by Lynn Cahoon
“Why are you calling?” I sat upright. “Aunt Jackie? Did something happen?”
“Calm down, Jill. It’s not Jackie.” He turned down the music in his car. “It’s Ginny. She was found out on the trails about nine last night. She took a nasty fall and has some head trauma. She asked to talk to you, but then they put her under to try to keep her brain from swelling.”
“Ginny? Why would she ask to talk to me?” I thought about the piece of paper. Maybe it did mean she knew something.
“My guess is she didn’t mean you, but your friend Jen McKarn was at the hospital, and she mentioned you were the only Jill she knew. Maybe Ginny has a sister or a friend named Jill.”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t as convinced as Greg.
I heard the beep come over his line. “I’ve got another call that I have to take. I’ll call when we know more about Ginny.”
“Let me know when I can visit. I didn’t know her well, but I don’t think she has a lot of friends.”
“Will do.” And then he clicked off to his next call.
I lay in bed for an hour, wondering if Ginny really had cracked Kacey’s investigation but the murderer had tried to stop her from talking. It happened.
I threw off the covers and got dressed in jeans and a light sweatshirt. Time to update my notebook.
When Toby showed up at five, I didn’t even question his being in my kitchen with donuts. “Did you hear about Ginny?”
He nodded as he poured a cup of coffee. “Tough luck she’s been having lately.”
“Could someone have pushed her?”
Toby frowned, thinking about the question. “I haven’t been on those trails in years, but I used to jog there. Sure, someone could have pushed her off a cliff, but that’s a long way to go off the trail. Maybe she was looking for a place to relieve herself and got disoriented.”
I shuddered, thinking about the lack of restrooms in the park. “Greg says she asked for me. Well, she asked for a Jill. We’re thinking it’s me.”
“Were you friends? I’ve never heard you talk about her.” Toby polished off an apple-cinnamon bear claw.
“She gave me this yesterday when she told me she knew who killed Kacey.” I handed him the piece of paper.
“And this is?” Toby’s confusion filled his face.
I handed over my GPS handheld device. “The directions to the clue that proves who killed Kacey.”
He handed me back the paper and the device. “Sorry Jill, it just seems a little cloak-and-dagger for me. Who would do that kind of thing?”
From what I knew about Ginny, she would. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just grasping at straws. I’m beat. I’m going to go upstairs and take a shower.”
Toby nodded. “Can I look at this again? I’ll be long gone by the time you’re out of the shower.”
I nodded. “Knock yourself out.” I left my cell on the table, figuring if anyone called it would be Greg and he could just wait a few minutes before I called him back.
The hot water in the shower was glorious, and I took my time shaving my legs and just standing in the warm spray. When I got out, I listened for footsteps downstairs, but apparently Toby had let himself out. I knew he’d be off doing his own laundry while I played lady of leisure.
I waited for Toby’s truck to pull out of the driveway, then I picked up my phone. There was only one person I knew who would be up for this.
When the call was answered, I jumped into my story. Finally, I asked the important question: “So, do you want to go see if she really planted a clue at this spot?”
CHAPTER 20
Sadie set a basket filled with treats on the backseat before she climbed into my Jeep. “This is so exciting. I never get to go sleuthing with you.”
“You may not think that if we come up short. Greg’s going to be a little testy about me taking off today.” I pulled up one corner of the plaid fabric that covered the basket and dug out a blueberry muffin. “Thanks for bringing these, but we shouldn’t be out that long. And I was planning on buying you lunch at that Mexican spot in Bakerstown.”
“You can still do that. It’s a great excuse for Greg, right?” Sadie grinned. “I’m not an idiot. I know how to cover my tracks.”
I thought that was probably as close to Sadie got to lying, but it wasn’t her fault since she didn’t realize she didn’t have a clue. “I’m sure he’s right and we’re on a wild goose chase, but it just feels like we need to try to find this before someone else finds it and the evidence disappears.”
