Black Stump Ridge (17 page)

He picked up the glass and slowly drained the contents.

Amanda stared at him. She was torn. Was this an act? A case of too much protesting? The pain appeared genuine, but was it the pain caused by the loss of a dear friend? Or, a lover? Did it matter? At last, she decided that it didn’t, not really.

“Uncle Fred?”

“Huh?” He looked up. “What?”

“Let’s put this behind us. For now, at least.”

He nodded, but said nothing.

“I think the last thing you told me was that you and my father had stopped searching for Charlie and come back down the mountain.”

He stared at her. Should he continue the story? Was she really up to hearing more? Was he up to
telling
it? He exhaled, a long, shuddering sigh.

“We came down. Before we went back inside, we agreed not to tell Dave and Peete about the gunshot. I mean, we didn’t know for sure that Charlie had done himself in. There was no sense in adding to what they were already thinking. What we all were thinking.

“The next morning we gathered around the dining room table while we tried to figure out what to do…”

 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“What if he doesn’t come back?” Dave stood with his back pressed against the kitchen island. “What if he can’t?”

Fred sat at the table across from Johnny. Neither man had said much during breakfast. Johnny stared into his coffee as if he were trying to read an oracle. Steam curled from the dark surface but the vapors carried no answers. The man looked haggard, much the way Fred felt. Neither had slept much since getting back the night before, nor had either man mentioned the gunshot.

“What if he doesn’t
want
to come back?” Peete asked as he stared out of the kitchen window. Outside, the fog had just started to lift. The roof of the barn glinted in the morning light as the sunlight reflected off patches of frost on the shingles. The scene was beautiful despite the cold. He put his hands in his pockets and turned to face the others. “We all saw the news.”

“Yeah,” Dave stared at the kitchen floor. His thoughts rolled and tumbled in his brain, but he kept them to himself. He and Charlie were best friends. They’d known each other since college. They were fraternity brothers. They’d been on double dates together. They’d gotten drunk together and sick together and sober together. There had to be another explanation.

“Which of you thinks he did it?” Johnny’s eyes went from one to the other. “Fred? Peete? Dave? Do any of you really believe Charlie killed her?”

No one said anything for a long while. Finally, Peete shook his head. He turned back to the window.

“I don’t know.” He paused. “I just don’t know. I suppose anything is possible. I don’t believe it, though. Or, I don’t want to believe it. Right now, it’s all the same.”

He turned away from the window and looked at the others. “We’ve all joked about it. Johnny, you always said he was too pussy whipped to stand up to her.”

Johnny twitched as if poked with a cattle prod.

“And, Fred, she seemed to have a deep dislike for you – maybe even a hatred. She really got her back up if Charlie was hangin’ with you. Maybe she figured out you were comin’ on this trip. That could have started things boiling real fast.”

Fred stared silently at his coffee. Truth was, Peete was right. There was no maybe to it. Ever since the fiasco with Charlie’s bachelor party she’d exhibited nothing but cold, black hatred towards Fred.

“We always joked about how surprised we were he hadn’t wasted her already. But, we were always joking.” He looked at Dave. “At least, I’d like to believe we were joking.”

“If he did,” Fred offered, “it was probably one of those, what do they call it, crimes of passion. Maybe even an accident. Yeah, it was probably something like that.”

Everyone looked at him.

“We all know what a bitch she was. That’s no surprise. What if they got into a fight or something? Like Peete said, she’s got no love for me. I think it’s safe to say that if she could get away with it I’d end up as a hood ornament on that Buick she loves so much. Suppose she started in on him, pushing his buttons. She was damned good at that.”

“She was real damned good at it – especially when it came to you, Fred,” Johnny agreed.

“Y’all hold on just a minute!” Dave pushed away from the island as he looked from one face to another. “No one said he did
anything
. I watched that news channel most of the night. I listened to every damned word they were saying while the rest of y’all were in your beds. All they said was that Janine was found dead. They said a friend dropped by to visit and found her body on the kitchen floor. The news people said the cops wanted to talk to Charlie, but they didn’t say anything about him being a suspect.

“Hell, I’m willing to believe he doesn’t know about it, yet. It could’ve happened while we were drivin’ up here.” Dave sipped his coffee. “Yeah, I know what I was sayin’ last night. That was before I started watching all the stories and really listenin’ to what they were sayin’. I guess what I’m sayin’ is what kind of friends would we be if we jumped to any conclusions? ‘specially about something this serious?”

“That’s true,” Peete allowed. “Maybe it was a break in – a home invasion. She might’ve surprised a burglar or someone strung out on dope – maybe some crack head lookin’ for a quick score.”

Dave’s face brightened. “I’ll bet that’s exactly what happened and Charlie don’t know a thing about it.”

Johnny glanced at Fred. Fred looked back. He could see the same thought in the other man’s eyes. If that were the case, then the cops would have withheld the victim’s identity until next of kin could be notified. He shook his head ever so slightly. Johnny nodded and then looked back at Dave.

“That’s possible,” Johnny agreed.

And, the gunshot Johnny and I heard in the woods last night?
Fred thought.
Was that a home invasion, too? Of course, we don’t know it was Charlie. Not for sure. There are probably enough guns in these hills to outfit a decent militia.

“You’re right about one thing, though,” Dave said as he stepped away from the island. He put his cup inside the sink and grabbed his hooded coat from the peg by the door. “No matter what went on back home, here it was colder than hell. Judgin’ by the frost on the barn, it had to be somewhere in the mid-twenties at least, maybe colder. It ain’t important to me why he stayed out there. The plain fact is, he did. And now he might be in trouble. Hypothermia’s no joke. We need to look for him. We need to find him.”

