Shadow in the Pines (10 page)

“Who is this?” she demanded, jumping up so fast her chair fell over backwards. The line was silent except for the random static that usually accompanied a mobile phone or a cordless reaching the outer edge of its range. “Who is this?” she asked again.

Click.

Following a hunch, she went to the front window and peeked out just in time to see taillights disappearing down the road. Was Joe Abraham right? Was someone upset because of all the questions she’d been asking? Suddenly feeling very apprehensive, she turned the music down on the CD player so she could hear if anyone approached the house before she sat back down at the computer. But the longer she thought about it, the more her apprehension turned to anger.

She’d been through a lot to get where she was today. And this house might not be perfect, but it was hers and nobody was going to scare her out of it! If they didn’t like the fact that she was trying to find out what happened on
her
property, they’d just have to get over it!

Newly motivated, she attacked the paper again, determined to finish it before she went to bed so she could focus on other things. Then, tomorrow, she’d do some digging at Ophidian.

***

Friday lab was Dani’s favorite. Partly just because it was Friday. But mainly because it consisted of graduate students who rarely needed her help and it gave her time to work on her own projects. And, since they were as anxious to start the weekend as she was, they were usually gone long before the four o’clock deadline. Consequently, she was packed up and ready to go to Ophidian by 3:30.

She’d had a little trouble sleeping last night, more because of concern about Noah than because of the stranger who’d called. The stranger, she’d written off to a prank due to her incessant questioning on campus. It took a little longer to convince herself that Noah was just wrestling with the closeness of their relationship and needed a little space. Truthfully, she could use some of that space herself. As much as she loved being with him, she’d not been able to shake that nagging feeling that maybe it was just too much too soon. Everything in her wanted to trust him completely. It was her own judgment she wasn’t ready to trust.

With new determination to ferret out the facts and let the relationship with Noah work itself out in time, Dani got an early start on the day. Classes sped by uneventfully and she even looked forward to her lunch appointment. Purposely ignoring the fact that Noah wouldn’t like it, she’d enjoyed eating lunch with Joe Abraham. He was a little hard to get to know, but the more she talked to him, the more she liked him. He was single, like her, but for a different reason. He’d married the summer after his college graduation and had high hopes for the future. Dani was surprised to learn that his wife, Paula, joined the university team the same time he did, but she took a job with Ophidian.

When he showed her a snapshot he had tucked away in his wallet, she smiled. They looked so perfect together, wearing their new matching lab coats and beaming at one another in front of the lab building. Tragically, she’d been killed by a hit and run driver just three months after they got here. No wonder he had a special interest in what went on at Ophidian. It was the last link he had with Paula.

Their lunch had been brief, and Dani couldn’t help feeling a little guilty. But she couldn’t believe Noah was right about Joe. He was just a lonely man looking for a little companionship. Somehow she’d have to convince Noah that he had nothing to worry about. When he finally called last night, she was close to finishing that paper she was working on and begged off, promising they’d get together tonight. He’d sounded disappointed, and was very apologetic for the way he’d acted earlier, but she knew if he showed up at her house they’d have wound up in the bed with her forgotten paper downstairs where she left it. Now, at least, the paper was done and they had the whole weekend in front of them.

The Ophidian office was deserted when she arrived. Dani stacked her books on the floor behind the desk, then hung up her jacket. Hoping she wouldn’t cross paths with Dr. Crane, she ventured down the hall in search of Mike. Unofficially, he was the one she answered to.

“Oh, good, you’re here,” he said when he saw her. “Come give me a hand with something.”

Before she could answer, he ducked back through the door. Swallowing her apprehension, she followed him tentatively into the lab.

“Over here,” he called as she entered.

The room was dark, lit only by the hood lamps on the fifty-gallon aquariums that lined the walls, full of snakes, no doubt. Dani took a deep breath and let the door close behind her. Cautiously, she maneuvered her way through a maze of tanks until she reached his side.

“I take it you’ve never been in here before,” he said, arms draped over the tank in front of him.