“You are pretty certain that Ginny knew who the killer was, aren’t you?” Sadie set her travel mug into the cup holder and strapped on her seat belt. “Well, let’s go find this cache. I’ve got Bible study tonight, and I want to bake some cookies before I go.”
I took a bite of the muffin and pulled the Jeep out onto the road. If things went right, Sadie would be home about one and have plenty of time to bake before her group met. At worst, someone would know we were missing at seven when Sadie and the cookies didn’t show. If I’ve learned anything from my sleuthing adventures it’s that having a backup plan wasn’t a bad idea.
I glanced up at the gathering clouds as we drove to the hiking trailhead. “Looks like rain. Of course, it’s probably wishful thinking.”
“I got a letter from the water conservation committee with a refrigerator magnet on how to save water. It seemed very in-depth. Make sure you tell your aunt what a great job the committee’s doing.” Sadie pulled out a notebook along with a bunch of thank-you cards. “The church just had a fasting day of prayer, and I need to get these ready for Pastor Bill to send out this week. You wouldn’t believe the amount of money we raised for the child care center just by the members skipping meals for a day and donating that money.”
“I could not not eat for a day. I’d pass out.” I slowed, looking for the turnoff that would take us north to the forest.
“You’d be surprised at how long your body can really go without food. Water, now, that’s another subject. You have to stay hydrated.” She pulled two oversized water containers with straps on the edges. “I brought these for us to take on our adventure. We should be good.”
“You think of everything.” We settled in for the ride, me listening to the country music station and Sadie writing Pastor Bill’s thank-you cards. Sadie did a lot for the man, probably because he was a widower. If he’d had a wife, she would probably take care of many of these tasks.
The thought of Pastor Bill being single and needing someone like Sadie in his life started turning over in my head. The man wasn’t half bad-looking. He was a little nice for my tastes, but for Sadie, he’d be perfect. I wonder if Greg would object to a small dinner party at the house. We could invite Sadie and Pastor Bill, Harrold and Jackie, Justin and Amy—my party planning stopped short. Amy wasn’t even talking to me. No way she would come to a dinner party if I was hosting.
I sighed and turned down the stereo.
“What’s wrong? You’ve been out of sorts for weeks.” Sadie had finished all the thank-you notes and already slipped them back into her tote.
“I don’t like it when people are mad at me.” This statement was the truest way to explain. I didn’t like having anyone upset at me, and I tended to put up with way too much for way too long to avoid this scenario. However, the thing with Amy was killing me.
Sadie patted my hand. “I wasn’t really mad at you. Now, Greg got called a few choice words by me before Pastor Bill got me calmed down. But that’s just about me protecting my baby.”
“I wasn’t really—”
She didn’t let me finish. “I know, he’s not much of a baby anymore, but you’ll understand when you and Greg get married and start having kids. You just want their lives to be smooth, you know?”
“You think Greg and I are going to get married?” I hadn’t even got that far. I was having trouble saying the three little words, and Sadie had us married off and popping out young ones.
“Of course, everyone can se
e how great you are together.” Sadie’s eyebrows furrowed. “Greg’s not mad at you for this little trip, is he?”
Not yet. I shook my head. “I wasn’t talking about Greg, or you. I am glad to know you aren’t mad at me anymore, but I was talking about Amy. She’s still hot about me not supporting her when she really wasn’t right in what she wanted.”
“That’s what friends do. We might not totally agree, or do what the other person wants, but we always support them.” Sadie pointed to the upcoming road sign. “Looks like it’s the next turnoff. What did you say to Amy that has her this upset?”
“All I said was no.” I turned on my blinker and angled the Jeep up the ramp to the parking lot. It was the same place we’d been yesterday when Amy and I had gotten into it, again.
“Well, maybe it’s the way you said no.” She pointed to an empty row of parking spots near the front of the trailhead. “Park there, it’s close to the entrance.”
