Dadgummit

by Maggie Toussaint

  His shadowed face remained inscrutable. I recognized another conversational dead end. All I could hope was that we agreed about honoring our pledge to Rose. I did not want her mad at me.

  I sighed. “Last person on my list is your Deputy Duncan. Does he understand what happened to him?’

  “Not exactly. But I offered him the option to guard your campsite tonight, and he jumped at the chance.”

  “Charlotte is, well … she’s Charlotte. I love her like a sister. For all her bluster, she’s only dated a few men. I don’t want to see her hurt. I’m worried she might be infatuated with your deputy.”

  “Dunc knows how to handle himself. I wouldn’t have posted him in your camp if I thought he’d take advantage of the situation … or of your friend.”

  “Could they still be affected by their exposure to the Little People?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Is the attraction real?”

  “Time will tell.” He drew in a slow, weary breath, reached for my hand, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I wish Duncan had said no so that I would be there in your camp tonight, but this way I can go home and get some needed rest. We’ll meet at daybreak tomorrow.”

  I groaned at the early hour. “I’m on vacation.”

  “So you keep saying.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  I awakened slowly, cocooned by three dogs, two cats, and my daughter. As my eyes adjusted to the faint light, I heard soft voices from the campfire outside. My parents? I hoped not—they really needed an uninterrupted night’s sleep. Lifting my head, I noted Charlotte’s empty bed at the other end of the camper. Then I heard her soft laughter outside.

  Ah. Charlotte was enjoying the dawn hours with her deputy. As best I could tell from in here, they were sitting next to each other. Good for you, Char. Go for it.

  Larissa edged closer. “I’m awake,” she said.

  My lungs filled with the sweet scent of youth and innocence as I returned her hug. “I’m sorry I’ve been so busy with the case. We came up here to spend time together, and I’ve been everywhere but here with you.”

  “We are together, and this is where we’re supposed to be.”

  “Oh?”

  “I had a feeling about coming here. And I was right. These people need your help.”

  A feeling? Was she developing precognitive skills like my mother? “Hmm.”

  “I’m proud of you, Mom.”

  Her admiration caught me by surprise. “Thank you, but no way am I mother of the year. I get so caught up in these cases, I barely know my name. I’ve wanted to go paddleboarding with you every day since we arrived.”

  “We’ll get there. Listen to how happy Charlotte is.”

  More soft laughter wafted into our camper. “I hear them. She’s having the time of her life.” I gave Larissa another hug. “How’d I get so lucky to be your mom?”

  “I don’t think luck had anything to do with it.”

  Her serious tone startled me. “Oh?”

  “I’m pretty certain I could only be your kid.”

  “And your father’s kid.”

  “That, too.”

  “I miss him.”

  “I used to think we’d get him back. I hoped for the miracle of him walking in our front door.”

  Oh, dear. Larissa was ten. She’d already remarked that my best friend deserved a happy romance and declared herself to be content with my all-consuming work. Now she wanted to talk about death? Unease trickled through my veins. Had my dreamwalker vocation robbed her of a childhood?

  “I hope I haven’t transferred my expectations to you,” I began slowly. “I would dearly love the three of us be a family again, but as time passes and we don’t hear from your father in this land or the next, I am losing hope. The man I love and married, that man would move heaven and earth to return to us.” I paused to get my emotions in check.

  “If he’s still alive,” I went on, “and I say if, because the more dreamwalker experiences I have, the more I learn about things I never knew existed. Anyway, if he’s alive and can’t come home, there must be a reason. He might be trapped in some in-between place. That’s where Charlotte and her deputy were yesterday, stuck in an in-between realm. Until that happened, I didn’t know such places existed.”

  “But Charlotte came back from there okay, so Dad might be okay too?”

  “It’s possible. Anything’s possible. I promise you this. I won’t stop looking for him.”

  Larissa didn’t say anything for a long moment. “What if someone else asked you out?”

