by Anna Furtado
Her eyes popped open wide. “Promise me you won’t go near that house! Tucker, you have to promise me.”
“Are you kidding? It’s the last place I want to go. Don’t worry. I won’t go anywhere near that house.”
A look of relief washed over Leah’s face.
“No,” Tucker said, “I’ll probably go back and hang out at the Cuppa again until school’s out. You can call me before you’re ready to leave, then I’ll swing by and pick you up at the door. Service with a smile, ma’am.” She tipped an imaginary hat.
Leah raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure it’s not an inconvenience?” she asked.
Tucker identified the teasing in her tone. Invisible fingers tickled their way up Tucker’s spine. She must stop looking into those eyes. She needed to stop thinking of all the things she might do with Leah if they stopped talking about tomorrow and came to an agreement.
Today, right now, they could be in Leah’s bed, she might have Leah on her back, with her clothes off. Her mouth watered at the thought. She swiped her hand across her lips, trying to erase the thoughts.
“Tucker?”
“Leah, it’s no trouble at all.”
Best to keep to the subject at hand, she thought.
“And I’ll feel better knowing you’re not alone traveling to and from school. Please, let me do this.”
She wanted her plea to mean something else entirely, but she knew it wasn’t the time. She wouldn’t allow it. Like a petulant child, she slammed the door shut on her thoughts of carrying Leah to her bedroom and making love to her, annoyed by her out of control fantasies.
Leah contemplated Tucker. Finally, she responded, “Okay. I’ll take your deal.”
Relief washed over Tucker as she felt the tingling dissipate and her body relax. Somewhat. Maybe she wouldn’t need a cold shower after all. “Deal,” Tucker said.
They spent the rest of the evening with Leah curled up on the couch, reading, and Tucker sitting in a chair, her feet on the matching ottoman, her computer nestled on her lap as she tried to concentrate on working on her novel.
Tucker made slow progress. She felt jittery, out of sorts. She couldn’t put her finger on the problem. She felt incapable of settling down into the task in front of her. Something didn’t feel right. When she looked up from her computer, she met Leah’s eyes.
“Something wrong?” Leah asked.
“Yes, and I have no idea what it is.”
She cocked her head and listened. Quiet permeated the house. No threatening noises could be heard outside. Still, she thought it better to have a look around. “I think I’ll check to make sure everything’s locked up tight.”
Before Tucker could get up, though, Leah marked her place, put her book on the side table, and walked over to stand behind Tucker’s chair. Every nerve ending in Tucker’s body switched to alert as Leah placed her hands on Tucker’s shoulders and began massaging.
It felt heavenly. It felt—
“Your shoulders are tight. This should help.”
Tucker didn’t believe it would. The tension increased. Leah’s touch felt fantastic, sensual. Her kneading fingers sent prickling vibrations down Tucker’s back—and her front. If Leah didn’t stop, she couldn’t be responsible for what she did next. All her earlier thoughts of Leah, the bedroom, clothes on the floor, caressing her, looking at her, wanting her, came flooding back.
It took every ounce of energy Tucker could manage to make her voice sound normal when she said, “We probably should do our check, then get to bed. It’s getting late.” She put her own hands over Leah’s to stop the kneading motion. Leah didn’t pull away, neither did Tucker.
The energy dispersed into the air around them. The moment ended. Leah shifted away and walked down the hall. “I’ll check the back of the house. You check the front.” Tucker heard a tremor in Leah’s voice.
Leah met Tucker in the hall as she returned from checking the bedroom windows. They turned sideways to pass each other in the narrow space, brushing against each other. A shockwave pulsed through Tucker. Her face reddened. Leah took in a sharp breath.
Okay. The feelings from moments before still skittered within her.
“Will you come to bed with me tonight, Tucker?”
Alarm bells sounded in Tucker’s brain. She knew if she walked into Leah’s bedroom tonight, nothing would be the same in the morning. She also knew if she and Leah were going to embark on a relationship—a real relationship—she didn’t want it to be with all this anxiety and uncertainty swirling around them, pressing in on them from every side.
