Seeds of Vengeance

by Sylvia Nobel

  “Sounds like a Hardy Boys adventure to me.”

  “Yeah, and I’ll bet he read every one of them. Or, how about this one? What if Riley suspected that Marissa and Winston were fooling around and that she’d told him about the existence of the gold coins? Winston dispatches the judge, hotfoots it for the safe deposit box only to find that Riley had beaten him to it. Wouldn’t that explain why he’s been using the renovation as an excuse to tear up the third floor of the hotel because he suspects they’re hidden there?”

  “Good theory, but what if La Donna cleaned out the box and then staged that whole scene at the reading of the will to divert attention from herself and thereby assign blame to Winston and Marissa?”

  I mulled that over for a minute. “But if that were the case, why would Riley bother to compose those letters? It makes more sense to believe that they were designed to act as brainteasers or clues to the missing gold, don’t you think? But then, we have to remember that he was also an attorney and it doesn’t make sense that he would leave something like finding thousands of dollars worth of gold coins to chance. He must have created an alternate plan.”

  “Hell, I don’t know,” he grumbled, a shade of frustration evident in his voice as he shifted to a more comfortable position, “this whole thing is officially driving me crazy. If Riley did devise those proverbs to serve as clues, why didn’t he provide more information? There’s not enough to go on. There’s something else missing—”

  Suddenly I stopped listening to him when a remark he’d made earlier struck me. The two special ladies in his life…but there had actually been three women counting Ruth. Something missing…my mind reeled backwards to an incident that had seemed insignificant at the time. The evening Tally and I had made our surprise entrance to announce our engagement Ruth had shoved a piece of white paper into the photo album. Whoa, mama! It made perfect sense that Ruth had also received one of the judge’s cryptic letters and if I was on the right track, it might contain a vital clue. A faint thumping in the distance diverted my attention. I sat up straight. “What’s that?”

  Rigid with anticipation, I held my breath as the sound grew progressively louder and then all at once a dazzling blue light shattered the darkness and illuminated the snowy windshield. “The rescue helicopter!” I shouted, seeing my own joyful relief reflected in the radiant flash grazing Grant’s face. As I scrambled to turn the ignition key, Grant clapped, whooped and hollered, bouncing up and down in his seat like a little kid. As the chopper moved away we were returned to our dark cave. The battery must have been on its last legs because nothing happened. “Come on!” I screamed, pounding on the windshield. Sluggishly the fan motor groaned to life. The wipers scraped against the icy glass brushing enough snow aside so that we could see the vivid shaft of light sweeping the hillside. I’d done a piece on the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team and remembered that deputies would be equipped with night vision glasses. I flashed the headlights and honked the horn repeatedly. The chopper moved away, circled back, angled away again, returned, hovered low and fastened its blinding beam directly on the truck. A booming voice from a loudspeaker asked if we were all right, so I honked the horn and Grant shouted out the window. We were told that rescue operations would commence at first light and then the deafening roar of the chopper faded away. High above us, just barely visible on the highway, we could make out the flashing lights of emergency vehicles. Thank God rescue was close at hand.

  Grant sang out, “Praise the Lord!” Breaking into gales of laughter, we hugged each other. The last hour until daybreak seemed more like a week and as we sat there waiting and waiting, blowing on our hands and moving as much as we could to keep up our circulation, I couldn’t help but think of the ancient proverb Myra Colton had recited last Saturday, Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Truer words were never spoken.

  Darkness finally relinquished its grasp on the night sky and gave way to the soft gray light of dawn. Within minutes the swirl of clouds above us glowed bright crimson—a harbinger of more bad weather to come, but we were finally able to see why we’d been unable to open the doors. Miraculously, the truck had become wedged between two massive rock outcroppings. We could also clearly see each other for the first time since the ordeal began and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Grant looked disheveled, pale and haggard and I couldn’t resist a peek at my reflection in the rearview mirror. I didn’t look much better, but knowing that rescue was at hand gave me a burst of energy and I quickly gathered the spilled contents of my purse and made sure I had the bag with the black rose in my possession.

  When the first rays of fiery sunlight broke over the horizon around seven-thirty, it transformed the surroundings into a glittering wonderland that I would have appreciated a lot more if I hadn’t been so cold, hungry and exhausted. All at once, the clattering chopper appeared and we watched the welcome sight of our rescuer being lowered from the sheriff’s helicopter. The dark-bearded young man unhooked himself from the harness and trudged towards us through knee high drifts, shouting, “Does anyone need immediate medical assistance?”

  The battery finally gave out so we couldn’t lower the windows. Grant called out, “No, I think we’re okay, but we’re trapped inside!”

  The rugged-looking man quickly signaled for backup and after that everything seemed to move in fast-forward. In addition to the sheriff’s helicopter, two other choppers from television stations in Phoenix hovered overhead, creating an ear-shattering racket as a second team member came swinging downward. They tried, but could not move the truck far enough from the rocks to open the doors. There was no choice but to break out the back window. My throat constricted with emotion, I waited impatiently for them to clear away the broken safety glass and when we climbed out, it was a gut-wringing shock to see how close we’d come to certain death, having stopped not twenty feet from the edge of a sheer precipice. And when I got a good look at the mangled truck body I said hoarsely, “Is there going to be any way to salvage this?”

