The Devil's Teeth (Ravenwood Mysteries #5)

by Sabrina Flynn

  "What did you mean about the doctor? That he smiles too much?"

  Jin lifted a shoulder. "I do not trust men who smile."

  And once again, Isobel was reminded of Noh masks. Creating illusion with a trick of the light.

  26

  Holm’s Place

  Holm's Place sat at a fork in the road—a quaint cabin miles from another soul. Solitude. Isobel stopped to appreciate the homestead. It reminded her of a ship at sea. But this one was surrounded by trees.

  Jin poked her head around Isobel's arm. "Who would want to live there?"

  "I would," Isobel said.

  "Wouldn't you grow bored?" Julius asked.

  "It would take at least a week." Isobel clucked her horse forward. "Doctor, you said you taught Samuel how to tie a bow. Is he capable of learning another knot?"

  "I've never seen him tie anything else."

  "But you don't know for sure?"

  "It's possible," Julius conceded.

  They followed a rhythmic chopping noise coming from around the corner of a barn. A large man stood cutting wood. His axe rose and fell, splitting logs with one powerful sweep. A log was split in two, pieces tumbled to the ground, and another set in place. One after another. Precision and power. As they rode closer, the man stopped and looked up. He was large, blond, and had quiet eyes.

  "Hello there," Isobel called.

  The man raised his axe in what she hoped was a greeting. Isobel had never formally met The Giant, but he had chased her off his property plenty of times.

  Isobel dismounted, and handed her reins to Jin. "Ride and get help if anything should happen," she whispered.

  "I don't know how to ride."

  Isobel stared at her, then reached up and pulled the child off the saddle. She set her on the ground. "Then run for help. For now, hold the horse."

  Jin looked at the reins in her hands. "What if the horse bites me?"

  "Be nice to her and she won't bite." Isobel gave the horse a friendly pat.

  "What is this?" the big man growled. "Has the doctor come to take me away?"

  "Hardly, Karl," Julius called back. "You are likely the sanest man here."

  Karl laughed heartily, and the two men shook hands.

  "This is my associate, Isobel Amsel."

  Karl's grip staggered Isobel. "It's a lovely piece of land here," she said. It was surreal, standing in front of The Giant as an adult on equal footing.

  "It's my kingdom. A man doesn't need much."

  "Man or woman," Isobel said.

  "You look familiar. Amsel…" Karl tasted the name. "I have heard that name. Even out here."

  "My parents owned a vineyard not far from here."

  "Ah, yes." He slapped his thigh. His Levis were threadbare and straining over muscle. "You are the maker of trouble."

  "I didn't realize I had left such an impression," she said. It was difficult being a detective when everyone remembered you as a little girl.

  Karl chortled. "You left a world of aggravation."

  "I'm told I'm still aggravating."

  Another laugh. "Is she, Doctor?"

  "Certainly intriguing."

  Karl grunted. "She used to be a terror."

  "It must have been my brother."

  Karl waggled his finger at her. "It was you. Coffee? And what about that one?" He pointed to Jin.

  Isobel motioned Jin over, and made introductions. Then she showed her how to hitch the horses to a post, and they walked inside Karl’s cabin. The cabin's decor was sparse, its space cluttered with necessities. Every item earned its place.

  When they were settled at the table, Karl poured coffee. Jin sniffed at her tin cup, wrinkled her nose, and politely set it back down.

  Karl busied himself with his pipe. "What brings you here? I hope it is not to move my things around, and make me think I go crazy."

  "We only did that because you kept chasing us out of places," Isobel said.

  "Places children had no business going," Karl huffed.

  "Speaking of children. Do you know the Sheel boys?" she asked.

  Karl made a face. "Gah."

  "I'll take that as a yes."

  "The youngest, John, is a kakara."

  At their puzzled glances, Karl explained. "A erm…" He tapped the table, searching for the word. "Bad child. Unruly."

  Isobel took a sip of coffee. It was strong, and as bold as the man across from her. "And the older boy?"

  Karl tilted his hand. "He followed. Yes. Like your brother."

  "Did the Sheel boys ever bother you?"

