Skeleton Key

by Jeff LaFerney

  Eventually Clay explained that after high school, he attended Eastern Michigan University on a football scholarship, but after being red-shirted his freshman year and only making the playing field a handful of times his sophomore year, he quit the football team, got a teaching degree, and began a teaching and coaching career. “About eight years ago, I took a job at Mott Community College, teaching math and coaching the varsity baseball team.” He then explained how he had met his wife, Jessie, got married, and had one son, Tanner. He outlined briefly how his wife had been murdered about eleven months before. He finished by telling that Tanner was at the University of Michigan on a basketball scholarship and that he’d been hired as the head coach of the Michigan baseball team but that he’d been unable to sell his house, so he was living alone in Flint.

  Both stories seemed kind of tragic, and there was a long pause in the conversation, neither person knowing what to say next, but both knowing exactly what they wanted to talk about. Finally it was Erika that broke the silence. “I had a huge crush on you in high school.”

  “I had a crush on you too.”

  “I don’t know why I broke up with you.”

  Before Clay could stop himself he blurted out, “I told you too.”

  “No, you didn’t. The way I remember it, I was totally acting like a fool and then all of a sudden, I decided that I just wanted to be friends.”

  Clay had been hiding his powers of mind-control his entire life and it made him an unhappy person. His dishonesty, he believed, played a major role in his wife’s death, and he was determined to be honest with people, so he took a deep breath and explained to Erika what had actually happened. “You might not believe what I’m about to say, but I have a medical condition which gives me the ability to control minds. When I look into people’s eyes, I can influence their thoughts as well as their memories. I was a sophomore. You were the cutest, nicest girl in the school—everyone wanted to go out with you. I told you to like me, and you did—except you went a little overboard. You were smothering me with affection, and I knew that the only reason you were doing it was because I told you to. After the first few days when everyone thought I was ‘the man,’ I realized it was just a farce. I had taken away your choice and I got no pleasure from that, so I got back in your head and told you to tell me that you just wanted to be friends. You broke up with me, and that was that. It was the right thing for me to do because I had taken away your choice. I’m sorry, Erika. Please forgive me.”

  Erika looked somewhat confused. “I honestly don’t understand what you mean by ‘mind-control,’ but before you explain, do you remember when I was in eighth grade and you were in seventh and we had a drama class together?”

  “Yeah, Mrs. Jackson hated me. Always gave me embarrassing things to do, and the class was filled with popular eighth grade girls. It was humiliating.”

  “No, Mrs. Jackson didn’t hate you. She thought you were just as cute as the rest of us. Practically every girl in the class had a crush on you, but most of them got over it once they got into high school. I never got over it. I always liked you.”

  “But in tenth grade, I told you to like me.”

  “Well, if that mind-control is real, that explains my obsessive behavior my junior year. But the way I saw it, it was the first time you actually paid any attention to me. Telling you that I just wanted to be friends has haunted me my whole life. I’m sorry that I said that to you because it wasn’t what I wanted. And, Clay, I’ve always been a very affectionate person. My affection was genuine.”

  Clay’s mind was whirling. It seemed to him that every time he controlled someone’s mind, he made a complete mess of things. Clay proceeded to tell Erika about how he messed with a rival in high school, bringing chaos to his life, and how his powers affected his relationship with his wife and son. He told how he hid his powers and vowed to not use them, but nearly every time he did use them, it came back to haunt him. He told about how Tanner began developing his own powers, and then he told about how unhappy and lonely he was that he couldn’t have a proper relationship with his wife or son. It led to the murder of his wife, and he felt responsible. When Erika suggested that he was gifted, he responded that he felt it was more of a curse than some sort of blessing. Erika listened intently. She knew that she was supposed to be helping Clay, and she was trying to determine what it was that he really needed—what it was that was his real problem. Clay was talking about it; that was a first step in a faith lesson. He was trusting her with his pain and his secrets. But once they reached the cave, the real lessons would begin.

