“This is the place.” He indicated the rocky ground, and the spot where Kay’s head wound had bled into the dirt was still faintly evident. “I’m not sure why you were here. The large boulder at that time of day protected you from the sun and concealed you if you’d been hiding from someone. Does any of this seem familiar?”
Her brow wrinkled, she slowly rotated in a full circle. “You think that was why I was behind the boulder?”
“Even if no one was after you, you’d have wanted to stay in the shade as much as possible. You didn’t have a hat on, and you weren’t carrying water.”
She examined the ground where she’d lain. “This is uneven, not easy to walk over. I could have fallen. Where was Kaleb in relationship to me?”
“A foot away. Here.” Drake pointed to the place that was relatively even and without rocks. “If you fell, Kaleb most likely wasn’t in your arms.”
“What if someone was after me and I hid behind here? Maybe I put Kaleb down, then went to the boulder and peeked around it to see if anyone followed us? I could have fallen coming or going.”
“That’s a possibility.” He waved his arm toward a large stone slab. “Let’s sit and eat the lunch Anna made for us. Maybe something will come to you.”
“I hope so.” While Drake grabbed his backpack, Kay eased down on the rocky perch. “I hate being away from Kaleb for nothing. All this must be confusing for him. It certainly is for me. Thankfully kids don’t remember what happens to them at his age.”
He sat next to her and passed her a wrapped sandwich. “It’s a turkey salad sandwich. I hope you’re not tired of turkey by now. That’s mainly what we’ve had since Thanksgiving. Anna gets the biggest one, so we have lots of leftovers.”
“I don’t remember Thanksgiving.” Kay took a bite of her sandwich and chewed it slowly. “But I love turkey and even prepare it at other times during the year.” The second she said the last sentence, she tilted her head toward him, her eyes huge. “I’ve done it again. A memory coming to me out of the blue.”
“Taste and smell can stir memories. Do you remember anything else? Who you were with? Where you were?”
She stared at the ground in front of her while she ate another bite. “Not much. But I think the landscape around here reminds me of where I live.”
“That excludes a lot of places, but the southwestern part of the United States is a large area.”
“Maybe it’s only about where I grew up.”
“Give it time.” Drake passed her a bottle of water, then started eating his lunch.
Silence fell between them. He didn’t want to push her, but he didn’t have much to go on. He’d hoped the assailant in jail would talk. He still might after visiting with his lawyer. If the man’s fingerprint identification came through, then at least Drake would have a lead he could follow. So far, all the others had led to dead ends.
“What do we do now?” Kay asked as she wadded up her trash and passed it to him to put in the backpack.
“I’d like to explore this canyon. If you had a campsite, it might be in here farther back. Ready to go?”
“Yes. I feel better when I’m doing something to find answers.” Kay hopped off the stone ledge and faced him. “What if my memory never returns completely?”
“You’ll build a new life if you have to.” Using a walking stick, Drake picked his way along the trail, choosing the smoothest path as possible. “I’ve gotten a good look at the terrain from the top. Let’s go to the end, then if we have time, we can search the offshoots from this canyon. We have five hours of daylight left. We need to be back at the car before sunset.”
“You won’t get an argument from me. I wouldn’t want to be out here in the dark wandering…” She stopped.
Drake slanted a look at Kay. “Did you remember something?”
“I’ve been here wandering around in the dark, lost but scared to follow the highway. I was purposefully staying away from there.”
“Was someone after you?”
“I don’t know.” Her mouth twisted in frustration. “When am I going to stop saying that?”
“When we get to the bottom of this.” Drake continued the trek deeper into the canyon.
As he examined the area on the right, she surveyed the left, more questions concerning Kay swirled around in his mind. What if she isn’t Kaleb’s mother? What if she stole the baby? What if she’s a criminal…
He shook the thought away. Over the years, he’d learned to read people, usually successfully. He couldn’t reconcile the image of Kay being on the run from the law with what he knew. But she could be on the run from someone. What if she got caught up in human trafficking? But if so, where did the baby come from, the locket with her photo and the three hundred dollars she carried?
