In Harm’s Way - Ch. 30

Excerpt from rough draft of In Harm’s Way by Pat Otterness

CHAPTER THIRTY

????????????Hope set out early to talk to Fletcher Fox. I was waiting for Hiram so we could get started up the hill to look for Betty. This time we would follow the path beside the tributary to Davis Creek, the one I had come down before. It would be a lot faster. While I waited, I put together a fanny pack. Foremost were several bottles of water, and some snack bars. Pruning shears were next, because a person could get badly tangled in vines up there. Insect repellant. I didn’t have any bear spray, so I stuck in a can of Hope’s hair spray, just in case. I checked to be sure the locket was in my jeans. I was good to go.

????????????Hope wasn’t back yet, and I soon discovered why. Fletcher Fox came racing up in his old truck just as Hiram arrived on his rusty bike. I heard them greeting each other and went outside.

????????????“Hi, Fletch!” I said. “What’s up.”

????????????“I want to go with you,” he said. “I need to see that Carmen is really okay.”

????????????“What about your boys?” I asked. “Who’s minding your boys?”

????????????“I asked your sister to watch them,” said Fletch. “I don’t think she was happy about it, but she agreed that I should go with you.”

????????????I’d like to be a fly on the wall in that cabin.?Child-minding was NOT what Hope had planned for today. I guess Jon Mason could rest easy for a few more hours.

????????????“I guess that would be okay,” I said. I made a last stop in the restroom. I wasn’t big on dropping my pants later in the great outdoors.

????????????The trip up the tributary was, indeed, a lot faster than my earlier one through the woods. My ruined hiking boots melded to my feet as I walked through the water from time to time and squelched as I moved back onto the path. My feet were going to look like prunes when I finally took off my wet boots.. Harm and Fletch had opted for going barefoot in the water. They put their shoes on again when they moved back to the path. They were getting blisters, because they’d stuffed their socks in their pockets. It took us only about an hour to reach the place where I had seen Betty before.

????????????“Now what?” asked Hiram.

“I guess we’re going to have to explore,” I said.

“Look for paths,” said Hiram. “Trampled vegetation.”

“ Broken branches, maybe,” added Fletch.?

We all looked around, each of us searching in a different direction. There were trampled areas that led off in all directions, but none was very promising.

“Deer,” I said. Animals come here to drink. “I think we should follow the tributary up farther.”

“There’s nothing but a rock face ahead,” said Hiram, after a few minutes of walking. It looks like the water is coming right out of the rock.

“Seepage,” I said. “Ground water. There are cracks in the rock, and the water seeps out from underground. Pure spring water.”

Fletch looked at the wall of rock and scratched his head of unruly red hair. “Seems to me, if I was going to live on a mountainside, I’d want a source of good clean water,” he said.

“Good thinking,” I said. “But where? Look for any paths from this spot.”

“ I think it won’t be obvious,” said Fletch. “If they’re trying to stay hidden, they aren’t going to leave an obvious trail.”

I looked all around.??Somewhere not obvious, I thought. Where would I go if I was trying to hide? I walked up closer to the rock face. Could it be climbed, I wondered. Footholds? Handholds? None that I could see.

“We might as well have our snacks while we have the fresh water handy,” I said as I handed out snack bars. We sat on big rocks that had fallen from the cliff face.

“Maybe instead of looking for them, we should let them find us,” said Fletch.

“How would we do that?” Hiram asked. “ If they don’t know we’re here, they won’t be looking for us.”

“So maybe we ought to let them know we’re here,” said Fletch, standing up and walking over to the rock face. “Carmen!” he called. “It’s me. It’s Fletch! Carmen!” He walked up and down in front of the seepage, shouting her name.

“Betty!” I called, “It’s Chat Chance! I’m here with trusted friends. We need to speak to you!”

While Fletch and I called, Hiram listened for replies. “Hush,” he told us. “I hear something.”

There was a rustling in the brush behind us and a young woman came running out. She threw herself into Fletch’s arms, sobbing.

Betty emerged moments later, running as well. She stopped short when she saw the three of us. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. “It isn’t safe! Who are these men?”

Carmen spoke up. “This is Fletch,” she said. “I would trust him with my life.”

“And this is Hiram,” I added. “I would trust him with mine.” As I spoke, I realized it was true. I felt a niggle of surprise.?Who knew?

Betty bristled, still taking a defensive stance. “You’d better be right,” she said. “Lives depend on it.”

“We have news,” I said. “Vaughn has been killed. Shot. We don’t know who did it. Or why.”

“Dead? Really?” Betty looked stunned by the news. “ Who would kill a cop?”

“No idea,” I said. Then, pulling out the locket, I held it out to her. “ Here is something I think belongs to you.”

“Betty took the locket and examined it. “ I’ve never seen this before,“ she said. “Why do you think it belongs to me?”

“Inside,” I told her, “there’s an inscription. You?are?Betty Diez, right?”

Betty tried to open the locket. “Show me,” she said, handing the locket back to me.

Oops!?“Anyone have a pin” I asked. Fletcher and Carmen had drifted over to see the locket.

“ I have one,” said Carmen, unfastening a safety pin that held her shirt together. “Will this work?

I took it from her and inserted the pin into the tiny hole. Sure enough, it popped open. I held it out to Betty and she took it from me.

“ Where is this inscription,” she asked. She was looking oddly at the key inside.

“ Under the key,” I said.

Betty lifted they key tenderly out of the locket and held it up, a strange look on her face. Then she glanced down and read the inscription. “ Oh my goodness,” she said, and??sank to her knees. “Diego!”