24
When Sergeant Gary suspected Nora of murder he drove to the mountain. But a threat on her life only warranted a junior Mouseketeer who took notes. He never even scouted around the property. Finding Alex on the mountain probably presented an impossible mission. The officer flipped his notebook closed and headed toward his cruiser.
Heather hid somewhere alone out there with Alex. With all the confidence of youth, she thought this bad-ass loved her and wouldn’t hurt her. What a mess Heather created for herself.
Evening pushed around the corners of the afternoon. She wanted Abigail home and safely locked inside before darkness covered them all. Abbey and Charlie provided some comfort but not any real protection. Both of them dozed by the lodge, in the last strength of the sun.
A middle-aged couple with daypacks strapped on their backs appeared near the top of the run and tramped across the slope, disappearing into the forest. At the peak of hiking season, today couldn’t be any more perfect. The forest might seem empty but Nora counted four or five hiking couples that afternoon.
Cole swung into the lot on his mountain bike. He braked by the cop and climbed off the bike.
Great.
Nora turned from the railing. “I’ve got to do something about Barrett.”
“Hmm.” Charlie picked up a beer from the bench beside him. It might be the same can sitting by him for two hours. Maybe he didn’t drink as much as she thought. Could be he carried around an open can out of habit. “I hate to see you leave this mountain, sugar. But she needs a rest from the skiers.”
Nora stared at the grassy slope. Instead of enjoying a mountain lawn, as she used to, she cringed at a bald swath once covered by pines. To add insult, the tire tracks from the trenchers left muddy scars. “I thought making snow would fix all my problems. We’d have money, Scott would be happy. I’d be the success my mother always wanted.”
“Hold on there, honey.” Charlie sounded almost energetic. “Your mother is proud of who you are, not what you’ve done.” Super. Now Charlie and Heather tag-teamed for Abigail.
“Anyway,” Nora said. “Nothing has changed about making snow. Kachina Ski won’t survive without it and with it, I’ll be rich in a matter of a few years.”
Charlie’s voice settled back into half consciousness. “True.”
Her mouth almost couldn’t form the next sentence. “But it’s wrong.”
“Now you’re talking.”
“The arguments are still valid: Kachina Ski only uses less than one fourth of a percent of the mountain, more moisture would be good for biodiversity and vegetation; more commerce would help the local economy. It’s all there.”
“Yep.”
“Why have I changed?”
“You’re seeing the light.”
She wouldn’t admit the little kachina salesman held any sway over her but his words about her protecting the mountain sank deep into her heart. “It’s Barrett. He’s desperate for snowmaking and I don’t know why. It’s like he’s sprinkled evil powder over it all and now it feels bad.”
“Mac has that effect on life.”
Mac. It sounded too familiar. Nora left the rail and sat next to Charlie. “There’s something between you guys, isn’t there?”
Charlie stared at the beer can. “Not anymore.”
“What happened?”
“It was a long time ago, honey. All I can say now is don’t trust him.”
Nora waited while he gulped his beer. “Come on, Charlie. Tell me.”
He considered a moment. “We were all young and out to save the world.”
“Who is ‘we’?”
His eyes gazed decades into the past. “Me and Barrett and Ester.”
“Ester?”
“A woman of uncommon strength and breeding. The only woman on this green earth that could rival your queenly mother for beauty, grace and intelligence.”
Nora rolled her eyes.
He patted her knee. “Pain is best left to the past.”
They sat together for a few moments letting the last of the day’s sun soak the rawness from their hearts.
Cole climbed up the stairs to the deck. “Hi, Nora. Charlie.”
Charlie stirred and stood, crushing his can and dropping it in a pocket. “Got some recon to attend to.”
Nora jumped up. “Wait. Don’t go.”
Charlie glanced from Nora to Cole. “Aw, he’s okay.”
Cole raised his eyebrows at Charlie as if asking a silent question. Charlie answered with a slight shrug and walked down the steps.