  "You are bothering me now." It was said harshly, with the same voice he used to holler at Isobel when she was younger, but a smile cracked the tension. "Same as you. I chase them out of places."

  "Have you seen them recently?" Isobel asked.

  "I saw the smaller boy. On Wednesday, I think. He was walking down the road, and waved."

  "Was his brother, John, with him?"

  Karl shook his head. "Not that I saw."

  "Did he seem frightened?"

  Karl sucked on his pipe for a moment. "His nose was bloody, but he seemed fine. He was far away, though. I was heading out to hunt along the Palisades Trail."

  "Which way was he walking?"

  "Towards the mine."

  "Do you have a map of the area?"

  Karl did not, but he produced a rough sketch. His homestead sat in the crook of a Y. To the left, the Oat Hill Mine Road diverged into the Palisades, and to the right, it headed towards the mine and Aetna Springs, a popular resort. That left seven miles of wilderness.

  "We found John's camp here." She placed her finger on a spot along the Oat Hill Mine Road. "Where did you chase the boys from?"

  "There are old prospecting mines here." Karl sketched them out.

  "I do recall."

  "And it's a good thing I chase children away. The younger ones follow the older ones."

  "Where was Gabriella Banker found?"

  Karl sniffed. "Sad. Very sad." He marked a spot on the map. It was closer to his homestead than the mines, and not far from where she had found John. "It was here, at this one. But that little girl wasn't a follower."

  "She wasn't?"

  "No. She put those boys to shame. They were like her shadow."

  "What were the children doing up there?"

  "I don't know. Likely same as you. Why did you go as a child?"

  Isobel felt her cheeks warm. "I was looking for buried treasure."

  "Did you ever find your treasure?" Julius asked.

  "I'm still looking."

  "I'll add 'delusional' to my notes."

  Deep in thought, Isobel stood in the fork of the road. Her horse nuzzled her hand, and she shifted the reins to scratch his forehead.

  "Now Karl can prove that Samuel didn't harm Titus," Julius said with relief. "Titus was alone, with the bloody nose, walking on this road."

  Isobel nodded.

  "Should we get the Sheriff?" Julius asked.

  "Maybe Mr. Karl mistook Titus for John," said Jin.

  "That is precisely what Nash will argue," Isobel said.

  "But Karl said it was the smaller boy," Julius said.

  "To Karl, everyone is small," Isobel pointed out.

  "All the same, we have to let the sheriff know." Julius put his foot in the stirrup.

  "Wait a moment, Doctor." Isobel looked down the lonely stretch of road, and the seven miles that lay between there and the mines. She had to narrow it down. "If we fetch Nash it will cost us another day. Time Titus Sheel doesn't have."

  "What are you suggesting?"

  "You can get Nash while Jin and I go on."

  "But I'm responsible for you."

  "I'll claim I held you at gunpoint."

  Julius shook his head. "I'll ask Karl to go."

  Isobel gave a slight nod.

  Nature and time worked hand in hand. A settlement was slowly being pulled down by bramble. A sapling sprouted from the ruins, and rusted wagon wheels and ribs poked fro
m the grass like bones. The hills and valley were littered with old prospecting camps. Isobel and Lotario had explored them all as children. But ruins were all the same—abandoned dreams and wasted lives.

  "Why are we here?" Jin asked.

  "A suspicion." The carcass of a burnt cabin remained.

  Jin slid off the saddle. "What is your suspicion?"

  Isobel didn't answer. She handed the reins to Jin, and made her way around back, searching the ground. A mark made her heart leap. And a crushed carpet of chaparral quickened her steps. Isobel fought her way through the thorny bushes to a hole in the ground. Two planks had been pulled away, and tossed into the bramble.

  With a trembling hand, she struck a match. The flame wavered, and she let it fall. For a brief moment, it touched on a pale face.

  "Doctor!" Isobel called. "Titus! Can you hear me?"

  No answer.

  "Help me with these boards," she said to Jin. But the girl didn't move. Sao Jin stood frozen, staring into the black slice between boards. She shook from head to toe. Isobel gripped her shoulders, and Jin jerked, murder in her eyes. Slowly, Isobel backed her up a step, then another. "Stay back," she said softly.

