Double Blind

by D P Lyle

  Near the tree line, the forest thinned, revealing a rocky slope that led up to the long abandoned Old Watkin’s Mine. As he ducked beneath the last spruce limb, he caught a glimpse of his prey, disappearing into the mouth of the mine.

  He urged the horse up the slope to within 50 feet of the opening where he tugged on the reins and leaped from the saddle. He cautiously approached the entry, standing to one side, just in case his prey was armed. He hadn’t seen a gun and the assailant hadn’t bothered to pick up Ted’s rifle. Maybe he didn’t have time. Maybe he was already armed.

  “Come on out,” he shouted.

  No response.

  “Don’t make me come in after you.”

  Silence. He swung his rifle around and fired three random shots into the darkness. He waited for the echoes to die away.

  “Goddamn it,” he said under his breath and, staying low, darted into the dark throat of the mine.

  Chapter 29

  Hollis awoke with a start. Initially disoriented, he blinked his eyes clear, and then noticed that weak sunlight pushed through the curtains and dimly lit the room. What time was it? Had he slept all afternoon? Or was it morning? He remembered stretching out on the bed to rest, but little else.

  He rubbed his eyes and then saw Niki standing across the room, staring out the window. She wore a black silk shirt that hung just low enough to create the illusion of modesty where there was none. Niki didn’t know the meaning of the word. Her self-assuredness, despite her youth, was one of the many things he loved about her.

  The soft sunlight silhouetted her lithe form through the flimsy shirt. The firm globes of her buttocks peeked beneath the hem.

  “What are you up to?” he asked.

  She turned toward him, the shirt falling open to reveal her breasts and closely trimmed triangle of blond curls. “I was out by the pool for a while. Then I took a long bubble bath.”

  “What time is it? I dozed off.”

  “You dozed three hours ago. It’s nearly five.”

  He stretched. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “You needed the sleep.”

  “Come here.”

  She walked toward him, the silk shirt slipping from her shoulders and floating to the floor in her wake. He never tired of looking at her. A feeling shared by the thousands men all over the world who collected her pictures. A dozen or so renegade web sites were dedicated to displaying her image.

  She threw back the covers and straddled him, smiling. “You want something?” She reached for him, massaging, stimulating, arousing. At first he responded, but then, softened in her hand. “What’s the matter?”

  “Tired.”

  She rolled off and lay next to him, snuggling against his shoulder. “Are you bored with me?”

  He turned to face her, his fingers cupping her chin. “Of course not.”

  “Want to take a Viagra? I can wait.”

  He pulled her against him. She felt so wonderfully warm. “No. I’m content.”

  “But, lately...you’ve had more trouble. I thought maybe it was me.”

  “Not likely,” he said. “I guess I’m just getting old. Maybe too old for you.”

  “Don’t say that.” She hugged him tightly. “It’s just a down period.”

  He laughed. “Down is right.”

  She playfully poked a finger at his ribs. “You know what I mean.”

  “Why do you put up with me?” Hollis asked. “I’m moody. I’m old. And I can’t take care of you like I should.”

  “Because I love you. I always have.”

  “Why?”

  “I just do.”

  They held each other, saying nothing, their breathing falling into a synchronized rhythm.

  Niki spoke first. “When are you going to get your research started again? Get that wonder drug you were working on finished?”

  “Soon.”

  “You’ve been saying that for two months.”

  “You can’t just call 1-800-SCIENTIST and get qualified researchers.”

  “I know,” Niki laughed.

  “We do have a line on a couple of people. One looks very promising.”

  “Well tell them to hurry up and get to work.”

  He laughed. “I told you, it’s not a fountain of youth.”

  “You also said it might help.”

  “It might.”

  “Good.”

  A knock at the door startled both of them.

  “Yeah,” Hollis said.

  Burt’s voice came through the door. “I need to talk to you.”

  Hollis pulled the comforter over them. “Come on in.”

  Burt stepped into the room. “Sorry to bother you,” he said. “But, something’s come up.”

