by R. P. Dahlke
"We should keep going," Ian said, glancing at the sky.
"We don't have Hoover's four-wheel drive," I said. Harley and I had on daypacks, but Ian and Caleb had to hike in flak-jackets and utility belts holstered sidearms, flashlights and handcuffs.
"I'm good," Harley said. "Hoover and I can find her."
"Sorry, pal," Ian said, "but I’m going with you."
"Me too," Caleb said, adjusting his utility belt.
Harley doffed his hat and bowed. "Then after you, sirs."
"Ian, if it rains, could you still find the cave?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said. "I haven't been here in years."
"Then let's not waste any more time," I said, encouraging Hoover to keep moving.
Forty minutes later, we were well into the foothills and that much closer to the mountains and a cave. The good news was that the wind had abated; the bad news was that lightning was now powering through a huge black cloud and it was moving this way.
"Oh great. Now we have lightning strikes to worry about," I muttered.
Caleb put his arm around me."We're almost to the mountains. We'll find shelter soon."
"It better be soon," I said, "I just felt a raindrop on my nose."
I was hot, tired and footsore, and except for Hoover and Harley, I was sure the others were feeling the same. I handed Harley the leash.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"We're all but worn out and you're not even winded, but if you find the cave and Pearlie's inside, don't do anything. Just use your cell and call one of us. Promise?"
He accepted Hoover's leash and striding away, soon outdistanced us.
We continued to follow, but kept our pace reasonable so as not to completely exhaust ourselves. As water laden clouds started covering the sky, thunder rolled overhead and I jumped at the crack of lightning.
Another lit up the sky, and Ian stopped so suddenly that I bumped into him. "There!" he said, pointing. "That lightning strike lit up the entrance to the cave. That's where she's gone. I know it."
"Then we should take a more indirect approach," Caleb said.
Just then, another sound exploded through the air, but this time, I knew it wasn't thunder. I froze, then took off running.
"Lalla! Wait up," Caleb called after me.
"She's shooting at Harley and Hoover," I yelled over my shoulder and kept running.
To make myself a smaller target, I ran the twenty or so yards in a crouch and threw myself onto the ground next to them. Hoover wagged a hello and Harley grunted and pointed to the cave.
"Are either of you hurt?" I asked, breathlessly.
"She's not that good of a shot," Harley said. "While one of you distracts her, I'll crawl up those rocks behind the cave. Unless you or the sheriff got another plan?"
"Not yet, but the guys are right behind me," I said, stretching my neck to peer over the top of the weeds.
I felt another shot whizz past my ear and dropped to the ground, my heart in my throat. "Dammit! That was close!"
"Like a she-wolf," Harley said. "She's got her back to the wall with no way out."
Caleb and Ian flopped down beside us.
Caleb grabbed my arm. "You're going back."
"No. I’m not leaving, not with Pearlie in there."
"Told you she wouldn't go," Ian said.
"Since it looks like she's eager to shoot at anything that moves, Harley wants to get up on the rocks behind her."
"Alright then," Ian said. "We'll split up. Lalla and Caleb will go to one side and I'll take the other. I'll try to talk her out before she does any more damage."
No one could argue with Ian's plan; it was his sister.
Caleb and I took Hoover and crawled through the weeds to the right. Ian and Harley went to the left where Harley started climbing the rocks above the cave.
"Do you think Ian will be able to talk her into giving up?"
"He'll try," he said, un-holstering his weapon.
I put my hand on his. "Caleb, you can't get a clean shot from this far away. Besides, she'll use Pearlie as a shield."
"Few people can accurately shoot a rifle while holding onto a hostage," he said. "And you said so yourself; Pearlie will do everything she can to resist. We're counting on it now. I'll only shoot if I have to."
I ground my teeth in frustration. "You're betting my cousin's life against a mad-woman!"
I was still thinking about the logistics of this risky venture when Ian stepped out in front of the cave, his hands in the air. The wind blew away his words, but Naomi did as he and Caleb guessed. She had Pearlie by the neck, bound and gagged and she had her rifle to my cousin's head.
