In Harm’s Way - Ch. 32-33

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

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

???????????We separated and stepped as gently as we could into the thick underbrush. I had my eye out for poison oak, but instead found myself trapped in wild grape vines. I had begun to pull out my pruning shears when I realized cut vines would be a dead giveaway that someone had passed this way, so I put them back in my pack. Getting myself untangled, however, was a time-consuming business, and soon I found myself alone in the woods. I had only the roughest idea of which direction everyone had gone in.

????????????I was in the last stages of extraction when I thought I heard whispering, and froze. The voices were coming from the clearing we had just vacated. I crouched as low as I could to avoid detection.

“I know I heard them come this way,” said one voice. “They must be around here somewhere.”

“Well I don’t see any sign of them,” said a second voice. A voice that sounded somewhat familiar. Where had I heard that voice before???“The path ends here,” he continued. “That’s a rock face. I don’t think they climbed it.”

I was afraid to raise my head for a glimpse of them. They grumbled among themselves for a few minutes and then the voices got fainter as they headed back along the path.

????????????Finally, I pulled myself free and set off in the general direction I thought Betty had taken. I was doubly careful to tread softly and keep a low profile as I wandered through the thickets that filled the forest. I was completely lost, and I knew it.?I should stay where I am and let them find me,?I thought, quickly disregarding my own advice and moving in yet another new direction.

????????????Rustling in the undergrowth stopped me in my tracks. I was hyper-alert, frightened as much by the prospect of wild animals as by the men who had been searching for us. The crackle of broken branches nearby held me breathless, afraid to move. I tried to puff myself up large to intimidate a predator. I would have to stare it down.

????????????“Woof!” said the monster as it toppled me to the ground.?

Heart pounding, I whispered, “Woof to you too, my friend.”

Being licked to death was a welcome exchange for what I had feared. I got my feet under me again, and risked a command that could go very wrong. “Find!” I said, and hoped he would lead me to live bodies, not dead ones.

Wolf sniffed around a little and then took off through the woods, while I struggled to keep up with him. In no time we approached a low stone hut hidden by thick undergrowth. By the time I reached it, Wolf was slobbering contentedly on Hiram’s shirt, his filthy paws on Hiram’s shoulders.

“There you are,” said Hiram. “We wondered what had become of you.”

I told him about the men I had seen. “Someone is watching us. We need to be careful.”

“I’ll warn the others,” he said.

It was dark inside the hut, and a little cramped with so many of us inside. One whole wall was filled with books, and another held family photos. One wall, however, stood out. It was a wall filled with individual wooden boxes. Each had its own lock, and all were fitted into a network of carved vines and leaves. It was incredibly intricate and beautiful, a work of art. I was speechless.

“Do all of these have keys?” asked Hiram. He went closer to examine the locks. Some of the boxes were tiny, but others were much larger. Some were tall and thin, while others were long and flat. “What is in them?” he asked Betty.

“I have no idea,” she said. “He didn’t leave the keys.??They have been locked for as long as I can remember.”

“I wonder if the key in the locket opens one of them.” Hiram walked along the wall, looking at each of the boxes in turn. Some were too high for him to examine.

“ They’re probably empty,” said Betty. “He had nothing of value to put in them.”

“Hiram is hoping for treasure,” I said. “He is a hopeless romantic.”

“Nothing wrong with hoping,” said Fletch.

“Nothing at all,” Carmen agreed. “ I could use some treasure.”

“Could we try it?” asked Hiram? He was nothing if not single-minded.

“Here,” said Betty, handing him the key.

“Thank you,” Hiram said, taking the key from her and looking closely at it. “I hope it will open one of these boxes. Which one should I try?”

I pointed to the smallest box, knowing Hiram wanted to check the largest one.?I can’t help it. I have a mean streak.

Hiram dutifully plunged the key into the lock of the smallest box, and looked surprised when it turned easily. I could see disappointment in his face. Had hoped for something bigger.

“Would you like to open it?” Hiram asked Betty. He stepped back and made room for her to approach.

Betty stepped forward and slowly opened the door of the box. She peered inside the tiny space and pulled out a ring. “Oh my goodness!” she said. “ Diego bought this for your mother.” Turning to hold it out to Carmen, she said, “You should have this.”

Carmen took the ring and looked at it with teary eyes. “It’s beautiful,” she said. It was silver, with a ruby setting. Simple, but lovely. Each of us admired it as Carmen placed it on her finger and held it out for us to see.

“He was never able to give it to her,” said Betty. “She disappeared before he had the chance. He spent the rest of his life looking for her. He feared she had been deported.”

Carmen looked at Betty with sad eyes. “She left me with people she’d just met, when I was a tiny baby. She meant to come back for me, but she never did. All they knew about my family was my grandmother’s name, Crazy Betty Diez. I was named Carmen, after my other grandmother. That’s what my mother told them. They called me Carmen Diez-Gonzales, so people would believe I was a relative. They were good people. They did the best they could for me.”

Hiram handed the key back to Betty. “We had better be getting back,” he said. It’s a long walk.” He started towards the door, but Fletch hung back.

“I can’t leave her yet,” he said. “I need to be sure she will be safe.”

“What about the children?” asked Hiram.

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” I lied. “Hope is with them.”

~

I was exhausted by the time Hiram and I got back to my house. “Do you want to tell her, or shall I,” I said.

Hiram and I looked at each other. “ Maybe we should both go,” he said. “She isn’t going to be happy about this.”

