Riddles that Kill: a gripping paranormal mystery

by Lois D. Brown

  “Maria? Maria?” It was Rod who spoke. “You have to stay with me, Maria. I need you here with me.” His hand gently caressed her.

  A tear escaped down Maria’s cheek.

  “How is she doing?” asked a voice Maria recognized. Her eyes slowly opened to see Grant behind Rod and, next to him, Natalie. They must have been part of the Search and Rescue team who had come to find her. They were both white-faced. In shock.

  Jim kneeled over Maria. A strange smell entered her nostrils. He held a tablespoon of purple berries. Using his thumb and inner palm, he crushed them into a paste. “Maria, you have to swallow this. Do you understand? You must swallow it.”

  “No.” Maria turned her face but the pain the movement caused her made her stop short. “I want to die.”

  “No, you don’t,” said Jim.

  Rod leaned down and put his mouth right next to her ear. “Maria, you have to live. Please. Please live. For me.” Tears streamed down his face, dripping off his jaw onto Maria’s neck. She felt the cool wetness for a moment, but then it dissipated into the burning pain that filled her left side.

  “The bleeding has picked up. We don’t have much longer.” Jim’s voice was firm.

  Rod’s lips brushed against Maria’s forehead. He sat up. “Grant, help me get her onto the emergency gurney—hey, watch out!”

  Natalie, who had been standing next to Grant, slumped over. Grant tried to grab her before she hit the ground but was too late. “Nat? Nat? You okay? Rod, I think she passed out. She’s in shock.”

  Chaos reigned. People moved all about.

  Jim took Maria’s face in both of his hands. “You will eat this paste. Understand?”

  Maria had no strength left to argue. The way his eyes bored into hers, she was hypnotized to do his bidding. “Yes.”

  He scooped the berry paste into her mouth. The clump of fruit, which mostly consisted of skin and seeds, made Maria gag.

  Jim forced her mouth shut and commanded her to swallow.

  So she did.

  The action caused so much pain inside her body she cried out. Rod held her hand tighter. He whispered over and over.

  Maria.

  Maria.

  Maria.

  Her name turned into the wind whistling through tree branches and the river rushing through canyon walls until at last Maria heard nothing.

  When Maria awoke, the whoosh of helicopter blades and the sway of her body told her she was no longer in the Jarbidge wilderness. She lay on a gurney, an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose. After an unsuccessful attempt to move, she found her arms and legs were strapped tightly to her body. Next to her were machines, some beeped while others flashed lights. All of it added to the muddiness in her mind.

  What had happened? Where was she? Had Justin been found?

  Slowly, details crept back into her consciousness. Her confrontation with Clyde and Dillan. The fight. The arrival of Rod.

  Speaking of Rod, he sat at the foot of the gurney, his fingers wrapped around her ankle. He spoke to a medic who sat next to him. The conversation was audible, but Maria’s mind struggled to place words with meaning.

  Another medic sat a Maria’s side. Looking over monitors and checking her IV.

  The bright lighting inside the helicopter was the only reason Maria could see much of anything. Her eyes could hardly open, but she did manage to see some things out the thin slits. The medic watching her hadn’t noticed she was awake. Speaking would be impossible for Maria. And with the oxygen mask on, no one would hear her if she tried. Observing was all she could do.

  Next to Maria sat Natalie. She was upright on a gurney with Grant next to her holding her hand. Around her bicep was a blood pressure monitor, and on her finger was a clip to monitor her oxygen levels. Natalie and Grant looked like they’d been through a war. Maria knew she looked a hundred times worse.

  Where had Maria been shot? What part of her body was damaged? Ever since eating the mashed berries Jim had concocted for her, Maria’s pain had lessened significantly, but that didn’t mean the injuries were any better.

  Exhaustion coaxed Maria to shut her eyes and succumb to slumber, but she fought its numbing power. She had to know what was going on. Clyde and Dillan clearly had been in Jarbidge to intercept her, but how had the two of them known she would be there? Had the two brothers been following her in Kanab for the past week?

