Book of Days: A Novel (22 page)

CHAPTER 20

Ann slowed her pace slightly on the dirt road on Monday afternoon and glanced at the woods around her. Why had she let herself get so far from civilization? She wasn't worried about being alone in these woods. It was just . . . Okay, she was worried. She'd seen too many stories of women who disappeared in her exact situation.

Her pedometer said she'd come 4.7 miles. Time to head back to Three Peaks.

But the solitude of the rutted logging road and the pines sending out waves of perfume muted her fear and pulled her around one more corner, then one more, and one more.

Out here she could think. About the multiple reasons she'd come to Three Peaks—but mostly about the game she was playing with herself when it came to Cameron.

In her mind there was no game. The answer was clear. Stay away. God was her life. Cameron wasn't even sure God existed. Never the two shall meet. But her heart said game on.

Why not? Jessie had done it.

Yeah and Ann had seen what it did to her. Jessie prayed for Cameron daily, waiting for him to fall in love with Jesus, but he never did. And though she'd kept it from him, it broke her heart.

Ann picked up her pace, timing her strides so her feet landed on the shadows the trees cast on the dirt road.

She'd relaxed too much at the movie theater and let her feelings seep out of her heart, into her mannerisms and reactions. Did Cameron notice?

And what about him?

Sideways glances at her when he didn't think she saw. The look in his eyes last night when she turned to wave good-bye. On top of the mountain he looked at her the way he used to look at Jessie.

She slapped her hip hard. What was she thinking? In a few days he'd be back in Seattle, she'd be in Portland, and they would go back to pretending they didn't know each other.

It wouldn't go anywhere. It
couldn't
go anywhere. Not with his agnosticism—

Behind her an engine surged. She grabbed her iPod and put Josh Groban's crooning on hold and looked for cover.
There!
An opening a few yards ahead. She sprinted for the horseshoe-shaped clearing, scampered off the road, and squatted behind a large juniper tree.

Ann laughed at herself.
Relax.
Yes, the road seemed abandoned, but that didn't mean cars couldn't drive on it. But something inside her pinged danger and she obeyed the sensation. She peered toward the path, hoping nothing more than her eyes would show through the underbrush.

Ten seconds later a Ford Expedition bounced into view, pounding over the washboard road. Ann held her breath as the SUV passed her hiding spot. What was wrong with her? Cars were allowed to drive on dirt roads. The road seemed like it would be difficult to traverse by car and had been tough to find. But she was the one from out of town. The road might be frequently traveled by the people of Three Peaks. It probably was.

The sound of the Ford's engine faded.

Easing out from her hiding place, she breathed deep and looked up.
Thank You, God.
She didn't feel like having company out here.

Her mind returned to Cameron and what he—

The whine of the SUV accelerating pierced her thoughts. The Expedition was backing up. A second later it came into view; too fast for her to scurry back behind the juniper tree. A tinted window rolled down revealing the wide grin of Jason Judah.

He parked, eased out, and sauntered around the side of the Ford. Leaning against the passenger side door, he lit a cigar and took off his shades.

"You are a hard woman to track." He spread his arms. "But here I am. I can't deny that Nam gave me a few useful skills."

"What are you doing here?" Adrenaline pumped through her. This was not the scenario she wanted to be in with Jason. Menace oozed out of the man. She'd felt it the first time they'd met, and being miles from anywhere, from anyone, the feeling intensified.

During her years of working in television, she'd been in the center of hostile gangs in downtown Portland, been in white-water rafts where she'd come a razor's edge from death—but this man made those situations seem mild. The inner bell of intuition that screamed danger rang double-time.

"How are you, Ann?" Jason took two steps forward.

"You followed me. What do you want?"

"Tracked. Followed. I suppose it's the same thing." Two more steps.

Ann planted her hands on her hips. "What do you want?"

"Are you this abrupt with all your interviewees?" Jason tapped his cigar, too early for any ash to come off; it seemed to be a part of his act. "All I want is a little chat."

"Why not talk to me in town? Why here?"

"Fewer distractions."

Ann watched the last of the dust settle that had been kicked up by Jason's Expedition. She looked at his hands. No keys. There were twenty, maybe twenty-five feet between the SUV and him. She was fast, but she'd spent her energy on the five-mile run getting up here. She wouldn't be quick enough to make it around him and to the driver's side of the car before he got in the passenger door.

"I think you can help me."

"I doubt it."

"I knew it from the moment we met." Three steps forward. "We'd make a good team."

"I disagree."

"Why are you afraid of me?"

Afraid? No. Terrified. She'd seen a madness in his eyes when she'd teased him onstage during his town meeting. Out here it had ramped up to maximum intensity. "You're wasting your time."

"I don't think so." One more step. "I wonder how many people have taken the time to figure out you're the foster sister of Cameron's late wife."

She shuddered. He'd been researching her? She hugged herself as if she'd be shielded from his gaze. "So what."

"From what Google and Facebook tell me, the two of you were close. Not only foster sisters, but best friends. I believe it highly probable Jessie talked to you about the book. I think you know more than you're telling. Maybe even more than you've told Cameron."

Ann backed up and stumbled over a pine branch.

"Relax; I'm not your enemy. I'm not anyone's enemy."

