Mystic Falls

by Vickie McKeehan

  As soon as Gemma drove up, she looked around searching for Zeb. Sure enough, she spotted him standing in a corral pouring water into a metal trough from a bucket. Several horses came over to drink.

  Gemma honked the horn and got out, waving wildly at the friend she’d known for most of her life. But she hadn’t talked to Zeb since Marissa’s funeral.

  Zeb walked over to the Volvo and grabbed Gemma up in a hug. “What brings you out here? Don’t tell me you’re finally looking to buy a horse.”

  “Too many things on my plate right now or I might be tempted.” She thumbed a hand toward Lianne. “This is Collette’s sister, Lianne. She’s working part-time at the shop.”

  Lianne chewed her lip in a show of nervousness. “Someone from the office called me, said Rudy’s bill is past due. I’m here to see what I can do to bring it as current as possible.”

  Zeb’s dark eyes warmed. “That was probably my sister, Willow. She’s our office manager. But don’t worry, as long as your sister is still missing, we’ll work something out. Collette loved that horse. She only had Rudy for a short time but she came to see him almost every single day without fail.”

  “She did?” Gemma asked. “Was she out here the day she went missing?”

  “She was. That’s the first thing I checked…the logbook. We have all our visitors sign in and sign out. Some people like to be a part of the horse’s life and visit their animal routinely, while others simply mail in their boarding fee without ever coming by. Collette liked to come out here and feed Rudy herself. So it would’ve been highly unusual for her to miss a day.”

  “What time did she normally get here?”

  “Collette usually showed up at twelve-thirty on her lunch break. Sometimes before she went to work. Or she would stop by after before heading home and take Rudy for a ride.”

  “Even in winter when it gets dark early?”

  “Even then.”

  Lianne’s eyes watered. “I’m sorry I forgot about her horse. With everything else that’s happened…I’ll gladly start coming out here more often, even riding Rudy would be wonderful, something to occupy my mind. It would remind me of…of happier times spent with Collette. I’d love to come out to see Rudy.”

  Zeb laid a hand on her arm. “It’s okay. Come any time. We’ll never let a horse starve just because the owner hasn’t paid. That’s not what we’re about. The fact that you’re here now is a good sign. Would you like to get to know Rudy?”

  Lianne nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “Then go see that man standing over by the barn. That’s Theo Longhorn. He’ll get you acquainted with Rudy.”

  “That was nice of you,” Gemma said to Zeb after Lianne headed to the barn. “Any ideas what happened to Collette?”

  “None that make any sense.”

  Gemma looked around at the vastness of the surrounding wilderness. “She could be out there, you know. Somewhere. Anywhere.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “I’m not sure. How far is Luke’s clinic from here where her car was found?”

  “Less than a mile.”

  “Is there any way Collette could’ve come out here to check on Rudy and someone grabbed her?”

  Zeb scratched his jaw. “We could do a search around the stables. I could coordinate it with Lando.”

  “I want to help.”

  “Why is that? Because Lianne is working for you? Did you even know Collette?”

  “No, I didn’t. But Lianne is struggling and I’d like to see her find out what happened to her sister. Why the change of attitude?”

  Zeb narrowed his eyes. “Why do you think? Lando and I go way back. You hurt him once. Bad.”

  “I know that. I’m working on trying to make amends. I’m here. Back in town.”

  “But for how long? Until the going gets tough?”

  “You sound just like he does.” Gemma put her hands on her hips in defiance, and jabbed back. “Do you still have a thing for Leia? And does Lando know about it?”

  Zeb’s warm brown eyes went cold. “That’s none of your business.”

  “Ah. I see. So it’s okay for you to butt into my life, is that it?”

  “Fine. But don’t go sniffing around Lando unless you mean it this time.”

  “Sniffing? Really? I’ve known that man my entire life. He’s like family to me.”

  “Then you have a strange way of treating family.”

  She blew out a sigh. “Haven’t you ever made a boneheaded move, a mistake you regret?”

  Zeb’s stern veneer cracked. “More than I’d like to admit.”

  “Then why are you so hard on me for something that happened when I was nineteen?”

