What’ll you say to convince him we should go?” Doubt laced Emily’s voice.
13
Dad sat on the sofa in the den. The sunlight playing through the blinds made streaks across the arm of it and the coffee table. He lowered his electronic tablet when I entered the room. Hope sprang inside me. Was he here because Sean was better, and he didn’t need to be at the hospital?
No. He would have told me already. My spirits fell.
“Hi, honey.”
The mistake I’d made last night at the dinner table loomed over me. I’d not force him to talk about Sean again. “Hi.” I gave him a hug and went upstairs.
With all my heart I yearned to go with Joe to arrest that imposter monk and supposed maintenance man. Would he let us? Maybe he’d at least give me an address where we could meet him.
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