  Had those two awful men been the ones who had yanked Justin from his bed, tied him up, gagged his mouth, and shouted threatening words into his face? The thought was horrifying.

  Dillan’s words to Maria, the ones he spoke to her before she plunged the knife further into his chest, were cryptic at best. He’d said he’d been looking for treasure all his life, but he couldn’t have been more than twenty-five years old. How had the Veil treasure become such an obsession for him? And what had the two brothers planned to do in the Jarbidge wilderness? They had wanted Maria to divulge to them where the treasure was hidden. That much was clear. But what had their plans been to do with Justin? Where had they been keeping him for the last week?

  Clyde and Dillan had looked so much alike. Their uniform physical build and wide almond eyes were too much of a coincidence for them to not be related. Not to mention their cleft chins.

  Maria’s whirling thoughts halted. Where had she seen that chin before?

  Think.

  Maria wished someone could tell she was awake, but it was as if her body was paralyzed. She tried to make some kind of noise to let them know she was conscious but failed.

  Grant and Rod began to speak to one another. Maybe it was best if Maria fell back asleep after all. She was of no use to anyone in this condition.

  With Grant conversing to his brother, Natalie turned her head Maria’s direction.

  Maria tried to wiggle her index finger—maybe that would signal to Grant’s girlfriend that she was awake.

  Nothing.

  Natalie leaned her head back against the wall of the helicopter and let out a long sigh. The cell phone in her hand illuminated and a name displayed on the screen in full sight of Maria. “Nathan Porter – dad’s cell.”

  The phone made no noise but must have vibrated to alert Natalie. She turned it around and startled when she saw the number. She quickly swiped the phone to off and looked around the crowded space.

  The girl was even more white-faced than before.

  Nathan Porter. Why was that name so familiar?

  Despite the lullaby effect of the berries Jim had fed Maria, a curiosity about the name sparked her mind to action.

  Nathan Porter. Who was that?

  Maria relaxed the muscles around her eyes and inhaled the fresh oxygen. Obviously the name belonged to Natalie’s dad, but where else had that name come up recently? Had Clyde mentioned it? Was it a name she’d read in one of the articles she’d photographed in the Red Dog saloon?

  No. None of that sounded right.

  If Maria had been functioning at a hundred percent it wouldn’t have been so hard. But as it was, she could hardly remember her own middle name. Over the last week, during her comings and goings from Kanab to Phoenix to Jarbidge, she had met a number of people. Had any of them been named Nathan Porter?

  Think. Think.

  Despite her efforts, the small chamber in the medical helicopter amplified her fatigue and she felt her body sinking back into slumber. When it really came down to it, if she couldn’t remember where she’d heard the name that meant it probably wasn’t that important.

  And yet….

  Something told her it was.

  Maria had to stay awake. She cracked her eyes open again. Rod’s hand still rested on her ankle. She tried to move her leg, but the gurney straps held her fast and she seemed to have no control over her muscles.

  If she screamed would someone hear her?

  Sadly, Maria couldn’t force enough air in her lungs to do much more than a pathetic groan which didn’t make enough noise to reach the end of the plastic oxygen mask on her face.
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  Nathan Porter? Who was he?

  Again, her mind came up blank.

  The lack of strength, her inability to move, and the head fuzz were all creating a build-up of panic inside of Maria. She was useless. Would she ever be able to move normally again?

  What if she were decrepit for the rest of her life? She must be feeling what old people like Steven Veil felt like with their stooped frames and fragile bones.

  Wait!

  The thought of the old man shuffling into the police station triggered the memory Maria had been seeking. In her mind, she replayed the scene of Agent Carter questioning Steven Veil and his assistant about the use of the Veil riddle in Justin’s ransom note. The assistant had introduced himself as Nathan Porter. Maria was sure of it. That had been his name.

  Nathan Porter.

  Could it be the same man? It wasn’t a super unique name. Was it just coincidence?

  But as Maria recalled the odd look on Natalie’s face after she’d seen the name of her father pop up on her phone, Maria knew it wasn’t. Natalie definitely hadn’t wanted to answer the call. In fact, seeing the name had made Natalie appear … alarmed.

