Tainted Mountain Page 21

Charlie looked sad. “She’s at her club meeting. You didn’t notice the muted colors of the mountain?”

  It would break Charlie’s heart when he found out Abigail was engaged to Barrett.

  “She didn’t go to the meeting,” Heather said.

  Nora looked up at the apartment and a jolt of fear hit her. “Didn’t you fix that window?” she asked Charlie.

  He followed her gaze to see the edge of the screen peeled back.

  Cole’s head whipped toward the window.

  A crowbar lay in the shadow of the deck railing, as if dropped from the window. Why hadn’t she seen that before? Nora sniffed the air. “Propane.”

  Charlie cocked his grizzled head. “You smell gas?”

  “Where’s the tank?” Cole was already moving to the back of the lodge where Nora pointed.

  Heather sniffed. “Now I smell it.”

  Charlie inhaled deeply. “Nose ain’t been the same since the Radio Fire in ninety-nine.”

  Nora leapt for the apartment stairs. “Mom!”

  Charlie pushed Nora back with surprising force for a degenerating alcoholic. He cleared two stairs with his first leap, Nora on his heels. “Abigail!”

  “Mom!”

  Charlie reached the landing while Nora was only halfway up the stairs. It felt as if cement filled her shoes. She imaged Abigail collapsed on the living room floor, her face contorted in agony, gassed and left for dead.

  Charlie pulled the door. Locked! Someone had snuck in the window and locked the door on the way out. They probably hid inside before Abigail got home. And Abigail, pumped from her jailhouse escape, wouldn’t notice a crowbar or wrecked window.

  “Abigail!” Charlie’s voice sounded like Nora’s heart, splitting with fear. He lunged for the window, wrenching the screen. Nora grabbed a corner, her hand ripping on the sharp metal. She braced herself and pulled it back. Charlie dove inside.

  “Mom!” Propane wafted around Nora.

  “I’ve got her,” Charlie yelled. “Stay back.” He coughed. “There’s too much blood.”

  Blood? “No!” Nora fought the screen. What blood?

  Charlie coughed again.

  “I’m coming,” she yelled.

  “Don’t … ”

  Ka-whump!

  The world erupted in fire and sound.

  Blinding light seared Nora’s eyes for a second time in two days. Shattered glass and other airborne objects crashed into her, stinging and bruising. The stairs disintegrated and suddenly there was nothing under her feet. The sickening drop of her heart and stomach ended when she crashed onto the deck amid shards of glass, splinters, and burning debris. Pain exploded along her spine and she couldn’t breathe. It seemed like forever before her mind caught up to her body and she sucked air into her lungs.

  Flames leapt from the window and stretched out the apartment doorway, with the door itself now tilted off its hinges. Smoke scorched the blue sky and blistering heat seared Nora’s face and legs. She jumped to her feet and screamed before she was aware she’d opened her mouth.

  “Mom!”

  She charged for the ragged remains of the stair railing and tried to climb the wobbly structure to the apartment. “Mom! Charlie!”

  Rough arms pulled her back.

  Through the roar of the flames Heather yelled. “You can’t go in there!”

  “Mom!” She fought against the arms but they dragged away.

  Heather stepped in front of Nora. “Charlie will get her out.”

  The arms around her felt like iron, but Nora fought to escape. She had to get to Abigail.

  Nora succeeded in twisting away long enough to see that Cole held her. She didn’t get more than half a step away before he latched onto her, pinning her arms to her sides and lifting her off the ground.

  She kicked and jerked. “Abigail needs me!” Nora had to pull her mother and Charlie out of the apartment before they burned. God, why wasn’t her mother on a cruise somewhere? And Charlie, he didn’t deserve to be hurt.

  “Call the fire department,” she screamed at Heather.

  Panic ringed Heather like a sulfuric aura. “They won’t get here in time.”

  It didn’t matter how hard Nora fought, the arms around her didn’t weaken. “Help them! Don’t let this happen.”

