Buried Truth

by Dana Mentink

  Heather finally found her voice. “Fossils plural? More than one?”

  “My guess is there is more than one perfectly preserved mammoth skeleton in there waiting to be excavated. Such a find is worth millions, and the prestige of owning and excavating such a find is incalculable.”

  “Exactly.” Egan’s voice started them all.

  They whirled around to find Dr. Egan standing there, sweat stained and disheveled, a gun in his hand. “I’m not happy to find you all here at the site of my treasure, but I feared you’d figure it out sooner or later.”

  Bill put his hand on his own gun, but Heather saw him stop when Egan trained his weapon on her. “Please don’t do anything rash. I really don’t want to kill anyone. There’s been too much killing already. The whole thing has gotten completely out of hand.” His voice quavered as he spoke.

  Her heart jumped to her throat. The sight of him there with a gun in his hand was so unexpected. “Did you shoot Oscar?”

  “I had to. He was crazy.” Egan shoved his glasses up on his nose, words spilling out of him like bats from a cave. “I had to protect my fossils.”

  Bill spoke quietly and Heather realized he was trying to buy time, to calm Egan down. “How did you discover this spot, Dr. Egan?”

  “I hired Leanne to show me around when I first came.” He gestured to Heather. “Your property was vacant, so we hiked here and I spotted this from a distance. Leanne didn’t have a clue what she was looking at. A priceless, breathtaking find right here under everyone’s noses. Unfortunately, when I went back later, Oscar saw me and he wasn’t about to be put off. I had to cut him in or he’d go to Charlie. I paid him to keep an eye on the property. Leanne must have figured out that I had an interest in the area for some reason, because she went back on her own to look around and Oscar killed her, stupid fool.”

  Heather saw Bill’s jaw tighten. His fingers moved toward his gun, but Egan seemed not to notice.

  “What then?” Bill said, voice tight. “What next?”

  “Later Oscar told me his wife figured out what he’d done and he had to kill her, too. It just disintegrated from there.” Egan was sweating heavily, his face unnaturally flushed. “I was going to buy Charlie Moon’s land. I told him there was uranium contamination and no one else would want it. I told him not to tell anyone or he’d have to pay for a cleanup. He agreed, of course, but his nephew suspected something was up.”

  Heather gasped. “Johnny suspected someone was pressuring his uncle to sell?”

  “Yes. That’s when it all started to unravel.”

  Bill’s voice was low and deadly. “Did you help Oscar hide from us after he killed Hazel?”

  “I gave him some money. I had to. I was in too deep. Oscar figured he’d wait for you to find him and use the opportunity to kill Johnny, which would keep my land purchase on track.” Egan looked at Bill. “I think he meant to kill you both, of course, but it didn’t work out. Oscar was a filthy murderer, too concerned with the small details to see the big picture.”

  Heather could not believe what she was hearing. So many deaths. So many lives wasted for a pile of ancient bones. She felt suddenly angry. “What about you? You killed Oscar because you figured he would rat you out if he was captured.”

  “You should have done that,” Egan shouted to Bill. “You had your chance down there at that construction site and you didn’t kill him. I figured if you saw the setup you could stage an ambush or something. That would have solved everything.”

  “Then why did you call and tell Oscar that Bill was at the warehouse? That was you, wasn’t it?” Heather asked.

  “I needed it to be over. I knew Oscar was going to use you to get to Bill and if it didn’t work, the plan could go on for weeks. By that time, someone might stumble onto my find. I had to force a confrontation.”

  Her mind boggled. “You’re a professor and you’re talking about lives here.”

  “Yes,” Bill snapped. “Especially the lives of three women whom Oscar nearly killed.”

  Egan waved the comment aside. “I’d have it, don’t you see? The greatest fossil find of the decade. That was the most important thing.”

  Bill moved so fast, Heather almost missed it. He drew his gun and fired, catching Egan in the shoulder. Egan dropped the gun and clutched his biceps, blood trickling between his fingers. Bill was on him in a moment, and they went down in a pile. The professor was no match for Bill, who turned him over and twisted his hands behind his back, hissing in his ear.

  “Was your buried treasure really worth all those lives, Dr. Egan? At least Charlie Moon will be able to profit from what is rightfully his.”

  Heather forced herself to breathe. It was over. Finally. A Tribal Ranger vehicle rolled up and two officers raced out to take Egan into custody. Margot looked out at the panorama. “Who would have ever thought it?” she murmured. “Right there, right under our noses indeed.”

  Heather walked over to Bill. He stood alone, watching Egan being tended by medics, who had arrived after the police. She wanted to touch him, but she was afraid. There had been so much disappointment heaped upon both of them. She remembered his words after they’d learned of Leanne’s murder.

