by CP Smith
“So we’re safe. They don’t know about tonight?”
“Nope . . . they’re completely clueless!”
Twelve
Sorry Seems to be
The Hardest Word
“Where’s Bailey, Jenn? I expected to see her by now,” Maxine asked as we headed to the Jeep. “I bet she’d be game for a night of chasing ghosts.”
“She and Grady went camping this week and it’s just as well, too,” Jenn stated. “Grady has learned from Jack how to get his way and Bailey is proving she can’t resist him like I can Jack. She’d rat us out in a second if Jack set Grady on her.”
Maxine snorted then mumbled under her breath, “You resist Jack like a dog resists meat.”
I thought about what Shane had said in the stock room and stopped in my tracks.
“Wait, you think Jack set Shane after me, don’t you?”
Jenn looked back at me as we climbed in and smirked.
“Of course he did. Jack can smell deception a mile away. He may have acted like he believed us, but he knows me too well and is always on the lookout for my shenanigans.”
“I may be in over my head with this man,” I sighed. “I’m used to dealing with kids. They can’t hide their feelings, even when their word contradicts what their faces say.”
“That’s easy enough,” Mia threw out as we buckled up. “Let them roar until they get it out and then do whatever you want.”
Maxine snorted.
Jenn started the Jeep and pulled out. Once she was out of the parking spot, she looked in the rearview.
“You don’t handle men like Jack, Max, and Shane. You survive them.”
“Ha!” Maxine laughed, “Trust me; they think the same thing about you girls.”
A slow grin pulled across my mouth. I didn’t know these women well, but from what I’d seen so far, they were a force to be reckoned with. Jack and Max probably got through each day with copious amounts of alcohol.
“I predict Shane will have his hands full once she settles in,” Jenn threw out.
“I don’t know. I can hold my ground with most people, but Shane breaks through my defenses. I feel safe around him, which is saying something because I haven’t felt safe since my dad died.”
“I’ll confess I sleep better knowing Thor’s in my bed protecting me. In fact, I’ll go even further and admit I don’t actually buck Max except where my bears are concerned. Actually,” she mumbled, her brows creased in thought, “now that I think about it, it’s a turn on when he goes all caveman on me.”
“Mhm,” Maxine agreed. “Foreplay all day long.”
Mia smiled at her. “I’d never thought about it until just now, but you’re right, and that surprises me.”
“It surprised you I’m right?”
“No, that it happens at all.”
Maxine snorted again. Clearly, she had a different opinion about the state of the relationships between both couples.
Jenn pulled onto country road seventeen and we made the five-mile drive to the cemetery in silence as Mia pondered her revelation. The sun was slowly fading as we drove further from town, and a sense of excitement had my heart racing.
When we arrived, Jenn pulled behind an old mausoleum and parked. I started to open my door when she turned to the rest of us and sighed dramatically.
“Problems?” Maxine asked.
“I was thinking about what Mia said and if I were truthful, too, the only time I cross Jack is where a story is concerned. And I’ll also admit that when he growls and puts his foot down, it’s kinda hot.”
Mia gasped and turned in her seat. “Are we saying that other than our jobs we, God help us, like it when they boss us around?”
Jenn’s brows pulled together in a frown, then she nodded.
“How did this happen? I’m an educated, liberated woman. I’ll lose my sister card if anyone finds out.”
“A liberated woman who knew full well she was marrying a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal who likes to get his way,” Maxine pointed out. “And if my memory serves, which it usually does by the way, you call him Mad Max in a breathy voice. Face it, you’re not as liberated as you think.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it,” she wailed.
“Why? Because society says you’re weak if you depend on a man? Honestly, you young people are so busy battling for equality you’re missin’ out on the big picture.”
“And what’s that?” Jenn asked.
“That being a woman means we’re uniquely different from men. We weren’t created to do the same things; we were created to do what they can’t.”
Maxine looked each of us in the eye, making sure we were listening, then continued. “Women were given the gift of creating life. We’re gentler in nature, softer-skinned than men, so when we cradle our babies to our breasts, they feel the warmth and softness rather than hard lines and hairy chests. We give them comfort, a sense of being loved and cherished from the moment they are born. We were created by God so that life could continue. That makes us infinitely superior to men in every way.”
“Even Max?” Mia grinned.
Maxine didn’t take the bait. Instead, she schooled us further, imparting a bit of wisdom that I think Jenn and Mia already knew deep down.
“Men like Jack, Max, and Shane were created by God to protect, to stand guard over those who can’t defend themselves. To safeguard their families against a sometimes evil world. They’re just like warriors of old; the loyalist of men. Men who are, in my opinion, in short supply. Yet you ladies’ see somethin’ wrong with allowin’ these gentle giants to take care of you, God’s gift to humankind. Honestly, it’s a little disappointin’ you don’t see what’s right in front of your eyes.”
“And what would that be?” Jenn asked, her attention riveted to Maxine.
“Those men are easy to live with if you’ll remember they love you more than life itself and will do anything within their power to keep you safe. Includin’ keepin’ you safe from yourself. Once you realize they aren’t disrespectin’ you or your abilities as equals but protectin’ somethin’ they cherish more than life, the fewer struggles you’ll have.”