*
Kay stared at the tall, rocky facade at the end of the canyon. Fine beads of perspiration coated her face from the exertion of the hike. But suddenly the three-sided limestone walls blocked her view of the wide expanse of sky except for a narrow gap above her. The feel of the chasm closing in on her deluged her senses. Her breathing became rapid. Sweat swathed her and rolled down her face in rivulets.
She’d been here—scared and frantic with night approaching swiftly. And yet there was no sign of a campsite. No shelter at all but a sheer, tall, stony barrier on both sides. She whirled around 180 degrees. Her gaze latched onto the six-foot opening into this part of the canyon, and she started back to the slit.
Drake hurried after her. “Were you here?”
“Yes, but not for long. I would never put myself into such a small space with only one way out.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’m used to assessing all the ways out of a dangerous situation,” she said without any idea where that explanation came from.
“Why?”
She thought about it. Heat and smoke pressing in on her. Flames surrounded her. The sounds of falling beams—the crackling of a fire inundated her. “I’ve been in a fire and managed to get out.”
“That’s something I can use to find out who you are. Do you know where?”
She shook her head.
Drake looked at the sky. “Okay. We have time to check out some of those side canyons before we head back to the car.”
About two hundred yards into a crevice that started out fifteen feet wide, it narrowed to five feet. “This isn’t the one I took, for the same reason as before.”
When they started into the second offshoot, the side walls were only about three yards apart. But as Kay continued next to Drake, no alarms went off. When she rounded a bend in the canyon, the area opened up with several large fissures, like spokes in a wheel leading to other possible places.
Kay sighed. “I feel like we are in a maze with so many ways to go we could endlessly wander around.”
“Does anything look familiar?”
She rotated slowly, taking in the rocky floor between her and the side of the canyon, hoping to find a clue to her identity. How was she going to protect herself when she didn’t know why she was in danger?
Drake clasped her hand and mimicked what she did. His touch shored up her fading optimism that this trip would give her answers.
Halfway around, Kay’s gaze fell on a hole in the cliff only a couple of feet off the ground. The gap in the rocks, about four by five feet, drew her forward.
Drake followed, their hands still connected. “The cave? You think you used that?”
“If it had been raining, I would have said yes, but there’s something about it that seems familiar.” When she stopped at the base of the cave, she swung around, searching the hard-packed earth for a sign she’d been there. Two sets of shoeprints, other than theirs, covered the ground. One boot heel had a distinctive shape.
Drake took photos. “I’ll check the cave out, then we need to head back to the car.”
As he hoisted himself into the hole, Kay glanced at the sky, still cloud covered, then swept her gaze over the area. Sh
e halted, staring at a place directly across the canyon floor with large rocks littering the sandy surface, not far from where she’d entered ten minutes ago. A sense of having done that very same thing nudged her forward. She crossed to the small boulders, most likely from a rock slide, and surveyed the ground. More footprints—some probably hers—trampled the alcove in the cliff.
She approached the pile of small limbs and squatted. Had she gathered them to build a fire at night? In the desert, the temperature would drop quickly and—
She glimpsed a piece of tan canvas wedged between the wall and a large stone. Reaching for what looked like part of a backpack, she chilled as if the temperature had plunged forty degrees in seconds. After clasping the material, she tugged on it, the bag popping out of the hole created by the rock slide.
The feel of it in her hands swamped her with a tidal wave of images. Her watching Kaleb sleeping. The sound of voices coming closer followed by the appearance of two men entering the end of the box canyon. Guns strapped to them. Fierce expressions. Was one of them her assailant in the Cactus Grove jail?
