“You know…” Billy folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the rock. “That same look you got when you thought you saw yourself getting your picture taken with Maggie’s sisters.”
Rio looked away, defeat swelling inside her.
“What?” Billy laughed nervously. “What happened while I was gone?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged, trying to blow it off. “I fell asleep. I was having a dream, I guess.”
“A dream?” He looked at her. “About what?”
“I—” She shook her head “—can’t remember.”
“Well, personally, I think you can. But I’m not going to push you. If you don’t want to talk about it,” he said with a slight nod. “That’s up to you.”
How could she? How could she tell this virtual stranger—a man she also happened to be conning—that she was fantasizing about his third-great grandfather?
~~~~
CHAPTER 19
Rio and Billy sat across from each other in a booth at Grandma Hattie’s, a restaurant that was popular with the locals. And with good reason; they served up excellent food and Rio was growing fond of their blintzes.
Considering Billy’s opinion of Maggie, one would think he’d shy as far away from Rio as he could get. Billy hated Maggie. He hated her for destroying Tajan’s life. That’s the way he saw the story, and no amount of talking could convince him otherwise.
In light of that, being around Rio should be the last thing he’d want. It stood to reason that her being there would seem like his worst nightmare had come to life to haunt him.
But that wasn’t the case, at all. The more time he spent with her, the more he felt drawn and connected to her. And the bond was pure. As far as Billy knew, Rio Laraquette was indeed his cousin. He never thought for a second that that could possibly be a lie.
The waitress sat a hot tea plate down in front of Rio and poured a cup of coffee for Billy. Rio dropped the teabag into the pot and reached for the sugar. Grabbing several packets she ripped them apart and dumped the contents into her empty cup.
Pouring the tea, she cast a stealthful glance across the room. At this point, she hadn’t made eye contact with the two men watching her and Billy from a booth near the entrance. She planned to let them flitter in the wind a little longer. It wasn’t time to let Turner’s goons know that she was on to them.
But she was going to have to tell Billy, sooner or later. Yep, the time was drawing close.
She looked at Billy. “What do you think we should do now?” The thought of finding a bonafide treasure was becoming more and more intriguing.
“We’ve got to figure out how to read that map,” he said. “We’re certainly not going to find anything out until we can do that.”
Rio checked on their tails. They were still there. Without missing a beat, she looked back at Billy. “Yeah, but…” She dipped a spoon into her hot tea and stirred it. “That map makes absolutely no sense at all.” She pointed her spoon at Billy and then laid it on the saucer alongside the cup. “Even your dad says so.”
“Maybe we need to talk to him again.”
“Okay.” She tilted her head to one side. “We’ll go see you’re dad again…if you think it’ll help.”
If somebody didn’t come up with something, the odds of them finding the treasure were pretty much nonexistent. What’d they expect? To just stumble across it? “Well, I’m at a loss,” he said. “Maybe he’s got some ideas.” But in reality, Billy knew he didn’t.
With a new plan, or at least the seeds of a new plan, they finished their breakfast and paid the check and then headed out.
They crossed the parking lot and strode toward Rio’s car. Billy fished her keys out of his Levi’s front pocket and unlocked the door.
Glancing up, she saw the same black SUV that had been following them, the last few days, parked a few spaces over.
Rio and Billy headed to his parents’ house, and she never said a word about the SUV or that they were being followed.
* * *
Bill Tajan had done everything and anything he could think of, all that morning, while trying not to think about what he truly didn’t want to consider. Rio, Maggie and Tajan. He knew the legend but he’d never put much stock into it. Oh, he was all for the romanticized notion of Tajan and Maggie. However, he’d never been real big on the idea that a reincarnated Maggie would come waltzing back into the Washoe people’s lives, dig up that treasure and give it to them.
He’d always been so sure that this particular event was never going to happen. Even now, after his niece had appeared on the scene, he was still trying to convince himself that this sort of thing couldn’t happen. No matter what he tried to convince himself of, the fact remained that here she was in the flesh. Every logical fiber of his being told him that Rio was not Maggie, but his denial gave him little comfort since Rio appeared to be an exact replica of his great great-grandmother.
* * *
Inside the Tajan living room Bill listened to Billy and Rio’s dilemma. Once they’d laid out the facts as they knew them, he paused in silence for the longest time.
Bill cleared his throat and folded his arms over his chest. “Well…” He gave them both a quick look. “The first thing you’ve got to do is stop thinking like Billy and Rio.”
“Excuse me?” Rio’s brow crinkled.
“For starters…you need to start thinking like Tajan and Maggie. Especially Maggie,” he said. “If you were her…where would you bury it?”
“I’d bury it out in the hills,” Billy said.
“Well that sure narrows it down,” Rio’s voice was considerate but sarcastic. “Now doesn’t it?”
Bill planted his hands on the arms of his easy chair and pushed himself up. Heading toward the dining room, he motioned them to follow.
They waited by the table while Bill retrieved a topo map from a cabinet. He spread it out over the table, and Rio shivered, feeling like the portraits of Maggie and Tajan were watching their every move.
