Double Blind (19 page)

“Does Hollis know?”

“Of course.”

Sam released a nervous laugh. She felt off balance. She might be six years older than Niki, but she felt as though she were a decade younger. Maybe more. Niki seemed so experienced. So confidant. Definitely full of surprises. “I guess my life’s been pretty tame compared to yours.”

“Sure you don’t want to spice it up a little?” Niki’s ice blue eyes sparkled.

“No. I’m sure.”

Niki stubbed out the joint in the ashtray that sat on the bedside table. “Maybe another time.”

“I don’t think so.”

Niki cocked her head to one side and looked at Sam. “I suppose you find Burt attractive.”

“Not really. Why?”

“Most women do. At first. Your friend seems interested.”

“Yes. Alyss is a little infatuated.”

“Tell her to be careful.”

“Oh?”

“Burt can be a snake. He’d sell his mother if it was in his best interest.”

“Isn’t that a little dramatic?”

“Not really.”

“Want to explain?”

Niki shrugged. “I love Hollis. And I’d do anything to protect him. He’s a good man. Except when he’s with Burt.”

“And then?”

“Hollis is a good man, not a strong one. Burt’s strong. He...what’s the word?...influences Hollis.”

“But aren’t they partners? Friends?”

Niki released a short laugh. “Sam, you seem to be bright. You’ll probably figure out Burt before long. Just be careful until you do.”

Sam wasn’t sure why she should believe Niki’s take on Burt. After all, despite her apparent experience, Niki was still young. And stoned. Yet, she was obviously in a position to know Burt well. Besides, something about Burt had gnawed at her own gut. Something she couldn’t yet define.

“What has he done that’s so bad? Screwed people? Most rich business men do that every day.”

Niki looked up at her. “Worse.”

“Robbed a bank? Rustled cattle?”

“Worse.”

“Rape? Murder?”

Niki stared at her, but said nothing. Then, she stood and brushed past Sam. Her shirt slipped from her shoulders. She stopped at the bathroom door and turned, naked to the waist. “I’m glad we had this talk. Just tell your friend to keep her eyes open.” She entered the bathroom, pulling the door closed behind her.

Shelby shivered, hopping from foot to foot, unable to get her clothes on fast enough. She yanked her shirt down over her head. “God, I’m freezing.”

Kelly and Conner, hurriedly pulling on their own clothing, laughed.

“Getting out of the water’s always the worst part,” Conner said.

When they were dressed, they huddled together and Conner wrapped the blanket around them. Kelly lit another joint and they passed it around as their combined body heat began to calm their shivering. By the time Conner took the last hit and flicked the butt into the lake, they were warm and comfortably numbed from the marijuana.

 Conner looked at Shelby. “So, how do you like it here so far?”

“It’s OK. Totally different from LA.”

“That’s for sure,” Kelly said. “But, LA’s cool.”

“Have you been there?” Shelby asked.

“A few times,” Kelly said. “With dad. He goes there on business a lot.”

“You’ll have to visit me next time.”

“That’d be great. I’ve only seen LA from restaurants or the back of a limo. Seems like every time I go, Dad has a lot of meetings. I get to go shopping or to a movie sometimes. Went to the beach once.”

“I could show you some cool things,” Shelby said. “We live in Beverly Hills. I have my own car. It’s a totally awesome BMW convertible. We could go like everywhere.”

“Maybe one of those raves?” Kelly asked.

“Sure. You’d love it.”

“You could come, too,” Kelly said to Conner. “The three of us would have a great time.”

“Sounds cool,” Conner said, tucking his shirt into his jeans. “But, right now, we’d better head back. If we’re late, Carmelita will strangle us.”

“Let’s take that trail through the trees,” Kelly said to Conner. “The one you showed me last summer.”

“OK.”

“Shelby, you’ll love this,” Kelly said. “It goes right by a huge waterfall.”

“Sounds tight,” Shelby said.

“Tight?” Kelly looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

“You know. Cool. Fun. Tight.”

“More LA-speak,” Conner said.

*

Shelby pulled Storm to a halt near a pool at the base of a waterfall, where Conner and Kelly sat astride their horses. Conner pointed upward and her gaze followed his direction. An involuntary gasp escaped her lips.

