Mara Louis; Girl of Mystery

by Timothy Paterson

send help.”

  So, Mara took Kirk’s cell phone, the tape recorder, and the backpack with all of the evidence and got up on her horse. She spoke softly to the horse. “Come on, Justice, I need for you to ride like the wind. A lot of people are counting on you.”

  The horse nodded, as if he understood, and he began running as fast as his legs would go.

  Mara’s psychic instinct directed her in the right direction. Mara used her cell phone to call for an ambulance, as soon as she could get a signal.

  When Mara arrived at the courthouse, it was half past two. “Was she too late?” she wondered. Mara jumped off the horse and told the horse to wait for her. Then, she ran into the courthouse and headed for the courtroom that her instinct told her was the right one. When she got to the courtroom, the guard would not let her in. She started shouting, “Please, you have got to let me in there. Tell Mr. King that Mara has some very important information. Please, it’s an emergency.”

  Judge McPherson heard the commotion outside the courtroom and asked the bailiff to investigate. When the bailiff returned, he told the judge, that a teenager named Mara Louis was insisting on speaking with Mr. King.

  When Judge McPherson heard the name ‘Mara’, he told the bailiff to let the girl into the courtroom. When Mara walked in, Judge McPherson smiled because it was the same girl who had pulled him out of the path of the speeding car several days earlier. Mara smiled as well, when she recognized him.

  “What can we do for you, young lady?” asked the judge.

  “I have information that is very important to this case,” said Mara.

  Mr. Norman’s attorney started to object, but the judge told him to sit back down, and then he asked Mara if he could see the information.

  Mara opened her backpack and carefully took out all of the documents, and handed them to the judge. Judge McPherson was shocked when he read the documents. “Where did you find these papers?” he asked Mara.

  “Karen, Jake and I found them in a cave located on the Red Rock Ranch” she said. “We also found the skeleton of Robert J. King in the cave as well.”

  The judge began to read each of the documents aloud to everybody in the courtroom, beginning with the land deeds from the Mexican government, Texas President Sam Houston, and President Polk, all three documents granting the two hundred thousand acres to Thomas King and his descendents.Then the judge read the lease agreement, as well as the will of Robert King, which named his killer.

  Judge McPherson asked Mr. Norman if he had any prior knowledge of the lease or the deeds. Mr. Norman denied any knowledge of them.

  It was at that point that Mara turned on the tape recorder. Everyone in the courtroom heard John Norman confess to knowing about the murder of Robert King, the lease agreement and the deeds, as well as confessing that his great grandfather had stolen documents from the courthouse before starting the fire that destroyed hundreds of records.

  After the confession, they heard Kirk’s voice. He told his stepfather that he would not get away with it. Then, there were two gunshots, and John’s voice saying, “We’ll just see about that.”

  “Where did you get that tape recorder?” asked the judge.

  “From Kirk” said Mara. Then, she proceeded to tell everyone that they found Kirk with a broken leg, and two bullets in his shoulder. “He would have died, if the bullets hadn’t been deflected off his cell phone and into his shoulder,” she added. Then, Mara held up the cell phone with two dents in it.

  Lynn Norman started hitting her husband. “If Kirk dies, I will kill you, John.” Then, through tears, Mrs. Norman asked Mara; “Is Kirk okay?”

  “He has lost some blood, but his condition is stable,” replied Mara. “Jake and Karen are waiting with him until the ambulance gets there.”

  Judge McPherson made a phone call, and a moment later, a sheriff’s deputy entered the courtroom and arrested John Norman for attempted murder and several counts of fraud.

  After Mr. Norman was taken to jail, Judge McPherson thanked Mara for her help in bringing Mr. Norman to justice. He also thanked her again for saving his life a few days earlier.

  As Mrs. Norman was asking questions about her son, Craig and Shawna King, and Craig’s parents also began asking many questions. All five of them were talking at the same time. When Mara’s cell phone rang, she had to yell, to tell everyone to be quiet so that she could answer her phone. Mara talked on the phone for a few minutes, and then hung up.

