The Dark Rift: Ascension (The Dark Rift Book Series 1) (6 page)

Almost a year later, Leah woke to her alarm ringing. Reaching to turn it off, she realized she was in pain, with a dull ache in her legs and hips. Dismissing it as nothing serious, she got up and went to work her shift at the Chevron station.

A month later, Leah was, for all practical purposes, disabled. She'd known her doctor for ten years, but never heard him use words like multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome. He said any one or a combination of these diseases could be the cause of her pain.

"How could I possibly have all of that? I felt fine until only a little while ago," she said.

"Sometimes, there's a sudden onset of disease due to extreme prolonged stress or, possibly, exposure to external stimuli," the doctor explained. "We don't really know what triggers this type of breakdown in a body, but it seems to be an overall failure of your immune system. Your condition might have started a long time ago, maybe when you were exposed to the radiation."

The realization over what the doctor was telling her slowly seeped in. Leah was bewildered. And angry. "What can I do to stop this from happening?"

The doctor set the paper with Leah's test results on his desk and looked directly into her eyes. "First of all, you need to change your life. That means an end to the drinking and hard drugs. I can help you apply for social security disability. I know it won't be much to live on, but you won't have a lot of time left unless you stop what you're doing, including working all hours of the day and night. Regardless, if you keep going like you have been, you won't be able to work anyway," he answered.

"Disability? Did you say social security?" she asked. Leah was realizing what punishing herself had really cost. Much of her past lost to alcohol, weeks at a time with no memory of what she'd done or who she'd been with. She wanted to start over. She wanted those days back. Now, the doctor was telling her that she could be losing some of her future as well.

"Yes. You know, you've got no cardiac or lung damage, but if you don't start getting rest, the pain will likely increase, as will the tissue and organ damage causing your symptoms. What we can do right now is try to control your pain with medication. I know that you won't argue with medicinal marijuana."

Leah almost wanted to laugh. Even a diagnosis like the one she was hearing had a silver lining.

"Your symptoms might diminish over time, but it looks like there's some permanent kidney damage and some bone loss."

"Bone loss? What do you mean? Do I have osteoporosis?" Leah wondered when the doctor would stop with the list of tragic illnesses. She questioned if this diagnosis really was her destiny. Hadn't the universe handed her too much to deal with already?

"No, you don't have it over your entire body. The bone scan we did during your last set of tests showed significant bone loss in your legs. That's quite odd, combined with your other symptoms. We should probably look into it further to see if we can arrest that process somehow. I'd like to schedule some more tests," the doctor said.

Leah didn't know what to say. She knew she was angry, but she didn't know where to direct her anger. She felt claustrophobic and just wanted to get the hell out of the doctor's office before she started throwing things. "I'll think about it, doc. I don't have a whole lot of money for this, you know," Leah said.

"Well, in the meantime, you head over to the social security office and get your application for disability started. I'll write whatever kind of letters you need. Regardless of how you got into this situation, whether it was by your own hand with the drinking or from your exposure to radiation as a child, you've got some things to deal with now that aren't going to go away."

"But, I'm not dying or anything, am I?" Leah asked the question, thinking if he gave her the wrong answer, she would just give up. Run herself into a tree, jump into the river, get it all over with.

"Like I said, Leah, we need to do some more tests."

Leaving the doctor's office, Leah went to the parking lot and sat in her car, trying to compose herself, working hard not to cry. She looked up at the sky and said, "Haven't you done enough to me already? Wasn't my entire childhood enough for you?"

She started up the car and sent a few handfuls of gravel flying as she tore out of the parking lot. She contemplated several large trees near the road, wondering if she could get the old beater she was driving up to a high enough speed to kill herself. She dismissed the idea, thinking, with her luck, she'd end up paralyzed or something, waiting out her last years in a nursing home while her strong heart continued to beat itself to death.

Driving home through a storm of tears, she was surprised at how easy it was to fall back into a well of bitterness. She decided to take the long way home to clear her head. As she drove through the forest, she realized even though her choices were limited, she still did have choices. It was either die, or die trying to live. She thought about what she was willing to do to avoid going through any more pain. She'd almost run herself into a tree, for God's sake. Yet, she never considered the idea of putting as much effort into trying to stay alive. Leah made the decision to change, to have a future. She chose her life.

The next few months were a nightmare until Leah's doctor got her pain under control. Within six months, she was walking with a cane, afraid she'd lose her balance and fracture one of her thinning bones. Leah was still angry about what was happening to her body, but at least some good had come out of her diagnosis. Every day, her mind felt a little bit clearer. She started to value her own life. With the exception of the medicinal pot, with a few extra joints thrown in to recognize happy hour, she was off of mind-altering substances.

