Shadow Bones (15 page)

“What's that?” He pointed to the opening.

“An old mine shaft. I think it leads into the Mitchell tube eventually. My dad always wanted to explore this side of the mountain, but the access was a problem.”

“You ever been in there?” Not that he wanted to explore it. His stomach churned at the thought.

“No, my dad would never let me. It's been abandoned for decades and isn't safe.”

As Jake turned around, he saw a shadow flit from tree to tree. “Hey, you there!”

Skye whirled to look, too. “Wilson, I want to talk to you.”

Wilson's moon-shaped face poked from behind the tree, then he jerked around and took off.

“Come back!” Skye took off after Wilson. He raced along the path as if a demon were after him.

Skye was soon panting from the thick humidity. Jake ran with her.

“I'll catch him!” He accelerated past her toward Wilson's bulky figure.

S
kye caught up with Wilson and Jake at the edge of the clearing. Wilson had been running for all he was worth, and Jake tackled him from behind. Jake gave her no chance to do more than gasp as he caught Wilson by the arm and lifted him to his feet.

“What were you doing spying on us?” Jake demanded.

The whites of Wilson's eyes rolled up, and he shook like the aspen leaves above their heads. “I didn't do nothing,” he said. His lips trembled.

Skye grabbed Jake's arm. “Let him go. He won't run, will you, Wilson?”

The man shook his head. “What do you want?”

Jake let go of Wilson's arm, but he continued to stare at him with wariness in his manner. “We want to ask you some questions.”

Wilson stood rubbing his arm. He shuffled from one foot to the other. “I don't know nothing.”

“Do you come here often?” Skye used her most gentle tone. Wilson was terrified enough, and she didn't want to upset him any further.

The man nodded. “It's my place.”

Jake opened his mouth, but Skye quelled him with a look. “Do you ever see anyone else here?” she asked Wilson.

He nodded. “Sometimes.” He ducked his head and didn't look her in the eye.

“Anyone you know?”

“Maybe.” He looked crafty.

“Have you seen Cameron Reynolds here?” Jake burst out.

“Let me handle it,” Skye hissed.

Jake subsided with an impatient huff.

Wilson stood with his mouth agape and a distant expression on his face. “I don't know no Cameron.”

“He digs in the ground,” Skye prompted.

“Like
him,
” Wilson said.

“Yes, like Jake here. You were at the cabin last night. Someone hurt him.”

“I didn't see nothing.” Wilson shrank away.

They'd better change the subject or they would lose him, Skye thought. “He was trying to find eggs. Have you seen any rock eggs, Wilson?”

He nodded. “Seen lots of them.”

“Where?” Jake put in. His rising voice betrayed his eagerness.

Wilson shrank back. “There,” he said, stretching out his arm.

Skye turned to look with Jake toward where Wilson indicated. The man was pointing at the entrance to the old mine shaft. “In the mine?”

Jake paled. Skye's stomach sank. She didn't want to go in there, either. “We'll tell the sheriff,” she said.

“The Spider Woman put them in there. She was pretending to be a man, though.”

“What man?” Jake and Skye said in unison.

“When did you see her put the eggs in there, Wilson?” Jake asked.

“Sometime.” Wilson looked vaguely off to the side. “Before the dark man came.”

“Does he mean Kimball?” Jake asked.

“The dark man who digs in the ground with Jake?” Skye asked.

Wilson nodded. “Before that. It was night, and the Spider Woman brought them.”

“The Spider Woman or a man?”

“They're the same,” Wilson said, confusion clouding his eyes.

“Okay, how do you know the Spider Woman is a man?” Jake asked.

Wilson shook his head in confusion. “He was bad. He hit the other man with the shovel. Bam, bam!” Wilson pantomimed with his hands as though he held a club. “He whacked him again and again until he didn't move anymore. Then he ran away.”

Skye licked her dry lips. “You're sure it was a man.”

“He was tall. Big as a house. Big like Spider Woman.”

Skye suppressed a sigh. Wilson was rambling.

“I want to go home now,” Wilson announced. “I saw your daddy, Skye.”