It surprised Nora that evening advanced so far she needed to squint to see Cole. “What’s up with you and Charlie?” Abbey trotted over to Cole with a wagging tail. Too bad Nora couldn’t trust the dog’s character instincts. On the other hand, Abbey had never been all that fond of Scott.
“We have a pact to keep an eye on you.”
“I trust Charlie. You, not so much.”
He gazed off toward the mountain. “Lots of people out here this evening.”
She shrugged. “It’s a good time of year for hikes and camping.”
He considered her for a minute, a slight lift to his lips. “That stubborn streak of yours is hard to get around sometimes.”
“I’m not stubborn.”
He laughed. “Right. What do you call fighting an uphill battle for years just to get the right to do something you don’t really believe in.”
He was treading on dangerous emotional turf. “How do you know I don’t think snow making is exactly the right thing to do?”
His shrug said her defensiveness sounded too silly for him to argue. “And you stuck by a guy for a long time that didn’t deserve your loyalty.”
“You don’t know anything about it.”
“I know enough. He worked for someone else, lied about the money and cheated on you.”
Thankfully dusk was far enough along he couldn’t see her face flame with embarrassment and anger. “You never met Scott. Maybe he had reasons for what he did.”
“A man can’t justify betrayal.”
“I guess bribing Congressmen doesn’t qualify as betrayal in your book.”
Cole let out a sigh. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She stood up and turned her back to him, crossing her arms against the chill of the night. “Maybe not, but you’re lying to someone about something.”
He’d moved beside her without a sound and his warmth radiated to her back. His voice rumbled low. “I’m not lying about wanting to protect you.”
She thought about what he said and her temper ignited. “I can take care of myself.”
“Really? How prepared are you to face Big Elk?”
She waved him off. “Big Elk’s in jail.”
“Was in jail. He’s out and the cops lost track of him already.”
Nora quit breathing. Big Elk out and at large? She wanted to jump in the Jeep and roar away. She gripped the rail. Hang on. Big Elk wouldn’t attack her. He might send someone else after her but he wouldn’t expose himself that way. She faced no more danger than she had when he was in jail.
Probably.
Cole took hold of her arm and turned her to face him. “Benny said--”
“Benny?”
“My friend on Second Mesa.”
“Second Mesa as in Hopi?”
“Yes. He said the kachinas are supposed to be off the mountain and on the mesas this time of year. But they are still here.”
“You believe they’re real?”
Cole pushed his hair from his forehead. “Hell, I don’t know what is real. I know Benny believes and that’s good enough for me.”
Nora had felt the same way when Heather spoke about Hopi. “You think if someone else believes it that makes it true?”
“What I think is the Hopi have traveled throughout the Southwest way before our ancestors knew a continent existed here. They built shrines and worshipped and along the way developed a relationship to the land or Mother Earth o
r whatever you want to call it. The Hopi communicate with the world in ways others can’t.”
“You may be better looking than Big Elk but you speak the same language.”
Frustration built behind Cole’s words. “Believe what you want but I’m saying that everything is off kilter. People are upset. That translates into you and your mother being in danger. You should stay in town until this is over.”
Nora swallowed the lump of fear rising in her throat
Dangerous liar with a clever delivery or nice guy who cared about her?
“Okay?” He insisted.
She nodded. “Yeah. Soon as she gets back.”
Cole stood for another moment looking as though he might add something more. Then he plodded down the stairs.
Cole’s friend said Big Elk planned something. Hadn’t there been an unusual number of hikers today. And hadn’t most of them been gray-haired, like many of Big Elk’s groupies? In Charlie’s words, something was going down.
Heather was out there somewhere alone with Alex.
25
Nora had to find Heather. Okay, she didn’t have to. Heather did everything she could to push Nora away and she excelled at it. But the girl needed help and Nora felt responsible. Cole suspected Alex camped at the springs. They nestled at the base of a rock pile a fifteen minute hike from the lodge. Nora hollered for Abbey.
