“So that was enough to keep him warm,” Mara said matter-of-factly.
“That and the small fire he apparently built, and the blankets,” Doug replied.
“I wonder how Dan knew about that place?” Mara asked.
“The troopers said that the place used to belong to an old trapper. Some of the locals told us when we got back that there had been stories circulating for years that the old sourdough had set the place up so that he could survive undetected for the better part of any winter. The story was that the old man set things up to use the trap door as an escape route back in the days before statehood when he worked a mining claim in addition to his trap lines. The trap door was so well hidden that no one saw it. Most of those out on the rescue didn't know the story about the cabin, anyway. None of us did until someone brought it up later, after we had already found Dan.”
“But that still doesn't explain how you found Dan outside,” Mara said, trying not to press Doug too hard. She knew it was important for him to be able to talk through the events surrounding the rescue in order to satisfy in his own mind that things had gone as they should.
“There was the door in the front—the one partly buried into the ground,” Doug said, “Every time any of us had been through there, it had several feet of snow in front of it and looked as if it hadn't been disturbed for decades.”
Doug's voice started to falter as he fought back tears. “This time, we were so busy following Thor's lead under the trap door, no one even went around to that side. Once we were inside, we could see that Dan had managed to push that door out against the snow just enough to get out of the cabin. Thor inched through the space and took off after Dan's scent, while we went back out the trap door where we had come in. Once we walked around, we could see footprints leading to the river. Thor's interference running back and forth between us and Dan led us to Dan.”
“He must have been trying to get water when he couldn't make it any further and…”
Doug stopped talking, unable to continue. A couple of sobs wracked his body before he could no longer control them. “Knowing Dan, he dragged the water bottle with him to fill it from the river and took the thermal blanket just in case. I have no idea why he didn't just try to melt some snow. He was so delirious, he didn't even know me when we found him.”
“It's lucky you found him when you did,” Mara said, placing her hand on Doug's arm as she spoke.
Not knowing what else to say, she walked toward the kitchen to give him time to compose himself. “I'll get you some more coffee.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it,” Doug told her when she returned with the steaming brew.
As quickly as he had started talking, Doug stopped. Looking at his watch, he pushed himself away from the table.
“I've been here two hours?” he asked. “I've gotta go back and take Sassy her things.”
He stood to reach for his coat as Mara spoke again, “Are you sure you don't want something to eat?”
“No thanks. I need to get over to Sassy's and then head down to the hospital to talk with Ellie and let her know all of this. You're the first person I've told.”
“I'll probably see you down there myself later today,” Mara said. “If you want to leave Thor here, I'll keep an eye on him.”
“Thanks, Mara,” Doug answered with genuine gratitude. “Sassy doesn't like him around much.”
“Well, I don't mind and I could use the extra protection now that everyone is down in Anchorage,” she answered.
“Come here, Thor,” she called to the dog that quickly ran to her side. Grabbing his collar, she held it tight until the taillights of Doug's truck were no longer in sight.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Joe Returns
MARA WAITED IN THE HALLWAY THAT LED TO THE CRITICAL CARE UNITS AS two EMT's brought in someone on a stretcher.
They positioned the gurney right next to where she was standing, putting the brakes on to keep it from rolling before walking over to the desk. She could not help hearing the clerk explain that the ER beds were all full, and since they had stated that their patient was stable, they would need to leave him in the hallway until a bed opened up.
“A nurse,” she told them, “would be right out.”
Suddenly, squelches and beeps rose from the radio strapped to the senior medic's belt.
“Code red, 4th and C,” the message boomed clearly before the rest of it was muffled by the medic's quick exit to an outdoor location. After pushing a button and jamming it back into the holster on his belt, he signaled to his partner to come out.
“Get that nurse out here, now. We've gotta roll,” the remaining EMT called to the clerk who quickly left to summon a nurse.
Mara could see a nurse with the clerk tailing her, rushing toward the hallway, while she stood momentarily alone with the stranger on the stretcher.
“Lotta drama…makes ‘em feel like big shots…” a voice rose from underneath the blankets on the stretcher.
Mara knew that voice.
“You are the woman who trips on the ferry,” the elderly man said with a deadpan expression she could see after he lowered the blanket that had been pulled up to protect his face from the cold.
“And you are the man who gave me the feather…” Mara answered.
“Yeah, that's me,” he winked.
“I see you still have it,” he said. An IV line attached to his hand with only one small piece of tape dangled precariously as he reached to point to the feather sticking out of the hat she held in her hands.
A nurse carrying a clipboard walked out, followed closely by an assistant. Standing alongside the stretcher, she addressed the old man. “Please state your name.”
“Joe Michael,” the man answered.
“It says that you are from Hoonah,” the clerk said. “Can you give me a mailing address or a street address?”
“Sorry. No can do,” Joe answered. “Lost it in a fire.”
“I'm sorry,” the nurse said, turning to Mara. “Are you a relative? Can you tell us Mr. Michael's address?”
“No. I'm no relation,” Mara answered. “I was just on my way to the ICU when they brought Mr. Michael in and…”
“Then we are going to have to ask you to move to another place to respect Mr. Michael's privacy,” the nurse said, not letting Mara finish.
