A Game of Greed and Deception: A Mystery Drama (13 page)

“Well
Maria, let me explain everything. I hurt my leg in an old animal trap that was
covered up in the snow. That was probably there a long time and I just didn’t
see it. The snow storm really knocked out the heat and water, but only for a
few days. It is a good test of survival for us too. And what you saw in the
cellar I set up in case Stephen finds a way inside. It’s all just one big test.
If there was really any problem, your father would have had the police out here
right away, and you know that. Heck, there is even a hotel down the road a few
miles that he can stay at if he chickened out.”

“My
dad is not a chicken. But I want to talk to him and know that he is ok. He
never said anything to me about this.”

“Sweetie,
that is because he didn’t know about it! See, it was all a surprise test for
him. If he knew anything about this in advance then he woulda found a way to
cheat and make things easier. Your father prefers the easiest ways to deal with
challenges in life. In a couple days we will all be going home and having fun
talking all about it. But meanwhile, we have to play along. He knows that you
are safe here inside the cabin but he will worry about you. We have to act as
if we’re scared and trapped here in the cabin so Stephen can come and save us.
We have to try to find him if he is hiding outside near the cabin. More than
anything, he will want to make sure that you are ok. He will want to save you
from the cold and snow. He has tried to come inside a few times but was not
successful. Here, I’ll show you.”

Tammy
brought Maria into the half-bathroom. “See that small window? He tried to open
it and see if he could fit inside. Well, he figured out that he couldn’t get in
through there, and tore his shirt on the tree branch as you can see.”

Maria
looked up and nodded.

“Ok
then. So now you know what is going on. I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you
earlier, but Dr. Baker didn’t want you go make a mistake and help Stephen. You
can understand that, can’t you honey? So we need to work together on this. I’m
gonna need you to help find Stephen out in the cold. I want you to do whatever
I ask you to, Maria. Dr. Baker told me to use you in any way that I see fit to
help Stephen. He needs to feel stronger in himself and there is no better way
than to come save his favorite little girl. Now why don’t you take a little nap
and then we’ll figure out what to do next.”

Quietly,
Maria went into her room and closed the door behind her.

TWELVE

The hunter laid the carcass
of a sandy-brown colored fox out on the stump of a tree. The meat should still
be fresh enough, he thought, since it had been preserved in the cold. He
removed a rope that was tied around the throat of the fox, and then took a deep
whiff of the animal’s body.
Ya, that baby
is good and ready for eatin.

He
carefully skinned the fox with his knife, and then gutted it. Then he cut the
meat off from the bones and sliced it into smaller pieces. He set the meat
aside so that he could prepare the fire pit. As he turned around, he heard a
sound and felt something moving near his feet. He stood still as two dangerous
looking snakes slithered on the ground close to him. They looked hungry, and he
had failed to notice the large, metal cage that had held them not far from his
cooking area.

***

Tammy went into the master
bedroom and closed the door. She sat on the bed as her mind raced, filled with
intrigue from all that Darnell had told her. Then she took her cell phone,
connected to the internet, and did a Google search on the “Arapaho Princess
Treasure”.
I’ll be damned – according to
this, it’s real. It says here, ‘In the early 1800’s a group of Spaniards
settled in the foothills of the Apishapa valley and found
 
a very rich gold mine. When the Spaniards later
got attacked by Utes, they buried eight burrow-loads of 50 lb. gold bars above
the
Purgatorie
River
five miles east of Las Animas. The
gold bars were buried 300 ft. away from an arrangement of rocks, the largest of
which was in the shape of a doll. The Spanish were killed before they could go
back and get their gold. Many have searched since but the treasure has never been
recovered’.

Then
she did some more research on the hunting cabin in
Fraser
,
CO
and its long history.
It was built around
1862 by a quarryman named Oliver who moved to the
Colorado
Territory
in the wake of the
Pike’s Peak
Gold Rush. He gave up his search for gold
after years of hard rock mining and used the cabin to live in and sell meats to
locals. After several years of running the meat business, he hired a slave to
work for him and live in the cabin. Two years later the slave went missing, and
Oliver was arrested on multiple counts of murder. It was discovered that he had
dug out tunnels beneath the cabin in which were found the remains of many
victims.

Tammy
quickly skimmed through the rest of the information.
There ain’t nothing else here about him finding any treasure or bribing
authorities, only that he was executed in front of a small gathering of people.
But he was a quarryman, so he was trained to excavate mines for precious gems.
That would explain his digging out some kind of basement. And if he did bring
gold back from Las Animas, then that was never discovered either.

