Secrets of Ugly Creek (13 page)

The familiarity of her high-pitched laugh wrapped over me like a familiar blanket. “You drew a pig on my cheek, or at least you said it was a pig.”

“It was.”

“Except it looked like a tree.”

“At least Jake didn’t draw a spider on your arm.”

She shuddered. “Too bad the only one of us with drawing talent was a
boy
.”

I giggled. “A boy who like to draw spiders and snails.”

“And snakes!” She exclaimed.

“Even with the trouble we got into, I’m glad Mom caught us before he put a cobra on your forehead.”

“Just call me Cleopatra.” Liza did an Egyptian hand thingy.

We laughed again for a time. When we settled down, Liza wiped at her eyes. “We had a great time as kids.”

“Yes, we did.”

“So how about tonight we have some adult fun?”

Intrigued, I narrowed my eyes. “What about Steve?”

“Working late.”

Excitement was twirling in my stomach. “What did you have in mind?”

“Jo’s Place.”

Well, that explained why she was wearing a black pencil skirt and that seriously cute sapphire blouse that did great things with her coloring. “Sounds great, but I don’t know if I brought anything appropriate to wear.”

“Let’s go find out.”

We headed up the stairs to my room.

Chapter 12

An hour later, we were sitting at a small round table in one of Ugly Creek’s institutions. Jo’s Place, named for its owner Josephine Browning, had been around for as long as most people could remember. The décor had gone through some changes through the years, from disco to ultra-modern, to the current rustic warm. Jo, though, always looked the same. Jeans and a black T-shirt, long gray ponytail, and a laugh that could lighten the heaviest heart in the place.

It felt so good, sipping piña coladas and laughing about the days when we had tried, and failed, to talk our way in for an underage drink—or just a peek into the adult world. “I needed this,” I told Liza.

“Me too,” she admitted.

I leaned closer. “You know I’m a little jealous. You and Steve have a great relationship. Stephie and Jake had a wild, crazy romance and got married. Yet, here I am, single and alone.”

“You do know marriage is hard work? For instance, Steve can be a real pain in the tokus.”

“But you wouldn’t give him up for anything.”

Liza grinned. “Not a chance in hell.” Her expression became more serious. “Steve’s a good guy. He drives me crazy sometimes, but he is a man, after all.”

“You’re lucky.”

“I know.” She touched my hand. “You’ll find the right guy. Just hang in there.”

I nodded, the voices inside of me arguing both that I would never find the right man—and that just maybe I already had. I was on the verge of asking Liza how, given that they all drive you crazy, you know who the right man is, when a familiar voice sent a tingle of exasperation up my spine.

“Maddie, imagine running into you here.” Greg smiled brightly.

“What are you doing here?” Yeah, kinda bitchy, but hey, girls night out here.

“Looking for entertainment. There’s not a lot to do in this village.”

Clearly he didn’t recognize bitchy when he heard it.

He held out his hand to Liza. “Hi, I’m Greg.”

“Liza,” she said, giving his hand a tiny shake before turning her attention back toward me.

Greg kept his gaze on her. “You live here?”

“Yes.” She met his gaze with her hard one. “I do.”

“What do you do for excitement around here?” He leaned closer. “I’ll be glad to get back to civilization. Won’t you, Maddie?”

“Not really.” I was trying to play nice, really I was. Still, the condescending expression on his face had me wanting to slug him. It was the word I kept hearing around me that got my attention away from violence.
Dog
.

I looked around, and there was Jo holding Gizmo and talking to him. “You’re a cute little thing, but you don’t belong in here.”

I grabbed my bag and rushed toward them. “I’ll take him.”

She handed him over. “He’s yours then?”

“Not really.” I gave his cute head a scratch. “He’s just kind of attached himself to me.”

“He’s chosen you for his owner. His companion. Be honored.” She gave me a wink. “And get him on outta here.”

“No problem, Jo.”

I headed out with Gizmo. As soon as we were alone, he started talking. “We’ve got problems.”

“That’s what I was afraid of. What’s up?”

“She did it. Kate Stone got the mayor to take her to see Bigfoot. They’re out there right now.”

“Oh crap!”

“Maddie, I wondered where you went.”

Groaning hard, I turned to Greg. “I have to take my dog home. Sorry.” I turned toward Liza’s car, wondering what I was going to do, since I didn’t have the keys to it, and certainly didn’t want to leave my friend here.

That particular problem was eliminated when Liza came rushing out of Jo’s Place. “I have to take Gizmo home,” I told her as soon as she was within hearing range, while giving her a look that I hoped conveyed the seriousness of my thoughts.

“Sure.” She headed toward her car.

“See you later, Greg,” I said, hoping he’d take the hint. He stood there, looking at us with a sad little expression, but at least he didn’t try to get into the car with us.

Liza pulled out onto the road. “So, what’s wrong?”

“Mayor Stump is showing Mac’s assistant the Bigfoot area as we speak.”

She shook her head. “You didn’t have your phone out, and nobody was near you, except Greg. You can’t possibly know what the mayor is doing.”

I looked at the furball in my arms. “There’s something you should know.”

She pulled the car over and gave me a narrow-eyed glare. “Don’t try to tell me you’re psychic. I’ve known you since we were both in diapers, and you’ve never shown any sign of psychic ability.”

“I’m not psychic.”

“Well, what then? How do you know the whereabouts of our mayor?”

“Gizmo talks to me.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

I looked her right in her still narrowed eyes. “No. I’m serious. The dog talks to me.”

“Just to you?” She did sarcasm well.

“Yes.” Gizmo gave me a look, and I sighed. “Okay, he says he can also talk to my soul mate.”

