by Cari Cole
"I'm not changing my mind. It was just a thought," Mae said.
"You left the gun at the cabin right?" Lucy asked.
"Yes. I'm not sure I should have but I did."
"Getting caught would be bad. Being armed and getting caught would be a disaster," Jane said.
"Okay, I get it. Let's just hope no one's there."
They shouldn't have worried. The Forest Service lot was empty. The office was dark.
Mae parked the van in the darkest corner of the lot.
"Last chance to call this off." Lucy was going through with the break-in no matter what, but there really wasn't any need for Mae and Jane to be involved. She could always come back in Belle's car.
"I'll be right here when you get back," Mae said.
"We're not really breaking in you know," Jane said.
So much for cooler heads prevailing. "We're planning to open a locked door and enter without permission. What else would you call it?"
"Sneaking in. If you're not stealing and you're not breaking anything, I think you call it sneaking in."
"I'll be sure to try out that logic on the police if I get caught. Are you sure you don't want to wait here with Mae?"
"I'm sure. Just make sure you have your cell phone on vibrate. If I have to warn you someone's coming, I don't want your phone to give you away."
The truth of the matter was that Lucy was scared. Not scared enough to be the one to call a halt to the madness but scared enough for her palms to sweat and her eyebrow to start twitching.
She'd be the hero who saved Belle or die trying.
Yeah right. It sounded good anyway.
Lucy checked her phone setting. "Okay, the phone's set." And opened the van door. "Here goes nothing." Or everything, depending on your point of view.
Jane followed her out of the van and they walked across the lot to the front porch of the office.
The building reminded Lucy of the sort of cheap wood construction found at scout camps all over the country. The paint was the generic gray-green apparently purchased in massive quantities by the US Government, but the place was well-maintained despite its age and ugliness.
She looked at the door and breathed a sigh of relief at the absence of a dead bolt. Just as she'd hoped, the lock was a cheap knob model. She pulled the credit card she'd chosen out of her back pocket. It was Gary's business AMEX so she wouldn't miss it if it was damaged.
"Have you ever done this before?" Jane asked.
"Only on the bathroom door at home." Lucy slipped the card between the door and the frame above the knob. "Keep your fingers crossed."
Jane held up crossed fingers as Lucy moved the card down toward the lock.
It didn't slide smoothly. She had to wiggle and jiggle it. When she hit the latch, she pushed a little harder.
It was ridiculously easy. The door popped open with a little creak.
She'd committed a federal crime in less than a minute.
"Make it quick," Jane said. "I'll keep watch."
Lucy managed to make a little sound in the back of her throat that could have been agreement. Her heart slammed against her ribs, sweat broke out around her hairline and her mouth went dry as dust.
She was terrified, but stepped across the threshold into the office and closed the door behind her.
She had a flashlight in her pocket but the light from the parking lot was enough to navigate by as she made her way through the outer room and into Ranger Leonard's office.
There was the cookie tin sitting in the middle of his desk.
"Just stay calm," Lucy ordered herself. She could make the copy and be out of here in under two minutes if she kept her head and didn't panic.
Not panicking was much harder than it sounded.
Her fingers didn't want to cooperate when she tried to pry the lid off the tin. There were a couple of clanks and bangs that kicked her heart rate up so high she was afraid she'd have a fatal heart attack.
After what seemed like an hour but was probably less than thirty seconds, the lid popped off. Lucy reached in and closed her hand around the map. Almost home free.
Another thirty seconds to make the copy and she'd be out the door.
She looked around the room in the dim light for the copy machine.
The non-existent copy machine.
The one thing that had not occurred to her in planning this misbegotten crime was that the office wouldn't have a freaking copy machine. How could she have missed that fact when they were in here being grilled by Ranger Leonard?
Because copy machines were one of those things that exist in the background and don't draw attention to themselves. And of course there was the fact that they were more worried about being arrested than how well the office was appointed.
As she stood there contemplating the disaster, something tried to crawl out of her pocket. She jumped, let out a high-pitched squeak of alarm and dropped the map.
Shit! It was just her phone vibrating.
She froze. Every muscle in her body, including her heart, locked up and refused to obey her commands.
Someone must be coming. At this very second Ranger Rick might be putting a key in the lock she'd jimmied only minutes before.
One thought took up every ounce of brainpower she possessed, "I'm going to federal prison."
She heard footsteps coming closer but couldn't make herself move. Her brain unlocked enough to allow thoughts of diving under the desk to come in but her body still wouldn't cooperate.
"Why didn't you answer your phone?"
Jane's voice shocked Lucy into action.
She stooped to pick up the map. Maybe she wasn't going to prison for breaking and entering but there was a good chance she might be looking at a murder rap soon.
"Lucy?"
Jane sounded worried but not particularly afraid or frantic.
"I'm going to kill you for scaring me. Is Ranger Rick on his way in here?"
"No. What's taking so long?"
Lucy put a lid on her homicidal thoughts. "No copy machine."
Jane made an exasperated sound. "Of course there's a copy machine. Every office has a copy machine."
"This one doesn't."
Jane turned a circle then went into the reception area. She was back in seconds. "You're right. No copy machine. Let's just take the map."
