Broken Trust

by Shannon Baker

  His voice rose in a hysterical giggle. “They could find the four hundred thousand dollars you stole last month.”

  More ways to waste her time. “Don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t take any money.”

  He sniggered. “You don’t need to play stupid with me anymore. I know you have it. Darla made the approval and the money disappeared in an electronic transaction. No record.”

  All the oxygen suddenly left the room. Someone took her money. “Where did it go?”

  He shrugged. “Only you and Darla know that. And Darla turned up dead. Do you suppose the cops will suspect you had a motive?”

  She stared at him.

  “I won’t tell. That is, if you show me what good friends we are.”

  She didn’t have time for this. She stomped up the stairs in search of her phone. Eduardo needed to know her money was stolen. It proved Nora set her up. Sylvia didn’t know how Nora could have done it when she didn’t work at the Trust until a few days ago, but she’d figure it out.

  Her toes sank into the deep pile of her white carpet as she hurried down the hallway.

  Mark’s heavy breathing startled her. He had followed her. “Oh, I know that with someone like Daniel Cubrero around no one notices me. But, Sylvia, I promise you, whatever Daniel has to offer, I can do better.”

  She couldn’t concentrate on what his words meant.

  Mark followed her into the bedroom.

  Sylvia strode to her black lacquered dresser but the phone didn’t sit in its usual place. She hurried to the bedside table but it wasn’t there. She spun around scanning the spacious room and her gaze found it. Her phone lay in a heap at the base of the wall by the bathroom.

  Mark minced his way across the room and stepped close to her, his fetid breath warm on her neck. “You’re a beautiful woman.”

  She skirted him and walked to the end of the bed. “Where would Darla have hidden the money?”

  Mark brushed his hand against his crotch. “You won’t be disappointed.”

  She glared at him. “I’m trying to save your butt. If four hundred grand is missing, it’ll be your fault. If you don’t go to prison, at the very least, the board will fire you.”

  He closed the space between them. “I can make you feel like a woman.”

  “Are you sure the money is missing?”

  His hand snaked out and brushed her waist. “We’ve skirted our desire for three years, Sylvia. Here we are. Your bedroom. Now is the perfect time for us. I’m more than you would suspect.”

  The hiss of the shower sauna filled the silence while Sylvia stared at him in disgust. The faint odor of stale coffee and sweat seeped from him.

  He reached out and stroked her breast through the silk of the kimono.

  She sprang back. “What is the matter with you?”

  His eyes glazed and his moist lips slackened as he stared at her breast. “You think I’m stupid, don’t you?” He spoke with a whine, like a four-year-old.

  What a hideous man. She backed up.

  He stepped toward her. “I’ve treated you like a goddess. I left you alone so you could work on your oh-so-important research.”

  “You are way over the line. Leave now.”

  Sweat glistened on his face. “But now you need me even more. You don’t want me to tell the cops about the money, do you?”

  He wouldn’t have the cojones to go against her.

  He stepped toward her again. “You’re not really working on climate change and beetle kill, are you? You never were. Where are the reports, Sylvia? Where is all that money going? Who are you really working for?”

  She laid a hand on his sweaty chest and shoved him back. “You’re crazy. I’m calling the cops.”

  His shrill laughter sent a chill up her spine. “The cops? Sure. When they get here, let’s tell them about the night Darla died.”

  Sylvia didn’t kill Darla. Of that, she was certain. “What do you know about that?”

  He crowded her against a cabinet and slid his fingers under the kimono belt. “I know she came to see you. You argued. She left and I heard shots fired. Next thing we know, Darla is a goner.”

  Her mind reeled. She needed to shut him up.

  The kimono slipped open and Mark slobbered on his fat lips. His gaze traveled to her face. “Do you want to know what I was doing there?”

  Think Sylvia. How can you shut him up?