  Her mother was vital and beautiful. Abigail couldn’t burn up. She had too much to do. She had to stick around and straighten Nora out. She had to keep breaking men’s hearts and spending too much money. Oh please God, let her be okay.

  “If you quit fighting I’ll go get them,” Cole said, his mouth close to her ear.

  Nora remembered a self-defense class she’d taken and with the one move she’d actually practiced, she lifted both arms.

  Not prepared, Cole lost his grip.

  Nora lunged for the railing, determined to save Abigail.

  Heather shouted something, probably trying to get Nora to stop.

  Nora launched her flight, aiming for a spot several feet up the railing where a small portion of a step remained, hoping momentum would carry her to the entryway of the apartment and the wall of flames.

  She flew by Heather before she registered that Heather had the crowbar in her hand. There was only a split-second before it smacked into the back of her head.

  White pain exploded and the world disappeared.

  Thirty-Three

  Nora surfaced to the sway of Heather’s RAV4 and the thrump-thrump of wheels flying across seams on the highway. Where was the cannonball that struck her head? Her skull throbbed.

  Abigail.

  Nora tried to sit but her arms wouldn’t push her off the backseat. “What the hell?” Pain shot across her back and every muscle felt like a giant pulsing welt. Her arms and face stung with an army of cuts. At this rate Nora felt sure she wouldn’t survive another day.

  Heather glanced over her shoulder then back to the road. “Good. You’re awake.”

  “I’m tied up. What’s wrong with you? Let me go.” The pounding in her head made her want to throw up, and she’d gladly aim for the back of Heather’s neck if she could sit up.

  “If you didn’t wake up, like in the next five minutes, I was going to take you to the hospital in Winslow. And I didn’t want to do that.”

  “Where’s Abigail?” Nora tugged at the loose knots trussing her wrists to her ankles.

  Heather didn’t respond.

  “What happened? Is she alive? What about Charlie?” The knots loosened more.

  “I don’t know. Cole pulled them out of the apartment and then we got you to the car. After that he went back and I tied you up and took off. The ambulance was there before we got off the mountain. I’m sure she’s okay.”

  Nora slipped her wrists out of the rope. Where did the rope come from? “You’re not sure of anything. Take me to the hospital.”

  Heather shook her head. “Cole is there. He’ll take care of them.”

  Nora sat up and reached over the seat. She wanted to grab the wheel and stomp on the gas but they were speeding down the interstate. “Did it ever occur to you Cole might have set the explosion? Where the hell are we?”

  “Twin Arrows. Cole is on your side, Nora.”

  Halfway between Flagstaff and Winslow. “Turn around.”

  “Cole said to take you to the rez.”

  “No.”

  Heather’s phone jangled with that rap bullshit. She pushed it to her ear and mumbled. She shoved the phone at Nora. “It’s Cole.”

  Nora grabbed it. “How’s my mother?”

  At the sound of Cole’s Wyoming drawl she wanted to reach through the line and pull the words from him. “She’s in the emergency room now. I don’t have any information. She’s burned, but I can’t tell much. She was unconscious and has a big gash on her forehead. They don’t know if there’s any internal damage f
rom the explosion.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He let out a breath. “We just don’t know.”

  She shouted above the rush of blood in her ears, fighting to stay focused. “Charlie?”

  “He’s at least got a concussion and bad burns on one of his hands. They’re working on him too.”

  Nora slammed the back of the seat with her palm. “I need to be there.”

  Cole’s reasonable tone tethered her. “Listen, Nora. You have to stay away. The cops—”

  “I don’t care about the cops.”

  “Okay, how about this: someone tried to kill you. It might be Big Elk, might be someone else. Whoever it is, they aren’t going to give up. The rez is the safest place for you right now.”

  “The same rez where they tried to shove me off the cliff this morning?”

  “Nora, trust me. I wouldn’t put you in danger.”

  “I can’t just hide out there when my mother’s in the hospital.”

  “Just until tomorrow. I’m close to figuring this out.”

  “I won’t stay there.”

  “Heather can make sure you do.”

