The Veritas Codex Series, #1

by Betsey Kulakowski

  “I got my PhD?” she looked at him as if that surprised her.

  “So, where do I work now?”

  “For the past five years you’ve been working with me on our show The Veritas Codex. We watched it last night. Don’t you remember?”

  “Oh yeah.” She nodded. “What was I thinking?”

  “Do you remember what we were doing here?” Rowan asked. “When you hit your head?”

  Ben watched her, noting her eyes darting from side to side. “No,” she said. “No. Maybe. We were researching stuff. It’s all a blur.”

  “We were researching the area ... looking for Bigfoot,” he said.

  “Did we find him?” she asked.

  Ben made some notes in her chart.

  “Well, no one’s better at not finding the truth than we are.” Rowan snarked.

  “You’ve got a very bad concussion,” Ben supplied. He recognized Rowan’s distress. “We’ve run some tests, but there’s nothing conclusive. With these kinds of injuries, it’s hard to predict the outcome. You may remember. You may not. We will just have to wait and see.”

  * * *

  Rowan followed Ben out into the hallway. “Isn’t there something we can do?”

  “I can get you in to a psychologist. There may be some therapies they can recommend. But I can’t make any promises.”

  “Do you think if we showed her the video? Tell her everything?”

  “She may not accept the information. She may reject it. Or it could put her into a panic, and it might be devastating to her. Is it really so bad that she doesn’t remember?”

  “It’s what we do, Ben. We go out there and we find the truth. If it’s a hoax or if it’s real, we accept it. We don’t judge. We collect evidence and analyze it. That’s all I want for Lauren ...to find the truth.”

  “She may not be ready for it. Give her some time. Talk to the psychologist, let them guide you through this process.” He put a hand on Rowan’s shoulder. “I know this is frustrating. Remember the class in basic training on caring for victims of trauma? We don’t want to make it any worse for her. She’s been through enough.”

  Rowan hesitated for a moment. “The test results came back. Didn’t they?”

  “Everything was negative,” he said. “She wasn’t raped.”

  “Thank God.” Rowan’s posture bowed and his hand went to the middle of his chest.

  “She needs time, Rowan. Give her that. The memories will come soon enough.”

  * * *

  Rowan noticed the men in black suits coming down the hall as Ben went to the nurses’ station. Agents Miller and Morrison looked like men on a mission. “Mr. Pierce,” Miller said.

  “Have you found anything?”

  “That’s why we’re here,” he said. “There’s been another reported sighting near Ape Cave. A hiker on the trail where Lauren was found reported seeing a giant monkey.”

  “Primate, yes. Monkey, no.”

  “We’re still working to determine exactly what he saw. We think it might have been a bear, but after what happened to Miss Grayson, we can’t rule out anything.”

  “We were hoping we could talk with her,” Miller said.

  “She doesn’t remember anything,” Ben said, crossing his arms as he moved in front of the door to her room. “Post traumatic amnesia.”

  “She doesn’t remember anything?”

  “She remembers that she hit her head,” Rowan scoffed, feigning a laugh.

  “May we speak with her anyway?” Morrison asked.

  Ben looked like he might not allow it, but he knew these men had the authority here. He stepped aside. “Only for a few minutes.”

  “Lauren?” Rowan led them into the room. “These gentlemen are trying to help us figure out what happened to you. Will you talk to them?”

  Lauren looked confused, but nodded. Miller approached her, but Morrison spoke first. “Miss Grayson, we understand you had some trouble in camp a few days ago and we’d like to help find out who did this to you. Can you tell us what happened?”

  “I hit my head,” she said.

  “Yes ma’am.” The two agents glanced at one another. “That’s what your doctor told us. We are trying to figure out how you hit your head and who might have tried to hurt you.”

  “Why would someone want to hurt me?” She protested. “Did you know I am on a TV show?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Miller said. “We’ve seen the video from ...” Ben shook his head, making a growling noise in the back of his throat. He discouraged the man’s line of questioning with his eyes. “Err ... from your show. We wanted to know if you saw who hit you.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” Her eyes narrowed. She looked to Rowan. “Do you know what he means?”