  ***

  With Erika gone for the day, Marshall Mortonson, walked to the ‘attic’ door at the end of the upstairs hallway of the Depot. Mortonson had taken to occasionally pulling out his old account books and reminiscing about his past as he spent more and more time, of late, thinking about his future. It was actually an unfinished storage room—the actual attic was above the second floor—but the real attic was rarely accessed and the storage room became known as the attic, mostly because that is exactly what it looked like. The historical building had managed to keep its original design even after over a hundred years of wear and restorations. The door to the storage room attic was no exception and was still unlocked by one of two skeleton keys that Mortonson carried. Marshall kept his account books locked inside a Sentry fireproof safe inside the attic. The electronic keypad was long since inoperable, but the safe could be opened via a backup system by using a skeleton key. Marshall Mortonson was the only person who had copies of each key.

  Marshall was a numbers geek. He’d always kept the books for the business while Adrian Payne took care of sales. Approximately four years into the partnership, the Durand Depot was turning a tidy profit and looked to be on the verge of an even brighter future. Adrian had worked a deal with the shipping industry, which would soon put a profitable local trucking company out of business. Marshall wasn’t too thrilled about how the backdoor deal was negotiated, but it was to be a very profitable enterprise. With dollar signs in his eyes, Marshall was persuaded to invest money that he didn’t have in a real estate deal in Palm Springs, Florida. It would be his vacation home until retirement. So Mortonson embezzled twenty thousand of the business’s dollars for the initial investment. His plan was to keep the books secret from Adrian until he figured out a way to pay the money back or “cook” the books to make the transaction disappear. However, Marshall Mortonson eventually learned that his money was stolen in a scam. He had lost the entire twenty grand, and then Adrian discovered his partner’s financial ledger. One day, Marshall entered his office to find Adrian sitting in his desk chair. Desk and file drawers were opened and papers were scattered all over the desk and floor. It looked like the office had been ransacked. Adrian’s face was red with anger.

  “What happened?” Marshall asked. But he was more concerned with Adrian’s anger than he was with the mess in his office.

  “I’ve been reading the company’s books. Are you keeping any secrets from me, Morty?”

  Marshall saw his account ledgers in Adrian’s hand, and he knew he had been caught, so he confessed. As Marshall spoke, Adrian’s temper died down, and eventually he began to smile. Then he said, “You need to take care of this, Morty. What you’ve done is a crime. I could turn you in, and push you out of the business. Probably I’d bankrupt you, and possibly you could end up in jail. You and I are supposed to be partners. I won’t forget what you’ve done.”

  Over the next many years, Marshall began embezzling from the company a little at a time—stealing money from the business—and then showing Adrian how he was “repaying” the large amount he had originally stolen. He began keeping two completely different sets of books. One set was legitimate, and one set of books was a masterpiece in creativity. However, trouble was just beginning for Marshall. Adrian had begun the process of legitimately spending the company into debt. Whenever he was approached by Marshall about his exorbitant spending, Adrian would say, “Have I done anythin
g illegal, Morty? Stealing is more your cup of tea, I’ve noticed. You’ll have to take care of it, won’t you?”

  Marshall Mortonson, who was stealing money to pay back the money he had previously embezzled, was additionally being forced to figure out ways to cover the debt that his partner was creating. He began to underreport earnings and cheat on the company taxes. He was creating false vendor accounts and creating phantom employees who he then paid with false payroll checks. Adrian was enjoying life while he was basically blackmailing his partner into a life of crime. Occasionally, Marshall would sneak back into the depot “attic,” take another look at his duel set of books, and give thanks that Adrian Payne had been missing from his life for so many years. He had built the business back up once Adrian disappeared, and it was doing a profitable business once again. Still, he feared that someday his dirty deeds would be discovered. The consequences of that would be devastating.