Her doctor prescribed a mountain of supplements for her, most of which she couldn't afford. The state paid for some of them and the doctor found her free samples wherever he could. Even though he couldn't pinpoint a reason for Leah's multiple ailments, all in all, she felt better than she had in some time because she did what she knew she was capable of by taking control of her own life. Deciding to get well meant that some things needed to come to an end, so in addition to stopping the substance abuse, she abandoned her search for Kari.

On her way into the Organic Mart to pick up her latest batch of vitamins, Leah glanced at the newspaper vending machine in front of the store. The headline read,

Mystery in Mountain City!

Two dead, Family Missing

Boy Tells Amazing Story

Nothing really ever happened around Mountain City to make those kinds of headlines. So, even though she didn't normally read the local news, she grabbed a paper on her way out of the store and threw it in the back seat with the groceries. The next morning, she pulled it out, wanting to be entertained while she sipped herbal tea.

Leah read how two bodies were found that week, a woman who was hit by a car in the middle of a forest road and another body that was found in the river. She read how a boy and his friend were fishing, and how a corpse floating down the river knocked one of the boys off his feet and dragged him over the dam. "Good God. That must have been really awful," Leah said.

The article described how the boy who was washed over the dam was rescued and then disappeared two days later, along with his mother. It also said the boy's father possibly was missing. His friend, who was with him that day, Noah St. John, said they both contracted a strange rash.

The last paragraph directed Leah to page four for pictures of the boys and the missing family. She turned the page. In one of the pictures, the boy, Noah, was standing next to his mother. Leah looked at the boy's arms and dropped her teacup to the floor. She took a few deep breaths and stared at the picture for several minutes, then went back to the article to read more. It read, because of evidence found at the scene, Officer Charles Wending said that foul play was suspected.

Leah realized she was shaking so badly that she couldn't read more of the newspaper. In the forty-three years since she had the rash on her arms, she'd never seen one like it on anyone else, until today. She asked, why now, when she'd finally given up the search for any clue to what happened to her and Kari? Then, it dawned on her that a clue to her health problems had fallen right in her lap. If this boy had the same rash as she did, if there were similar causes, maybe she could find out what she had been ex-posed to. Maybe there were treatments for it. Maybe there was a cure. Leah pulled out her phone book. She picked up the phone and dialed.

Jodie waited, impatient. Her cell phone was in her car and her car was, from what she could see through the ambulance door on the way into town, hoisted up behind a tow truck parked at the Drive 'n Dine. Who knew when coffee and donut hour would be over and the driver would bring it to the police station. In the meantime, she' just have to sit and wait while the woman and boy at the counter finished talking to that bumblefuck, Wending.

The woman at the counter sounded irritated. The boy with her seemed anxious and rocked back and forth on his feet. "They're missing. Couldn't you at least drive over there and see it for yourself?" the woman said.

"Not right now, ma'am. As a matter of fact, your son here will be lucky if I don't charge him with a little breaking and entering. Didn't you say you went in through the window when nobody answered the door, boy?" Wending asked.

Before the boy could answer, Officer Wending's phone rang. "Wait right here," he told the woman and boy as he walked out of the room into an office to answer the phone.

The woman looked irate to Jodie. Her son just looked defeated. His shoulders slumped and he stared down at his feet. "I don't think we're going to get too far here," the woman said to the boy. She turned and glanced at Jodie.

"I don't think you are, either," Jodie said. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help but overhear some of your conversation. Did you say someone is missing?"

A questioning look formed on the woman's face.

"Oh, excuse me. I've had a long day, too. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Jodie Watts. I'm a Special Agent with the FBI. I work out of the San Francisco field office and came up for vacation. I had an accident on the way in."

The woman and boy moved toward Jodie, the woman extending her hand. "Hi, I'm Christy St. John and this is my son, Noah. Are you okay? I mean, from your accident?"

"Yes, thank you. Just a little shaky. Do you want to tell me about who's missing? Maybe I can help," Jodie said.

"My friend Fester and his mom," Noah blurted out. "My mom and me think that Fester's dad might be missing, too."

Jodie could see the desperation written all over Noah's face. He looked like he was trying hard not to cry. Christy St. John put her arm around his shoulders. "How long have they been missing?" Jodie asked.

"We think since last night," Christy said. "I know that's not a long time to formally be considered missing, but it looks like their house was broken into and the neighbor said she saw a strange vehicle in their driveway last night. We're trying to get Officer Wending to investigate, but he's apparently got more important things on his plate right now."

