by Bryan Cohen
Chapter 41
Natalie walked into the clearing. The tree stump by her side had Erica and the deputy's initials carved into it. At least, it had before the deputy had done his best to scratch them out.
"This has to be the place."
It was peaceful out here. She hadn't been to the restricted area of the woods much since she'd moved to Treasure. She recalled some nature field trip from the previous year, but it didn't leave much of an impact on her. Natalie looked at the email one more time to make sure she had the location correct. It was difficult to determine what "our place" meant without talking to Erica or the deputy, but after a few false starts, the scratched-out initials seemed to confirm it. It hadn't taken Natalie long to scale the eight-foot fence that surrounded this part of the forest. She couldn't imagine Erica doing the same, until she realized the deputy probably had a key to the padlock.
"Something happened here," Natalie said to herself.
She wasn't sure what it was, but she knew that a little bit of evidence might be just what she needed to tarnish Erica's name. A condom. Some kind of drug paraphernalia. Something that would get Erica out and keep Ted from – someone other than her. She sat down on the stump.
Everything that had been missing from her relationship with Ted – his lack of impulsiveness and action, a complete dearth of courage – he'd had to reach down and unearth them all in the last 48 hours. She wouldn't admit this to Dhiraj or anyone else, but the video of him fighting off the bad guys in the diner turned her on. It was the embodiment of everything that she'd needed. She wanted to kiss him when she was on top of him in gym class, but the next moment she saw him, he was with her.
"It's not about Erica. Trying to get a girl kicked out of school who I barely know isn't the answer."
She put her face into her hands.
"Ugh. I have to talk to him."
Natalie liked action. She would rather resolve things with a swift kick than a dialogue. Her entire day had been about action, and now she needed to think about the words that would deal with the situation. She wondered what Ted would do if she came crawling back.
"Why do you like me?" Ted asked a few months ago while the two were stargazing in his backyard.
They were holding hands on a blanket his mother had laid out for the two of them. Natalie's parents weren't big fans of leaving them alone, but Ted's mother said she trusted them.
"Why do you think I like you?"
Natalie didn't have to look over at Ted to know what face he was making. When he was feeling sorry for himself, he'd scrunch his mouth into this sort of pout and give himself a series of wrinkles on his forehead. Natalie imagined a five-year-old Ted would have the same face accompanied by a half-hour of tears.
"I'm nice to you. I care about you. But I worry that's it's not enough sometimes."
Natalie let the statement hang out there for a few seconds until Ted looked back up at the stars.
"You deserve good things, Ted Finley. I'm not sure why you're always feeling so sorry for yourself. This isn't a comic strip, you're not Charlie Brown and I'm not Lucy about to pull the football away."
She turned her head to look at her boyfriend. He tilted his head toward her.
"You do have some Lucy-like properties."
She pretended the remark was offensive.
"I do, huh? Like what?"
Ted moved his face closer to Natalie's.
"You're bold. You say what's on your mind. You give advice that's worth at least five cents."
Natalie shifted herself on the blanket and moved toward Ted's face, and then she kissed him. Natalie had a thing for Ted's mouth. She liked the feel of his lips and the words that came out of them.
"I think you can be more than Charlie Brown. You should be confident. You have good qualities. At least three of them."
Ted smiled.
Natalie thought of that smile as she looked out into the woods. She wondered if a few quiet minutes alone in nature was all that she needed. She wasn't the kind of person to think before she acted, but the great outdoors kind of forced that on a person. Natalie’s fists relaxed.
"I'll have to do this more often," she said.
She had just resolved to go home when something caught her eye next to a large fallen tree. Her feet sank into the soft ground as she walked over. The item in question stood out from the nature around it. There was a small piece of white cloth stained with red. Natalie knew right away that it was a cheerleader's uniform. But was it from Erica's cheerleader uniform? The slamming of a car door drew her attention. One glance back showed that a man was approaching in the distance. She stuffed the fabric into her pocket and snuck around the other side of the tree.
Natalie didn't need Deputy Daly to open his mouth for her to know who it was. But he did it, anyway.
"I know you're here, Erica. I know you were in my house. I know you were buried here, but you're obviously not anymore."
Natalie gripped the cloth in her pocket. It was starting to come together. The deputy attacked Erica on the day of the final email. He buried her and left her for dead. What she couldn't figure out was why Erica didn't go to the police and where she disappeared to for an entire month. Those questions didn't matter much at the moment. She was less than 20 feet away from an attempted murderer.
"I killed you once, Erica. Maybe this time you'll stay dead."
Natalie made a few mental notes to herself. First, never break into a person's house, especially when you found out about that house and relationship from a seedy bar. Second, remember to tell someone where you're going when you sneak off to the woods. Third, bring some kind of stun gun or pepper spray with you when you have the chance of being stalked by a murderous deputy. Natalie heard the squishing sound of the deputy's footsteps in the moist forest floor. When she realized her footprints in the mud would lead right to her, she quickly scanned the area. She could run deeper into the woods, but there was too much of a clearing. He'd likely catch up with her or shoot her in the back before she reached it. On her side of the downed tree, she saw the network of caves that were the subject of every ghost story she'd heard during her ill-fated journey into the local Girl Scout troop. When she heard the deputy click his weapon into position, she knew the creepy caves would be the best option.
As she prepared to sprint, she heard a helicopter overhead. She had no idea why it would be this far out of town, but she welcomed the auditory distraction. Natalie ran so fast toward the caves, she might have again supplanted her best 50-yard-dash time. She rather enjoyed running on the soft ground as compared to the sidewalk and pavement that lined most of her suburb.
If I get out of this alive, I'll definitely have to come here more often, she thought.
As Natalie reached the mouth of the cave, she looked back to see the deputy. He wasn't nearly as fast as she was, and she imagined he was still nursing the cracked rib he'd spoken of on the phone. But he'd catch up to her if she didn't keep moving. She turned toward the cave. It was dark and unsettling.
"I hear these go on for miles. Let's test that."
She got back into running mode and dashed in.