THE MOMENT DAKOTA DARTED out of the entrance of the shop, a shrill beeping began, alerting security someone was trying to steal an over-priced item from the gift shop.
The alarm echoed in the large, open hospital foyer. Running at full speed, Maria had starting closing in on Dakota when four security guards approached from every direction. The one in front shouted, “Stop!”
Dakota didn’t flinch. She darted past him and continued for the exit.
Maria followed suit, skirting around the pot-bellied man in his blue shirt and black pants, and resumed her full speed charge. The distance between the two women was quickly closing.
Heavy huffing and puffing from behind Maria signaled to her that the guards were also in hot pursuit. An older lady in uniform near the front doors shouted something in broken English. A frightened-looking couple grabbed their squealing toddler’s arms and backed away from the chaos.
Beeep. Beeep. Beeep. The gift shop’s blaring alarm only added to the confusion.
Dakota was headed straight for the automatic sliding doors in the front of the building. Maria was right on her tail.
The realization that the doors weren’t opening came too late for Dakota. And for Maria as well. They both slammed into the glass panels, one after the other. Maria knocked her face into the side of Dakota’s head.
Please, don’t let it be a black eye. That was all Maria needed to complete the car wreck survivor look she had going on.
Seconds later, before her head had time to clear, her arms were wrenched behind her back and she was sharply dragged several feet from Dakota, who was also getting a new pair of metal bracelets placed around her wrists.
“I-I d-don’t need handcuffs,” said Maria, as she tried to catch her breath. “But you need to keep her—” she jutted her chin toward Dakota— “in them. She’s a missing person. The police are going to want to question her.”
“For now,” said a red-faced older gentleman, “you’re both coming with us. Shoplifting is a serious crime.”
Seriously? After everything else that had happened today, Maria was now being taken to the hospital’s security holding room on grounds she was an accomplice to stealing a teddy bear?
A small giggle built in Maria’s throat and then it grew. Louder and louder.
She was being arrested for shoplifting? Could today get any more random?
The guards and Dakota stared at her like she was losing her mind.
And maybe she was. Maybe Rod’s infection was contagious after all. Or maybe she simply hadn’t slept well in days. Whatever the reason, Maria was feeling absolutely giddy. “Yes, please,” she told one of the guards as she gulped for air. “Take us both to your office. You’ll find my police identification in my backpack. And, if you do a quick Google search for a missing person named ‘Dakota Thorton’ you’ll see who I’m talking about.”
One of the men in uniform grabbed her upper arm, none too gently.
She couldn’t have cared in the slightest. She was already exhausted.
But now there was hope.
A future.
Freedom.
Rod would be released. He couldn’t be accused of murdering someone who was still alive. All charges would be dropped. No question about that now. They would be going back home to Kanab before she knew it. The nightmare was about to end.
***
For being a hospital, the security office was filthy. Hand-me-down, stained cushioned chairs lined a wall that had been through what appeared to be some kind of a dirt-clod war. All the guards except one leaned their backs against the wall opposite from Dakota and Maria and stared at the ceiling, waiting to be told what to do.
The guard in charge sat behind the one desk in the room, talking on the telephone.
“Yes, yes, they’re both still here. We’re waiting for the lawyers and the police.”
Silence.
“Yeah, we’re not really sure. But the one is a cop. We’ve identified her for sure. The other is a little iffy, but we think she’s the missing woman.”
Silence.
“Yeah, that one.”
More silence.
“Six years ago I think. Never caught the guy. Guess we now know why. She wasn’t dead.”
A laugh.
Dakota squirmed next to Maria.
Maria sat in the chair, examining every inch of Dakota, racking her brain as to how the woman could be here in the flesh.
After a few minutes of looking her up and down, it was clear that she had some differences from the ghost Maria had observed over the course of the last week. The eyes were wider set. She was slightly more busty. Hair an inch or two longer. Still beautiful. Absolutely breathtaking, to be honest. Maria could see how Rod had been swept off his feet.
