Quinn elected to use the PC, since it was on the table with the landline phone. He made a copy of the memory files from my Mac with his own memory stick, and I slumped on the loveseat with my MacBook Pro. I tried searching “amber crystals, bonding ceremonies,” but didn’t get any direct hits. Mostly I found a lot of lore about crystals.
Amber is one of the first substances used by man for medicinal purposes and is felt to be a talisman of great power.
The crystal is a highly calming stone that facilitates energy balancing and cleansing. It removes psychic attacks and energy draining from others, and is used by healers as a protective shield against taking on others’ pain in healing work. Also used as a preventative measure for traveling, may also help to prevent jet lag or sickness when traveling.
I chuckled and turned the small piece of stone in my fingers. “Guess I’d better bring this with me next time we fly.”
Quinn held the phone to his ear and put up a finger to shush me. I went back to searching, but found nothing on bonding ceremonies, except for weird references to Satanic practices.
Shrugging that one off, I started a new search using “crystals” and “ceremonies.” A shamanic healing ceremony page came up, and in one section it referred to healing using gemstones.
Crystals and gemstones have spirits and energies as well; they can be used to activate energies within a person's body, mind, and spirit. Use the laying on of gemstones and crystals to facilitate extraction healing and energy balancing.
Healing? I looked at the dog and wondered. Was Callie trying to heal Beau? She was always fearful that he’d contracted some horrible illness and would die. Maybe she was trying to cure him from some imagined malady? Or prevent him from getting sick?
My brain started percolating.
And maybe, somehow, in a weird and cosmic quirk, the crystal’s energy produced a psychic link between her and Beau.
Turning the crystal again in my fingers, I pondered the crazy thoughts. At this point, it was all I had.
Roberta came into the room suddenly, flushed from scurrying from table to kitchen to cash register. Her ponytail had lost a few stray bits of gray hair. “Marcella. I just remembered, I wanted to mention something to you.” She plopped on the couch beside me, noticing the shaman page. “I spoke with one of my healer friends. They said if there was a bond between Callie and the dog, it would only work if the crystal was in close proximity to his soul.” She looked down at Beau. “Or in this case, his collar.”
I sat up. “What?”
She called him over. “Right. You broke the link when you removed the amber from his collar.”
A chill ran through me. “Of course! The crystal was inside his collar when I felt the connection.” I felt like smacking my head, but refrained.
I hugged Roberta and called Beau. He lumbered toward me, and jumped onto the couch between us, squishing us into the armrests. I hugged him, then turned to my aunt, who’d jumped up at the sound of the entry bell ringing in a new customer. “Do you have a needle and thread?”
“Check out that junk drawer over there, honey. Should be some in there.”
I rooted through the pens and pencils, scissors, staples, post-it notes, and screwdrivers. Finally, in the back, my hand closed around a packet of needles with various samples of thread wrapped around a cardboard shuttle. “Got it.” I scurried back to the loveseat, removed Beau’s collar, and started stitching the crystal back into it.
Quinn remained glued to the PC and phone. With each passing call, he grew more frustrated. “I can’t believe it. Apparently none of these people exist.”
“What?” I forced the thread through the tough fabric of the dog collar and squinted at the tiny stitches.
“Every time I find a listing that matches the names on the medical records, I either get a dead line, someone who doesn’t speak English, or I get hung up on.”
I bit the thread with my teeth to cut it and grimaced. “Are you really surprised? Those people have to be scared to death. If their secrets were so important somebody killed Willow, trashed our house, torched Outsourcers, beat up Dr. Trebangle, and drove Sky into the woods to hide, what’d you expect? They must be scattered to the winds and hope nobody ever finds them.”
He rubbed his hands over his eyes. “I know. But I’d hoped—”
“Keep trying. Maybe you’ll get someone who’ll talk. Meanwhile, I’m going to cuddle here with Beau and hang onto his collar.”
He shot me a questioning look. “Feel anything yet?”
I gripped and re-gripped the collar. “No. Not yet.” With my eyes closed, I tried to clear my mind. Think about Callie. Focus.
