“Left?”
“Right.”
“Right?”
“No, you’re right, turn left.”
“Cookie, really?” I asked into the phone. Yost’s property was proving much harder to find than I’d originally thought, even with Cookie on Google Maps back on her home computer pointing the way, since I kept losing the GPS signal on my phone.
When I’d left my apartment, Garrett’s guy was there, and for once, he was awake. I had to sneak around to Cookie’s silver Taurus and take it instead, a move that I informed her of when I called and woke her up at five thirty to let her know. Naturally I explained how I’d been forced to take her car as a ploy to sneak past my tail. Plus I was out of gas.
Thinking back, I realized I could’ve waited until I actually got to Pecos to tell her I’d committed a felony in the pursuit of justice, since I really hadn’t needed her help until I actually arrived in Pecos over an hour later. But waking her up was fun. And I needed to think about something other than the picture that had been scorched into my mind.
“Sorry,” she said, still a bit groggy even after her shower. “No right, just left.”
“Then I should be there, but I don’t see a cabin.” At this point, I was so tired, I was seeing two of everything except a cabin. I fought to stay focused with a hard blink. “These trees all look alike. I think they’re twins or quadruplets or something.”
“Is there a trail of any kind?” she asked.
I pulled her car into a small clearing just off a side road, rubbed my eyes, then looked around. “Well, yeah, it doesn’t look like much, though. And I don’t know if your car will make it through the brush.”
She gasped. “Don’t you dare take my car down a mountain trail.”
“Really? Because it did great on the first one, aside from that rear axle thing.”
“Charley Davidson!”
“Just kidding, for crying out loud.” Geez, she was touchy about her car.
I wondered if I should tell her about the picture and decided abso-freaking-lutely. If I had to be haunted for the rest of my days, then by golly, she did, too. No idea why. Misery loves company, I guess. The emotion, not the Jeep. I missed it dearly, but now was hardly the time to dwell on it.
“Maybe you should wait for Garrett,” she said. “Where the hell is he?”
“He wasn’t on duty when I left, remember? And since I ditched his phone, we have no way to get ahold of him that I know of.”
“What about Angel?”
“I told him to stick to the doctor like green on guacamole. He won’t be showing up anytime soon.”
“Damn. You need to figure out a way to summon that kid.”
“I know.” I folded out of her Taurus’s hard vinyl seat, still trying to shake off the layer of sorrow that’d enveloped me the instant I saw Reyes bound and blindfolded. “Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown Garrett’s phone in the pond.”
“Ya think?”
I sighed. Nothing I could do about it now. “Okay, I’m heading that way. I’ll call if I break a leg or get eaten by a bear.”
“Play like a rock.”
“Now?”
“No, if a bear starts eating you.”
I thought a moment before replying. “Do they have screaming, sobbing rocks, ’cause that’s probably what I’ll be doing if a bear is gnawing my arm off.”
“It would be difficult to just lay there and be eaten alive, huh?”
“Ya think?”
I stumbled up the trail and found a rustic hunting cabin with a carved sign that read YOST. After trying the door and finding it locked, naturally, I accidently broke a window. I had neither the time nor the inclination for locksmithing. A woman’s life was at stake. Dr. Yost could bill me.
Finding nothing out of the ordinary inside, I walked the perimeter of the house, searching for a basement or other underground structure while the little girl with the kitchen knife followed me. She was a curious lot. I turned to her and knelt down, hoping I wouldn’t inadvertently get stabbed in the eye.
“Wednesday … do you mind if I call you Wednesday?” Receiving no answer, I asked, “Do you see any kind of an underground structure?” Her arms hung rigid at her sides, one hand clutching on to the knife like her life depended on it, and she stared straight past me, her ashen face almost afraid. I decided to make physical contact, but when I went to touch her shoulder, she disappeared. Naturally. She reappeared on the hood of a four-wheeler, standing at attention, staring into nothing.
I stepped over to study it just as my phone rang. It was Nathan Yost.
“Hello, Ms. Davidson?” he asked when I answered.
“This is Charley.”
The ATV looked pretty beat up, but most four-wheelers did. This one was a utility ATV with an electric winch and cable on the back.
“This is Nathan Yost. I was just wondering if you’ve had a chance to look over my wife’s case.”
While the winch looked relatively new, the part of the ATV it was attached to was broken, like the doctor had used it on something really heavy. Unless he was trying to pull trees out by the roots, I couldn’t imagine what he’d need a winch for. But, admittedly, I wasn’t a guy. Winching was apparently a guy thing. As was wenching.
“I’m looking into it right now, Doctor.” I scanned the area again.
“So, you’ll take the case?” he asked, trying really hard to sound excited.
“Absolutely.”
Nothing else on the property seemed out of the ordinary. It was a nondescript cabin, and though it had electricity and running water, it was actually a little lower key than what I’d expected the billionaire doctor to have. Inside was a variety of camping paraphernalia, lanterns, sleeping bags, climbing equipment, rope.
“Thank you,” he said, forcing relief into his voice. “Thank you so much.”
“I’m happy to do it. I’ll call you the minute I know something.”
“Thank you again.”
After hanging up, I trudged about the place for a solid hour and decided the whole trip had been a complete waste of time. My last cup of coffee was wearing thin as I stumbled back to the Taurus. I looked off in the distance and saw Wednesday again, her back to me, staring into the side of a mountain. With any luck, she’d stay there.
After digging the phone out of my pocket, I called Cookie.
“Any luck?” she asked.
“Does bad count?”
“Damn. I was really hoping we were on to something.”
“Bear!” I screamed when I saw a real live bear lumbering through the trees.
“Oh, my god! Stop, drop, and roll!”
“What?” I asked, keeping my eyes locked on to it. I’d never seen one outside of a zoo. I suddenly felt sweet and salty. Maybe a little crunchy.
“Just do it!” she shouted.
“Stop, drop, and roll? That’s your solution to a bear attack?” I asked as I unlocked her Taurus and climbed inside.
“No, wait, that’s if you’re on fire, huh?”
Just as I started to close the door before the bear made a U-turn and decided to brunch on my innards, I felt it. A heartbeat, faint. Fear, a little stronger. I quieted and stepped back out of the car.
“Cookie, wait, I feel something.”
“Did he get you?” she asked, almost screaming in panic. We totally needed to get outdoors more.
“No, hon, just wait a sec.” I stepped closer to the trees and scanned the area for Teresa, all the while keeping an eye out for the bear.
“What? Is it her?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I felt a pulse of fear.”
“Yell!” she yelled, scaring the bejesus out of me.