I followed her directions and thought about my abrupt answer to Amy’s request. I could have been nicer, but honestly, I didn’t think at the time that Amy was taking this so personally. Now that I knew it was her project, I understood her reaction a lot better. I just didn’t know how to fix our problems, and I was pretty sure cookies and cheesecake weren’t going to do it this time.
We climbed out of the Jeep. Sadie carried our water bottles, and I brought another muffin. I took two waterproof jackets out of the back of the truck. “I might be being hopeful, but it still looks like rain.”
Sadie looked up at the clouds and shrugged. “Maybe, but it doesn’t smell like rain. You know how it smells like metal just before it downpours?”
I thought about her description and it was spot-on. “Humor me about the jackets then. I’ll carry yours back if it’s seventy by the time we get this cache found.” I locked the Jeep and studied the handheld locator. I had my phone in my pocket, just in case. Sadie’s water bottle was hanging around my neck and I was munching on my second muffin of the morning. I’d say I was prepared for a hike.
I pointed to the trail in front of us. “Looks like we follow this for a while.”
An hour later, we were at the location Ginny had mapped and were looking for some sort of cache site. The place was pretty isolated, so I was sure there wasn’t another cache set up by one of the club members nearby. Soon I found a metal box wedged into an opening in the rock side of the mountain. “Here we go.”
Sadie hurried over to watch me open the box, but inside was another sheet of paper. “Read it and tell me who killed Kacey.”
My heart sank as I read the note. Instead of a name, or the name I’d expected, another set of coordinates were written on the paper, along with another notation, ‘one of two’. I began to think that Ginny was just pranking us and she didn’t know squat.
“Key it in, we didn’t come this far only to go halfway.” Sadie watched as I keyed the new coordinates into the locator. This time we were to head east, toward the mountain range. Twenty minutes later, we’d found the new site. A cave opened up in front of us on the side of the mountain. I looked at Sadie.
“You don’t have rope and a couple of flashlights in your tote, do you?” The cave was big enough to walk into, if we bent down a bit. But who knew how far back it went or where Ginny had hidden the box?
“Sorry. Should we go back?” Sadie leaned her head into the cool cave. “It looks like we could walk forward for a bit.”
I fumbled with my cell. “I’ve got a flashlight app. Hold on.”
The light blazed as I turned it on and I held it out toward the cave. We inched our way in, then a bang sounded behind us. A grate had slipped over the entrance, locking us in. We ran toward the opening, only to stop when Taylor Archer appeared, a gun in his hand.
“Well, look what I just caught. Two big ol’ snoopy people.” He grinned. “Get it? Snoopy, like the dog?”
“Let us out.” I knew it was fruitless to ask, but I had to try.
“Let me think. Um, no. I’m not letting you out. In fact, I’m pretty sure no one is looking for you, so I’m just going to leave you here. Lucky for me, Ginny chose an old abandoned mining shaft for her final cache. Don’t bother to look, I’ve already found and removed it.” He leaned closer to the grate. “But since you did such a good job tracking the clues, I’ll give you the answer. I killed Kacey. The witch wouldn’t give up her presidency, and the club needs new blood.”
“You killed her because you couldn’t beat her in an election? For a hobby club?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Well, that and a few other issues.” He pointed to Sadie. “Like Austin stealing your recipes. That was just cold, man. He bragged about it one night when we all went out for drinks after a club event. Too bad you couldn’t just stay away from this one, although it still does put that doofus in the spotlight for your disappearance, as well.”
“I don’t understand, why kill Kacey then?” Sadie’s entire body shook next to me, and I put my hand on her arm for support.
“You are dense, aren’t you?” Taylor squatted down at the entrance, looking at the edges where the steel screen hit the dirt. “Kacey had to go, and I needed a scapegoat. And since Austin had a history of killing his girlfriends, your death will just go down as another one on his list.”
“You knew about MJ.” The pieces were all coming together now. “You’re the source that called the DA.”
“Getting Austin’s fingerprints attached to a really old disappearance case wasn’t as easy as it makes it seem on television. John just needed a little push in the right direction. So he got a packet in the mail about the bombings.” He grinned. “It’s not like it was a lie. The guy was knee-deep in that bombing, or at least helping the person who did it. You didn’t know I was a CNA, did you?”