After five minutes, he sat beside us. “I’m getting hungry. Anything at all?”
Frustrated, I frowned. “No.”
“Hey, maybe it needs to be charged up or something. Maybe the energy doesn’t just work right out of the box.”
I laughed. “Maybe. But I’m starting to feel pretty kooky.”
He pulled me up from the couch and put his arms around me, nose to nose. He nuzzled me, and I felt his long lashes flutter on my cheeks. “You’re no more kooky than usual, sweetums.”
With a huff, I shoved him backwards, but couldn’t control the laugh that burst from me. “Quinn!”
“Come on, let’s go eat some of Roberta’s chow.”
Beau looked up. He’d stretched out on the full length of the sofa. His tail thumped three times.
“Maybe I should walk him first. Why don’t you go ahead and order for me? If there’s any of that soup left, I want it. A big bowl.”
“You got it. See you in five.”
Chapter 24
Pine trees dotted the sandy back lot of The Mountain Memories shop, rising at a steep angle to the side of a mountain that reached for the cloudless sky. I walked Beau up the incline, letting him sniff the base of each tree and the tufts of tall grass that spread between them. A cool breeze ruffled the pines overhead, bringing with it the scent of September. Although Labor Day was far away, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of fall. By autumn, my friend would be found, Sky would be safe, and all of this foolishness would be behind us.
Wouldn’t it? I glanced overhead at the sound of an approaching helicopter. It droned in the distance, grew louder, then faded away.
Were they looking for Sky?
For us?
Beau pulled me higher into a dense copse of balsams. A rabbit scurried out from a thicket, white tail bobbing frantically as he made his escape. Beau’s strength surprised me; I knew he was strong, but when he wrenched the leash out of my hands, I froze for a minute, shocked at his behavior. “Beau! Stop.”
Deliriously happy now, feet scrambling up the hill in the dirt, Beau tracked his prey.
I climbed after him, slipping and sliding as the pitch steepened. “Beau! Damn it! Come here.”
The dog turned to look at me. I swear to God, he smiled. Definitely laughing now, he continued his quest until the lucky rabbit found his hole and ducked inside. By the time I reached him, he’d begun to dig like a mad dog, paws scrabbling furiously into the sandy dirt.
Clumps of dirt hit me in the face and chest when I approached him, flying through the air like missiles. “Beau! Stop.”
I reached his tail, clamped onto it, and pulled myself the rest of the way up the incline. He paid no attention, but continued to dig. Huffing now, I flopped to the ground beside him and wrapped my fingers around his collar. “Beau. What in the world were you thinking? You might have gotten lost up here, for God’s sake.”
With a dirt-covered muzzle, the dog grinned again, then lapped my face and hands. I held tight, trying to keep him from slobbering all over me, but not wanting to let him loose again.
“Beau, I—”
Bright white light shot through me, blinding me. A tingling electric shock coursed through my hand, up my arm, and into my torso.
I saw Callie’s face. Her violet eyes turned toward me. The bruised skin above and below th
em testified to the beatings she’d taken. Her cheek, purple and puffy, made me cringe. Involuntarily, I cried out her name. Beau licked my face again, but I could see only Callie’s once pretty hair—stringy now and unwashed, her hands bloody from trying to claw her way out of the locked room. The window had been boarded over now, but through the slit I heard the sound of running water.
A waterfall.
Her voice came to me, plaintive and clear as the pristine water in the lake outside her cabin. “Marcie? Where are you?”
With a start, I let go of the collar and fell back. The connection faded, the sounds subsided. Beau lay beside me, lapping me clean of the unpleasant memories. Maybe he’d seen them, too. Was his big heart breaking, like mine?
Quinn’s voice called from below. “Marcella? You okay? Soup’s on.”
I yelled down to him with a shaky voice. “Be right there. Beau decided to chase a rabbit.”
He waved hesitantly at me when I stood and grabbed Beau’s collar again.
Shading his eyes, he hollered, “You okay? You got him?”
“Yeah. Be right down.” Slowly, I descended with the dog at my side.
