Janie crossed her arms over her chest. “It wasn’t nonsense. I took it there so that they could care for it.”
“Blah, blah, blah, is all I hear. Special little do-gooder Dossett always getting hurt but never getting the blame. I bet if they investigated the fire that killed your mother, they might find out that you were responsible.”
The comment struck pain in her heart, and she gasped. People surrounding her reacted in a similar fashion, and Telah tried to explain herself. “I’m not saying she did anything, just that somehow the fire was her fault. I mean—“
“Enough,” said Doc, appearing at her side. “You should be ashamed, Telah.” He wrapped his arm around Janie’s shoulders and led her away from the crowd.
They passed people sending her pitying looks, and Janie wished she could hide her head in the sand like an ostrich. Around the back of the church was a gazebo. Ensconced within those walls, Doc sat her on a bench and knelt before her.
“Are you okay?”
She shook her head, willing the tears to stay at bay.
“Telah is just jealous. She sees you getting attention, and she doesn’t know how to handle it.”
“Well, that wasn’t the right way.”
“Of course it wasn’t. But sometimes we do things we shouldn’t when our emotions get the better of us.”
Doc rubbed his hands along her thighs, and Janie gulped.
“You know I’m always here for you.”
She nodded.
“And that I would never let anyone hurt you.”
She nodded again.
He lifted her chin and forced her to look directly at him. She swallowed her fear and studied his eyes. She’d never noticed how dark in color they were or how narrow they opened. He parted his lips and moved closer, and she hastily moved to the right and slipped from his grasp.
“I think I better get back to the picnic. I don’t want anyone to worry about me.”
“You’re right. After Telah’s words, everyone will be concerned. Join the party, and I’ll be around in a minute.”
Janie hurriedly raced from the gazebo. When she rounded the corner, she came face to chest with Trevor.
“Are you all right? I heard that Telah said some nasty things to you.”
“Yes.” She trembled in his grasp, and he looked over her shoulder then back at her.
“Do you want to go home?”
“More than ever.”
****
Doc leaned against the corner of the church and winked. Trevor placed his arms around Janie’s shoulders and guided her to his truck.
He left her inside with the air running while he retrieved their dishes. Several parishioners asked about her condition, and he assured them she was fine.
Back in the truck, he stowed the dishes in the rear floorboard, put the truck in gear, and pulled onto the road. Based on Janie’s demeanor, Trevor suspected something more had happened to her, but she remained silent on the trip home.
When they stopped in her driveway, he stared out the windshield. “Well what now?”
“Would you like to go on a hike?”
“Really? Now?”
“Tomorrow.”
Trevor studied her profile. “Sure.”
“I’ll see you at eight o’clock in the morning.” She climbed from the truck, slammed the door, and walked to her house without a backward glance.
****
Unsure what to do with the rest of the afternoon, Trevor drove to the lake. Gulls on the water skittered away as he skipped rocks across the glassy surface.
“Girl trouble?”
Trevor twisted at the husky voice. A figure stood in the shadows of a hemlock tree. A wide brimmed hat hid his face, and a trench coat covered his body.
“Trevor Jacobs?”
“Who’s asking?”
“I’m Janie’s father.” The fellow paused, presumably to wait for a response, but Trevor was stunned and couldn’t speak. “There are people in this town who don’t like you.”
The statement brought him around and Trevor asked, “Like who? The doc?”
“To name one,” he replied.
“If you’re really looking out for Janie, you’ll keep Doc Giles away from her.” Trevor crossed his arms and leaned against a maple tree trunk.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean there’s something not right about him and how he acts around her.”
“Hmm, I promise to keep that in mind.”
“Also you might want to have a talk with Telah.”
“Telah? Sweet Telah, what could she possibly have done?”
“You don’t talk to Janie that much, do you?”
“I–I—“
“She accused her of starting the fire ten years ago.”
“She what?” asked Mr. Dossett in an indignant tone.
“Not only did she accuse Janie, but she did it at the church picnic.”
A wail rent the air as Mr. Dossett ran away. Drained emotionally, Trevor collapsed by the water and didn’t move until the sun began to set.
****
The meeting replayed over and over in his mind. He went to the hotel and tried to sleep but it was no use. Up early, he showered, dressed, and drove to Janie’s house.
He jumped from the rocking chair as Janie opened the door. She gasped and placed her hand on her chest.
“Why are you sitting here? You scared me to death.”
“Just waiting for you and enjoying the view.”
From the porch, one witnessed the sun above a row of mountainous peaks. Reds, blues, and golds highlighted the cloudless sky. Janie stood beside him, and he fought the urge to put his arm around her shoulders and drag her close.
“For as long as I’ve lived here, I don’t remember a more beautiful sight.”
Choked by the beauty of the moment, Trevor kept silent. A truck drove by honking its horn and broke the spell. “I guess we should go.”
“Yes, we should go.”
Trevor picked up her backpack and placed it in the truck bed. He had gone to the hardware store and bought his own that morning.
