“Ready to go exploring?” Scott asked in greeting. “I was thinking we should try to find the path that leads down to town; it cuts off quite a bit of time compared to the road.”
Cooper turned to find Brandon, but he was already deep in conversation with Marissa. “Brandon is going to stay with me for the day, we’re going to work on your house a bit today.” Marissa said, waving to a woman who was crossing the yard.
“You must be Cooper, we heard that you would be arriving soon. I hope our camp isn’t too close to the house. Oh, I’m Mary Barker.” The woman said, holding out her hand.
“It’s nice to meet you Mary.” Cooper said, liking the woman immediately. “And I hope to meet everyone else soon.”
“Glad to hear that. We have a little welcome party planned for tonight, nothing big just a pot luck dinner and some music.” She said.
“That sounds great. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone.” Cooper said, wondering what other crazy people had joined in the scheme to create a world frozen in time.
He and Scott took off on a path that they found behind the house, having to dismount at times to make it through. Even with the lack of water, the passage of years had allowed the path to become overgrown. They’d made it about halfway down the trail, stopping along the way to check out spots where the remnants of cabins could be seen. Some were still standing, but most were only a pile of rotted logs, the chimney the only thing still vertical.
Scott who was leading the way, stopped abruptly and got down off his horse. Cooper got down and went over to where he was standing, then understood what had made him stop. The trail suddenly disappeared, the Earth had clearly shifted, dropping the trail about fifteen feet. There was no way they could make the jump, and there was no choice but to follow the cliff until they found a way down.
It wasn’t long before they found a way down the cliff and made their way back to where they’d left the trail. “Well, that wasn’t as bad a detour as I expected.” Scott said when they’d found the trail again.
They stopped and dismounted, “Let’s take a closer look and see if there might be some way to cut the trail back in so we don’t have to take that detour.” Cooper said, walking over to the new cliff and looking at the side of the hill.
The ground was a mess of broken branches and fallen trees, but through the mess Cooper and Scott could see a cave. “Wow look at that cave, I bet no one has seen it in a hundred years. Look at the size of those trees that are in front of it.” Cooper said.
“I think some of those came from up above. Look, you can see where the ground above the cave gave way.” Scott said, walking closer to the cave. “If we’re careful, I bet we can get up to the cave.”
“Come on, let’s go check it out.” Cooper said, heading for the cave.
They hadn’t made it more than a few feet up the debris from the slide before they both stopped in their tracks. Shocked, they looked at one another for a minute before looking back down to the ground at their feet. “Is that what I think it is?” Scott finally asked.
“Yep, that’s a human skull.” Cooper said, reaching down to pick it up then changing his mind and putting his hands in his pockets.
“That’s not good.” Scott said, looking around him for other bones, knowing that if there was a skull there had to be more.
The skull was dirty and stained with dirt and debris, and if it hadn’t been right at their feet, they might have not even noticed it so they moved slowly. As they got closer to the cave, climbing over large rocks, trees, and other debris, it became clear that this was more than just a body dumped in the woods. There were several more skulls and bones scattered on the hill, even a long bone sticking out of the ground above the cave.
Scott was the first one to spot the bone sticking out of the ground above their heads, Cooper’s eyes following his when he saw Scott’s reaction. “Oh boy. I think we better call someone. That’s a bone sticking out up there, isn’t it?” Cooper finally said, his reaction mirroring Scott’s.
In silence they got back on their horses then Scott said, “Well, this certainly isn’t what I thought we’d find today. I guess we better go call the sheriff, there’s more than one body up there.”
“What have you gotten me into?” Cooper asked, shaking his head. “Nothing is ever easy with you, is it Terrell?”
“Well, I did promise you some excitement.” Scott said, shrugging his shoulders.
Chapter 3
Paige stumbled up to her office door, her arms full of books and papers that wouldn’t fit in her already stuffed backpack. Today was her last day to prepare for the dig and she was still trying to make sense of the new information from the journal. It would have been much easier if she could have checked the journal out of the library, but that was impossible, so she spent every hour she could at the library pouring over the journal hoping for a breakthrough.
Her heart sank when she saw the note taped to her door knowing that it was from her advisor who refused to use electronic communication, instead sending her assistants running all over campus like messengers of old. It was only one of the many eccentricities she’d had to put up with from the woman, but there was no denying that the woman was brilliant, a recommendation from her would all but make Paige’s career. But a note from her now couldn’t be a good thing.
Afraid that her funding had been cut, she set everything down on the floor and pulled the note off the door. Other than a demand for her presence in the woman’s office as soon as possible, there was no indication as to the nature of the visit, and nothing the least bit friendly about the note. Wishing she could pretend she hadn’t seen the note, she unlocked her office and carried everything inside, dumped it on the desk and left again.
When she got off the elevator she could hear Professor Morgan on the phone, her voice carried down the empty hallway since most people hadn’t arrived for the day yet. When she knocked on the open door, the professor waved her to the chair in front of the desk, then quickly finished her call.