  “I just don’t want to see Lando hurt again, that’s all. You know he’s been seeing Jennifer Hollis.”

  “Don’t remind me. Is it too much to hope that she weighs two hundred pounds by now?”

  “She doesn’t. Jennifer friended me on Facebook. She looks pretty good after going through a divorce.”

  “Thanks for the encouragement.”

  “Sorry. But life moves on, even after all those boneheaded mistakes.”

  Gemma scanned the compound. “Which house is yours?”

  “The one furthest out from the others, facing east. I like to look at the mountains when I wake up in the morning.”

  “Sorry about the Leia comment.”

  “It’s okay. If I tell you something you need to keep it under your hat.”

  “Sure. I’ll even buy a hat.”

  Zeb sent her a knowing look. “Leia and I’ve been seeing each other for the past six months, since Christmas.”

  “What? She told me…never mind. Why all the secrecy?”

  “Several months back there was an incident between Lando and me when we went out on a joint effort to arrest a pot grower back in the woods.”

  “What kind of incident? Did you guys have a fight about something?”

  “No, not that. I almost caught a bullet that day. Long story. Anyway, Lando overreacted. He crawled up on his soap box afterward and started spewing this belief that because of the danger every day he didn’t think it was a good idea for cops to ever get married. Not two days prior, Leia and I had just agreed to tell him we were dating. After his big speech, she got cold feet.”

  “So now you’re both sneaking around. That’s not good. Trust me. Someone will eventually catch on. Even I figured out something’s been bothering Leia. Give me another week and I would’ve found out the reason. Lando’s not stupid. You guys must do a lot of coordinating to not get caught.”

  “She sneaks out here sometimes, other times I go to her house and park several streets over so no one sees the car.”

  Gemma’s head fell back in laughter. “Oh, Zeb. That’s crazy. This is a small town. You two won’t be able to fool anyone for long.”

  “Six months. That’s gotta be worth a page in the record books.”

  “Yeah? Overconfidence is how records are usually broken.”

  There was a lot to do when she got back home. She started with Marissa’s bedroom. Gemma had been back for almost a month and was still sleeping in her old room. It was time to stop putting off cleaning out her Gram’s things. Painful as it was, she also had an ulterior motive for doing some spring cleaning. Mrs. Kidman wasn’t the only one who’d hinted that Marissa kept a journal. Paloma had mentioned it right after the funeral. And Lucinda had said something similar a few days later.

  Gemma hadn’t thought anything else about it until Ballard walked into her shop three days ago. Now it’s all she could think about.

  One thing she could say about her grandmother, Marissa Sarrazin kept things organized. Her closet was neat and tidy. Her dresser drawers were the same. Gemma went through her bedside table, her bathroom, and her chest of drawers. But there was no journal anywhere.

  She piled most of her Gram’s clothing and shoes into the boxes she’d found stored in the shed out back. But when it came to the other personal items, t
rinkets and photos, she kept those where they were for now.

  Next, she tackled the attic and was overwhelmed at the forty years’ worth of stuff, so overwhelmed that she only stayed up there an hour, looking through several trunks and blanket boxes.

  She ended up taking a break around five before she remembered she was due at Leia’s house for dinner at six-thirty. She had just enough time to put water out for Rufus, jump in the shower, decide on what to wear, and do something with her hair.

  Once she cleaned herself up, she stood in her closet wondering if she should dress up or down. She put on jeans but decided the look was way too casual. And what if Leia had invited Lando to dinner? She wanted to appear classy and wear something feminine, something with a neckline that would allow her to show off her new turquoise amulet.

  With that in mind, she ultimately went with a blue and ivory, off the shoulder embroidered sundress that accentuated her legs, a feature she happened to think was her best.

  She used a flatiron to smooth out her hair into a tamed and sleek version like Jennifer Anniston’s. Jennifer. And then it hit her. Lando wouldn’t be at dinner. It was Saturday night. Jennifer Hollis was supposed to be in Coyote Wells this weekend. That Jennifer would be spending time with Lando. Her Lando.