So then who was the ghost? And why was Dakota at the hospital?
Dakota had refused to say one word since they’d been taken to the office. Maria, on the other hand, had explained exactly who she was, what she was doing there, and the fact that she needed to get the items that she’d purchased in the gift shop, which, after twenty minutes or so, the guards finally did bring to her.
In a corner of the security office and for all to watch, Maria changed and freshened up. While she knew she smelled better, she doubted she looked much better, especially when compared to the jaw-dropping beauty of Dakota. But Maria tried to cut herself some slack. She had had a pretty rough afternoon. Getting mauled by a psycho man-bird was not a good activity before joining a beauty contest.
The door to the security office opened and Melissa walked inside followed by two police officers, a man in a business suit, and several other people. The place was quickly filling up.
Melissa, keeping up her official stance as always, shot a brief, quizzical glance at Dakota and nodded at Maria. She then turned to the man behind the desk. “I represent Rod Thorton. I’m here as his official legal counsel. The state of Arizona has sent the prosecution for the case as well. We’d both like to speak with the woman you’ve identified as Dakota Thorton.”
“You two be my guests. She’s right behind you.”
Everyone turned to look at Dakota and Maria.
“Not the frazzled-looking one,” added the security guard. “She’s next to her.”
Melissa cracked a smile for a split second then resumed her placid expression. “Thanks. After you.” She waved her hand at the stuffy man in the business suit who had come into the office behind her.
“No, no. Ladies first.” The man checked something on his phone.
Melissa bristled at his comment, but with a straight back and square shoulders she approached Dakota. The man followed, still tapping at his phone.
“Are you Dakota Thorton?” asked Melissa.
The other lawyer quickly looked up. “You don’t have to answer that. Not right now at least. I suggest you come—”
“I want to talk to Rod.” Dakota’s voice was as sultry as the rest of her. “I’m not going anywhere until I see him.”
“We can arrange that,” said Melissa. “Please keep in mind, however, anything you say may be used later in a court of law. You’re not being accused of anything right now, but since you are a person of interest, you need to understand that.”
“I don’t care,” said Dakota. “I want to talk to him. Is anyone else in his hospital room?”
Melissa turned and asked the security guard if he knew who was in the room with Rod.
“His brother and his girlfriend. They cleared everybody else out.”
Grant and Beth. Maria smiled. Of course Beth had kept her word. She hadn’t let Rod be alone.
“You okay with his brother and his girlfriend in there with you?” Melissa asked Dakota.
The other lawyer was shoving his phone back into his pocket and shaking his head. “I must counsel you that I find this totally unadvisable on the grounds that—”
“I’m fine with his brother and his girlfriend.” Dakota slumped back in her chair.
“Uh, I’ll be coming
too,” Maria added. “I wanted to be sure you all knew that.”
Dakota shrugged. “Whatever.”
Melissa looked at the prosecuting attorney. He let out a little grunt. “If she doesn’t care then why should I. I don’t even know what kind of a case I’m prosecuting at this point.”
“Okay,” said Melissa, “let’s go up. Dakota, Maria, you two in the front.”
Wishing she didn’t have to stand right next to Dakota when they went into Rod’s room, Maria got up and walked to the front of the group. Maybe one of those older police officers wouldn’t mind separating them so the contrast wasn’t quite so obvious.
Regardless, Maria was finally going to see Rod.
Inside, her stomach churned. It wasn’t from the earlier bird/human attack. It wasn’t from being arrested for shoplifting. And it wasn’t even because Rod’s ex-wife was still alive.
It was because in a few minutes she was going to be in Rod’s room. Talking with him. Laughing. Crying. She didn’t care how it came off, but she was going to tell him how much she’d missed him. How worried she’d been.