“That’s not Greg, I hope.”

“No.”

Liza shifted so she could scratch the top of Gizmo’s head. “Maybe he’ll talk to me.”

“I don’t think he can.”

Gizmo shook his head, and Liza pulled her hand back. “Oh my God, you’re telling the truth.”

I let out my breath in a big wave of relief. “Now let’s go save the Dyami.”

Liza pulled out her phone and called Steve while she drove toward the forest at a serious rate of speed.

As I hung on for my life, I could tell from her end of the conversation that convincing her husband was going to be harder than convincing her had been. She didn’t end the call until we were almost at our destination. “I’m not sure he believed me, but he knows we can’t take a chance on not checking out any information we get.”

Liza grabbed a flashlight out of her glove compartment. “Let’s get a couple of scooters.”

She headed toward the camouflaged area where a small building stood waiting. “Don’t we need a key?”

She held up her keyring. “My husband is a member of the committee. I have a key.”

“Why am I not surprised.”

She ignored me and went toward the hidden building.

“Got anything else to tell me?” I asked Gizmo.

“I could use a scratch on my back. There’s an itchy spot I can’t get to.”

“Somebody broke the lock on here,” Liza yelled, and I headed toward her as fast as my inappropriate shoes would let me.

“The door was slightly ajar and you can see where the lock was forced.”

I nodded. It was obvious somebody had opened the lock by force. She opened the door and groaned. “There were six scooters in here, there are only three now.”

“Stump and Kate took two. So there’s an extra person out there.” This bit of news had my thoughts going in several directions, none of them good.

She eyed Gizmo at my feet. “Assuming the information you got from the
dog
is correct.”

He barked sharply then stood glaring up at her. She sighed. “Okay, okay. I guess it’s no crazier than anything else that happens in this place.”

We got a couple of the electric scooters out and I put Gizmo in a little storage area behind the seat. “Don’t jump out,” I told him, and he gave me a “well, duh!” look. I ignored the dog and got on the scooter.

So there we went, into the woods. This was not at all what either of us had in mind for our girls’ night out, but we both knew that protecting the non-humans had to come before anything else. We’d been raised to believe they were as important to us as our families.

We headed toward the area we knew the Dyami, the Bigfoot tribe, used caves as their homes. It was a huge area, though. The likelihood of actually finding the mayor, Kate, and the unknown thief of the missing scooter was very small.

The scooters were almost silent and designed to travel the rugged terrain. Still, without some knowledge of where we were going, we’d never have been able to traverse the area. And without the built-in GPS and compass, we’d have been lost almost immediately.

I saw the log just before I hit it. Luckily, the scooter wasn’t going very fast, or Gizmo and I would have been in deep trouble.

Liza circled back to me. “You okay?”

“Fine,” I told her. I pulled the scooter around the log, made sure Gizmo was safe in his compartment, and headed out once again.

We rode miles and miles into the dark woods. We barely missed trees, rocks, streams, and deer. Personally, I was about ready to turn around and head back. Riding a miniature motorcycle through the dark woods in a miniskirt and heels was not even close to anything I wanted to do.

“Turn toward the right,” a familiar doggie voice said.

“Are you sure?”

“Are you kidding?” Gizmo asked.

Shaking my head, I pulled closer to Liza. “We need to go toward the right.”

She looked at me, then Gizmo, then nodded. We headed in the direction Gizmo indicated, and ten minutes later I caught a glimpse of a light ahead of us. Liza must have seen something too, because she indicated we go around the side.

We parked the scooters and walked toward the lights. Liza kept her flashlight pointed downward, and we moved quietly from tree to tree until we heard Mayor Stump say, “Come on out, Nootau. I have a friend with me who wants to meet you.”

I heard Liza gasp, as a big, hairy guy walked into the small clearing, Stump’s flashlight beam spotlighting his bulk.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Liza whispered.

Our biggest secret, the thing we all worked so hard to protect was standing in front of an outsider who likely meant them harm. What should we do?

While I was thinking, Gizmo rushed, barking loudly, into the mix. Liza and I looked at each other and simultaneously rushed after him.

Mayor Stump’s flashlight beam was suddenly right in our eyes. “What are you two doing here?”

“The real question is why are
you
here?” I said.

He lowered the light. “I’m here to introduce my friend to a big guy. Kate, this is Nootau. Nootau, this is Kate Stone.”

“It is nice to meet you,” Nootau said.

Kate gasped. “Bigfoot can talk?”

“I told you they were very human-like.” Even in the dim light, I could see the thrill in his expression.

“Incredible,” Kate whispered.

Okay, she was impressed. Hot dog.

“You had no right to bring her here,” Liza told him, the light from her flashlight trembling against the ground in rhythm with her hand.

Stump pulled himself up and raised his chin. “You have no right to question me. I’m the mayor of this town.”

“Not for long,” I told him.

A noise from Kate’s direction caught my attention, and I saw her raised arm—pointed straight at Nootau.

“No!” I rushed toward her, but before I could get there I heard a pop. I looked toward the Dyami and saw a dart sticking out of his chest. He swayed for a moment before he hit the ground.

I turned on Kate, feeling like an angry junkyard dog. “What the hell did you just do?”

“My job,” she said, as she turned the gun on me. “Now stand back, or you’ll get one of these too.”

“Kate,” Mac’s voice came from behind her. “Why didn’t you tell me what you were planning?”

“I tried,” she said, never moving the gun from where it pointed at me. “You were too caught up in this ridiculous ‘see the South’ thing.” She waved the gun just slightly. “And your woman
de jour
.”

I think I actually growled, or was that Gizmo beside me?