‘Buddy asked for me?’
‘He wants you to play that thing again.’
‘He wants me to bring the diddley bow down there?’
‘Yeah. There’s something down here. It’s just like that box thing I brought up before.’
Rolly looked down at Parnell.
‘I knew it,’ said Parnell. ‘I knew it was here.’
‘Jesus shit, Waters. C’mon. This could be the guy’s dying wish or something.’
Kinnie was right. Parnell wasn’t going anywhere – not before she got back, anyway. Rolly grabbed the diddley bow, wrapped the cable around it and handed it to Macy. She disappeared back into the hole. He grabbed the first rung of the ladder. The blood was still wet. Buddy’s blood. He lowered himself down into the hole.
They walked through the lower tunnel. Macy’s light bounced off the walls.
‘You’re not going to believe this shit,’ Macy said. ‘There’s something crazy down here.’
‘What is it?’
‘I’m not sure exactly. There’s a grotto or something, this big room. There’s one of those boxes stuck in the rocks, farther back than that first one I found.’
Macy stopped and aimed her headlight down at the floor. Buddy lay there, covered in blood, with Macy’s T-shirt stuck in his gut. His head lolled to one side. Macy squatted down and cradled the back of Buddy’s head against her small breasts. He opened his eyes and spotted Rolly.
‘The Waters,’ Buddy said, raising one gold finger.
‘Plug the guitar thing in there,’ said Macy. She pointed her light at a black box embedded in the rocks. The top of the box was covered in concrete. There was a quarter-inch input on the front of the box, just like on the others. Unlike the first two boxes, there was a thick black cable running out of the back. Rolly plugged in the diddley bow.
‘The Waters must play it,’ said Buddy, his eyes glazing over.
Rolly took Macy’s gold charm out of his pocket. ‘I need more light,’ he said, indicating the diddley bow. Macy gave it to him. He took a deep breath then played the notes again. A switch clicked. Lights went on in the cavern.
‘Holy shit,’ said Macy. ‘What is it?’
The cavern was burnished in gold, its walls covered in gold paint. There were diddley bows arranged in a half circle, a dozen or more, with gold filigrees. A doll had been placed in front of each diddley bow – all kinds of dolls, Barbies and GI Joes and baby dolls. The dolls were all covered in gold, with gold-painted skin and gold eyes. A flat rock slab rose in the center of the room. A human skeleton lay on the slab.
‘It’s a tomb,’ said Rolly.
‘The bones,’ said Macy. ‘He painted them gold.’
Buddy Meeks gurgled. ‘The Conjoinment is done,’ he said. ‘The Gentlings are free.’
His eyes went still. Buddy Meeks was released.
THIRTY-TWO
The Rockers
Rolly and Macy stood just inside the entrance to the mine, watching the rain. Two deputy sheriffs had picked up Gibbons and escorted him back down the trail. A helicopter had arrived and taken Buddy away. The paramedics pronounced Buddy dead where they found the body, propped up against the base of the ladder where Macy and Rolly had placed him. Neither the paramedics nor the deputies questioned their story. Kinnie had explained the situation to the deputies outside. They took her at her word. She was a cop, one of them. The details could be sorted out later. The bad guys had been identified – a man and a woman. The man was in custody. The woman had escaped with the officer’s gun. No one but Rolly and Macy had seen the gold room. The lights inside it had gone out before the others arrived.
Macy shivered. The paramedics had given her a blanket to cover up when they arrived. The blanket had been replaced by Kinnie’s jacket, which was at least twice the size Macy would normally wear. She’d rolled up the sleeves. The jacket came to her knees.
Kinnie came in out of the rain, along with a county sheriff who seemed to be in charge of things. ‘We got a situation,’ said Kinnie.
‘What’s that?’ said Rolly.
The sheriff spoke. ‘I need you to call off your guys,’ he said. ‘They’re interfering with my operation.’
‘My guys?’
‘Some long hair types in a VW van up at the lookout are refusing to cooperate. My deputy says they’re armed and unfriendly. I hear you’re the boss. They need to stand down and let us remove the fugitive to the patrol vehicles.’
‘You mean Gibbons?’
Kinnie nodded.