  At last, Maria’s mind was alert.

  If it was the same Nathan Porter, why would Natalie not have mentioned it when the whole town was talking about the riddle in the ransom note being Steven Veil’s? Natalie must have known for whom her father worked. How many millions of hits did that riddle pull up online? Six or seven at least.

  Maria stared at the face of Grant’s new girlfriend. Yes, she was pretty, but was she as innocent as she acted? What did they really know about her?

  Racking her brain, Maria tried to remember. Grant had told them Natalie had come to see the Grand Canyon but had stayed longer to do some volunteer work at the animal sanctuary. That was something that happened often with tourists. Nothing too unusual. However, Natalie had jumped into Grant’s life so quickly—accompanying him to Phoenix and on Search and Rescue missions. They’d all assumed the two must have great chemistry, but maybe it had been more of a ploy on Natalie’s part to insert herself into their circle.

  Through her slit eyes, Maria studied the woman. Her golden tan skin came from either hours of outdoor time or a very good tanning bed. Her blonde hair hung beautifully down her back, the color from a bottle. Was her hair originally brown, like her father’s, or something else? It was easy to see how Grant had fallen for her. Natalie had striking facial features—high cheek bones and a sexy, female version of a … cleft chin.

  If Maria’s legs hadn’t been strapped together and if she’d had any muscle control at all, she would have kicked herself.

  Natalie, Grant’s latest romantic fling, had an uncanny resemblance to the two men who had just tried to kill Maria—Clyde and Dillan. If Natalie was say, for example, their sister, that would make all three of them children of Nathan Porter, the assistant to Steven Veil whose riddle had been held over Maria’s head as ransom in the kidnapping of Justin.

  Maria felt more than ever like vomiting. Oh, the sick games some people played. They might not be Tehran terrorists, but the three siblings were just as conniving, manipulative, and evil.

  Natalie had arrived in Kanab days before Justin was kidnapped, and she had been at the reservoir the day Maria and Jim had stuck their fingers in the water and called up a skeleton. That was the night Justin disappeared.

  Were her brothers in Kanab too, or had she taken Justin all on her own? With her good looks, it would have been easy for her to coax Justin from his bed. He was an eight-year-old idiot boy after all.

  And was the father Nathan Porter in on it too?

  But why? What had been their end game? If they had wanted to figure out the solution to the Veil riddle, certainly they could have extorted that out of the old man years ago. Why go to all the trouble to take Justin and force Maria’s hand?

  Maria’s head spun. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was letting her imagination run away with her.

  But maybe not.

  The theory would be easy to prove wrong. All they had to do was take a look at Natalie’s birth certificate. Check whether she was related to a Nathan, Clyde, or Dillan Porter. Find out where she lived. All of it would take Ms. Tuttle less than fifty seconds.

  More than ever Maria tried to open her eyes wide enough to get the attention of the medic.

  Nope.

  Maria attempted another scream.

  Nothing.

  As if Rod sensed her thoughts, he looked at the medic and asked, “Is everything okay?”

  “Her heart beat sped up. She might be coming out of her meds,” the medic answered.

  “Is that normal?”

  “No, it’s not. Whatever that Indian medicine man gave her to eat has been messing with my drugs. Hang on.” The medic moved toward the IV that hung at Maria’s side. He flipped the drip line with his index finger and thumb to make sure it was still working. “I’ll up her dose. We still have another twenty minute ride to the hospital.”

  No! In Maria’s mind the word sounded so clear. So obvious. Her mouth just couldn’t manage to follow through with the command to make it audible.

  Fear and concern covered Rod’s face. “She must be in so much pain.” He gripped her ankle harder as if trying to give her strength.

  “We’re going to take care of her, don’t worry.”

  A warming sensation crept into the veins in Maria’s arm. Seconds later her whole body felt numb.

  Stop!

  Natalie.

  Natalie Porter.