It was then I realized Maxine was the smartest woman I’d ever met.
We were silent for a moment, staring at Maxine, then we looked at one another, wide-eyed.
“I think we should tell them we’re hunting a ghost so they can stand guard,” Mia blurted out.
“WHAT? NO!” Maxine cried out, shaking her head adamantly. “I said ‘once you realize,' I didn’t say start now. They’d stop us in a heartbeat, and I want to see if we can find the miner’s ghost.”
“But you just said—”
“I know what I said,” she ground out, grabbing hold of the door handle. “You can start tomorrow. Tonight, we’re on our own.”
She climbed out in a huff, mumbling, “Now they listen to me,” and slammed the door, putting a punctuation mark on her advice.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I’ve never known Maxine to be wrong. If she says start tomorrow, then we’ll start tomorrow,” Mia answered with a grin.
“Works for me,” Jenn agreed, “What about you?”
I shrugged. “I guess what they don’t know won’t hurt them. Let’s do this.”
With matching grins, we piled out and headed to the back of the Jeep to grab Mia’s backpack with our gear inside. We’d decided earlier to break into two groups so we could cover more ground. That’s where the radios came into play, for safety’s sake and the ability to communicate without having to hunt each other down.
I paired with Mia and we took the west end of the cemetery. Treading carefully around the headstones, we came upon the open grave we’d seen earlier. For curiosity’s sake, I looked inside the deep hole. It wasn’t neatly excavated, as you’d typically see with a backhoe, but looked as if someone had used a shovel.
“Any bodies?” Mia asked, looking over my shoulder.
“My guess is they
haven’t finished yet. It’s not wide enough for a coffin. Or deep enough, for that matter.”
“If it’s a new grave, why is there a headstone?”
I hadn’t noticed the headstone because it was smaller and leaning away from the grave. I leaned over it and read the inscription. Madeline Goforth 1846-1902.
“Maybe they’re exhuming her?”
“It would explain why they used a shovel instead of a backhoe,” Mia mumbled. “They’d destroy the coffin.”
“I bet they’ve already dug her up and haven’t finished filling the hole.”
“Probably some slacker who forgot to finish. We should mention it to Jack so the hole can be filled.”
I turned and said in a haunting voice, “Maybe the ghost miner dug her up looking for his gold.”
Her eyes grew wider. “That isn’t funny.”
“You aren’t scared, are you?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll let you know if we see a ghost.”
I scoffed and grabbed her arm. I, for one, didn’t think we’d see anything except a raccoon scurrying across the yard looking for food.
The wind began to pick up, sending the trees rocking. As if on cue, to set the mood for a night of ghost hunting, an owl swooped down and landed on a branch just in front of us.
“Native Americans believe if you see an owl before nightfall, it’s a bad omen.”
“What kind of bad omen?”
The radio crackled to life, causing me to jump. The setting and now an owl with an omen added to my agitation.
“Seen anything?” Jenn asked.
I pulled out our radio and pushed the talk button.
“Just the open grave. You need to tell Jack to have the cemetery finish filling in the grave before someone falls in. It’s deep enough now you wouldn’t be able to climb out without help.”
“Finish filling it?”
“The grave belongs to a woman who died in 1902.”
Mia grabbed the radio from me and rattled off, “Sage thinks the ghost dug the hole looking for his gold. Also, an owl just planted itself on a tree limb right in front of us and is watching us with his beady little eyes. It’s a sign of impending doom.”
“Then get your cameras ready and keep a close eye on that grave,” she ordered in all seriousness.
“Impending doom?” The hairs on the back of my neck rose. For the past few hours, I’d almost forgotten about my stepfather. I looked at the owl. It stared back at me.
“What do you mean by impending doom?” I asked.
“Sometimes it means death. Sometimes it means life-altering decisions are made. But, for the most part, it means something bad is coming.”
“Something bad has already happened,” I pointed out.
“It’s just an old wives’ tale, Sage. I don’t actually believe it.”
I couldn’t shake the feeling, though.
My cell was burning a hole in my hip pocket. Crying out to me to send Shane a text telling him where we were. I reached for my phone and pulled it out. Indecision weighing heavily on my mind.
“You’re thinking of texting Shane, aren’t you?”
The owl flapped its wings and flew to a headstone ten feet away, perching on the top. Its honey-colored eyes captured mine and held them.
The sun had sunk lower in the sky and dipped below the tree line. Twilight was upon us.
I hit the power button and my phone lit up, casting light on the ground.
“What’s going on?” Maxine asked through the radio.
Mia answered. “I think the owl spooked Sage.”
“I think we should let the guys know where we are.”
“Heller can’t find you here, Sage,” Maxine’s calm voice reminded me of my mother. “You’re thousands of miles from home and he doesn’t have a clue where to look.”
“I think we should let the guys know where we are,” I repeated.
“We couldn’t even if we wanted to. We’re out of tower range out here. Our phones won’t work,” Jenn informed me, to my horror. I kept pressing the power button so I could keep an eye on the owl. The golden hue from the sun had sunk further and night had fallen.
