A Valley to Die For (27 page)

“I’ll get the rope out of the car,” Henry said. “If we have it to help mark our path, we can’t lose our way. Then we can work in a relay system, with me out front, and you two spaced so we’ll always be in touch. Shouldn’t we be safe, Carrie? This rock looks solid enough.

“I do hear water falling into what sounds like a lake somewhere down that passage. I’m in favor of exploring the dry tunnels first. Anyway, I think it’s worth a try. Do you two? Are you both all right so far? No claustrophobia? No big doubts?”

They both shook their heads.

“Good. Shall we look farther then?”

“Sure, let’s,” Susan said. “Since Carrie and I are smaller, one of us should be first down the tunnels.”

“I’ll get the rope,” Henry said. “We can talk about who goes first later. We may find something worthwhile yet.”

Carrie’s hopes began to rise as they headed back toward the entrance with Henry in the lead. If he felt hopeful, she could too. Maybe they would find something to stop the quarry after all!

Henry had just started out onto the path and was turning to help Susan, who was behind him, when three loud cracks echoed through the cave. Before Carrie had time to do more than duck, Susan had fallen back against her, and Henry was lying on the path. She could see him quite clearly. There was blood running down his face.

Chapter XXI

Rifle!

Ice crystals of fear shot through her, and with them came one clear memory after another.

Oh, dear God.
She hadn’t listened, hadn’t understood the danger.

Her silent prayer was instant and frantic.

She ducked again and shut her eyes as two more bullets hit the stone just inside the cave opening, sending sharp chips flying like shrapnel. Then she raised her head and began to slide toward the mouth of the cave, struggling to get to Henry with the weight of Susan’s body still on top of her. Henry was where... the rifle... could reach.

Susan moved, then pushed herself sideways, rolling away. Free of the encumbrance, Carrie crawled rapidly toward Henry. “Are you all right?” she asked Susan, without looking at her.

“Yes, just a bump, but Henry... look. He pushed me out of the way so quickly... even before I could think. Oh, look at the blood! Oh, Carrie! Pray he’s not... not... ”

They scooted side by side to the opening, reached for Henry’s feet, and tugged him away from the path just as another bullet hit next to them, spattering rock chips.

Carrie, who had always thought women’s screams were melodramatic nonsense created by scriptwriters, screamed, “Stop that!” as she and Susan pulled Henry into the cave.

For a moment, everything was very still as Carrie, blinking her eyes to stop the tears, reached for Henry’s hand. “Please, God,” she whispered, “I know now, but don’t let me be too late!”

Susan said, “He’s breathing.”

With her free hand, Carrie pulled a wad of facial tissues from her pocket and began to wipe at the blood on Henry’s face, trying to see where it was coming from, while Susan brushed at the wet snow in his hair.

“He’s lost his cap,” Susan said.

Suddenly, miraculously, Henry opened his eyes.

He said, quite clearly, “Wish I had a camera.”

“
What?
”

“A camera. I’d like a picture of your faces to keep. No man deserves so much concern. But don’t worry... don’t think it’s much. Must have just sliced my forehead... lucky.” His eyes went shut again.

Carrie and Susan stared at each other, then Carrie began, “Henry, what should I... ?”

He squinted his eyes back open, took the tissues from her hand, and held them to his forehead. “Nothing. I’ll be okay. Right now it just smarts.” He slid against the cave wall, pushing his body up enough so he could look them over. “Are you both all right?”

“Just a bump on my head,” Susan said. “That’s better than being killed. Otherwise, we’re both okay. But why is that maniac shooting at us?” She looked at Carrie, her eyes questioning. “Who is it? It can’t be the quarry owner. He’d be crazy, trying to kill all three of us just to protect his stupid quarry. It’s too much to be believed, and Roger and Shirley will hear him anyway.”

“Roger won’t,” Henry said flatly. “I talked with him this morning. He broke a tooth and went to the dentist. He didn’t want to leave, but I convinced him we’d be fine. Shirley’s alone, and the snow may muffle the shots enough that they sound like a hunter in the distance. Besides, she wouldn’t leave the baby, though she might call someone if she realized there was trouble.”

