“Grady could do it. He never had anyone besides my grams. She was the only one who ever loved him. I bet he got rid of every trace of her after she died, which would’ve been everything. Then he spent his time roaming the land.”
I swallow hard and look inside the remnants of the log cabin. It’s just a carcass, stripped of all furniture and belongings. I place my hand over Nate’s on the windowsill. He doesn’t acknowledge the touch, possibly too distraught by what he sees.
“There’s a secret inside this cabin,” he whispers. “But I’m not going inside today.”
“What secret?”
“This room can speak.” He squints at one of the walls.
“What?”
“We need to go.” He yanks me away.
“Why?” I stare over my shoulder at the empty cabin, allowing myself to be pulled up the hill and into the pines. “Nate, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know where Eli is.”
“What?” I sense deep creases in my forehead from another false hope. “What’s the secret in the cabin? Was it the key?” I force him to stop by leaning back with all my weight. “Look at me.” I swing his arm. “Tell me.”
He stops and lowers his head, reluctant.
“Nate. Please,” I beg, “please.”
“All right.” He cranes his neck, stares at the treetops. No eye contact. “Connor told me about the back door of the lodge. He showed me his key, said you each had one.”
“But Eli’s. Where’d you get it?”
“It was given to me.”
“By who?”
His lip twitches.
“By. Who?” My voice changes from sweet to ruthless.
“It was in Grady’s safe-deposit box at the bank, part of my inheritance.”
I wrench free of his hand and take a step back, then two more steps. “Grady hurt him? He did, didn’t he?”
“No. I don’t know. Grady could’ve found the key somewhere, but …” He stops and runs his hand down his face.
“But what?”
“The key. It was inside a metal box that wasn’t his.”
“What are you talking about?”
“A metal box was inside Grady’s safe-deposit box. I remember it from when I was a kid. From out there.” He looks at the fort. “We kept stuff in it, Connor and me.”
“Excuse me?”
“It was ours. We called it our stash. Eli’s key was in that.”
My jaw drops. Did I hear him right? Connor had the key? No. Grady did. Not Connor.
“Either Connor put the key in the stash at some point, or Grady did years later. Then he put it in the bank. He must’ve saved it for me.” He walks forward and I step back. “After I got the key, I searched for your family online.” My ears buzz. I only catch traces of his words. “I found Eli’s case … an article … your dad and Connor died … hypothermia …”
The towering pines begin to twirl overhead. I suddenly feel ill. I try to steady myself alongside a tree, but my head spins faster as I fight for breath. Connor? No, Grady knew something, not Connor.
“You okay?”
Daylight turns to black.
“Salem?”
A sharp pain shoots through my temple. I sway and lose my balance. Nate catches me before I hit the ground, but then I become nothing.
eight
“Maybe you should sit down and relax for a couple of minutes before you do all this,” Nate says. He crosses his arms and leans against the doorjamb of my living room, his eyes wandering to the keepsakes scattered about, reminders that my family once lived here.
“I’m perfectly fine. I could’ve made it to the lodge on my own.”
Nate didn’t need to carry me over the wet leaves and rocks, through snowy spots and mud patches, dodging low hanging branches and thorny brush. He didn’t need to hold me so close to his heady scents of cinnamon and vanilla cologne, juniper berry soap, and peppermint toothpaste, fueling my growing crush on him. But I didn’t fight or insist on being put down. Not when his low voice whispered that I’d be fine, not when he said he never meant to upset me. It was soothing. I gave in. I let him take control.
I haven’t felt the comforts of being cared for in years, and not just by a man, by anyone.
“You passed out.”
“No, I didn’t.”
I slide open the built-in drawers under the bay window seat, full of photographs, report cards, and family remnants that have accumulated since Connor, Eli, and I were born.
“I caught you, Salem. You were about to hit the ground.”
“I was just overwhelmed.”