  He touched her nipple and moaned. “I’ve waited for you for a long time. And I’ve watched. I know your favorite coffee shop. I know where you buy your lingerie.” He panted. “I’m good for you, Sylvia. And I can make you feel so good. Even Daniel Cubrero can’t do what I can.”

  “You need help,” she said, letting her contempt drip from her voice in a hiss like the sauna. She jerked her kimono closed and strode to the other side of the bed. “You’re a disgusting little man.”

  “I would kill for you. In fact, if Nora hadn’t thrown up all the drugs I gave her, I would have been successful. As it is, I destroyed all the bank statements for the climate mapping account. That will slow her down.”

  “Get out.”

  He followed her. “You don’t need to fight it, Sylvia. I’ve loved you and protected you. Now let me pleasure you as only I can.”

  She pointed to the door and shouted. “GET OUT!”

  He ignored her demand. “I know you were here. With him.”

  Sylvia curled her lip. “Leave.”

  He stalked her around the bed. “Not until I get what I came for. Only I can protect you.”

  She laughed, a cruel sound meant to emasculate him. “You think I’d sleep with you? You really are crazy.”

  “I’m not planning to sleep.”

  He grabbed her wrist, leveraging her weight to toss her onto the bed.

  Sylvia wrenched her wrist free and whirled around to the bedside table. Her fingers clasped the handle and jerked open the drawer. Keeping her eyes on Mark, she felt around for the plain Smith and Wesson Airweight she kept there. It didn’t have the sex appeal of her gold-plated model, but it was just as deadly.

  He only had a nanosecond to register his surprise before she slipped off the safety, buried the small barrel in the soft flesh of his chin, and pulled the trigger.

  thirty

  Nora drove her Jeep and Cole sat in the passenger side. Petal huddled in back with Abbey’s head on her knee. They were headed south out of Boulder in the light early afternoon traffic. Clouds still hung heavy and low, blocking their view of the front range of the Rockies. The air carried the smell of snow and a few dry flakes swirled in the wind.

  The Jeep rumbled along with its noisy cadence and they barely spoke. Petal’s occasional sniffs and quiet tears wrenched Nora’s heart. Cole seemed lost in his own thoughts, now and then glancing at Nora as if he’d like to start a conversation, then deciding against it.

  They worked their way through a few stoplights in the foothills town of Golden then up I-70 into the mountains. Too early for commuters and few people were out to play in the middle of a Thursday, which left the six-lane interstate feeling empty. The green slopes with scattered houses turned into sheer rock faces hidden in shadow.

  After forty-five minutes of driving, Nora pulled off the interstate onto the road leading to Mount Evans. She hated this treacherous drive and to have to face it so soon after her last climbing attempt stretched her courage. Familiarity ought to ease her tension but she dreaded the narrow road winding up above timberline.

  “What’s your ranch in Wyoming like?” She wanted to distract herself from the anxiety building inside her.

  Cole seemed startled to have a question directed his way. “It’s up by Sheridan. A hundred thousand acres.”

  “You grew up there?” Keep him talking.

  He seemed to understand her need for distraction and launched into a monolog
ue. “My great-grandfather homesteaded it. My father inherited it from his father and they both added land to it. My younger brother runs it now. I’ve been working there since I left Flagstaff last year. It’s about time for me to move on, though. I’m weighing my options.”

  She quizzed him and he answered, telling her anecdotes about growing up on the range. Wild horses, wild cows, and two wild boys.

  It helped, and they eventually pulled into the parking lot at the top of the mountain. Nora held the front seat up for Petal and Abbey to exit.

  The wind tugged at Nora’s hair and battered her cheeks. She reached into the glove box and pulled out an elastic band to gather her hair back. Technically, Abbey wasn’t allowed on the trail up to the top but since the Jeep was the only vehicle in the lot, Nora broke the leash law and let him go.

  They headed toward the trail and the series of five switchbacks that would lead them to the top. Cold, brittle air felt so thin Nora was soon puffing to fill her lungs. The snow still struggled and miniscule drifts accumulated in rocky crags along the trail. When they reached the top, low clouds hid the view.