"And have the ranger come to arrest me? No thanks." Lucy started opening desk drawers. Where the hell was a good piece of scratch paper when you needed one?
"What are you doing?" Jane asked.
"I'm going to draw a copy of the map," Lucy said. "Aha. Here we go." She pulled several sheets of plain white paper out of the large lower desk drawer. "Who the hell has copy paper when they don't have a copy machine?" Lucy didn't expect an answer and she didn't get one.
At least Ranger Rick kept sharpened pencils in a cup on the desk. "This should only take me a few minutes."
"You're crazy you know that?" Jane said.
Lucy didn't respond.
"Fine. Just hurry up."
Lucy spread the map out on the desk and put a piece of the blank paper over the first section. "Come over here and hold the flashlight. I'm going to see if I can trace instead of sketch."
Jane went to the desk and took the flashlight from Lucy. "I still say we should just take the damn map."
"Hold that light steady."
Jane focused the flashlight beam on the blank paper.
Lucy could just make out the map. She started to trace.
"Hurry up," Jane said when Lucy put the first section aside and laid the next blank paper on the map.
"I'm going as fast as--"
Lights blazed. "What the hell are you doing?" A calm male voice echoed through the office.
Lucy wondered if federal prisoners had to wear those ugly orange jumpsuits. Maybe the feds provided something a little more stylish.
Jane opted for bravado. She dropped the flashlight, put her left hand on her hip, gave her sleek blond hair a pat with her right,
and pumped lot's of attitude into her voice. "You're not going to be a Nazi about this are you?"
Ranger Leonard blinked in surprise and stared at Jane for several seconds.
"I wasn't trying to steal anything. I just wanted a copy of my map." Lucy sucked in a shuddering breath and willed herself not to cry. "I plead temporary insanity. My aunt's missing. My son left for college. My husband left for good. I shot up his fish. I think I'm having some sort of breakdown."
"You're both nuts."
"Not me," Jane said. "But I do think Lucy's on the edge. She might be capable of anything."
When Lucy made a protesting noise, Jane turned to her. "What? I was just agreeing with you."
"Hey, you're the one who told one of your biggest clients to make a real estate deal in exchange for a few blow jobs."
Ranger Leonard's eyes bulged.
"From his wife, not from me," Jane said. "I was just trying to cut through the BS so Bambi could have her house near the governor's mansion and I could have my commission."
The ranger's shoulders lost their stiff set and the scowl lines disappeared from his face. He looked from Jane to Lucy and back again. "Hell, arresting you two and your friend out there in the minivan would be like clubbing baby seals."
Hope bloomed in Lucy's chest. "You're not going to arrest us?"
He shook his head. "I shouldn't have taken the tin to begin with, but I was hoping to keep you three out of trouble. I should have known better."
Jane's eyes blazed. "You what? You're not our keeper!"
Lucy wanted to smack her. Couldn't she leave well enough alone?
"I'm the one who'll have to lead the search party when you get your pretty suburban necks lost on my turf." The scowl was back on his face and he looked like he was reconsidering arresting them.
Jane's eyes blazed. "I don't see you leading a search party for Belle!"
Ranger Leonard bristled right back at Jane. "If there was any reason to suspect foul play every cop in the county would be out looking for her." He stared Jane down. "Is there any reason to suspect foul play?"
Lucy shook her head.
"Any evidence she's anywhere in Cohutta? Car abandoned in a parking lot? On the side of the road?"
Lucy and Jane both hung their heads and wobbled a no.
"So, there's not much I can do is there?"
"Jane's just a little upset that Belle would take off when I'm already upset." She put a hand on Jane's shoulder. "We should go now."
Jane nodded. "As soon as we get the tin and the map."
"Take it," he said. "If I catch you disturbing any archaeological sites in Cohutta, I will arrest you with pleasure. Keep it in mind if you decide to come back."
###
"Can you believe the nerve of that man?" Jane asked after she finished relating events to Mae.
"Him? What about you? You could have gotten us all arrested," Mae said.
Jane snorted. "He couldn't arrest us without admitting he took the map illegally."
"Do you still believe in Santa Clause too? He could have created any story he wanted to cover himself. We were the ones who broke into a US Government facility," Lucy said.
"And why didn't he?" Jane asked.
"Because, contrary to what you are determined to believe he's not a total dick?"
"Or maybe because he's the kidnapper and he doesn't want any other cops involved."
Lucy gave her a quelling look.
Jane threw up her hands in surrender. "What? I mean think about it. He admits to possibly being the last one to see Belle before she went missing and he knows this place better than anyone. Maybe Belle couldn't resist telling her big story to him. Maybe he's been letting us stumble around so he can find out things, like where exactly the homestead is or where your ancestor hid the cookie tin."
"Then why give us the map?" Lucy asked.
"Because he didn't want us going over his head, making waves."
"If he had the map, why call us and tell us to go find the Declaration? Why not just find it himself?"
Jane frowned in confusion. "I don't know. Maybe he hopes we'll kill ourselves in that cave."
"Or maybe, he was trying to keep us from doing just that. And why admit to seeing Belle at all? It doesn't make sense."
