“He’s been worried about me?” Maria stood stunned, the smell of grilling hot dogs and fake nacho cheese sauce assaulting her nose.
“I know. Sweet, huh? Well, we knew you’d gone to the mountains. Alone. Which is really, really bad form, Maria. You know you’re always supposed to take a hiking partner.”
“Skip the lecture.” Maria rolled her eyes, totally understanding how Beth’s kids must feel.
“Anyhow, we called the ranger’s station and the man there said he’d seen you enter the mountains but hadn’t heard from you since. He said you’d refused to tell him where you were heading.”
“Okay, well that’s a lie. But whatever. Rod’s really okay?”
“Yes. The antibiotic is working miracles. Apparently you need the right kind to treat this bacteria, something about a gram-negative—”
“Yeah, I read that on the report.”
“I’m sorry,” said Beth, “what report was that?”
“Never mind.” Maria exhaled, feeling the pent up anguish leave her body. “Listen, I’m … I’m so happy about Rod. I’ve been so worried I was too late.”
“Nope. We’re all good, except for the fact he’s still charged with murder of course. Any news on that front?”
“It’s kind of hard to explain,” said Maria, looking around at everyone who was watching her. She felt like a neon light was blinking above her that read, “Stare at me. I like it.”
“I’ve got time,” said Beth. “I’m dying to know what you’ve been up to.”
“I can’t really go into all right now, but I do think I know how Rod got sick.”
“Really? That’s great. Honestly, the doctors said they couldn’t figure it out. The bacteria is really rare. Something none of them have ever seen. They assumed Rod must have been traveling a lot to pick something like that up. Kinda crazy. We’re all so happy, though. The whole gang’s here. There’s Amy and Brian, Derrick and—”
“Wait,” interrupted Maria. “Amy’s there?”
“Yes.” Beth’s voice sounded confused.
“Is she in the room with him?”
“Yes, we were all in there. They’re about to transfer him out of the ICU and into recovery. Why do you—”
“Go. Go back to his room. Stay with him, Beth. Don’t take your eyes off of Rod. Please, don’t let anyone get close to him. I can’t stress enough how —”
“Hey lady?” The cashier poked his face right next to Maria’s. “I really need my phone back. My girlfriend’s gonna pick me up from work, and I need to let her know what time—”
Maria turned, ignoring the young man’s request. “Beth? Beth? Are you there?”
But the line was dead.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
While on a business trip in Mexico, Erwin Ruth was given a map to several rich American mines from a Mexican facing execution. Erwin shared that map with his father, Adolph, who became obsessed with finding the mines. Ruth hired two cowboy prospectors to pack him into a canyon that matched the one on his map. He was never seen alive again. Despite an exhaustive manhunt, Ruth wasn’t found until an expedition to document unexplored Indian ruins turned up his bullet-shattered skull under a palo verde tree a few months after.
WWW.PHOENIXNEWTIMES.COM. MARTINE CIZMAR, APR 22, 2010.
Maria tossed a twenty dollar bill on the counter of the gas station and picked up the tub of Lysol wipes. “Can I have these?”
The cashier looked down at the money and nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”
Maria bolted out the door and into her car. Phoenix General was more than an hour away. She planned on making it in forty-five minutes. In the meantime, she was going to give herself a Lysol wipe bath. No hospital would let her inside looking like she did, unless they assumed she was a patient. Someone who’d recently survived a car wreck perhaps.
The scratches from the bird—or Ranger Ferlund—whatever he was, had crusted over with dried blood. Most of the wounds were superficial. A few in her scalp may need a stitch or two. The disinfectant in the wipes stung her skin as she wiped her face and arms, getting off the layer of dirt. Next she rubbed down her legs, bruised and cut from falling on the ground.
Looking into the mirror, she concluded that she looked … horrible. The dirt had probably helped her look better by covering the injuries. Now she looked like she’d gotten into a fight with a raccoon and most certainly lost.
But who cared? Rod was okay! He was awake and talking. Maria had never imagined an antibiotic could be so fast acting.
And he was innocent. One hundred percent innocent.
Maria sighed, but relief didn’t come as she hoped it would. The police still thought he’d killed Dakota. He was an accused murderer to everyone else. Maria’s fantastical tale of Ranger Ferlund would hold no water in court. Everyone would think she was crazy.
Besides, what if Amy tried something else to get rid of Rod now that the contact solution hadn’t worked? No, he was still very much in danger.
And why did Amy want Rod dead in the first place?
An image of Amy’s body shrinking and molting into a black, screeching bird sent a shudder through Maria. What if Amy was one of those things too? What if she knew Ranger Ferlund? Maybe they’d been working together to pin the murder on Rod?
If Amy wasn’t an animal-morphing human, Maria was convinced that Sierra, The Keeper’s Materfamilias, was. When Maria had seen the dog’s paw take the form of a human foot in the igloo, she chalked it up to her overactive PTSD-damaged brain. But now she’d seen firsthand what Ranger Ferlund’s body had done. This wasn’t her imagination.