I puff my bangs away from my eyes while rummaging through the items. I’ve torn the room apart in less than five minutes. Board games, books, magazines, and various papers have been pulled from bookshelves. The sofa cushions are on the floor, and Ollie’s helping out by inspecting the open coffee table drawer.
“What are you looking for?”
“I don’t know. Anything. Something. You tell me.”
I’ve combed through the lodge before, believing evidence was missed. I’m wrong. Always wrong. There was no ransom note, no motive, only a missing boy who people thought wandered off and met an unfortunate fate with a bear. Thankfully, no sign of that ever was found. It was one of the many horrifying stories I’d heard from Tilford Lake locals with nothing better to do than gossip about my baby brother. People did the same with Connor, saying a kid with such remarkable survival skills was either drunk or on drugs to have died in the water. They said he would’ve lived if he were sober, and that he must’ve been horsing around and turned the boat too quickly.
“Salem, you’re face is turning red.”
But I know better. Accidents can happen quickly on a small fishing boat, and not from horsing around or drinking. Once in the water, Connor would’ve tried to help my dad, but it would’ve been difficult with heavy, waterlogged clothing and nothing to grab hold of. He knew not to swim to shore in the freezing water. He would’ve done the right thing by huddling close to my dad. It pains my heart to think that Connor knew they were going to die, and I have to stop myself from wondering what their final words to one another might’ve been.
Nate sits on the floor next to me. “Stop thinking about whatever it is you’re thinking about.” He takes a crumpled sheet of paper from my hand and flattens it back into shape. “I’m sure you’ve done this enough to know there aren’t any answers here.” He puts his hand on my leg to chill, but I just can’t.
“It was Grady. I’m positive.” I take Eli’s key from my pocket and touch his initials. “He did something to him.”
“That’s what you think?”
“What do you think? You’re here for some reason. What is it?”
He massages his forehead. “I don’t know yet. I thought of Grady right away when I found the key in the box. It was instinct. Connor never crossed my mind. But there’s nothing else to go on. Other than the key, I haven’t found any evidence that he knew what happened to Eli. Like I said, Grady must’ve found his key on the property.”
“Then he should’ve called the cops.”
I push his hand away. Nate should’ve called the cops, too. And me. But I’ll do it now. I’ll call. Grady and Nate didn’t, but I will.
“Doreen. It’s Salem Whitfield over at—”
“Sparrow Lodge. Yes, sweetie, I know. You lookin’ for Bradley again?”
“Anyone. I don’t care. Someone competent.”
“Hmm. I’ll see if I can find somebody.”
The front door chimes. I noticed it was magically functioning again when Nate and I came in. Jim must’ve fixed it.
Ollie barks at the sound of Joss’s friendly voice. He bolts to the lobby. “Hi, Olls. Where’s your mama? Show me where your mama is,” she says.
“Back here, Joss.” She’s the only person I trust to have a key to the lodge.
“Salem,” Brad answers.
“He
y. Do you have the number of the detectives from the city who were working Eli’s case? I need it. Is it the same guys as before?”
“Salem.”
“What?”
“What year are you living in? For real, do you call just to fuck with me, or what?”
I stand and look out the window. My hand tucked under my armpit, head angled to the same side. “Nate Harlow had Eli’s key to the lodge. I need to talk to someone.”
“No one’s worked that case in years. It went cold over a decade ago.”
“Are you deaf?”
“I heard you. Are you deaf?” His loud chewing is unbearable, done on purpose because I’m disturbing another one of his meals.
“I’m asking for the detectives because this is bigger than anything that’s turned up in the past. I need to talk to someone who’s not a Tilford Lake cop.”
“I’ll call you back, okay?”
“You’re not sending anyone over?”
He slurps his drink and releases a quiet burp. “I gotta check on something first. I’ll get back to you when I can.”
“Brad? Don’t you dare … Uh, he hung up on me.” I turn as Jim and Joss walk in carrying plastic bags filled with snacks and beer. “This isn’t a sorority house.”
