“You understand it’s your duty to report anything you find out?”
“I think you’ll find, corporal, we’ve been doing just that.”
“I guess you have,” he acknowledged grudgingly. “But I’d still like to know where you get your information.”
“That’s my business, but Maggie and I promise to let you in on anything else we feel you should know.”
After they left, Brossard stood up and kicked his wastepaper basket clear across the room.
They stayed to have dinner in Williams Lake, so it was close to eight before they turned off onto the Wild Rose Lake Road. The sun was still well above the coastal mountains in the west, and a cool breeze blew pleasantly over their faces as they drove with the Jeep’s top down. “Look,” Maggie exclaimed. She pointed to a small plane circling the lake. “It’s a bit late for someone to be landing.” She watched the plane make its final approach. “Looks as if it’s coming down farther up the lake.”
“Wonder who it is?” Nat said, trying to drive and watch at the same time.
“Same type as Nordstrom’s. But it could be anyone.” They drove along the lake road in pleasant silence. “Hey!” Maggie said, “you’ve passed the entrance to the ranch.”
“I know,” Nat answered with a smile. “Thought we’d take a drive to a nice spot I noticed yesterday. It’s close to the Harknesses’ place.” He drove until they were a few hundred yards from the ranch turnoff, then pulled over into a clump of bushes. “This will do.” Taking her hand, he led her through the trees until they were at the edge of a sandy beach. He pulled her down to sit next to him.
“I think we’re trespassing on the Harknesses’ land, but it’s so beautiful here, I don’t care,” Maggie breathed.
“What the Harknesses don’t know won’t hurt them.” He put his arm around her. “We’ll sit here, watch the sunset and forget all about the Harknesses, the Guthries and kidnappings.”
“What a wonderful idea.” She relaxed, leaning against him. Then she suddenly sat bolt upright.
“What’s the matter?” he demanded.
“The dock. I can just see the Harkness dock from here.”
“It doesn’t matter. They can’t see us.”
“But,” she insisted, “that plane we saw circling—it’s moored there.”
Nat struggled to his feet, walked further down the beach and peered toward the dock. “You’re right,” he said, when he returned to Maggie. “You think it’s Nordstrom’s?”
“We’re a bit too far away to be sure. Can’t see the markings from here.”
“Then we’ll get closer. Come on.” Taking her hand and using the bushes that edged the lake for protection, he led her toward the dock. They were about fifty yards from it when Nat pulled her back into the bushes. “Well, is it Nordstrom’s?” he asked.
“I still can’t be sure.”
“You stay here and I’ll slip down and see if there is any way of identifying it.”
“But suppose someone comes? You’ll be caught.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be as quick as I can. Just stay well back.”
“No. I’ll come with you.”
“There’s no sense in both of us taking the risk. Just sit tight.” Cautiously leaving the shelter of the bushes, he trotted along the beach and onto the dock, stepped onto the plane’s float, then opened the cabin door and climbed into the pilot’s seat.
Maggie was the one who heard the voices. “Nat,” she called. He didn’t hear her. “Nat!” she called again, waving frantically to get his attention. She had to get nearer. Moving quickly to the edge of the water, she called again. “Nat!” This time he looked up and saw her making an urgent gesture for him to come back, but it was too late. The voices were too close. Scuttling back to the shelter of the bushes, she watched helplessly as he made a quick decision and climbed over the seat back, and disappearing into the rear of the plane. Damn! They’ll see him!
Heart hammering, she listened to the sound of feet scrunching along the gravel road that led from the house to the beach, and crouching down, she quickly retreated further back into the bushes. The wait, knowing it was inevitable that Nat would be caught, was interminable. They’ll see him! Then, as she watched, the door of the plane opened slightly and Nat lowered a long cylindrical object gently into the water. What the hell’s he doing? Moments later, a second cylinder followed the first, and the door closed. Maggie didn’t realize that she’d been holding her breath until it was obvious that the people walking toward the plane were so busy arguing, they hadn’t seen a thing.