Her heart kicked. “When, Wilson?”

“When he came here.” He waved toward the mountain.

“Lately?”

Wilson took a step back. “I need to sleep now.” His expression took on a stubborn cast as he settled beneath the tree and pulled his hat over his eyes.

Frustration rose in her chest. “Now what?” She was afraid to hope he knew what he was talking about. Could her father have come back?

“Maybe he'll talk more later. We should take him to town for the sheriff to talk to him.” He gave her a kind look. “Don't go getting your hopes up that your father has come back. Time is murky for Wilson. He was likely talking about sometime in the past before your father went away.”

“Probably,” Skye admitted. “But what if Wilson saw him recently?”

“Don't go there.” He squeezed her shoulder. “We need to let the sheriff handle Wilson.”

“You think you can carry him for half a mile through heavy forest?” She nodded to the big man lying on the ground.

“We'll get the sheriff out here.” He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the screen. “No signal.”

“I'm not surprised. What if one of us goes for the sheriff, and the other one stays here to watch Wilson.”
She knew what he would say before he answered. Typical male.

“You go.”

“No, I'd better stay here with Wilson. He'll be scared if he wakes up and sees you.”

“Like the sheriff would listen to me.”

He had a point. “Maybe you're right.” She glanced at Wilson again. “He might sleep until I get back.”

“You might be able to get a signal at the road and just call the sheriff. Then you could come right back here to wait on him.”

“Okay. Try not to scare him if he wakes up.”

Jake touched her hand. “Be careful. I think you need these.” He tossed her the keys to the SUV.

She caught it midair. “I'll be back as soon as I can.”

 

The hum of the bees through the wildflowers in the meadow made Jake wish he could take a nap himself. He settled on a rock and waited. As he jiggled his foot, he kept glancing at the opening. If only he could make himself go in there to look. He stood and walked closer.

The opening was only about four feet in diameter. No way could he crawl in there. He wished there was someway to get over this paralyzing fear. Skye said God didn't give a spirit of fear, but of power and a sound mind. He puzzled over what she meant. He'd been watching her, and if God was what made her different from most women he met, that extra something was intriguing. It made him long for something unnamed, something that almost frightened him.

A total reliance on God.

His chest squeezed at the thought. He knew he was God's child, but Jake liked control. Giving it up to someone else, even God, was too difficult.

But maybe it was necessary for true happiness. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Are you listening, God?” he said the words tentatively, as if the Creator might actually answer.

Out here in the wilderness, he could almost feel the Lord nearby. He was probably just tired today, or he wouldn't be thinking like this. He hadn't been to bed last night at all. He heard the sound of someone tromping through the woods and turned to look. Kimball Washington batted a branch out of the way and stepped into the clearing.

“What are you doing out here?” Jake asked, going to meet him.

“I ran into Skye on her way to find the sheriff, and she asked me to come keep you company.”

“She couldn't get him on the cell?”

Kimball shook his head. “Her cell phone was dead.”

“I should have given her mine.”

“She said she'd be back as soon as she could.” Kimball looked toward Wilson, still sleeping beneath the tree. “Maybe we should take another crack at asking him questions. Skye told me what was going on.”

“Let's leave it until the sheriff gets here.”

Kimball raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping Jake's face. “You look done in. Why don't you take a nap yourself?”

“I wouldn't be able to sleep a wink. Not knowing those eggs may be in that tunnel.” He pointed out the spot to Kimball.

“I'm not going in there. God gives us common sense for a reason.”

Jake arched his eyebrows. He'd never heard Kimball talk about God before. “I never knew you were a Christian.”

“Last time we met I wasn't.” Kimball settled on the rock beside Jake. “I finally ‘saw the light,' as they say.” He grinned.

“I have to say I'm surprised.”

“Why?”

“You're a man of science. Some say they don't go together.”

Kimball's smile widened. “Do you believe in dinosaurs, Jake?”

“Of course.” Jake wondered if Kimball had been in the sun too long.

“Why?”

“I've found their fossils.” Where was Kimball going with all this? Jake moved impatiently.

“But you've never seen one.”