“Or a brothel,” Jim adds. “Looks like a bomb went off in here.” He looks at Nate. “Take it you told her where you got the key. I told Joss everything when we were out getting some grub.” He lifts a bag. “You want a pizza pocket?”
“Pizza pockets?” I step forward. “You’re not moving in. This isn’t your home or your kitchen.”
“Salem, do you think Connor—”
“No!” I shout at Joss. Then feel horrible for doing so. “No. No, Joss. Connor would’ve told someone if he found the key. Look at this. Look.” I point to the open room at the end of the hall where we slept. “He slept on the top bunk with Eli on the bottom, and I had the bed on the other side of the room, only a curtain between us. My parents were right across from us in the private bedroom next to the bathroom. This is everything.” I hold up my hands. “This is us. This is it. We were close, like gypsies. No privacy and no secrets.”
“Gypsies, Salem?” Joss questions. “That’s the wrong word, babe. Hippies?”
“Yes, fucking hippies, okay? I’m too frazzled to think straight.” I walk up to Nate. “What else was in that metal box at the bank? Anything you didn’t recognize?”
“No, everything else was the same as I remember it. A pile of baseball cards and letters to our parents if we ever decided to hit the open road.”
“Really?”
He shrugs. “What kid hasn’t thought about that?”
“What else?”
He stares at the mess on the floor, rolls a pencil back and forth under his toes.
“Tell her,” Jim says.
“I’m getting to it.” He looks up. “There were some nudes and five bucks.”
Joss laughs. “Like, Playboy nudes? Did you charge kids to look at them?” She laughs even harder.
“No. And they weren’t Connor’s, but he thought they were a good addition to the stash.”
“And?” I ask, my arms crossed, foot tapping.
“And kids’ stuff. You know? Things we found.”
“And the flyer,” Jim says.
Nate rubs the back of his neck.
“Flyer for what?” I ask but already have a suspicion.
“To find the Whitfield treasure,” Nate says.
I close my eyes. “Come again?”
“The Whitfield treasure. Grady told me about it. He said to keep my eyes peeled whenever I was out in the pines. How much was it anyway? Did anyone ever find it?”
“Shut up.” My finger stabs his chest. “Now it all makes sense. You’re not here about the key or my brother. You still want to find the treasure. You’re here for that!”
“It doesn’t exist,” Joss says. “It was to attract business.”
“Not true.”
“It is true.” I point at his face.
“Doesn’t matter, the answer is no. I didn’t come here for that. It was only a game when I was a kid, completely meaningless.”
“Do you have it? The flyer?”
“Yeah. I brought the entire stash with me.”
“Go get it. I wanna see.”
A shadow cast from the lobby into the hallway catches my eye. “Hold on.” I peek out of the private quarters and see Virginia Pullman walking up the stairs. She reaches the second-floor balcony, heading to her room with a beautiful white crocus in her hand.
I look at the front door and back upstairs. Did the chime not go off? What the hell?
“What is it?” Joss asks.
“I’m losing my mind.”
“That happened a long time ago. Why else would we be friends?” She smiles. “Crazy people need to stick together.”
“You didn’t lock the door when you came in.”
“So what? We’re all here. You’re safe.” She elbows me and places the bags in the galley kitchen that’s across from my living room. Jim comes over to help her unload.
“Get the stash,” I repeat to Nate. “I wanna see the flyer. Do it now.”
“It’s in my room.” He waits to see if I’m going to follow him before leaving the private quarters on his own.
It’s been a while since a guest walked in with a flyer. My parents didn’t have them at the lodge. My granddad was the one who created the legend and did the marketing. He placed ads in city papers and put flyers at area tourist attractions. Like Clayton Winery and down at the marina. My parents said luring people to Sparrow to search for the unsearchable was false advertising. They felt terrible for treasure hunters who arrived just to scout our land.