“Just drive north until I tell you to turn.”
Easy listening tunes filled the truck. They drove for thirty minutes when Janie scooted to the edge of her seat.
“The turn is here somewhere.”
Trevor eyed the road warily. Tall pines lined either side, blocking the sunlight. Curves wrapped around themselves like they were driving in circles.
Janie burst out with, “There it is!”
Trevor recoiled. When he regained his composure, he squinted. Sunlight glinted on the white quartz gravel and Trevor slowed. “Janie, I don’t know if I can—“
“Sure you can. Just turn in.”
Trevor shook his head but obeyed. As the truck tires rolled off the pavement, the limbs that earlier concealed the road parted.
He blinked rapidly and said, “What?”
“Cool, huh? The owners of the pond wanted to keep out thieves, so they had an engineer named William Rogers design this. The limbs and leaves are all fake. They work on a spring-loaded system. When a vehicle passes over a hidden light beam, they magically open.”
“Amazing.”
“I’ve always thought what was truly amazing was that the secret was contained to the townspeople. Most of the time, gossip surpasses the boundaries of a small town, but somehow we all kept our mouths shut on this one.”
The bumpy, narrow road curved as it wound up the mountainside. Several times, they dropped in a ditch and scraped the truck’s undercarriage.
They rounded a bend and ended in a flat valley. The width was three cars wide. On each side was a tall rock face. He felt like he was driving through a dry river bed, only without all the rocks.
“Keep going,” said Janie.
Another half-mile, and the mountainous sides diminished, and they were on a flat stretch. “We’ll park here and walk back into the valley.”
Trevor pulled off the dirt road and p
arked. They climbed from the truck, and he retrieved their gear. Janie shouldered her pack, moving her long ponytail out of the way. She headed toward the valley, and Trevor hurried to catch up.
Over her shoulder, she yelled, “I hope you’re not offended, but when I get tired, we’ll have to stop. I’m kind of out of shape.”
Trevor fought a smile. She’d just relieved his fears about the trip. Now he didn’t have to worry. If his leg pained, he could take a break.
Once in the valley, they scaled a rock staircase, and arrived at a cave entrance. She dragged out a bottle of water and took a long sip.
“Let’s sit a minute.”
Trevor was happy about the suggestion. The place where his prosthesis touched his leg was burning, and he needed the break.
“I know it looks like there are two mountains here in the middle of nowhere, but it is really all manmade.”
“Are you serious?”
“Crazy, huh? The owners wanted more than just a body of water, so they had a construction company pile all the rocks together and seal them with cement to create the mountainous look. The flat place where you parked used to be the parking lot for the Pearl Valley Oyster Farm. Guides would lead the visitors here to the ‘cave’ and take them inside to collect their oysters. It supposedly added to the ambiance.”
Trevor laughed at the ludicrous nature of creating a fake mountain for appearance’s sake.
“This cave was created by William Rogers as well.”
“The engineer?”
“Yes, over thirty years ago.” She stopped, and Trevor cocked his brow. “But don’t worry. Before the Pearl Valley Oyster Farm shut down, the place was reinforced.”
“That’s good to know.”
“Are we ready?”
He nodded, and she placed a headlamp on her head and handed one to him as well.
“How did they ever find this place?”
“Really, it was easy. It was a pond sitting on top of the mountain.”
“And it had oysters?”
“Not exactly. Legend holds that one of the Barney brothers thought he’d found a shell. He tried to pry it open and when he did, he was grossed out and flung it into the pond. They say, some time later, the other brother went for a swim and found the oyster, and when he brought it up, he opened it and found a pearl.
“Whatever caused someone to want to raise mollusks here, I don’t know. What I do know is that a couple of developers inserted an irritant into some oysters, dropped them into the pond and made a fortune.”
Janie’s words echoed along the walls. The rope railing had disintegrated over time, and Trevor braced himself against the rock wall as they followed the narrow trail.
“How come the walls are dry?”
“I have no idea. Maybe because the pond dried up?”
A few minutes later they reached the bottom, which was a deep dry hole.
“You weren’t kidding.”
Cracks formed in the basin like the sun-baked earth of the desert. A dry, rotted pier stretched across the full length of what was once the pond.
“People used to stand on the pier and use a net to drag up the oysters. They would take them to another station along the wall and open them. When they dragged out their pearl, a jeweler was there to give them an appraisal of the gem and offer to put it in a setting.”
“Interesting.” Trevor lifted his head and studied the walls. “If it was a pond, how did it dry up? Did someone pull the plug?” he snickered.
“Oddly enough that was a running joke while I was in school. Recently it was discovered that the pond had a source and a run-out. Marine biologists have studied this place for years looking for a reason it all worked but never came up with any valid explanations.”
She found a boulder carved into a bench, and they sat.
“So why are we here?” he asked, pulling out his water bottle and taking a sip.
She shrugged. “I thought you might like to see some of Pearl Valley’s finer points.”