The memory of what had happened in the Superstitions would take a while to fade. It had been gruesome, seeing the man’s body shrivel into a dead bird. His clothing had simply faded off his body. Feathers protruding out of flesh. His eyes, nose and mouth all melding together into a beak with two beady yellow eyes.
Maria wondered what sort of science could explain such a thing? Was there an explanation? Or had her understanding of reality gone down a path that she never believed existed. Magic?
It almost made her laugh out loud.
No, not magic, but perhaps some ancient use of nature and space, of the elements and time. A perfect balance of the supernatural and biology. Something like mystically enhanced cell reproduction. Didn’t historians say that Hindi mythology was more akin to modern-day science than 1800 mid-century academia was?
Maria definitely had a few questions for the Keepers, that was for sure. But for now, she wanted to see Rod. She needed to see Rod. She had to tell him she was sorry for ever doubting even for one second that he was above suspicion. He had become an anchor in her life. She wished for nothing more than to drive home to Kanab and pick things up right where they’d left off. As if Arizona never happened.
Except that things would be different. She would be different. She was through holding back. She would reciprocate his affection. All of it. She would show him how much she admired his strength and goodness. How much she appreciated him.
How much she loved him.
Why had she resisted before?
She rehearsed in her mind over and over what she would say to him in the hospital. Of course, it depended on who was there. She couldn’t be all lovey-dovey if everyone was in the room. Or could she? The thought embarrassed her more than those awful dreams she used to have as a teenager of showing up to school without any clothes on.
But maybe it was time. The perfect opportunity to shatter her tough girl image.
Exactly forty-eight minutes later, Maria parked her car at Phoenix General hospital. It was three minutes later than she hoped, but not too shoddy for hitting a small patch of traffic on the interstate.
Constraining herself to walk, not run, Maria entered the hospital and asked the lady at the information desk what room Rod Thorton was in. The woman told her, and Maria headed for the elevators. She pushed the up arrow button and glanced in the mirror on the wall above the customary table with lamp.
&
nbsp; Unfortunately the mirror did not lie. She looked absolutely dreadful.
Appalling, really.
There was no way she was going to go confess her love to Rod in that sort of state. Even welcoming him back to the land of the sane was asking too much. A man would have to be half out of his mind to find her appealing in the slightest. Since Maria strongly hoped Rod had all of his faculties back, she really needed to not look this atrocious.
She did, after all, have a little pride.
Shopping in a hospital gift shop was never an enjoyable experience. However, today it was excruciating. Everything was so poorly organized. She found a toothbrush in one corner, the toothpaste in another. Luckily, she found a shirt her size. It was purple with tiny flowers, but it looked better than the torn and bloodstained rag she was wearing. She also snagged the last body spray mist and even found some face powder to conceal a few of the more obvious scratches on her forehead and cheeks.
Placing everything on the counter, she reached back into her backpack to get her credit card. As she did, the figure of a woman fishing through a bin full of random stuffed animals caught her attention. Something about her looked familiar. Maria was watching her so closely, she missed hearing the cashier tell her she needed to sign the screen on the credit card swiper.
When the woman looked up, Maria gasped.
It was Dakota’s ghost.
Kind of.
But not really.
Something was different.
Dakota’s ghost aura was gone.
There was no fuzzy, yellowish hue surrounding her body. Her outline was a clear as any high-definition movie.
“Miss,” said the cashier, interrupting Maria’s thoughts. “Miss, you need to sign the screen, please.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” Maria signed it, keeping her eye on the figure at the stuffed animal bin. The woman lifted up a stuffed bear and looked at the price tag.
As she handed the cashier the receipt, Maria called out, “Dakota? Dakota Thorton?”
The figure turned to look at Maria, her face drawn in apprehension and surprise.
“Dakota?” asked Maria, quizzically.
The beautiful woman opened her mouth, closed it, then turned and ran out of the gift shop, stuffed bear still in hand.
Maria shoved her purchased items back to the cashier and ordered, “Hold these a sec.” Then she took after the woman at a full sprint.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Authorities believe a third set of human remains recovered this past weekend from the Superstition Mountains could be the last of three hikers reported missing in July. Hikers found two other bodies in the same area Jan. 8, and authorities are awaiting confirmation using dental records that they may be the missing men … last seen in July heading into the Superstition Mountains near Apache Junction in search of the fabled Lost Dutchman Gold Mine.
“MORE REMAINS FOUND IN THE SUPERSTITIONS; MAY BE HIKER’S.” THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, BY NATHAN GONZALEZ, JAN 17, 2011.
The moment Dakota darted out of the entrance of the shop, a shrill beeping began, alerting security someone was trying to steal an over-priced item from the gift shop.
The alarm echoed in the large, open hospital foyer. Running at full speed, Maria had starting closing in on Dakota when four security guards approached from every direction. The one in front shouted, “Stop!”
Dakota didn’t flinch. She darted past him and continued for the exit.
Maria followed suit, skirting around the pot-bellied man in his blue shirt and black pants, and resumed her full speed charge. The distance between the two women was quickly closing.
Heavy huffing and puffing from behind Maria signaled to her that the guards were also in hot pursuit. An older lady in uniform near the front doors shouted something in broken English. A frightened-looking couple grabbed their squealing toddler’s arms and backed away from the chaos.