  “What? Who? Why would you even ask me that?”

  “I notice things.”

  That was an understatement. My baby’s abilities were beginning to make themselves known. Based on a vision she had earlier this summer, I’d assumed her talents would manifest as clairvoyance, but today she’d admitted to a flash of precognition. Multi-talents were rare. She would need all of us to help her understand and manage those extrasensory abilities.

  I rubbed her back. “I’m not looking for a boyfriend. No need to worry about that.”

  She hugged me back. “Good. I want to keep you for myself.”

  Finally, she sounded like a ten-year-old. I tickled her, and she tickled me back. Gosh, it felt great to laugh. When we were tickled out, I rubbed my nose against hers. “I’m glad you had the idea to come to the mountains.”

  We lay there entwined, until Larissa levered herself up on an elbow. “I want to see the sunrise. At the lake.”

  I needed coffee, but this might be the only private window of time with my daughter. “Sure. Let’s get dressed. Maybe we can slip out without alerting the others.”

  But everyone else was already awake and outside, waiting for us. So much for alone time. After the chorus of good mornings, we padded down the trail to the lake. Using my extra senses, I checked to make sure our group was alone, and we were. No one was within miles of our location.

  We hiked a little past the finger of water where I’d tried fishing the other day, stopping at a large rock that faced east. Larissa climbed the rock first, and I followed. Charlotte and Deputy Duncan stood at the rock’s base, staring over the misty water. My parents scrambled up like billy goats.

  “Careful,” I said, knowing how easy it was to twist an ankle or fall.

  “We’ve got this,” my dad said, “though I appreciate your concern.”

  Larissa climbed in my lap to make room for them. My parents sat to my right, Dad with his arm around Mom. Charlotte and her friend wandered farther down the lakeshore to be alone. Hard to miss their joined hands.

  I grinned. “This is cozy.”

  The vibe on the rock was great. I felt connected to the earth and to nature in a way I’d been too busy to acknowledge recently. The mist on the water intensified, and I found my eyes drawn to it instead of the waking sky.

  The rose tattoos on my hand and back flared, and I sucked in a quick breath. I glanced at my parents and my daughter, who seemed enthralled by the mist. What were they seeing? I switched to my extra senses and heard the faint drumming.

  My blood iced.

  The Little People.

  Were they after my entire family?

  What was going on?

  Two faces appeared in the fog. I recognized them immediately. Haney and White Feather. They beckoned me to follow them onto the water. I shook my head.

  Even as I did so, I was aware of my parents rising beside me on the rock. Larissa was squirming a bit in my lap. No way was I giving them up to the Little People. I extended an extrasensory bubble around the four of us. The sound of the drumming faded. My father blinked and sat back down.

  Everyone followed my gaze to the water. Had they seen the vision too? I sent a telepathic message to Dad and Larissa. The Little People are calling us. I blocked the signal temporarily. If you hear those soft drums again, and I’m not around, you must cover your ears.

  My father nodded. Larissa burrowed farther into my arms. I held her close a
nd shot a private message to Dad. Do you see anything in the mist?

  He shook his head.

  My mom said in a monotone voice, “I’ve got to go.”

  Alarmed, I touched her arm. A pulse of energy shocked me. The flyaways that never quite stayed in Mom’s braid lifted as if electrified.

  To my horror, both my daughter and father repeated Mom’s words, and they stood on the rock. I clambered after them, strengthening the protection bubble around us. Out on the water, Haney and White Feather were gesturing madly, but the mist was thinning.

  Something was happening to us on this rock, but the spirit-infested mist over the water didn’t inspire confidence. We weren’t four feet above the water in front of us and the ground behind us. Better to jump on land where we could see our footing.

  “Off the rock, now,” I urged, pointing to the footholds we’d used to ascend.

  They listened and slid down the back of the rock. “Group hug,” I said, drawing my family into a tight clump. I clung tightly to the people I loved. The sun gleamed above the distant treetops. As the rays met the water, the mist disappeared.

