Missing in the Desert

by Dana Mentink

“It will take a while to see—” her mom said “—I mean...to ascertain if there was damage, and to what level he will gain ground.”

  To what level? She hardly acknowledged the remark. Seth knew who she was, and she believed that deep down he was still her big brother. Eagerly she called Levi over. He came hesitantly, cowboy hat in his hands.

  “Hey, man,” he said, touching Seth’s shoulder. “Welcome back. I’ve missed you.”

  Seth’s mouth quirked. A smile? A frown? He closed his eyes, and a tear leaked down his cheek. “Levi.” His mouth worked as if the words pained him. “The ranch...”

  Levi looked stricken. “Don’t worry about that. Mara and I have everything handled.”

  “I’m sorry,” Seth said. More tears left wet trails on his face. He closed his eyes again and relaxed into the pillow.

  Mara reached to touch him, to urge him to keep talking, but the doctor stepped in. “He may be in and out. Conversations will tire him. Emotions may be all over the place. How about we let him sleep awhile?”

  Mara nodded and wiped the tears from Seth’s cheeks. “Okay. I love you, Seth,” she said. “I have so many things to tell you when you are up to it.”

  Mara’s mother stayed with Seth while her father stepped out into the hallway with them. Levi cleared his throat. “I’m so relieved he’s awake, Mr. Castillo.”

  “We are, too.” He paused. “But he seemed agitated, talking to you. The ranch is obviously on his mind.”

  “Yes, sir. We’ve got good things to tell him. I—”

  “I don’t want you to tell him anything.” Her father’s tone was curt.

  “Dad...” Mara started.

  Her father’s expression was stony. “You think this is all over because he’s awake? The doctor’s tell me he may need physical therapy, psychiatric evaluation, speech therapy. He may have damage, blood clots, problems swallowing and a raft of other things I can’t go into now.”

  The anger lit her father’s normally gentle face.

  “Dad,” she said again, “Levi isn’t to blame for the accident.”

  “I suppose not,” he snapped. “But your brother isn’t going to be working a ranch anytime soon. We’ll be fortunate if he can return to the same fully independent man he was before. We’re blessed to have insurance for this part, but how is Seth going to financially survive a long-term disability since he poured every last cent into your ranch?”

  Levi looked suddenly sick. “Mr. Castillo, I’ll do anything I can to help. I—”

  “You can’t help, Levi. Just stay away from Seth. At least you won’t be reminding him of his bonehead decision to throw his life savings away.”

  Levi turned without a word and moved down the hallway.

  Mara felt like she’d taken a meat cleaver to the chest. “Dad, I know the ranch wasn’t a wise investment, but Levi is a good man, and they both believe in the Rocking Horse Ranch.”

  “Oh, so he’s a good man, now? Before you were furious with Seth for trusting him.”

  “I know him better since we’ve been working together. He didn’t coerce Seth. They both love the place and thought they could make it work.”

  “I would have thought one of them might have figured out that was a dumb idea.” Her dad fixed her with an iron glare. “Don’t get confused, Mara. This whole thing has been a tragedy, and it’s far from over. Your brother may never be able to set foot onto this precious ranch. Keep that in mind when you consider what he’ll have left to live on.”

  He turned on his heel. The empty hallway felt cold and desolate. What had been a joyous moment had turned suddenly tragic. What if Seth never recovered fully?

  The fear of it froze her limbs for one long moment. There was truth in what her father said. And yet he did not understand what she’d learned the past few days about the Rocking Horse and about Levi. What should she do?

  The short-term goal hadn’t changed: help the ranch make it through Camp Town Days. It’s what Seth would want her to do, even though her father did not understand. The idea was so much more palatable than it had been when she’d decided on it during her own stint in a hospital bed. She had no idea what Levi would do after she left Furnace Falls. Hurriedly, she made her way to the end of the hallway where he was waiting, shoulders bowed and hands shoved into his pockets.