  10

  On the way to Leia’s, eighty-year-old Mrs. Napier pulled up alongside Gemma riding her bright red mobility scooter. Probably coming back from the store, Gemma decided. The woman’s basket was loaded down with boxed wine, cans of Cheese Whiz, and crackers.

  Who knew cheap booze consumed with fake cheese and saltines were the key to longevity, Gemma mused as she sent Nell Napier a wave and continued walking.

  Gemma rounded the corner and headed up the front walkway of Leia’s house, a brown-brick Tudor cottage with its multi-pitched gables and arched doorway. English ivy grew in trailing vines, decorating the little stoop in spirals of soft green. It wasn’t Gemma’s taste or style, but it leaned toward Leia’s European minimalistic approach. Her friend had always loved the classics, the old-world charm, the castle-like architecture that looked like it could’ve survived during Medieval times, something a knight might have defended.

  When Leia opened the door, Gemma handed her a bottle of Ballard’s merlot she’d found in the back of Marissa’s pantry and a box of the newly improved truffles.

  “Belated housewarming gift albeit several years tardy. Love the timberwork and brick. You finally got the little castle you wanted.”

  Leia ushered her into the living room. “Took me several years of finagling a mortgage and another few to decorate it myself, but I’m a proud homeowner now. I hope you don’t mind but my mom decided to join us tonight.”

  “Don’t be silly. Gemma loves me,” Lydia crowed from the living room.

  At the sound of the voice Gemma whirled around to see the woman who’d once been her mother-in-law. Lydia’s black hair now had gray streaks running through it and her face had a few more wrinkles around her warm brown eyes, but she looked ever bit the radiant Bonner matriarch Gemma remembered. She rushed into the woman’s open arms. “It’s been too long. What is that old saying? I missed your hugs.”

  “You look so much like Marissa it’s a little spooky.”

  “Do I?”

  “Your eyes, your mannerisms, the way you hold your head when you’re thinking through a problem. You forget the Bonner family knew your Gram back when she and Jean-Luc first settled here. She was a looker even back then. And Jean-Luc had that indifferent French attitude, but it didn’t last long whenever he became jealous.” Lydia chuckled. “If a customer got a little too friendly with Marissa that would get a reaction out of the proud Frenchman every time.”

  “I’d love to hear about those days.”

  “Any time,” Lydia remarked. “Why don’t you come in and make yourself comfortable. We have a lot of catching up to do.” Eyeing the necklace dangling from Gemma’s neck, Lydia stepped closer, slipping on her reading glasses to get a better look. “Such a beautiful piece of turquoise, such pretty workmanship. You made this from scratch, didn’t you? Wherever did you find such a gorgeous chunk of it and with such a smooth pattern?”

  Without giving away too much, Gemma replied. “It was at the bottom of a pond. Do you like the design of the cord? Gram taught me the knots.”

  Lydia smiled. “It’s what they call a goddess weave. Intricate, great for setting jewelry.”

  Leia called out from the kitchen, “While you guys talk knots, I plan on popping the cork on this merlot Gemma brought. Who would’ve thought she would ever go all bohemian on us.”

  Gemma rolled her eyes as she moved toward the appetizers set out on the counter. “I told you I was more of a free spirit these days than I’ve ever been before, and you didn’t believe me.”

  “Yes, but I thought you meant you were baking your own bread or something. Who would believe a corporate lawyer could morph into a flower child at this stage of her life? Not me.”

  “I just made a necklace from jute,” Gemma stated with a shrug, nibbling on a wedge of cheese from the tray of munchies. “I didn’t reform overnight. Although…I wouldn’t mind becoming a wild child or a gypsy or maybe a total nonconformist…like Gram. Now there was a free spirit.”

  Leia took down three crystal wine glasses from an antique hutch. “I’m not knocking it. I think it’s a miraculous transformation. And about damn time. Just be yourself, like the best friend I knew as a kid and you’ll be fine.”

  Gemma smiled, tilted her head to study her friend. “You seem more at ease wearing your chef’s hat. It’s a shame on your day off you’re spending it at the stove. I promise I’ll return the favor for both of you and do the cooking next time.”

  “It’s just a shrimp stir-fry, easy to make. Tell her, Mom.”