  Niki slid from beneath the covers, snatched her shirt from the floor, and threw it over her shoulder. She walked past Burt toward the bathroom. “I’ll let you guys huddle. I’m going to wash my hair.” She pulled the door closed behind her.

  “What is it?” Hollis asked.

  “Ted’s horse came back. Without him and without Walt.”

  Chapter 30

  Sam stretched out on the bed, the phone cradled between her ear and the pillow. “You’re in Port Angeles, Washington? What on Earth for?”

  “Working,” Nathan said.

  “I thought you were coming here?”

  “I was, but I had to swing up here first.”

  Nathan had called earlier and left a message on Alyss’ answering machine, saying that he was leaving New York but couldn’t yet come to Gold Creek. He had to go to the Olympic Peninsula and would call later and explain everything.

  “What is it this time?”

  “Someone found some unusual tracks. Sasquatch, they say. Up here near Hurricane Ridge.”

  Sam groaned. “Give me a break.”

  “Don’t start with that. The pictures they showed me are impressive. Tomorrow, I’m hiking up there to see the site for myself.”

  “We have our own Sasquatch here.”

  “How so?” Nathan asked.

  “Billy Bear Wingo. One of the biggest humans I’ve ever met.”

  “Does he have anything to do with the body you found?”

  “I doubt it,” she said. “But I bet his feet are bigger than your whatever it is. Size fourteen.”

  Nathan laughed. “The ones in the photos look more like twenties.”

  “OK, you win. So, when are you coming here?”

  “Two days.”

  “Two more days?”

  “Maybe three.”

  “Your job is a pain.”

  “But, it pays well,” he laughed.

  “I don’t care. I miss you.”

  “That’s a mutual feeling.”

  “It had better be.” She swung her legs off the bed and sat up. “My vacation is nearly half over and I haven’t seen you at all.”

  “Don’t pout.”

  “I’m not.”

  “I’ll call tomorrow when I know more and I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

  They hung up. Sam crawled beneath the covers and with little effort slipped into a deep, much needed sleep.

  *

  Earlier, after the lone horse returned, Burt, Hollis, and Carlos had mounted a search for the two men. On horseback, they had meandered through the forest, shouting, receiving no response. Nightfall slowed their progress and two hours after sunset, the thick darkness of the forest ended their hunt. They returned to Casa Grande where Burt called Wade and enlisted his help for a search to begin at first light. Wade said he would get Eloy Fuller to join them. Burt welcomed Wade’s assistance, but his tolerance for the simple-minded Eloy was nonexistent. Wade insisted on bringing him along, saying even Eloy’s misaligned eyes were better than none.

  Now, well after midnight, Burt stretched out on his bed, his aching muscles welcoming the soft mattress. Fatigue pulled him into a deep sleep that lasted all of ten minutes.

  The phone rang. Angry, he snatched it up. “Yeah?”

 
“Senor Burt. Senor Burt,” Carmelita shouted over the phone. “Fire.”

  Burt was out of bed and into his clothes in seconds. He rousted Hollis and Conner and they jumped in the Range Rover. Even from a half-mile away, they could see bright orange flames leap from the stables high into the night air. The acrid smell of smoke burned his nostrils. By the time they drove to the stables, the structure was fully engulfed.

  Carlos rushed up to them, his face blackened with soot. Carmelita stood well away from the flames, a shawl wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

  Carlos, with waving arms, rattled rapidly in half-English, half-Spanish about seeing the flames from his bedroom window. He and Carmelita lived in a log-style cabin midway between the stables and the main house. He said someone had apparently opened the stalls and released the horses into the pasture before the fire started. He had tried to douse the flames, but the fire had spread rapidly and the heat had forced him to back away.

  Carlos hung his head. “I am sorry. It is my fault. I should have seen the fire sooner.”

  “No, it’s not,” Burt said, clapping his hand on Carlos’ shoulder. “You did all you could.”

  One wall of the stable wavered, buckled, and collapsed. The corrugated-metal roof fell, dragging the other walls with it. Hot flames and swirling cinders exploded skyward as the fire consumed the wooden walls and warped and blackened the roof. Everyone stood and watched, unable to do anything else.