Rolly turned back to the deputy. ‘I asked them to stop anybody that came through,’ he said, ‘until I came back.’
‘Are you willing to go up there and talk to them?’
‘Yes,’ said Rolly. ‘Anytime.’
The sheriff spoke into the radio clipped to his vest. ‘David, listen, have everybody stand down up there. Back off. Tell them we’ll have the guy up there in ten minutes so he can talk to them.’
‘Roger,’ came a voice over the radio.
‘All right, Chief Harper,’ said the deputy. ‘You have charge of your prisoners. I’ll meet you back at the top.’
The deputy walked down the hill and climbed into a waiting helicopter. It lifted off, leaving the three of them alone.
‘Who’s up there, Waters?’ said Macy.
‘Cool Bob and the Rockers,’ said Rolly.
‘Sounds like a band,’ said Kinnie.
‘Yeah,’ said Rolly. ‘It is.’
‘These guys’ll do what you say?’ Kinnie asked.
‘They have so far,’ said Rolly.
‘Count on it, Kinnie,’ said Macy. ‘The Rockers totally dig on Waters.’
‘All right, let’s go.’
They headed down the trail, turned up the valley and headed back to the overlook. Rolly walked in front with Macy behind him. Kinnie brought up the rear.
‘Why did that guy call us your prisoners, Kinnie?’ said Macy.
‘I’m taking you back to the rez for your own protection.’
‘Are you going to put us in jail again?’
‘Not if you tell me what happened down there.’
‘We already told you once. I found the guy. He was bleeding. I tried to bandage him up with my shirt, just like you told me.’
‘He was the one made those bird calls?’
‘Yes,’ said Rolly. ‘It’s just like I explained before, to you and the deputies. His name’s Buddy Meeks. He lives … lived in Slab City. He was one of the UVTs. Twenty years ago. All three of them, there’s some kind of bad blood between them. About the money, the gold. You heard them talking.’
‘Why was he doing that, making that sound?’
‘It’s hard to explain. It’s some kind of code.’
‘You really think he’s the one took down Gibbons?’
Rolly and Macy were silent. They’d reached the spot where the trail started up to the outlook. They stopped and looked at each other.
‘Yeah, I didn’t think so either,’ said Kinnie. She stopped too and waved to the deputy standing guard above, at the overlook.
‘I started thinking about it,’ said Kinnie. ‘While I was out there waiting for the chopper. Those chirps he was making. It’s that word, isn’t it? On Daddy Joe’s whiteboard?’
‘Teotwayki,’ Rolly said. ‘Yes.’
‘What else did you see? How did that Gibbons guy end up hogtied like that? I don’t figure it was you.’
‘No,’ said Rolly. ‘It wasn’t me.’
‘And it wasn’t the birdman.’
‘No. There was a big man, bigger than Gibbons,’ said Rolly. ‘I couldn’t see his face. He had cowboy boots.’
‘There’s only one way this makes sense,’ said Kinnie.
‘I thought he was in the hospital.’
‘I brought him home yesterday.’
‘You think it was Daddy Joe who kicked that guy’s ass?’ said Macy.
‘And saved ours,’ said Kinnie. ‘It’s the only thing that makes sense.’
Kinnie gave them both a severe look. ‘Listen,’ she said. ‘We gotta be careful about this. We don’t know for sure yet, and I don’t want him getting involved if we can help it. It was dark and you didn’t see what happened. Right now, they think it was the birdman that took Gibbons down and got himself shot in the process.’
‘Gibbons knows it was Daddy Joe, doesn’t he?’
‘That’s why I’m taking you back to the rez,’ said Kinnie. ‘So I can get you both out of here before he starts squawking.’
‘I have to talk to the Rockers first,’ said Rolly.
‘Let’s go,’ said Kinnie.
They hiked through the switchbacks, up to the guardrail at the edge of the outlook. A deputy stood behind the guardrail, waiting for them.
‘Come with me,’ he said. Rolly followed. Macy started after him but Kinnie grabbed her arm and held her back. The deputy led Rolly between the two cars and stopped. Two deputies stood at the rear of Kinnie’s truck with Parnell Gibbons between them, in handcuffs. Cool Bob had placed himself in their path, twenty feet down the road, in front of the VW van. He had his rifle strapped to his back. One of the Rockers, the bass player, stood next to the van. The side door was open. He rested his gun in his arms.