True night settled in. Like fireflies, lights flickered here and there. These weren’t awesome fireballs like the night of the lift explosion, but ordinary flashlights. Maybe the activity was nothing more than teenagers out for a party and not some dastardly plan of Big Elk’s. Heather might just be drinking with a bunch of friends. Which was dangerous in its own way but not in league with Big Elk’s murder campaign.
Heather tugged at Nora’s heart in an unexpected way. Nora didn’t owe the girl anything and yet, she felt connected. It was probably some stupid transference of affection for the little sister she never had and always wanted. Or the baby she thought she’d have with Scott. Whatever. She’d confront all that wishy-washy malarkey later and figure out a more appropriate relationship with her employee. But right now, Nora wanted to make sure Heather was safe.
Nora sucked in a deep breath and hurried deeper into the forest. Not far ahead, three people scurried along, their voices close to a whisper. Nora reached down and grasped Abbey’s collar to keep him from joining the others.
The distant boom, boom, boom of drumming thumped in Nora’s head.
“They’ve started. We’re going to be late,” an older man in the group ahead of her said. Definitely not an underage drinking party.
A thin woman with stringy gray hair breathed hard but managed to whine. “It wasn’t my fault. The fuse wouldn’t stay connected.”
The third person, a woman, jogged a few paces to keep up. “I think there are other sites so even if it doesn’t work, it’ll still be spectacular.”
What were Big Elk’s Guilty White People so worked up about? Something with a fuse. The ski lift wasn’t enough, they planned to blow up something else.
Nora followed as the three veered onto an uphill trail. A short but strenuous hike brought them to a clearing. The drumming beat loud enough now that Nora didn’t worry about being heard. They gathered at the site where a plane crashed into the mountain in the early 1970’s. Some of its wreckage still rested in this spot next to an opening to the lava tubes. An easily identifiable landmark, it was a popular place to gather.
And gather they were. A bonfire flared next to the bit of fuselage and Big Elk stood on a flat rock, facing a growing crowd of Natives and Guilty White People. The Flagstaff jail must be a Holiday Inn. They sucked at keeping prisoners locked up.
With Abbey’s collar firmly in her grasp, Nora crouched in the shadow of trees.
Big Elk raised his hands and brought the drumming to a halt. “People of the mountain. Holy people. It is time for us to gather in strength and do what the spirits of the mountain demand of us. The Hopi have responsibility to care for the world and that starts with this mountain. We are joining with our brothers and sisters to take a stand for our Mother when she can’t defend herself.”
The drums pounded and people shouted.
“A powerful kachina came to me last night. He stood outside my shelter with his fire and told me to gather the people on the mountain. He wants to show us his displeasure with what is happening and make us understand that we need to stop the white rapists from destroying our Mother.”
Nothing but a summer repeat. Nora needed to find Heather and get off the mountain.
Big Elk raised his arms. “Show us, great kachinas. What would you have us do?”
Nora took a few steps into the forest. Vibration in the ground shocked her feet before her ears caught the roar. An astonished gasp rose from the forty or so people around Big Elk.
A ball of flames burst from the lava tube making Big Elk’s bonfire looked like a campfire next to the impressive inferno. The Wizard of Oz couldn’t have created a better illusion.
“He is with us!” Big Elk shouted. “He’s giving us a message.”
Another explosion erupted from the forest below. Flames leapt above the trees and escaped into the air. The flash barely extinguished when yet another flare and rumble surged from several hundred yards to the left. Another exploded toward the top of the peak. The crowd gasped and applauded at each successive fire burst.
Big Elk had cleverly staged his mystical pyrotechnical theater from the lava tubes. Maybe he’d rigged fuses through the tubes to connect with each other or maybe he used timers. The balls of flame would ignite the night but since they originated in the rock openings, the risk of forest fires would be slight. The show exhibited drama and flare (literally). But who really believed mountain gods created fire to demonstrate their wrath?