  Thirty minutes later, the fire abated enough so that they could approach with hoses and knock down the remaining flames. The fire hissed and spat, releasing clouds of thick white steam, but finally gave up.

  After soaking down the cinders to prevent any flare-ups, they rounded up the horses and locked them in the nearby holding pen. Carlos broke up a bale of hay for them and Burt filled a portable metal trough with water.

  *

  For an hour, he had squatted in the edge of the trees, less than a quarter mile from the fire and watched the spectacle before him. Now, he munched on an apple, its sweet aroma mixing with the bitter stench of the water soaked ashes.

  As Conner and Carlos poked through the rubble, searching for residual hot spots, Burt stared up into the forest. He seemed to look directly at him. But, he knew he was invisible in the dark shadows beneath the trees.

  Finally, Burt, Conner, and Hollis climbed into the Range Rover and headed toward the house. Carlos and Carmelita returned to their home.

  He could imagine Burt’s fury. That someone could come onto his property and do this. That his fortress was not as secure as he thought. That despite all his wealth, his influence, he was vulnerable.

  He took one last look at the charred remains, then lumbered deeper into the forest.

  Chapter 31

  Dawn had barely lightened the cloudless eastern sky and the air was cool and crisp. Burt stood next to the blackened relic of his stables. The pungent smell of the damp cinders irritated his nose. “Well?” he asked.

  “They measure out,” Wade said. Squatting next to the boot prints in the soft dirt, he looked up at Burt. “I agree with you. Looks like Billy’s boots.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Eloy said.

  Burt looked at Eloy, but unable to decide which eye to focus on, shifted his gaze down toward the dozen or so prints. He shook his head. “What the hell is that son-of-a-bitch up to?”

  Wade stood. “Beats me,” he said. He tugged a cigarette from the pack of Camels in his shirt pocket and lit it.

  Burt stepped away from the cloud of smoke. “It doesn't make sense.”

  “I’d say he was pissed,” Eloy said.

  No shit, Burt wanted to say. “He’s lost his Goddamn mind if you ask me. I want his ass locked up.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Wade said. “But first, let’s go find these boys.”

  Conner pulled up in his truck and got out. “Want me to go with you?”

  “No,” Burt said. “You and Hollis better stay here. Somebody’s got to protect things while we’re gone.”

  “Protect? From what?”

  Burt laid a hand on his son’s shoulder. “I doubt he’ll come back, but Niki, Kelly, and Carmelita will be here. Somebody’s got to look after them. Just in case.”

  Conner nodded.

  “Get a couple of the rifles out of the gun case and load them.”

  “You really think that’s necessary?” Conner asked.

  “Better to be safe.”

  Carlos had saddled horses for them and Carmelita had packed sandwiches and bottles of water into their saddlebags. Burt climbed up on his horse, Allegro. The others mounted up and they headed south, crossing the eastern tip of the valley. Wade and Burt rode 50 yards behind Eloy and Carlos as they crossed the meadow and approached the forested slopes that embraced the valley’s southern edge.

  “Just because those boys didn’t come back last night,” Wade said, “it don’t mean anything happened to them.”

  “It doesn’t smell that way to me,” Burt said. “Walt and Ted are good hunters. They know horses and they know these mountains. If something wasn’t wrong, why'd only one of the horses come back? Alone.”

  “There are a lot of places up here where a man can get himself in a predicament. Ravines, sheer cliffs, a waterfall or two.”

  “Yeah. If one of them got hurt, the other would have brought him back. If both of them fell off something, then both horses would have come back. They do that, you know. Follow each other.”

  “Maybe one of the horses fell, too.”

  Burt lifted his hat, ran his fingers through his hair, and reseated it with a tug. “That’s a lot of maybes.”

  “Let’s just wait and see what we find,” Wade said.

  “What about Billy Bear?” Burt asked.

  “What about him?”