“Leah.” She tried to convey the tenderness she felt, tried not to sound as if she were rejecting Leah. “I think I’d better go back to the couch.”
She didn’t succeed.
“Fine,” Leah snapped. She stormed down the hall into the bedroom and slammed the door.
The force may have come from Leah’s frustration, or her anger, or merely a result of an accidental expenditure of excess energy. One thing Tucker knew for sure. A long, restless night lay ahead of them.
Chapter Fourteen
THE TRIP TO Portero the next morning proved to be pleasant enough. Tucker drove her truck while Leah sat in the passenger seat, making casual comments as they made their way to Leah’s high school. Every so often, a frisson of tension would flash through the truck, bouncing off the cab walls, only to dissolve into the air surrounding them. Neither of them spoke of it.
Leah pointed out the side entrance to the school. Tucker pulled up to the steps and stopped. Leah opened the passenger door. Before she got out, Tucker said, “Shall I wait for your call to pick you up for lunch?”
Leah smiled. “The library stays open for the kids during lunch time. Can you pick me up at one o’clock?”
“Sounds fine. I’ll be right here at one, then.”
Leah got out, but before she closed the door, she poked her head back in and said, “Tucker, everything’s okay between us, isn’t it?”
Tucker gave her a weak smile. “I hope so. Is it?”
Leah grinned. She looked determined as she said, “Yes. Yes, it is.”
“Good.”
She watched Leah walk up the steps and disappear through the door. God those hips drove her crazy. An image flashed through her mind. Tucker grasping Leah’s buttocks, thrusting her body into Tucker’s. Tucker grinding into her.
She took a deep breath and choked out a moan filled with frustration. Good thing the crisp fall day made her keep her windows rolled up. She wouldn’t have wanted the two women walking across the parking lot to hear her mournful cry. She cranked the engine to life and sped off toward the Cuppa Joe downtown, trying to outrun her feelings.
TUCKER GLANCED AT the time on her computer before she shut it down. Four-fifteen. At lunch, Leah told Tucker some of the students would be helping her after class. She estimated she’d be done around four-thirty, so they decided Tucker would head over and wait for her in the parking lot. If Leah needed a few more minutes, it wouldn’t add any stress, Tucker would be there, waiting. She told Leah to take all the time she needed.
They enjoyed a pleasant lunch with the tension between them completely gone. Tucker smiled at their conversation. Leah told her about teaching the freshmen how to do in-depth research to ensure they understood the internet didn’t always provide the best source material and, if they wanted reputable resources, using the library would be a much more reliable way to support their essays and reports. Tucker realized the kids must love Leah. How could they not? And Leah loved teaching the kids, too.
Tucker wrote all morning, consuming more than one latte, and felt like she caught up to herself with her fiction deadline. That made her happy, relieved. In the afternoon, she continued writing, feeling the extra time would let her get a little ahead of schedule so she’d be able to devote more time to the next phase of the revitalization project without worry. She knew Thursday would be a loss because she’d be spending it with the guy from the engineering company. She wanted t
o hear the assessment about how much equipment would be needed and how long it would take to complete the full evaluation.
She made a note to set up a meeting with the volunteers to do an inventory of any contents of the mine once they had it open and knew if it was safe enough for them to take stock.
The ever-present question about who accessed the mine and how she was going to get in still existed, but she dismissed it. If someone came forward with the key, they’d use it. If not, she’d make sure she brought a beefy bolt cutter with her to give them entry.
With her laptop packed away securely, Tucker headed to her truck to make her way over to the high school. She checked her phone when she arrived. Four-twenty-six. No sign of Leah yet, so she put the windows down a crack to let in some air. While she waited, she checked her e-mail. Then she got lost in social media for a while. Next time she checked the time, her phone indicated four-fifty-two. Should she be concerned?
Nah, some teenager who needed someone to talk to probably chewed Leah’s ear off. She wouldn’t worry—yet.