Lightning flashed and thunder boomed across the mountains.
I was so mad at that point I would've rushed her myself, but it started to rain and then fell in sheets so thick that wiping the water away from our eyes did nothing and Ian and Naomi disappeared behind the curtain of water.
A voice shouted and the dull sound of another shot was the response. I didn't wait for permission and sprinted ahead, Caleb pounding after me.
Harley stood at the mouth of the cave, clutching Pearlie to his chest. Ian stood over a writhing Naomi, his gun in his hand. He reached down and hauled her up over his shoulder and carried her into the shelter of the cave.
The cave had probably been used by animals long before Wade's unwashed clothes took over and I wrinkled my nose against the smell of mildew and old cooking grease.
Ian lowered Naomi onto a dirty sleeping bag and examined her shoulder wound. Her eyes were closed and the long gray braid had come undone, wet strands of hair draped like seaweed across her face. For a moment, I was underwater again, looking at a woman who had already drowned.
Shaking off the macabre image, I grabbed one of Wade's dirty shirts and gave it to Ian to stanch the blood oozing from her wound.
Taking another shirt, Ian ripped it into strips, padded the wound with one piece and wrapped a long strip around her shoulder, making a sling for her arm. Naomi remained unconscious throughout the entire ordeal and I saw for the first time the lines bracketing her face, the ones that had developed over the years as she schemed and planned to get what she thought she deserved.
I got to my feet and laid a hand on Ian's shoulder. "Can we talk for a minute?"
Ian slowly dragged himself to his feet, gave his pale-faced sister one last worried look and then joined my dad, Caleb, Harley and Pearlie.
I went to Pearlie, still wrapped in Harley's arms and asked, "Did she say anything to you?"
Pearlie started to speak, then frowned at Harley's grip on her. "Thanks, Harley, but I can stand on my own now. The only thing she said to me was, 'Move!' And every time I thought to slow down, she'd poke me with her rifle."
I nodded. "She could've left in her truck with no one the wiser. Instead she chose to take a hostage and retrace Wade's path to this place. Why?"
Ian said, "She must've set him up here with supplies and a sleeping bag and I suppose it was so she could keep tabs on him."
"I guess so. She shot him in front of her own son, so she must've wanted him dead. But again, why not leave? Why come back here?"
Pearlie piped up. "She tied me up and gagged me so I'd stay put, then went tearing into stuff. I think she was lookin' for sumpthin'."
"Her call to Wade," I said. "Ian, you said it lasted only two minutes. Whatever she said must've spooked him. He was in a real hurry when he saw me. If he hadn't stopped to intercept me, he might've gotten away."
Caleb took out his flashlight and raked the light across the damp walls. "That rock in the wall over there sticks out."
We moved as one to see what Caleb would find. He pulled at the rock, but when it wouldn't budge, Ian took his knife and wedged it out.
At a scuffling sound we all turned to see Naomi jump to her feet, run out of the cave and disappear. A few pebbles rolled down into the cave and Ian shook his head in disbelief. "She's gone up!"
"What do you mean?" I sai
d, furious that we'd been so easily fooled.
"Never mind. She's weak, she can't get far. I'll go," Ian said.
Weak? Even now, Ian was still making excuses for her. We followed him out into the clearing sky and watched as he nimbly climbed.
Above him, Naomi looked back, shouted at him and kept going.
Ian didn't waste any breath replying, he just kept climbing over wet and slippery rocks.
When they dipped out of sight, we moved out further from under the protection of the overhanging rocks. "There!" Pearlie said pointing. "I can see her. She's coming down."
"Thank God!" I said.
Naomi stopped and looked back to where her brother was picking his way over the rocks after her. She tried to lift her arm, but her injury must've hurt too much. Injured and bitterly angry that her plan was about to be thwarted, she scrambled over the last few rocks until she was standing on the edge of a boulder. With her body outlined against a clearing sky, she lifted her voice in a plaintive song.