“She knows me as well as you do,” Joe smiled, winking at Mara as he spoke.
“I'm sorry, sir, but we are terribly busy right now and I just don't have time…”
“Oh, I know. I'm just messing with you,” Joe said to the nurse who had become increasingly flustered by the apparently flippant demeanor of someone who was presenting to the emergency room with some sort of problem.
“No problem. Of course—I didn't mean to impose,” Mara said, stepping back.
“Hold onto that feather,” Joe called to her, his voice taking on a more serious tone. “Your past is about to become your future.”
Mara looked down at the hat in her hands and the feather that the man now lying on the stretcher had given her weeks ago on the ferry miles away from where they now were. Before she could respond, the nurse had wheeled the stretcher carrying Joe through the double doors into the ER.
She pushed her way through the heavy doors to the walkway outside, where she stood under the well-lit canopy trying to make some sense of what had just happened. How unsettling to run into Joe, here of all places, at a hospital in Anchorage. Stranger, even yet, was the fact that he remembered giving her the feather even in spite of his own health issues. What a delightful sense of humor he had, a point made even more poignant by the seriousness with which he had linked her past to her future yet again.
She felt shaken. Who wouldn't under these strange circumstances of the near death of a stranger who had taken her in, and the re-emergence of a mysterious native elder with an even more mysterious message? She sat on a bench and tried to calm herself. If she had been a smoker, it would have been a good time to light up.
&nbs
p; Once back inside, she stopped at the registration desk near where she had seen Joe.
“The older gentleman, Joe Michael, that was here a few minutes ago—can I see him?”
“Are you a relative or legal guardian of the person you are inquiring about?” the clerk asked, looking up only briefly at Mara before continuing to work on her computer.
“No. No I'm not,” Mara answered. “I'm just a friend. Can I see him? Would you ask him if it's okay?”
“I'm sorry, Ma'am,” the clerk said, stopping briefly to squint at Mara over the top of her glasses frames, “If you are not legally related to the person you are inquiring about, I cannot provide you with any information, including whether or not we have admitted someone by that name to the ER.”
“But I…” Mara tried to interject.
“If you don't mind, Ma'am, I need to move on to other business. We are extremely busy right now. I'm sorry, I can't discuss any of this with you further.”
The clerk began sliding the glass door closed before concluding, “You might want to consider checking with admitting in a couple of hours. Maybe they can help you further. Now, good afternoon and drive safely.”
Mara punched the up button for the elevator. Several minutes later, an arrow pointing upward flashed green and the doors quietly opened, allowing her to step inside. She pushed the button numbered two on the console and watched the doors slide shut, leaving her alone inside.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Dan speaks
WHEN SHE REACHED THE END OF THE LONG HALLWAY ON THE SECOND floor and turned around the bend that led to the critical care waiting area, Sarah and Ellie both rushed to greet her.
“Mara! He recognized me today!” Ellie said, her voice bubbling with optimism. “He even called me by name and asked about Anna.”
“Oh, Ellie. I'm so happy for you. Every day is just going to be better,” Mara said, hugging her friend.
“Come in with me next time and you'll see, okay Mara?”
“Yes,” Sarah said, “Go in, Mara. It's almost like a miracle how quickly Dan is responding to treatment.”
So, when the next visiting time rolled around, Mara walked into the ICU right behind Ellie. Although he didn't remember ever meeting Mara, Dan greeted her with the same warmth as he had when she first arrived at their home such a short time ago, even reaching out to grasp her hand. He told her that Ellie had explained who she was and how she came to be here, and he thanked her for all she had done for his family. Mara knew that he meant it. She listened as Dan asked Ellie to tell him again what had happened, staring at her with a puzzled expression as she patiently told the story for the umpteenth time. The doctors had told her that Dan might never remember what happened, but then, again, perhaps he would. No one was sure when or if his memory of the trauma would return.
“I was so cold,” Dan said. ‘You say I crashed the plane? Is that how I ended up on the trail?”
The others did not speak, allowing Dan time to think and try to restore some logic to his thoughts.
“The crash—it's kind of there, but not really,” he told them. ‘The only thing I remember pretty clearly is passing that person on the trail and asking them for a ride, but they just kept going.”
“Why would anyone do such a thing, Dan?” Ellie said stroking his head. “With everything that happened, your mind might be playing tricks on you.”
“No, Ellie. I remember it clearly, there was someone there,” Dan insisted, “Someone real and I think there were horses around.”
Dan was becoming upset and Ellie was frantically trying to calm him, but to no avail.
“There were a lot of people there on horses looking for you, sweetie,” Ellie assured him. You're right about that, but I can't imagine that anyone would leave you out there knowing you were hurt. Maybe they didn't see you. You said you fell a couple of times and had trouble getting up. Maybe they rode by and never saw you. They said there was a snowstorm…that visibility was terrible…”
Ellie was becoming upset at seeing Dan's agitation. Again she struggled for the right words to get him to calm down.
“Remember, Dan? Remember how you were in the cabin? There couldn't have been horses in the cabin,” Ellie said.
