Buried Secrets

by Margaret Daley

  Zach covered the distance between them and shook his cousin’s hand. “I’m glad to see you. I heard you pull around back. What took you so long?”

  “I had to feed the animals. I’d hoped to get home yesterday evening, but a case kept me out all night. We keep missing each other.”

  Although Hawke was as large as Zach, he was leaner, rawboned, with striking features that revealed his Indian heritage. Long black hair tied back with a leather strap framed a face that wouldn’t be considered handsome, but definitely interesting, intriguing. His dusty Stetson, tugged low, shadowed his eyes, giving him a shuttered look.

  “Maggie, this is my cousin, Hawke Lonechief. This is Maggie Somers.”

  “Somers?”

  “Yes, she’s Jake’s granddaughter. I’m collaborating with the enemy.”

  Hawke tilted back his hat to reveal dark brown eyes, almost as black as his hair. “In trouble?”

  “Just a bit.” Zach told him everything that had happened to him and Maggie over the past four days.

  Listening to Zach recite their series of incidents and near misses, Maggie couldn’t believe she was unhurt. Gramps had always turned to the Lord when he was having a problem. She’d used to, as well, until lately. Had she been wrong to turn away?

  “I’d hate to see what you call a lot.” Hawke lounged against the railing with his arms folded across his chest. “What can I do to help?”

  “Keep an eye out for anyone unusual at the pueblo. I figure there’s not much that happens without your knowledge.”

  Hawke arched a brow. “You expecting trouble here?”

  “I hope not. I covered my tracks well, but it pays to be cautious.”

  “What does my mom say?”

  “She checked her handgun to make sure it was loaded, and said she was prepared. Not much else.”

  Hawke laughed. “That sounds like her.” He pushed away from the railing. “I’d best be going. We are shorthanded at the station. I just came home to check on the animals. Nice to meet you, Maggie.” Zach’s cousin left as quietly as he had appeared.

  “Do you really think there’s going to be trouble here?” She didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of her.

  “No. We won’t be staying long. By the time someone checks out all my grandmother’s relatives, we’ll be long gone. This is the safest place for us at the moment. These are Willow’s people. Family means everything to them.”

  Family. With her grandfather’s death she didn’t have any family left. Again regret blanketed her. Ever since she had decided to become a doctor she had worked long, long hours to get there and do the best job possible. That had been Gramps’s way, and she didn’t want to let him down. But she had missed out on being with him and that grieved her.

  Zach cocked his mouth upward. “Besides, Evelyn and Hawke are very knowledgeable about this area of the country. We may need their expertise. I may know languages, but I don’t know the terrain.” Running his hand through his hair, he turned to stare at the mesa. “When Evelyn gets back from the store, we’ll go over what we think with her and see if she has any ideas.”

  When Maggie positioned herself next to Zach, her arm brushed against his. Before them stretched a vast area of land, and yet they stood side by side, touching, no space between them. The immense expanse shrank to the small porch, her awareness centered on the man next to her. Her life might depend on Zach Collier. Four days ago she would have been horrified by that prospect. Today she was comforted.

  She peered at the mesa, too. The sunlight set the rocks flaming in a myriad of colors. So beautiful. She sighed, knowing they needed to go inside and dig into the journal again for any clues to end this nightmare. But she didn’t want to. She wanted to forget for a few more moments that she was running for her life.

  She started to turn toward the door when something caught her attention. She squinted, trying to see better in the brightness that bathed the landscape.

  “Do you see it?” She pointed toward the top of the nearest mesa.

  “What?” He straightened, alert, his gaze sharpening on the area where she indicated.

  “It looks like the sun is reflecting off some kind of metal. Do you think someone is spying on the ranch?” She drew herself up tall, struggling to keep her panic at bay. “Could they have found us so soon?”

  “I pray not.” Zach dug into his front jeans pocket, withdrew his cell and tried to make a call. “We’ll have to use the phone inside to call Hawke. No reception out here. I keep forgetting that.”