  Julius came crashing through the bramble.

  "Titus is down there," Isobel explained.

  "Is he alive?" Julius asked, bending to help.

  "I don't know."

  When the final plank was pulled away, they were left with a black square ringed by rotting timber and crumbling stone.

  Julius frowned at the hole. "You won't fit."

  "You can't go down there," Jin blurted out.

  Isobel bent to unlace her boots. "I'll be fine, Jin. I need you to fetch the lead ropes from the horses. Have the doctor help you tie them together."

  Jin tugged on her shirt, trying to drag her away. "Don't go down there."

  "Jin. Get the ropes. Now."

  The girl stumbled back, and fled from the hole in the ground.

  Isobel took a calming breath. She tried not to focus on the darkness, or on what she might find at the bottom. Carefully, she lowered herself into the well.

  Darkness closed around her. Stone pressed on her from all sides, slick with moisture. She moved slowly, testing each foothold as she shimmied her way down. A sharp scent mingled with damp earth. Blood.

  "Titus?" she called again. Her voice bounced alarmingly. Dirt trickled on her head, and something slithered in the dark. Isobel stopped, hands and feet braced on opposite sides of the well. She waited for a warning rattle. One breath, two, and nothing.

  Isobel felt like she was drowning in darkness. Her throat clutched with the press of earth. "Damn Sheriff Nash," she hissed. Anger burned away fear. Every shift of hand and foot ticked another wasted second. Her anger grew. At Sheriff Nash, at the boy's parents, but mostly at herself.

  The well opened, and she nearly lost her footing. The darkness was absolute, save for a distant square of light far overhead. Bracing herself against either side of the wall, she took out match and candle. Isobel had learned early on to never be without a light source.

  Warmth illuminated the tight space. She directed the flame towards the ground. Titus Sheel lay at the bottom of the well, his leg bent at an excruciating angle. She stuck her candle in a crevice. Careful not to land on him, she gingerly stepped between his body and the rock wall, and pressed fingers against the side of his neck. A thready beat whispered against her fingertips. He felt like a stove.

  "He's alive!" she called. "Barely."

  She shrugged off her coat, and wrapped it around the boy. His head was matted with blood. "Stay with me, Titus. I'll get you out of here." And to the slice of light above. "I need water."

  Shortly, a canteen was tossed down. She dribbled water onto his lips. Titus swallowed.

  "We're working on the ropes," Julius called down.

  "Is there something I can use to fashion a splint?"

  The head vanished from above. Isobel ran the candle over Titus's face. His left eye and cheek were bruised. Blood stained the front of his shirt. One of his fingers was broken, wooden splinters were buried under his nails.

  As Isobel searched the boy's pockets and person, she tried not to look at the innocent face. Tried not to think of the days he had spent here, screaming his voice hoarse. Not yet. Not here.

  Steeling herself, she turned to his broken leg and carefully palpated it. Bone grated on bone. Titus moaned.

  "I'll drop the things," Julius said.

  Isobel straightened. "Go ahead." She caught one stick, and then another, and a leather belt from the saddlebags.

  "Injuries?" Julius called down.

  "Broken leg. Head wound. Broken fingers. Maybe ribs. And a fever. I don't know if he'll survive being moved."

  "He'll die if you don't."

  The words fell like a rock into the well, and Isobel felt the full force of them. She stared down at the dying boy. The doctor was right. But did she trust Julius Bright? Would he rather Titus Sheel died down here?

  Isobel gazed at the distant light. A chill passed through her bones. It felt like a grave. What would become of Jin? With that thought, Isobel shook herself.

  "I need to straighten out his leg. Any advice, Doctor?" Her voice echoed in the grave, and the seconds ticked by without answer.

  A head appeared overhead. "What was that?" Julius asked.

  Relief rushed through her veins. She repeated herself.

  "Gently pull on the bone below the fracture, and hold the top steady. It's easier with two people."

  "You definitely won't fit down here."