“Before the cabin,” Dan said, looking imploringly at Ellie and then at Mara. “Tell them. Tell the police what I told you.”
“Okay, I'll tell them,” Ellie promised. “I'll talk to the rescuers and see if they saw anything like you're describing.”
“Tell the police,” Dan said.
“Okay, Dan, I'll tell the police. You need to rest now.”
Summoning a nurse, Ellie asked for something to calm Dan and help him sleep. Minutes later, the nurse injected something into his IV line and Dan fell asleep.
“The medication will probably last for several hours,” the nurse told Ellie. “We'll watch him closely. Maybe you should think about getting some rest yourself.”
None of what Dan had said about the horses made sense to Ellie or to Doug, when she told him. Dan's remembrances about the crash had been sketchy at best. He had already told them that he was looking for his cabin and that he wondered why he was being forced to eat snow when there was a perfectly functional pump about fifty feet from his cabin that he was somehow unable to locate. Both Doug and Ellie knew that there had been no pump at the old cabin where Dan had been found. This talk about the horses was probably part of his whole jumbled recollection of events. They figured that in his delirium, Dan probably confused the log cabin with his own log home that did have a well pump out near the stable.
The fact that Dan was so insistent about this one matter made Doug decide to let Ken Tandry know about what he had said, even though it didn't coincide with the facts, as they knew them. At this point, Dan was still confused about the sequence of events surrounding his crash. Maybe later he would better be able to recall what happened with the plane and how he got to the cabin.
Over the next several days Dan's condition continued to improve, allowing him to transfer to a step-down unit at the hospital. Preparations had already begun for him to return home. Ellie was now making the commute to the hospital from home, and Sarah was spending most of her time at the house looking after Anna.
“Mara, please don't worry anymore,” Sarah told her when she fretted one day about whether or not to leave for her new job. “It'll be much easier for me to stay with Ellie than it is for you. “
“But you have your career and obligations back in New York,” Mara protested.
“Mara, look, listen to me, you need to get down to Soldotna and find housing and get things lined up for your job. They've been more than patient. We'll be fine here. Besides, Ellie's my sister. No job is more important to me than she is and we have spent far too much time apart in our lives already.”
The day before Dan was scheduled to come home, Mara finished the last of her laundry and got it packed for the trip south. She set her alarm for 6 a.m. and planned to leave Ellie and Dan's homestead by seven. Like the others, she had already given her statement to Ken Tandry. Along with the others, she was puzzled by Dan's continued insistence that someone had passed him on the trail after the plane crash—someone who had ignored his pleas for help. Even though the doctors said that hypothermia and hypoxia from the collapsed lung, not to mention the severe electrolyte imbalance Dan had suffered, could cause hallucinations and disorientation, something about the way Dan's story never wavered raised a lot of suspicion in Trooper Tandry's mind.
He decided to launch a criminal investigation into the matter, based on Dan's story and on a gut feeling that he should pursue this. The first item placed into the evidence locker was a small piece of flannel that someone found snagged onto a bush near a trail that had been searched both on foot and on horseback. Twenty years of police work had taught him to trust his instincts. He also filed a report with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) who was launching their own investigation of the crash. He knew from years of experience that the
coordination of independent investigations would give each of them the best advantage in solving this crime if, in fact, a crime had been committed.
By 6:45 a.m., Mara pulled out of Dan and Ellie's driveway, having said her goodbyes at the hospital the night before. At 8 a.m., Doug pulled in and went directly to the guest cabin to retrieve the rest of Sassy's belongings. When he came back out, he had some of her clothes tucked under his arm and a bottle of make-up clutched in one hand. He left behind the pair of wire cutters that he found under Sassy's clothing, tossing them onto a nearby table before leaving.
It was so like Sassy to just throw her clothes on top of any available surface. It was one of the things that annoyed him about her. Doug thought about leaving the wire cutters in the shop, but he wanted to make sure Dan would find them where he would figure he left them, when he replaced a light fixture in the bunkhouse about a week before the crash. With Dan's memory coming back in bits and pieces, Doug didn't want to do anything to confuse his brother further.
Locking the door behind him, he loaded his truck and drove over to the barn on his way out. He wanted to check for any miscellaneous items that he might have left there when he had tiredly unsaddled the horses the night before Dan's accident.
Everything seemed in order there. He stopped to pick up a crumpled piece of paper from the floor on his way out. It was soiled by the muddy hoof prints of horses, but he unraveled it and smoothed it out as best he could, leaving it on the worktable, in case it was something Dan needed. Locking the barn door securely, he climbed into his pick-up and drove down the drive towards Sassy's place in The Butte.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Homer
THE BEACH SHELLS MOTEL STOOD ATOP A 1000 FT. BLUFF THAT overlooked lower Cook Inlet and the head of the chain of Alaskan islands known as the Aleutians. When Mara checked in after a leisurely two-day drive down the Kenai Peninsula to Homer, the sun was just setting behind the mountains that formed the distant horizon. One of them, standing alone in the water and closer than the rest, had a plume of steam as tall as the cone-shaped mountain itself, rising out of the top.
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