Murder in the Devil's Cauldron (16 page)

Starr could have stood on the porch for hours
just reveling in the feeling, but the memory of the groceries
intruded like a loud cell phone conversation. She sighed and went
inside to put them away. Once that was done, she was going to look
at her slides again. Then she would go through her photography
books and see where she might have gone wrong. She was determined
she was going to get the shot she wanted.

When Fae left Interstate 35 at Sandstone and
followed the signs to Highway 23, she had no idea she was following
her quarry's journey north or that she was just a few hours behind
the man she was after. All she had on her mind was the desire to
get away from the noise and rush-rush-rush of the freeway.

Even though she had been driving five miles
over the speed limit, Fae was still the slowest car on the road.
Which was fine with her, but the other drivers seemed to be taking
it personally and vented their frustration by cutting as close to
her front bumper as possible once they had passed. After an hour of
that, all she could think of doing was getting off the road. It was
especially nerve wracking since she was still recovering from the
head-on collision nine months earlier.

There had been heavy fog that day and the
other driver hadn't had their lights on. As a result, Fae hadn't
seen them coming. When they veered suddenly over the center line,
Fae had had no time to react and she still couldn't believe she had
survived the resulting collision. The other driver hadn't been so
lucky. Not only had they been driving an older car with no airbags,
but they hadn't been wearing their seatbelts.

Their fate might have been Fae's had she
still been driving her older car that was also without airbags. But
it had died just a few months earlier and the car she was driving
the day of the accident did have airbags. And while the impact with
the airbag had caused some injuries, that and the seatbelt had
saved her life. As it was, she had ended up in the hospital for
weeks with a fractured spine and other injuries. Nothing that time
wouldn't eventually heal, but in the meantime recovery had meant
new challenges and demands that Fae hadn't expected. Often they
were struggles with ordinary activities that hadn't even been
blimps on her radar before the accident.

Driving had (not unexpectedly) turned out to
be one of those struggles. She had expected the nerves when driving
on the two-lane highway where she had had the accident. But she
hadn't expected the strain or stress of ordinary driving. This
afternoon's drive from the Twin Cities had turned out to be more of
a challenge than she had expected. While the sky was clear and the
light still good, the constant stream of near misses by pissed off
drivers had caused the muscles in Fae's neck to tighten until her
neck was stiff and her back felt as if someone was gouging away at
her spine with a dull chisel.

Fae pulled into a small park on the outskirts
of Sandstone and yanked herself out of her car. She walked slowly
around the park, easing the stiffness out and soaking in the quiet.
The birds and rustle of leaves were a welcome change to the blat of
the freeway and gradually the tension began draining away.

As she walked, Fae wondered (not for the
first time) if it was just that she was tired and more sensitive,
or if people were getting meaner and nastier these days. It felt as
if a great deal of common courtesy had flown out the window after
9/11 and had gotten worse ever since. Fae let out a short laugh at
her thoughts. Maybe she was just getting old.
When I was your
age
went through her mind in a creaky, crotchety voice.

When Fae returned to her car, she decided to
stay on Highway 23 the rest of the way and use the time to think
about what she had learned and figure out what her next steps
should be. Bailey would probably have some ideas about that as
well, but she knew he would expect her to have a plan. He had
little patience with agents who waited to be told what to do. It
was one of the reasons she enjoyed working with him. He constantly
challenged her and kept her on her toes. He was the best boss she
had ever had and she was thrilled he had trusted her with this
assignment. She was determined she was going to do more than a good
job. She was going to catch this guy.

When Diana shook him awake the next morning,
David Fowler took one look at the time and decided that there was
nothing that would make him crawl out of bed at five in the
friggin' morning simply to watch the sun come up. He groaned and
begged off, persuading Diana to go without him and managed to get a
few more hours of sleep. Not only was it too early to even think of
getting out of bed, but he wanted to be alert and rested so he
could take advantage of the Devil's Cauldron later.

When he joined her for breakfast later, he
saw the disappointment in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, honey," he said as he sat down.
"I think our drive up here yesterday took it all out of me. I'll do
better tomorrow." Especially since he could sleep as late as he
wanted after today if everything went as planned.

"You missed a gorgeous sunrise," she said.
"But it wasn't as gorgeous as it would have been with you there. I
missed you." She reached over and took his hand. "You would have
called the waves elemental." She let him go and gave him a
half-embarrassed shrug and took another sip of her coffee. "I just
wished you were there so I could share that moment with you."

"Oh for god's sake, Diana," Fowler began and
then managed to bite back the rest. Patience, he reminded himself.
It's almost over and the stupid bitch thinks she's in love with
you. That's not something you want her to reconsider at this
point.

Fortunately the waitress chose that moment to
come by, giving him time to not only order the desperately needed
caffeine transfusion, but also to get himself in hand.

"I'm sorry, honey," he said after the
waitress left. "I'm not at my best this early. I'll do much better
once I've had some coffee." He gave her his best apologetic smile,
thinking quickly as he saw the hurt on her face. "I think I was
more tired than I expected. Say you forgive me."

Diana was looking down at her plate, her
hands in her lap. Fowler waited, knowing he had built up a nice
reserve of goodwill that should kick in shortly. And after a few
minutes it did. First she sighed and then he saw her grimace slight
and knew she was reminding herself of their lovely drive north and
all the perfect moments they had had together over the last several
months. Finally, she looked up at him and reached across the
table.

"You're right," she said. "I was looking
forward to sharing the first sunrise here with you so much that I
didn't stop to think you might be tired. It was a long day
yesterday."

"Thank you sweetheart," he said. "And I
promise, once the coffee kicks in, I'll feel much better and we can
have a wonderful hike together." And then I can be rid of you
forever, he thought as he smiled at her.