The waterfall appeared as if it fell from the sky. It cascaded down the mountain in enormous strides before making a final plunge into a churning pool, generating a thick blanket of mist, which fractured the sunlight into a delicate rainbow that appeared so close she could almost reach out and touch it. Its bracing spray peppered her face

“This is like totally cool,” she shouted above the roar of the water.

Conner nodded and then reined his horse back on the trail, which paralleled a creek that emerged from the pool. The girls followed until they came to a place where the creek shallowed. The crystal clear water swelled and surged over the multicolored rocks that made up the creek bed.

Conner looked back toward the falls. “It’s called Horse Tail Falls. It’s the origin of Silver Creek.” He pointed, tracing the creek’s path as it emerged from the pool and wound down the slope. “Silver Creek runs across the ranch and joins Gold Creek near town.”

Shelby saw that Silver Creek meandered across the valley floor, flanked by regiments of Aspen tress, whose leaves danced on the soft breeze. To her it had the appearance of a greenish-gray shimmering ribbon.

Conner spurred his horse forward. “We’ll cross here.”

Shelby hesitated. The water rippled and frothed and appeared as if it could easily wash her and Storm downstream.

Conner crossed over, his horse taking careful steps on the slippery rocks, the water swirling around his horse’s knees. He reached the other side and swung around to face them.

Kelly followed, but Shelby held the reins tightly even as Storm inched forward as if eager to move on.

“Come on,” Conner said with a wave of his hand. “Don’t worry, Storm’s as sure-footed as they come.”

Reluctantly, Shelby slackened the reins. Storm danced across the rocks, no hesitation, no missteps. He pranced up the opposite bank and came to a halt next to the others, flipping his head and snorting as if to say, no problem.

Shelby felt foolish for having worried.

“See?” Conner said. “Piece of cake.”

Conner and Kelly pushed their horses into a trot and disappeared down a trail, which melted into a dense thicket of spruce trees. Storm urged Shelby to follow, but she tugged on his reins, taking in one last look at the waterfall and the rainbow that floated within its mist. She inhaled the cool air, savoring the scent of the evergreens. This place was truly beautiful, she thought. No wonder her mom loved it so much.

Finally, she gave Storm his head and he lurched forward into the trees.

The thick forest consumed the daylight and for a moment she could see very little, only shadows and darker shadows. As her vision adjusted, she saw that the trail cut through the trees in a serpentine manner. Storm followed the path without any guidance from her. He obviously knew the way home.

Strewn with gravel, dirt, and pine needles and crisscrossed with tree roots, the trail wound upward over a rise. When she reached the summit, she expected to find Conner and Kelly. They were nowhere to be seen. She stopped. Storm pawed at the ground.

“Conner,” she shouted. “Kelly.”

No response.

“Conner,” she called again, but the trees seemed to devour her shout.

Her heart kicked into a higher gear. She patted the horse’s neck. “You do know the way home don’t you, boy?”

Storm bobbed his head and pulled at the reins as if to answer her question.

“OK. Let’s go.”

Storm moved forward. The path sloped downward, back up a gentle slope, and then downward once again. As she crossed the bottom of the depression and started back up another steeper rise, an odor, musty, animal-like, caught her attention. She reined in Storm. The horse pranced nervously in place, his head cocked up, nostrils flaring, testing the air. He had sensed something too, she thought.

Then, she detected movement, in the shadows, not more than two hundred feet away.

“Conner?” she called out. “Is that you guys?”

No response.

The form moved again, along a ridge above and slightly ahead.

“Come on you guys,” she said. “You’re scaring me.”

She heard the scraping of feet, the snapping of twigs, and the rattle of loose pebbles. The odor intensified, irritating her nose. The wheeze of its raspy breathing seemed to surround her as the thick shadow lumbered across the slope, paralleling the trail, heading toward a thick cluster of spruces. She lost sight of it as it melted into the denser shadows of the trees.

What was it? A bear? Definitely not Conner and Kelly. What if it was trying to cut off her escape? Trap her here in the forest? And if it did, what then? Backtrack? To where?

She had to do something and do it quickly. She leaned forward in the saddle. “Come on, boy,” she whispered to Storm. “Let’s go.”

The horse hesitated, took a step backwards and then another. Pressure swelled in her chest, squeezing the air from her lungs.