  “I’m sorry about what my dad said... He—”

  Levi stopped her with a shake of the head. “Tell him I won’t come back.”

  “But—”

  Levi rounded on her. “And maybe you shouldn’t come back to the Rocking Horse, either.”

  Mara stopped short. “Is that what you want?”

  He scrubbed a hand around his close-cut hair. “None of this is what I want. Not one thing.”

  * * *

  In the truck, Levi was hoping Mara wouldn’t have anything else to say about what had happened with her father. A brick of regret and guilt settled into his gut as he dutifully phoned Jude and told him they were on their way to J and K Excavation.

  “You okay?” Jude inquired.

  “Sure. See you soon.” Levi could not seem to force any enthusiasm into his voice. He’d been stupid, naive, to think Seth would wake up good as new. He’d never even considered the possibility of extensive damage.

  How is Seth going to financially survive a long-term disability since he poured every last cent into your ranch?

  He’d ruined his friend. The reality of it weighed heavily. What could he do? There was only one solution. Sell the ranch and give whatever he could get to Seth. It wouldn’t recoup full price, but it would be something. He fought a swell of pure despair.

  On the heels of that thought came another even more painful one. When the ranch was sold, Mara would leave for good. He forced himself not to look at her in the passenger seat. Her smile, her laugh, her love for her family. She would be taken away from him like his beloved ranch. The realization awakened an ache deep inside him unlike anything he’d ever experienced. But there was no other way. Might as well get used to it now. At that moment, something shuttered inside him as if he’d crept back into some dark room where no light could penetrate.

  Get through the next week. Do what you have to do for Seth.

  Mara reached out and touched his shoulder. “My father is upset, worried. He shouldn’t have talked to you like that.”

  He forced himself to stare at the road. “Mara, I won’t let Seth struggle. I’ll make it right, I promise.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Doesn’t matter. I’ll do it. You should be with Seth. I can get Austin and Willow to help with the tours we’ve scheduled. It’s okay for you to leave.”

  To his surprise, she poked him in the shoulder. “Levi Duke, you should know by now that I don’t run away from my commitments. I said I would help you get through Camp Town Days, and I meant it. We’ll bring in some cash, help you pay for Cookie, and that will give you some breathing room.”

  “Seth needs you,” he insisted.

  She folded her arms across her chest. “News flash. You don’t get to tell me what my brother needs. I have taken care of my parents since you two enlisted and then when my sister ran away. Do you know what it was like to go through the months of searching? Every phone call, every moment, we waited for news.”

  He wanted to apologize, but he couldn’t get a word out.

  “I will take good care of my brother by helping you, and don’t you dare imply that I don’t know what’s best for him.”

  He saw the glitter of tears. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “Then, don’t,” she snapped.

  He let out a long, slow breath and took her hand. Her fingers slid between his, and he squeezed them gently. “I’m sorry. You are a strong person,” he said, bringing her knuckles to his lips and kissing them. “It’s been a huge amount on you with your sister, now Seth...and some ki
ller stalking you. I apologize if I sounded like I was bossing you.”

  She didn’t answer, but she tightened her grasp for just a moment before removing herself from his. Valiantly, she blinked the tears away.

  He resolved not to add to her burdens with his decision to sell the ranch. What they needed to do now was find an explanation for the strange text Mara had received so she could put Corinne’s death out of her mind. As he drove along the twisting road to Jerry’s shop, he prayed that he could at least help her with that.

  TEN

  Mara took in the sprawling patch of graveled land that was J and K Excavation. A trailer next to a towering pile of dirt sported an Office sign. Across the lot was a neat, wood-sided house which had to be Jerry’s residence. Jerry even had a bunch of potted cactus and a cluster of Joshua trees shading his front yard. The area was still, the backhoe parked near the trailer along with various machinery waiting for the next job.

  “Jude will be here in ten minutes,” Levi said. “We should wait.”