"Wonderful," she smiled. "I thought we'd
start with Tettegouche this morning."

"You don't want to hike the Enchantment River
first?" Fowler asked, startled and unpleasantly surprised.

"That's too easy," Diana said, giving a
dismissive wave of her hand. "I'm in the mood for a real workout.
Especially after all the sitting and driving we did yesterday.
Besides, it's
so
gorgeous. Such a perfect day to get the
feel of the North Shore and start our honeymoon."

Fowler tried desperately to think of a good
excuse to hike the Enchantment River instead. But this was one
wrinkle he hadn't considered and the right words weren't coming to
mind.

"David?" An odd expression crossed Diana's
face, as if she was sensing that something wasn't right.

Fowler collected himself hastily. "Sorry. I
was trying to visualize Tettegouche, but it's been so long since
I've been there that I can't remember that one even a little."

"It used to be called the Baptism after the
river, but they changed the name of the park ages ago," she
prompted.

He shook his head, as if unable to bring an
image of that particular park to mind.

"Then it's the perfect place to start," she
said, the matter clearly settled.

Feeling a bit lost, Fowler followed her back
to their room, got changed and prepared to hike Tettegouche. As he
followed Diana out of the room, he realized he should've asked
Diana exactly what she had in mind when she was talking about their
honeymoon plan. It had never occurred to him that she didn't want
to start at the Enchantment River.

So while he smiled at her, his thoughts
bounced around madly like a feral cat trapped in a small cage. Was
she planning to hike the Enchantment River tomorrow? There had to
be a way to find out without alerting her to the importance of that
particular park. And how was he going to maneuver her to that park
sooner rather than later?

It had been a long time since he had lost
control of a situation and David Fowler didn't like it.

He didn't like it one little bit.

After breakfast, Starr took her camera to a
stand of birch trees near the gazebo. She'd had her eye on that
particular bunch ever since meeting Charlie at the gazebo, but
hadn't yet had a chance to get a picture of them. The morning sun
filtering through the trees threw patches of light on the peeling
bark, highlighting the rough texture in some places and throwing
shadows in others. She had been planning on shooting the Devil's
Cauldron again today, but she'd seen the clouds when she came out
of the cabin this morning and knew they would interfere with the
light, so she'd had to put it off for a day when the sky was clear.
Fortunately, even though she'd only lived at Storm Point for a
little over a week, she already had a long list of things she
wanted to photograph, so there was always something to shoot no
matter what the weather was doing.

She set up the tripod and screwed the macro
lens on her camera so she could get really close and capture all
the texture. There was a group of five trees that she shot first
because it looked liked something she'd expect to find in a story
of fairies or other magical creatures. Then she focused on the most
interesting tree and started shooting small portions of he trunk.
As she got close, the imperfections in the bark and the play of
light and shadow jumped out and filled the frame, turning into
something more than a tree.

After getting several shots, she moved the
tripod to a different location so she could shoot a different tree.
She was so close that the focus was difficult and as she worked to
get it right, she heard someone approaching. She was on the edge of
the path that went from the Lodge to the back parking area. Most of
the guests didn't use it and she had hoped to be done before anyone
came by. The last thing she wanted was for someone to say something
to her mother, so she had tried to be really careful about where
she went, especially with the camera.

Besides, even though this wasn't Minneapolis,
people who stayed here were probably from there. Starr had learned
that you could never be too careful, especially when you were by
yourself.

Warily, she sat back a little and waited for
them to pass.

Instead, the couple stopped. Starr smiled at
them politely.

"Hey kid," the man said. "That's quite a
setup you've got there."

"Thank you," she said.

"You going to be a pro some day?" he asked.
He was smiling, but Starr could see he thought he was being
funny.

"Honestly, David," the woman said. "She's
just a kid."

"She's got a tripod and the camera looks like
it might be the real thing," he said. "Maybe she's going to be the
next Margaret Bourke-White or something."

"You're too much," the woman said.

Starr hoped they would go away soon. The
light was changing and she was going to lose the shot pretty
soon.

"What do you say?" the man asked now.

"I'm going to be a photojournalist when I
grow up," Starr said seriously.

He looked at her camera and then back at her.
"What are you taking pictures of, anyway?"

"Peeling birch bark," she said, pointing to a
spot on the tree. "Real close up."

"Well. That's different."

Starr knew that meant he didn’t get it. But
then, most people didn’t get it until she showed them her prints.
“I got the idea from Eliot Porter. He’s a really famous
photographer.”

He grinned. “Good for you. Keep practicing
and you just might make it.”

“I will,” Starr said. She knew she was
supposed to be polite to the guests, so instead of turning back to
the camera, she waited, hoping they’d head off to wherever they
were going.

“Come on, David,” the woman said, pulling his
arm. “I’d like to get to Tettegouche some time today and I’m sure
she’d like to get back to taking pictures.”

“OK, OK.” He grinned at Starr again, making
her feel really uncomfortable. “Good luck, kid.”

“Thank you.”

She waited until she was sure they were gone
before looking back into the viewfinder. She wondered why people
always seemed to feel as if they had to comment and ask questions
when they saw her taking pictures. Sometimes it made her feel as if
she had two heads and she wished she had Harry Potter’s
invisibility cloak. Now
that
would be really great. She
could get her pictures and no one would ever know she was
practically under their feet.

Starr looked through the viewfinder again and
sighed. It still wasn’t quite right and she had to shift her tripod
a couple more times until she was satisfied with what she saw. She
managed to get a couple more shots before the light was gone and
then packed up. It might be interesting to shoot this tree again
when it was raining or foggy. She’d be willing to bet it’d look
really mysterious. She made wrote that idea down in her notebook
and then hoisted the camera bag over her shoulder, picked up her
tripod and moved on to the next location.