This time, there was no doubt about it. I’d seen and heard Callie. And she was in a heap of trouble. If we didn’t find her soon, the bastards would kill her.
Quinn and Roberta greeted me in the back room, where she’d set up TV trays by the loveseat. I worried that Beau might topple them over and spill the food everywhere, but he stretched, sniffed the air once, and lay down near Mimi, who still snoozed in the corner. I didn’t blame him for wanting the comfort of a warm body beside him. I’d rather have lain down beside the soft lavender dog than face what I saw in the vision.
“What’s wrong?” Quinn sat beside me, handing me a napkin.
I plopped onto the sofa and slid behind the tray, mechanically picking up the spoon and stirring the tomato soup.
Roberta leaned down and touched my hand. “Marcella. Honey, you’re white as a sheet.”
I took a sip, but didn’t taste the savory flavor I’d enjoyed so much the day before. Somehow, I tasted grit and a coppery, bloody flavor, as if I’d bit through my lip and it dribbled into my mouth. I shuddered and folded my arms across my chest. “I saw her again.”
Without an explanation, they both knew what I meant. Roberta slid the chair from the PC over to my side. “Callie?”
“Yeah. The crystal thing worked, I guess.”
Quinn’s jaw dropped. “Whoa.”
I lay back and closed my eyes. “I saw her. More beat up now. Bruised around the eyes and her cheek has a huge purple lump on it. She’s been trying to get away, her hands are all bloody where she scratched at the door.”
Roberta stroked my cheek. “What did she say?”
How she knew I’d heard Callie’s voice, I wasn’t sure. “She called my name. She’s wondering why we haven’t found her yet.” As if I hadn’t been ever able to hold in my emotions, they flooded out of me in an embarrassing burst of sobs that wouldn’t end.
Quinn put his arm around me. I soaked his shirtfront. Roberta continued to pat my hand.
After five minutes of uncontrolled hysteria, Roberta’s assistant, Belinda, peeked in the door. “Everything okay in here?”
Roberta waved her away. “It’s okay, sweetie. I’ll be out in a sec.”
The girl stared at me for a second, then backed away with eyes downcast.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what got into me.” I sniffled and blew my nose. “It’s so embarrassing.”
Roberta stood. “Don’t you worry, honey. It’s not uncommon to have that kind of reaction after a crystal vision.”
I looked up at her hopefully, wanting to place the blame anywhere but on my weakened constitution. “Really?”
She brushed her hands on her apron and smiled with my father’s smile. My heart squeezed into a mush of poignant sadness. I missed him so much, and his eyes sparkled from her sweet face every time I saw her. My father’s twin made a soft, comforting sound. “Really. You rest now, honey.” She backed out of the door and closed it softly.
“You okay, babe?”
I nodded. “I think so. But damn, we’ve got to find that waterfall, Quinn. I heard it again, and could see it glistening through the slats in Callie’s window.”
“How many waterfalls do you think there are in the Adirondacks?” Quinn slurped the rest of his cooling soup and took his crusty bread over to the PC. “About ten billion?”
I sighed and rubbed my fingers over my eyes. “Probably. Damn. We’ll never find her, will we?”
Beau snuffled a bark in his sleep, and his legs moved spastically. I got up and crouched beside him, running my fingers over his silky ears. The action comforted me, probably more than it did him. “He really wanted to catch that rabbit.” I sat beside him with my legs tucked under me, and laughed hysterically when he whimpered and his legs pumped wildly again. With a whooping gulp of tears and laugher, I almost lost it.
Forcing myself to calm down, I breathed deeply. Don’t cry again. Geez. Get hold of yourself.
After a few dangerous hiccups that threatened more tears, I managed to get myself under control. “God. I’m such a mess.”
“You’re not a mess, you’re a beautiful human being.” He didn’t turn around, but stared at the maps we’d loaded from my laptop into the PC on the desk in front of him. “And I love every inch of you. Here. Put some of this on.” He turned and stretched his hand toward me, handing me the Stress Away roll-on.