  My father laughed. “Good morning to you, dear daughter.”

  I released them and slowly lowered the bubble of energy around us. The drums were gone, and so were the faces in the mist. I craned my neck and spotted Charlotte and Duncan necking behind the big tree.

  “We’re safe,” I said. “That’s what’s important.”

  “Of course we’re safe,” Mom said, smoothing her loose hairs back behind her ear. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

  “You don’t remember?” I asked.

  All three of them looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. I gestured with my hands. “Does any of this ring a bell? Drums? Faces in the mist?”

  “Are you all right?” my father asked, concern in his eyes.

  “I’m fine. I nearly lost all of you. My two victims appeared in the mist and urged us to walk on the water to them. Meanwhile, you two went into a trance of sorts, speaking in a robotic tone that you had to go. Mom’s hair stood on end.”

  “I don’t remember any such thing,” my mother said. “How unusual.”

  “There are strange forces at work here, forces that are reaching out from beyond the grave. Do me a favor and head to your friend’s farm for the day. Take Larissa and Charlotte with you.”

  Before they could answer, a car horn sounded three times. It repeated three more times in longer increments. Then three final quick blasts.

  SOS.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Deputy Mayes had his weapon drawn beside a black SUV when we burst through the path into the campsite. I pulled up short, stepping in front of my family. Deputy Duncan sped past me, bumping my shoulder in his mad dash.

  Charlotte followed her friend. Truthfully, I’d never seen her move so fast.

  “Report,” Mayes spat out. His dark eyes swept us, but he kept glancing around the perimeter. Something had spooked him.

  “All quiet here,” Duncan said. “Not so much as an owl call in the night.”

  Mayes nodded, checking the perimeter again. He lowered his service weapon.

  I edged toward Mayes. “What happened? Why the SOS signal?”

  He shook his head, rubbed his eyes. “The mist. This place. When I arrived, everyone was gone. From the embers in the fire pit, I knew you hadn’t been at the campsite in a while. The vehicles were accounted for. I hoped you’d gone for a walk, but what were the odds of everyone going at the same time?”

  “Turned out, pretty good, since we all went to see the sunrise at the lake,” I said.

  “The sun’s been up for thirty minutes at least. Maybe an hour.” Mayes checked his watch. “Definitely an hour.”

  “We haven’t been gone that long,” I said. “But something weird happened at the lake. I saw faces in the mist. And the rock somehow made everything worse.”

  “What rock?”

  “The boulder by the water’s edge.”

  “There are no boulders on this property.”

  “I don’t understand. Are you saying we had some sort of group hallucination about a rock?”

  “Show me.”

  “Can it wait until after breakfast?”

  “No. Show me the rock.”

  “We’ll start breakfast,” Mom said. “Larissa can help me crack the eggs.”

  “I need coffee,” I said simply.

  Mayes reached inside his vehicle and withdrew a carryout cup of Joe. “Thought you might.”

  I took it and gulped greedily. The brew had cooled enough that it didn’t take the skin off my throat. “Thanks. Feeling better already.”

  Mayes nodded at his deputy. “Stay here with the Powells.”

  “I’m staying too,” Charlotte said.

  “Did you see the rock?” I asked.

  “What wasn’t to see? It was big, gray, and right next to the water.”

  “Come with us,” I said. “Just to make sure I have the place right. I need another set of eyes.”

  “All right, but just so you know, this is more exercise that I usually have in a month. I’m on vacation. And you have to share your coffee with me.”

  “This is turning out to be a different sort of vacation for me, too,” I said, handing her the cup.

  I led the way, with Charlotte right behind me and Mayes bringing up the rear. We got to the fishing part of the lake, turned, and angled up the shore. The sky above was crystal clear, the water glinting in the bright sunlight. No trace of the mist remained. The rock was right where we left it. “There it is.” I pointed it out in case Mayes couldn’t see the big lump beside the path.