  Chapter 6

  Clay donned what looked to him like a miner’s cap, headlamp and all, and stood before Erika feeling kind of silly. Clay decided that Erika was the sexiest woman—even at 42 years of age— that he had ever seen. She was already making him smile and feel like a kid every time he looked at her. From the moment she’d opened her door, he could see that she had a zest for living that was missing in his own life. He, on the other hand, had spent the past year in near seclusion. She smiled a perfect smile and claimed to Clay that she was a speleologist. Clueless as to whether there was really such a thing, Clay cared only that he was actually very much looking forward to spending more time with her. They were standing at the mouth of Doghill-Donahue Cave in Bedford, Indiana.

  A pried-open, grill-like filter spanned a huge drainage pipe that lay beneath a four-lane highway. It was through that drainage pipe that the couple would access the cave. It was a cold, blustery day. Erika told Clay that they would spend the next couple of hours spelunking, which meant they would be exploring the cave together. Clay anxiously had visions of Tom Sawyer trapped in the cave with Injun Joe, but decided to trust that Erika knew what she was doing if for no other reason than he was looking forward to the zest and the perfect smile.

  Prior to their entry, she was meticulously checking supplies for the second time since they initially left Michigan. Headlamps, flashlights, ropes, and first-aid supplies were rechecked. At a shapely, sexy 110 pounds, she looked more like a woman about to head to the mall than someone about to embark on a journey through a dark, wet, muddy cave. Clay stared at the blue eyeliner that accented her sparkling eyes and wondered how someone so beautiful could be so adventurous, tough, and fearless. “You remembered to dress appropriately, right?” she asked.

  “Yep, polypro from neck to toes. Long johns, long sleeve undershirt, socks, hiking boots, everything. I’ve been sweating like a pig. Is it gonna be cold in there?”

  “The cave’ll be cool, but the polypro is mostly for when you get wet. Cotton’d be cold and miserable…polypro’ll keep you warm.” Erika paused and asked the question that Clay had been expecting ever since he told her in the car that he had the ability to control minds. “So if you look me in the eyes, you can control my mind?”

  “Yeah, and since high school, I’ve learned to read minds too.”

  “You’re looking at my eyes right now.”

  “But I’m just admiring, not controlling. Sorry, I can’t help but look,” Clay smiled and even blushed a bit.

  “Well, get a good look because in just a few minutes we’ll be engulfed in darkness and you’ll have no control over me.” She smiled a flirty smile. “As a matter of fact, you’d better do just as I say ’cause I’m the only one here who knows what to do once we get in there. Do you trust me?”

  “You make it sound kinda scary, but yeah, I trust you…I think.”

  “You don’t sound so sure. Follow me.” Smiling, as she always seemed to do, she turned on her flashlight and entered through the grating to start through the pipe. Clay eyed her perfect behind before inhaling a deep breath, letting out a long, satisfied sigh, and following her in.

  Within a few steps into the drainage pipe, light became scarce so Erika switched the light switch on her helmet to the “on” position. Clay did likewise and flashlights were clicked off to save battery power. When they exited the pipe just seconds later, they were in the cave. Sculpted walls rose as much as thirty to forty feet overhead. A glance up revealed stalactites reaching down from the ceiling. It was cool inside the cave and no light was revealed at all, save the light from their helmets. It was dark and spooky. “How will she know where to go…and how to get back out?” Clay wondered.

  “You wanna know how I’m gonna keep from getting lost, don’t ya?”

  “What? Are you reading my mind?”

  “No,” she laughed. “That’s what I would be thinking, so why wouldn’t you? Would it bother you if I could read your mind?”

  “It doesn’t bother me for you to know that I’d rather not get lost, but if you knew what I was thinking while I followed you through the drainage pipe, that might be a little embarrassing.”

  “I do give quite a view from behind, don’t I?” she giggled as Clay’s mouth gaped open a bit. “See? I knew what you were thinking then too. All I had to do was deduce that you are a man, and that I look good in these jeans, and I kind of put ‘two and two together.’”