  She’s the kidnap—

  Nothing but blackness.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The Jarbidge Mountains in northeastern Nevada are home to a legendary Bigfoot-like creature known as “Tsawhawbitts” to the local Shoshone Indians or “Jahabich” to the nearby Nez Perce Indians. Indeed, the name “Jarbidge” is a corruption of the various Indian names for the region. The Jarbidge Mountains had a dark and ominous reputation among the early Native American peoples who lived nearby.

  “The Lost Ross Mine” The Geo Zone. http://www.thegeozone.com/ treasure/nevada/ tales/nv006a.jsp

  The gurney wheels rattled on the cement. Rod held Maria’s hand, walking briskly at her side.

  Helicopter blades slowed somewhere in the distance.

  Double doors opened in front of her.

  People talked.

  Monitors chimed.

  STOP!

  Maria needed to think.

  So much was going on.

  She had come back into consciousness with the same sentence on her lips that was there when her mind had been forced into blackness twenty minutes earlier.

  Natalie Porter is the kidnapper.

  But how could she get that knowledge from her mind into Rod’s?

  Today was the last day to find Justin. She was out of time, and she couldn’t get a simple message to anyone. What Maria needed was for someone to take the muffling oxygen mask off her face.

  Ignoring the pain in her body, she tried to move but to no avail.

  The gurney traveled through another set of doors. A red “emergency” sign glowed ahead and abruptly the forward motion stopped.

  A man in a white lab coat bustled toward Rod and the medic. “I’m Dr. Kincade, the anesthesiologist. They’re prepping her surgical room right now. I’ll take her from here. Sign this.” He shoved an iPad into the medic’s hand.

  No. She couldn’t go into surgery. What if she never came out? Who would tell Beth about Justin? Who would save him?

  “There you go.” The medic handed the iPad back to the anesthesiologist.

  Justin thought I was invincible.

  Maria tried to scream. The oxygen mask mocked her in return.

  But Justin was wrong.

  The doctor took a hold of the gurney and began to roll it forward. Rod moved with it.

  “Sir,” said the anesthesiologist. “You need to let go. You can’t come into surgery.”

  Rod tightened his grip on Maria’s
hand. She tried to squeeze his back, but her muscles wouldn’t engage.

  Leaning over her body, Rod positioned his mouth close to Maria’s ear. “I love you, Maria Branson. You have to make it through this.” The tenderness of his words was emphasized by a gentle kiss on her temple.

  Now!

  With every ounce of strength Maria could muster, she turned her head into Rod’s cheek. The oxygen mask over her nose and mouth slipped several inches to the side.

  Her lips were numb. Her mind was shutting down, giving its farewell like actors at a final curtain call.

  “Natalie.” Maria didn’t recognize her own voice. Her tongue must have been as large as a camel’s.

  She spoke again. “Natalie …”

  Rod pulled his face back, utter surprise registering on his face.

  Maria’s head lolled. “… is the kidnapper.”

  The anesthesiologist pushed the mask back over Maria’s face and pushed the gurney away from Rod.

  The curtain fell on the stage of Maria’s mind.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The unincorporated town of Jarbidge sits in the 113,167-acre Jarbidge Wilderness. A thirty-foot-tall giant is said to lurk nearby. Local legend claims the giant named Tsawhawbitts grabbed anyone who ventured into his canyon, put them into a basket, and carried the victims to his cave where he’d eat them. The Shoshone chased Tsawhawbitts into the cave, and imprisoned this man-eating monster by blocking the entrance with boulders.

  “Exploring American Monsters: Nevada,” by Jason Offutt, Mysterious Universe.org, January 7, 2016.

  Maria didn’t think you were supposed to be able to dream when under anesthesia, but she couldn’t seem to stop. Even though she deeply wished she could.

  The walls of the Tehran prison were painted in colorful murals. Some of the pictures depicted nursery rhymes—Humpty Dumpty being the most notable—while others portrayed the horrid scenes Maria had witnessed when she’d been a prisoner there. Part of the torture she was subjected to by the terrorists was that of being made to watch the death of each of her team members. As if being graded on their creativity, the terrorists killed each of them in a different way.