The B Girls (14 page)

That night they debated whether to check out the
cave in the morning or wait another day and let the authorities take over the
search.

Lucy didn't want to wait. "We know where the
cave is. I think we should check it out."

"But Ranger Rick has the map," Mae said.

"Maybe we won't need it," Lucy said.
"If the search for the document is tied up with Aunt Belle's disappearance
we can't afford to wait for some bureaucrat to decide whether we can have our
property back." Chances were remote that Belle was anywhere near the cave
but at this point Lucy was past desperate and edging toward panic.

"You win," Jane said. "But can we at
least buy some Off?"

###

The hike was just as miserable as the day before
but at least this time they knew what to expect.

Lucy hadn't had any luck in getting the police to
jump in a day early and her calls to the local hospital still hadn't turned up
any unidentified patients.

The B Girls were still on their own.

When they reached the spot Lucy had marked in the
GPS, they all looked up and saw nothing but an unremarkable area of exposed
rock. Not only didn't it look like a pair of lovers, from this angle Lucy would
have sworn it wasn't visible from the site on the other side of the creek.

The rock was nearly the same color as the
surrounding earth. What trick of the light or distance made the contrast so
much more obvious from a distance? If, that is, they were in the right spot.

"I suppose we have to climb up there
now," Jane said.

"You suppose right," Lucy said.

Jane stared uphill and shook her head. "It's a
wonder we haven't already broken our fool necks. If we live through this we
deserve a medal."

"Finding Belle in one piece would be enough
reward for me," Lucy said.

Jane looked contrite. "I'm sorry, I know how
worried you are. Hell, I'm worried too. I just don't know how much good we're
doing."

Lucy shook her head. "I don't blame you. This
hasn't exactly been a four star getaway. I just hope it ends well."

"I'm sure everything will be just fine,"
Mae said. "We just have to do the best we can."

There wasn't any visible cave entrance but that
wasn't surprising. Nothing looked the way Lucy imagined it would. "I'll go
first. You probably shouldn't follow too close in case I fall. Better if only
one of us gets hurt."

The slope wasn't a straight up and down 90 degrees,
but it was close. Lucy figured if she lost her footing there was a fifty/fifty
chance she'd slide rather than drop like a rock tossed off a cliff. Not great
odds, but then again this whole hunt was a long shot.

The bottom of the rock formation was about thirty
or forty feet up. Not an impressive distance when you're standing at your front
door looking down your driveway. When you're standing and looking up, that same
distance is a lesson in perspective. Thirty feet is
very
high. Bone breaking high.

Lucy started to climb--carefully using hands and
feet to push and pull herself up one small step at a time, testing hand and
footholds as she went.

"Looking good!" Jane called when Lucy was
about halfway up. "I'm starting up now."

"Be careful. See if you can work your way up a
little to one side or the other in case I slip," Lucy said. As if to prove
her point, the laurel she grabbed with her right hand pulled free. She wobbled,
looking for her balance, trying to tip in favor of the hill and not the empty
air behind her.

She groped around with her left hand and let out a
big whoosh of relief when she found a root to grip and pulled herself back
tight to the hill.

"Point made," Jane said. She took two big
steps to the right before starting her own climb.

Just before Lucy came within reach of the rock
formation, she wondered if they were going to have to cling to the hillside
like monkeys on a tree while they looked for the cave entrance.

She scrambled up to the level of the rocks and saw
that the answer was no. The reason the rock was exposed was the hill had
receded around it making a ledge with secure footing. They'd be able to explore
the formation without worrying about falling--if they were careful.

Lucy looked back down the hill. Jane was making
good progress although she wasn't looking exactly thrilled.

"Just a few more feet and you can take a
break."

"It's not a break unless it involves air
conditioning," Jane said as she crawled up beside Lucy.

Lucy leaned out to see where Mae was and realized
she hadn't started to climb yet. "What're you waiting for?"

Mae looked up with a too-big smile on her face.
"I think one of us should stay down here. In case of emergency."

Lucy wasn't buying Mae's excuse for a single
second. "Are you scared?"

Mae hesitated before shaking her head. "I just
think we need to be smart."

"She's scared," Jane said under her
breath.

Lucy agreed, but there wasn't any point in pushing.
"Okay, we'll let you know if we need you to come up."

Mae nodded. "Be careful."

"We will." Lucy turned her attention back
to the hill.

The rock formation extended above their heads
nearly the same distance they'd climbed from the bank of the creek.

"You see anything obvious?" Jane asked.

Lucy shook her head, searching for anything
resembling an opening into the hillside.

"This isn't going to be easy is it?"

"Probably not. But we can hope."

They inched around the formation, looking for
anything promising.

"I think we should concentrate on the
underbrush. I mean what are the chances there's some sort of secret passage
hidden by a rock door?" Jane said.

After fifteen minutes of pushing aside laurel and
briars they'd checked all the likely spots on the periphery of the formation
without having any luck. Nothing even vaguely resembling a cave entrance.

They sat down on the ledge at the base of the
formation to sip water, snack on protein bars and consider their next move.

"You sure you want to stay down there and miss
out on all the fun?" Jane asked Mae.

Mae lifted her own water bottle in salute.
"I'm looking smarter by the minute."

"You're gonna be jealous when we find the
cave," Jane said.