Susan’s voice trembled as she said, “That man wouldn’t, he wouldn’t hurt Johnny or Shirley, would he?” She bent her head and dug in her pocket for a tissue.

Carrie noticed that Henry wasn’t attempting to sit upright. She was trying hard not to show how panicky she felt, and it was a good thing Susan couldn’t see the worry in Henry’s eyes as he said, “Oh no, he’d have no reason to.”

Each of them was very quiet for a few moments, then Henry reached under his jacket and took out his gun. “Well, at least the person down there can’t get close to us without putting himself in danger, but right now it’s kind of a stand-off. We can’t get out either.”

Susan said, her voice still quivering, “I can’t believe I ever said this couldn’t be a place of evil.”

Carrie was thinking her own thoughts, but she heard Susan, and said, “This place is not evil. Places aren’t.”

There was another space of silence, while Carrie thought once more about the piece of pottery, a missing photograph, and a birthday card.

Finally, Henry said, “I spoke with Taylor this morning. I don’t think that’s the quarry owner out there. He’s supposed to be in Bonny talking with Sheriff Storm and Taylor right now.”

Carrie lifted her head. She could have prevented all this. She hadn’t been clever at all, and now Henry and Susan were in terrible danger, and it was her fault. All her fault.

She looked at Susan, apologizing silently, because she had said they should wait, should be sure. This danger was something she alone had brought on them. Susan’s returning gaze showed she knew... and was afraid.

Then Carrie said aloud, speaking to Henry, “That piece of pottery never belonged here. It came from Arizona. He put it here as enticement for JoAnne. That’s why he was in the valley Tuesday night. He came to pick up his pottery, and maybe other props he’d left behind until the sheriff’s men were gone from this area, and it was safe for him.

“Oh, no
wonder
he took that bowl away from me. I’ve been incredibly stupid. He probably thinks I recognized it immediately. I should have. I’ve sat in his office holding it while Amos and I talked with him.

“He was in my house Wednesday when we got back from the airport, and he thought Susan and I would be alone. Thank God we weren’t.”

She continued, forcing herself to say it all. “You see, Henry, I have a hard time talking with him on the phone. It’s a struggle to make conversation, so I told him all about the quarry and how hard we were working to stop it. I told him how much it meant to JoAnne. I even told him about JoAnne’s niece.

“That made it easy for him. He knows a lot about Native American history. He could easily fake a story for this area, especially with props, say he was from a museum, say anything to convince her he could help win the fight against the quarry. And, of course, he knows about head rights. He’s part Cherokee and very proud of that.

“JoAnne was so eager to find anything to stop the quarry that she wasn’t cautious at all, just drove right into that barn, out of sight of everyone but him. I guess we’ll never know all of it, not that it matters now, because the end is the same.” Her voice broke. “He always was a good salesman. He can be very charming.”

Henry had his eyes shut again, and Susan was silent, not looking at her.

Tears filled Carrie’s eyes. “Susan put the puzzle pieces together. She told me they think he’s been cheating clients all these years and has probably cheated me. I didn’t figure out fast enough how seriously he would take a threat to his safety, or the danger to his scheme from anyone who suspected the truth. He thought Susan would tell JoAnne he cheated me, or perhaps had already told her. That’s probably why he’s been so attentive to me recently, checking to see if I was reacting to any such knowledge.

“If JoAnne was dead, then the link between Susan and me was destroyed. And she’d come here, to an isolated area he knows very well. He’s removing threats, you see.

“But he had no idea what Susan looks like. That’s why he stole the picture Sunday. He must have gone to JoAnne’s house first on Saturday morning, after... after he killed her. He was searching to see what she might have learned about him from Susan. You interrupted him when you got there, and all he had time to take was the book with Susan’s address in it. When you knocked on the front door, he must have left by the back door, leaving it unlocked.

“Then he came back Sunday and made a more thorough search. He found nothing that would incriminate him, but he took Susan’s picture and the birthday card. Maybe he thought the envelope with my name on it held information about him.

“You were right all along,” she said, looking at Henry. “It has everything to do with me, so I must talk to him.”

Henry’s eyes were open now. “No,” he said, “you will not. Eventually someone will miss us, or he’ll give up, or... I have the gun, and there are a dozen bullets. It only takes one.”

