Chaos in California

by Lucy Quinn

  Dora laughed. “It’s not a wild boar, Evie. That’s just one of Windy’s pigs. I’m sure its harmless.”

  Evie wasn’t so sure. She bit down on her bottom lip. “I still better make sure.”

  Dora nodded as she pushed herself up to her feet. She held onto one of the large redwoods and sucked in a breath. “Fine. Go. But we need a signal so I can hear where you are.”

  Evie let out a sing-song bird whistle. “Will that do?”

  “Yep. Got it.” Dora leaned back against the tree and sucked in another breath. “Go on. If anything happens to her, there are going to be a lot of disappointed canines in town.”

  Dora’s tone was teasing, but all it did was make Evie’s stomach churn. Evie loved her little dog with all of her heart. Even if the pig was domesticated, it was ten times bigger. What if the pig decided to pick a fight? Sunshine wouldn’t have a chance. Not that Evie had any experience with farm pigs fighting.

  Evie ran off in the same direction as Sunshine and the pig. It didn’t take her long to find them both cuddled up at the base of a large redwood. The pig was laying on its side with Sunshine right next to her as the pig nuzzled Sunshine’s head.

  “Seriously?” Evie said to her dog. “This is what I ran through the woods for? I could’ve killed myself.”

  Sunshine batted her eyelashes at her mistress, and Evie could’ve sworn the look on the dog’s face was pure smugness.

  “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” Evie muttered as she glanced around the small clearing. It didn’t take her long to spot the wooden slats attached to a nearby tree, causing her to gasp out loud as she turned to stare at Sunshine and the pig. “You really did know where you were going, didn’t you?”

  A rustling sounded behind her, followed by heavy footsteps.

  Evie spun around to find a red-faced Dora clutching her side.

  “Cramp,” Dora said.

  “The treehouse is right there,” Evie said, pointing to the tree.

  “And Sunshine?” Dora asked, squeezing her eyes shut as she sucked in air.

  “She’s cozying up to the pig,” Evie said dryly and moved toward the treehouse.

  “What?”

  “You heard me,” Evie called over her shoulder. “Not only has Sunshine flirted with the entire population of dogs in town and a chicken, she’s now added swine to her list.”

  “Sunshine, seriously?” Dora said. “A pig? Seems a little esoteric even for you.”

  “Esoteric,” Evie mimicked and let out a snort of laughter as she tested the wooden slats to make sure they were stable. “That’s one word for it.”

  “I was going to use hussy, but I didn’t want to slut-shame,” Dora said.

  “That’s probably a good thing.” Evie started to climb. “You know how sensitive Sunshine is.”

  “Should we leave her down here to snuggle her pig or drag her up into the treehouse?” Dora asked.

  Evie glanced down and shook her head at the scene. The pig was curled around Sunshine as if they were spooning. “The pig looks harmless enough,” Evie conceded. “You were right. The pig has to be one of Windy’s. As long as Sunshine doesn’t dart off again, we’re fine.”

  “Sunshine,” Dora said. “Stay, okay, girl? Your mom and I have some work to do in the treehouse. Don’t wander off, all right?”

  There was a pause as if Dora expected Sunshine to give her a verbal confirmation. When it didn’t come, Dora let out a sigh. “Bark once if you’ll stay here until we get back. Bark twice if you’re intentionally ignoring me.”

  Evie, who’d just pulled herself up into the treehouse, glanced down to catch her dog lift her head and let out two short barks. This time, she did laugh. Evie turned her attention to Dora and said, “At least she isn’t ignoring you anymore.”

  “Funny. Is there anything to look at up there?” Dora asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

  Evie glanced over her shoulder at the studio space. There was a makeshift bed in the middle of the floor, a bookcase that appeared to be filled with trail guides, and a backpack with a sweatshirt sticking out of the top in the corner. “Yep. There are a few places to search.”

  “I’m on my way up then,” Dora said. “If it was empty, I was going to bow out of this one.”

  “Chicken,” Evie teased.

  “I think we’ve had more than enough adventure for one day,” her friend grumbled.