  Clay laughed. “So you don’t mind that I can read and control minds?”

  “I can see how it could be a problem, unless you happen to be a trustworthy person. I mean, if I trusted you, and you talked to me, I think it’s something I could live with. I’d probably invest in a pair of dark sunglasses to put on when I planned to hide something from you,” she joked. “But I don’t think your problem is that you have a gift, Clay. I think you’re a person who lacks faith.”

  “Faith?”

  “Faith is the substance of things hoped for…the evidence of things unseen. You don’t seem to believe that God gave you your gifts for a reason, and you aren’t able to trust Him because you lack faith in what you can’t see. And you don’t trust that people in your life were put there for a purpose too. You try to make it through life all on your own, trusting only in yourself.”

  Those were some pretty harsh words coming from someone that didn’t really know him, but it actually rang pretty true, and Clay didn’t seem to mind hearing it from Erika, so he decided not to try to defend himself.

  They walked a short time in silence while they were making their way deeper into the cave. Finally Clay asked, “What makes you so sure?” The cave floor had been sloping downward, yet the impressive walls somehow seemed to be shrinking in size. The temperature was cooling a bit, but Clay was getting more of a chill from the conversation. What was Erika getting at?

  “You told me about your mind powers as we drove here. I said you were gifted, but you said you were cursed. A person of faith would believe there is a reason or purpose for his powers. Don’t you believe there is a way to use this gift for good?” While she was speaking, she began pulling rope from the bag she was carrying. They were approaching a twelve-foot barrier of solid rock. Erika instructed Clay to boost her to the top of the wall. Once she grabbed the top, she neatly vaulted over like a gymnast over a pommel horse. From the other side, she threw an end of the rope over to Clay’s side of the wall and instructed Clay to grab hold and use it to climb. Once Clay reached the top, he also dropped to the other side and Erika continued her conversation.

  “How many truly good personal relationships do you have?”“Well, my son and I are aware of each other’s powers. We have a lot in common and can talk about it…Maybe Zander Frauss. He specializes in the field of parapsychology so he understands me and seems able to accept me for who I am...I can’t think of anyone else.”

  “So you don’t trust that God gave you your powers for a purpose and you don’t trust other people enough to open up to them.”

  “I told you.”

  “Why is that? You said you ‘think’ that maybe
you can trust me.”

  Clay shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe I was hoping you would like me again…the real me. Flaws and all. I decided to take a risk, I guess. Plus Zander’s wife said I should trust you.”

  Since dropping from the barrier, they had been walking down an open passageway under a high ceiling and between flat, tall walls. There was nothing jutting out and no difficulties in the path. They had simply been leisurely walking along when suddenly, as if in response to Clay’s answer, Erika said, “Let’s stop here.” Erika sat down and because she was Clay’s guide, he followed suit even though he wasn’t tired in the least. “You actually trust only in yourself, and that is not sufficient. Turn off your light.” Erika flipped off her headlamp, and Clay did as he was instructed. “It’s dark, isn’t it?” Even as she said it, Clay knew she was smiling again.

  “I can’t see my hand in front of my face. Wow…it actually feels dark. Is that possible?”

  She ignored his question. “Take off your helmet and give it to me. Your flashlight too.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Clay replied in a weak attempt at humor.

  “You always handle your problems in your own strength. Am I right about that?”

  “I’m not sure that I understand what you’re asking me.”

  “I said you lacked faith. When you can’t see where you’re going, you flounder. You press on, but you can’t see the end, so you try to find the end in your own strength.” Erika paused giving Clay time to think. “After we climbed over that wall, as you might remember, we walked a short distance through a wide passage. Now all you have to do is walk back to that wall in the dark.”

  “But I can’t see anything.”

  “That’s right, but you remember the passage…I’m heading to the other end. I’ll wait for you there, but if you speak to me, I won’t answer. When you catch up to me at the end of the passage, I’ll give you back your light. Have fun,” she giggled, and she left Clay alone in the dark.