‘Hey, Bob,’ said Rolly. ‘What’s happening?’
‘We did just like you said. Nobody passes.’
‘I can see that.’
‘It got kinda tortuous, with the cops showing up and boxing us in,’ said Bob. He pointed to the rocks off to his right. ‘I got two guys up there. That slowed ’em down. I told ’em no prisoner release unless I got the word from you.’
Rolly looked up into the rocks. He saw the two other band members holding their guns. He looked down the road, past the van. Three sheriff’s vehicles blocked the road. The helicopter had landed behind them. The rotors spun down in slow motion.
‘I’m here now,’ said Rolly. ‘This guy they arrested, he’s the one who took my diddley bow. We’ll let the police take care of him.’
‘Everything’s cool?’ said Bob.
‘Everything’s cool. You can let them through.’
Bob looked up to the rocks. He shouted. ‘Stand down, boys. We’re letting ’em through.’
The men moved into the clear and leaned the butts of their guns on the ground. Bob checked the man outside next to the van to make sure his message was clear. The man nodded and leaned his gun against the van.
Cool Bob moved out of the way. ‘All clear,’ he said. ‘Desecuritized.’
Rolly turned to the deputy. ‘That enough?’ he said.
‘It’ll do,’ said the deputy. He motioned to the men with Parnell. They marched him down the road, keeping a wary eye on the Rockers.
‘Where’s Goldhands?’ said Bob, walking over to Rolly.
‘Goldhands is dead. Someone killed him.’
‘Oh, man. Catastrophic.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘This is gonna go down hard with the Slabbers. Debilitating. What’re we going to do without Goldhands?’
As Parnell passed the Volkswagen, he turned to look at something inside. He sneered. It looked like he was talking to someone. The bass player with the gun stood outside the van. There were two other band members in the rocks, and Bob here. All four Rockers were accounted for.
‘Bob?’ said Rolly. ‘Who’s in the van?’
‘Oh, yeah,’ said Bob. ‘Remember that alien lady I told you about?’
‘She’s in there?’ said Rolly. ‘Did she give you her gun?’
‘I didn’t see no gun on her. She was cool. Tranquility base.’
‘You didn’t search her?’
‘She’s an old lady.’
Someone shouted. A gun went off. Rolly turned to see the bass player diving towards the rear of the van. The deputies ducked down, fumbling at their gun holsters. Gibbons stood alone. He stepped towards the van, defiant and screaming. The gun went off again from inside the van. Gibbons tottered backwards. He turned and pitched face first into the road. The deputies rolled to their feet, guns at the ready. A pistol flew out of the van and landed next to Gibbons. The deputies drew a bead on the shooter inside. Dotty stepped out of the van, with her hands up.
‘I’m done,’ she said. ‘We’re all done now. It’s over.’
THIRTY-THREE
The Chief
The tribal police truck bounced down the back road to Daddy Joe’s house. Kinnie Harper looked in the rearview mirror at the two people in the backseat. She pulled up to the house and switched off the engine. She turned back to talk to them.
‘What’d you see down there?’ she said. ‘When you went down the hole?’
‘Not much,’ said Macy. ‘I found that box thing I brought up.’
‘When you went down the second time, to look for the bird guy. While I was gone.’
‘You know what I saw, Kinnie.’
Kinnie sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Macy. I don’t know how many times I gotta say it. I’m sorry.’
‘You tried to kill me, Kinnie.’
‘Excuse me,’ said Rolly. ‘Could one of you explain what’s going on here?’
Kinnie rubbed her forehead. ‘You know how I told you about the mine, how Daddy Joe had that gate installed so people wouldn’t go looking down there?’
‘Sure, because of the UVTs. Because there were people looking for gold all the time.’
‘That was part of it. The real reason he did it was because I left Macy down there one day. I was pissed at her. I left her in the dark to teach her a lesson. I kinda forgot about her. Daddy Joe found out when he came home for dinner. He made me tell him what happened.’
