by Gerri Hill
After a few minutes of silence, Carl got up too and walked over toward Dusty. As far as Hal could tell, they weren’t talking, just both of them looking upstream, toward the west. He and Curtis again exchanged glances.
“Maybe he misses his wife,” Curtis offered. “I know I do.”
“I don’t miss her so much as her cooking,” Jim said, causing the others to laugh.
“It’s been nice not to have her yakkin’ in my ear all the time,” Graham said, “but yeah, I sure do miss the wife’s biscuits and eggs in the morning.”
“She make gravy too?” Hal asked.
“Oh, yeah. Nice, creamy sausage gravy,” he said. “Hate to say it, but it’s better than what my own momma used to make.”
Hal nodded. “Jean makes a pretty good gravy herself.” He watched as Carl walked off farther upstream. “Wonder what the hell’s up with them? Neither one has said more than a handful of words all evening.”
“Don’t know,” Curtis said.
Dusty finally turned around and came back, but he didn’t sit down. Hal couldn’t stand the suspense.
“What’s up with you?” he asked. “Something out there?”
Dusty turned to look at him, and Hal could swear his eyes were glazed over. It was several seconds before Dusty answered him.
“Yeah. I think something’s out there.” He turned and pointed upstream to where Carl still stood. “Up the creek. Up on Baker’s Ridge.”
“What? You seen something with your binoculars?” Curtis asked.
“No. I just…feel like something’s out there.”
Hal watched him, noticing the nervous twisting of his hands together. “What is it, Dusty? You think the crew from that helicopter is out there or something?”
“I don’t know. Could be.”
“Carl? What you think?” Jim called.
Carl turned around and made his way back to them. “What?”
“Dusty thinks something’s out there. Maybe the crew of that helicopter.”
Carl nodded. “Up on the ridge,” he said slowly. “There’s something up on the ridge.”
Hal turned, his gaze following the creek to where it turned then he looked higher, up to Baker’s Ridge in the distance. It was only a silhouette now, what with the sun having already set behind it. And besides, it was too far away to see anything with the naked eye, so he couldn’t imagine what they thought they saw there. Dusty hadn’t even pulled his binoculars out of his pack one time.
“Don’t see anything,” he said.
“It’s damn near dark,” Graham said. “How could you see anything?”
Carl and Dusty lifted their gazes to the ridge, staring intently at it, but neither said a word. Dusty turned and walked back to the creek. After a few seconds, Carl did the same, taking his spot upstream as he continued to stare off to the west.
Chapter Seventeen
“That was an excellent stew, Anna Gail,” Dana said. “Thank you.”
Butch laughed. “Better than my mother’s rabbit stew?”
Dana gave him a fake smile. “I’ll take chicken over rabbit any day.”
“She loved my mother’s stew,” Butch told the others. “Until that one fateful day in high school when she happened to go into the kitchen when Mom was cutting up the rabbit.”
“Must you tell this story?” Dana asked.
Butch ignored her. “She screamed so loud, we all thought something horrible had happened. She knocked me right over as she ran out of the house,” he said with a laugh.
“I was traumatized,” Dana said in her defense. “In fact, I was afraid to eat anything at your house after that.”
Anna Gail laughed. “Oh, I used to cook rabbit stew when Richard and I first got married. Had his mother’s recipe. I pretended to like it, but it was never one of my favorites,” she said. “What about you, Corey? Have you had rabbit stew?”
Corey shook her head. “No, can’t say that I have. I’m afraid my reaction would be similar to Dana’s, though,” she said.
For some reason, Dana doubted that. She turned to Anna Gail. “Can we help you clean up the kitchen?”
“Well, actually, if you don’t mind helping Holly, that would be nice,” Anna Gail said. “I’ve got to take Richard a bowl for his supper before it gets dark.”
“I don’t mind at all,” Dana said.
“Will he stay there all night?” Corey asked.
