Bones chuckled. He decided he liked this lady.
“Actually, he directed us right into a tiger trap,” Slater said.
Jack held up his hands. “I didn’t know that pit was there. Ow!”
His grandmother gave his hair a twist and then let him go. “You knew. Now go fetch me a switch.” As Jack trudged down the steps and toward the woods, head hung low, she folded her arms and addressed the group. “I hope none of you have any objection to some old-fashioned discipline. The boy ain’t got no mama and someone’s got to teach him to mind.”
“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been switched in my life,” Bones said. “Even now I think my grandfather would whip me if I stepped out of line.”
“If you don’t mind my asking,” Slater began, “have you seen anything unusual here?”
“Unusual?”
“Something attacked us in the woods. We followed its trail which led us here. I’m just wondering if you saw who or what did it.”
The old woman shook her head. “Just me and Jack here.”
“The pit we fell into, what’s it for?” Slater asked.
The sound of a car approaching drew their attention and they turned to see a police cruiser rolling slowly up the driveway.
“You’ll have to ask him.” That ended the conversation as she stepped back inside and closed the door.
The car rolled to a stop and Deputy Logan stepped out and closed the door behind him. He pocketed his sunglasses and took a seat on the hood of his car.
“You mind telling me what you’re doing here?”
“We’re doing an investigation,” Slater said, coming down off the steps. “Something attacked us in the park. We followed its tracks which led here.”
“What do you mean by attacked?” Logan’ kept his tone level but something in his eyes suggested alarm, even fear.
“Something was chunking rocks the size of my fist at us,” Bones said. “Any one of them could have killed us.”
“Don’t you mean ‘someone’? There’s not an animal around here that can throw a rock, unless the gators have figured out how to slap them with their tails.”
Slater cocked her head. “Isn’t there?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Logan snapped.
“Deputy,” Bones began, “there’s not a man alive who could throw a rock that big with the velocity those things were flying at our heads.”
“We also found footprints.” Dave piped up.
Slater turned a hard eye on her cameraman, whose face reddened.
“I’m going to have to ask you to turn over anything you collected,” Logan said. “Video, photographs, cameras, cell phones and especially any castings you made of tracks.”
“On whose authority?” Bones resisted the urge to get in the deputy’s face.
“The county sheriff’s department, that’s who.” Logan rested his hand on his sidearm. “Don’t make me arrest you.”
Slater moved between Bones and the deputy. “First of all, you and I both know the law. You don’t have probable cause to confiscate our property. Second, everything is already uploaded to the cloud — photos, video, audio, all of it. Taking our belongings would be a waste of your time and ours, and it would make unwanted publicity for your department.”
Logan’ jaw worked as he stared past Slater at Bones.
“We might as well tell them, Pa.” Jack’s voice broke the tension as the young man slunk out of the woods, trailing a long, thin stick behind him.
“He’s your kid?” Bones asked.
Logan nodded.
“Tell us what?” Slater asked.
“Nothing.” Logan said.
“Just go on and tell them.” Jack’s grandmother called out the front window. “You knew it couldn’t last forever.”
Logan’ shoulders sagged. “I suppose you’re going to find out sooner or later. Turn your camera on and let’s get this over with.” He flashed a rueful grin at Slater, who stared at him with a bemused expression. “You ain’t figured it out yet?”
Slater shook her head.
“The skunk ape is just a myth. We’ve been faking it.”
Chapter 11
Slater appeared poleaxed. After a few seconds of stunned silence, she found her voice.
“Who is we?”
“Me and my boy.” Logan pointed at Jack. “But before we go any further I have to ask that you don’t show my face or give my name. Don’t show my house, either. I want that in writing.”
Slater sighed. “Fair enough. I’ll even change your voice. Hold on a minute.” She dug a few papers out of her backpack and she and Logan took a few minutes to complete them. When all was ready, Logan led them to the outbuilding behind the trailer.
“This is where we keep our stuff.” He unlocked a metal gun cabinet and took out a pair of false feet. They were made of some sort of rubber, and were intricately detailed. All the lines and creases one would expect to see in an actual foot were carefully rendered. The big toe was angled downward so it would bite deeper into the earth than would the other toes. Velcro straps extended from the rubber on either side. Presumably the wearer could strap them to whatever shoes he had on.
Bones took one and looked it over. It was about the size of the other prints they’d seen. It certainly could have been the source.
“What about weight distribution?” Slater asked. “If someone with an average sized foot wears this, the weight will be too close to the center.”
“It’s got a metal frame inside. It distributes the weight but still has a little flexibility.”
“Where’d you get it?” Slater asked.
“I had it made, but that’s all I’ll say. I don’t want to bring anyone else into this”
Slater nodded. “But why go to all this trouble? What did you hope to gain?”
Logan smiled sheepishly. “I could tell you it was about publicity for the town, or to keep a favorite legend alive, but it wouldn’t be true. The fact is, I did it because I thought it was funny. It started out as a way of messing with campers. Rattle the bushes, leave a couple of tracks, and get out of there.” He chuckled. “I got bored with it, but then I started hearing about a fellow named Gambles who was taking the skunk ape thing way too seriously, so I decided to mess with him too.”
“We met him,” Slater said. “He’ll be disappointed when he hears.”
“Don’t bet on it. He’s one of them true believers. If he doesn’t want to hear it, it’ll just bounce right off of him.” Logan looked down and scuffed the dirt with his booted toe. “Anyway, I started feeling bad about that, but then Jack got curious, so I let him do it sometimes.”
“What about the strong smell?” Carly chimed in.
“Bobcat urine, fox urine, whatever the store’s got in stock.”
“You can buy that stuff?” Dave asked.
“People use it to keep pests away,” Bones said. He handed the false foot to Slater, turned, and took a few steps back to the shed door where he leaned against the frame and gazed out at the late afternoon sun. Jack was approaching, walking gingerly and grimacing. Apparently his grandmother had put the switch to use. The sight of the boy sparked something in his mind.
“So, which one of you attacked us today?”
“It must have been the boy.” Logan spat on the ground. “I’m sorry about that. I’m sure he wasn’t trying to hurt you; he just has bad aim with that sling of his.”
“A slingshot couldn’t throw a stone as large as the ones that were hurled at us, much less achieve the velocity,” Slater said. “Those things were really flying. It’s no exaggeration to say we could have been killed.”
“Not a slingshot. A sling. You know, like David and Goliath. They’re easy to make.”
“I don’t see how Jack could have done it,” Bone said, turning back to face Logan. “This place is a long way from where we ran into him. How could he have come here, gotten what he needed, and then gotten back in time to attack us?”