Cache a Predator (11 page)

She avoided his eyes.

“That’s typical.” He turned his back to her, walked outside the shed, and hit the boots together, knocking off clumps of dried mud. He hit them with a little more force than necessary, dreading talking to her, knowing she’d probably lie again.

He left the dirty boots outside his door and invited her in.

She sat on a kitchen chair, reaching into a pocket for a tissue, while her eyes seemed to roam across the room. “Your place is really tidy.” She balled the hanky in her hand and pressed it against her temple. “I have such a headache.”

Brett nodded. “Of course you do. You have a hangover.” As soon as he said it, he regretted it.

She shed more tears and spoke in a whiny voice. “I want to go see the counselor today. What was her name?”

“Dr. Sarah Grinwald.” He sat across from her. “Tell me who was at the house yesterday.”

She looked away, swallowed, and met his gaze. “Mark.”

“Why? What did he want?”

“I don’t remember. That’s the bad part. I couldn’t wake from my fog.” She hesitated. “But I didn’t want Quinn to see him. I’m not sure if I was dreaming, but I locked Quinn in her room to keep her safe.”

“Safe from your brother? Why? What did he try to do to her?”

Ali shook her head and stood, then moved toward the kitchen sink. “Nothing. I don’t remember. Can I have a glass of water?”

Brett nodded and held his temper in check. She knew. She just didn’t want to tell him. “Help yourself.”

She opened a cupboard and took out a glass, then poured herself water from the spigot. After that she opened her purse and fumbled through its contents. She finally took out a medicine vial, then threw a pill in her mouth and chased it with a swig of water.

“What are you taking?”

“The muscle relaxer for my neck.” She massaged her neck and closed her eyes.

“Ali, you don’t need those. You need to quit popping pills and drinking. Sleep at night instead of during the day. See a counselor. See someone who can help you.” He tried to say it as gently as he could, but he wanted to shout it at her. He’d said it over and over again for the last year. “How many different drugs are you taking?”

Her eyes darted out the window and then back to him again—the telltale sign that she was going to lie. “Just this one. I can’t help it. My neck hurts all the time.”

“Sure it does. You rear-ended someone six months ago. Remember?” He wouldn’t forget. Her insurance had skyrocketed. He sighed. “You need help, and I can’t do it anymore. I’m going to fight for Quinn. It’s not going to be pretty this time. I want you out of her life. For good.”

Her cries grew louder. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to do the best I can. I hate being alone to take care of her and have to work too. I’m in constant pain. All you have to think about is yourself. You never talk to me; you never look at me.”

“Ali, we’re divorced. I tried for six years to make it work. It’s not my job to make you happy. You are not my responsibility anymore.”

She reached for his arm. “I need you. I’m sorry. I don’t want to be like”—she hesitated and waved her hands at herself—“this. I hate who I’ve become, but it’s like I don’t know how to stop. I’m in pain all the time. It won’t go away. I want to be a good mother.” She stopped and hiccupped a deep sob.

He shoved his hands in his pocket. All she did was whine. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I’ve heard it before. And I’m sorry for you, but your problems aren’t my problem anymore. I don’t understand them, and I don’t have time for them.” Her blubbering tears had worked once. He’d succumbed to her needs and empathized with her pain. He still did, but after being separated from her for months, it was easier to walk away from the guilt.

He had to force himself to stay calm, refrain from taking her by the shoulders and shaking her. He raised his voice a notch. “Quinn is living with another family—because
you
neglected her. Do you understand? I can’t accept that—nor should the courts.”

She reached for his arm and squeezed it. “Please! I promise I’ll quit drinking. I’ll go to AA. I want Quinn back too. She’s everything to me. Please, don’t take her away. I have nowhere to go. My mother won’t let me live with her. Please.”

Brett unhooked her hand from his arm and lowered his voice. “I can’t talk about this anymore. It’s nonproductive. I’m sorry for you, but I can’t help you. I have to let the natural consequences happen. Go home and get ready, and I’ll pick you up at 9:45. But after that, I’m done!” He turned and stormed out the door.

Chapter Eleven

Dawn showed its pink-clouded face as twenty-two-year old Nikki pleaded with Justin, her boyfriend, who sat eating his breakfast. “Come on. I watched two hours of football reruns with you on Saturday. You said you’d do this with me.”