And she would, regardless of what happened, tell him she loved him with all of her soul.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Arizona officials confirmed that skeletal remains of a man found beneath a sheer cliff in the Superstition Mountains were that of a Denver adventurer who died seeking the fabled Lost Dutchman gold mine. Jesse Capen, 35, was last heard from in the winter of 2009. His bones were found wedged in an inaccessible crevasse so animals or flash floods couldn’t scatter them across the desert. Coroners used DNA extracted from bone marrow to make a match with DNA provided by his parents… Capen had studied myriad theories about the location of the Lost Dutchman gold mine sought by treasure seekers since the [1800s]. What happened to Capen may always be a mystery.
—“Lost Dutchman seeker’s remains confirmed to be Jesse Capen’s,” Kirk Mitchell. The Denver Post, January 23, 2013.
TAKING THE ELEVATOR UP two flights and walking down a total of five hallways could not have taken more than ten minutes. It felt, however, like ten hours. And all the while Maria’s mind desperately sought to make sense of the situation.
Who was the look-alike ghost of Dakota she had been seeing?
Where had Dakota been for the last six years?
Whose skeleton had they found in the Superstitions?
Who had Ranger Ferlund killed?
Why had Dakota come to the hospital?
And, perhaps the most baffling question of all …
What would Rod do when he saw Dakota was still alive?
By the time they finally reached Rod’s room, Maria’s fingers and toes were numb. Her lungs had twisted together, making breathing practically impossible. She forced her legs to move through the doorway and into the bright lights.
There, in the middle of the room, Rod lay upright in bed. His brilliant turquoise eyes shone full force. His color was so much better—almost a creamy light caramel that offset his chocolate eyebrows and hair. His gaze immediately went to Maria. His mouth meandered in a playful way until his lips formed his signature crooked grin—the perfect picture frame for his straight white teeth.
Rod was back.
At least physically, he looked worlds improved.
“Hey, Maria,” he said, shifting up in his bed, trying to avoid disturbing the IV taped to his arm. His hospital gown was askew, pulling too far to the left, almost off his shoulder.
“Hi, Rod,” answered Maria.
He was about to speak again but stopped. His head jolted to the right. Recognition flooded into his widened eyes as the blood drained from his face.
Dakota.
A gasp. Complete and utter confusion. His hand jerked back, hitting the metal stand from which his IV hung, almost knocking everything over. The beeping from the heart monitor machine sped up.
Rod stared at his former wife and then screamed. “It’s happening again. Oh please, no. The hallucinations … they’re coming back.” He thrashed for a moment until Beth and Grant, who were sitting on the other side of the room, jump and both held his arms and his legs.
“We see her too, brother,” said Grant. “You’re not going crazy.”
“That’s right,” said Beth, stroking his arm. “She’s not a hallucination. We all see her.”
Rod turned toward Dakota again, significantly calmer. “You’re not a ghost?”
Clearly they should have prepared Rod better for this. Maria kicked herself, frustrated that Rod was having to go through the distress of learning his ex-wife was still alive in front of everyone in the room.
Dakota shook her head. “No, I’m not a ghost. It’s me, Rod. I came back to see you.” Her words were short and tentative.
” What,” Rod’s voice cracked, “happened to you?”
It was the same question Maria had wanted to ask since seeing the woman in the gift shop. What had happened to her?
Where had she come from? And where had she been?
With a tentative wave of her hand, Dakota said, “Hi, Rod.” She stepped forward half a foot. “It’s … it’s so good to see you.”
Rod repeated, “What happened to you?”
“I … I don’t know what to say.” Beneath Dakota’s milk chocolate skin, she flushed. “I mean, I don’t know where to start. A lot has happened.”
“Why don’t you start with the day you walked out on me.” Rod’s voice was weak, but demanding. His cheeks were growing more pink by the second. He leaned forward in his bed, as if it was only his IV line that kept him tethered.
“I didn’t walk out on you. It wasn’t like that.” Dakota was practically gnawing off her bottom lip. She wrung her hands together.
Beads of sweat formed on Rod’s forehead. “Well, you’ll have to excuse me. It sure seemed like that from my perspective. What would you call it then? Magically disappearing one day into thin air?”