  “Doubtful,” remarked the second man, shaking his head. “Most likely we’ll have to call a back country recovery service to have it cut up and hauled out of here.”

  Within minutes, the first man on the scene hooked me securely into a harness and I waved goodbye to Grant as we sprang upward into the frigid morning air. Dangling from the end of a rope several hundred feet above the mountainside was a stomach swooping sensation comprised of fright and exhilaration. Overcome with the urge to laugh wildly with relief and weep with joy, I was fiercely aware of the brilliance of the spinning blue sky and the luscious warmth of the sun’s golden rays touching my cold cheeks. What a super-amazing adrenaline rush! It was not my first near-death experience and I suspected not the last, but just like each of my previous scrapes I took away a new perspective, which reinforced my love of life and appreciation for everything genuinely important. Fleetingly, it occurred to me that if it had not been for the accident, I would never have been in that exact place at that exact moment and would never have been afforded such a dizzying, yet spectacular panoramic view of the wide valley below that I called home. It was a natural high like no other I’d ever experienced and as we descended over the swarm of people and flashing emergency vehicles squeezed onto the narrow highway, the irony of the situation hit me at the sight of several media vans. Instead of reporting the news, Grant and I had now become the news.

  Deposited once again on solid ground, paramedics settled me on a gurney, wrapped me in warm blankets and gave me some juice to drink. They were busily taking my vital signs when Sheriff Turnbull ambled up to me, his ruddy features fixed with concern. “Well, Kendall, you sure got everybody’s attention,” he said, gesturing to the news helicopters hovering overhead. “How you doing?”

  “I’ve been better.”

  “Want to tell me what happened?”

  The creases on his forehead deepened as I gave him all the particulars of the accident. “Road conditions were pretty bad last night. There were a half a
dozen other accidents reported, but yours was the most spectacular.”

  “Apparently.”

  He tilted his head. “You sure the other driver didn’t just lose control of his vehicle?”

  Confronted with the possibility in the clear light of day, I wavered. It had all happened so fast, was it possible I’d imagined malice where none existed? “Well, I can’t prove it, but let’s just say it seemed awfully suspicious.”

  “Your passenger see anything out of the ordinary?”

  “No.”

  The dubious look in his eyes sent a wave of embarrassment zinging through me. “Look, Marshall, I don’t know if there’s any connection but I’ve got something here that may hold some significance in the Gibbons case,” I said, reaching under my coat to hand him the bag containing the black rose. He listened intently, rubbing one forefinger back and forth across his snowy handlebar mustache.

  “Are you familiar with the anonymous letters that the judge received a few weeks prior to his death?”

  He nodded and told me that he’d been contacted by Phoenix detectives. “So it’s your contention that this person feared that you may have seen him or her, followed you and forced you off the road?”

  “That’s one theory.”

  “Okay, well, I’ll have somebody get this to the lab right away.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I’m going to have one of my deputies get all the particulars from you. Take it easy, Kendall.” He turned to leave and then swung back. “Oh, and try to stay out of trouble for a few hours.”

  “You’re wasting your breath, Marshall,” came a familiar resonant voice. I looked around to see Tally strolling towards me, his lips set in a straight line, his complexion appearing drawn and pale. “It’s not in her nature.” After exchanging a meaningful glance with the sheriff, who flashed him a wry smile in return, he moved to my side and my pulse rate escalated when he grasped me in a firm embrace. “God damn it, Kendall,” he whispered, his warm breath in my ear, “what am I going to do with you?”

  Funny how adversity can make a murky issue seem crystal clear. I rejoiced at the feel of his muscular arms closing around me and the last vestiges of doubt about my profound love for this man vanished forever. I vowed that I would make a renewed effort to be less self-centered, less impetuous and return our relationship to solid footing, even if it meant swallowing my pride and learning to live in peace and harmony in the same house with Ruth. If that’s what it took to make this man happy then that’s the way it would be. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

  He pulled away and tipped his hat back, staring at me thoughtfully as he removed his gloves. “I’m just happy to see that you’re alive,” he said gruffly, wrapping his hands around my cold fingers.

  I couldn’t believe it. I’d managed to hold it together throughout the entire arduous ordeal, but his welcome presence brought instant tears to my eyes. There was so much I needed to tell him, so much I couldn’t tell him. I edged him a self-conscious smile. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”

  “That must have been pretty scary for you. You okay?” His gaze was intent, probing, solicitous.

  “Much better now. Thank you for being here.” My voice quavered on the last word and he squeezed my hand.

  “Of course I’d be here,” he said softly. “By the way, don’t worry about Marmalade. I drove over to your place early this morning and fed her.”

  “Thank you,” I said, beaming him a grateful smile as I squeezed his hand back. “Tally, I am so sorry about your truck. I’m afraid it’s totaled.”

  A sideways grin. “That’s two vehicles in a month’s time. Hope you’re not planning to make a habit of it.”