‘I spent the whole night down there,’ said Macy. ‘Until Daddy Joe found me the next morning.’
‘How old were you?’ said Rolly.
‘Seven,’ said Macy.
‘You stayed down there all night when you were seven?’
Macy looked directly at Rolly. ‘Kinnie and I both went in that hole. We were exploring. We both saw that old skeleton. Just like we saw it today. That’s what we saw. Kinnie and me. An old skeleton in a mine.’
Macy’s gold eyes stared into Rolly’s as she spoke. Her eyes told him something different than the words that came out of her mouth. They told him to keep his mouth shut, to stop asking questions. Macy turned back to the front of the truck.
‘Kinnie took the ladder away,’ she said. ‘Left me there. She told me that skeleton was how I was gonna look after the bats ate out my eyes.’
‘I was disciplining you,’ said Kinnie. ‘Until you’d learned your lesson.’
‘You know, Kinnie, fifteen minutes woulda been disciplining. All night’s more like cruel and unusual punishment.’
‘I said I was sorry.’
‘Shit, it was easy going down there today,’ said Macy. ‘I’ve already seen what was down there. Couldn’t have been any worse than when I was seven, in the dark with the bones and the bats.’
‘Yeah, well, it didn’t do me any good either,’ said Kinnie. ‘Daddy Joe never forgave me. He stopped talking to me after that, he got so mad. It seems like he started bringing home all that stuff on the UVTs after that, too.’
‘After he went in the mine?’ said Rolly.
Kinnie nodded.
‘You think he found something down there?’
Kinnie opened her door. ‘I think it’s time we found out,’ she said. ‘It’s time for some sleeping dogs to get kicked in the pants.’
Kinnie climbed out of the truck and opened the back door to let Macy and Rolly out. They walked to the front door. Kinnie knocked once then opened the door.
‘Daddy Joe?’ she said. ‘It’s me. I got somebody here who needs to see you.’
They walked into the living room.
‘Daddy Joe?’
‘Shit, Kinnie, what’s that on the table?’ said Macy.
Kinnie walked to the side table ne
xt to the sofa. ‘There’s blood on it,’ she said, inspecting the stungun.
‘Daddy Joe!’ said Macy. ‘It’s Macy. Where are you?’
They heard a sound in the back. Kinnie led the way. Rolly saw drops of blood on the carpet. They found Daddy Joe in the study, slumped over the desk. There was blood on the back of his shirt. Kinnie rushed to his side and jammed two fingers into his neck.
‘He’s still alive,’ she said. She pulled her radio from her belt and made an emergency call.
‘I’ll get under one arm, you take the other,’ she said to Rolly after she finished the call. ‘Let’s see if we can move him. Macy, get the chair.’
Rolly watched Kinnie slide her neck under Daddy Joe’s armpit. He did the same on the opposite side. They lifted Daddy Joe, straining under his weight. Macy pulled the chair away. Daddy Joe’s head lolled to one side. He groaned.
‘Where to?’ said Rolly.
‘Just lay him on the floor here,’ said Kinnie. They took a few steps back, Daddy Joe’s arms hanging over their shoulders. His dead weight made it hard to maneuver, but they managed to pull him away from the desk and lay him down on the floor. A flower of blood stained Daddy Joe’s shirt just above his left hip.
Kinnie inspected the wound. ‘Doesn’t look like they hit anything vital,’ she said. ‘Stupid old man. Walking all the way back here after getting yourself shot.’
Daddy Joe groaned again.
‘That’s right, Daddy Joe,’ said Kinnie. She leaned in closer to his face and lifted his eyelids. ‘You’re a stupid old man, chasing after ghosts and aliens when you can’t even make peace with the living.’
Daddy Joe’s lips moved as if he were trying to say something.
‘Macy’s here,’ said Kinnie. ‘She found something, down in the mine. This other guy here, her friend, he figured out how to open it with that guitar thing. There was just some old doll inside, painted gold. Maybe you knew that already, maybe you didn’t, but that’s what it came down to. Nothing. All those years trying to figure it out. All that sneaking around. There’s no gold. Nothing.’
‘Cut it out, Kinnie,’ said Macy.
‘Macy,’ said Daddy Joe.
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