A Game of Greed and Deception: A Mystery Drama (8 page)

EIGHT

Tammy collapsed on the sofa.
This is so out of character for Stephen.
I’ve known that little man long enough, and he’s not confrontational, and
rarely aggressive. It just don’t make sense that all of a sudden he’s totally
on to me, and sneaking inside the cabin. If he knew about anything in advance then
why would he even come on the trip in the first place? WHY?
A sudden
migraine attack had her reeling in pain. It was a sharp, needling pain on the
sides of her temples. Goosebumps spread rapidly over her skin. She placed the
palms of her hands over her eyes, blocking out her thoughts and trying to
relax. She lost her sense of reality, drifting off slowly into a dream-like
state. She could not stop remembering what happened, in that court room, when
she was seventeen…

***

“Ms. Caldwell, do you have
anything else to say on your behalf before we impose a sentence?” The judge
looked right at Tammy from behind the bench.

“But
WHY
am I being found guilty?” Tammy
sobbed. “All I done was use mom’s credit card for some shopping.”

“Ms.
Caldwell, you stole that card without your parents knowing anything about it. You
proceeded to charge more than three thousand dollars to that card in less than
a week before you were caught. Then you tried to pose as your mother when
confronted with the charges by the credit card company. That is fraud and
identity theft to which there is no excuse.”

“But
I just went shopping for some clothes! I deserved them because I had just been
through a really tough break-up with my boyfriend and needed something to calm
down. And I saw these beautiful designer dresses at the mall and knew that I
had to have them! You were a teenager once. Don’t you ever see something that
you know you gotta have and decide to go and get it? It’s my parents fault for
not getting me the clothes that I need to be happy!”

The
judge looked sternly at Tammy. “You never have the right to lie, steal, or
impersonate, Ms. Caldwell. You are almost an adult and need to start behaving
like one. There are consequences to your actions for which you will now take
responsibility.”

Tears
streamed down Tammy’s face. “But my mom doesn’t even
LISTEN
when I talk to her about boys. All she cares about is my
damn modeling career which is going to shit anyways. She only cares about me if
there’s something in it for herself.”

“Watch
your language or I will add a contempt of court charge as well.”

Tammy
wiped her eyes and regained her composure. “Just ask my mother why dad cheated
on her for two years, can you do that for me? If she thinks she knows
everything, then why didn’t she please her man enough to keep him home? Maybe
if she did that, our family wouldn’t have gone to crap.”

“Enough,
Ms. Caldwell!” The judge slammed the gavel down.

“Fine
then, do what you want to. You seem like you know it all anyways. I’m just a
dumb country girl.” She looked at her mother. “I’m sorry that I was bad. I
won’t ever do it again. We’ll just see what happens later, now won’t we,
mommy.”

***

Tammy snapped out of the
paralyzing spell and the pain slowly went away. She rubbed her hands through
her hair, took a few deep breaths, and tried to control her thoughts of rage.
So that son of a bitch is trying to make me
look like the crazy one to Maria. Well I am not about to let him make me seem
like the damn fool. He’s got heat blowing into the den so he must’ve come in
through there when I was sleeping. He must’ve slept in there with the door
locked last night. Does he really think that he can just keep coming in and out
without me catching him? That window to the den is on the other side of the
cabin and I bet I’ll find Stephen somewhere close by.

She
went and took the hunting knife from the den. She grinned at the blood stains
on its blade and stuck it into her pocket. With her winter coat and snow boots
back on, she headed out the front door into the wintry evening. This time she
turned to her left off the front porch and moved slowly along the icy ground.
Having learned her lesson from the last fall, Tammy was careful to look before
stepping ahead and be sure that the terrain was level. She made her way to the
edge of the cabin and peered around it to see what was on the other side. The
ground near the side of the cabin sloped steadily downward and continued like
this all the way to the edge of the forest. On the right side, the ground rose
up drastically at the line of pine trees. A thick pile of snow had formed
clinging to the large roots of the trees.

There ain’t no way I’m gonna slide down
that dang slope again.
Tammy moved more to the right and just
into the pine tree forest where the ground was higher and more level. There was
less snow under the dense canopy and she was able to move along more easily.
After a few moments she came to a spot more or less in front of where the window
in the den would be. Tammy crept closer to the edge of the trees and peeked out
between two of them. A couple feet to the right of the window there was a
wooden board placed on top of a stack of concrete cinder blocks. This hand-made
bridge rose several feet above the base of the sloped ground. Tammy estimated
the board to be around just five feet below the level of the roof.

So he built this to get up on and come
inside the den. But that’s a long reach from there, and it isn’t even in front
of the damn window. If there is one thing Stephen ain’t it’s athletic. I know
he’s been camping before but never realized he was able to build anything like
this.

Tammy
stepped between the trees and onto the wooden board which served as a bridge. It
was wobbly so she bent her knees to keep her balance better. She crept up to
the wall next to the window and stood up slowly to see over the edge of the
roof. It was slanted in different directions and covered in snow except for a
few spots where some had been removed and pushed into piles. A two by four
board was pushed up against one of the small piles. There was also something
else sticking partially up out of the snow. She moved her head up closer to the
edge of the roof and squinted to examine the object more closely. She
recognized the edge of a tan ostrich cap toe dress shoe from Barker Black.
Well that is definitely Stephen’s shoe, he
wore them to dinner. So he climbed up on the roof still in his dress shoes and
lost one in the snow. And then what? I can’t see him moving around with one
shoe, so he must have wanted me to see it there. But his winter boots are still
packed in his damn luggage! Did he just come in through the window from on top
of the roof? Where in the hell is he now?