“You work at Resting Acres.” The connection was becoming clear.
Sadie whispered to me, “I don’t understand, what’s a CNA?”
“It means,” Taylor responded, proving that he’d heard Sadie’s question, “that I work with old people who only remember the past. MJ was a treasure trove of information as long as I kept her coffee cup full of the real thing. Not that decaf crap they usually give the residents.”
Rain started hitting the trees. Taylor held his hand up and a drop fell on it. “I guess I’d better get down the mountain. These places are known for their flash floods.”
I couldn’t help it, I swung my flashlight app to the back of the cave. Solid rock. If we did get much rain, Sadie and I wouldn’t die of starvation, we’d drown.
“You could let us go. We wouldn’t tell anyone,” Sadie called after the retreating Taylor. We heard his laughter echo through the cave.
I sat on the dirt, all the energy drained out of me. “Toby was right, this was stupid.”
“You told Toby? Doesn’t he report to Greg?” Sadie sat next to me. “If you were trying to keep Greg unaware of your actions, talking to his deputy doesn’t seem like the smartest plan.”
“Toby said Greg wouldn’t let him be part of the investigation due to money issues with the city. I felt bad for him since he broke up with Elisa. He needed something to think about besides her.” Something about what Sadie had said was tinging in the back of my mind, but before I could formalize it, I heard dogs barking in the background.
Sadie and I both stood, making our way carefully to the opening. “Are those search dogs?” She looked at her watch. “We’ve only been gone a total of three hours. No one should be looking for us yet.”
Another bay from a hound sounded closer. “But they are.” I pulled out my cell to try to get a signal, but between the cave and the steel grate, no bars appeared. I returned the cell to my pocket and pushed on the barrier. It didn’t move an inch.
“Help me push.” I motioned Sadie to move up next to me and counted down, “One, two, three.”
The grate moved less than an inch. No way would we be able to get it open enough for us to crawl out. We’d have to take a chance t
hat those really were search dogs—and that it was us they were looking for.
“Help! We’re over here!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. A hound’s bay answered my words. Sadie grinned at me.
“I think the dog heard you.” She stood on tiptoe and called out, too. “Help, we’re in a cave!”
I heard rustling down the path, and then two Bluetick hounds appeared, sniffing at the grate. One sat down and howled, the other came up and licked my hand where it was sticking out of the grate. When he saw the other dog doing his job, he, too, sat and howled.
“I think we’re saved.” Tears filled my eyes as I watched the dogs announce their finding us. Two men burst through the brush and went directly to the dogs, clipping leashes on their collars. One of the guys smiled at us.
“I take it you two are Jill and Sadie?” He examined the grate.
“Unless there’s two other women lost on the trails this morning, I think you’re right.”
“You okay in there? Are you hurt? We have an ambulance down at the trail site. I can call someone up.” The other man peered into the cave toward us.
“Just get us out of here.” I hugged Sadie. “My friend has a Bible study to get to tonight.”
A few minutes later, Toby and Greg burst through the bush and stopped short when they saw the grate locking us into the cave. Greg came close and studied me. “You’re something else, you know that?”
“Can you get us out of here?” So far, the men had just been studying the situation. “Sadie and I tried to get it to move, but we didn’t have much luck.” I was beginning to feel a bit like the lions at the zoo, closed in with time to pace.
“I don’t know.” He looked back at Toby. “At least with you in there, I know you’re safe.”
Looking at the rain puddling around us, I shrugged. “Until the cave fills up with water. What a day for the drought to end.”
“One rainstorm doesn’t end a drought, but it’s a good beginning.” Greg squeezed my fingers. “Hold on, slugger, we’ll get you out of there.”
The men gathered around the mouth of the cave, and after a few test runs, lifted the grate up far enough for Sadie and me to squeeze through. Greg handed me a bottle of water, but I shook it off.