“Please, I’m sorry. I didn’t know!” a woman’s voice said.
Kate? That’s Kate’s voice! Maggie’s first instinct was to rush out of the cover of the trees and go to her.
“Oh, grow up.” That’s Nordstrom!
If that’s Kate and Nordstrom, who are the others? Maybe Jerry Harkness has been faking and he can walk! Then another thought came to her. Perhaps they’re the other partners mentioned on that mine contract. In any case, Kate seemed to be unhappy about being with them, and Maggie just hoped that Nat wouldn’t try to do a rescue act. Nordstrom was a big man, and by the look of it, he had plenty of help.
Terrified that they would see her, Maggie retreated even further into the bushes and hunkered down before the foursome reached the plane. Although she felt safer, it was now difficult for her to see clearly what they were doing. But she heard a man’s voice say, “Here, take your bag.”
Oh God, they’re getting into the plane! Minutes passed before she peeked out again and recognized Nordstrom’s bulk as he stepped onto the float to untie the mooring rope from the strut, and then give the plane a push away from the dock before climbing in himself.
They must have seen him by now! But the craft just bobbed up and down for a few moments, the engine started, and the plane taxied to the middle of the lake. Maggie was about to get to her feet when she realized that one of the people had not got aboard the plane and was still standing on the dock, watching the aircraft take to the air. A good few minutes passed before the figure finally turned and walked back toward the ranch.
Maggie remained in the shadows. What the hell am I going to do now? For a brief moment, she thought about following the figure back to the ranch, but realized that she and Nat would be in considerable danger if Jerry or his ranch hands were somehow mixed up in abducting Guthrie and now Kate.
• • •
NAT, COVERED BY the blanket he had found behind the rear seat, lay huddled awaiting discovery when something landed heavily on his head. “Ooph!” The sound came from him involuntarily, and he waited tensely for someone to yank the blanket from him, but the blubbering coming from the person on the other side of the seat and the roar of the engine seemed to have covered the sound.
“Here, I’ll shove these boxes over,” Nat heard, and another heavy object was dumped on top of him. “And for Chrissake, stop crying.” The order was delivered in a voice that Nat didn’t recognize.
“But . . . why can’t I just stay at the ranch?” Kate! That’s Kate’s voice. What’s she doing here?
“I’ll explain when you’ve calmed down,” the man answered her.
“This baby feels heavy,” the pilot shouted, as he eased back on the stick. “It must be you, Kate. We’ll have to toss you out!”
That’s Nordstrom! Nat thought.
“But I only weigh . . . ” Kate began.
“He’s only joking,” the other man shouted over the increased noise of the engine. “Must be the air cylinders,” he yelled.
“Forgot about them. Anyway, it’s only eighty miles to Shadow Lake.”
The rest of the conversation was lost to Nat as the Otter started to climb. Eighty miles! How the bloody hell am I going to get out of this thing? He spent the next forty-five minutes in strained discomfort, a feeling greatly intensified as they started their descent. This could be it, Nat old son! He felt and heard the swish as the floats touched the water and then a steady thrum as
the plane taxied a short way before the engine was cut.
“Home sweet home,” the man in the passenger seat said. “For now, anyway.”
“Why did you have to bring me here?” Kate sounded completely miserable.
“You two get out,” Nordstrom said. “I’ll pass the stuff out to you.”
Not my blanket, please!
Nat felt the plane rock as the two climbed out and Nordstrom began heaving their baggage out after them. “Here, take these,” Nordstrom said. “We can come back for the rest later.”
“Here, give me the briefcase,” the other man said. “Don’t want anything happening to that!”
“My bag,” Kate protested. “I’ll need that.”
No, you don’t, Kate! Nat had managed to move the first bag that had landed on his head, but Nordstrom would have to lean over him to get to it. But to his relief, Nordstrom slammed the door, and Nat could hear Kate’s complaints growing distant as the men hurried her away from the plane.