“Knowing Richard, he’ll stay there until the power comes back on, however many days that’ll be,” she said. “I don’t believe it’s necessary to guard the place like that, but there’s no arguing with him.”
“I didn’t have a problem at Tommy’s,” Butch said. “We’ve got an account with him anyway, so he put the hay and cubes on our tab like always.”
Anna Gail nodded. “Yes, we have quite a few accounts like that too. They come and settle up once a month when they get their paychecks.” She stood up and took her bowl to the sink. “Did he mention if he was going to stay open?”
“I think he’s kinda like Richard,” Butch said. “Seems like he’s just hanging out at the store there. Just in case,” he said, his voice trailing away.
Dana glanced over at Corey. Despite her claims that the world wasn’t coming to an end, the good folks of Paradox apparently thought differently.
It didn’t take long for the three of them to clean up the kitchen. While they worked inside, Butch went out to check on the horses and to tie them up for the night. Before long, Anna Gail returned and lit several candles in the house and turned the generator off. Without the constant rattle of the generator’s engine, an eerie silence settled around them.
“You almost forget how quiet it is when that thing is shut off,” Anna Gail said. “Oh, and Richard told me that Gilbert had come over to visit. Seems they’re devising some sort of plan to try to retrieve the fuel from Gilbert’s tanks.”
“They should try to override the safety valve trigger,” Corey said. “There’s probably a release switch…”
Dana, Butch, Anna Gail and Holly all stared at her. Corey shrugged.
“Well, that’s what I would do…but what do I know?”
Again, Dana had a sense that Corey wasn’t who she claimed to be. No one could be that calm and unaffected by the past few days’ events. Especially someone who was in the company of complete strangers.
She held Corey’s gaze with an unspoken question. While Corey seemed to acknowledge the question, she left it unanswered as she turned away.
“I think I’m going to go outside and enjoy the cool evening, watch some stars,” Corey said to no one in particular. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
“Of course,” Anna Gail said. “Don’t mind me. Since the power’s been out, we’ve been heading to bed earlier than normal. I guess I’d forgotten how very dark it can be out here without porch lights on.” She smiled almost apologetically. “I’ve lived here in Paradox my whole life and have never had anything to fear. But lately…well, once full dark settles, I’d rather be inside.”
“Well, I’m supposed to be camping,” Corey said. “And I like the night sky.”
“Use the kitchen door,” Anna Gail said. “I’ll leave a candle on the counter for you so you can find your way to the bedroom.”
“I’ll be on the sofa,” Butch said. “Try not to scare me when you come inside.”
“Try not to shoot me,” Corey countered as she glanced at the rifle that was leaning against the wall.
Dana followed Anna Gail and Holly to the back of the house where the bedrooms were. She had no idea what time it was. The days were getting longer and she assumed it was after nine.
“Thank you again for giving up your bed,” she said to Holly.
“It’s okay. I don’t mind sharing with Mom.”
They left a small candle with her and took the larger one with them. She was surprised that they closed the door behind them. She shrugged, but instead of going into the bedroom, she made her way back out into the living room.
Dana sat down on the edge of the sofa where he was already sprawled out.
“What do you make of Corey?”
“What do you mean?”
Dana shrugged. “She seems a little…I don’t know…odd.”
“Odd?” He laughed quietly. “The expression on your face when she was riding behind you on the horse didn’t say ‘odd,’” he teased.
She gave an embarrassed smile. “Okay…so she’s cute. But there’s something about her that’s not right.”
“I don’t know,” Butch said. “She seems okay to me. Although I don’t know why she was camping along the road out there. There’s nothing there, really.”
“I know. And she said she was from Utah. Why come over here to camp? I mean, I know she said she was heading down to Silverton, but, Butch, come on. It’s been a while since I’ve lived here, but why on earth would you take this route to get to Silverton?”
“You’re right about that,” he said. “Coming this way through Paradox makes no sense.”
She leaned closer. “So who do you think she is?”