***

Maria stood inside her
bedroom gazing out the window.
I guess
I’ll just have to do what Tammy tells me to. If dad is ok then Tammy will help
me find him. But I know she was the one who tore his shirt in the bedroom. Why
did she do that? Dad didn’t even wear that shirt out here. And the owl. Who
killed it and why? And the story about grandpa hurting dad – she doesn’t want
me to know something. Tammy isn’t even my real mom but sure wants to act like
it.
She opened the window, stuck her head out, and looked upwards. The owl
was gone and the edge of the rooftop was covered in snow with icicles hanging
down.

She
closed the window, and went over and sat at the roll top desk. She admired the
alternating dark and light colors of the grains in the wood and the golden
patina. Wondering again about the small rectangular wood pieces with little
knobs, she pulled on them, frustrated that nothing opened. Then Maria twisted
one of the knobs, and it turned to the right. She twisted the other knobs and
one more turned to the right as well, causing a center section of the back of
the desk to slide open. She pulled the section out and it was another empty
drawer. Maria stuck her hand inside the now empty space and felt around,
pulling out only a bit of dust. But as she did, the wood at the bottom of the
space jiggled a bit. She pulled up on the piece of wood that was underneath the
drawer and it came off, revealing a secret compartment.

Inside
the compartment there was a small violet-colored velvet pouch closed with a
drawstring. Maria took the pouch out and squeezed it, feeling some small pieces
inside. She opened the pouch and dumped the contents out on the surface of the
antique desk. Her mouth hung open at the sight of around two dozen teeth that
appeared to be from human skulls. Some of the teeth were in tact and others
were broken into tiny pieces. She quickly put all of them back into the pouch
and hid it inside the desk again. She was about to close the secret compartment
when she noticed something that she hadn’t seen before: a small, antique brass
key. It had a circular bow with a small piece of twine tied to it. Maria took
the key and stuck it in her pocket. Then she put the center section back in
place again.

***

Tammy took the flashlight
from the bookshelf in the living room. Then she went into the walk-in closet,
turned on a small overhead light, and opened the door to the wine cellar. She
left the door open to have a little extra light and went down the stairs. She
proceeded cautiously, remembering what Maria had told her about the stinging
insects. Once at the bottom, she continued along the passageway into the main
room using the flashlight to light her way.

Tammy
was shocked to find that the cured meats that had been hanging from the ceiling
were gone. There was only some rope left dangling, and an old hunting knife was
on the floor. She picked up the knife to have a better look at it. It was an
antique, with a long, thin steel blade, and a carved deer antler handle. She
gasped when she realized where she had seen this knife before: it was the same
one that the old hunter had out in the woods.

He must have come down here for the meats
when I was in the den with Darnell. But why didn’t he knock on the door? I even
offered to give him the fucking meats if he was hungry. I can’t have him coming
in and out of the cabin as he pleases.

She
examined the partially-smoked cigar and recognized the fragrance when she
smelled it but couldn’t put her finger on where she had smelled it before. Then
she went over to the bale of hay and looked in front of it to see the scattered
hay on the floor. She moved the hay and discovered where the pit had been there
was now a piece of plywood. She tried to move the wood but it was secured to
the floor.

Tammy
turned to look at the barrels and saw the broken glass and lantern on the
floor. Then she discovered the paper-like grey hibernation cells. She examined
the surrounding area more closely with the flashlight but found no signs of the
hornet queens.

One
of her bed sheets was lying on top of one of the barrels. Tammy moved the sheet
and found the words written with lipstick on top of the barrel.
Son of a bitch, so Stephen WAS down here
last night. He’s trying to make it look like I wrote that. But how does he know
when to come in and out without me seeing him? And why cover up the pit – did
he know Maria was coming down here?

Tammy
went around the outside of the room, checking inside each of the small cubby
holes until she found the metal vice again. Behind the vice she discovered a
small roll of duct tape
.
Tammy
grinned.
Perfect. I have just the idea
for this. I’ll just have to get Stephen’s attention with poor little Maria.
It’s time that he plays by my rules. I can’t let him come in the cabin again
tonight since there is no telling what he might do.
She picked up the vice,
and found that is was very heavy, and looked quite new. The base of the vice
had two holes in it, with a screw in each one, ready to be mounted. She took
the vice and duct tape, and headed out of the wine cellar, back up the stairs into
the master bedroom.