  His black humor made me smile, but then his hand slipped from my grasp as I was lifted into the ambulance. “Wait! Where are you taking me?”

  “To the Yavapai County Medical Center in Prescott,” the husky female paramedic informed me.

  “Wait! I don’t want to go to the hospital. Really. I feel fine. I’m just hungry and tired.”

  Her shrug was noncommittal. “You can decline treatment, but considering how long you’ve been exposed to the elements we’d recommend you be evaluated.”

  “I’ll take her to our local doctor, ” Tally chimed in, reaching into his pocket and handing me a granola bar. I thanked him and devoured it in short order, thinking I’d never tasted anything quite so good in my life.

  At that moment, the steady roar of the helicopter focused everyone’s attention on Grant being lowered to the ground. “Man oh man, what a welcome sight!” he whooped, his face glowing as he passed out high fives to those close to him. “Kudos to you all for a job well done!”

  The Search and Rescue volunteers reacted to his effusive praise with wide smiles and when the paramedics descended on Grant he offered no objection to being loaded into the waiting ambulance. Seconds before the doors shut he locked eyes with me, his questioning gaze brimming with a multitude of emotions only I could understand. Unfortunately, Tally witnessed the exchange too. Uh-oh. A feeling of uneasiness rolled over me as I watched his expression hardened to the consistency of granite. Shit. He hadn’t known that I had not been alone all night. The wounded disappointment in his eyes broke my heart, but before I could offer an explanation, he turned away from me without a word.

  24

  I could hardly keep my thoughts straight while the young deputy grilled me for details and it took more than an hour to complete the accident statement and answer pointed questions from reporters. I got an eye-opening taste of what it was like to be on the receiving end of my job and it was after ten o’clock by the time Tally assisted me into his truck and we started down Yarnell Hill. I knew we were both thinking the same thing. I could tell by his stone-faced expression that he was spoiling for a fight so I broke the uncomfortable silence first. “I know I have a lot of explaining to do, but let me begin by saying this whole thing isn’t what it looks like.”

  His jaw muscles twitched. “Well then, that would differ from the fascinating accounts of your cozy get-togethers with Grant that I’ve heard from both Lucy and Ronda.”

  “Crap, I was afraid of that.”

  “I guess you would be.”

  I groaned inwardly, not feeling mentally or physically capable of defending myself as the adrenaline seeped from my body, leaving me weak with fatigue and hunger. All I really wanted to do was soak in a hot bath, have a hearty meal and fall into bed.

  “Tally,” I said wearily, “hear me out before you jump to conclusions.”

  “Am I supposed to blow off the fact that you and Mr. Pretty Boy Reporter have been spotted all over town since I’ve been gone?”

  “All over town? That’s slightly exaggerated.”

  “That’s not what I heard.”

  “Exactly what did you hear?”

  “That you two were caught kissing and groping each other in public at the fairgrounds.”

  My cheeks flamed with rage. “Groping?” I spluttered. “Tally, that’s not—”

  “Do you deny that you and he were thick as thieves at my uncle’s funeral, which by the way you were supposed to attend with my family? I have no idea what went on between the two of you last night, I’m not even sure I want to know, but I’m sure as hell not blind. I didn’t miss the look you shared back there.”

  I folded my arms and stared straight ahead as we rounded the last hairpin turn and the road bottomed out into the flat desert basin. “Are you finished?”

  “No, I’m just getting started,” he said, firing a withering glare that challenged me to remain silent. “What am I supposed to think, Kendall? I thought a relationship, a marriage, was supposed to be based on trust. First you break your promise and take on Riley’s story behind my back, using my poor mother as an excuse, then you agree to back off but then you don’t. And now just what I feared would happen, did. Your sleuthing has pissed off this madman. Does this sound familiar? ‘Oh, Tally, how much trouble could I possibly get into?’” he
mocked, falling into a rather bad imitation of my voice. “‘I’ll be here working right under your nose.’”

  Unable to contain myself any longer, I blurted out “You don’t know all the facts! If you’ll just chill for a minute, I’ll give you the details. Look, I’m really sorry I upset you, but there’s a very good reason why I’ve continued on with this story.”

  “What reason?”

  Oops! Should’ve kept my mouth sealed. It was painfully obvious Ruth had not yet told him the truth and I seriously debated as to whether I should go ahead and break it to him myself. But I held my tongue. How could I deliver news of such a devastatingly intimate nature to him? It would let me off the hook in the immediate sense, but would no doubt seal my fate for any future relationship with his mother forever. And considering his argumentative mood, would he even believe me? “I wish I could tell you, but I can’t.”

  “You mean you won’t.”

  “I mean I can’t.”

  His sidelong glance sizzled with irritation. “Why not?”

  “Because, it’s far more complicated than you might imagine.”

  “Well, why don’t you enlighten me?”

  “I…can’t. Not yet. Let me say this much. I’ve actually stayed on this story for your sake.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “My sake?”

  “That’s right. Someone out there has got a vendetta against anybody connected to Riley Gibbons and because of…um…certain circumstances, you may actually be in far greater danger than I am.”