“Okay, Dana…I know you and your wild imagination. Escaped convict? Mass murderer? Maybe she’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted List?”
She slapped playfully at his leg. “I was not thinking any of those things.” Then she grinned. “Well, maybe one.”
“Let me guess. Escaped convict?”
She nodded. “She seems…shifty. You know my instincts are usually very good. She’s not being truthful about something. I can see it in her eyes.”
“Maybe that’s just how she looks,” he reasoned. “It’s not like you know the woman.”
She tilted her head. “Speaking of that…you owe me twenty bucks,” she reminded him.
He shook his head. “Can’t believe I lost that bet.”
“From a distance, yeah, she looked like a guy. But it was her walk that gave it away,” she said. “She’s got a rather sexy walk.”
“You mean, for an escaped convict?”
Dana leaned back against the sofa and Butch moved his legs out of the way. “So what’s with you and Holly? It doesn’t look like there’s much romance going on here. And my God, she looks like she’s still a teenager.”
“Yeah, she does. She’s being a little distant too. Maybe this whole thing has got her shook up, I don’t know.”
“And what about her father? He seemed a little crazy.”
Butch nodded. “Richard’s always on edge. I try to ignore him and stay out of his way.”
“Anna Gail is nice, though.”
“Yeah, she’s always super nice to me.”
She stared at him in the shadows, the candle flicking the light back and forth across his face. She wanted to ask more about Holly but decided it wasn’t any of her business. She finally sat up.
“I guess I’m going to bed,” she said.
“You going to be okay sleeping with an escaped convict?” he asked in an amused voice.
“Very funny,” she murmured as she walked away.
* * *
Corey sat on the same bench that she and Dana had used earlier when they’d drank the beer she’d stolen from the fridge. It was a pleasant evening, almost cool. Well, evening wasn’t the right word. Darkness had settled and they were all firmly in its grip until morning. There was a sliver of a moon, but it wasn’t bright enough to chase the shadows or dim the glow of the stars overhead.
If she had really been camping, this would have been a perfect night to be out by a creek. She could imagine the hypnotic gurgling of the water as it bounced over and around rocks on its way downstream. It was a calm, cool night…spectacular, even in its simplicity. There were no sounds, not even a barking dog to break the silence. There was nothing…nothing except millions and millions of stars. She realized, as she stared out into the night, that she had a smile on her face. This excursion that Harry had her on had at least dispelled the ghosts that she’d been living with. For the first time in more than four months, her team had not been at the forefront of her mind. In fact, had they crossed her mind all day? She took a deep breath, letting the smile slip from her lips. She wasn’t really camping, she reminded herself. She was working.
Actually, she wasn’t certain what she was doing out here. So some men from Squaw Valley had gone looking for the helicopter? She didn’t know where Squaw Valley was and she wasn’t certain how to go about asking Butch and Dana for help getting there. Harry had told her to keep things quiet and to go out on her own. She didn’t think he anticipated the locals taking up guns and rifles. If she were to ditch Butch and Dana and go off alone, it would cause quite a stir, she was sure. She wasn’t from around here. She had no business being here. People were suspicious enough as it was. Suspicious and paranoid—like Richard Filmore.
No, she’d have to talk Butch and Dana into looking for the helicopter. Butch had mentioned that he wanted to head east and follow the creek. Without being obvious and pulling her maps out of her pack, she thought—from what they’d said—that Squaw Valley was to the north or northwest of Paradox, past the road where she’d hooked up with Butch and Dana, who had come from the opposite direction. Without a horse and without Butch and Dana for cover, she’d be hard-pressed to locate the helicopter on her own.
She took one last glance up into the stars, then stood, moving carefully back toward the house. She could see the candle flickering in the window, and she assumed the others were already asleep. She opened and closed the kitchen door quietly, pausing to lock it behind her. She didn’t know if that was the common practice around here but considering the circumstances, she assumed Anna Gail would want it locked. Who they were trying to keep out, she wasn’t sure.