However, there was some truth to the hunt. Connor and I knew what our granddad meant by the Whitfield treasure. I found it every day. Guests who looked closely enough found it, too. The scenery, the wildlife, the beautiful grounds, too bad most people took the hunt literally. They expected gold coins to appear under their feet, missing the real treasure of the forest.
“Here.” Nate walks in and sets the rusty metal box on the coffee table. He kneels next to it and opens the top. “I swear I didn’t come here because of an old treasure tale. I came to see my property and to figure out some stuff about Grady. Maybe I’ll uncover other secrets he had besides the key.” A hesitation. “It’s been on my mind for months. I’m on edge by what I might find.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Jim calls from the kitchen. “He’s been a total dick and a fucking drunk.”
“Not so,” Nate calls back.
“How many times did you call me for a ride home from the bar?” Jim comes into the room with one of my grandma’s cooking aprons around his waist. “He dropped our other cases to work on his own shit. Now I’m not getting paid.”
“Take that off,” I tell him.
“I’m paying you. We’ve got money,” Nate says.
“You, you’ve got money. I need to get back to work.”
“Hey, I’m paying for your room, so just shut up and enjoy your weeklong vacation.”
Jim looks down at the apron. “Can I keep it? It will be a blast to wear in bed.” He flips the bottom up like he’s flashing us.
“Absolutely not, it belonged to my grandma.”
“Jim, take it off,” Nate demands.
“Fine. You guys do your thing, and I’ll look for the treasure. How’s that?”
“There is no treasure!” Joss and I say in harmony.
“We’ll see,” he says.
Nate points for him to leave. Bickering men crack me up. Connor and my dad were like that. I always thought it was a sign of unspoken love disguised behind a power struggle.
“So,” he says, “I took the five bucks and the nudes out but kept the other items in here. Everything but the keys.”
I kneel next to him and look inside. “Keys? There were other o
nes besides Eli’s?”
“Yep, the copies you took from us last night were in here.”
“Why? That doesn’t make sense.”
“No idea. Did your family have extras made?”
“No, just the three with the lodge’s logo. They weren’t everyday nickel-plated keys, not like the one I have for the front or those extras you had. Why do you think Grady put them in the stash?”
“I don’t have any answers, Salem.”
“How come? What the hell’s wrong with you, Nate?”
He smiles at my playful nag, which I’m glad he could hear in my voice. I’m more relaxed knowing he wasn’t the one who made copies of the key. At least it’s a start to trusting him.
I put Eli’s brass key on the table next to the box. It was part of the stash but looks out of place with the bits and pieces of Connor’s life.
My brothers have been walled off from one another in my mind since I can remember. The separate tragedies split my memories of them, and now I have a hard time picturing them together. That includes their belongings. Eli’s key doesn’t fit with Connor’s collection. The key is unique to Eli and meaningful to our family. But Connor’s items in the stash look like they could belong to anyone.
Nate removes a small turtle shell from the box and taps a folded sheet of paper hidden underneath. Scribbled in Connor’s pointy handwriting are the words, Mom & Dad. My hands tremble as I pick it up. I fan my face and take a mighty breath before I unfold it and start to read.
Mom & Dad,
Are you mad I am in the forest? Don’t be. Nate is here. He is my new friend. He is fun. His mom makes good cookies. I ate two. They were peanut butter.
We are going to hike to the Grand Canyon. Do not worry. I have my pocketknife and a map. We will not hitchhike. We will walk and run all the way there. I want to live with the lizards and eat berries. I can make tea from leaves. Nate can build a fire with flint and my knife. We will be good. We have two pairs of underwear. Each. Can you feed Fred?
Tell Salem to get my homework when school starts. Tell her to do my math. She is good at it. I will pay her.
We will be home for Christmas. I want a new fishing pole and a Half Dome tent. Do not buy me socks. I have some. I will wear Salem’s if I run out. Get good presents. She has enough Bratz dolls. Buy her a razor scooter. I can use it.
The Release of Secrets_Littlest Sparrow Gone Page 6