  Isobel laid out the sticks and belt along Titus's leg. She gripped his shin, hands on either side of the break. She took a breath, and pulled. The bones shifted, and scraped as the limb straightened. Titus groaned, and she stopped. The leg wasn't perfect, but it would do for now. Isobel pushed the branches firmly against either side of his leg, held them in place with one hand, and wrapped the belt with her other, pulling it tight with her teeth.

  Isobel checked his pulse again. Still thready. She gazed up at the square of light far above. A snake slithered out of a crevice near her candle's flame. It was a harmless black snake, but there'd be others.

  "There's an issue with the rope," Julius bellowed. "The closest tree trunk is ten feet away, and I don't trust the bushes to support you. I could brace myself—"

  "Never mind the rope," Isobel quickly said. She was not about to place her life and Titus's in the hands of a man she didn't fully trust. What better way to get rid of the both of them.

  "I'll get help then, and a longer rope," Julius called.

  Could Titus wait until dark?

  "I don't think he'll survive that long," she called up. "I need your suspenders, Doctor."

  "You can't possibly carry him up."

  "Waiting is not an option," she said.

  "You could both fall."

  "Or we could both survive, and I could trip over a root topside and crack my head open."

  She heard a faint mumble, and then, "Watch your head."

  Isobel caught his suspenders. She tied them around Titus's wrists, and crouched low to put his arms around her neck. Testing his weight, she used her coat to fashion a kind of sling, supporting his rear.

  The boy was older than his brother, but half the size. A delicate boy with hardly any weight on him. She lifted her arms, and hopped, testing her crude support. Hardly a shift.

  She glanced at the candle sputtering in the dark. There was no way to carry it. She'd have to climb blind. Isobel took a breath, braced one leg, and then the other, and searched for her first handhold. She had to pinch each hold on the slick rock. Slowly, she moved upwards. One foot, then the other, pausing to blindly search the darkness with her hand. For long minutes there was only the sound of Titus's labored breathing in her ear. Her arms began to ache from the extra weight.

  A sharp hiss, the sinking of teeth, and Isobel braced herself like a cat over a sink. "God dammit," she growled.

  "What happene
d?" Julius yelled down.

  "Snake."

  "Rattler?"

  Had there been a hint of hope in his question, or had she imagined it? Isobel swallowed. "Let's hope not." The little bastard was still clamped onto her heel. It released, and struck again. Isobel shook her leg towards the stones. But it only tightened the snake's jaws. She cursed again, and kept moving.

  The moment light touched her head, Julius reached for her. But her foot was slick with blood. She slipped. Isobel flailed for a handhold. She caught herself on a wooden support, but the wood turned to mush in her hand. For a moment she was falling, and then was jerked to a stop.

  The load on her back was being pulled upwards. Julius grunted. He had Titus by the makeshift harness. Braced over the opening, he fought to keep them both from falling.

  Isobel stretched out her hands and feet, bracing on all sides of the well. With the doctor's help, she climbed the last few feet.

  She crawled onto the discarded well planks. Shaking and drenched in sweat, she untied Titus. Julius lifted the boy from her back.

  Isobel rolled onto her back and stared at the darkening sky.

  Jin's face hovered over her own, as pale and grave as the hole Isobel had just climbed from. Isobel gently gripped the back of Jin's neck, and gave a reassuring squeeze.

  Jin pulled her into a sitting position, and Isobel checked her foot. A dead black snake was latched onto her heel. She pried its teeth free and tossed it down the hole. A dozen little red pinpricks dotted her skin.

  Julius frowned down at Titus as he checked his pulse.

  "Is he alive?" she asked.

  "For now."

  "I don't suppose you have some restorative brandy?"

  "That won't help him," Julius said.

  "I meant for me."

  Julius met her eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't."

  "Where's Watson when you need him," she muttered.

  "At home. Probably sleeping in front of the stove," Jin said.

  "Not that one."

  "Who then?"

  "I see I'll have to introduce you to the Great Detective. Come on. We need to get Titus to Bright Waters."

  When Julius was in the saddle, she lifted Titus up to him. "You're right, Miss Amsel," the doctor said. "He wouldn't have lasted until nightfall."