“Good morning, Paige. I had a feeling you’d be here early today.” Professor Morgan said, gesturing to the coffee pot in the corner of the office. “There’s fresh coffee if you’d like some.”
Paige was shocked, so shocked that she almost let her mouth hang open, but quickly shut it. Professor Morgan had never been this nice to her; most of the time she treated her like a child and she’d never offered her coffee no matter how early she’d asked Paige to meet with her.
“Uh, no thank you.” Paige finally managed to stammer.
“Paige, today is your lucky day. Late last night, I got a call from the Sheriff up in Carson County, and it appears that they’d got an Indian burial ground on their hands. The land owners called him and after one look at the bones, he called me.” Professor Morgan announced, clearly feeling like Santa on Christmas morning.
Paige sat stunned for a second, “An Indian burial ground, Carson County.” She said, almost to herself, as she tried to place Carson County on the California map.
“More accurately, Coldwater Canyon.” Professor Morgan said, then got up and got Paige a cup of coffee.
Paige took a grateful sip, then said, “Thanks. I can’t quite place Carson County, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Coldwater Canyon.”
“It’s at the southern end of the Sierras. There’s nothing up there because the water was diverted back in the 1930s when the dam was built.” The Professor said, handing Paige a map.
Paige looked at the map, finally able to remember the area. “I looked at this area, but if I remember right it just didn’t seem like the right place, there was no sign of the tribes anywhere.” She said, wishing she had her computer with her.
“Well, looks like your burial ground has found you. The site is in a pretty bad shape, and it looks like an earthquake caused quite a bit of damage, a major ground shift. From what I understand from the Sherriff, the ground in front of a cave dropped a good fifteen feet exposing the cave and causing a slide above it.
He says that there are skulls and bones scattered all over the slide, some are sticking out of the Earth.” Professor Morgan explained.
“Are they sure there’re old bones? I mean I’d hate to go all the way up there to find that it’s something else.” Paige asked, still not able to believe her dream had come true. Then another worry popped into her mind. “Do we even know that they’re Western Mono bones? They could be from another tribe.”
“To answer your first question, the sheriff had the coroner up there go out and verify what he believed. As to your second question, Western Mono or not, this find is yours. I’ll supervise from here, but I want you to be in charge on the site. Paige, just because I didn’t agree with your choice of subject for your thesis doesn’t mean I don’t respect your talents. You have the experience and knowledge to do this; all you have to do is keep an open mind.” Professor Morgan said, smiling at Paige.
Paige smiled back at her, “Thank you, I didn’t know you felt that way. I mean....” Paige trialed off not sure what else to say.
“I’m always hardest on the ones I know have potential, don’t get used to this side of me. I’m going to be even harder on you now.” Professor Morgan said, then added. “We’re going to get you published one way or another. Now get out of here and go find your burial ground; all the information you need is in your inbox.”
Paige was up and out of the room in a flash, calling another thank you over her shoulder as she ran down the hall. Skipping the elevator, she ran down the stairs, remembering a passage she’d been working on from the journal. She’d been sure that it was a description of the location of the burial ground, but there had been so many words she couldn’t make out. Now she knew that one of them was probably cavern, all she’d been able to make out was ‘ern’, which at the time hadn’t been enough, but now that she knew what the word had been, it seemed silly that she hadn’t figured it out before.
Throwing open her office door, she ran over to the desk and dumped her backpack out looking for the copies of the journal. Finally, she found what she was looking for and sure enough cavern fit in perfectly. Rereading the entry with new eyes, she booted up her computer and found the information the Professor had sent her, scrolling through the background information about the location until she found the report from the coroner and the sheriff.
She tried to compare the description from the journal with the sheriff’s description, but soon realized that the earthquake would have done some major damage. The only way she’d know for sure was to go up and see the site for herself, but first she’d have to call the landowner and arrange for a meeting. Scrolling through the email again, she copied down the contact information, then called the phone number provided.
By noon, she had the car packed, arranged for Justin to spend the night at her parents in case she got back late, and was on the road. The drive seemed to take forever, each mile felt like two, her excitement so great, but finally she turned off the highway onto a dirt road. She followed the road for miles until she reached the rundown farmhouse she’d been told to watch for. As she turned off the car, a big man stepped onto the porch, a tool belt slung around his hips.
He was in the shadow of the porch, but she assumed it was Cooper Montgomery, the man she’d been told would be there to take her to the site. She got out of the car and crossed to the house, but stopped when the man stepped into the afternoon sunshine. As he walked toward her, she realized just how big he was, at least six and a half feet tall with the muscles to back up his height. It wasn’t just his size that took her breath away, he was unbelievably handsome and the smile on his face lit up his incredibly blue eyes.
A spark of pure desire rushed through her, momentarily catching her off guard, and leaving her standing motionless in the middle of the front yard. By the time the man had crossed the yard and stuck out his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Cooper Montgomery. You must be Paige Walters. Thanks for coming up, I hope we haven’t brought you all the way up here for nothing, but the sheriff didn’t know who else to call.”
Gathering her thoughts again she said, “Oh that’s alright, if what I hear is true you have a major find on your hands. Is it far from here?”