  But Jerry must have spotted them because he pushed open the front door of the trailer and beckoned them inside. Might as well get it over with, Mara figured as she climbed out. As she started into the trailer a step ahead of Levi, she smiled at Jerry. “Jude Duke will be joining us. Hope you don’t mind.”

  Jerry’s eyebrows elevated. “Oh, sure. No problem. I’m expecting a visitor in a few minutes back at the house, so I’ll just own up to this mess and let you have at it.”

  A dirty skylight dome revealed the chaos. The bookshelves on the far wall had no doubt collapsed due to their heavy load. Cardboard boxes disgorged stacks of papers onto the floor. Old hardbound books were scattered here and there in the mess, and an entire shelf worth of files covered the floor. Jerry sighed. “I’ve been trying to shove everything into piles, but it isn’t the top of the priority list, you know? Fortunately, my desk is on the other side of the room.”

  His small desk was also cluttered with papers in a teetering inbox, with barely enough room on the surface to house a phone. “Pretty quiet around here since we’re closed on Sunday, so take your time.” He winked. “Now, I’m not expecting you to clean up this mess, but if you want to make piles I would not refuse you.”

  Mara nodded. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll be in the house if you need anything. Like I said, the appointment book is a green spiral-bound thing about as big as a pastrami sandwich.”

  He exited.

  Mara looked around the mess. “The phrase ‘needle in a haystack’ comes to mind.”

  Levi nodded. He went to the front window. “I can see the road from here so we’ll know if Jude or anyone else approaches that way.”

  “Expecting trouble?”

  He answered with a shrug. She went to the nearest mound of files and began to thumb through them before piling them into one of the empty boxes. She thought back to the message she’d gotten on her cell phone. Marbles. It had to be some sort of strange coincidence, and no doubt they were wasting valuable time, yet some urge kept her scanning files until one caught her attention.

  “Hmm.”

  Levi joined her. “Find something?”

  “Not the appointment book, but a bid on a project to pour a small concrete patio.” Her gaze met Levi’s. “At Teegan’s house.”

  “Date?”

  “That part’s torn off. This is just an estimate for the bid. Doesn’t really prove anything, I guess. But it is a connection between Jerry and Teegan.”

  She began to root around in earnest. “If we could just find that appointment book and pin down his location around the time I got that text... It won’t explain what happened, but it might be a step in the right direction.”

  The rumble of an engine starting up vibrated the trailer.

  “I thought they didn’t work on Sundays?” Mara said, but Levi was already hurrying toward the trailer door to get a better look. He’d no more pushed it open than the trailer shook, her scream drowned out by the creak of the structure toppling over.

  * * *

  Levi struggled to regain his footing as the floor of the trailer buckled. He was pitched hard onto his knees. In a moment, the window fractured, and rivers of dirt began to flood through. The trailer was knocked from its footings and tilted backward, tossing everything in a tumultuous cascade toward the rear.

  “Mara!” he shouted. He could not see her through the cloud of debris. He pushed to his feet only to be knocked over again by a second wave of dirt. When he righted himself, the trailer seemed to have settled onto its back wall. Scooping armfuls of dirt out of his way, he plowed toward the corner where he’d last seen Mara.

  He made out an edge of the crumpled bookshelf and shouted for her again. Another onslaught of moving detritus drowned out anything else, and he had to wait for it to subside. He tried again.

  “Over here,” came the answer.

  His soul burgeoned with thankfulness. “Where exactly?”

  “I’m not sure. I can’t see anything but dirt.”

  “Hold on. I’m coming for you.”

  “Levi,” Jude crawled through the door now in the ceiling which had been the floor moments before.

  “Mara’s buried. Help me.”

  “Here,” Jerry called, thrusting a small spade through the opening to Jude, who passed it to Levi. “Backhoe’s turned over so I can’t use it to dig out. We’re going to have to do it the hard way. She alive?”

  “Yes,” Levi all but shouted. His angry questions about how exactly the destruction had occurred could wait until he got her clear. He plunged the spade into the pile, but it caused more debris to settle and move.

