One Grave Less

by Beverly Connor

  It took a little over an hour to arrive at Tabatinga. The vessel overshot the airport by about a quarter of a mile because that’s where the dock was. They sounded a horn as they docked. Maria stood up and waited for the crew to make the gangplank ready.

  She wasn’t the only one getting off here. She didn’t know whether that was a good thing. She would rather they be alone than among people she didn’t know. On the other hand, sometimes a crowd was safer.

  Most of the people getting off went down a road toward what a sign said was a power plant. The rest were going to the airport. She walked along with the crowd. Some had motorbikes stashed away and rode off in a cloud of dust. In a straight line the airport wasn’t that far, but going the way of the road it was about a mile. Rosetta walked part of the way and Maria carried her part of the way.

  She felt relief when they got to the terminal. It was a small, cream-colored building with rust red roof and trim. The building was landscaped with well cared for hedges and beds of flowers. It looked normal.

  She and Rosetta had stayed to themselves on the walk, but several of her fellow travelers were there to catch a plane. Most had backpacks rather than suitcases. She and Rosetta fit in with their new clean T-shirts, jeans, ball caps, and backpack.

  The inside was just as clean and neat as the outside. They went to the ladies’ room first and freshened up. Then Maria found them a couple of seats that were out of the way and not so front and center as most of them.

  Rosetta still looked scared. Maria understood. The closer she got to the prize, the more afraid she was of losing it. Maria felt the same way. Rosetta hadn’t asked to call her mother. Maria wondered if it was because she was afraid the bad man would trace the call, or if she was afraid her mother might ask her not to come. Maria knew instinctively that wouldn’t happen, but Rosetta was a kid who had been told lies. And as much as she tried to believe, the lies crept into her fears and made them grow.

  “You doing okay?” asked Maria.

  Rosetta nodded. She looked tired and Maria realized, as she saw some of the others around them settle into chairs to sleep, they were supposed to be in bed.

  Maria found an out-of-the-way corner where they could sit on the floor and Rosetta could lay her head in Maria’s lap and sleep. Maria wasn’t able to sleep. She was tired enough but she was too wary. She dug into the backpack and pulled out some paper and a pen she had bought in the marketplace. She hadn’t had a chance to draw the Inca site they had discovered. Now would be a good time. It took a few tries, but she found a way to hold the notebook so she could draw and not bother the sleeping Rosetta.

  She began drawing the site from memory—the rocks, the mounds, the linear scars in the ground—changing the oblique view she had in her mind to an overhead view. She had enough experience with sites that she was good at guessing distances. She penciled estimates on the drawing. She shaded in the stones and added the jungle. Maria worked on the drawing until it was a reasonable facsimile of the site. She added her own observations, on-the-fly field notes about the settlement pattern.

  Maria dug out the ceramics and drew them, front and back views. Made notes about the style, the tempering, the color. She rewrapped them and put them in an envelope she had purchased at the time with the notebook and writing materials.

  All that took several hours. Periodically she would stop and survey her surroundings, looking for Michaels or anyone who seemed to take an interest in them.

  Morning came and Rosetta awakened with a start.

  “It’s all right,” said Maria. Her legs felt asleep from the pressure of Rosetta’s head. And her butt definitely felt the pressure from the hard floor. Maria stood up, bringing Rosetta with her, and shook each leg.

  “I think I saw some vending machines. Why don’t we go find something to eat?”

  Rosetta nodded.

  “Are you all right?” asked Maria.

  “I’m scared,” she mumbled.

  Maria kneeled down to her. “What are you afraid of?”

  “The man,” she said.

  “I’m keeping an eye out for him,” Maria said.

  “You won’t leave me if they won’t let me go with you, will you?” she said.

  Maria hugged her. “No, baby, I won’t leave you. I’m taking you to your mother. I won’t leave you.”

  Maria didn’t know what she would do if the authorities came and forcibly took Rosetta. How would she keep her promise? She held tightly to her. “I won’t leave you,” she whispered.