  Quickly he crossed the porch to the screen door and stepped to the side to allow Maggie to go into the house first. He snatched up the phone on a table in the living room and punched in some numbers.

  “Hawke, there’s someone up on the mesa near the house,” Zach said after he’d been patched through to his cousin. “I saw something glitter in the sun. I’d check it out, but I don’t want to leave the diary and map unprotected.”

  Maggie peered at the book open on the coffee table. The copy of the map lay next to it, a bunch of lines that meant nothing to her. It didn’t even look like a regular map.

  “Okay, thanks. Let me know what you find.” Zach hung up and faced her. “Hawke’s going to check the area out. He isn’t too far from the turnoff that leads to the mesa. He’ll have to hike to the top.”

  “Maybe we should leave.”

  “Let’s see what Hawke finds out first.”

  Maggie gestured toward the journal. “We need to find a way to protect this in case they do find us.”

  “I agree.” Zach began to pace from one end of the small living room to the other, staring at the floor as he walked. Suddenly he halted and whirled around. “I’ve got it. I should have thought about this earlier. We’ll photograph the book with a digital camera. We can put the pictures on a flash drive, then store the diary in its special case in a safety-deposit box.”

  “I like that, especially since the diary is so fragile. We won’t be handling it as much either if we do it that way. But do you think we can read the pages as easily?”

  “There’s only one way to find out. When Hawke calls back, I’ll see if he has a digital camera at the station we can use.” Zach made his way toward the kitchen. “In the meantime I’ll fix us some sandwiches, and then we need to get back to work. The quicker we discover where the codices are hidden, the quicker this will all be over with.”

  Her gaze fastened on to the strange map. “I’m having my doubts about whether we can crack this. I’ve never seen a map like that.”

  At the door into the kitchen Zach glanced back at the coffee table where the map lay. “I agree. Not even old ones were done like that.”

  “There’s no compass on it, either. Don’t most have a reference point?”

  “Yeah, that’s why I’m not sure this is a map in the traditional sense.” Zach turned into the kitchen. “I need some brain food.”

  Maggie followed him into the room. “Can I help with anything?”

  “No, there’s not much to fixing a sandwich.” He opened the refrigerator and studied its contents. “Turkey okay?”

  “Fine.” Maggie sank onto the chair at the table. Although it was near noon, weariness weighed down her limbs. “How long do you think it will take Hawke to check the mesa out?”

  Zach removed two plates from the cabinet and set them next to the ingredients for the sandwiches. “Since he was near the turnoff, half an hour, probably.”

  “Unless he runs into trouble.” She glanced at her watch and noted the time. Fifteen minutes had already passed.

  “Hawke can take care of himself. When I used to visit Granddad in the summers, I spent time out here with Evelyn and Hawke. He taught me to track, to live off the land. It would be hard to get a drop on him, especially because he is going up there prepared for trouble.”

  Trouble. That was all her life had been the past few days. She would never take dull and normal for granted again. “How do you do it?”

  He turned toward her wi
th the two plates in hand. “Do what?”

  “Act so nonchalant about all this. People are after us. Someone wants us dead, and you’re fixing sandwiches to eat.”

  He placed the lunch on the table. “Because I’ve learned you have to keep your strength up if you’re going to come out of a difficult situation alive. If I don’t eat and rest, I can’t think, and thinking is what we have to do if we’re going to solve the mystery.” He pushed her plate toward her. “So eat. I worked hard to make that sandwich.” Although his expression was solemn, the gleam in his eyes teased her.

  Maggie stared at the food, her stomach in a knot. She didn’t think she could eat, but his words made sense. He should know, since he’d had adventures like this before. While he went back to the refrigerator and extracted a pitcher of tea, she picked up the sandwich and took a small bite. Although it tasted good, she had to force the food down. The second he put the glass of iced tea in front of her, she took a large swallow.