At five-oh-five, she decided fidgeting while she sat in her truck did her no good. She needed to get out and find Leah, see what delayed her.
The parking lot emptied during the time Tucker waited, and held only a few scattered cars. As she reached the side door, a middle-aged woman with a tote bag and a purse over one arm opened it, obviously leaving for the day. The woman looked wary and asked if she needed help, and Tucker told her she’d come to pick up Leah.
In response, the woman broke into a smile and said, “Oh, you must be Tucker.” She pointed out the library a few doors down the hall. The lights from the room shone onto the shiny wood floor in the hallway, creating a parallelogram of light across the boards.
Tucker entered the room with a smile on her face, but it disappeared when she found no one inside. She walked over to the desk in the middle of the room and spied Leah’s purse sitting on the chair. Relief washed through her. Leah probably stopped by the women’s room in preparation for the ride home.
A single closed door behind the desk made Tucker curious. Did Leah have a private bathroom in the library? Not very likely, she thought, but she tried the knob. Although a skeleton key stuck out from the old lock, it didn’t need to be turned. The door opened easily. A light flashed on, automatically, revealing a small closet containing supplies. Opened boxes of pencils, scissors protruding from glass jars, stacks of three-by-five cards, and reams of paper sat neatly arranged on shelves. She examined the room again.
“Leah?”
Silence.
“Leah, are you here?”
No answer.
A boy Tucker found it difficult to believe was old enough to be in high school stepped into the room. A black instrument case dangled from his hand. He wore a large backpack on his back, which stooped him over. “Miss Hudson’s not here,” he said. He didn’t smile.
Tucker scowled. “Where is she?” She tried to quell the new wave of panic rising up inside her.
“Don’t know,” the boy said. “I saw her leave, though.”
Tucker’s breathing quickened. She started to perspire.
“Was she alone?”
“She was with some guy. Maybe it’s her boyfriend.” He brightened at his creativity. Tucker tried to quell her annoyance at the assumption.
“What did he look like, this guy she left with?”
“I don’t know. They were walking away from me. I only saw the back of him. I was coming in the side door.” He pointed in the direction of the door Tucker entered earlier. “I have a music lesson at four-thirty. I play the flute.”
Tucker tamped down her impatience at his meandering. “The man, what about him?”
“Oh.” Surprise registered on his face at her impatience but he recovered to continue. “They were walking toward the front door.” Now he pointed in the opposite direction. “He was holding onto her arm.” The boy frowned and looked down at the case in his hand. When he looked up, he said, “I—I—think maybe I saw him push her a little. Maybe I should have told my teacher.”
Tucker worried she might be sick, but she pushed herself to find out a couple of more things. “Was this guy tall?”
The kid acknowledged her question with a slight bob of his head.
“Did he have long hair, down to his collar, his shoulders maybe, and slicked back?”
He signaled his confirmation of the new fact.
Fear filled her. She knew who it was. She swallowed several times, trying to keep the bitterness from rising in her throat. She’d also be willing to put every cent she’d saved to put down on the plot of land atop Tenderfoot Hill on where he’d taken Leah. With absolute finality, she knew their destination—the mine.
She pushed past the boy.
As she rounded the corner, running down the hall, she heard the kid shout, “Maybe you should call the police, lady,” but she knew she didn’t have time.
TUCKER SWERVED TO avoid a car leaving the parking lot. A horn blared behind her and she waved her apology over her shoulder. Once out of town, she pushed the gas pedal to the floor. With less traffic to concentrate on, she grabbed her phone and hit speed dial. Luckily, Jackie answered after the second ring. Tucker spewed out her own words so fast, she stammered several times. She told Jackie what she knew and asked her to call the sheriff.
Jackie pleaded with her not to go to the mine by herself, but Tucker wouldn’t listen. She needed to get there, confirm if her suspicions were true or not, if he took Leah. Most of all, her brain required assurance Leah was all right. If he hurt her, Tucker didn’t know what she’d do. Agitated and desperate, she’d slowed the truck only enough to swing onto Gold Street. She took a right at Schoolhouse Road and sped toward the mine.
