Skeleton Key (8 page)

Clay slid forward another foot or so and turned his head for another breath. His head turned freely and didn’t bang into rock. His head was out of the passage! A renewed energy possessed him as he slid the rest of his body out of the enclosure. He had made it! As he was standing, a light flipped on. Clay smiled and climbed completely out of the water. He put his arms around Erika and lifted her off the ground in the most genuine hug he had ever given. Erika giggled that sexy laugh she had used several times that day. “I didn’t think I was going to make it,” he told Erika. “But I started flashing back to
your
words. I made it because you said I could and I trusted you.”

“
You trusted me,” Erika repeated proudly. “How do you feel about that?”

“
I feel great—well, I’m
freezing
to death, and my head hurts, but otherwise I feel great!”

She grabbed his arm, and they starting walking up a steep walkway toward the cave exit. The polypro started to warm his body, but it was Clay’s heart that was truly warming up. He had a lot to think about—things he’d learned and things he needed to work on, but his faith had been stirred by Erika, and now he knew he had some things to do. It was time that he used his gifts to help someone else, and according to Zander Frauss, there was a mystery to be solved, and Erika and her son were in need of some aid themselves.

Clay had dropped off Erika and was stopped at a train crossing waiting for the longest train he’d ever seen, so he checked his cell phone and saw that he had a message from Tanner. He couldn’t get his mind off the events of the day, but mostly he couldn’t get his mind off Erika. The message said to call right away, so he speed dialed Tanner.

“
Hi, Dad. How was your day?”

“
Pretty memorable, to say the least, but I’ll tell you about it later. What’s up?”

“
Well, Dr. Frauss told me a little more about your caving adventure, and we were discussing the mystery surrounding the train wreck in Durand. We talked about the news articles some more, and then he told me about some things he had learned about the Depot. Anyway, last night I had another one of my dreams, and there was a picture calling to me.”

“
A picture? How would you ever find a
picture
?”

“
I think my dream located it
for
me. As it played out, it kind of closed in right on the picture. First there were railroad tracks and a train. I had to wait for the train to pass before the vision continued. Then it zoomed in on a building. It was a huge two-and-a-half story building with pointed peaks that were like turrets on a castle. It was roofed in red, claylike tiles. I looked up the Durand Depot, Dad, and it looked just like my dream, so I’m sure the picture is in that building. When the vision zoomed inside, I saw something like museum exhibits, but right at the entrance to the Depot, the vision went to the right and eventually down a hall and up a set of winding stairs. There was a long hallway with framed displays on the walls and then some offices. In the second office on a wall to the right was a family picture of a man, woman, and boy. It was that picture that was calling to me.”

“
Do you have any idea from the dream why the picture was calling to you?”

“
No. Nothing at all was familiar about it. But Dr. Frauss said there was a mystery there that he wanted you to check into. Maybe because I was there for the explanation and because I read the articles, I got connected somehow. You’re gonna check into it, right?”

“
Ya know, I think so, Tanner. Zander said he had some sort of intuition that there was a mystery to be solved, and I’m even more curious about that now than I was before. Plus, there’s a family that maybe could use my help. O
ur
help. I don’t know how exactly, but your vision makes me think we should check things out. You wanna come with me?”

“
Sure. Is tomorrow too soon? A bunch of guys on the team have been sick, so Coach gave us a day off and tomorrow I only have a lab in the morning. I could be at the house by eleven.”

“
That sounds like a plan. I’ll make arrangements for our visit. See ya tomorrow.”

***

Clay described his previous day’s activities to Tanner as they drove from Flint to Durand. He finally decided as they neared the Durand exit off from I-69 to tell him that Erika was the high school girlfriend that he’d told Tanner about nearly a year ago. “Remember? She was the one that I told to like me, and then told to break up with me.”

Tanner laughed. “Does she still just wanna be friends?” He thought that was funny because that is what Clay had told her to say when she broke up with him.

“
Of course. She’s
married
, Tanner. But her husband
is
missing.” Then he decided to include with a slight smile, “And she still looks really good. She claims she liked me long before the eleventh grade. I guess my mind-control kinda screwed up a golden opportunity. I’d really like to help her if I can.”

Erika had suggested that they meet at her house and go to the Depot together, so after stopping for three trains within about a tenth of a mile, they pulled into her driveway at about 11:30 in the morning. They stepped past neatly trimmed shrubbery to the porch of her cozy, cream-colored, ranch-styled home and rang the doorbell. Thinking again of her blue eyes, he noticed the house trim and front door were of the same color. Powder blue? Sky blue? The front door pulled open to the inside of the house, and Erika pushed open the front screen door. As she did so, a bird flew over Clay’s head and right into the house. Erika shrieked, ducked, turned, and tumbled over the side of a living room chair, falling to the floor. Clay stepped in to help her, but she was off the floor like she had bounced off a trampoline. She grabbed a couch cushion and started chasing the bird around the house, screaming and swinging at it every chance she got. Tanner and Clay both started laughing hysterically. Tanner held the screen door open and Clay opened the front window in hopes that the bird would find its way out before it got pummeled by a couch cushion. “Go out the window, you stupid bird! Go out the window!” Erika was yelling at it like she was Dr. Doolittle and the bird could somehow understand her ravings.

As it flew down a hallway and banged into a wall, both men wiped tears from their eyes, but then Clay had an idea. The bird flew back into the living room with Erika running close behind. “Hold on, Erika! Wait just a minute!” Clay extended his hand and concentrated on the bird. The bird started fluttering in the corner of the room near the ceiling. It was like Clay had caught it in his hand. The bird continued to flutter, and then he swung his arm toward the window and the bird flew right outside. Erika and Tanner looked on in amazement, and Clay was kind of surprised himself. Then the men looked at Erika, still holding onto the couch cushion, and they began to laugh again.