  He sat across from her and dug into his lunch. Several minutes later, he fixed her with a stern look. “I don’t normally tell people what to do—”

  “You don’t?”

  “Okay, maybe I do. Eat, Maggie. We have a long day ahead of us and you didn’t have any breakfast.”

  Other than Gramps, no one had kept tabs on her in a long time. Part of her resented that Zach was, and part of her appreciated it.

  “Here’s to another bite.” He lifted his sandwich and took one.

  Acknowledging the wisdom in his advice, Maggie did likewise, then washed it down with a drink of tea. “Satisfied?”

  “Not until you finish the whole thing.”

  “You are a hard taskmaster.”

  “I’ve been accused of that on a number of occasions.”

  “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

  He lounged back in his chair. “So, since we’re going to be spending some quality time together, tell me about yourself.”

  She shook her head. “Can’t. I’ve been ordered to eat.”

  “And you always follow orders?”

  “In this case, yes.”

  “I see. In the future if I want you to do something all I have to do is ask about you.”

  There was a lot she wanted to know about him, and yet sharing personal information made their partnership more than business. Then she remembered crying on his shoulder, and decided they were definitely past that. “Okay, what would you like to know?”

  He leaned forward, his gaze homing in on hers. “What made you become a doctor?”

  “I’ll answer if you’ll answer one of my questions.”

  “Tit for tat?”

  “Exactly.”

  “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

  Maggie took another bite of her turkey sandwich, catching a glimpse of her watch. Twenty-five minutes since Zach had called his cousin. What was taking him so long?

  “He’ll be okay.”

  “Who?”

  “Hawke.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “Is this a delaying tactic?”

  She sipped her tea. “No, your question is an easy one. I became a doctor because I wanted to help others.” She stopped short of telling him the complete answer. Her desire to become a doctor had been formulated the day she had been trapped with her father in a cave and hadn’t been able to help him, to do anything to ease his pain as he slowly died. A lump lodged in her throat, and she had to swallow several times before she could ask, “What made you become a biochemist?”

  “To help others,” he said instantly.

  “And an anthropologist?”

  “No fair. That’s another question. It’s my turn.” Dimples appeared in his cheeks, and merriment danced in his eyes. “What’s driving you?”

  “To succeed?”

  “Not exactly. Someone who works all the time and never takes a vacation usually is driven by some motive beyond just the need to be successful.”

  She lowered her gaze and stared at her half-eaten sandwich. “My grandfather sacrificed a lot for me to go to medical school. It takes a lot of hard work to establish a successful practice.”

  She wasn’t giving him the whole answer. He knew that because she wouldn’t look at him. “And?”

  Finally she reestablished eye contact, a hint of vulnerability in her gaze. “I think it’s time we got back to work.” She started to rise.

  Her defenses wiped all expression from her face. He reached across the table and grasped her hand. “You haven’t finished your lunch. We can afford to take a few more minutes. It’s your turn to ask me a question.”

  “Why do you like to live on the edge?”

  “You don’t want to know why I wanted to be an anthropologist, too?”

  “No.”

  Releasing her hand, he lounged back. “To tell you the truth, I’ve never thought of myself as living on the edge.”

  “From what I gather you’ve had more than your share of near-death experiences. Just last year in the Amazon you were left for dead, and yet you are ready to go back to the jungle this summer. Why?”

  “That’s where my work takes me. I have things I want to do, and I’m not going to let fear keep me from doing them.”

  “Are you a thrill junkie?”

  He wagged his finger. “It’s my turn. What do you do for fun?”

  “Read romances.”

  He chuckled. “Not have them?”

  “It’s my turn. Answer my previous question.”

  “I became an anthropologist because I think the study of humans, especially their cultures, is fascinating.”

  “I didn’t mean that question. Are you a thrill junkie?”

