“Where do you think it goes?” Slater asked.
Bones took a deep breath. “Only one way to find out.”
Chapter 13
Bones took the steps with painstaking care, trying hard to make no sound as he crept forward. The stepping stones led them on a curving path through the black water, bending around ancient oak and cypress and beneath gray curtains of Spanish moss, until the way suddenly opened up and Bones froze.
Before them lay an island in the middle of the swamp. Dotted with huge oak trees, their overlapping branches forming a roof-like canopy, the place was well hidden, even from above. The odor he now associated with the skunk ape hung heavy in the air.
“Should we go closer?” Slater whispered.
“Let’s wait a minute.” He turned out his light and allowed his eyes to fully adjust to the darkness.
The largest oak at the center of the island was hollowed out at the base, cave-like. As he watched, he saw something move there. Slater grabbed his wrist and squeezed. She saw it too.
Something emerged from the darkness out into the moonlight. Its shape was vaguely human, with cords of muscles knotting its broad shoulders, short neck, and powerful arms and legs. A thatch of thick hair hung down to its shoulders, but otherwise it had little more body hair than an adult homo sapiens. Its brow jutted out in a prominent ridge, shading eyes that were mere pools of black in the dim light.
“Oh my God.” Slater’s faint voice scarcely reached his ear. “It really is a primitive human. But what kind is it? Neanderthal? Cro Magnon? Something else?”
“I don’t know. It’s not exactly my area of expertise.”
Slater continued to grip his wrist. “But humans didn’t come to the Americas until late in history. They were Paleo-Indians, not primitive hominids.”
“I guess that theory needs revising. Trust me, it’s far from the strangest thing I’ve ever learned.”
Bones continued to gaze at the creature, mesmerized by its presence, by its very reality. The thing walked hunched over, sometimes scurrying on all fours, other times loping along on two legs as it moved back and forth along the waterline. Finally it picked up a long, pointed stick, and returned to the edge of the water. A faint sliver of silver light shone on its face, and Bones finally got a good look at it.
“I think it’s young. No facial hair, not a lot of body hair either.”
It squatted there, its prominent jaw working as it gazed intently at the water. Slowly it raised the sharpened stick.
“What’s it doing?” Slater asked.
In a flash, it brought the stick down, and drew it back to reveal a skewered fish flopping at the end.
“Fishing.” Bones grinned and turned toward Slater. “What are you doing?”
Slater held her phone up, recording video of the scene.
“I have to.” She snatched the phone in close to her body and took a step back. “This is too incredible to just ignore. I can’t pretend… whoa!” She stepped backward into the water, her arms flailing as she struggled to regain her balance, and her phone went flying. Bones managed to catch her before she fell. “My phone!” she cried.
Before Bones could tell her to forget the phone, the creature on the island let out a low, guttural cry.
“It heard you. Look out!” They ducked. A moment later, one of the now-familiar stones flew through the air and smacked into a cypress tree.
“Sorry,” Slater whispered.
“Let’s get out of here. Stay low.”
Slater turned but before she could take a step another stone splashed into the water inches from her feet.
Bones drew his Glock. He didn’t want to do this, but he was not going to let them die here. He took aim as the creature reached back to throw again. If it forced his hand…
“Bones, wait!” Slater grabbed the barrel of the Glock and tried to force it down. “Look over there.” She nodded toward the hollowed-out tree.
Another creature emerged, this one clearly an older female. She held an infant to her breast. She grunted something that must have been language, because the young male dropped the stones he was holding and scurried away.
A few moments later, another creature appeared, this one an older male. He was huge — much broader and more muscular than the young male. The footprints they had found must have been his.
He reached the female’s side and put an arm around her. The intimacy… the humanness of the moment took Bones’ breath away. He holstered his pistol and rose to his feet. The two creatures met his gaze, and he thought he saw sadness and resignation there.
“Do you think there are any more?” Slater whispered.
“I don’t see any.” Bones was surprised to hear a catch in his voice. Was this the last, tiny remnant, of a primitive people who’d called this swamp home?
“Let’s just leave them alone.” Slater said. She took his hand, and they turned and retraced their steps out of the swamp.
Chapter 14
Logan was seated on the tailgate of Bones’ truck when they finally reached the dirt road. He was dressed in street clothes and carried no weapon that Bones could see. He and Bones exchanged a long, level stare. Finally, Logan broke the silence.
“How was your hike?”
“A complete waste of time. Nothing but mud out there.”
Logan folded his arms and looked up at the sky. “Did you happen to take any pictures or videos of all that nothing?”
Bones shook his head. “Not a thing.”
Logan nodded. “How about we quit dancing around each other and just tell the truth?”
“We found them,” Slater said, “but we’re not going to do anything about it. We don’t have any photos or video and we’re not going to tell anyone what we saw. As far as we’re concerned, the mystery ended when we found out that an unnamed local faked the tracks. That’s how the episode of our show is going to play out, anyway.”
“Thank you. I mean it.” He slid down off the tailgate, walked over, and shook hands with Bones and Slater.
“So, what’s the real story?” Bones asked.
“My family’s lived on this land for more than a hundred years, and we’ve known about the skunk apes pretty much the whole time. We’ve been protecting them, trying to keep people from finding out the real story. It wasn’t that hard until Sarasota really started to grow. We still don’t get too many folks coming into this neck of the woods, but it happens.”
“What’s the deal with the fake footprints?” Bones asked. “Seems like that would just draw the kind of attention you don’t want.”
“We’ve never made any footprints. Matter of fact, we try to wipe out all we find. That’s one of the reasons Jack wanders so far afield. The skunk apes range wide sometimes and we do our best to cover their tracks. The false feet and such, that’s stuff I had made in case anyone came snooping around.” He flashed them a grin. “If somebody got too close to the truth, I figured I’d tell them me and Jack had faked the whole thing.”
“We saw shoeprints leading toward their island,” Bones said. “Do you have any interaction with them?”
“Not really. We keep an eye out for them, take them food. Fruit and the like. But we keep our distance.”
“Did your family ever consider bringing in someone who could protect them?” Slater asked. “University researchers or a government agency?”
Logan barked a laugh. “Protect? Hell, no. They’d take them away for study. If they really were just a breed of ape that didn’t belong here, an exotic species of orangutan or something, that might be one thing, but primitive humans? There’s no way the government would pass up a chance to study their genetics and such. They wouldn’t leave them out here in the swamp where anyone and anything could get to them.”