She picked up the candle, covering it with her hand so that it didn’t blow out as she moved through the house. She could hear Butch snoring quietly on the sofa as she passed by it. In the hallway, the door was opened to the room she would share with Dana, but the other two doors were closed. She went inside and held the candle up, finding Dana on the right side of the bed, away from the door. She carefully put the candle on the small table beside the bed and blew it out, plunging the room into complete darkness.
“I’m not asleep,” Dana whispered.
“Sorry.”
She heard Dana roll over and sigh. “It’s too dark to sleep.”
Corey laughed quietly. “You’ve been living in the city too long, huh?”
“I have night lights inside my apartment,” Dana said. “Since I was a kid, I’ve always had some kind of light.”
“To keep the monsters away?”
“Well, so that I’d be able to see the monsters if they came in,” Dana said.
Corey pulled the covers back on her side. “I’ll try to keep any monsters away from you,” she said lightly. “So…do you mind if I take my jeans off? I mean—”
“I don’t mind. I’m in underwear and a T-shirt myself.”
“Wow. If only my real dates could be this easy,” she said teasingly as she kicked her jeans off.
“I don’t imagine you’d have much of a problem,” Dana said.
The smile faded quickly from Corey’s face. “If you only knew,” she murmured.
“What?”
Corey got into bed, making sure to leave plenty of space between them. “Nothing.” She turned her head toward Dana. “Have I thanked you for rescuing me today?”
“Was it a rescue? You seemed to be doing okay.”
“I suppose I would have eventually made it to Paradox,” she said. “Although I doubt Richard would have let me inside his store. He apparently doesn’t like my kind,” she said, using his word. Then she smiled. “But I guess he doesn’t know that you’re my kind too. Right?”
Dana let out a quick, quiet laugh. “I would guess that Anna Gail and Holly don’t know either. I moved away right out of high school,” Dana said. “When I come to visit my parents, we don’t ever come here to Paradox.”
&
nbsp; “If you don’t mind my asking, how old are you?”
“Thirty-one,” Dana said.
“Wow. I wouldn’t have guessed that old,” she said truthfully.
“What do you mean…that old?”
Corey smiled in the dark. “I thought twenty-six, twenty-seven, maybe. You have a youthful appearance. It’ll serve you well when you’re, you know, really old.”
“Thank you. I guess.” A slight pause before she returned the question. “And you?”
Corey sighed. “I’ll be thirty-six next month. Some days I feel fifty-six.”
She expected more questions, but Dana had none. As the silence lengthened, she let her eyelids slip closed. She acknowledged how tired she was but doubted sleep would come easily. It never did. Well, not unless she’d end her day with a couple or three stiff nightcaps. She hated to think that she’d resorted to whiskey to keep her sane at night, but in her mind, it beat the hell out of the pills her doctor had pushed on her. Tasted a lot better too, she thought wryly.
Her sleepless night never materialized, though. Dana’s even breathing beside her served to dull her senses just enough as she slipped into a surprisingly peaceful sleep.
Chapter Eighteen
“What the hell for?” Curtis asked Dusty. “We all looked with your binoculars. There’s nothing up there,” he said, pointing to Baker’s Ridge.
“I’m telling you, there’s something there,” Carl said, backing Dusty.
“I can feel it,” Dusty said, echoing his earlier comments. “There’s something…pulling me…telling me to check it out. Hell, maybe it’s the crew up there or something.”
Hal didn’t feel any such pull or gut feeling, but Carl and Dusty seemed adamant. Still, heading toward the ridge was in the opposite direction of home…and Jean. If they made it to the ridge and found nothing, that would set them back hours. That would mean yet another night camping out. He didn’t know about the rest of them, but he’d had his fill of sleeping under the stars.
He took his cap off and scratched his thinning gray hair. “I don’t know, guys. That ridge is a lot farther off than it looks,” he said.