"Well, it's pretty late. I don't think that you're going to get much out of him at this time of night," Jodie said. She could see Noah's hopeful look fading. "Why don't you give me a number where I can reach you? I need to take care of a few things here before I head up to my cabin, but I'll be back in town tomorrow. How about if I call you then and see if there's been any progress in finding your friends?" Jodie asked.

Noah's gaze was trained the ground. Jodie looked at him and said, "Noah, it sounds like the house your friend lived in -- what did you say his name was -- Fester? His house was still locked up. People who aren't coming back don't usually care a whole lot about locking their doors on the way out. I know you're scared, but there might be a very simple explanation for all of this." Jodie watched the boy's face brighten a little.

"Thank you, Agent ... I'm sorry, what was your last name?" Christy asked.

"It's Watts, but please, call me Jodie." Glancing back at Noah, she said, "That's one heckuva sore looking arm." Seeing Noah's rash extending a few inches beyond the edge of his bandage, Jodie said, "I've got something like that starting on my hand. Thought I might have run into poison ivy."

"Yes, and I need to get him to the doctor tonight yet, so I wish this buffoon, I mean, I wish the officer would speed things up a bit," Christy said. "You should get your hand looked at, too."

Jodie looked down at the growing redness on her hand and arm, wondering what she could've touched. She waited as Christy opened her purse and took out a pen and pad of paper. Christy shuffled through the pad for an empty sheet and wrote down her name, address and phone number. She tore out the page and handed it to Jodie. Jodie wrote her cell phone number on a blank portion of the sheet, ripped it off and handed it to Christy. Jodie could see the notebook was filled with writing. Small pieces of paper were clipped into the book. Noticing the inquisitive look on Jodie's face, Christy said, "I'm an investigative reporter."

Her initial reaction was that she should be careful what she said, especially after what happened earlier that evening. Then Jodie thought that Christy seemed so concerned about her son that she probably wasn't even paying attention to what else was going on in town. All three of them looked up when Officer Wending hung up the phone. "Well, Mrs. St. John, you can come back here so I can get your statements. Agent Watts, I got some news on your situation, too. I'll be with you in a minute," Wending said.

News on my situation? What news? The woman was probably dead before I hit her. No shit. Her face looked like a bowl of spaghetti. No kidding. What was he going to tell her that she didn't already know? It was what she needed to tell him that was important.

Waiting for Christy and Noah to finish their statements, Jodie could overhear them and Officer Wending going through a painful exchange. She watched them for a moment through the large windows lining the conference room wall. Noah had a strained expression on his face and she could see Christy's jaw clenching. Christy signed a form Wending placed in front of her and got up, touching Noah's shoulder, urging him to move. It was clear, from what Jodie could tell, this mother and son weren't happy with the results of their meeting with Wending. Christy and Noah came out of the room. Noah's eyes were filled with tears. As they walked past, Jodie said, "I'll call you as soon as I'm able to tomorrow." Christy nodded and they pushed out the door, silent.

"Now, Agent Watts, please come back and sit down," Wending said.

Jodie walked through the swinging gate toward a table behind the front desk. Officer Wending pulled out a rigid-looking chair and motioned her toward it.

"Seems the woman you hit tonight was dead already by the time you got there. Even though it seems your blood tests came back negative, I should probably charge you with inattentive driving or something. After all, you did say that you fell asleep. I'll wanna see who she is before we do that, though. I might have to charge you with a few other offenses to pacify her family. They might be a little upset that some city girl came up and ran her over, even if she was already dead," Wending said.

"Officer Wending, from what I could see of the condition of her body, I think she might have been murdered. I've been working on a case in San Francisco--"

"Yeah, I know," Wending said, cutting her off in mid-sentence. "I recognized your name and remembered that you were the agent in charge of that Nelson case. You were the one who lost him, weren't ya?"

Jodie paused, staring at Wending in disgust. This is what he's thinking about right now? With people missing and possibly a murderer on the loose? "Yes, he escaped by driving his car into San Francisco Bay and I didn't follow him in, if that's what you mean. Look, Officer Wending, I need to know about the condition of that woman's body. From what I saw of her face, she might have been John Nelson's victim, which means either he's been up here before or he followed me and got ahead of me somehow. Regardless, I know you don't have the resources to deal with this, so I'll need to contact the San Francisco field office and get them involved. You're letting a lot of time go by and you could be putting more people in danger. So, if you don't mind, I'll use your phone now."

Officer Wending remained silent for a moment, a look of indignation building on his face. "Sure, sure. I'll just write that ticket for inattentive driving while you're on the phone, okay?" Wending said, setting the phone down on the table in front of her a little harder than she thought necessary. He walked over to his glassed-in office and sat down, a pink-colored pad in front of him on the desk.