“No,” she answered, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt. That little garter snake she saw last night had nothing on these guys.

“Meet Lamprophis fuliginosis, more commonly called the brown house snake,” he pulled a four foot specimen out of its glass enclosure with both hands.

It took everything she had not to jump back as he held the writhing reptile out for her to admire.

“Wow,” was all she could say.

With tiny beads for eyes and a disgusting tongue that flicked in and out of its mouth, the snake squirmed and undulated, trying to free itself from his gloved grasp.

“What are you doing?” she played nonchalant.

“Moving these into clean quarters,” he gestured to the line of aquariums along the wall.

Oh God please don’t ask me to do that, she thought.

“Kathy’s sick today so I need you to help me finish up.”

“Oookay,” she drawled. “I’ve never done this. I assume they aren’t poisonous…”

The quizzical expression on his face told her she’d made a mistake.

“Of course not,” he said. “They’ll bite, though, if you give ‘em a chance. I don’t want you to hold them; I just need help getting the lids on the containers. They’re fast little critters,” he laughed. “We’ve had to chase two down already this afternoon.”

Terrific, she thought, stifling a groan. “Okay, just tell me what to do.”

“Grab that,” he nodded at a cover propped on another aquarium. “When I put her in there, hold it over the top and push down hard as soon as I pull my arms out.”

She nodded, taking the cover in both hands.

“Don’t budge,” he warned, “she’ll push against it and she’s stronger than she looks.”

Shit. She looks strong enough, Dani thought. Luckily, she was tall enough to reach it without trouble, and the first transfer went smoothly, even though her heart was pounding in her ears. Gradually, they worked their way down the line and her trepidation lessened as she got more accustomed to looking at the snakes.

“Not bad,” he congratulated her as she snapped the last cover in place. “Not bad at all.”

Dani didn’t know whether to thank him or beg him to never ask her to do it again. She decided on the former.

“Thanks,” she smiled. “Interesting work. Are there any more?” she asked hesitantly.

“Nope, we got it for today,” he said, pulling off his gloves and shoving them in the pockets of his coat. “You guys ‘bout done?” he called to the two men working along the other wall.

“Got it!” one of them answered.

“Hey, have ya’ll met Dani?” Mike asked, walking to the other side of the room. Reluctantly, she followed him, hanging back as they snapped the cover on the tank in front of them.

“Nope,” the tall one said, turning to look at her curiously. He was taller than six feet, and looked about twenty with a plain face and a lock of brown hair that persistently fell in his eyes.

“Dani, this is Jeff Dryden, and that,” he pointed to the shortest of the pair, “is Emil Betancourt. Dani Jones, guys.” Apparently Mike felt he’d done his duty because after he spoke, he just walked away and left her standing there.

“Welcome Dani,” Jeff offered with half a smile before turning back to his work. Emil sort of grunted and carried on without so much as a look in her direction.

“Nice to meet you,” she said in a flat voice that belied her words, then walked rapidly out of the room.

She found Mike in the file room and asked if there was something else that she needed to work on today, but he couldn’t think of anything. While she was standing there, waiting, Emil stuck his head in the door.

“Mike, I gotta go, man,” he said, pointedly ignoring her.

“Sure,” Mike said without looking up from the file he was reading. “See you next week.”

When she turned to look at Emil, he was already looking at her with narrowed eyes. Speculating about something. It was a strange environment for her. Usually, she got along well with just about anybody she worked with. But here at Ophidian, everyone she met seemed suspicious. Some of them were just plain unfriendly.

Without a word, he turned and she heard his footsteps pounding down the hall until he hit the exit door with a thud. It clanged shut a few moments later.

“There it is!” Mike said, more to himself than to her. Seconds later, he was out the door.

“I’m glad ya’ll need my help,” she muttered sarcastically under her breath. Oh well, if he didn’t tell her what to do, she’d just find something. After all, she was scheduled to work until six.