The owl decided to take flight. I tracked it for five feet with the light from my phone until it disappeared into the night sky.
“See,” Mia said, “the owl’s gone and nothing bad happened. Come on, let’s sit over here and see if the ghost makes an appearance.
“I’m being silly,” I answered hysterically. “It’s just an old wives’ tale, right?”
“Exactly,” Mia replied, dragging me a few feet from the open grave.
“I feel stupid making a fuss about an owl,” I explained once we’d sat.
“Considering you have a mad man after you, I think you should cut yourself some slack.”
I could see headlights in the distance heading our direction. Jenn must have seen them too because the radio crackled to life.
“Keep your lights off,” Jenn whispered in the radio, “I don’t want someone calling us in to the station.”
I turned my phone off and shoved it in Mia’s pack on her back while Mia doused her flashlight. Clouds were thick in the sky, beckoning in a storm, and without the light from my phone or moon’s glow, I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.
The vehicle slowed near the entrance then pulled in and parked, turning off its lights.
“Radio silence,” Jenn whispered again.
“Who would come to a cemetery at night besides us ghostbusters?” I asked Mia.
“I don’t know. But Jenn and Maxine will see who it is. If it’s trouble, they’ll radio us.”
“It can’t be Heller,” I answered, more for me than for clarification.
“Of course it’s not Heller,” she scoffed. “Even if he figured out where we were hiding, he has no idea we’re at this cemetery.”
“Okay. Good point.”
I relaxed a fraction.
I could hear leaves crunching as we sat silently. Whoever was in that vehicle was making their way toward us. Moments later, a flashlight turned on and the outline of a man carrying a shovel and small ladder appeared. Luckily, we’d sat far enough away from the empty grave we weren’t caught in the beam. But we were too close for comfort, so Mia and I scrambled to hide behind a headstone. In our haste to retreat as quietly as possible, we accidently left the radio and flashlight lying on the ground.
He kept sweeping his flashlight back and forth until he came to a stop at the open grave. We couldn’t see the man’s face, but we watched as he dropped the shovel into the grave, then leaned down and placed the ladder inside. He then followed, dropping over the side of the hole. Once in, his light went off.
“If he’s here to fill it, why the hell did he climb into the grave?” I whispered.
Mia shrugged.
A moment later, the sound of exertion as he dug in the solid ground echoed up from the hole.
“This seems like an odd time to be working?” Mia whispered.
It hit me like a bolt of lightning. He wasn’t working; he was robbing. I’d seen a news article recently. Thieves were visiting old cemeteries, targeting graves that were more than a century old, hoping to find treasure.
I leaned in and whispered into Mia's ear. “Jenn has a story, but not the kind she was looking for. I think that guy is robbing the grave.”
Mia gasped. “We should radio Jack.”
“Should we sneak back and get the radio? We could move over to the trees and tell Jenn what’s going on.”
“Okay. Can you see to find it?”
I started to say no, and that I’d wing it when a loud noise caused us to turn. It sounded like someone whacking something hard against a tree.
“What was that?” I asked.
“No idea.”
I started to turn back when the knocking broke through the night again, and I froze. My heart rate accelerated as I scanned the trees.
“The digging stopped,” Mia whispered as a light hit the trees.
Whomp, whomp, whomp broke the silence again.
Our grave robber stumbled on his ladder then crawled out of the hole, pulled up his ladder, and took off toward his vehicle.
“Shit,” I whispered.
“Let’s get the radio and flashlight then get the hell out of here,” Mia cried out.
We stood, hell bent on escaping like the oh-so-smart grave robber when the whomping began again.
It was closer this time.
We spun and saw a faint light hovering in the trees, suspended, just as you’d expect to see if a ghost was watching you. Then a low, deep moan broke the night air.
We screamed bloody murder and took off hell-bent for leather. Unfortunately, I went left, Mia went right, neither of us with our lights.
I’d made it twenty feet or more, tripping and bumping into headstones before I realized she wasn’t behind me, so I turned and shouted, “Where are you?”
Mia shouted my name in return, and I spun in the direction of her voice, but all I could see was that damn glow coming from the trees.
Then she laid down a blood-curdling scream. It bounced off trees and sent a chill down my spine.
“Oh. My. God. The ghost has her.”
I needed help fast.
Was the road to my left or right? Were Jenn and Maxine behind me or in front of me? I had no clue.
“MIA!”
“HERE!” she called out. Air gushed from my lungs, relieved to hear her voice.
“WHERE?”
“HERE! In the grave.”
I blinked hard.
Of course she was.
I put out my hands, trying to guide my footing as I moved toward her voice. Thankfully, after a minute of bumbling in the dark, a kaleidoscope of color poured from the ground.
“Holy shit.”
I took off running toward the rainbow, dodging headstones as I went.
Five feet from the hole an arm made of steel reached out and snagged me around the waist, pulling me into a solid, hard chest.
The minor’s ghost!
I screamed like a banshee until a warm hand clamped tightly over my mouth.
This was no ghost.