  Petal pointed to the east. “It’s around that outcropping there. It’s hidden behind two sharp ledges so no one will mess with it.”

  “I can’t believe the Trust let her install a tower someplace so dangerous to get to,” Nora said, her stomach lurching at the thought of scrambling over the rocks to find it.

  Petal climbed toward the outcropping. “I don’t think they know. Sylvia told Mark it’s up here and he never checked. She had me take a picture for the board, but that doesn’t show how remote it is.”

  “If you can climb out there,” Cole said, “what keeps vandals away?”

  Petal dug in a pocket of her skirt and brandished a key. “There’s a fence and padlock. But Sylvia needs me to check it every once in awhile to make sure it’s okay.”

  The summit was long and flat, but boulders and rocks piled in a jumble across the surface to create precarious footing between one smooth surface and the next. Petal clambered with the surety of a mountain goat and soon disappeared around a bend in the east.

  Nora and Cole followed Petal up the rocky pile to the bend. Abbey explored on his own, pausing occasionally to keep Nora in sight.

  Nora’s heart thundered against her ribs. She glanced at Cole’s half-turned face. Did he see her fighting with the panic?

  He squinted against the wind and snow and watched Petal climb on all fours around another bend.

  Nora gritted her teeth and focused on the forest green of Cole’s down jacket in front of her. She’d follow him and it would be okay. No reason for panic.

  Cole stopped and waited for her to catch up. He lowered his head, suddenly serious. “Can I ask you something?”

  She tried to still her heavy breathing. Fourteen thousand feet in elevation left little air for her lungs. “Sure.”

  The flush of his skin didn’t come from the wind. “Is there something going on between you and Daniel?”

  “What?” She laughed.

  “I’d like to know.”

  One thing about Cole, he didn’t play games. “No. Absolutely not.” Well, one kiss—but it wasn’t her idea and she had no plans of repeating it.

  He eyed her, and then seemed to accept her answer. He turned and followed Petal’s course.

  The wind howled with a menacing sound. They scrambled up a boulder in time to see Petal disappear again. They had to be getting to the edge of the summit. How many more crags, boulders, or bends could there be before they reached the eastern side of the mountain?

  Nora stumbled up a smooth, cold rock to see Petal just one bend away.

  Panting and using her hands to maneuver up a slick rock, Nora spotted the tower. Similar to any number of weather stations she’d seen, one metal rod extended about twenty feet into the air. The rod had a twelve-inch circumference with a four-foot dome at the top. Smaller legs extended from the dome to the ground in a tripod configuration, probably for stability. The stem must be anchored deep into the stone of the mountain to hold it steady in the high-

  altitude storms. A chain-link fence about five feet high encircled it. Someone could climb the fence, but only a fool would try because the whole fixture perched on an overhang. Only a few inches of rock bordered the fence before solid ground ended. From there, a sheer drop of several hundred feet would mean certain death.

  A gust buffeted Nora from behind and she stumbled. “Ah!” Despite herself, she screamed.

  Cole whipped around and grabbed her arm. “Are you okay?”

  She started to nod then shook her head, not trusting her voice.

  “Here. Sit.” He helped her off the boulder to a crag, out of the wind.

  She dropped to the rock and leaned back. “Thanks.”

  “Abigail said you have panic attacks in the mountains.”

  The cold stone radiated through her jeans. She glared at him. “That’s why you offered to come up here. To protect me again, right?”

  He nodded. “What are you going to do about them?”

  Time to change the subject. “So, I’ve been thinking about Benny coming to Boulder and wondering what he meant about the prophecies.”

  Cole gave his head a slight shake as if acknowledging her conversational duck and weave. “End of the world stuff ?”

  “That seems extreme. But Benny is worried.” Should she tell Cole that Benny worried because Nakwaiyamtewa gave him some warning? “Maybe there’s something in the prophecies we should think about.”