"Fine. What do you want?" Ann repeated for the third time.
Keep sounding confident; keep your eyes locked on his.

"I want you to tell me everything Jessie told you." Jason took a long drag on the cigar, blew out a perfect smoke ring, and watched it melt into the sky. "I've come to believe her and Cameron's father. The book is real."

"How do you know?"

The trees on both sides of the clearing hemmed her in. The cliff in back of her formed the third wall. And the fourth, a steadily advancing Jason lessoned her options with every one of his steps.

"I admit I'd never seriously considered there was a book in physical form till Cameron showed up with the story of his dad and wife. I mean, who are we kidding? A real book of God here on earth? Now mind you, I had hoped and prayed and dreamed of it, but did I truly believe it possible? No. But after Cameron and I talked, I did a little digging. And I've discovered something very interesting. Would you like to know what it is?"

Ann shrugged. "Sure."

"There are six other spots in the world with a similar legend to the Book of Days. The Middle East, South America, China, Scotland, Turkey, Egypt, and of course the seventh location is in the United States, right here in Oregon."

"How did you find this out?"

Jason took three more steps forward. "Every one of the legends talks about a book with recordings of days in it. They don't use that exact language, but that's the general description. And they're not describing an idea, but a physical book."

"A book that tells the future."
Keep him talking. Find a way to get out of here.

"Yes. That has recorded every event of every man and woman's life. Those that have been, and those that are to come."

"So what? Multiple stories about a book that tells the future doesn't make it real. You can find stories of a massive flood in nearly every culture. It doesn't mean a man named Noah really floated above it all with a boat full of all the animals in the world for forty days."

"That's amusing. I know you're a Christian. Which means odds are you believe the Noah story."

"Fine. I believe the flood story." Ann glanced to her left then her right, as if she could find an escape route she missed earlier. "If it's in the Bible I believe it, but I'm not prone to fantastical meanderings and chasing way-out legends like this book nonsense."

"This is the story of the century, Ann. Pulitzer-prize material." Jason tapped his cigar again. This time a spot of ash floated down. "Consider what this would do for your career. You wouldn't be limited to doing little featurettes on thrill seekers around the Northwest. If we find an authentic book, you'll want to be the one who reveals it to the world."

Jason waited for Ann to respond. She didn't. Reveal it to the world? For what purpose? Fame? Notoriety? No thanks. If there was a genuine Book of Days, she'd let someone else announce it and she'd keep her sanity.

She'd watched too many people in television grab for the brass ring of stardom only to find out it was really a brass handcuff. One that dangled a person's self-worth over a fickle fan base that loved you one moment and despised you the next.

"Cameron has to be getting some useful information with all the people he's talked to, especially Taylor Stone. Has Cameron told you everything? Find out all he knows, we'll add to what I know, and let's dig this thing up. Even if it turns out to be nothing, what have you lost?"

Jason was right. If a Book of Days was found, even if it was written by the hand of man, it would be an intriguing story. Worst case, it would be comic relief to tell Drew and her other friends; best case it would be
Raiders of the Lost Ark
come to life.

"I'll think about it."

"Excellent. That's all I'm asking." Jason walked around the Expedition and opened the driver's side door. "Very, very good, Ann Banister." He paused before getting in. "Would you like a ride back to town?"

"No thanks."

"You're probably right." He tilted his head and eyed her slowly up and down. "You could use the workout."

Ann smashed her tongue against her teeth to stop from seething out something she'd instantly regret. Her heartbeat didn't slow till the dust from Jason's SUV settled on the road two minutes later. What was wrong with her? Relax. He hadn't threatened her.

She squatted and held her head between her legs. Yes, he most certainly had.

What had she gotten herself into?

CHAPTER 21

Cameron glanced at his watch late Tuesday morning as he sat in front of his laptop, studied climbing routes on www.smithrock.com, and waited for Scotty's call. A few more moments and he'd know if his hunch about the stone was right. Scotty prided himself on being on time—precisely on time, which meant the phone would ring in thirty more seconds.

It didn't.

After Scotty pressed in on being two minutes late, Cameron reached for his iPhone at the instant it lit up with Scotty's caller ID. "Hey."

"Sorry I'm late."

"Are you changing personalities?"

Scotty cleared his throat. "I'm not surprised easily." The line went silent.

"What has you in shock and awe?"

"Where did you say you got this rock?"

"Three Peaks, Oregon."

"Impossible."

"Why?"

"This rock only exists in six places in the world and central Oregon ain't one of the places."

"You're kidding." Then where did Susan Hillman get a hold of that stone? "Where are the places?"

"The Middle East, South America, China, Scotland, Turkey, and Egypt."

Cameron opened Word on his laptop and started taking notes. "Spread out all over the globe."

"Very spread." Cameron heard Scotty tapping a pen or pencil against his desk. "That's where it gets weird." Again the line went silent. Cameron watched five seconds tick by on his watch.

"This type of stone is somewhat the holy grail to geologists. When I say this type of rock exists in only a few places in the world, I don't mean there are big deposits of it. I mean in each of those places, there are two, maybe three pounds of this type of rock, and while it has no intrinsic value like gold or platinum, its rarity makes it highly desired among us professional rock hounds.