Shadow Bones (7 page)

“I'm sure he's a friend, but that sheriff seems pretty useless,” Jake said. “He didn't seem all that concerned about someone attacking us.”

“We don't have much crime here, so we're all pretty used to handling our own problems. The Ojibwa are an independent lot. Besides, he's used to bullets whizzing around from hunters from the mainland. The hunters sometimes shoot at anything that moves. Rocks seem pretty tame by comparison.”

“Jake is worth ten sheriffs,” Wynne said with a touch of amusement in her voice.

“I know,” Skye said. She and Wynne shared a look of understanding, and Skye suddenly realized Jake's sister was an ally. Her heart gave a leap of gladness.

Skye's best friend Sarah had moved to Ontonagon a year ago, and Skye had felt the void. She could use a friend.

Jake glanced at the exposed eggs. “I'm not sure about leaving them unprotected,” he said.

“I'll stay and keep working,” Wynne said. “You two go see what you can find. And bring back some bottles of water when you come.”

“I don't like leaving you here by yourself.” Jake frowned and hesitated. “Even the miners are off for the weekend.”

“I'll be fine,” Wynne said. “You're not the target. It appears Skye is.”

“Cameron might be back for the other eggs. You might be in the line of fire.”

“I could call my cousin to come stay, too,” Skye said. “Michael is big enough no one is liable to mess with him.”

“Call him,” Jake said.

“I'll be fine! You won't be gone that long.”

Skye pulled her cell phone out and dialed her cousin's number. He didn't answer so she left a message asking him to come out to the mine.

“He's never away from his messages for long,” she said. “I imagine he'll be here in a bit. I could help with the dig until he gets here.”

“No, you won't.” Wynne looked determined. “Go ahead to town. Cameron won't try anything again. He knows we're on to him.”

“Yeah, you're probably right.” Jake took Skye's arm. “Let's go. Call us if anything suspicious happens.”

Skye didn't like leaving the diminutive young woman alone, but she followed Jake's lead. She glanced
back from the parking lot and saw Wynne wave. Skye said a little prayer for God to watch over her newfound friend.

S
kye drove the truck expertly along the rutted dirt road. Jake admired the way she handled the old vehicle in the curves.

“Did your dad teach you to drive? You drive like a man,” he said.

“Is that a compliment?” She sounded amused.

“Yeah, I guess it was meant to be.” He grinned. “Sorry, that was chauvinistic, wasn't it?”

“A little, but I won't hold it against you.”

Jake's grin broadened. He liked the way she didn't stay mad long. She certainly had the right to, after the way he'd acted when she first showed up. She had a way of disarming him, and he wished he hadn't acted like a jerk.

Skye slowed at a narrow lane. The truck barely squeezed through the opening flanked by raspberry bushes. The lane wound back nearly half a mile through some of the most unkempt foliage Jake had ever seen.
The truck bottomed out in several holes, and Skye winced every time the undercarriage scraped the dirt.

“You sure she lives back here? I'm surprised she manages to keep a vehicle running.”

“She doesn't. She rides a bicycle. I think she pushes it out to the road from her house.”

“She lives alone?”

“She does now that her son is dead. Her husband used to be the fire chief. He died in a big hotel blaze ten years ago. She moved out here then. This property had been in her family for years, and the house was in shambles. I imagine it still is.”

“She sounds pretty weird.” And scary. Jake was beginning to think Skye might be right about this woman.

The truck rounded one last curve, and the house came into view. It was barely more than a shack. Jake guessed it had been built by a fur trapper. There couldn't be more than one room under the sagging, moss-covered roof. A couple of goats munched on shrubs in front of the building, and several chickens scrabbled in the dirt.

Skye stopped the truck in front of the house. “Looks like she's here.”

“How can you tell?”

Skye pointed toward a tripod set up over an open fire. “She's cooking.”

The aroma of some kind of soup wafted to his nose, and he nodded. “Any chance she'll take a potshot at us?”

“I hope not. Maybe we should stay in the truck and just honk the horn.”

She was a smart lady. He nodded and reached over to press the horn. She winced as the horn blared. The goats bleated and bounded away as chickens squawked and fluttered wildly toward the woods.