“It’s only a few miles down that trail.” Cooper said, pointing to the trail that led to the site. “We can take horses if you can ride or we can walk.”
Paige thought about how long it had been since she’d been on a horse and opted for walking. She waited while Cooper went back in the house, surprised when he returned with a boy who looked like he was about ten. Looking at the two of them, it was clear that he was the boy’s father, the resemblance between the two was uncanny.
“This is my son Brandon.” Cooper said, pushing the boy forward, then nodding his head at him.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Brandon said, holding his hand out to shake hers.
“I’m Paige, it’s nice to meet you too.” She said, shaking his hand. “Are you going to come with us?”
“Dad hasn’t let me go down there yet, but he said I could this time if I don’t touch anything. I think it’s going to be spooky, but I’m brave.” He said, straightening his shoulders in a gesture he must have learned from his father.
“Good, I might get scared and it will make me feel better knowing that your there.” She said, “I’ll let you lead the way.” She couldn’t help but laugh a little when Brandon puffed up his chest importantly and headed down the trail, then followed him.
Cooper fell in step beside her; she could sense his eyes on her and had to take a deep breath to slow her heart down, but he was so close to her that she could smell his cologne. It was a wonderful combination of wood smoke, the outdoors, and something she couldn’t quite name. Finally, unable to resist, she turned and met his eyes, which were the same color as the sky above their heads.
“You were good with him.” He finally said, his eyes locked on hers.
“I, uhhh, have one of my own. He’s eight.” She stammered, then cursed herself for blurting out so much personal information.
Cooper studied her for a minute, making her heart go crazy. “You must have been young when you had him.” He said, then added, “Sorry, that was out of line. It’s just that you look awfully young to have an eight-year-old.”
“That’s okay, I was only eighteen when he was born.” She said, figuring that she’d opened the door; it wasn’t a big secret that she had a son, but she barely knew this man.
“That must have been hard.” He said, grabbing her elbow when she stumbled over a root, sending a shot of electricity though her body.
She gasped at the contact, but Cooper didn’t seem to notice her reaction to his touch. Desperate to change the subject, she asked him about how they’d found the skeletons. Cooper glad to be on more solid footing was happy to tell the story one more time; he’d told it so many times already that he didn’t even have to think about it. By the time they reached the cliff, Paige had the complete story, including the fact that no one had disturbed the remains other than the coroner who had done so only briefly.
When they finally managed to climb down, they stood at the base of the cliff looking up at the cave, Paige immediately began scanning the hill side for bones. Her breath coming in quick gasps when she saw the skulls, even from that distance she could see the genetic markers that told her that these were Indian remains. What Indians she had no idea, but she was sure that the answers lie in the cave at the top of the hill, which at this point was unreachable. Surveying the hill, it was clear that before anyone got into that cave all the fallen trees would have to be removed.
That alone would be difficult — half the hill was on top of those trees and there were human remains scattered everywhere. It would be a tricky operation to clear the way to the cave, and already making plans, Paige pulled out her phone and began taking pictures of the hill. She began mentally making a list of everything she would need, including a crew to help her. As attracted as she’d been to Cooper a few minutes ago, he’d ceased to exist the
minute she saw the cave and the hill, her entire focus on the find that would save her career.
Cooper watched Paige climbing around the mountain wondering what had just happened when he’d touched her, that blast of desire he’d felt had been so unexpected it had taken him by surprise. Naturally he’d noticed how attractive she was the minute she stepped out of the car. His heart had actually begun to beat a little faster as he’d watched her walk across the front yard. It hadn’t surprised him that he was attracted to her; she was curvy in all the right places, without a single bone poking out in that anorexic way that was all the rage now.
Cooper didn’t like his women boney; he wanted a woman he could wrap his arms around, a woman who was soft in all the right places. His wife had once been a woman like that, but over time she’d starved herself, gone under the knife, and basically done anything she could to achieve that starved look that was so popular. He hadn’t realized what a turn off that was for him until a few months after Amy had left.
He’d gone with his brothers to a party one night, they’d bugged him incessantly for hours until he’d finally given in and gone with them. At the party, he found all the same people he’d been socializing with for years, but now he saw them in a different light. So many of them were just like his wife, after fame and fortune and willing to do just about anything to get it. The women were all artificially thin and young, their bodies artificially shaped by doctors, dermatologists, and spa treatments.
It was as if the blinders he’d been wearing had finally been removed, Amy’s treachery making him see the people he counted as his friends for who they truly were. That was the last party Cooper had attended with any of those people, and he was pretty sure that wouldn’t change. He was beginning to understand why Scott had changed so much, especially now that he’d gotten to know Marissa. She was nothing like the people he used to associate with, she was real.
He sensed the same thing in Paige, especially when she all but forgot he was there when she saw the remains on the hill. By now, most women would have been falling over themselves in an attempt to get his attention, but at the moment he was pretty sure she didn’t even know he was there. Deciding it might be a while before she surfaced, he found a log and sat down to wait, spotting Brandon not far away, he settled back to watch Paige.
I Love You Page 3