"Or she's going to have a great time with the
I-told-you-so," Lucy remarked.

"I'm having a good feeling about this for some
reason," Jane said.

Lucy snorted her disbelief.

"I know. I know. Optimism isn't my style. In
fact it feels a little creepy."

"Only you would find optimism creepy."
Lucy put her water and the empty Power Bar wrapper back in her day pack.
"Let's get back to work and see if you're right. I'll take this
half."

"You got it."

Standing on the forearm of one of the lovers after
checking out the lower areas of the formation, Lucy looked up to see what
waited for her. The view wasn't encouraging. Exploring the upper part of the
formation was going to require some sort of climbing or safety equipment.

She was pretty sure Jane had dated a guy who
climbed or rappelled or both. She seemed to recall complaints about rope burns
and scraped knees. Maybe Jane would have some suggestions.

Lucy edged in Jane's direction putting her hand out
to brace herself on the lover's upper arm--and lost her balance when her hand
traveled a couple of feet farther than expected.

Quick, surprising pain shot up her arm when her
hand slapped the rock, but the new view that came with it pushed the pain into
the background.

"Jane! You need to see this."

Lucy heard the sound of Jane's feet sliding over
the rocks in her direction, but she didn't turn to look. She was too busy staring
into the dark opening behind the lover's upper arm.

The opening had been masked by an optical illusion
that was--like all such trickery--obvious once the secret was revealed.

Jane stepped up next to Lucy on the lover's forearm
and looked into the darkness. "Holy Batcave!"

"I think we've found it."

"Who's going in first?" Jane asked.

"Me." Lucy took off her day pack and
started searching for a flashlight. "I think I should do the honors."
Only for Aunt Belle would she make this offer. Caves--the tourist kind she'd
visited--made her more than a little uneasy. Something about the thought of all
that weight above her head waiting to crush her.

"What's going on up there?" Mae hollered.

"We found the cave," Jane said. "You
should come up."

Silence was the answer.

Jane leaned over and looked down.

"Okay, okay. I'm afraid. All right?" Mae
said.

"Don't worry about it. We'll tell you
everything," Jane said.

"I just don't like heights. I thought I could
work around it but I don't think I can."

Lucy found the flashlight and turned it on to make
sure it was working. The thought of losing light in the cave was scary. She
looked down at Mae. "I doubt we'll get far without the map anyway."
Pretending she didn't feel uneasy, she pointed the flashlight into the darkness
and got her first glimpse into the cave.

Light bounced back from pale rock.

Jane looked over her shoulder. "Doesn't look
very big."

Lucy swept the light back and forth as much as the
narrow opening would allow without her stepping inside. The light didn't
reflect back from either the right or the left. "Then again . . ."

"Okay, you're right. Are you going in?"
Jane asked.

Lucy nodded. "Yep." But she didn't step
into the opening.

"Well?" Jane said.

"I'm going." Lucy took a deep breath and
tried to squeeze through the opening but her pack stopped her short. She eased
back out of the crack and shrugged out of the pack.

"You sure you want to leave that behind?"
Jane asked.

"I promise to stay in sight of the
entrance."

"What are you doing now?" Mae wanted to
know.

"Lucy's going in," Jane said.

"Wait!"

Lucy sighed and stepped to the edge to look down at
Mae irritated at being interrupted just when she'd found her courage.
"What?"

"I don't suppose one of you could come down
and get the gun," Mae said.

Lucy choked. "You brought a gun?"

In response, Mae reached into her pack and pulled
out a large pistol. "I didn't want to be unprepared if we ran into a
kidnapper or another bear."

"Where the hell did you get a gun?"

"From my glove compartment. I keep it there in
case of carjackers."

Unbelievable. Standing there in her khaki shorts,
sun-visor and pom-pom socks holding a pistol she looked like a demented,
suburban Annie Oakley. "Put that thing away. No one is coming down to get
it. And don't shoot at anything."

Mae responded with an indignant sniff. "I know
what I'm doing."

"Fine but if you shoot a bear when it's not in
season you'll get arrested."

Jane looked at Lucy and shook her head. "I
swear I didn't know."

Lucy leaned over to look at Mae again. "I'm
going in now. Is there anything else you want to tell me first?"

"I still say you should watch out for the
bear," Mae said.

"Fine, but I don't think this is the right
time of year for a bear to be in the cave." At least she hoped it wasn't.

"Snakes," Mae said.

"I'll be careful."

"Bats?"

"Are you afraid of caves too?" Jane
asked.

"I just think Lucy should be prepared. Are you
sure you don't want the gun?"

"Believe me. The first sign of something alive
and I'm out of there. Besides, I'd probably shoot my foot off," Lucy said.

Mae didn't look convinced but she nodded.
"Okay but I really don't want to have to go for help."

"Don't worry. I have no intention of doing
anything to make things worse. Having Belle missing is bad enough." Lucy
turned back to the cave entrance. "Here goes."

Mae's talk about creepy crawly things had gotten to
her and she led with the flashlight hoping to scare off anything with more legs
than her--or no legs at all. It was a tight fit even without the pack. She
winced a little at the sound of her shirtsleeve tearing. The sting from the
scrapes set in a few seconds later.

And then, with a little pop, she was through the
narrow opening and inside the cave.

Lucy stood still for a few seconds but didn't hear
any scurrying, screeching or slithering. Just Jane.