Justin sighed and took his last bite of an egg. “You don’t waste time, do you?”

Nikki sat next to him on the sofa tickling his ear with her fingertip. “It’ll be cooler if we go now. Tory said she’s found a hundred and two caches. And hiking is great exercise.”

Justin smiled at Nikki. “You don’t quit.”

She bounced toward him like she was cheering for the winning team. “Yay, you’ll do it?”

Justin stood. “I promised, didn’t I?’

She clapped and moved across the room to her desk. “I already have an account all set up. I want to find the one I showed you yesterday titled ‘Under the Bridge.’” She opened her laptop and waited for it to boot up. “Bring your iPhone over here so we can program the coordinates.”

Justin placed his iPhone on the desk, slipped on his tennis shoes that were sitting next to the sofa, and grabbed his sunglasses. “Do I need one of those safari hats too?”

“Nope, none necessary.” Nikki copied the GPS coordinates of the cache into the iPhone from the geocaching site. The site was west of Hursey Park. “I think this one is along the trails behind the doctors’ offices. Listen to what it says about the site:

“‘In 1924 developers of the west side of Hursey Lake considered using this site as the location of the new sugar mill. The nearby creek and abundant trees made the area very inviting. Unfortunately, construction crews began to complain about the terrible smell and eerie noises coming from the wooded area adjacent to the bridge. Several residents reported seeing a large apelike creature moving through the woods in the early morning hours. Construction crews aborted the project in 1926 when one worker—Richard Tracker—had a face-to-face encounter with something he described as a large manlike ape that had stepped out from under the bridge. It howled and made a sound Tracker said he didn’t want to hear twice in his lifetime.

“‘The cache is hidden near a tree alongside the bridge. A longtime resident of the area claimed the tree was sacred to Indians that lived there in the nineteenth century. The tree was called “Walking Bearman.” The area has never been developed due to the persistent sightings of this apelike creature stalking the bridge until the late 1970s.

“‘Move fast and don’t linger too long. Hikers have reported mysterious shadows moving in the woods in the late-night hours, and unusual noises on moonlight nights. Dogs may be spooked in the area too.’”

Nikki said, “Ooohhh, doesn’t that sound mysterious?” She didn’t wait for Justin to answer as she reached for her sunglasses and the hiking backpack and threw it over her shoulder.

“Very cool, yes.”

Minutes later, Justin drove to a community parking lot closest to the trails and parked.

Nikki couldn’t believe she’d finally convinced him to go. He was always surprising her. She thought he’d try to find a way out of it, but not this time. She hoped once she got him outside and he felt the excitement of the hunt, he’d love it, and they could geocache more often.

He held her hand as they walked along the roadside of the industrial park medical district, his dark coarse hair hanging over his ears.

People drove by on their way to the hospital, a doctor’s office, or a pharmacy. None would suspect where Nikki and Justin were going or what they were after. Nikki felt a little like a private detective. What a thrill.

She glanced at the navigation system, but the sun’s bright rays made it almost impossible to read. She put her back to the sun, making a shadow on the screen to determine where they were going. “It says we’re seven-tenths of a mile away. How far is that?”

“Oh, from about here to there.” Justin pointed across the street.

“Where over there?” Nikki squinted to see.

Justin laughed and pointed again. “Somewhere over there.”

Nikki slugged his arm. “Quit teasing me. You know I have no sense of direction.”

Justin smirked. “I think we’re supposed to go west now through this parking lot since the bridge is over that way. Right?” He pointed to a little sidewalk between two doctors’ offices.

They headed toward the office door, but instead of going into the building, they continued their trek behind it, toward a field that led into the woods.

When they got to the trail entrance, Justin motioned for Nikki to go first.

She led them along the worn trail. “I read somewhere that it’s important to act like we have a purpose—not to look like we’re hunting for the prize. There could be other hikers searching for the same cache, and you don’t want to spoil their fun or give away that we’re searching.”

Thick weeds scraped at Nikki’s legs and arms. The sounds of automobiles driving by and horns honking faded as the trees and the brush absorbed the sound. Soon, all that was left were the sounds of bees humming, frogs from the nearby creek croaking, and the rustling of the bushes they walked through. Nature followed them to the bridge. Little bitty eyes lay hidden in the trees, watching them.