As one of the men climbed into the cave at the end and the other waited, she’d scooped up Kaleb, glanced back to make sure they weren’t looking, then, cradling the baby against her, she’d scrambled to get to the crack of the nearby boulder. She’d never make the entrance where she’d come into this section of the canyon. She crammed herself into the slit, sucking in a deep breath while she held Kaleb above her head. He giggled.
She tilted her head back as far as she could, smiled and whispered, “Shh.”
She hadn’t known how long she’d be able to keep him quiet, so she kept going farther into the rocky fissure. The two men would have a hard time fitting through the slash in the cliff. She paused to listen to where they might be. Voices, speaking Spanish, filled the quiet, growing louder as the two thugs came closer to her hiding place. She pushed deeper into the gap. She tried to follow their heated conversation, but Kaleb began wiggling.
Then the largest guy came into view through the slit. She frantically looked the other way and noted a bend a few feet away. If she could position herself where they couldn’t see her and keep Kaleb content, then…
“Kay, where are you?”
She popped up from behind the stones, gripping the backpack in her hand. “I think this is mine.” She sidestepped to skirt the large rock.
A rattling sound alerted her to danger. She froze and stared down at the rattlesnake coiled and blocking her way.
SEVEN
“Don’t move,” Drake said as he brought his rifle up to his shoulder and sighted the reptile down its barrel. “He sees you as a threat. He’s just defending himself. If you can, move away slowly. I don’t want to shoot him unless he attacks.”
Kay took a step away and then several more until she plastered her back against a massive boulder. “That’s as far as I can go.”
Drake respected the animals he encountered in the wild. “Stay still. I’m coming.”
He slid his rifle into its carrying case, then shrugged out of his backpack and retrieved his rope. He slipped his handgun out of its holster. While he kept an eye on the rattlesnake, he scaled the rock next to the bigger boulder, then pulled himself up onto it.
“I’m going to drop down a looped rope. Grab it and hold on.”
“Okay,” she said in a shaky voice.
When Kay had a secure grip on the twine, Drake laid his gun within reach, then, using his body weight, hoisted Kay up and over the boulder.
When she reached the top, she threw her arms around him. “Thank you. The rattler was guarding the way out.” She glanced back. “Now he’s decided to leave. He could have ten minutes ago.”
“They can be contrary.” Chuckling, Drake held her until she stopped trembling, the feel of her in his embrace calming his own fears concerning the snake. He never killed unless he had to. He’d seen enough death and murder in his job. Each time he had walked away from using his gun, he’d felt he’d won a victory against violence.
“Did you see which way he went?”
“Yes. If we keep a wide berth, he’ll leave us alone.” He glanced at the backpack she held with two water bottles in two side mesh pockets. “Is it yours? Did you look inside?”
“Not yet. I think it’s mine. When I touched it, some memories came back.”
“Good ones?”
“I was here in this canyon when two men came in. I have the feeling I was running from them, but I don’t know for sure. When I saw them, I was trapped until they checked the cave out. I made it to that fissure in the rock and squeezed inside so the men wouldn’t see me. It became wider as I moved back.”
“How did you get away?”
“I don’t know for sure. You called my name, and the images in my mind vanished. The last thing I remember is that I kept creeping through the fissure until it came out into the main canyon. I ran until I couldn’t anymore.”
“That could have been when you had to take a break and hid where I found you.”
“Some of it is sketchy, but the fear I felt wasn’t.” She folded her arms and rubbed her hands up and down.
Drake unzipped the backpack and set it between them. Inside were baby items, from diapers to wipes, clothes and a handmade blanket.
Kay picked up a stuffed bear and a teething ring. She grazed the soft animal against her cheek, taking a deep sniff of it. A picture of her holding Kaleb teased her thoughts. “This is his favorite toy.” She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she was sure it was.
Drake took everything out. “There’s some more money but no ID. Nothing of yours.”
“Maybe I didn’t have time to get anything else. I wish I could remember.”