“Are you going to allow Nora Abbott to desecrate the kachina’s home?” Big Elk might be a thin, short man, but next to the fire, with the momentum of the supernatural display, he resembled a roaring lion.
The shouts and enthusiasm of his followers left no question they hungered for blood. Or at least, more destruction of property.
“She ignored our pleas. She plunged the needle into our Mother’s veins and will pump her blood to stain the scars she cut into our Mother’s flesh. Brothers and Sisters of the Earth. I beg you. The spirit commands you, don’t let this happen.”
She had to get out of here before Big Elk’s rant gained critical mass against her. Nora raced down the path, hoping she could make it to the springs to get Heather. That is, if Heather was even at the springs. She crashed along the trail, stumbling over rocks and roots. Each step ignited more fear for Heather.
Finally she made out a weak light shining from the springs. Alex and Heather stood in a clearing, surrounded by the forest on three sides. A huge boulder pile created the fourth boundary. A flat granite rock looked almost like an altar at the base of the boulders and to the side of this, green ferns and yellow flowers ringed a small spring about the size of a child’s backyard wading pool.
“I don’t trust Big Elk,” Heather said. “Don’t do what he says without talking to the elders.”
Alex picked up a wad of bright turquoise colored cloth. A dead animal lay next to a half empty bottle of Wild Turkey. She’d caught them in the middle of a ritual animal sacrifice.
Wait. The dead animal turned out to be some sort of costume with leather and feathers. It didn’t take a genius to spot Scott’s mystical kachina.
“The kachinas want us to act now.”
Heather put a hand on his arm. “I’m just asking you to wait and talk to the elders. Do it for me.”
He kissed her and smiled. “Only for you.”
Nora crashed into the clearing with Abbey following.
Like a squirrel chased by a dog, Alex spun and fled without stopping to see who attacked. He dove for the rock pile…and disappeared.
Heather turned to the forest and scowled. You’d think a sixteen-year old would
be skittish in that situation but she acted more put-out than nervous.
“We need to get out of here!” Nora grabbed Heather’s arm.
Heather pulled back and glared at her.
Wherever Alex had gone he might reappear with his tomahawk and scalp her. Nora didn’t want to wait around for that.
Abbey climbed around the boulders and whined. The lantern only cast enough light to create shadows that danced with menace.
“Let’s go.”
“You shouldn’t be here. This is a sacred place.”
Abbey still worried over the boulders.
Nora didn’t want to go near there. If Alex disappeared, he could reappear.
“Lava tubes,” Heather said.
The rock pile. Stupid! “Here?” She grabbed Heather’s arm and jerked her away.
Heather pulled back. “Leave me alone.”
“The tubes. Big Elk. We’ve got…”
A click and whoosh came from the direction of the rocks. Whatever high tech device Big Elk commissioned must be engaging. It was going to blow!
Nora dove for the dirt.
Armegeddon broke loose in the clearing. Flames engulfed the space then rose before igniting her skin. She felt as if her eardrum’s burst. Incredible light and heat flashed and Nora knew she’d be nothing but a sooty skeleton scattered on the forest floor.
Then it ended.
She couldn’t hear anything. Acrid fumes burned Nora’s nose and her face burned. Heather had been closer to the opening. Was she okay? In the blindness from the flash and smoke, Nora rose to her knees and searched for Heather.
Oh god, where was Heather? She should be close to Nora. She must be flash fried with no trace.
Movement next to the springs drew Nora’s eye. Through smoke, Nora watched Alex heft Heather to his shoulder and disappear into the trees.
26
Nora ran across the slope, slipping on the wet grass. Abbey galloped behind her. Heather had looked like a Raggedy Ann draped on Alex’s shoulder. Please let her be no more injured than Nora had been. Even if Heather survived the explosion, Alex might be the bigger danger.
The Nora Abbott Mystery series Box Set Page 15