A fly flew into Nikki’s ear, and she let out a little scream. “That little insect just smashed itself onto my face.” She wiped the wet spot with the bottom of her shirt.

Justin took her hand and drew her closer to him. “Come here.”

She hopped over a large prickly weed.

He pulled her into his arms. “I was hoping we’d have a moment like this.” His lips pressed into hers. He reached down to her buttocks and brought her even closer. Then his fingers walked up her back to the long tendrils of red hair that fell loosely on her back.

She shivered and felt the hardness of his body against hers and the way his fingers pressed possessively around her waist. A sliver of sunlight peeked in between the shade of the tree branches shining a light on Justin’s brow. Oh, she could stand here a very long time. But she pulled away. “Hey, stop that.” She giggled. “We came here to find the cache.” She took his hand and led him further along the path.

Justin laughed and slapped her bottom. “You can’t blame a guy for trying.”

She flinched and giggled. A squirrel’s paws crunched on dead leaves on his way up a nearby tree. Nikki looked ahead. “There’s the bridge up that hill. See it?” With her hand over her brow, she said, “Check out that humungous tree!” A large tree hovered over the bridge at the far end.

“I bet that’s the one called Bearman. Look out. He’s probably lurking nearby.” Justin laughed.

“Stop!” Nikki turned to give him the evil eye. But then she broke out in laughter.

Justin checked the GPS. “I think we need to get to a clearing. I don’t have a good signal here.”

They hurried about ten feet to where a bike path opened into a less dense area. Justin stopped to study the reading.

Nikki gazed at the bridge. “Do you remember reading the book
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
when you were a kid?”

“Uh, no.”

“This reminds me of the story. The Billy goat tries to cross the bridge, and the troll, who’s lurking under the bridge, says, ‘Who’s that tramping over my bridge?’ But in the end, the Billy goat wins. He pokes the troll’s eyeballs out and crushes him to bits, body, and bones.”

“Except today, instead of the Billy goat, it’ll be Bearman, right?”

“It does feel kinda creepy here. Can’t you just picture the troll waiting under the bridge and hear the clippity-clop noise of the goat on the top? Shhh, listen to how quiet it is.” They froze and listened. The only sounds were the chirping of birds and the gurgling water under the bridge.

Justin abruptly placed his hands on Nikki’s shoulders and shouted, “Boo!”

Nikki screamed and jumped, slugging Justin on the arm. “Don’t do that!”

Justin held out his hand. “Wait.” He inhaled. “Do you smell that smell?”

She sniffed and wrinkled her nose. “Yuk, what is that?”

“It’s the Bearman!
Rooaarrr
!” He laughed.

She swatted his arm again, giggling.

“I couldn’t resist.” He glanced at the GPS. “It looks like it must be under the bridge here somewhere.” He pointed to where a stream ran perpendicular to the bridge, where the water gurgled only a few inches deep. Rocks jutted out along the way.

Nikki ducked under the bridge along the side of the water, trying to balance on the rocks, holding onto the metal support beams on the side. Her eyes followed the beams above. “I bet it’s in one of these steel pieces on the side. You look down at that end, and I’ll look down at this end.”

“If you find it first, don’t open it. Wait for me,” Justin said as he headed in the other direction.

They searched all around and underneath until they heard someone riding a bicycle, its spokes clicking along the top of the wooden bridge, and then past them deeper into the woods.

“Let’s check out the top side.” Justin waved Nikki over.

Together they walked with their heads bent, looking down in between the wooden boards. They started at one end of the bridge, walking to the other side. When they got to the end, Justin noticed a loose board. When he stepped on one side the board, the other side rose.

Nikki knelt next to the raised board and peered underneath. “Cool. We found it!” Lying in the dirt was a dark-green metal box. The words
Geocache
Box
were written on the outside in red nail polish. Flies buzzed all around it. Nikki waved them away and handed the box to Justin, jumping like a cheerleader on the balls of her feet and squealing. “I can’t believe we found it!” She hopped in a circle. “I know it’s silly, but it’s the thrill of it.”