He took hold of her hand. “You will. You already are. But you may not ever recall everything. We can bury some memories because they are too hard to deal with.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. Something horrific happened and I refuse to remember it.”
“Self-preservation can be a strong instinct, but so can a mother protecting her child.” What if she’d done something wrong—illegal? He stared at Kay, who was obviously waging a battle with the doubts inside her—evidence of her uncertainties dimmed the light in her eyes; tiny lines of worry around her mouth and on her forehead appeared and clung to her like her tight grip on his hand. A lot of scenarios raced through his mind—none good—but there was a reason he’d stumbled upon her.
God’s in control.
“Anna would tell you not to worry. It doesn’t do anything but drain your energy and send you in a direction you don’t need to go. When my wife was murdered, all I wanted was justice for her. But when her killer was tried and sent to prison for life without parole, it didn’t take away the pain I felt without her. I thought once justice had been served, my pain would go away. It didn’t, but time has helped me to deal with it.”
“But you still feel anger and rage toward her killer.”
It was as if she’d delved into the deep recess of his mind and read his innermost thoughts. Was this pain he couldn’t let go of holding him in the past? “How can I forgive him? I’ve managed on most days to forget him but not forgive him.”
“I don’t know if I could if I was in your shoes.” Kay glanced at the sky. “We better leave. I don’t want to be here when it’s dark.”
“Good idea. Follow me down the side of the boulder. There are footholds you can use.”
As he made his way to the ground, Drake couldn’t shake the feeling he’d let the Lord down. To forgive Shanna’s murderer was too high a price to pay. How could he and have peace of mind?
*
Kay jerked straight up in the front passenger seat of Drake’s SUV. For a second confused about where she was, she glanced out the windshield at the dark stretch of road before them. “How long have I been asleep?”
“An hour and a half. You fell asleep not long after we grabbed dinner.”
As a car passed them going the opposite way,
Kay glimpsed Drake’s strong profile in the illumination from the headlights. Even when confronted with a rattlesnake, he’d made her feel safe. “I’m surprised I didn’t have a nightmare.”
“Your exhaustion finally caught up with you.”
“That and I remembered a few things about how I ended up hurt. Did you call the ranch?”
“Yes, earlier, and everything’s fine. Anna was thinking about taking Kaleb to see the animals in the barn.”
A picture of Kaleb hugging his teddy bear made her smile. “Good. He’ll enjoy that. Can I call and see if they are back at the house?”
“Sure. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Anna and Kaleb are still at the barn. She likes to take care of my mom’s mare. She won’t ride, but she loves to pamper Blue Bonnet and groom her.”
Kay tried calling, but the line was busy. “Someone must be on the phone. You’ve piqued my interest in Blue Bonnet. I hope you’ll show her to me. I don’t know if I’ve ridden a horse, but they’re beautiful animals.” She returned his sat phone. “Did you talk with the police or Dallas?”
“I spoke with Dallas and told him what you remembered. He hadn’t heard anything from the police yet, but then I didn’t think your assailant would suddenly start talking, especially when he asked for a lawyer.”
“I guess that would be too easy.”
“He isn’t going anywhere. Maybe he’ll decide to talk soon.”
“I’m just glad he was found.”
“Do you think he was one of the two men in the canyon?”
“Maybe. I didn’t get a great look at their faces close-up. But one had a similar build and coloring as the man in jail. The other was shorter, stockier. And to tell you the truth, my memory of that day is sketchy at best. And there’s always the chance it isn’t right. I get flashes I can’t make sense of.” She massaged her temples as though that would make everything clear again. She was missing a large chunk of memory. How did she get to the park? Where did she come from? Why was she out there alone with Kaleb? Even after finding the backpack, she realized she hadn’t had the supplies needed to hike and especially to camp out in Big Bend.
“A lot of your flashes are coming when something triggers them. Don’t force it.”
Lone Star Christmas Rescue Page 8