Father and son huddled over the map and a rather timid Rio finally joined them.
“Now this is V.C.” Bill pointed out the location out on the map. “And here’s Six Mile Canyon.” He paused long enough to look at Rio, “The Comstock Lode was discovered there. And this is the route they used—” He traced his finger along the map without looking at it. “—to take the gold and silver out of Virginia City.” He looked back to the map and pointed to the area between Virginia City and Silver City referred to as Devil’s Gate. “This is where holdups usually happened.” He waited a moment, giving her time to process the information, and then addressed them both. “So…say you conducted one of these holdups—” He fanned his hand out over the map. “—where would you take your loot and bury it?”
“I don’t know.” Rio shrugged. “Close my eyes and throw a dart?”
* * *
Billy and Rio left his parents’ house by the front door and strolled across the front yard. He unlatched the gate and held it open for her, then relatched it and followed her to his Jeep parked alongside the fence.
“Hey, you want to get a pizza for dinner?” He climbed into the driver’s side of the vehicle.
“Sure.” She flashed him a piss-poor smile before turning to look outside the window.
The girl was shouldering a burden; one that was much too heavy for her delicate shoulders. Billy didn’t know how to help her. He wasn’t sure he could.
“So…” he said, suspecting that she wasn’t there with him. Not mentally. “You like your pizza with some anchovies and maybe a little molded cheese thrown in?” he asked, just to prove to himself that he was right—she wasn’t listening.
“Yeah. Sure. That’s fine.” Her words were vague and methodical as she continued to stare out the window.
“Rio…” He gave her a gentle, backhanded smack on the arm.
“What?” She looked at him, rubbing her arm. A fine actress, that one was.
“You agreed to pizza with anchov
ies and molded cheese. What gives?”
“Got to admit,” she said. “This new family…the whole history thing with Maggie and Tajan.” She shook her head slowly. “It’s a little overwhelming.”
“Maggie and Tajan were nothing but a recipe for disaster.”
“How could her own grandfather take her away from him?” Rio didn’t understand why it’d had to be that way. And she didn’t like it.
But that story had played out decades ago. No amount of wishing or wanting was going to make it so that things could’ve turned out differently for Maggie and Tajan.
“Bradford Fuller was trying to keep Tajan alive,” Billy said, without much sympathy, as he guided the Jeep into the parking lot of the pizza place.
He and Rio got out and headed inside.
Moments later, they emerged; Billy with the pizza and Rio their sodas.
Approaching the Jeep, Rio surveyed the city around her. She stalled so she could come up with an argument on Maggie and Tajan’s behalf, if for no one other than herself. Instead, she found the two guys who’d been tailing them for days now. She scanned right on by them and got into the Jeep.
As Billy climbed in and closed his door, she leaned toward him. It was time. “We’re being followed,” she whispered, as if someone might hear her.
“I know,” he said with a slight nod. “For a few days now.” He hesitated, choosing his words wisely. “Any idea who it is?”
“Nobody I know,” she said, rolling her eyes. That much was true.
After they arrived back at Billy’s house, she opened the Jeep’s door and looked at him. She knew what she had to do. “Hey listen,” she said, digging for the keys inside her purse. “I’m going to go over to that Wal-Mart I saw at the end of town. I need to pick up a few things.”
“Okay.” He removed a key from his key ring. “Here.” He offered it to her. “A house key for you.”
She took the key and stuck one leg outside the vehicle and planted her foot on the ground.
“But listen…why don’t you come inside and eat first?” he suggested. “Wal-Mart is open all night.”
She hesitated before saying, “Okay.” Besides, that’d give her time to cool off.
Boy, she needed that. She was pretty pissed right now. She’d told Turner not to put the tail on them, but he’d gone and done it anyway. The unwanted company wasn’t helping.
Rio took the time to eat but it didn’t do much for her need to calm down. By the time she arrived at Wal-Mart she’d worked herself up pretty good.
She headed for the pre-paid cell phones and snatched up one that came with less than thirty minutes. She wouldn’t need a quarter of that time to get her point across. She paid for the cell phone, asked the clerk to open it up and he obliged her further by assembling the device as a courtesy.
She walked away from the phone center, pushing her cart with one hand and holding the phone in the other. She headed for the health and beauty isle, knowing that’s what all men expected girls to buy when they went to a store like Wal-Mart. That and clothes.
After passing a few racks of dresses, she paused long enough to dial Turner’s number and then proceeded through the store at a snail’s pace, waiting for him to answer her call.
When she finally heard his voice, infuriation pushed out her words. “It’s Rio. Back them off now.”
“Rio…surely you can understand that I’m protecting my investment.” Turner’s voice was condescending. That pissed her off even more.
“And surely you can understand that I work alone.”
“They’re there. For the duration.”
“Well, you just make sure they don’t approach us claiming to know me.” She let her anger bite her tone. “Cause if they do…I’m out and Billy Tajan learns the truth.”
Rio moved the phone away from her head and looked at it. Turner’s boisterous voice echoed from the device but she only laughed and disconnected the call.