  Lydia laughed. “One thing all my children know how to do is prepare a meal in twenty minutes or less. It’s in the genes.”

  “An under-appreciated talent,” Gemma replied, snatching up another cheese bite.

  “I talked to Lando this morning,” Leia revealed, leaning on the kitchen counter, working the cork out of the bottle. “He said you hiked out to Mystic Falls yesterday. I haven’t been out there since I was ten or eleven years old.”

  “You should go. I’d forgotten how beautiful it is. And the pool I mentioned,” Gemma began, holding out the amulet. “That’s where I found this slice of turquoise.”

  Now it was Leia’s turn to pick up the pendant and study the markings. “A great example of Mother Nature showing off her power. You do realize that to our people turquoise represents one of the most effective and basic elements of them all. It’s used to bring out a person’s clairvoyant talent, or enhance their mystic side.”

  Gemma wrapped her fingers around the necklace, fingering the stone in a protective gesture. She wasn’t ready to share how she’d been instructed to find it or to tell them about the mysterious entity that appeared to her. Somehow, it felt like Kamena belonged only to her and she wasn’t ready to dish out details.

  “Then I suppose Mystic Falls is aptly named,” Gemma added before turning to Lydia. “I’ve been doing some research on the area and found something very odd. You’ve lived here for most of your adult life. Maybe you can tell me why it’s a rather famous landmark locally, but no one seems to talk about it, or weirder still, it doesn’t appear on any maps. I had to get Paloma to write down how to get there.”

  “I guess that’s one thing you couldn’t find on the Internet,” Leia teased.

  Lydia smiled. “I’m not surprised. Years ago, that waterfall was a source for turquoise until it was all mined out. Legend has it that many places in this valley hold special significance to those who believe in its power. That power often appears in a variety of forms. Many landmarks around here are identified with the sorrow and suffering the seven tribes endured during the worst time in our history. Those places where children lost mothers and fathers fell in battle, parents lost children to starvation and disease. Thos
e are supposedly filled with sources of great power…if you believe.”

  “Coyote Wells is entrenched in historic significance,” Gemma said, repeating what she’d read at the library. “There was a lot of suffering here once.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Lydia remarked. “There’s one myth that says Mystic Falls was where witches used to gather. Another says that since it belonged to one of the seven original tribes that occupied this area, they used it for ceremonial purposes. Legend has it that the water there is blessed. The surrounding land sacred. The story goes that the rocks used to be golden in color, not gray or brown like the rest of the landscape, but drenched in gilded stone. No one seems to agree on which tribe used it first as a meeting place. If you talk to our Yuki brothers and sisters, it’s ours. And so on down the line. As for the Bonner clan, it’s not surprising that we prefer to think it belongs to us. But if you bring the subject up in mixed company---and by that, I mean Uto-Aztecan, Na Dené, Algic, Hokan or Penutian speaking Indians---you’ll stir the pot and get a disagreement brewing that’ll go on for hours without any resolution.”

  Gemma grinned. “I’ll be sure not to stir the pot then. All I know for sure is that it holds something mystical for me, an aura surrounding my field of vision. My grandmother was proof there’s something special there, psychic powers and all.”

  Lydia raised a brow. “You know about Marissa’s gift?”

  “Only for a few days. Why do you think I went out there? For now, let’s just say I’m open to learning more, unlike your son. Since when did Lando stop believing in anything that he’d been taught as a boy?”

  Lydia patted her hand. “My children, like many who leave the reservation, have abandoned most of their Native customs. The things they used in daily practice are no longer discussed. In every sense of the word they’ve become less and less likely to revisit their heritage. It’s not so unusual. That isn’t to say I don’t push them into attending a pow-wow every now and again. There are reasons, of course. Some would say it’s because we had to adapt and learn to live among the other members of the town. Whatever it was, we discarded our roots along the way.” She shrugged. “Traditions were lost. It happens. I try not to preach so much because these days I own a modern restaurant that takes up most of my time. Even I don’t practice the rituals that my grandmother did. So I can hardly push Lando to adhere to the old ways when I don’t.”