Beeep. Beeep. Beeep. The gift shop’s blaring alarm only added to the confusion.
Dakota was headed straight for the automatic sliding doors in the front of the building. Maria was right on her tail.
The realization that the doors weren’t opening came too late for Dakota. And for Maria as well. They both slammed into the glass panels, one after the other. Maria knocked her face into the side of Dakota’s head.
Please, don’t let it be a black eye. That was all Maria needed to complete the car wreck survivor look she had going on.
Seconds later, before her head had time to clear, her arms were wrenched behind her back and she was sharply dragged several feet from Dakota, who was also getting a new pair of metal bracelets placed around her wrists.
“I-I d-don’t need handcuffs,” said Maria, as she tried to catch her breath. “But you need to keep her—” she jutted her chin toward Dakota— “in them. She’s a missing person. The police are going to want to question her.”
“For now,” said a red-faced older gentleman, “you’re both coming with us. Shoplifting is a serious crime.”
Seriously? After everything else that had happened today, Maria was now being taken to the hospital’s security holding room on grounds she was an accomplice to stealing a teddy bear?
A small giggle built in Maria’s throat and then it grew. Louder and louder.
She was being arrested for shoplifting? Could today get any more random?
The guards and Dakota stared at her like she was losing her mind.
And maybe she was. Maybe Rod’s infection was contagious after all. Or maybe she simply hadn’t slept well in days. Whatever the reason, Maria was feeling absolutely giddy. “Yes, please,” she told one of the guards as she gulped for air. “Take us both to your office. You’ll find my police identification in my backpack. And, if you do a quick Google search for a missing person named ‘Dakota Thorton’ you’ll see who I’m talking about.”
One of the men in uniform grabbed her upper arm, none too gently.
She couldn’t have cared in the slightest. She was already exhausted.
But now there was hope.
A future.
Freedom.
Rod would be released. He couldn’t be accused of murdering someone who was still alive. All charges would be dropped. No question about that now. They would be going back home to Kanab before she knew it. The nightmare was about to end.
For being a hospital, the security office was filthy. Hand-me-down, stained cushioned chairs lined a wall that had been through what appeared to be some kind of a dirt-clod war. All the guards except one leaned their backs against the wall opposite from Dakota and Maria and stared at the ceiling, waiting to be told what to do.
The guard in charge sat behind the one desk in the room, talking on the telephone.
“Yes, yes, they’re both still here. We’re waiting for the lawyers and the police.”
Silence.
“Yeah, we’re not really sure. But the one is a cop. We’ve identified her for sure. The other is a little iffy, but we think she’s the missing woman.”
Silence.
“Yeah, that one.”
More silence.
“Six years ago I think. Never caught the guy. Guess we now know why. She wasn’t dead.”
A laugh.
Dakota squirmed next to Maria.
Maria sat in the chair, examining every inch of Dakota, racking her brain as to how the woman could be here in the flesh.
After a few minutes of looking her up and down, it was clear that she had some differences from the ghost Maria had observed over the course of the last week. The eyes were wider set. She was slightly more busty. Hair an inch or two longer. Still beautiful. Absolutely breathtaking, to be honest. Maria could see how Rod had been swept off his feet.
So then who was the ghost? And why was Dakota at the hospital?
Dakota had refused to say one word since they’d been taken to the office. Maria, on the other hand, had explained exactly who she was, what she was doing there, and the fact that she needed to get the items that she’d purc
hased in the gift shop, which, after twenty minutes or so, the guards finally did bring to her.
In a corner of the security office and for all to watch, Maria changed and freshened up. While she knew she smelled better, she doubted she looked much better, especially when compared to the jaw-dropping beauty of Dakota. But Maria tried to cut herself some slack. She had had a pretty rough afternoon. Getting mauled by a psycho man-bird was not a good activity before joining a beauty contest.
The door to the security office opened and Melissa walked inside followed by two police officers, a man in a business suit, and several other people. The place was quickly filling up.
Melissa, keeping up her official stance as always, shot a brief, quizzical glance at Dakota and nodded at Maria. She then turned to the man behind the desk. “I represent Rod Thorton. I’m here as his official legal counsel. The state of Arizona has sent the prosecution for the case as well. We’d both like to speak with the woman you’ve identified as Dakota Thorton.”
“You two be my guests. She’s right behind you.”
Everyone turned to look at Dakota and Maria.
“Not the frazzled-looking one,” added the security guard. “She’s next to her.”
Melissa cracked a smile for a split second then resumed her placid expression. “Thanks. After you.” She waved her hand at the stuffy man in the business suit who had come into the office behind her.
“No, no. Ladies first.” The man checked something on his phone.
Melissa bristled at his comment, but with a straight back and square shoulders she approached Dakota. The man followed, still tapping at his phone.
“Are you Dakota Thorton?” asked Melissa.
The other lawyer quickly looked up. “You don’t have to answer that. Not right now at least. I suggest you come—”
Paranormal Mystery Boxset Books 1-3: Legends of Treasure Page 49