Ah, now he understood.
“I mean, you’ve been cooped up in your hotel room for over a week a-and—“
“Someone told you what Telah said to me?”
“Yes,” she said, lowering her head.
“You didn’t have to bring me.”
“I wanted to. I’ve always loved this place.”
“All right we’re here, what now?”
****
What now? He asked her, and Janie didn’t have a ready answer. She just wanted to enjoy his company somewhere that people wouldn’t be watching their every move. This was a good choice because no one ever visited the old oyster farm.
“We could go farther into the cave.”
“I thought the place is all fake.”
“Okay, the part you’re seeing here is part of what the company built, but if we go into the pond bed…” She stood and went to the pier. On the edge she jumped down into the dry bed. Stopping, she waited for him to follow.
When he jumped, he grimaced. Mentally she kicked herself. She should have realized the trip would be too hard for him. She almost turned around but didn’t want to embarrass him. Maybe just a little farther, then they would stop.
They reached the edge of the pond and she bent down. He knelt next to her. Their headlamps shone inside a dark hole.
“Where does it go?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. Everyone says it leads to the outside, but I’ve never been brave enough to go through.”
He leaned back and studied her. “You? Not brave? You are the bravest person I’ve ever met.”
“Hmm, now that means something coming from a Navy SEAL.”
“Oh, yeah, don’t tell anyone I said that.”
She laughed, and the sound echoed off the rocks.
All at once the ground rumbled like a hungry stomach. Trevor blinked rapidly and stood. He placed his arms to his sides for balance. The earth arched and rippled like a pavement mirage on a hot summer’s day, and just as suddenly it stilled. “What was that?” he asked, lowering his arms and squatting beside her once again.
Before she could answer, one insignificant pebble landed at her feet. Without warning, it appeared as if the entire ceiling would collapse. The volley that followed was like thousands of bombs striking an Arabian desert. One by one they smacked the ground, growing in size. The impact had her jumping inches off the floor. Hard chips of earth floated upward then landed with a thud. The noise was deafening as the intensity of the onslaught increased. Instinctively, she placed her hands over her head for protection.
“Come on, we have to go,” yelled Trevor.
“We can’t reach the entrance,” she shouted.
“No, we have to go through here.”
“B-but we don’t know where it leads.”
“There’s no time. Let’s pray the rumors were right, and it opens to the outside.”
Janie wanted to refuse Trevor’s idea, but it was too late. As a gigantic boulder tumbled toward them Trevor pushed her through the opening.
Chapter Seventeen
Rocks struck one another with a loud thundering crash. Janie covered her ears until the sound diminished. A plume of dust and debris wafted through the opening, and she coughed and gagged. When the dust settled, everything was dark.
The headlamp still rested on her head, but the light had dimmed, covered by floating particles. The ground shuddered, and Janie placed her palms flat behind her. When everything stopped moving, she reached her arms outward.
“Trevor?” she whispered. Several times she called him, but he didn’t answer. Her heart rate increased, and she gnawed her lip with worry. Tears welled in her eyes, and she curled into a ball and rocked back and forth.
What if she was stuck in here all alone? What if Trevor had been crushed before he could come through? What if he’d hit his head? What was she going to do?
She wanted to scream but feared the ceiling in her new sanctuary would collapse. After a few calming breaths, she turned off h
er headlamp, closed her eyes, and tried to think. What was the most important thing to remember during a cave-in?
Her shoulders shook as she sobbed. “I don’t know what to do.” The hoarse voice coming from her throat didn’t even sound like her, and she cried all the more.
Think, think, don’t panic. Yeah, that’s it.
“Don’t panic.” Trevor’s voice and the feel of his hand on her arm had her springing and bumping into him.
“Ow.” His attempted yell came out as a rough whisper.
“Sorry.” She rubbed her temple.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“I wish I knew.”
“Obviously the rumors were incorrect.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you know of a way out of here.”
“I can’t tell a lie.”
“Great,” he muttered.
Having Trevor by her side instantly made her feel better. Instinctively, she knew he would save them. She didn’t know how, but he would. Like MacGyver or the A-Team, she imagined him running around saving people in distress.
“I think we’re on the east side of the valley. As deep as we went into the oyster farm’s cave, we have to be close to the edge of the created mountain.” He paused before asking, “Can you tell me the supplies you brought?”
Janie pulled her pack around to the front, cleared the lens of her headlamp, and switched it on. She pilfered inside and rattled off a list of items.
“Two water bottles, matches, a few snack bars, an emergency poncho and blanket, a camera, and my cell phone.” She drew out the last word as hope soared in her breast. Excited, she pulled the phone from the pack and hit the on button. She groaned as the screen showed a tower with a slash through it.
Trevor took the phone and turned it off. “We might need to use this as a light later.” Her heart sank. He added, “Right now I want you to stay put.”
“Where are you going?” Her voice trembled on the question.
He patted her arm. “I’m just going to check the perimeter.”
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