  “Right. She can’t tie a knot to save her skin.”

  Exasperation crept into his voice. “Don’t force it, Nora. Heather knows enough people at the rez that keeping you won’t be a problem. And if you’d like another knock to the head, my guess is that it can be arranged.”

  “Kidnapping.”

  “If that’s what it takes to keep you safe.”

  “Did you try to kill my mother?”

  “Damn it! Quit being stupid!”

  She breathed fire into the phone, imagining it branding the side of his face.

  “Nora?”

  “What?”

  “I … we care about you. I’ll take care of Abigail and Charlie.”

  She didn’t answer.

  “See you tomorrow.” He hung up.

  Nora slumped in the back of the Toyota. She spent the remaining hour-and-half ride churning. They drove to a different mesa than where they’d gone to the dance that morning and turned onto a dusty road. Heather pulled in behind a dilapidated shed and cut the engine.

  “We’ll hide the car here and walk the rest of the way. There’s a village at the top of this mesa. We’ll stay there tonight.”

  Nora folded her arms. “I’m not moving from this car. Take me back.”

  Heather pulled the keys from the ignition and shrugged. “Whatever.” She climbed from the car, slung her leather bag over her shoulder, and slammed the door.

  Nora wasn’t going anywhere without the keys. Maybe she could steal them. That being her only plan, she needed to stay with the keys and wait for an opportunity when Heather was distracted. Nora climbed from the vehicle and tromped up the trail after Heather in silence.

  The sun hovered over the western horizon, casting ominous shadows. She didn’t see anyone lying in wait for her, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.

  She followed Heather up a worn yellow dirt trail, switchbacking along the side of the nearly vertical wall. A narrow paved road wound its way up the mesa some distance from the trail. Too bad Heather hadn’t felt it safe enough to drive up; it might have saved Nora from marching in rhythm to the pounding pain in her head, the ache in her back, and the dull returning throb of her ankle. She named the lump on the back of her head Mount Heather.

  Once the trail intersected the road, where at some point in the last two centuries some hopeful Native American had built a structure, long since abandoned. “Why didn’t you park behind this place? Your car would have been hidden and we wouldn’t have to walk so far.”

  Heather grinned. “I could have. If I’d remembered it was here. Sorry about that.”

  “You’re sorry. Right.”

  They topped the mesa not far from a tall structure with a flat roof similar to those in the village they’d been in earlier. They walked around the edge of the building to the plaza. Buildings like aboriginal pueblos constructed of desert sand created the enclosure.

  Heather looked over her shoulder and knocked on one of the doors. Without waiting for an answer, she opened it and directed Nora inside.

  A ruin of a couch covered with a pale yellow sheet furnished the cramped room with cracked linoleum floors. One single bulb hung from the low ceiling, casting shadows on the round kitchen table and three chairs. Two folding lawn chairs, a stack of boxes, and general clutter clustered in one side of the room. A small refrigerator and stove several decades old were shoved into a corner of the room next to a long table that served as a kitchen counter. Everything looked shabby and second—maybe even third—hand.

  “How’s your head?” Heather asked.

  Nora wanted to pummel the girl. She kept silent.

  Heather plopped her bag on the table and rummaged in it. After bringing out a bottle of pain relievers, she poured water from a pitcher into a plastic cup and brought it to Nora. “I only hit you to protect you”

  “You didn’t enjoy it even a little bit?”

  Heather scowled at her. “I didn’t hit you hard.”

  Nora’s neck felt like cement and the dim space closed in on her. “Take me back to Flagstaff.”

  “I can’t. It’s for your own good.”

  Nora struggled not to choke on the pills sliding down her throat. “I’ve got to see her.”

  “See? I knew you loved Abigail.” Heather’s eyes filled with tears.

  “She’s the most annoying and strongest woman I know. She’s made my life hell. Of course I love her.”

  “You don’t show it.”

  Nora couldn’t deny her guilt, so she changed the subject. “Who lives here?”

  “Benny.” Heather looked around and headed for a closed door. “I’ve got to pee.”