“But that’s what I can’t deal with,” she said, “and you shouldn’t have to. It’s my battle.”

“It’s ours. He killed JoAnne. He attacked you brutally.”

“And he’s shot you,” she said, looking at the blood- soaked tissues he was still holding to his forehead. “Henry, I can’t live with knowing I put you in a situation where you had to kill again. I’ve seen too much killing already, so I can imagine what you’ve had to face all those years in the police department. And what about the danger to you? How will you reach him?”

As if for emphasis, two more shots hit inside the cave opening, and they all flinched.

“He’s on a higher level now,” Henry said. “Perhaps up on that overhang. We’d better move away from the entrance.”

He shifted slowly, then looked straight at her. “You mean it’s Evan Walters out there? If I understand you then, Susan is in as much danger as you are.”

“More danger. And now you can see why it’s my fault.”

She turned back to Susan. “Evan always has been sensitive to what other people thought of him. As soon as he knew you suspected he was cheating clients, then you can imagine what that did to him, especially since what you might uncover could destroy his reputation and livelihood. Oh, Susan, I am so very sorry. I could have prevented all this.”

Susan’s eyes were wet, but she spoke calmly. “You didn’t know about his dishonesty until I mentioned it, and by then, Aunt JoAnne had been dead for several days.”

Henry said, emphasizing each word carefully. “Evan Walters is the only, the
only
one causing this. No one else is to blame.”

Carrie was still looking at Susan. “He wants to keep you from exposing him, of course. As soon as he understood that we were both connected to JoAnne, then you became dangerous to him as Mabel what’s-her-name in the same job never was. My fault... I told him about you.

“He isn’t honest himself, so he couldn’t believe you wouldn’t rush to tell JoAnne about your suspicions, whether you had any proof yet or not. I’m sure he assumed when you did tell her that she’d tell me.

“Well, he’s right about that,” Carrie continued heatedly. “JoAnne would have told me and would have taken me by the ear and rushed me to Tulsa to confront him face-to-face.”

She was tempted to cry now and snuggle against Henry’s broad chest, but she didn’t. She stuck her chin in the air and said, “I’ve got to do something! We can’t just sit here waiting to be killed. I’ve got to talk with him.”

Henry said, “It won’t work. If he’s unstable, you have no idea what he might do to you.”

“Shirley says he’s in love with me, so he wouldn’t hurt me. And what if you did manage to kill him? Can either of us risk what that might do to the rest of our lives?” Tears were running freely down her face now, but she raised her chin firmly, meeting his troubled eyes.

Susan cleared her throat. “Maybe there’s another way. What if we find one of those other openings to the cave, a sink hole maybe? Then at least one of us can get to the car and go for help.”

They sat thinking. Finally Carrie said. “Then I’m the one to go.”

Another bullet hit just inside the cave opening, and Henry picked up his gun.

Carrie grabbed at his arm, but he pushed her hand away and said, “I’m not going to shoot at him. I couldn’t get close without getting my own head blown off. That’s a high-powered rifle, and he’s higher than we are and can see the entrance to this cave quite clearly. But I do think he should know we’re armed. That might make him hesitant about coming closer. It might keep him on that overhang. Put your hands over your ears.” He pointed his gun at the cave opening and shot out over the valley.

The sound of the shot was just dying away when Carrie heard Evan’s voice calling her name.

She started to answer, but Henry shook his head and asked in a low voice, “Is that Walters? You’re quite sure now?”

She nodded.

Henry called out, “She was hit by a ricocheting bullet. She’s unconscious. Who are you? Why are you shooting at us? We need to get help for her.”

Evan was silent for a long moment, then said, “I saw you two together yesterday, Mister Boyfriend. If you want to help her, then you and the young lady should come out with your hands empty and in plain sight. I can take Carrie out in my truck if she needs help. She needs me, not you. I’ll take care of her.”

Another silence, then Evan said, “Put her out on the ledge. I want to see her.”

“We’re afraid to move her,” Henry said.

Carrie tugged at his sleeve and whispered, “Susan and I are going to see if we can find another opening. You stay here and keep his attention. That way he won’t be able to leave the overhang.”

His arm reached for her, and he pulled her to his side. “Cara, I don’t want you to risk it.”