Upper Schoolhouse appeared deserted. She floored the gas pedal again and became airborne when she hit a pothole. The truck bounced back onto the road. She kept going, not caring about anything but finding Leah.
She left the truck on the access road and ran the rest of the way. When she broke through a thicket of tall brush, she stopped. Below her, a narrow gravel path ended a few feet beyond the mine entrance. A dark blue BMW with a deformed rear bumper sat parked only feet from the heavy mine doors. The big lock hung like a limp rag from the hasp ring, unlocked.
Tucker charged down the hill, losing her footing and sliding half-way to the soft embankment. She didn’t take the time to brush herself off. She needed to find Leah. She needed to beat the crap out of Notch. If he harmed Leah, she would kill him—with her bare hands if necessary. She slipped through the opening between the two thick wooden doors and stopped, surrounded by blackness. Then she marched on, too impatient to allow her eyes a chance to adjust completely in the darkness.
Tucker thought Notch was sloppy for leaving the doors open, but then, maybe he didn’t figure she’d know to come here. The dank smell made her wrinkle her nose. She wanted to sprint down the tunnel, but the darkness prevented her from doing so. She stilled and forced herself to wait for her eyes to adjust a little more. Off in the distance, she made out a faint dot of light. It might be coming from an intersecting passageway, but to get from here to there, she’d have to be careful. The path followed a downward slope and darkness swallowed everything as the tunnel descended. She could use the flashlight on her phone, but she didn’t know where Notch was. She couldn’t risk turning it on and giving herself away. But, if she tripped and hurt herself, she’d be no help to Leah and she might give herself away anyway. She chose to continue on in the dark.
With the faint light of the cracked entrance doors behind her, the details of the craggy walls materialized as her eyes adjusted. An outcropping, which might have tripped her up, loomed. She barely made out the features in the dirt floor under her feet, forcing her to take her first few steps tentatively. The smooth ground, probably worn by many feet over the years of mine operation, stretched out in front of her. She focused on the pinpoint of light off in the distance and headed for it. She felt the trail sl
oping away from her as she stepped along, full of caution.
A short way in, she realized she’d have even more trouble negotiating her way forward when she found ore cart tracks rising up out of the path. Now, she needed to step over or on the cross pieces holding the rails. It took a few strides, but she got into a rhythm and quickened her pace. She soon felt out of breath, panting. She tried to decide if she was out of shape or terrified she wouldn’t get to Leah in time. Concluding it might be both, she pushed on.
The closer she got to the lighted area, the more carefully she stepped, trying to move quietly, not to give herself away. She quelled her desire to break out into a run, sure she’d tumble down the grade if she tried it.
The path she followed took an abrupt left. She stopped. Ahead of her, before the blackness refused to allow a look deeper into the tunnel in front of her, she surveyed support beams, thick wooden Tinker-Toy structures on walls and over her head, continuing into the darkness. To her right, a dimly illuminated, smaller tunnel would probably take her to Leah. She held her breath and poked her head from behind the wall.
She found herself peering down a short tunnel. It opened into a room-like feature, a small cavern perhaps. The ore cart tracks and the overhead supports didn’t extend in that direction.
Through the small opening, containing a light source not visible from her vantage point, she spied dusty old crates and thick, dirty ropes. A rusted pickax rested against a wooden keg. It occurred to her, if she figured out how to get to it, she’d have some means of defense.
A shadow broke across the beam of light projected on the chamber floor. The person remained out of sight, but she recognized the voice as soon as she heard it. Nigel Dunbar—Notch.
“What’s wrong with your girlfriend?” the last word pronounced in a pejorative tone. The disembodied voice echoed in the chamber. “Apparently, she’s not as smart as I thought. She should have figured this all out by now. She should have showed up looking for you. I don’t think you picked a very good one, do you?”