She
turned around and went back down away from the wooden bridge and through the
opening into the forest. Tammy paused a moment to catch her breath and gazed
into a canopy of pines where the last few rays of sunlight filtered through the
trees. She noticed something glistening a bit off into the forest. Curious, she
walked cautiously through the trees. Then she came to a big thick tree where
very little snow had managed to fall onto the surrounding ground. Near the
trunk of the tree was a large cage made from wooden boards. The cage was low to
the ground, but long and wide. It was covered with a thin wire mesh and inside
some leaves and stones were scattered about.
That looks like an animal cage.
I
dunno what kind of animal would be kept inside it, but somebody sure as hell
put it out here for a reason. It looks practically brand spanking new and there
isn’t even any dirt or snow on it.
Around the cage were some winding,
curved marks in the soil.

Suddenly,
there was a rustling noise coming from deeper in the forest. It sounded as if
something dry was being crushed. Tammy stood still, trying to look through the
trees to see what was there. There was silence for a few moments and then she
heard the noise again – the crisp, crunching of leaves and branches. Tammy
grabbed the hunting knife from her coat pocket and held it firmly. If that was
Stephen out there, he was going to get a very rude awakening, she thought.

She
stepped very carefully, trying to avoid making any noise. The crunching sound
got steadily louder and Tammy noticed some kind of movement off in the
distance. She moved from tree trunk to tree trunk, hiding behind them to make
sure that she wouldn’t be easily detected. As she got closer to the source of
the noise, she could make out the silhouette of a man, kneeling down and doing
something with his hands. His back was to Tammy, so she kept moving closer to
him with long slow strides. She held the hunting knife firmly in her sweaty
palm, ready to strike if necessary.

***

   
Maria slowly opened the door to her room and peeked into the living
room. She was sure that she had heard Tammy go outside and was relieved when
she saw that the living room was empty. She went through the living room and
snuck into the master bedroom. Then she looked around for Tammy’s cell phone
and found it sitting on top of the end table. Maria took the cell phone so that
she could call the police. To her dismay, the key pad was locked and she didn’t
know the four digit code. She punched in some random combinations of numbers
hoping to get lucky. Frustrated, she put the phone back on top of the table,
and returned to her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

***

She
got within several feet of this man and realized that is certainly was not
Stephen. Whoever was kneeling down had long, dirty black hair, and was wearing
a heavily soiled coat. She could also smell a bit of a foul stench coming from
him. He must have heard her last step, and jumped to his feet in a couple of
seconds, standing face to face with Tammy, just a few feet away. His face was
weather-beaten and lined and his beady eyes stared her down like a cowboy
facing off before a gunfight.

Tammy
tried to keep from panicking. “I – I’m sorry. I heard something and didn’t know
who was there. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

The
man stayed still, huffing and puffing deep breaths of cold air, with his hands
held out in front of him. Next to him was a small pit with ashes in it. It
appeared that he had been breaking up some sticks to start a fire. Next to the
fire pit was the carcass of a small animal. The man bent his knees slowly and
reached down next to the carcass to grab a steel knife with a long, sharp
blade.
 
He never took his eyes off of
Tammy.

Tammy
moved back a step. She fought off the urge to run away as fast as she could.
“Please – I’m not looking for any trouble. I just, well...I’m renting the cabin
out here for the weekend. I’m just a visitor here and I sure didn’t want to
disturb you. It’s just that my husband is missing so I was out looking for him.
Can you understand me?”

The
man pointed to her hand. “The knife.
DROP
it.”

Tammy
slowly put the knife back in her coat pocket and opened her empty hands in
front of her. “There, it’s put away. I didn’t know who you were, that was the
only reason I was holding it.”

He
pointed at her again. “So who are
YOU?
That
your cabin? Where you from?”

“No,
no. I’m just visiting
Colorado
with my family. The owners of this cabin rent it out as a vacation spot. Do you
live somewhere out here? What are you doing stuck out in the cold?”

The
haggard looking man carefully set his knife back on top of the animal carcass.
He took a step towards Tammy moving with a noticeable limp. He took a deep
whiff and curled his nostrils at the smell of her perfume. “I live here, lady.
Out in these woods. Ain’t got no home. I’m a hunter. A natural man the way God
made me.”

Tammy
nodded faintly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that anyone else was out here. I
would offer to fix you some food, but there really ain’t much of anything left
back inside…”

“You
want to offer
ME
some food? Ain’t
that a joke. I been using that cabin when nobody else is taking it. The owner
knows me and lets me stay on this property. He put them meats down there to
cure some time ago. Those meats come from game that I hunted. I gave them to
him as a gift for letting me live on his land. Must be well and good by now.
Did you eat them? They delicious, ain’t they? I know how to take care of
myself.”

“I’m
sure you do. Probably better than me. I wasn’t doubting that. I haven’t eaten
the meats but thought that they looked delicious. But you’re telling me that
you’ve actually been inside the cabin?”

“
NO
, lady. Don’t you listen?” The hunter
pointed at Tammy. “I give them fresh meats to the guy who owns this place. He
cures them himself. Anyone can eat them. That way he lets me live out here
without trouble. Sure, I’ve snuck in a few times when the cabin is empty, but
not in some months.”

“I
see. Did you by chance kill a brown fox in the woods on the other side of the
cabin and leave it hanging from the trees?”

“No,
lady, I didn’t. I don’t leave nothing just laying around after I kill it.”

“Okay.
The cured meats are still hanging in the cellar. Do you want me to bring them
back to you, if you’re hungry?”

The
man chuckled. “No thanks, I’m good for now. As you can see I got me plenty of
meat right here ready to cook.” He reached over and patted the dead carcass.
“Them meats that I hung down there are for an emergency when I ain’t got
nothing else to eat. You sure is a pretty little thing. You still didn’t tell
me where you from.”