“I had to leave. I was in danger. It’s so hard to explain.” Dakota was now shaking.
“Do you know I’m accused of murdering you? I’ve been in jail because we found your skeleton, with its head cut off.” Rod’s voice wavered. His fists clenched. He studied Dakota as if the two of them were the only people in the room—universe for that matter. He didn’t look at anything or anybody else.
Maria wanted to start this over. She was afraid the shock of seeing Dakota was doing a number on Rod’s already-weakened system.
“So whose skeleton did we find, Dakota? She had your driver’s license. Your wedding ring. So who was it, huh?”
In a barely audible whisper, Dakota answered, “My cousin. Her name was Sofia.”
“Your cousin?” The monitor behind Rod’s bed beeped even faster. His heart was racing.
“Yes. My cousin.” Dakota turned and looked at the door she had entered. Maria noticed the movement and she took a slight step to the left, blocking the exit in case the woman decided to make a run for it.
No one in the room spoke. No one dared. No one wanted to push Rod or Dakota over the edge. The woman had the answers they all wanted. Melissa, in her I’ve-been-around-the-block sort of way, put a gentle hand on Dakota’s arm and tapped it as if to say, “It’s okay. We’re here for you. Take your time.”
Rod must have clued in to what Melissa was trying to do. He let his shoulders fall back onto his pillow, and he relaxed his grimacing face. “It was your cousin who died in the Superstitions?”
Dakota’s emotional dam sprang a leak. She hiccupped several times and then tears began to fall, quickly turning into torrents. Sobbing, her words rushed out in a tsunami of information.
“Rod, I’ve done some horrible things. Really awful, bad things. I never thought it’d end up like this when Brian first told me about you.”
“Brian?” repeated Rod.
“Yeah, Brian. He told me you were some spoiled rich kid who never had to do a day of work in your life. He told me you didn’t deserve your money. He told me it was your kind of people who were taki
ng the money from my kind of people.” Tears flowed down her face.
“I’m sorry,” said Rod, shaking his head, “when did Brian tell you this?”
“Before you and I met. He’s the one who made it all happen. Our whirlwind romance. The fact that we liked all the same stuff. The same music. Television shows. Our hopes. Fears. All of it was orchestrated by Brian. It was his idea. Everything is always his idea. I’ve been the idiot who goes along with his plans.”
Maria turned to find both lawyers holding their recording devices. Good thing. If they hadn’t she would have told Grant or Beth to use their phones to do it.
Shock-faced, Rod did what he could to visually keep it together. “And so what happened?”
“The initial plan was for me to marry you and, after a decent amount of time, get half your money in a divorce. Brian promised it would be simple. He did all your legal work. He made sure I’d come away like a bandit from the marriage. No prenup. Just you and me crazy in love.”
Rod nodded, the ashen hue in his face had returned.
Maria thought again how humiliating this must be. To learn in front of everyone he’d been duped to this level. Maybe she should leave?
But Dakota kept on talking and Maria kept on listening. She was compelled by the desire to know.
“Brian knew your parents wouldn’t be happy. He told you to keep the marriage from them at first.” Dakota’s tears never stopped. “The plan was I would stay with you for a year, maybe longer. Brian was then going to set you up for the perfect affair. He’d do everything he could to make sure you cheated on me—the court would rule in my favor—and I would be millions richer. Brian would share in the profits. It was supposed to be so simple, and then it all went wrong.”
“How?” Rod’s jaw was clenched tight.
“First off, you weren’t a jerk. I really liked you. Pretending to fall in love turned out to be pretty easy to do.”
“So why did you leave?” Rod asked.
“Sofia, my cousin, came to Arizona. She and I both knew Brian from high school in California. That’s where we all first met. Anyhow, Sofia came to get money out of Brian to help her find some ancestor’s treasure she was obsessed with in the Superstition Mountains. Our family in Mexico used to talk about it when we were children, before my parents died and Sophia’s disowned her.”
Skeletons Among Us: Legends of Treasure Book 2 Page 23