I felt a shaky moment of déjà vu and shivered in the cooling air. But this time it wasn't a song from Bible school, it was something in her native tongue. As her voice rose in strength, it echoed across the mountains, and for a moment, I thought I heard the accompaniment of the old man's drum.
Ian, stumbling to get to her, called out, "No! Naomi, don’t!"
Instead of responding, she simply blew him a kiss and leaped to her death.
.
Chapter Twenty-nine:
Pearlie found Wade's confession behind a loose rock in the cave. He blamed Naomi for everything. From manipulating him into murdering Naomi's husband, Pastor Jesse and Ron Barbour to his smelly socks and the lousy canned food she'd stocked the cave with. Typical of Wade and Naomi―it was always someone else's fault.
The helicopter arrived, but Ian stayed only long enough to see Naomi's body aboard and then insisted on returning with us so that he could talk privately to Damian. We silently walked single file through the wet grass, water squishing out of our shoes, bodies too tired to think of anything other than getting clean and dry again.
When we hit the parking lot, Ian asked to speak to us. "I have to take some responsibility for precipitating my sister's murderous actions. If Wade Hamilton said he was running from Naomi, it was because he finally understood that he was as expendable as Ron Barbour and Jesse Jefferson."
"You also put Andy Sokolov on that list," I said. "And while I don’t know how we could ever prove he tried to blow us up in my dad's mine, I take it you wanted someone else to dig up his sordid past?"
"Yes. I couldn't prove Andy was a child molester without looking like I was trying to ruin the mayor's reputation. But thanks to Caleb's help, Andy was arrested last night. He was caught in a sting when he tried to hook up with a Sacramento woman who could pass for a sixteen-year-old. At the very least, his prison sentence will keep him away from young girls for the rest of his life."
"What're you going to tell Damian?" I asked.
"It will take some time for him to sort it all out, but I've decided to take a leave of absence so I can drive him to the try-outs for America Ninja Warrior. If he doesn't get in at one city, we'll drive to the next try-out. I'm hoping it will give us both the time we need to heal."
<><><><><>
I slept long and hard that night, waking only when coffee was waved under my nose. "What time is it?"
"Ten a.m." Caleb said, handing me the mug.
I blew on the hot coffee and looked him over. "Aren't you a bit late for work?"
"I've been to the office and back. Your dad is here and wants to talk to us."
I put the coffee on the bedside table and my feet on the floor, worry jolting me awake. "What is it? Is someone hurt?"
"Not yet," he said, with a grin. "The Garza boys hitched a ride home, but since no one was there, they came to the police station to turn themselves in."
"They did what? Wait, how did they…?"
"They were hungry and remembered that we fed them before taking them up to the reservation, so they figured I was good for at least one more run to McDonald's. I got them their burgers, put them in a cell and called their social worker. She's trying to find them a place, but in the meantime, I brought them out here."
"Here? What happened to the folks at the reservation?"
"Well that's why your dad is here. They sort of wore out their welcome."
"What'd they do?" I asked, putting my bare feet into slippers and pulling on a robe.
"They set the barn on fire―with the two older brothers in it."
"My God! Was anyone hurt?"
"A couple of backsides got tanned, which only seems fair."
I remembered the teenaged boys and their clear dislike of the newcomers. "I suppose they had good reason."
Caleb said, "They threatened to run away again if they couldn't stay in Wishbone."
"They didn't last a whole week," I said.
"I know," he said, motioning me to follow him into the living room.
My father smiled nervously.
"No! You can't be serious. Dad," I said, pulling him outside. "What're you thinking? They're a couple of hellions."
"Excuse me, but I raised you and your brother by myself, didn't I? I'm retired now with plenty of time on my hands, and it's only for a month until their mother gets out of rehab."
"A lot can happen with these kids in a month," I said. "They tried to burn down a barn with people in it. What if they try to do the same to you?"
"I haven't got a barn. Besides, they have their own room with two separate beds, and when they're not in school I'll keep them busy."