  “Stop,” Mara shouted. “That’s making things worse. There’s a space here, a little dome thingy. Maybe I can get out that way.”

  He realized she must be talking about the skylight. “Hold on. I’ll clear it from the outside.”

  He climbed back up after Jude, out the door opening and across the half-crushed trailer. The spot where the skylight should be was covered but not completely. He set to work with the spade, and Jerry and Jude joined in with shovels. At first it seemed that their progress was as quickly erased as they made it, but finally they began to move enough earth that the skylight came into view. Mara’s face peered up at them from the inside.

  “It’s caught,” Levi said. “I’m going to pry it loose.”

  He and Jude grabbed the edge of the skylight and yanked on it. Sweat beaded Levi’s face. At first the domed pane refused to budge. Slowly, ever so slowly, the plastic gave until it cracked in the middle. Levi tore off half the broken piece and they worked on the other half until it was bent out of the way.

  He lay on his stomach and stretched down to Mara. Her fingertips were a good six inches from his.

  “I can’t reach,” she called.

  He groaned in frustration.

  “I’ll hang on to you.” Jude took hold of Levi’s belt. The extra distance was enough. He caught Mara around the wrists and held tight.

  “Haul me out,” he grunted to Jude.

  Jude and Jerry eased Levi from the hole, Mara sliding out just enough. Another set of hands joined in to guide Mara free. Teegan, Levi thought with fury, staring at the young man. Ignoring Teegan, he moved Mara away and settled her on an overturned bucket, well away from the ruined trailer.

  Levi bent to Mara. She was filthy, her hair clumped with dirt, eyes gleaming against the dark soot covering her face. He stroked her hair, anyway, thankful beyond measure that she appeared to be unharmed.

  She blinked, coughed, blinked again.

  “Are you hurt?”

  She wiped dirt from her forehead. “No, just sort of stunned. What happened?”

  They took in the scene. The backhoe was half-buried and on its side, engine still running until Jerry jogged over and cut the motor. He stood, hands on hips, looking at
it before he trudged back to them. “I can’t understand it. Someone wrecked my office on purpose.”

  “And almost killed two people,” Jude reminded him. He swiveled a glance to Teegan. “Mind if I ask what you’re doing here on the property?”

  Teegan bristled. “I just drove up. I was supposed to meet Jerry to talk about the announcements he’s making after the parade about the vendor fair. I got here just in time to see a big old pile of dirt rise into the air. Before you ask, I didn’t see who was driving the backhoe.”

  “And you?” Jude put his next question to Jerry.

  “I was fixing myself a sandwich in the house waiting for Teegan when I heard the backhoe start up. We leave the keys in it. Couldn’t figure out who would have fired her up since we’re closed Sunday, so I ran out. Like Teegan, I didn’t see the driver. It looked like a war zone by that time.”

  Jude asked a few more questions. “I’m going to check the property. Mara, do you need an ambulance?”

  She shook her head wearily. “I feel like I get that question a lot lately. No, I am okay.”

  Jude headed off between piles of gravel and stacked pallets.

  Jerry brought bottles of water from the house for Mara and Levi. Mara drank deeply.

  “I feel just terrible about all this,” Jerry said. “Did you even find what you were looking for?”

  “No.” Mara’s gaze went to Teegan. “But I saw an invoice that you were bidding on a project for Teegan.”

  Teegan’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah? So what? We wanted a back patio poured for Peter so he could ride his bike.”

  “I wrote up the bid, but we didn’t do the work,” Jerry said, wiping at a yellow splotch on his shirt.

  Teegan shrugged. “Too expensive. It’s going to have to wait a while. Why is that your business, Mara?”

  “I got a text from Jerry’s phone on October twenty-eighth, possibly by someone impersonating my sister.”

  He gaped. “Corinne? She’s dead.”

  Mara cocked her head. “Presumed. That’s why I couldn’t figure out how I’d gotten the text. Jerry said maybe someone used his phone.”