  Evie couldn’t argue that point. She moved over to the backpack and started rummaging through the contents. After pulling out the burgundy sweatshirt, she found a handful of power bars, a half-full water bottle, a swiss army knife, a trail guide, and some granola. She let out a frustrated breath. The items told her nothing except that Matt had at least the minimal supplies for hiking.

  Dora hauled herself into the rustic treehouse and let out an audible breath. “That’s not the easiest ladder in the world.”

  Evie glanced up at her friend and chuckled. “Seriously, Dor? Do we need to put together an upper body workout for you?”

  Dora rolled her eyes as she massaged her biceps. “Duh. It’s not like I’ve been hitting the gym. I’d just signed up at that new place back home when…” Her voice trailed off, and she waved a hand, dismissing the thought.

  “Right.” Evie bit her lower lip and felt sheepish. Of course, they hadn’t been working out. Not while they’d been on the run. “There’s nothing useful in the backpack.”

  “That figures,” Dora said with a sigh. She clenched her jaw and frowned as she let out a rant Evie hadn’t even realized had been brewing. “It’s not like we can catch a break, right? Why should it be easy to find a tiny lead?” Dora kicked at the backpack, making the sweatshirt tumble out. “Is it so much to ask for one thing that will point us in a direction where we might find some answers? Oh, no.” She stomped over to the bed and grabbed the pillow. She punched it hard, and dust flew out. Evie realized Dora was on a roll and wouldn’t notice if she were actually listening, so she began to search the room

  “We can’t have that!” Dora continued. “Why should anything come easy to us? It’s not like we’ve haven’t been on the run for what seems like forever, uncovered a scam to cheat old people out of their money, and solved a couple of murders.” A wooden door in a beat-up bureau scraped as Dora yanked it open with a huff, although Evie wasn’t sure if her friend would have seen a snake if it were in there. Dora said, “Now we need to solve another one with literally no—”

  “Ah-ha!” Evie cried out. Partly to stop Dora before she began to foam at the mouth and partly because she’d found something in the sleeping bag she’d discovered in the corner. She held up a notebook and beamed. “Look at what I found.”

  Dora spun and squinted at her.

  “It’s a journal,” She flipped open the cover. “And I bet I know who it belongs to.” Evie flashed Dora her best triumphant smile. “Looks like we caught a break after all.”

  “Huh,” Dora said as her mood deflated. “Aren’t you always the lucky one,” she muttered as she crossed the room to join Evie. She sat down next to Evie with a sigh, making Evie think her friend had finally let off enough steam to be rational.

  Evie turned a page in the journal and scanned the neat handwriting she found.

  “Is it Matt’s journal?” Dora asked.

  Evie shrugged, still skimming the pages. “I’m not sure yet. It seems like it, since there are descriptions of the trail he must’ve been hiking, but that could’ve been any of Windy’s temporary guests, right?”

  “Definitely.” Dora peered over Evie’s shoulder. She pointed to a doodle in the corner. “What’s that?”

  Evie pulled the journal closer and turned it sideways. “Looks like a cartoon football player. The jersey says Sunset Valley on it.” She took a moment to read the entry next to the doodle. “Whoever wrote this is talking about an old high school knee injury. He says it sometimes acts up when he’s climbing.” She lifted her gaze to Dora’s. “Matt was a rock climber, right?”

&
nbsp; “Yep. That’s supposedly how he died,” Dora said.

  Evie pursed her lips. “If this is Matt’s journal, it looks like he might’ve gone to Sunset Valley High. That might help us track down his history.”

  “That’s a start at least.” Dora reached over and flipped the page. “We need to find something more recent or an entry to confirm this belongs to Matt.”

  “Yep.” Evie settled back and started reading.

  After a few moments, Dora got up and said, “You read. I’m going to search this place and make sure we aren’t missing anything.”

  Evie nodded while Dora went to work, systematically and calmly this time, searching the treehouse.

  The beginning of the journal was full of rock-climbing notes, descriptions of trails, and doodles of a man sleeping outside under the stars, hiking and swimming in a stream. What struck Evie most was the impersonal nature of the entries. It was as if the author didn’t want to write about anything that meant something to him. Or maybe he just wasn’t ready. Because finally, about three-quarters of the way through the journal, the script became messier, as if the author had been scribbling a stream of consciousness down on the page.