I reached for the green bottle and swirled it on my wrist. Inhaling it until I felt stronger, I capped the bottle and slid it into my jeans pocket. With a final sniffle, I told him I loved him, too, and nibbled on a crusty roll.
Chapter 25
We dropped Beau back at Tall Pines after an afternoon of fruitless searching on the Internet and the maps I’d purchased at Charlie Johns. The number of marked waterfalls in the region was overwhelming—and without some sort of clue to sort them out, it would be almost like searching for a particular pine tree in the six million acre park. We had, however, isolated sixteen waterfalls on Sky’s memory stick files. But cabins weren’t marked beside them, and even if the kidnappers were keeping her locally, there was no way of telling which waterfall was just outside Callie’s window. We’d need a local expert to help us narrow it down. And who knew? Maybe they had her in Canada, or New Hampshire. There was no guarantee that they were holding her near us.
MedicuRX was huge, and they probably had thugs all over the continent. Some to hold and torture Callie, some to search the area for Sky, and some to break into our little house and tie my poor mother to a chair.
Quinn turned the van up the hill. I stared when we passed the Trebangle’s trailer, and I tried to shake off the feeling of doom that sat like unleavened dough in my stomach.
Quinn pulled into a sandy parking spot much farther down the road than we’d parked before. “Okay. Let’s go before it gets pitch black.”
We grabbed our gear and started the long walk back to the Trebangles’ trailer.
I swatted at a mosquito. “Where are we gonna hide?”
Quinn scuffed his hiking boots along the dirt road, looking grim. “Around back, I guess. Where they can’t see us from the road. And under the most dense cover we can find.”
“What about the house? Shouldn’t we check it to see if they trashed it?”
He shook his head. “Much as I want to, I don’t dare. What if they have another camera set up out there? They’ve got wireless ones now, you know. They could hide them anywhere. On the mailbox. In the bushes. Anywhere.”
“I guess. I just keep thinking of what they did to our house, and all the nice things Mrs. Trebangle kept in there.”
He stopped and looked at me, his eyes burning intensely into mine. “They’re just things. Furniture. Pictures. Afghans.”
“I know.” I didn’t want to admit that I cared way too much about my own things and was royally pissed off when t
hey trashed my stuff. I had a feeling Mrs. Trebangle would understand, but let it slide.
He readjusted his backpack. “What matters now is that we help Sky.”
I kept walking, listening to the crickets and watching the purple-indigo sky grow steadily black. “I know. And together, we can find Callie.”
“Righ—”
The sound of an approaching vehicle stopped him. Quinn’s face tightened. “In the woods. Now.”
We scrambled into the underbrush and toward a massive granite boulder. Although the light had almost faded, shapes still loomed in the shadows. We couldn’t see every twig and leaf, but we made it without killing ourselves. I dropped behind the rock into the musty smelling pile of leaves and ferns, holding my breath as an old VW van trundled past. The Doors first album blared out the open windows. “Let me sleep all night, in your soul kitchen, warm my mind with your gentle stove.”
The idea of sharing my warm stove with a sexy guy like Jim Morrison sent a ridiculous shot of desire through me. With a shake of my head, I chastised myself for having such crazy thoughts at a time like this. Heck. I shouldn’t be thinking like this at any time. I’m a progressive woman, not some kind of heathen animal who jumps on guys wearing black leather pants with no underwear. It’s just not me. And I’m married. Yeah. That, too. I’m happily married.
Quinn stiffened and whispered. “What?”
I straightened as the sound of the car faded. He was so damned intuitive. I realized something in my demeanor must have alerted him to my musings. Wife goes sex-mad after reconnecting with her checkered past. I recovered fast and told only half a lie. “Nothing. The music just reminded me of the first time you and I…” Quinn and I had made love many times to that album. I’d just never told him I’d done the same deed with Sky while Morrison crooned in my ears and made me dance the mad hula atop Sky’s hard body.
He took my hand and squeezed it. “Ha. Me, too. I always think of it when I hear that song.”
Tall Pines Mysteries: A Mystery/Suspense Boxed Set Page 36