  Am I? “You know, I never thought about it. Thrills aren’t the reason I do what I do. When my time is up, I will go home to the Lord. Until then I have a job to do, things I want to accomplish.” The second he mentioned the Lord’s name, a shutter fell over Maggie’s features. “Without my faith, there were times I would have given up. My prayers are what sustain me when I’m faced with danger,” he said.

  “What if God doesn’t answer your prayers? Would your faith be so strong?”

  “Yes, because there have been times I didn’t get what I wanted. Things happen in God’s time, not ours. We don’t always see the bigger picture. I have to put my trust in the Lord that He knows what is ultimately best for me. What happened to make you doubt Him?”

  “I’m all alone in this world. First my father, then my mother and now Gramps are gone. I…” Maggie averted her eyes and stared into the living room.

  “I lost my sister, mother and father to a fire when I was in high school. Granted I still have my twin sister, Kate, but their deaths were very hard on me.”

  “You didn’t get angry at God?”

  “I’m not going to tell you I didn’t question Him. I did. But it was my faith in Him that helped me through the pain of their loss. Without the Lord, I don’t know how I would have made it.”

  Maggie pushed the plate with the partially eaten sandwich toward him. “I can’t eat anymore.” She shoved her chair back and rose. “I think we should get to work.”

  The quaver in her voice touched Zach. He wanted to take her into his arms and comfort her, but an unapproachable look entered her eyes.

  She headed for the living room. “Better yet, we should go after Hawke. He may be in trouble.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s been forty minutes since you called him.”

  “The reason I didn’t go check in the first place is that we can’t leave the diary unprotected, and we certainly can’t take it with us, even in its protective case, as we hike to the top of the mesa.”

  She whirled around, her arms stiff at her sides. “We have to do something. I won’t have someone else in danger because of me.”

  Her vulnerability shimmered in her eyes. Somehow he knew she wasn’t really referring to this situation. “You didn’t put anyone in danger. You aren’t responsible for this.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, but snapp
ed it closed when the phone rang.

  He hurried to answer it. Although his cousin could take care of himself, he too hoped it was Hawke. “Hello.”

  “Zach, I’m sorry it took so long, but there’s been a bit of trouble up here.”

  EIGHT

  “What kind of trouble, Hawke?” Zach gripped the phone, hearing a breathless quality in his cousin’s voice.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you. It was just teenagers camping out where they weren’t supposed to.”

  “There wasn’t anyone else?”

  “No, it was perfectly harmless, really. They came down with me. There shouldn’t be any more problems.”

  Zach relaxed the tensed set of his muscles and loosened his grasp on the receiver. “I have another favor to ask. Do you have a digital camera, a laptop and a flash drive I can use? I think it’s best we photograph each page of the journal, then put it into a safety-deposit box for safekeeping. All this handling outside its case isn’t good for the book.”

  “Not to mention the risk that it could be stolen.”

  “Yeah, that, too.” Zach caught Maggie’s look and smiled.

  “I have a camera at the station and can get you a laptop and flash drive to use. Give me an hour,” Hawke said.

  “Thanks, Hawke. I owe you.”

  “I’ll have Mom bring the camera to you. I’ll catch her in town.”

  Zach hung up the phone, his gaze linked to Maggie’s. “Evelyn will bring us what we need in the next hour, then we’ll have our work cut out for us.”

  Ensnared in his visual tethers, Maggie wanted to deny a connection to Zach. She couldn’t. He had lost his grandfather as she had. The fact his last name was Collier meant nothing to her in that moment. She took a step toward him. They had gone through so much in a short period of time, and she suspected there was a lot more to come.

  He moved toward her, his hand reaching for hers. His fingers laced through hers, and he pulled her close. “It was just some teenagers up on the mesa. We’re safe for the time being.”

  His whispered words flowed over her in mesmerizing waves. For the first time in the past few days, she believed she was safe—in Zach’s presence.