  I met a small group of hikers on the trail today. It was the first time in over two weeks that I’ve seen another human being. I realized I might go crazy if I keep to myself much longer and decided to break my silence. I ate lunch with them, and when I told them about myself, I became a man with a boring past. Benny, Heather, and Keith shared their food with me as if I was the kind of man who deserved it. The jerky and trail mix went a long way to help me feel as if I could be that guy. I became Matt.

  “Dor?” Evie said as she glanced up and spotted her friend trying to pry open a metal box.

  “Yeah?” She put the box down and reached for the swiss army knife that was still by the backpack.

  “This definitely belongs to Matt. I just found an entry where he describes becoming someone named Matt. It’s definitely an alias.”

  “Did he reveal anything else?”

  “Not really, except he might have been experiencing a bit of self-loathing. Or maybe loss. I’m still working my way through his entries.”

  “Keep at it. Hopefully he put something useful in there.” She pried the knife under the lid of the box, and it screeched with a noise that hurt Evie’s ears as Dora twisted it, finally causing the lid to pop open. “Dammit.” Dora held the box up, showing that it was completely empty. “What a wasted effort.”

  Evie grimaced. “Why the heck was it locked if there was nothing in it?”

  Dora shrugged. “Beats me.” She tossed the box aside and reached for the plastic wastebasket.

  After watching her sift through old power bar wrappers and a handful of tissues, Evie went back to the journal. It didn’t take her long before she was completely engrossed in a disturbing entry.

  I woke drenched in sweat and fear early this morning. The moon was still shining, streaming through the trees with silver slivers of light. It was hard to focus, but that was probably because I was out of breath. I wonder how long I was thrashing before I finally broke free from the nightmare.

  It started with the ear-ringing blast that could only mean one thing. The gun had been fired.

  Then there was the screaming. That endless screaming that I can’t stop hearing, even when I’m awake. I wanted to pretend it was all in my head, but the black pool of blood that coated the tile floor and the guttural call of my name screamed the truth. She’d been shot and was pleading with me for help.

  I wanted to save her. But there was no way for me to get to her. Panic filled me like ice, but there was nothing I could do. Then the screaming stopped, and an angel appeared before me. She told me she’d never be free, that she’d be tortured forever.

  Evie sucked in a gasp and didn’t even notice the tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn’t know if she was crying for the woman he wrote about or for Matt, who appeared to have witnessed her death and hadn’t been able to do anything to stop it. Was that what he was running from? Had someone been murdered? Had he been unable to stop some woman’s death?

  “What’s wrong? What did you find?” Dora rushed to sit beside Evie and put an arm around her shoulders. “Evie?”

  Evie turned to stare, glassy-eyed, at her friend and wondered if Dora suffered similar nightmares. She’d witnessed a gun go off and kill her boss. And Dora and Evie had been running from the evil that had caused it to happen ever since. Suddenly the weight of it all was crushing Evie. She wanted to curl up into a ball as if she could block out reality and pretend nothing bad had ever happened. How could they live in a world where people kept dying, where innocent people had to stay on the run because there was no one in authority they could trust? Had Matt been living that life, too?

  “Evie!” Dora called and gently shook her. “Snap out of it. What did you read?”

  With shaking hands, Evie passed the journal to Dora. “It’s here. He had a dream, but I think it sounds more like a memory. And Dor—” She blinked back tears as her heart ached for her best friend. “Do you have nightmares too?”

  Dora frowned and took the journal from Evie. She let her arm slip from her friend’s shoulder but took her hand and squeezed it. Evie knew she was doing what she could to lend her support and grabbed on, appreciating the connection.

  Evie was gutted. Reading Matt’s words made him become real. All day, she’d fully understood she and Dora were investigating the death of a man, but it had just been a case. A stranger’s wrongful death they were trying to right. They hadn’t known him or had any connection to Matt, and somehow that made it easy to keep investigating and looking for logic without emotions involved. Now that she had his words in her head, his nightmare and an inkling of what haunted him, emotions threatened to overtake Evie. She was filled with the injustice that no one seemed to care about Matt’s death besides Windy, and it infuriated her.