  “I tried to explain to these gentlemen that you don’t remember anything that happened to you.”

  “Do you know what happened to me?” she asked Rowan, point-blank.

  “We think ...” he started, glancing at, then ignoring, Ben’s warning glare. “We think you were attacked by ... a ... Bigfoot.” He spit it out, despite his better judgement.

  Lauren pursed her lips and wrinkled her brow. “A Bigfoot?” An impish smile graced her bruised face. “You think a Bigfoot did this?”

  “You don’t?” Miller asked, analytically.

  Lauren puzzled over this for a moment, the smile quickly fading. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of strange things in my life ... but I’ve learned to base my reality on facts.” She turned to Rowan again. “Do we have any proof of any of this?”

  “Nothing conclusive,” he admitted. “It’s all circumstantial at this point.”

  “Well, you know what that means,” she said. “We need more data.”

  “We aren’t going back out there,” Rowan stated flatly, knowing exactly what she had in mind. Still, this was the Lauren he knew. The spark was back.

  “There’s no proof that Bigfoot exists,” Ben said gently. “Researchers, both amateur and expert, have been trying for decades, if not centuries.”

  “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” Lauren said, curtly. “You know the rules, Rowan. We cannot come to any conclusions without sufficient evidence.”

  “I won’t take you back out there,” Rowan protested. “You’re in no condition to go traipsing off into the woods.”

  “I have to agree with Rowan,” Ben stated flatly.

  “Ma’am. We have taken over your investigation,” Morrison said. “Your job now is just to focus on your recovery. If we find any further evidence, we’ll be in touch.”

  Chapter 20

  “I want to see the evidence.” Lauren refused to eat until he produced the video.

  “I don’t have it with me.” It was a lie. Still, he held the spoon out to her. “Please? Just eat.”

  “I’m not buying it, Rowan.” She took a bite with a glare, as if she were doing it just to spite him. “Where’s your laptop?” she asked. “Where’s Jean-René? He has it, doesn’t he?”

  “The team went back to San Diego. Bahati and I stayed behind to take care of you.”

  “Well, thank you for that,” she snarled, snatching the spoon impatiently out of his hand. “I can feed myself.”

  He huffed at her for a moment, his ire rising as well, slamming down the almost-empty cup of pudding, slopping some of it on the table. Pacing, he cooled before he turned back. “Look, I’m taking you home tomorrow, Lauren.” He took a deep breath. “I’m asking you, one more time, for the love of God. Please. Marry me? I love you. I want to be your husband. I want to stop living in this ... this half-life, this limbo that you’ve been holding me in. I can’t take this anymore!”

  “Rowan.” She started to speak but he cut her off before she could say no.

  “You were gone for ten days, and I died every single time I woke up and didn’t know where you were.” He tore at his hair, leaving it disheveled. “I couldn’t eat, not knowing if you were hungry. I couldn’t gaze up at the sky witho
ut wondering if you could see it. Every time I thought of your cold dead eyes staring into the darkness ...” He choked back tears. “I love you. Why won’t you let me in?”

  “Rowan.” Lauren put a hand on his shoulder.

  He lifted his head. “Everyone knows about us, it’s not a secret,” he said.

  Her eyes narrowed. “Who did you tell?”

  “I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t have to. Jean-René said he’s known for a long time. So, please. Please, Lauren. Marry me!”

  Lauren sat speechless. His veins throbbed in his temples and he felt the fury burning in his face. His eyes radiated with it. He held his breath as she gazed at him.

  She took a deep breath and he could see her walls collapse around her. “Okay,” she said, without any further protest. “Okay,” she stated a little more surely. “You’re right.”

  He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He’d asked her to marry him nearly a dozen times and she always had an argument for him. Never had she resigned herself to him, and he wasn’t sure he’d heard her right. “Was that ... a yes?”

  She nodded and lifted her brows. “Yes.”