  The five adults were anxious to hear about their children. “That was Karen,” said Mara. “She and Jake are at Houston Memorial Hospital with Kirk. Karen said that Kirk is going to be fine. As soon as his mother gets there, they will take him to surgery to fix his leg and remove the bullets from his shoulder.”

  Mara went to the Hospital with Karen’s parents, while Mrs. Norman rode with Karen’s grandparents.

  At the hospital, Mrs. Norman was able to talk with her son before he went to surgery. While all of them were waiting for Kirk to come out of surgery, Mara, Karen and Jake told the adults the complete story of Robert King, including the discovery of the cave, the gold coins; which Mara pulled out of her backpack and gave to Mr. and Mrs. King.

  Craig and Shawna King, and Frank and Esther King thanked Mara for saving their ranch. As they discovered later, John Norman had forged some changes on the copy of the lease he had in his possession, to make it appear that the King family had leased the land from the Norman family, instead of the other way around. The court might have believed Mr. Norman’s story, if Mara had not found the original lease, deeds and will.

  “I don’t know if we will ever be able to thank you for what you have done, Mara” said Mr. Frank King, as he hugged Mara. Then Agnes, Shawna and Craig all hugged Mara as well.

  Mrs. Norman was in tears as she hugged Mara, Jake and Karen. “The doctor told me that if had not found Kirk when you did, he would have died before morning. Thank you all, for saving my son’s life.”

  Mara suddenly thought of something. She looked at Karen’s grandfather and asked; “Mr. King, could we go back to the cave in the morning to bring the remains of your great grandfather back to the ranch for a proper burial? I think that he would like to be buried beside his wife.”

  “Of course we can” said Mr. King. “I’ll call the pastor from our church to officiate at the ceremony.”

  The next morning, they all returned to the cave. They put the remains of Robert King in a nice casket and loaded into the back of a pickup truck. They also loaded the iron box full of gold coins into the truck as well, and then headed back to the King family cemetery behind the ranch house.

  Mara thought that the ceremony was beautiful, and she cried as Robert was buried beside his wife. They were finally together at last. After the King family returned to the house, Mara remained at the grave. As she was standing there, she had a vision. In the vision, Robert thanked Mara for all she had done. He also told her some more useful information.

  Back at the house, Mrs. Norman told the King family that as soon as she and her son found another place to live, they would get off their land.

  Craig told Lynn that he did not hold her responsible for her husband’s crimes. He told her that he they would deed one thousand acres to her and her son, so that they could be neighbors to the King family forever. Mrs. Norman, who had already filed for divorce from her husband agreed to stay.

  The King family offered to share the gold coins with Mara, but she refused, saying; “I cannot take money for what I did. However, I do have a suggestion for some of the additional land that you now own. Why not turn it into a working western town from the 1800’s. Then, instead of running a dude ranch, you could invite teens that are troubled, or have no confidence, or low self esteem to spend time working on the ranch. They would work hard all week, for ranch dollars, and then, on the weekends, they could go into the auth
entic working western town, and spend their earnings. It would teach them responsibility, and pride in their work.”

  “During the rest of the week, the town could cater to tourists who want to experience life in the 1800’s.”

  Frank and Craig were impressed with Mara’s idea. “That’s a great idea Mara,” said Craig, but it would take a lot of money to build the town, a lot more than these gold coins are worth.”

  “I know,” said Mara, but I also know of a way to pay for the town and keep it running for several years. At Robert’s grave, I had another vision. Robert told me some information that will help to finance the project. If all of you can saddle a horse, and follow me, I can show all of you something that will blow your minds away.”

  When they were all saddled up, Mara, Karen, Jake took the lead, and the adults followed closely behind. After riding for forty minutes, Mara stopped abruptly and dismounted. After everyone else was standing around her, Mara took Robert’s journal from her purse.

  “In my vision” said Mara, “Robert told me that the answer to all of your problems could be found on page seventy five of this journal” Mara began reading the page, which described a canyon on part of the ranch, where Robert had found some dark greasy substance oozing out of the ground. He took it back to the barn and found that it worked very well as a lubricant