Then
Tammy went into the den. Reaching up, she slid one of the shelving boards out
from the book case. She used the blade of the dagger to pound a couple of holes
into the board with one of the long nails from the can on the shelf. Then she
turned the screws into the holes until they bore through the wood. Finally, she
was able to attach the vice to the long board. She grabbed one of the wooden
chairs and slammed it firmly to the floor to test how sturdy it was. Then she
grabbed and pulled on the legs to make sure that they couldn’t easily be
broken. The chair was very well-made and solid.

She
took the chair, remaining section of rope from the chest, hunting knife, duct
tape, board with vice attached, and went into the living room. She peered out
the front window to see outside. The wind was still, with nearly two feet of
snow piled up on the ground between the roadside and the cabin front porch. The
floor of the porch was covered with a mixture of snow and ice. Tammy opened the
front door, set the chair on the porch, and dropped the rope, board, and
dagger. Then she went over and opened Maria’s door. “How are you doing in
there? I checked out the wine cellar again. I guess you saw the cigar that I
left down there. I had even put Stephen’s lighter next to it for a while, just
in case he got into the cabin somehow. I wanted him to feel at home here. Safe
and secure, you know what I mean? And what I wrote on the barrel was just a
test again, Maria. Just something else to help Stephen overcome those fears.”

Maria
looked at Tammy and gave a little nod.

Tammy
smiled. “I need you to come with me please. We need to get your father’s
attention.”

Maria
looked puzzled. “Get his attention for what?”

“Oh,
we just need to do what the doctor told us to, Maria. Come along now, it’s all
for your father’s own good.”

Maria
followed Tammy to the front porch. Tammy pushed the legs of the chair down into
the snow until it was securely against the porch floor. “Have a seat on the
chair Maria.”

Maria
glanced up at Tammy. “Why? It’s really cold out here.”

“I
done told you Maria. Stephen is hiding somewhere outside the cabin and we have
to get him to come out and overcome his fears. If he thinks that you need him
he’ll come here to take care of you. Being there for his little girl only makes
him stronger. Protecting you is probably the most important thing in his life.
So just sit in the chair.”

Reluctantly,
Maria sat on the wooden chair. “Now, I’m gonna tie you up securely, and don’t
whine about it.” Tammy cut the rope in two pieces. She pulled Maria’s hands
behind the back of the chair.

Maria
turned her head quickly around to peer at Tammy. “Wait! Why do you need to tie
me up?”

“I
done told you. Stephen needs to think that you’re in danger. Then he’ll see
you, come out to help you, and get past being scared of anything. We have to do
this.” Tammy was giggling inside at the thought of hurting Maria. The feeling
that she got from holding the girl’s arms so that she couldn’t move them felt
powerful. She bound Maria’s hands and then secured them to the back of the
chair.

Then
she tied her feet together with the other piece of rope, put it around the
chair legs, and pulled as tight as she could securing it with a knot.

Maria
winced and gazed up at Tammy. “Ouch. That’s so tight and it’s hurting my legs.
Why do you have to tie me?”

Tammy
ignored Maria’s complaint. She took the board and wedged it in between the
railings on either side of the porch. Then she moved the board until Maria’s
head was just in front of the vice.
Stephen
baby, I got your little girl. What are you gonna do about it?
Licking her
lips, she grabbed Maria’s hair and pulled her head downwards into the vice.

“Ouch,
stop pulling my hair Tammy, you’re hurting me. Stop!” shrieked Maria.

Tammy
held on to her hair while grabbing the handle to the vice. “Now I am gonna
tighten this vice some. Don’t complain if it hurts. Just show me how strong you
are. You can take it.” She turned the handle on the vice until each side of it
pressed firmly against Maria’s head.

Maria
winced and squinted her eyes from the pain. “Ouch, not so tight. My head is so
cold and my arms hurt!”

“Now
don’t be a baby. You will stay here until Stephen comes to get you. I’ll be
inside keeping an eye out for him. If you get scared, then just scream for your
damn father. He’ll figure out what to do.” Tammy went back inside and closed
the front door.

Tammy
went into the half bathroom and took the bottle of Chloroform along with a
small towel. Then she sat on one of the armchairs in front of the living room
window with the hunting knife in hand.

All right Stephen, I’m all ready for you.
You’ve done got me on edge, baby, and I’m not gonna back down now. In fact, I’m
upping the stakes some. You better come save poor little Maria who is stuck out
alone in the cold.
Tammy leaned back in the chair a bit and
giggled.
He thinks he is so damn smart.
Making all that money and meeting all those important people went to his
squatty little head. Well I’m about to teach him a damn lesson. He’ll go nuts
when he sees his little girl tied up like that and I’ll be waiting. I’ll have
to save little Maria from her own father and tell her that he went crazy when I
slit his throat with this knife.