  He thought his knees were going to buckle again, but he managed to steady himself, and reached into his pocket for the diamond ring he’d carried for years. He picked the pocket lint out of the setting, polishing it against his shirt before he held it out, reaching for her left hand. He hesitated a moment considering that she might not be in any condition to make such a decision. “Are you sure?”

  “I’ve been a fool, Rowan. I realize that. I know I have a head injury, but I also know I love you and I want to be with you. If it’s that important to you, then let’s do it. Let’s get married.”

  Rowan felt his heart swell. He’d waited so long to hear her say that. Without words, he slid it onto her finger. He inspected it, straightening it before looking up at her. His eyes were damp, and a tear ran down his cheek when he gazed into her dark eyes.

  She fixed her eyes on him. He leaned in to kiss her, tenderly. She ran her fingers through the short mop of his already disheveled hair, caressing his cheek, pulling him into her. He withdrew a scant few inches.

  “Thank you,” she said, softly.

  “For what?” he asked, confused.

  “For saving me from the Bigfoot,” she said.

  Chapter 21

  Back in San Diego, Lauren slept off and on for days. Rowan made sure she ate, and helped her bathe when she asked him to. He tried to work while she rested. He found it hard to focus. He had so many things running through his mind. There were so many unanswered questions. He did manage to find one way to distract himself. He perused the travel website that they so often used to book their trips, looking for ideas of where to take her for their honeymoon.

  Of course, they’d never gotten around to talking about wedding plans, but he had placed the ring on her finger at long last. He was content with that — for now. It was so hard trying to find somewhere to vacation, one of the curses of traveling for a living. They hadn’t taken a vacation in all the years they’d been doing the show, and no one in the crew did either. They would make time for side trips when they found themselves in someplace interesting, but traveling for personal pleasure was practically unheard of.

  Where on earth could we go that there wasn’t some mystery to solve? Did Scooby Doo and the Gang have this much trouble planning a vacation? He thought to himself.

  The Paris underground had been a great investigation, but it took some of the romanticism out of the City of Lights. The Castles of Scotland, Tower of London, the Pyramids of Giza, Ghosts of Cape Horn, the list could go on and on. From one continent to the other they’d traveled time and time again.

  Rowan was too tired to think. Maybe we could just go to Vegas, he considered. That would be weirder than all the ghosts and Bigfoot combined.

  “What time is it?” Lauren came in and found him in front of the computer.

  He glanced at his watch. “About time for dinner,” he smiled. She was wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top and he longed to peel her out of them and celebrate their engagement, but he knew she was in no shape for a good romp.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking over itineraries for our next few destinations. I haven’t made reservations, and I’m kind of glad now that I didn’t.” It was only a half-lie.

  “Why?”

  “Well, it might be a while before you’re ready to travel.”

  “Probably for the best anyway.” She turned his chair and sat in his lap. He snaked his arms around her, mindful of her healing arm.

  She suddenly had his full attention. “Why do you say that?”

  “We’re not done with this investigation,” she said. “You know, this could turn out to be the best episode of The Veritas Codex ever. We could get another Emmy nomination.”

  He blinked in rapid succession. “Have you lost your ever-lovin’ mind?”

  “Wait just a second,” she said. “Hear me out on this.” She took a deep breath. “Whatever happened to me, I survived. Sure, I’m busted and bruised, but I survived. But the mystery remains. Is Bigfoot real? To compound that, we have to find out the truth. Did I get kidnapped by Bigfoot?”

  He bit his lip, certain she’d lost her mind along with her memory. “You know what they’re saying about you? What’s all over the tabloids, don’t you?” He mimicked quotation marks over his head with one hand. “‘I Was Kidnapped By Bigfoot.’ Might as well tell them you’ve been impregnated by aliens.”

  “Stop it, Rowan.” She stood and took a few steps. She turned sharply. “Don’t you get it? It’s our job to find the answers to mysteries. To find the truth!”

  “You keep talking about the truth, like ... like it’ll change something.”