He waited a few minutes before peeking out of the side window. The light was fading so rapidly now that he had a job to make out the trio as they neared the end of a long dock, then began climbing a flight of wooden steps set into the bank. Above the steps, Nat could make out a cabin nestled in the trees. Beyond it, the land rose toward the mountains. He waited until they had disappeared into the trees, hoping they wouldn’t return for the rest of the luggage before he had made his escape.
Once he was on the dock, he realized he had two choices: lower himself into the cold lake water and swim ashore further along or take a chance and follow the trio. The thought of the cold water and wet clothes made him decide to take a chance and follow them. As he quickened his pace, his foot caught on an iron ring set in the rotting planks of the floating dock, and he just managed to prevent himself from overbalancing. Damn!
Rushing, he realized, could be as hazardous to his health as being caught by Nordstrom and his friend. He could have ended up taking a swim in that cold, clear water after all. That’s all I need!
Knowing there was nowhere to hide if one of the men came back to the aircraft, he made up for walking slowly along the dock by running up the wooden steps toward the cottage above, and by the time he reached the top, he was panting so hard that he was sure someone would hear his rasping breath. But his luck held, and he sank into the shadows of the surrounding brush, taking great gulps of air before looking for a better hiding place.
“We’ll only be a few minutes.” The door of the cabin opened, and Nat caught a glimpse of Kate before it was shut again. He held his breath as the two men passed within feet of where he crouched, but he waited until they had descended to the dock before slipping over to peer through the cabin window. Kate, still huddled in her coat, was filling a big enamel coffee percolator with water. He was considering tapping on the window to attract her attention, but realized the two men were returning, with Nordstrom leading the way, carrying a box of groceries while the other man lugged Kate’s suitcase in one hand and a roll of bedding under his other arm.
“You couldn’t have put them in,” the other man said. Nat managed to catch a glimpse of the man as he passed close to his hiding place. He was a good head taller and slimmer than Nordstrom, and by the way he had bounded up the stairs carrying the suitcase and bedding, in better physical condition.
“I already told you I didn’t,” Nordstrom answered testily. “I gave them to Jerry’s ranch hand to stow.” Nordstrom put the box on the ground while he opened the door.
“They couldn’t have walked off by themselves,” the other man said angrily. The door closed with a bang behind them.
Nat couldn’t help smiling. No. Those cylinders are swimming in the lake near the Harkness dock!
• • •
AFTER WATCHING THE PLANE disappear, Maggie waited to be sure the fourth person had really gone before she started to move stealthily through the bushes to where they had left the Jeep. Once, the eerie cry of a loon split the silence and she paused momentarily, her heart pounding. When she reached the Jeep, she climbed in, so tense that even the sharp barking of one of the ranch dogs made her jump. If I can hear that dog, they can hear me from the ranch when I start the motor. Twice her hand reached for the ignition key and both times she pulled it back. Then the air was suddenly rent with the high-volumed, gloriously exuberant tones of Glen Miller’s In the Mood. Someone in the ranch house had turned on the hi-fi and was playing it full blast with the windows wide open, and under cover of the music, Maggie started the Jeep. Although it was now dusk, she resisted using her headlights as she drove back to the Guthries’ ranch, relying instead on the light of the watery moon, which made occasional appearances amid the increasing cloud cover.
Nat’s cabin was just as he had left it, unlocked and with the drapes wide open. After closing them, she walked to the table. Where the heck have they taken you? She stared down at the map that he had left spread out and ran her finger first south and then north from Wild Rose Lake. Shadow Lake, of course! Her finger moved back to Wild Rose Lake, then followed the road north. It was a lot more than eighty miles by road, she decided. After refolding the map, she slipped it into her jacket pocket.