Woof had gone on ahead of us and headed for home, so it was just Hiram and I who piled into my car for the short drive to Fletch’s house. “ What are we going to tell her?” said Hiram.

“I don’t think we should say that we volunteered her,” I said. “Maybe just say that Fletch needed to stay with Carmen for another day?”

“She’s not going to buy that,” he said.

I chuckled. “I’ll bet Fletch’s house will already be unrecognizable.”

“Think what she could do with another day,” Hiram said, smiling.

“Those poor kids. This may be a life-altering experience for them.” I pulled up in front of Fletch’s house and parked.?This is going to be good!?I thought.?She is going to be so thrilled.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

???????????I stood for a moment outside the door of the apartment, trying to feel a little of the anguish she must be feeling before I knocked on the door. After a moment I heard hesitant footsteps, and then the door swung open to reveal a changed woman.

“Oralee?” I said. “Oralee Dove?”?

????????????“Yes,” she replied, red-eyed and uncertain. “Chat? Aren’t you Chat Chance?” She burst into tears.

????????????“I’m so sorry, Oralee,” I said, and meant it. “ He must have meant so much to you.”

????????????She stepped back and ushered me inside. “ You must have loved him, too,” she said, sniffling. “He admired you so much. He talked about you all the time.”

????????????Yikes! This was a wrinkle I hadn’t suspected.?“He will be missed,” I said, not totally a lie. “ How have you been holding up?”

????????????“ I feel so lost without him,” said Oralee. “He was the only person in the Sheriff’s Office who treated me with any respect.”

????????????Really???What I had observed was the opposite of respect. I seemed to recall an impression of two squabbling children. “It must be hard for you to go back there without him,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t go back. “It would seem so empty.”

????????????“He was so sweet to me,” said Oralee. “We almost always had lunch together.. I took him his own bag of sandwiches sometimes. Or we shared mine.”

????????????Ah! I knew there must be a catch.?“It’s nice to have companionship,” I said. “ We all need someone to feel close to.”?Even a rat bastard like Vaughn.

????????????“Do you have any idea why he was coming out to my place so often?” I asked. “ Had he told you why?”

????????????“But you?must?know,” she said. “He was visiting you, of course.”

????????????“He told you that?”?If he had been alive, I would have killed him myself!

????????????“He thought the world of you,” said Oralee. “I was so jealous.”

????????????I would have tortured him before I killed him!?“What else did he tell you?” I asked through gritted teeth.

????????????“He made it all sound so romantic,” said Oralee. “ He even showed me where you scratched him with your fingernails during the lovemaking.”

????????????Did he indeed? “He never mentioned a pyracantha bush? Or a large dog?” My fury was mounting.

????????????“He did say he was going to kill a dog … “

????????????“Did he say why?” I asked. “Killing a dog seems pretty brutal. Did he give a reason?”

????????????“He was doing it for you, he said. The dog was a pest, following you everywhere … “. She hesitated for a moment. “ He said it growled at him whenever he got near you.”

????????????That was me growling.?“Did he say anything about migrants?” I asked. “Or someone named Carmen?”

????????????“Oh!” said Oralee, startled. “He told me?that?was top secret. He said I must never tell anyone.”

????????????“You can tell me,” I crossed my fingers. “We were close,” I lied. “ I need to know how much he told you.”

????????????Little by little, I wormed out the information Oralee was trying so hard to withhold. According to Vaughn, he and I had a sultry relationship. I couldn’t get enough of his manly body.?Me retching!?He had been approached by an ICE agent, and conscripted into the search for Carmen Diez-Gonzales, an illegal alien and criminal who had been seen prowling near my home. He was surprised when I found her lifeless body in the woods. He tried to take over the investigation but Sheriff Morris stayed heavily involved. Finally, he??reported his findings to the ICE agent, and then suddenly he was dead.

????????????“Do you know how he got in touch with the ICE agent?” I asked her.

????????????“ He had a phone number,” said Oralee. “He had it on his phone, I think. But he also had it written in his notebook.”

????????????“Do you know where his notebook is?” I asked, assuming it was something he carried with him.

????????????“ It might be here,” said Oralee. “Sometimes he left it here for safekeeping. He didn’t want the other deputies to know what he was doing. The ICE man swore him to secrecy.”

????????????“ Would you look, please?” I asked, trying not to sound overly interested. “Someone should let ICE know what has happened to him.”

????????????Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, Oralee went off to look for the notebook, and returned after a short search with a small black zippered notebook in hand. “Here it is,” she said. “Would you call them? I wouldn’t know what to say.”

????????????“I should call from my house,” I said, “ so you won’t be involved. You don’t want them to know that he told you about his investigation.”

????????????“Oh, you’re right!” said Oralee. “I’m glad you thought of that. I don’t dare get involved, not with me working for the Sheriff and all.” She thrust the notebook into my hands.

????????????“I’m going right home and call them,” I said, lying through my teeth. “ Thank you for trusting me with this information.”

????????????“ You loved him, too,” said Oralee. “ He would want you to know.”

????????????When pigs fly!?I thought, but I smiled and swallowed her words without a grimace.

????????????“I’ll see you at the funeral,” said Oralee. “ Maybe we can sit together.”

????????????Yes, all of his lovers should sit together.?“Maybe so,” I said, smiling, or maybe grimacing a little. She seemed to think I was fighting tears.

????????????“You poor thing,” she said gently. “We can mourn together.”