  “It’s our job.” Her voice raised sharply.

  “It’s your life, Lauren. That’s what worries me. You nearly died. Doesn’t that frighten you? ’Cause it sure scares the hell out of me.”

  Lauren’s dark eyes turned tender. “I’m never afraid when you’re with me, Rowan. That’s why we make such a great team. We always have each other’s back. We always will.” She laughed so she wouldn’t cry. “I need you at my back on this one. I have to know ... I just have to.”

  * * *

  It went against his better judgment, but he called the team and scheduled a meeting, asking each of them to bring their data on the Bigfoot investigation. Bahati and Jean-René had been leading the efforts to analyze the data and were in charge of the project while Lauren and Rowan were occupied with her recovery. He hadn’t told them he was bringing Lauren with him.

  The conference room table was covered in computers, video and audio equipment. The team, more than a dozen people, were engaged in a heated discussion when he came in, his body shielding Lauren behind him.

  “Hey, Boss,” Chance said. The room went silent as Lauren stepped out from behind Rowan.

  “Good to see you too.” Lauren managed a smile. Everyone rose and gathered around to welcome her back. “Where are the bagels?”

  * * *

  “Okay, guys. Let’s get started. We have a lot of work to do. Lauren’s energy level isn’t back to 100 percent, so we need to do everything we can before she gets worn out,” Rowan took over, and helped Lauren to her chair. Without asking, he poured her a cup of coffee and went to work doctoring it for her. “Lauren has asked that we assemble the team to look over the evidence from Washington State. We’re going to piece everything together to see what we can do to help restore her memory of the events there. It’s the mystery we have to answer before we can start our next project. I need everyone on point here. Let’s do this in chronological order, okay?”

  “Okay.” A collective response answered him.

  “Jean-René?” He handed the cup of coffee to Lauren. “Let’s start with the first evidence from our trip.”

  “Right.” Jean-René produced the plaster cast of the first footprint. “Here’s the cast we took o
n the trail near the river.” He put it under the document cam so everyone in the room could see it on the big screen. “Jess?”

  Jess Bynum was the team’s assistant research anthropologist. Rowan had put her in charge of the cast analysis. She stood, taking over the discussion. “I consulted with my colleague, the preeminent expert on Bigfoot, Dr. Menlo in Idaho. According to Dr. Menlo, this print was made by a bipedal mammal of unknown origin. As you can see, the toes are clearly visible, five on each foot. The doctor provided me with this overview where he’s drawn in the probable skeletal form of the creator’s foot.” The diagram appeared on the screen. “Notice the tarsal bones are more pronounced than a human foot, but it is more like a human foot than the foot of a gorilla.” She put a cast of a gorilla footprint on the screen. “You can also see this was obviously not the track of a bear.” She put up a bear track for comparison. “Let me zoom in on the cast again.” It took a second to get the image to come into focus. “This cast shows remarkable details. Your team was lucky to arrive upon it so soon after it was made. The indentions around the edge are indicative of hair, and you can even make out the dermal ridges of the toes. It is my professional opinion, shared by Dr. Menlo, that this is a biologically significant sample.”

  “So, you are saying it’s not a fake?” Rowan asked.

  “That is what I’m saying,” she said. “There’s no way your every-day hoax-monger would know where to put the heel bone ... in humans, it would be much farther back than it is in this cast.”

  “What about the audio we caught?” Rowan turned to Bahati.

  “There were other casts for comparison,” Jess interrupted.

  “I know. We’ll come back to you. I’m trying to follow the chronology of the data collection,” he said curtly, and she sat back down. If she was upset for being cut off, she didn’t show it.

  * * *

  Bahati spent twenty-five minutes discussing the howls they’d captured on both audio and video tape, replaying them for the team. She put the video on the big screen and dimmed the lights. Rowan watched Lauren for any sign of a reaction and was amazed at how placid her face remained, even as she watched her own image respond to the cry—more like a baying moan in the black of night. She didn’t even wince. It was as if she didn’t associate herself with the woman on the screen.