“I've seen the evidence they existed.”

“And the evidence God exists is all around us. You believe in dinosaurs because you see the bones, but how do you explain the way all the stars maintain their orbits, the way the ocean tides move in and out. And what about the beauty all around us? There is an Intelligent Designer, Jake. There has to be.”

“Hmm, I've never really thought about that. I believe in God because I believe. It's that simple and that hard. I hadn't thought about hard evidence.” What Kimball said made sense. Jake looked around with new eyes. Every word the man said strengthened Jake's sleeping faith.

Kimball went on. “Science says it's survival of the fittest. Man is defenseless, yet he rules the world. Does that make sense?”

“I guess not.” Jake stretched his legs out in the sun. “Didn't it feel weird to give up control to God? I've never done that, despite my faith. I've always held on to that last little piece.”

“Yeah, it felt a little weird. But you know what—it was a relief, too. I sure wasn't doing that great a job running my own life. I figured I didn't have anything to lose by letting God have a shot at it. You might give it a try.”

Jake tried to stifle the longing in his heart, but it came back in a resurging wave. He'd always admired Kimball more than any other man. And Wynne and Becca had that same sense of peace that Skye had. That contentment was missing from Jake's life. What Kimball was saying made a lot of sense. But no, not yet.

His chest closed up. “Not now. I'll think about it. Maybe I'll go to church with the family on Sunday.” It was all very well and good to say he wanted to give God control, but he didn't see how he could do it. What if God asked him to give up paleontology?

“Don't wait too long,” Kimball warned. “When the
Holy Spirit is calling to a course of action, it's never wise to turn away.”

He didn't want to be a nut about it. Did he? Maybe he did. He hadn't done a great job of running his own life. Sure, he'd had success in his career, but it hadn't erased the emptiness in his heart.

“You've gone off the deep end,” Jake said, forcing a laugh.

“The water's refreshing here,” Kimball said with a cheeky grin. He clapped his hand on Jake's arm. “I'll be praying for you, buddy.”

“I appreciate it.” Jake stood and stretched his legs. “The sheriff and Skye should be back anytime.”

Kimball cocked his head. “I thought I heard something.”

A distant rustle came to Jake's ears. “Me, too.” Unease touched him. The sounds seemed stealthy. Skye and the sheriff wouldn't be trying to mask their steps.

Something whistled by Jake's head and plowed into the ground by Wilson. “Get down!” He threw himself to the ground. “Someone's shooting at us.”

Another bullet plowed into the tree above Wilson's head. The big man jumped to his feet and crashed into the forest. “The Spider Woman!” Running as if a swarm of bees were after him, he disappeared into the thick brush.

Jake started to get up to go after him, but another bullet zinged by overhead. “Where's the sheriff when you need him?”

“I'll circle around and try to catch him. Keep him occupied.” Kimball belly-crawled toward a downed tree.

“Be careful!” Jake hissed. He jumped to his feet and ran toward a boulder, then hit the dirt as another bullet flew past his head. The guy seemed to be coming closer. Jake couldn't quite tell what position the shooter held.

Picking up a rock, he tossed it into a rocky outcropping. Nothing. Crouching, he ran toward a nearby tree. He felt a burning on his left arm and looked down to see a thin trickle of blood on his forearm where a bullet had nicked him, probably the one that seemed to have been aimed at Wilson.

He charged toward another rock, but no bullets greeted his movement. Where was Kimball? A roar echoed from the forest, and he squinted to see Kimball charging toward three white birch trees that grew together. Jake jumped to his feet and rushed to help.

Kimball's war cry had faded when the two men came face-to-face. Jake looked around. “Did you see anyone?”

Kimball shook his head. “He was shooting from here though—look.” He pointed to bullet casings on the ground.

Jake started to pick one up, but Kimball stopped him. “This is a job for the sheriff.”

“At least he won't be able to deny someone shot at us.”

“Unless he says these are old bullets.”

“He'll believe you,” Jake said. “But why would someone want to shoot Wilson?”

“Unless Wilson knew too much?”

“We've got to find out what he knows,” Jake said grimly.