  “I didn’t know this was here,” he said.

  “Kind of hard to miss.”

  “Tell me again what happened.”

  I ran through the scenario, including the part where I thought the Little People were calling us. Mayes listened impassively, then he walked around to study the rock from all angles.

  “This is a rock all right, but it may be more than that.”

  “Oh?”

  “There’s another rock—same color, but a different shape—across the lake. Our people avoid it.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “For the very reason you mentioned. The drums of the Little People. The rock snares you until they come for you. It is a people trap.”

  “And, because you fall under the influence of the drums, you don’t notice time passing.”

  “Yes. That’s why you were unaware how long y’all had been out here.”

  “Charlotte and Deputy Powell weren’t on the rock.”

  “They didn’t need to be. With their mutual fascination society going on, they were in their own world.”

  Charlotte looked appalled. I snorted with laughter, then covered up my face, embarrassed by the rude noise.

  “Am I right?” he persisted.

  “Yes, they are definitely still enamored of each other,” I said.

  Charlotte’s face turned red. “Since when is it a crime to make out?”

  “Since my deputy was supposed to be guarding your entire party,” Mayes said. “You’re keeping him from doing his job.”

  Charlotte and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. Mayes stiffened. “I fail to see the joke.”

  I tried to rein it in, but it wasn’t easy. “Charlotte is delighted to be cast in the role of Scarlet Lady.”

  “You might say this is my first starring role,” Charlotte added. “Your deputy is a great kisser.”

  Mayes rubbed his eyes. “You are aware that supernatural beings kidnapped the two of you yesterday, and anything—I mean anything—you’re feeling may not be real.”

  “It’s real to me,” Charlotte said. “And so what if it is temporary? I’ve never been in love or even in infatuation before. I would give up my career in a heartbeat to be with the good deputy.”

  I grabbed her arm. “Charlotte! You mean it? After all you’ve worked for?”

  “You want a d
ose of reality?” she said. “Here it is. No matter how hard I work my tail off for Kip, he’ll always look to a Bernard to solve his problems. Through your cases, my stories got picked up several times by the bigs. Did they want to hire me? No. Toby Duncan is the first person who has seen me, talked to me, and listened to me—besides you and your family—in years. Maybe in my whole life. I would be stupid to put a floundering career ahead of genuine caring.”

  “If it is genuine,” I reminded her gently. “We don’t know how either of you will feel in a few days.”

  “That’s why I’m getting to know him now. I want to find common ground and build on that. I want to do whatever it takes to be his girlfriend.”

  “You used to make fun of girls who did that.”

  “In hindsight, I was only half wrong. It’s wrong to reinvent yourself for someone else. I would never do that, but I will nurture the activities we enjoy doing together.”

  “You don’t know what you’re getting into,” Mayes said. “Dunc lives with his mom and sleeps with his blue tick hounds. He hunts and fishes whenever he isn’t working.”

  Charlotte’s chin jutted out and a militant glare radiated from her eyes. “He also reads thrillers, loves cooking shows on TV, and sings like an angel. We have that in common.”

  I nodded and fought back a smile. Charlotte might have had supernatural help launching her romance, but she would massage that into something real. “Good for you.”

  Mayes held up a hand. “Enough. We have murders to solve. Don’t touch this rock again. Keep your family away from it.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “Breakfast, and then we hit the road,” Mayes said. “I’ve got to keep Duncan away from Charlotte today so he can do his job.”

  We hoofed it back to camp, where breakfast was waiting. Deputy Duncan raced to Charlotte and swept her into a hug. “I missed you.”

  It was painful to hear his voice cracking with truth, and I hoped for Charlotte’s sake that the romantic bubble didn’t burst.

  Soon we were loaded up and headed in different directions: my family and Charlotte to the farm, Deputy Duncan to the rehab center, and Mayes and I to the cop shop. First up on our to-do list was interviewing Burl Sayer.