The Las Vegas mobster was under the mistaken impression that he was still in charge. But that’d changed the minute she realized she was the key to this plan’s success.
She went about her business, loading her cart with enough items to make it look good, and headed for the check-out. After all, she couldn’t return to Billy’s house empty-handed.
Detail. That’s one of the things that made Rio so good at what she did.
~~~~
CHAPTER 20
Billy lived in a quiet neighborhood. His house was clearly a man’s home, furnished with only the essentials. If Billy didn’t need it, he didn’t have it. His décor wasn’t exceptional, but it was efficient. It just lacked a “woman’s touch”.
He grabbed a couple of cold beers from the fridge and headed into the living room where Rio was waiting. They needed to figure out how to read the map. But more than that, Billy wanted to know who was following them. And better yet, how they knew to follow them in the first place.
On the other hand, while Rio didn’t know who the guys were, she did know why they were there. She just couldn’t tell Billy.
This thing had to play itself out and she would try her best not to let the Tajans get too caught up in it.
“The first thing we’ve got to do is figure out how to deal with our guests.” Billy handed her a beer. “They seem to be showing up everywhere we go.” He sat down in the chair kitty-cornered from the couch, twisted the cap off his beer and tossed it on the table.
“Either someone knows what we’re up to,” she said. “Or they want something from us. Either way, I got nothing I’m willing to part with.”
“Ever been on a snipe hunt?”
“Once…when I was a kid.” The thought of it burned a whole in her ego. “But I wasn’t in on the joke.”
Rio tried to push the memory aside but it filled her mind anyway. The counselors at summer camp, back when she was about eleven or twelve, had everyone excited about the notion of a snipe hunt. She’d never even heard of a snipe much less gone hunting for one. She had no idea what the damned thing was but she wanted to fit in so she mustered up some enthusiasm for the sport just as everyone else had done—only to learn much later on that the joke was on her.
“Well…” Billy’s voice broke into her thoughts, “this time you’re in on the joke.” He laughed triumphantly. “We’re going to lead them on the biggest wild goose chase ever. By the time it’s over...they won’t know if they’re coming or going.”
Rio gave him an agreeable nod. “I do like the way you think.”
* * *
The wild goose chase began in a place called Clear Creek Canyon. Billy stopped the Jeep on the side of the road. He and Rio exited the vehicle and she followed him across the road.
Massive cliffs protruding from the mountain above loomed over them. The sound of rushing water rumbled nearby, an indication that the creek was running strong.
They paused on the side of the road. Rio peered down into the ravine. The thunderous roar of an aggressive waterfall echoed, giving away its hiding place behind a mass of thick brush and trees.
That strange chill hit Rio again. At first thought she wanted to run, but she was able to quickly cast aside the bizarre sensation.
Billy grabbed her hand and coaxed her down the side of the embankment. There it was again, that cool, brisk frost rushing through her. Almost instantly, the chill turned into nerve-racking apprehension. Rio’s attention fell over the landscape, studying it intently. She was drawn to the gigantic cliffs above them.
For a reason that she couldn’t explain, fear washed over her. Desperation urged her to leave the ravine. “I’ve got to get out of here.” She used her hands, trying to climb out. “Please...?” A pleading quality entered her tone as she began sliding back down. “Help me get out of here.” Her voice shook.
“It’s okay.” Billy reached for her. “What’s wrong?”
Rio jerked away, dropped to her knees and crawled up to the road. “I can’t stay here,” she said, reaching the top of the embankment. “I
don’t know why…but I can’t be here.”
Billy scaled the embankment easily. “Hey, Rio. You okay?”
She didn’t stop. She didn’t look at him. She kept moving forward, determined to get across the road and back to the Jeep.
“Rio...!” Billy called after her, more forceful this time.
“Please, take me away from here...” She didn’t bother to look at him; she got in the Jeep and stared straight ahead. And no way she was going to look back across the road. Something about that place creeped her out.
Billy climbed into the driver’s seat and looked at Rio. “You know where you are,” he asked, “don’t you?”
“I have no idea where I am,” she said, short-tempered. “But what I do know is, I cannot stay here. I don’t know why, but I feel like I’m going to die here.”
“Rio, calm down.” He laid a gentle hand on her forearm. “You’re not going to die here. This is where Maggie and Tajan died.”
Rio’s lungs tightened. She gasped for air, grabbing at her chest. She didn’t want to but she couldn’t help herself; she looked back across the road. Two eagles flew up out of the ravine. Watching them soar away, her breathing eased.
As if staring at them through a haze, the birds seemed to dance playfully in the sky. She pointed to them and looked at Billy. “Did you see that?”
“What?”
“The birds.”
“No...” Billy gazed at the sky through the windshield. “I don’t see any birds,” he said, but continued to look for them.
But the eagles were gone.
He turned the key and started the engine. As he steered the Jeep onto the road and rounded the first curve, the same black SUV was parked on the side of the road.
Both Rio and Billy eyed their unwanted company as they passed them by.
~~~~
CHAPTER 21
Broken Wings Page 7