  “My guys are missing. His boot prints all over my burned down stables. Makes me wonder if the two aren’t related.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Maybe hell. He burned my Goddamn stables down and he killed Varney. Why wouldn’t he do the same to Walt and Ted?”

  “We don’t know any of that for sure,” Wade said. “Don’t get all worked up until we find Walt and Ted. Maybe they can shed some light on all this.”

  “If they’re alive.”

  “Chief,” Eloy shouted. He and Carlos had just entered the fringe of the forest and now, Eloy backed his horse to where they could see him waving, urging them forward.

  Burt and Wade spurred their horses and quickly reached Eloy, who pointed to where Carlos stood near the carcass of a calf. Burt dismounted and walked a circle around the remains. Even in the murky dawn light, the interlocked CG of the Casa Grande brand was readily visible on the calf’s rump, near where a large chunk of flesh had been hacked away.

  “Jesus,” Wade said. “What happened?”

  “It sure as hell wasn’t a bear,” Burt said.

  “Look.” Carlos extended a finger toward a patch of soft dirt. Two distinct sets of hoof tracks led eastward.

  “Walt and Ted were through here,” Burt said. “Must have seen this.” He climbed back in the saddle. “Let’s go. Two hundred yard spread. We’ll work our way westward.”

  A half hour later Burt stumbled on the body of Ted Smyth. After examining him and assuring himself that Ted was as dead as he appeared, he circled the body, scanning the ground. He found the blood-soaked tree limb, Ted’s rifle, and several boot prints identical to the ones at the stables. He fired a single shot in the air. Ten seconds later he fired a second, and then squatted against a tree trunk and waited for the others to arrive.

  Burt looked up as Carlos, then Wade, and finally Eloy came through the trees. Each dismounted and hovered near the body. Burt showed them what he had found.

  “Looks like what happened to Mr. Varney,” Eloy said.

  Burt eyed Eloy. “What do you mean?”

  “His head’s all stove in. Just like Mr. Varney’s.”

  Burt looked at Wade. “That right?”

 
“Yep. Looks the same. Left side. Near the eye and forehead. Killer probably right handed.”

  “Like Billy,” Burt said.

  “Yep.” Wade tugged out a cigarette and lit it.

  Burt walked close to Wade and spoke in a low voice. “Billy’s lost it. Varney, my stables, this. Don’t you think you got enough to bring him in?”

  “Sure do.” Wade exhaled a cloud of smoke and looked at Eloy and Carlos. “OK. Here’s the deal. Consider this an arrest order for Billy Bear. I went by his place this morning to have a chat with him about the fire, but he was gone. That means he’s probably up here wandering around or whatever the hell it is he does in these hills. If you see him, you’re to hold him until I get there. Understand?”

  The men nodded, but said nothing.

  “And if he threatens you or tries to run,” Burt said. “Shoot him.”

  Eloy looked from Burt to Wade. “Chief?”

  “You heard the man,” Wade said. “If he gives up peaceable, then OK. If not, take him down.”

  Eloy bobbed his head in agreement.

  Wade continued. “Let’s concentrate on Billy. But, keep an eye out for Walt. We have to assume he’s dead, too.”

  Carlos and Eloy rolled Ted’s body up in blanket as best they could. His legs dangled out one end, but his face was covered. They tied the bundle across Carlos’ horse, just behind the saddle.

  “Let’s spread out,” Burt said. “See if we can pick up a trail.”

  For twenty minutes, they circled and zigzagged around the area, until Eloy shouted. “Got some tracks over here. Look like the same boots.”

  Burt and the others gathered around where he pointed. Several distinct boot prints scarred the soft earth.

  “Heading that way.” Burt pointed up the slope. “Let’s go.”

  Burt led and the others followed. Soon, they exited the trees into a clearing. Above them, a rocky slope rose to the mouth of the Old Watkin’s Mine. A dark form lay near the mine’s entrance. Burt’s pulse quickened. He rose in his saddle, straining to discern what it was.

  Then, to the right of the mine, movement among the trees. Billy stepped into the sunlight. He looked down at the form, and then at the four men on horseback.