She was wearing an attractive sweater, a cute, navy-blue skirt, and matching knee-high leather boots. Hair, eye shadow, mascara, blush, and lipstick were all done to perfection. Her eye shadow was a bit darker today, making her eyes appear to be a deeper blue. She sat on the couch, but continued to cling to the cushion. She smiled and said to Tanner, “Hi, I’m Erika.” Then she began to laugh too. When her laughter died down a bit, she turned to Clay. “You can control the minds of birds? You could be an amazing hunter. You could join the circus.” She started to laugh again.

“
Telekinesis,” Clay smiled kind of awkwardly. “I didn’t get around to telling you about
that
talent. I never tried it on an animal before. I’m just as surprised as you. This is my son, Tanner, by the way.”

“
Nice to meet you,” she giggled. “I hope I didn’t make too bad of a first impression. I have to admit—if you hadn’t noticed—that bird kind of scared me for a minute. And, Clay, since
you
just made a confession, I have to admit there
is
something I’m afraid of…There’s a midget who terrifies me.”

Everyone started laughing again. “What? A midget? Why is that?”

“
Well, there’s this midget in Durand—name starts with a
J
…Jester or something like that. Anyway, to this day, he rides around on a kid’s bicycle. When we moved here that first summer, I was walking downtown on East Main near the clock tower. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw somethin’ comin’ at me, so I threw up my arm to protect myself. That midget ran his bike right into me, and I hit him right in the throat with my forearm.” Tanner was already laughing. Erika looked at Tanner and said, “Just wait. He was cussin’ and yelling as he got up off the ground, and
then
he saw that his handlebars were crooked and started swearing at
me
even worse. I don’t know how he did it, but he was so mad that while he was swearing, he started kicking himself in the head.”

“
What? Say again?” Clay interrupted. “He was kicking his own head?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tanner do a leg kick, which only came about waist high. He grabbed the back of his leg and said, “I think I just pulled a hammy.”

“
Yes! He was literally kicking himself in the forehead. Then he picked up a handful of stones and started throwing them at me. My friend, Dan—he’s a cop in town now—stepped in and saved me. He got the little guy to settle down and got him on his bike, and he started riding away.” Tanner and Clay were cracking up. “His forehead was swelled up, and his handlebars were turned at a crazy angle, so he kept veering to the right and jerking back to the left.” Now Erika was laughing. “He was steering all over the place, so when he turned back to me and threatened to ‘get me’ someday, he hit the curb and flipped off his bike again. That scary little man points at me and yells at me every time he’s seen me since. He terrifies me. So, yeah, I’m kinda afraid of midgets. Dan’s always been kinda my ‘protector’ ever since. He keeps an eye on the little monster for me, and he watches out for Logan too.”

Everyone was still laughing as they finally left Erika’s house and headed for the Depot to take a look at the picture that had called out to Tanner. Tanner liked her and found himself hoping that Zander was right about her. Maybe she really could help his dad finally move on from the loss of his wife. He was also beginning to sense that there really was a mystery to be solved and maybe his dad was the one to figure it out.

Roberto Gomez was heading to his truck so he could drive home for lunch when Erika, Clay, and Tanner arrived at the depot. Erika introduced the employee to everyone.

“
Nice to meet you, Roberto. What do you do here?”

“
Grease monkey, air monkey, snipe, diesel mechanic, gandy dancer, juggler…anything besides an engineman or a white shirt.”

“
That didn’t sound like Spanish, but I didn’t understand a thing you just said,” Tanner quipped.

“
Si, Señor Thomas. I was just messin’ with ya. I’m a train car and equipment oiler, brake repairman, track laborer, engine repairman, and unloader. Whatever they ask me to do besides drive the trains and supervise.”

Tanner and Clay liked him right away. “Not to mention, he’s a really good friend,” Erika interjected. “Say hi to Stacy for me.”

“
Sure thing. Buenas tardes, amigos.”

“
Let’s head on in, Gentlemen,” Erika said.

After Roberto drove away, Tanner said to his dad, “If we go in those front doors, we should walk in and turn to the right to go to a waiting area. If we go straight through the lobby and down a hallway, there’ll be a stairway on the right, heading to the second floor.” He led his dad and Erika through the doors, and sure enough, it was just as he described it. They headed up the stairs. When they reached the second floor, Tanner turned to the right and walked down a hallway. When he reached the second office door, he turned right, then looked to the wall on the right and pointed at a family picture of Erika, Adrian, and Logan Payne. Logan looked to be about nine or ten years old. “There it is.”

“
That
is what called you here? That picture in
my
office?”

Tanner shrugged his shoulders and smiled. Clay marveled at his attitude. Clay had lost his wife, but Tanner had lost his
mother
. She loved Tanner with all her heart, and Tanner knew it. Yet, less than a year later, he could smile, laugh, and not take himself too seriously. They had found the picture, and now it was everyone else’s responsibility to figure things out. His cell phone buzzed; he took it out of his pocket, read the message, and laughed. “Big Jake came to our room to see if we had any flu medicine—he’s a player on our team who’s been sick,” he explained to Erika—“so my roommate, Mike, let him in and they headed for the bathroom. Mike says, ‘You don’t look so good, Jake,’ and Jake says, ‘How can you live in here? It smells so bad!’ and the next thing, he was puking his guts out in the toilet. Mike says he couldn’t leave fast enough.”