At the house, the dogs greeted her ecstatically, and after giving each of them a biscuit from the crock on the counter, she shut them in the kitchen and made her way to the second floor. The four upstairs bedrooms were joined by an open balcony that overlooked the living area. Kate’s room was at the opposite end to Maggie’s, with two guest rooms and a bathroom in between. Pushing Kate’s bedroom door open, she saw clothes closets wide open, drawers spilling undergarments, and discarded items flung across the bed and chair. The look of a hasty departure and the silence of the house suddenly got to her, and she ran out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen, where the dogs thudded their tails in greeting. What am I going to do? Call the police? But Nat hadn’t been kidnapped. In fact, he was a stowaway, an illegal and unwanted passenger on the plane. Brossard would probably brush her off, since he had warned them not to meddle. No, she had to take care of this alone, and as far as she could see, there was absolutely nothing she could do until the morning, when she would at least have an even chance of not getting lost on the unmarked dirt roads. What I really need right now is a stiff drink, but I’ll settle for hot chocolate. “And you two beauties,” she said to the Labs as she waited for the kettle to boil, “are going to sleep with me upstairs tonight.” But although a comfort, the dogs took up too much room on the bed, and she only managed to doze off now and again as she worried about her boss.
• • •
NAT, IN THE MEANTIME, had waited until the soft glow of an oil lamp was shining from the kitchen window before he began looking for a place to sleep. He moved stealthily up the hill, past the side of the cabin and around to the back of it, where the shape of a shed loomed out of the dark. Just what I’m looking for! But the sound of the back door opening and the wavering beam of a flashlight made him freeze in his tracks, then melt into the shadows as the carrier of the light reached the shed and lifted the wooden peg out of the hasp on the door. Moments later, Nat scuttled further back into the trees as the ear-splitting noise of a generator filled the air. Bloody hell! That was a bit too close for comfort.
Waiting a good five minutes after the man emerged again from the shed and re-entered the house, Nat slipped over to it and, quietly removing the peg, sneaked inside, immediately colliding with a pile of small logs that had been stacked under the window. The noise as the top row tumbled down onto the earth floor made him freeze again. But nobody came rushing out to confront him. It was at that moment that a watery moon, peeping through the overcast sky, shed its dim light through the window and onto the contents of the cluttered shed. Knowing the moonlight would go as quickly as it had come, he quickly restacked the wood, then stumbled over to where a small, wooden, squareended dinghy was leaning against the back wall and slipped in behind it. As he leaned back, his thoughts went to Maggie, and he wondered
what she’d done after seeing him disappear into the Otter. There was no way for her to know where the plane had flown to. Would she go to Brossard? Somehow, I don’t think so. Then, even though the generator was extremely noisy, he found himself nodding off.
The sound of the door being opened and the beam of the flashlight bouncing on the walls of the shed brought him to. Holding his breath and hoping that no part of his body was visible, he listened as the generator was turned off and the man departed. Crawling out of his hiding place, he stretched his cramped legs and then scuttled back to spend the long, uncomfortable night dozing and worrying about Maggie.
CHAPTER TWELVE
It was the sound of heavy rain on the shed roof just before dawn that wakened Nat. Where the hell am I? The dinghy extending over him brought it all back. He squinted at his watch in the faint light. Nearly four thirty. Struggling to his knees, he crawled out from behind the boat. Let’s hope they’re all late sleepers and don’t want to start up that blasted generator again. “I’m meant for comfort,” he muttered, as he reached out to the generator to assist him onto his feet. Once upright, he stretched his sore and aching limbs. “And I need my morning coffee!” Luckily for Nat, the door hadn’t been refastened by the unknown man the night before, so he was able to push it open a crack. He was met by a curtain of rain. Confident that he was the only early riser, he turned up his jacket collar and made a dash for the protection of the overhanging eaves on the blind side of the cottage, then moved around the corner and peeked through the kitchen window. No sign of anyone up yet.
Although the cottage had been built on a flat shelf overlooking the lake, the tree-covered land behind it sloped sharply upward. Wishing he had Chandler’s map with him, Nat tried to remember the Shadow Lake Mine area on it. I’m sure it showed a road on the north side of the lake, with a side road leading to the mine. There must be other cottages along the lake, and I can catch a lift back to civilization. There was no way he was going to risk his neck by hiding in the plane for a return journey.
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