  I’m not going to let anyone in, Heather. Ever again.

  Her hand stretched out toward his shoulder until she heard him sigh, a broken sad sound that echoed through the warm air. She stopped and turned away.

  Too much time had passed.

  Too much hurt.

  Too late.

  Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked out onto the electric-blue sky and contrasting rust of the earth. They were the same parched cliffs and valleys she’d seen before, but now they did not hold the beauty she used to see.

  Hands touched her shoulders and turned her around. Startled, she looked into Bill’s eyes, gleaming jet-black. He opened his mouth and closed it again, looking away.

  “What is it, Bill?”

  He continued to stare at the blue sky. “I’ve never been good with words.”

  She wondered at the naked emotion on his face, and then it made sense. He was saying goodbye, for good this time. She bit her lip and willed herself not to cry. “It’s okay. I understand.”

  He blinked. “I don’t think you do. I was angry and scared after Leanne died and I started to think the world was against me.”

  “Was? Did something change your mind?”

  He sighed, and this time it was a peaceful sound. “I guess God reminded me that there are still plenty of people around who need forgiveness.”

  Her cheeks warmed. “Like me, for my drinking.”

  His hands stroked her shoulders, her neck. “No, like me for letting you go.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “But you tried …”

  “Not really. I sent a few emails and called once or twice, mostly to assuage my guilt over arresting you. But I should have said …” He stopped for a moment and swallowed hard. “I should have said I love you, Heather. I know you’ve got problems and so do I, but I’ll stick with you through it and we’ll beat whatever we have to face together.”

  She could not control the tears then. “I can’t believe you’re saying this.”

  He tipped her chin up and kissed her deeply. She felt sheer joy scorching her insides, making trails through her soul.

  “I should have said it long ago, but I was afraid to be hurt, afraid to lose someone else.”

  Her heart fluttered so strongly she wondered if he could hear it. “I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.

  “Do you still love me? Or have I waited too long?”

  She answered him with a kiss of her own, pouring all the longing and regret that she’d felt into it, until they both parted, breathless. Her heart beat with a new rhythm, a happy, vibrant song that trilled through mind and body.

  How could she have found everything she needed here in this dry and dusty place? She caressed his cheek, checking to be sure what she’d just experienced was real. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Does this mean you’ll have a chance to learn your way around that cookbook I gave you?”

  He laughed and she thought she’d never heard such a wonderful sound. “Maybe so.”

  “What have you gotten through so far?”

  He frowned in thought. “Let’s see. I think I’ve managed to make my way through the table of contents.”

  Their laughter mingled. Heather looked over to see her mother watching her with a smile on her face, and she knew that there was no greater treasure in the world than what she had been given at that very moment.

  She tilted her face to the sun and kissed him again.

  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

  1. Heather believes that no matter where she goes she will never escape the pain of her mother’s abandonment and her own bad choices. Have you ever felt that way? What is the antidote to this pain?

  2. At one point, Heather makes the decision to leave South Dakota. How do you think her life would have turned out if she had left?

  3. Heather realizes that the only way to heal is to make a choice “that will hurt deeply.” Have you ever had to make a choice like that? What helped you through it?

  4. Aunt Jean tells Bill that Heather will always be tangled around his heart. Who are some people in your life that you no longer see but who remain deeply embedded in your heart?

  5. Heather struggles to accept Margot. What are the qualities that make someone a mother besides the physical act of giving birth?

  6. Heather worries that if she leaves, she will be abandoning her family as her mother did. Do we sometimes make choices to consciously be like our parents, or deliberately choose to be different than they are? Can you identify the choices you’ve made?

  7. Heather feels a mixture of fear, anger and resentment about her mother. How do you think God will help her deal with such emotions?

  8. Margot says of her husband, “We were complete opposites and I loved him instantly.” Which of Margot’s qualities probably attracted Heather’s father?

  9. How did motherhood feel like a punishment to Margot?

  10. As Margot points out, there is no rational reason why someone is compelled to love a person just because they gave birth to them. If God taught us how to love, why do we make such a mess of it sometimes?

  11. Bill says, “I’m not going to let anyone in, Heather. Ever again.” What other characters in the novel appear to have made the same decision? Do they change as the novel progresses?

  12. Tank is a noble canine friend, as is Choo Choo. How does God use animals to bless us in our daily lives?

  ISBN: 9781408951415

  Buried Truth

  © Dana Mentink 2011

  First Published in Great Britain in 2011

  Harlequin (UK) Limited

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

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