Not sure exactly what needed the most attention, she decided to start right where she was. The file room was filled with clutter and the trash was overflowing. It wasn’t a large room in the first place, and seemed smaller because of the dim light from a bare bulb in the center of the ceiling. The paint might have been off white once, but now it was all yellowed and peeling in some places to reveal splotches of gray.

Six four-drawer file cabinets were spaced erratically around the walls and a rickety table, accompanied by two wobbly, wooden folding chairs, was propped against a far corner. There were no labels on the file cabinets, but if the stacks of files sprawled randomly across every available surface were any indication, the filing system was in dire need of reorganization.

Once she’d removed the deteriorating coffee cups and wads of paper collecting dust on the table, she gathered the loose files and stacked them there. It was a miracle Mike was able to find anything in here. After looking through the individual folders, it seemed to her that they were grouped haphazardly by species. Rummaging through the overstuffed file drawers, she finally came up with a list of all the species maintained within the colony and painstakingly reproduced it in pencil on an available legal pad:

Colubridae

• Checkered garter snakes (Thamnophis marcianus)*
  
• Brown house snakes (Lamprophis fuliginosis)*
  
• Trinket snakes (Elaphe helena)*
  
• Chinese corn snakes (Elaphe rufodorsata)*
  
• Radiated snakes (Elaphe radiata)*
  
• Egyptian diadem snakes (Spalerosophis diadema)*
  
• Madagascar Cat-eyed snake (Madagascarophis colubrina)*
  
• Madagascar Giant Hognose snake (Leioheterodon madagascarensis)
  
• Northern pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus)*
  

Pythonidae

• Brazilian rainbow boas (Epicrates cenchria)*
  
• Spotted pythons (Anterisia maculosis)*
  
• Mexican new world python (Loxocemus bicolor)
  
• Calabar burrowing python (Calabaria reinhardtii)
  
• Sunbeam snake (Xenopeltis concolor)
  

Viperidae

• Southern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)*
  

Those were further separated into the species that were actively breeding and those that were not. When she heard the exit door slam again, she glanced at her watch and was startled to find that it was almost seven. Time flies when you’re having fun. Hoping that what she’d started would still be waiting for her when she returned on Monday, she left things where they were, gathered her books and took off. She still had to pick up some dog food from the store before she went home.

Chapter Nine

Noah was waiting for her on the porch when she pulled in, with Bandit happily romping in the yard.

“Sorry I’m so late,” she called as soon as she got out of the car. “Have you been here long?”

“Nah,” he shrugged, bounding down the steps to take her books.

She fumbled a minute and nearly stumbled in the door when Bandit rushed past her legs and made a beeline for his water bowl in the kitchen, slurping noisily.

“How was your day?” she asked, dropping her purse on the table and retrieving her books from him.

“Long,” he said. “I’m glad it’s over.”

“You and me, both,” she said with a sigh, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I missed you, you know.”

He smiled at that. “Yeah.”

“If you’ll give me a minute, I want to change before we go,” she said.

“Sure,” he plopped down on the couch as she headed for the stairs.

One good thing about Noah, she thought, scrounging for jeans in the closet, she never felt underdressed around him. Usually, when they went out for dinner on Fridays, it was for something casual like pizza or burgers, or his beloved Mexican food.

Dani heard him calling something up the stairs but she couldn’t quite make out what he said.

“Huh?” she yelled, moving nearer the door.

“I asked, did Bandit get away again this morning?”

“No, why?” she answered, zipping her jeans and pulling a sweater over her head, obstructing her hearing again. “What?”

Dropping to her knees, she pulled back the comforter that had slipped off the edge of the bed, searching for her other tennis shoe. Making the bed in the morning wasn’t something that happened often. There it was, under the foot of the bed. She reached for it, and almost had it when her hand froze, suspended in mid air.

To the left of her shoe, hidden by the comforter, a huge snake was coiled, watching her intently. She heard herself screaming maniacally inside her head, but no noise came out.
They’re fast little critters,
she remembered Mike saying.
They’ll bite.
She had no idea if it was the same kind of snake, but she wasn’t thinking too clearly right now.