  Cole chuckled. “Hopi corn and now prophecies? Doesn’t sound like the skeptical Nora I know.”

  “And the Hopi Instructions. I’ve been studying those too.”

  His eyes registered surprise. “Since when?”

  She played with a pebble while the wind whistled above them. “Since I left Flagstaff.”

  “Benny really got to you, didn’t he?” Cole grinned at her.

  It was Nakwaiyamtewa who had the real powers of persuasion. “I guess. And then …”

  He tilted his head and waited.

  She swallowed and viewed the gray sky. “Turns out I’m half Hopi.”

  He slapped his hand over his heart in exaggerated surprise.

  It took Nora a beat to understand. “Abigail told you.”

  He nodded.

  “You guys are a regular best-friends club.”

  Abbey bounded over the ridge above them and bumped Nora’s side. He sat and panted in her face.

  Cole reached over to pet Abbey. “So what about the prophecies?”

  Nora ticked off the list in her head. “Okay, these all came to the Hopi over a thousand years ago. They say there will be roads in the sky. There will be moving houses of iron and horseless carriages. People will have the ability to speak through cobwebs and to speak through space. Women will take on men’s clothing and wear skirts above the knee, which devalues the sacred female body. Apparently that demonstrates how low society sinks.”

  “Not much to go on there,” Cole said.

  She agreed. “There are more. People of the cross will lead Hopi away from the Great Creator. Short hairs of the Hopi will join the pahana government and dilute Hopi beliefs.” She paused and explained to Cole. “Pahana is the white man.”

  Cole narrowed his eyes. “I know that much.”

  She thought about the list of prophecies, trying to remember. “Do not bring anything home from the moon or it will lead to weather disturbances—”

  Cole interrupted. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Weather disturbances. Sylvia is working on climate-change modeling, isn’t she? That’s disturbed weather.”

  “I don’t know. That seems like a stretch. The prophecies can mean anything. There’s one that talks about gourds of ashes that will boil rivers and cause disease no medicine can cure.” A lump formed in Nora’s
throat when she remembered Heather’s excitement to tell her about the prophecies and the one about the inverted gourd that referred to nuclear weapons.

  “Maybe we should try to get Benny back to Boulder,” Cole said.

  They’d never be able to figure out what these obscure predictions meant. “There’s one about the Earth turning four times and then mankind will crawl on all fours and only the brother and sister will survive to recycle the Earth.”

  “There you go. Recycling. Definitely your bailiwick.”

  Didn’t a board member ask if the HAARP research would flip the Earth’s axis?

  Petal appeared at the top of the boulder above them. “It’s fine. Sylvia can run her procedure now.”

  Cole helped Nora up.

  Nora’s shoulders tensed but she felt enough in control that she didn’t think the panic would return. She shouted above the wind. “Is that safe up there?”

  Petal nodded. “It’s sturdy. If someone punctured the tower the energy would leak out, sort of like if you drove a copper nail into a tree and the energy leaks out and the tree dies. But it would be hard to do that.”

  The wind changed directions. Nora said, “That’s the only way someone can ruin it?”

  Petal spoke matter-of-factly. “Well, you could take the tunable inductor out of the tower. It’s just two PVC pipes with wire coiled around them. When you tune the capacitor just right, it oscillates with the ionosphere. So if that’s removed, the energy won’t transfer through the spark gap.”

  Riiight.

  Petal stared at the tower. “This is a simple concept for creating energy and the world should know about it. They could shut down the coal and the nuclear plants. This is natural and how we are meant to power our planet. It’s the resonance we can all connect to. We can align our chakras with the power. We should build more of these towers on every mountain and they should become places of worship. Because it’s a place of creativity.”

  Nora didn’t know what to say. Her eyes met Cole’s and she realized he was at a loss too. “I guess we’d better head back,” Nora said.