"Maybe," Jane said.
"It doesn't matter any way. We still have to get the damn thing. It's the only way to get Belle back."
"So, what next?" Mae, the ever-cheerful asked.
Jane looked like she wanted to continue the argument but after a few seconds she shrugged and waved for Lucy to go ahead.
"From the little I saw of the cave and the map, we're going to need some climbing equipment," Lucy said. She'd think more about what Jane said later but for now her brain could only manage one major problem--getting her hands on the Declaration.
"Do you know anything about rock climbing or caving or whatever?" Mae said.
"No. What about you Jane? Didn't you date some guy who took you climbing?"
"I did, but it was mostly stand still while I clip this safety thing on you then we'd climb up the equivalent of the bunny slope at a ski resort."
"Well we don't have time for lessons. We have to get everything we need tomorrow so we can finish this by the Thursday deadline," Lucy said.
"I think we can buy equipment that's foolproof enough to get us through," Jane said. "They make some amazing shit nowadays."
"Good. First thing in the morning you and Mae can go shopping."
"Where will you be?" Jane asked.
"I'm going to UGA to see Professor Dawson. I think we need to know a little more about Perry Thiel."
"We need to study this map now that we have it," Jane said.
"And we will. Tomorrow afternoon when we have our supplies and more information," Lucy said. She wanted to put off thinking about the cave as long as possible.
Flashback
Driving through the UGA campus to the building housing Dr. James Dawson's office was like entering a time warp.
This was her native habitat. The place she'd been formed. Not this specific campus but a series of college campuses where her parents had been employed.
They'd assumed she'd follow them into academia. Maybe biology instead of English or sociology instead of history but without doubt she'd find a home in the world of ideas and theories. A world where it was easy to loose sight of the concerns of people who produced things instead of ideas.
Lucy sighed. She'd married a car salesman instead and left the insulated world of intellectual snobbery behind.
Her parents had never forgiven her.
Lucy wasn't sure she'd forgiven herself.
At twenty she'd been sure she was on her way to making the next big discovery in archaeology. Not in Egypt or even South America but right here in the good old USA. Somewhere out west, New Mexico or maybe Arizona.
At twenty-one she'd put on her cap and gown to accept her BA in history.
A week later she'd put on her wedding gown and promised to love Gary until death did them part.
Well, they were parted and neither of them was dead.
Now she was going to have to decide whether she wanted to hide out in academia or find a way to make a living in the real world.
Franklin Hall was apparently one of the few places on campus where parking was only nearly impossible rather than completely impossible and Lucy lucked up on a space in her second pass through the lot. She parked Belle's BMW and headed for the building.
Except for the threads of gray sprinkled in her unruly red hair, the frown lines on her forehead, and the glasses perched in her hair to help her aging eyes, Lucy would have been indistinguishable from the students moving from building to building. She'd never perfected the art of dressing like a respectable suburban mom. Maybe because she'd never actually felt like a respectable suburban mom. She was dressed in her usual jeans and whatever shirt had the least wrinkles--today that was a faded red polo shirt.
The smell of books and o
verworked brains smacked her in the face as soon as she stepped into Franklin Hall. The smell of the first half of her life.
Professor Dawson's office was on the second floor. His graduate assistant had promised to pencil Lucy into his office hours this morning. The girl hadn't been a fountain of information when Lucy asked about Perry. Apparently he was spending a lot more time locked in a room with his dissertation than on campus.
Slipping into the stream of students moving through the halls and up the stairs, Lucy didn't feel any different than she had when she'd been an undergrad working her way through her class schedule. When exactly would she start to feel her age? She still found herself considerably surprised to be in her forties and wondering when it would sink in that she was an adult with--probably--more than half her life behind her.
The slide-in nameplate beside the door identified Dr. Robert Dawson's office. The door was ajar and Lucy knocked lightly.
"Come in."
Not the voice of an aging professor but a deep, vigorous, baritone.
Lucy pushed the door open and stepped into a neat, well-organized masculine space presided over by a handsome man of about her age. He stood and offered his hand across his desk. "You must be Lucy Deen. Tanya told me you called."
No tweed and elbow patches for Dr. Dawson. He had on jeans and a lightly starched blue button down.
They shook and Lucy took a seat when he gestured her to a chair. "Did she mention why?"
Lucy had been debating the best way to approach this interview. Announcing that Belle was missing and his PhD candidate might be the nutball behind it didn't seem the way to go. On the other hand asking how Perry's research was going wasn't likely to give her the information she needed.
"Something about Perry Thiel?"
"Yes, he seems to think my family might have a valuable copy of the Declaration of Independence."
Dawson sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Has he been making a nuisance of himself?"
Lucy was a little startled by his assumption. "Why do you ask?"
"Perry has been a little obsessive about the new ground he was going to break in his dissertation. I encouraged him to focus on a more traditional line of research but he insisted on pursuing his theory about that signed draft." He steepled his hands and tapped his index fingers together. "I'm afraid I've been a little out of touch with him recently. My wife's been ill and Perry's dissertation slipped a few notches down on my priority list."