  The leather bag didn’t quite cover the car keys. As soon as the bathroom door clicked shut, Nora snatched them and sped out of the house, sprinting for the RAV4.

  It would take a couple of hours to return to Flagstaff. She’d go straight to the hospital and make sure Abigail was okay. But of course Abigail would be fine. Nora couldn’t allow herself to think her mother might be seriously injured.

  Nora rounded the corner of the building and raced for the trail. She needed to get a head start on Heather. Crashing down the path, she rounded a switchback to the ruins that intersected the road. She spotted a sparkle of metal behind the pile of stone and stopped to listen.

  Someone else was out here on the mesa. Alex? Big Elk? Some other Native American who would love to see her disappear? She slowed her breathing, hoping to be invisible and tiptoed closer.

  A black Mercedes. Barrett. Maybe not her favorite person, but at least he’d take her back to town. He was probably out here looking for Heather. Maybe Nora would rat Heather out and Barrett would lock her up. Might not be a bad way to keep the foolish girl out of danger.

  Voices floated to her at the same time the top of another black vehicle came into view. It didn’t really matter who Barrett spoke with, at least he could take her back to Flagstaff. Nora started forward, opening her mouth to call out to him.

  Something slammed into her face and wrapped around her mouth. A hand. An arm pulled her against a hard body and dragged her back into the shadows of the crumbling rock wall.

  Alex! He’d found her and would slit her throat. Nora bucked against the immovable captor, who seemed not much taller than herself.

  Suddenly Heather stood in front of her with sweat running down the side of her face. Her eyes wide, she pointed toward the vehicle and shook her head in frantic insistence. “Big Elk,” she mouthed.

  Nora stopped struggling.

  The man’s hand still clamped Nora’s head in a vise with her lips pressed into her teeth. Her head was smashed into his chest, pressing painfully on the lump from Heath
er’s batting practice.

  “And Poppy,” Heather whispered. She nodded to the man holding Nora.

  The pressure lessened as if testing Nora; when she didn’t scream, the arm fell away. She spun around to see the man dressed in the clown costume, still covered in yellow mud and black face paint. Benny. He stared at her with no expression.

  Fight, run, scream. Or stay here and hide. Nora had to choose: Benny or Big Elk? Big Elk definitely wanted her dead. Benny seemed less dangerous.

  Heather dropped down and crept to the edge of the ruins. Nora followed. They peered around the rubble. The sun sucked daylight from the mesa, taking it beyond the horizon, leaving Nora and Heather in deep shadow. Barrett and Big Elk stood between Barrett’s black Mercedes and Big Elk’s black Escalade, a convoy of death.

  Thirty-Four

  “Bottom line is that you didn’t deliver.” Barrett had found it surprisingly easy to contact Big Elk to meet him here. Where the possibility of extortion existed, Big Elk would be first to the party.

  Big Elk faced Barrett with the insolence of a terrier unaware he’s about to be ripped to shreds in the jaws of a Rottweiler. “I’m waiting for the balance to go up in that bank account. When that happens, you’ll get your vote.”

  Barrett was going through the motions. He only had to keep Big Elk talking for a couple of minutes. “Too late.”

  “You might change your mind when I tell you I’ve figured out you killed Scott Abbott and his girlfriend.”

  Bluff and bluster. Barrett remained expressionless.

  Big Elk grinned. “You covered your tracks pretty well.”

  The back driver’s side door of Barrett’s Mercedes whispered open, and two black cowboy boots stepped into the dust. The rest of the rough-looking dark man seemed to float out of the vehicle like an oil slick on the ocean. He moved like a shadow, silent, out of Big Elk’s periphery.

  Barrett kept his eyes riveted on Big Elk’s while the dark man slipped behind Big Elk. Barrett would enjoy seeing that smug look fade from his face.

  “Okay, you got me.” Big Elk laughed. “I don’t have proof. I don’t even know why you did it. But I can get the cops sniffing around. You don’t want that, do you, Mac?”