“Agreed.” Fred stood, drained his cup, and put it in the sink. He reached over and switched off the coffee pot and then turned to face the others. “Let’s do this right, though. We need to make sure we have our shit together before we go out there beating the bushes.

“I think the first places we need to check are the blinds. Since those are the places I showed y’all they’re probably the places he’d remember if he got turned around in the dark. I think that’s where we’re most likely gonna find him. There are tarps in all of them so he could have made himself a tent or a lean-to. I hope that’s what he did, anyway. He knows we’d come lookin’ for him so he’ll probably stay put ’til we find him. We should stick together until we’ve checked them all.”

“Good thinking,” Dave agreed.

“If he’s not at any of the blinds, then we can talk about dividin’ into teams of two.” Fred pointed. “Johnny, you’re with me.”

“Okay.”

“Dave, that leaves you and Peete.”

“No problem.”

“Peete, there are a couple of first aid kits down in the garage near the door. Would you bring those up here, please?”

“Sure thing.” Peete headed down the stairs.

“Johnny, there are a couple of backpacks and a twelve-pack of bottled water. We could use them, too.”

“Sure thing,” he agreed as he slid his chair from the table. “Hey, Peete! Wait for me.”

As Johnny disappeared down the stairs, Fred turned to Dave. “I know Charlie’s your best friend and all…”

Dave raised his hands. “I know what you’re going to say. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. Yeah, I’m worried about him. Like you said, he’s my best friend. I’m the one who brought him into the group. If it was Johnny, you’d be feeling the same way.”

“Probably.”

“No probably to it. You know you would. Don’t sweat it. There’s likely nothin’ to worry about. But, if there is – if we don’t find him up at one of the blinds – then going about this half-cocked won’t help anyone, least of all him.”

“Exactly. I’m glad to see we’re on the same page.” Both men turned at the sound of footsteps coming up from the garage.

Johnny entered the kitchen first. He set the bottled water on top of the island and placed one of the first aid kits on top of the plastic wrapper. Peete followed with the backpacks and the remaining kit.

“Now what?” Peete asked.

“Now we need to make a plan.” Johnny poured more coffee into his mug and turned around. “What? It wasn’t cold, yet.”

Dave snorted and looked at Fred. “How do we make a plan? We don’t know what we’re going to find when we get up there.”

“That’s true enough,” Fred agreed. “But, we can come up with a few things in general. Like I said, I think we should all go up to the blinds together. We need to pack some food and water and the first aid kits. Nothing fancy on the food – just some jerky, some nuts, some candy; quick energy stuff. We should take at least one bedroll or sleeping bag, too. Like one of you mentioned – hypothermia’s no joke. Someone grab an axe, too.”

“Why? We buildin’ a fire?”

“We might have to. We might need to make a travois, so we need to take some rope, too.”

“In case he’s hurt or unconscious. Got it.” Johnny turned and headed for the steps. “I saw a couple of coils while I was getting the packs.”

“What if Charlie comes back while we’re checking the blinds?” Dave asked. “We don’t want him to come lookin’ for us.”

“Good point. Why don’t you leave a note tellin’ him what we’re doing. Tell him to just kick back and watch some TV until we get back. Make sure you tell him to stay put.”

Johnny cleared his throat from the top of the stairs. “Uh, TV might not be such a good idea – especially if he
did
do something to Janine. We don’t want him taking off, again. Right?”

“What do you suggest?” Fred asked.

Johnny shrugged. “I don’t know. Disable the TV somehow? Maybe disconnect the satellite dish?”

“Nah,” Dave said, shaking his head. “He’s smart enough to figure out what’s wrong and fix it.”

“Not if we disconnect it on the outside, say, at the dish?”

Fred thought about it for a moment. “That might work. Why don’t you take care of that while you’re down there?”

“Sure. I can do that easy enough. You got any tools?”

“I think there’s a kit along the back wall. One of those rolling Craftsman set ups.”

“Got it.” He grabbed his parka from the coat rack and clumped down the stairs.

“Let’s get these backpacks filled.” Fred started pulling packets from the cupboard. As he tossed them onto the island, they heard the door open and close.

“How long do you think we’ll be out there?” Peete asked as he cut the clear plastic away from the bottles of water.

Fred shrugged. “I don’t know. Depends on whether he’s up at the blinds or not. If we have to search, then I guess we’ll be out there a few hours. Why?”

“Well, I want to make sure we pack enough water.” He started placing the bottles near the packs. “We might want something warm, too. Maybe take some coffee. You have any thermos bottles?”

“I’ve got one; I’m sure Johnny does. Dave?”

Dave nodded. “I have one with my hunting stuff. I’ll go get it.”

They heard the garage door open again. Johnny’s voice echoed in the hallway leading up as he shouted, “Fred! Peete! Dave! Get your asses out here! Y’all need to see this!”

The three men looked at each other and then chased down the stairs to the open door and a white-faced Johnny standing just outside.

“What’s up?” Fred asked, already regretting not grabbing his coat on the way down.

Johnny pointed and said nothing.

“Oh, my god.” Dave’s voice quivered.

Fred stared at the cistern.

The heavy steel cover bulged in the middle as if a giant fist had driven upward from the hidden depths. The once square door was thrown back and twisted into a mangled mass like a discarded sheet of aluminum foil. What remained dangled from one bent bolt. The hatch opening bore three rents on either side. The edges of the torn metal were bent inward. The shattered lock lay on the ground a few feet away from the stone ring.

“What the …” Fred stopped. He had no words for what lay before him.

“You got me, friend,” Johnny rasped from just behind him.

Dave stared. He thought about the glowing symbols. He thought about the sounds he heard after he scraped the symbols from the stone. He felt his testicles try to hide behind his stomach.