  Dora made a guttural sound, and the journal thudded on the floor where she dropped it.

  “Dor?” Evie asked. “Are you okay?”

  Dora’s face was pale, and her voice shook. “No. I don’t think I am. I—” She gulped, and her words were barely audible when she spoke again. “Matt and I could be the same person.”

  “You’re not!” Evie insisted, even though she’d had almost the same thought moments ago. “You are very much alive, Dora.” She took her friend’s arms and gripped them tightly as if she knew Dora needed to feel something, even if it was pain. “You’re here with me, and neither of us are going anywhere. Okay?” She tightened her grip more, squeezing her friend’s arms with everything she had.

  Dora’s big wide eyes met Evie’s. “I think he watched that woman die. Just like I watched Steve die.”

  Evie swallowed hard as she nodded. “Steve’s death wasn’t your fault.”

  “You don’t know that,” Dora said, her voice raspy with emotion.

  “Yes. I do.” Evie scrambled to her feet and stared down at her friend. “Steve is the only reason Steve is dead. He pulled that gun on you because he wanted to shut you up. Whatever happened in that struggle, he got what he deserved.” She let out a noise of disgust. “The man was the scum of the earth, Dor. If he had managed to take out my best friend, well—” Evie straightened her shoulders. “Well, I would’ve stopped at nothing to end his pitiful existence. I’d have handcuffed him and— No. I’d have tied him down and tortured him slowly.” She narrowed her eyes at Dora. “Tiny toothpicks under his fingernails or maybe…”

  Dora’s lips twitched as she continued to stare up at Evie.

  “What? It’s a century-old form of torture,” Evie said as Dora let out a small snort. “Don’t you dare laugh at me. I’m having a moment here.” Evie placed her hands on her hips, realizing she’d gotten a little carried away with her fantasy of revenge if Steve had in fact killed Dora. She sighed. “Okay, fine. I wouldn’t have tracked him down, tortured him and ended his life, but I’d have found a way to put him behind bars. I
bet Luke would have helped me feed him to the gators. Because no one takes out my bestie without suffering the consequences.”

  “I wouldn’t want to be on your bad side,” Dora said, and Evie noticed the color had returned to her face when her friend chuckled. “If the police weren’t helpful, you’d probably have found a way to curse him.”

  “You got that right,” Evie said with a smirk. “Remember that swamp witch I used to work with at the new age bookstore?”

  “The one who always smelled like mold?” Dora pushed herself to her feet and then leaned down to pick up the journal.

  “Yeah. Her. I bet she’d have cursed him with an incurable yeast infection or some kind of crotch rot. Imagine him going through life with perpetually itchy junk.”

  Dora giggled, and Evie felt a weight lift from her chest. She knew Dora wasn’t magically cured from the trauma of watching her boss die, but she wasn’t suffering the crushing guilt of it either. And that was enough for now.

  “Come on,” Evie said. “We need to fire up the internet again and find out where that high school Matt went to is located.”

  Dora raised her eyebrows. “Because, why?”

  Evie tsked. “Seriously, Dor? That’s our lead to find out who he really is. If we can find his high school, we can research yearbooks for his real name, interview coaches, ask around town if anyone knew him or where he lived.”

  “Right.” Dora tilted her head to the side and studied Evie. “You’re really good at this.”

  “So are you,” Evie insisted. “You’re just a little distracted. Let’s go pry Sunshine away from that pig before we end up with a litter of pichons.”

  Chuckling, Dora tucked the journal into the waistband of her jeans and led the way down the makeshift ladder.

  10

  “Found it!” Dora pumped her fist in the air and let out a triumphant whoop. She was curled up on the plush couch in Windy’s guest cabin, surfing the internet. It hadn’t taken her long to find Sunset Valley high. They’d made the assumption Matt was from California, and there was only one high school by that name in the state. “Finally. Here. Looks like the town is southeast just outside of Redding.”