I thought he had lost his mind, but if he was willing to be responsible for them, who was I to argue, so I didn't.
Seeing we'd reached an agreement, the boys happily wrapped their arms around my dad.
"We'll be good," the younger one said, looking up at him with big brown puppy eyes.
"And we'll clean and cook for you," the older one added.
"That won't be necessary," Dad said. "I have a housekeeper and she'll prepare our meals, but you'll have chores to do."
I almost laughed. Coco Lucero hadn't been crazy about the dog as a live in, what she was going to think of two little boys?
"You got any horses? You got a TV? The other family didn't even have a TV."
"I have a TV and a dog."
"Oh, good," the older one said. "Will you take us to the baseball games in Wishbone? Our brother plays for the Red Sox and we always go to the games."
"Sure," my dad said, running a shaky hand through his wispy hair. "I like baseball."
I laughed. "Okay, you have my blessing, Dad. Just don't ask me to babysit."
The boys turned solemn faces to me. "We don't need babysitting. We're going to be real good, and it's only until our mom gets out of rehab."
Feeling sorry I said anything, I asked, "Have you boys had breakfast?"
"I'm still hungry," the little one said.
"We had a breakfast sandwich at McDonald's," The older one said. "But that was hours ago. Whadya got?"
"Bacon and eggs coming up," I said, and left them with Caleb and Dad while I fixed it.
We were finishing up breakfast when I got a call from Pearlie. "You need to get over here, now."
"By here, I suppose you mean the office. Why? Has the state closed us down already?"
"The office. Now. And make it snappy."
I hung up, my earlier good mood gone up in smoke.
"Trouble?" Caleb asked. "You go on, I'll clean up."
Distracted, I nodded my thanks, dressed in a hurry and ran for the Jeep.
Taking the stairs two at a time, I threw open the door to our office and gasped.
Papers were scattered on the floor, our resident skeleton was toppled, and all of the file cabinets had been pushed away from the wall.
The first thing I thought of was that we'd been robbed, but Damian was with Ian and they were on their way to the American Ninja try-ou
ts, Wade and Naomi were dead, and Andy Sokolov was in jail awaiting trial.
Pearlie sat with her hands folded over some papers. "Have a seat," she said.
"Where're the twins?" I asked. "Have they seen this mess? Have you called the police?"
"No need to call the cops and the twins made the mess. Here's their letter," she said, handing me the single sheet from an envelope.
It said,
It's been fun, but you didn't think we were here 'cause we love answering phones, did you? We found his stash and we know you girls will appreciate how we did it. His birthday is April 4th, 1944. We looked in the fourth file cabinet from the left. The forty-fourth file from the front and there was the key taped to the file. Then we looked for the safe. His house was demolished and we know that Pearlie kept the bank statements, so we nixed the idea of a safety deposit box. Sorry, ladies, but we always knew we had to think like Ron―the low-down skunk. As you can see, we found the safe behind the file cabinet. We had the key and all we had to do was figure out the combination. The combination was 04-04-44. That man never could keep a secret from us.
I looked up at Pearlie and sighed. "It would've been nice if they'd left us a few bucks."
"They paid our rent for next month," she said, handing me the payment slip. "In cash, of course. And we have one other bonus."
My eyes were glued on the business-sized envelope in her hands. "Have you read it?"
"Yeah," she said, pushing it over to me. "Open it."
Dear Lalla and Pearlie, If you are reading this then I'm gone, or dead and you two got smart and figured out where I put my safe, or my exes did it for you.
If you were stupid enough to leave them alone in my office for any amount of time, then you can forget about the hundred grand I had in the safe. Though I suppose filthy lucre isn't your thing. You girls never did understand what it takes to be successful. The twins don’t have any such scruples. Those girls have always been too smart for their own good. They're also an irresistible combination of insatiable greed and unprincipled ambition, which is why I loved them long enough to marry them.
Well ladies, I taught you everything I know and if you're still determined to become P.I's, I guess you deserve the chance. It's the least, and the last thing, I can do for you. Bon voyage, amigas.