  They made another trip to the bathroom, after which Maria bought them some candy and a drink from the machines. Feeling down in her tote bag, she realized she had the gun.

  Shit, the damn gun—savior and trouble.

  “Let’s walk outside a while and stretch our legs,” she said.

  “What’s wrong?” said Rosetta, looking around.

  “The gun,” she whispered.

  “Oh. Where are you going to hide it this time?” whispered Rosetta.

  “Outside in one of the planters, but I have to make sure no one is watching.”

  They went outside and scoped the place. More people were coming in now that it was morning. The airport, which had not closed, was fully waking up. Maria and Rosetta walked around looking for all the places they could be unobserved. They played a little tag in the yard, then sat down in the garden, Rosetta with her doll, both with their candy and drinks. Maria quickly buried the gun in the loose dirt of one of the planters. The groundskeepers would eventually find it, but she hoped it wasn’t until after she and Rosetta left.

  They went back inside and found some quiet seats and waited. Maria taught Rosetta a few phrases in Cherokee, which delighted the child.

  “Tell me about your horse. You didn’t tell me you had a horse,” said Rosetta. Maria told her about Mandrake, her black stallion. They were laughing when Maria saw Cameron Michaels walk into the airport.

  Chapter 56

  Diane sat with Liam in the museum lounge with a hot cup of coffee in her hands. Every part of her body ached. Bruises on her arms were already forming. Her black embroidered pantsuit was ruined. She felt defeated.

  When she wouldn’t go to the hospital, Liam insisted on taking a look at the cut on her arm from the gunshot. The butterfly bandage had come loose and the cut was bleeding. It turned out that Liam was a pretty good field medic.

  Now she sat waiting for Frank. Dreading seeing him, only because she had decided to cancel the wedding. How could she marry him, knowing what kind of havoc would rain down upon him and Star because of her? He and Star could have been killed. She couldn’t stand that.

  “Thank you, Liam,” she said. “That was pretty amazing stuff you did.”

  “You softened him up for me.”

  “Yeah, right. I’m sure I did,” she said. “He was going to kill me and I didn’t know how to stop him. What kind of people are they that they’re willing to do what they do?”

  “Some are sociopaths. You know that,” said Liam. “Others are able to set their conscience aside for a lot of money. As I said, these guys are expensive. Who did you tick off?”

  “I don’t know. It’s somehow connected with my time in South America. I don’t know what it’s about, but something happened there that has come back to bite me.”

  She drank more of her coffee, staring off at nothing. Liam sat drinking an orange juice and eating a Snickers bar.

  “Why did you think I could kill him without hesitation?” asked Diane.

  Liam was quiet a moment, chewing on a bite of candy. “I didn’t know,” he said. “But I’d already seen the policemen were too slow and inclined to either hesitate or to act rashly. And your museum security staff work in a museum every day.” He held up a hand. “I know they are trained and they are competent, but they are still museum guards. I’m sorry. I mean no disrespect. This guy wouldn’t have taken them as any kind of serious threat, and he was way faster than they are. You, on the other hand, had already shown him you were fast.”<
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  “He was toying with me,” said Diane.

  “Yes, he was. If he hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have been in time. However, I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean for you to get a swipe at his forehead. Good move, by the way. Blood in the eyes, always good.” He smiled. “He had pissed you off and he knew it. He knew you didn’t hesitate. He believed you would shoot without any indecision. That’s why I chose you. It’s not because I believe you are a natural-born killer.”

  Diane nodded. “Thanks for that.” She shook her head. “What a mess. Star must be terrified.” She smiled. “She’s tough, though. You’d never know she was scared.”

  Korey and Jonas wandered into the room, talking in low tones to each other.

  “What are you two doing here?” Diane said.

  They looked at her, startled. She hadn’t meant to sound so sharp.

  “Jonas and I just came over from a project we are working on at Bartram,” said Korey. “Kind of took all night. We thought we’d stop by here.”