She dug her knees against into Storm’s flanks and rocked forward. “Come on, Storm,” she pleaded.

He shook his head, took a step to the right, and then bolted forward, up the hill, spraying gravel and dirt in his wake. Shelby was thrown back, one foot slipping from its stirrup. She clawed at the saddle horn, frantically clutching it. She dropped back into the saddle, hard, the impact knocking what little breath she still possessed from her. She collapsed forward and wrapped her arms around the charging horse’s neck, praying she could hang on.

Storm rocketed up the hill, toward, and then by the form that remained in the shadows. Now only fifty or so feet from the creature, Shelby could make out a rough form. It stood on two legs and was huge. As tall as Storm’s head and as thick as the trunks of the spruces it hid among. Its shoulders hunched forward and it appeared to be covered with dark fur. The odor was stifling.

Storm accelerated. She looked back toward the dark figure, but it remained motionless and, as the horse reached a full gallop, melted once again into the murky forest.

Shelby hugged Storm’s sweat slicked neck while she attempted to reseat her foot in the stirrup and regain control of the reins that had somehow wrapped themselves around her arm. Storm sped down the trail until they burst from the trees and into the sunlight. Shelby looked over her shoulder once again, half expecting to see some wild beast explode from the trees and pounce on her. She saw nothing.

Ahead, Conner and Kelly sat on their horses, staring at her in astonishment. Shelby finally untangled the reins and yanked on them, slowing Storm and then bringing him to a stop. The horse pawed the ground nervously, jerked his head from one side to the other. The flesh along his neck twitched.

“What happened?” Conner asked.

“I saw something. It scared me.”

“What?” Kelly asked. She rose up in her saddle and peered past Shelby toward the trees.

“I don’t know. It was big and hairy. And it smelled bad.”

“A bear?” Conner asked.

“I didn’t get a good look at it.”

Storm continued to paw at the ground and whip his head around, his eyes widely alert.

“Whatever it was,” Conner said, “it sure spooked Storm.”

“Remember that bear we ran into?” Kelly asked Conner. “When was that? Summer before last?”

“Yeah,” Conner said, then laughed. “Scared the shit out of both of us.”

Shelby continued to scan the trees behind them. “Let’s get out of here.”

By the time Sam came back down stairs, Burt, Hollis, and Alyss had moved from the patio into the den. Apparently, Carmelita had run them off so she could prepare the patio tables for dinner.

Sam had not seen the den during her tour of the house two days earlier and wasn’t prepared for its size.

The walls were of finely grained light oak. An intricately patterned pressed copper ceiling, which exhibited traces of blue green patina, rose 20 feet above her head. The south-facing wall was mostly glass and afforded sweeping views of the valley and the snow-capped ridges beyond.

Intimidating was the word that came to mind.

The intimidation she felt came not only from the vastness of the room, but also from the dead animals that filled it. Deer, antelope, elk, and big horn sheep heads vied for wall space. A bearskin rug lay on the floor before the hearth and a 12-foot Grizzly, paws raised, mouth snarling, stood in one corner. Sam suspected it probably looked less menacing through a rifle scope from a half-mile away, which was surely how Burt had viewed the magnificent creature.

She joined the others before a monolithic stone hearth and fireplace that looked as though it had been constructed by some primitive race with large hands and small minds. An ornate copper screen fronted it.

A deep ox-blood leather sofa and three matching chairs created a conversation area near the fireplace. Burt and Alyss sat close to one another on the sofa. He had one arm thrown casually around Alyss’ shoulder as she sagged against him. They laughed as if sharing a private joke.

Hollis sat in one of the chairs, a snifter of cognac in his hand. Sam sank into a chair opposite him. She eyed Burt, going over in her head what Niki had said, while resisting the temptation to scream at Alyss to get away, that Burt was dangerous.

“How about a before dinner cognac?” Hollis asked.

“Sure,” Sam said, pulling her gaze away from Burt.

Alyss and Burt nodded in agreement.

“Me, too,” Niki said as she entered the room.

Sam looked up. Niki had changed clothes yet again. This time to black slacks and a peach silk shirt, both tailored to hug her curves and peaks like a second skin, as if Mattel had made them for her Barbie body. More likely, designed by Lagerfeld or Versace. Obviously, Niki didn't shop the racks, unless the racks were in Bergdorf-Goodman.