Jodie dialed the field office. No one was answering. She looked at the wall clock. How did it get to be eight o'clock already? No wonder no one was there. She dialed Bob Cramer at home.

"Hi, Jodie. Wow, you couldn't go a day without me, could you? Did you make it up to the cabin okay?" Bob asked.

"Well, no, not really. Things didn't work out that way. I need you and someone from forensics to come up here and check some things out," Jodie said. As she explained the accident to Bob, Jodie began to understand the impact of her own words. She started to realize just how scared she was becoming.

"If Nelson really did follow you up there, you need protection and you need it tonight," Bob said. "I'll get a charter flight right away, but there won't be anywhere open to rent a car. Can you pick us up at the airport? We should be able to be up there in about an hour and a half."

"Anything you need." Jodie said a silent thank you for Bob's friendship. "I'll have to see if Officer Wending will let me have my car back."

"Your car's out back," Wending called out from the next room. "I'm gonna hang onto this gun of yours until I do a little checking on you, though. Don't want some crazy running around Mountain City with a gun, you know."

Nothing like being discrete about listening in on someone's conversation, Jodie thought. And, great. I'll be unarmed going into a dark cabin with a serial killer on the loose. "Bob, give me a call when you're about to land. I'm going to wait at an all night diner in town until you get here." Watching Wending leave his office and walk to the other side of the room, she said quietly, "And please bring my service revolver with you when you come, won't you?"

Jodie retrieved her keys from Wending, who decided to close up shop for the night. Her car was next to his cruiser, so he walked with her outside. She approached the Camaro cautiously, looking inside, then underneath, while Wending watched her. Everything looked okay.

"You federal people sure are jumpy, aren't you?" Wending said, getting into his car and driving away, leaving Jodie in the dark parking lot.

So much for chivalry. He certainly isn't taking this situation seriously, Jodie thought. Yet, even though he left her alone in the dark, she was happy to be rid of him. She quickly sat in the car, locked the door, and opened the glove box to retrieve her cell phone before starting up the Camaro. On her way to the Drive n' Dine, she finally acknowledged the headache that crept in earlier and took up residence behind her eyes. Food will help with that, she thought, as she pulled into the diner parking lot.

Finding a corner booth where she could see her car out the window and have an unobstructed view of the entire restaurant, Jodie ordered coffee and a black bean burrito. When it arrived, the first taste was unimpressive, so she loaded a pile of tomato salsa on the top. Looking down at the oozing red salsa streaming in rivulets across the plate, she pictured the dead woman's face from earlier and pushed her meal away. Coffee would do for now.

The waitress came by. Jodie was so rattled by the day's events that she hadn't even made eye contact with her when she ordered. As she strolled up and leaned against the side of the booth, Jodie looked up to see a weathered thirty-something woman with bottle-blonde hair. She smelled vaguely of perfume and cigarette smoke. Jodie could hear her bracelets tinkling against each other as she motioned in the direction of the mostly untouched meal on the table.

"Not what you were expecting, hon’?" the waitress said.

"It's not that. I've just had a long day. Could you wrap this up for me, please?" Jodie asked.

"Sure, hon. How are you feeling? I mean, after the accident and all?"

"Excuse me? How would you know about that?" Jodie asked. The memory of her car hanging behind a tow truck at the diner as she passed by in the ambulance came to mind. "The car, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, and that good ol' boy Dwayne, who drives tow truck, told us who you were. I was so surprised you'd ever come back here," the waitress said.

Confused, Jodie looked at her closely, then read her nametag. It said, 'Hi! I'm Debi!' Debi? Could this be the same Debi from high school? Downtown Debi, Do Me Debi, Delightfully Delicious Debi? Every football player's dream for one night, Debi? "Debi? Debi Schneider, from Mountain City High?" Jodie asked.

"Yeah, the one and only. Well, whadya know, it's like old home week. Whadya up to these days? Slumming?" Debi asked, grinning.

"I came up for vacation. I haven't been here for years and thought it was time to visit."

"Well, this town wasn't too kind to either of us, was it? I'da shit in my pants if anybody woulda told me back then you and I'd be anywhere near here after how those kids made fun of us in high school," Debi said.

"That was a long time ago," Jodie said, wishing there were some memories she could dispose of permanently. "We were all just kids then. How are you, anyway? What have you been up to?"

"Well, I did leave for two years. Went down to the city and tried to work. I never was one of them college types. Anyways, I was down there in the city and missed all the trees. I missed the quiet, ya know?"