  “My God,” said Jonas, “you look terrible. Did you get beat up?”

  “Yes,” said Diane. “We had an incident.”

  “Here in the museum?” said Korey.

  “Yes. I’ll tell you about it later,” said Diane. “I’m sorry I snapped. It happened on the second floor and I was afraid . . . just afraid.”

  Jonas and Korey pulled up chairs. As much as she liked them, she wished they would go somewhere else.

  “It must be the phase of the moon,” said Jonas. “Lots of bad things happening.”

  Diane looked at him. He looked worried.

  “We have a friend who may be in serious trouble,” said Korey. “You probably know her; she’s a forensic anthropologist, but mainly a professor of archaeology at the University of Georgia. She wrote me a letter of recommendation for this job.”

  “She’s missing in the Amazon rain forest,” said Jonas. “Her department is afraid she’s been kidnapped for ransom, but they haven’t heard anything. They didn’t realize anything was wrong until she missed a couple of lectures in Cuzco. We are all deeply worried.”

  “Her boyfriend is a fairly coolheaded dude,” said Korey. “But I talked to him yesterday and I can tell he’s pretty distraught. The Peruvian authorities are looking into it.”

  Diane stared at them.

  “What?” said Jonas.

  “Forensic anthropologist from Georgia in the Amazon,” she said.

  “Yes,” said Jonas. “You heard something?”

  “Damn,” said Diane. “Damn.”

  She stood up quickly and swayed. Liam put a hand on her arm and guided her back down to the chair.

  “You think it was her?” said Liam.

  “It was the one rumor that didn’t make sense.” Diane spoke to Liam, forgetting about Jonas and Korey.

  “All the others were insubstantial, lacking detail. The thing from Interpol was just so strange and could be so easily verified,” she said. “There has to be a connection.”

  “Well, if it is her, she’s damn tough,” said Liam. “If she’s the one who killed those four men.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Jonas. “Let’s back up and act like Korey and I are still sitting here worried about our friend. What the hell is going on?” His crystal blue eyes glittered in anger.

  Diane looked over at them a moment, her forehead creased in a frown. She put a hand on Jonas’ arm.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean be so insensitive. Something just clicked into place,” she said. “I’m really sorry.”

  “She’s not dead, is she?” said Korey. He and Jonas exchanged glances.

  “Please don’t tell us that,” said Jonas. “What do you know?”

  “I don’t know if she’s dead. I have no information about that. But what happened to her may have something to do with me.”

  “What?” said Jonas.

  His face was red. Diane worried about his blood pressure.

  “Interpol put out a warrant on me for the murder of four men. Liam investigated and learned that the dead men worked for the criminal element in the area—people who might be kidnappers.”

  “Dear God,” said Jonas.

  “Is that all you know?” asked Korey.

  “No. We know the warrant originated in Brazil. That may be where they took her. We need to alert the Brazilian authorities. We also have a short timeline of events that have occurred and some locations—and a path of where she was heading maybe. She may have escaped.”

  “What can we do?” said Jonas.

  “I can let the authorities in Brazil know, for starters. I can call the embassy there. Gregory and I used to have contacts.”

  “I can start working on it,” said Liam.

  Diane nodded. “You were just speaking with people down there. Maybe you could speak with them again. I’ll talk to Gregory and see if some of the people we knew are still working there.”

  “If you could do something,” said Jonas, looking from Diane to Liam. “She’s a great kid.”

  “She sounds resourceful,” said Liam.

  “You have no idea,” said Korey. He put an arm on Jonas’ shoulder. “If anyone can get out of trouble, it’s Lindsay. You know that.”

  “But lost in the jungle with people like that . . .”

  “She managed to crush a man to death in the middle of the jungle,” said Liam. “The people who pass for authorities down there were trying to figure that one out when I talked with them.”

  Korey stared at Liam. “Crushed a man to death? You’re kidding, right?”

  Liam smiled. “No, dead serious. The whole thing was so peculiar I wasn’t sure what to believe. This puts a new twist on it.”

  Jonas nodded. “I’m glad we came up here. They are looking in Peru for her.”

  “Why don’t the two of you go home and get some sleep?” said Diane.

  “Good idea,” said Jonas.

  Jonas was about to stand when Star, Frank, Gregory, and Chief Garnett walked into the break room.

  Chapter 57

  It was almost morning and Diane’s head hadn’t yet touched a pillow. Neither had anyone else around her been to bed.

  The museum’s basement meeting room was decorated like a club lounge, with stuffed chairs, dark oak tables, large viewing screen, walls lined with bookcases and sofas. It was all brand-new, part of the recent renovations. It was a room Diane liked. Now it housed refugees from attacks Diane still didn’t quite understand.

  There was so much to talk about with everyone there, but she needed to speak with Frank first while she still had the courage. They sat in two stuffed chairs near each other but away from everyone else.

  “Are you all right?” he asked. “You’ve been through a rough time.”

  “Liam is a good field medic,” she said. “He patched up my arm again.”

  She paused, trying to control the tears threatening her resolve.

  “Look, Frank, I can’t do this to you, damn it. Look at Star over there, clutching the bug-out backpack David gave her. She can’t even get to sleep. Your house . . . and you . . . what you’ve been through. Not to mention your neighbors . . . what they must think . . . a war breaking out in the neighborhood.”

  “What are you saying?” he said.

  Diane could see in his eyes, he knew what she was getting at.

  “How can I marry you, knowing the kind of things I bring down on your head?”

  “Are you going to quit your job at the museum? The crime lab? Are you going to go live on a remote island away from everyone?” said Frank.

  “Perhaps. I may lose my museum job anyway. Vanessa has lost confidence in me.”

  “I doubt that,” he said.

  Diane shrugged, trying hard not to reach for Frank.

  “This is a pretty good sign I shouldn’t get married. I’ll never know what kinds of things in my past are going to come back and kick me and everyone around me.”

  “You don’t believe in signs,” he said.

  D
iane’s lips turned up the smallest amount. “I should.”

  “Before you make a decision, wait until this is resolved. Who knows, perhaps there will come a sign that we should marry,” he said.

  “I can’t imagine what that could be,” she said.

  “Don’t make a decision today. And when you do, include me in it,” Frank said.

  “Aren’t you afraid of me?” said Diane.

  “I’m afraid of that vanload of supersoldiers running loose,” he said. “They are the problem, they and whoever hired them. That’s who I want out of my life. Not you.”

  Diane watched Frank for several long moments. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you, or Star, or your son, Kevin. Thank God he’s with his mother right now.”

  “I know. But we also can’t let the worst of humanity have that much say over how we live our lives. That is also unacceptable.”

  “You already had to build a panic room because of me,” she said.

  He smiled. “And it works pretty well. Look, Diane, I’ve had my share of bad guys wanting to get even. You aren’t the only one who draws fire. Your enemies are just more over-the-top lately.” He reached over and took Diane’s hand, rubbing the top of it with his thumb. “Just wait before you make a decision.”

  “Wait for a sign?” she said, smiling.

  “Or at least until things have calmed down,” he said.

  Diane didn’t say anything. She was pretty sure she would not change her mind. Her own family wasn’t speaking to her because of what was brought down on her mother by someone who wanted to hurt Diane. She didn’t want anything to happen to Frank and his family for the same reason.

  “You said I’m high maintenance. That hardly covers it, does it?” she said.

  “Hardly,” he said, grinning for a moment, then frowning. “We were all terrified when we discovered you were missing. Gregory and Garnett included. I knew then I didn’t want to lose you . . . ever.”

  Diane looked over to see Gregory, David, and Steven deep in conversation. Neva had called David in for help, and he and Liam had processed Megaman’s clothes, collecting an amazing array of weapons.