“That should make her mad,” Skye laughed.

Jake shrugged. “I'm not letting you out of this truck until she shows her face.”

Before Skye replied, Jake saw movement from the corner of his eye. He whipped his head around and saw what he would have called a mountain woman approach the truck. She wore worn dungarees, boots and a faded shirt that might have been red once. A floppy hat even more decrepit than the one on Jake's head perched atop gray braids.

“Stop that!” Tallulah said. She slapped the hood of the truck with a dirty hand. “You're scaring my livestock.” She glowered at them and jerked open Skye's door. “If you want to talk to me, then get out of there.”

Skye glanced at Jake, and he shrugged. “She doesn't seem to be armed,” he whispered.

Skye nodded and got out. Jake followed suit. He watched Tallulah warily, ready to jump her if she pulled a weapon.

“Sorry to bother you, Tallulah,” Skye said. “We wondered if you'd seen Wilson lately.”

“No, I haven't. If you see him, tell him to come and get those airplanes out of my house.” She glowered at Skye. “You have the nerve to show up here after killing my boy.”

“I'm sorry about Robert,” Skye said.

Jake thought he saw tears in Skye's eyes. On the drive out, she'd talked about how close she was to Robert. Too bad Tallulah didn't seem to realize Skye was genuinely cut up about the teen's death.

“A lot of good your sorry does.” She clenched and unclenched her fists.

“You have some of Wilson's planes here?” Skye's voice was nonchalant, but she glanced at Jake with a gleam in her eye.

“Robert liked to work with him on them. The last ones they built are still by my fireplace. I want them gone.” Tallulah's voice softened. “Though I might keep one.”

Skye was being too gentle, Jake decided. “You been out to the garnet mine lately?”

She didn't answer, just stared at them. “I want you off my property. You done sicced the law on me.”

So the sheriff had at least come out and talked to her. That was progress. Jake didn't like the angry glint in her eyes. She might be as dangerous as Skye suspected. “We're trying to figure out who tried to hurt Skye.”

“You got no call to talk to me like I'm some kind of criminal. I haven't hurt anyone.”

“I heard you tried to shake Skye from a ladder a few weeks ago, attacked her, too. She said you threatened to kill her.”

“She's a murderer,” Tallulah snapped. “With your mouth, maybe someone was trying to hurt you and not her. You seem the type to make enemies.”

He grinned wryly. “And you seem a good judge of character, ma'am.”

She regarded him soberly as if she thought he was making fun of her, but her wary expression didn't fade.

“We don't want to keep you from your work,” Skye said. “Did we disturb you?”

Her placating tone seemed to work a bit. Tallulah looked eager. “You want to see my babies?”

Jake assumed she meant baby chickens or goats. “Sure.” Feeling magnanimous, he touched Skye's waist and guided her ahead of him. They followed Tallulah to a shed behind the house. The door had a shiny padlock on it, and Tallulah fished out a key from the pocket of her jeans.

She unlocked it and pushed open the door. “Go ahead,” she said.

Jake felt Skye stiffen and stop in the doorway. She uttered a small sound, like a strangled scream. He glanced over her shoulder.

A counter held glass cages in rows. Snakes coiled one on top of each other. The nearest cage held a huge snake that rattled and struck at them from the other side of the glass.

Skye gasped and rushed past Jake. He followed her and found her with her hands over her eyes. She was shaking.

“I hate snakes,” she said, turning and burying her face against his chest.

He held her until her trembling began to subside.

Tallulah laughed. “You don't like my babies? How interesting.” Her eyes had a derisive gleam as if she'd known all along how Skye would react.

“What are you doing with all those snakes?” Jake de
manded. He softened his tone. “You must have a hundred timber rattlers in there.”

“Aren't you afraid of getting bit?” Skye asked.

“I know how to handle them,” the other woman said. “But they can be dangerous. They like to bite.” Her dark gaze stayed on Skye's face.

“Could Robert have been bitten?” Jake asked.

An expression of horror crossed Tallulah's face. “He knew better than to mess with them snakes. Besides, he would have told me.”

“Maybe he was afraid because he knew he wasn't supposed to handle them.” Jake knew he wouldn't have told his mom. Kids that age thought they were invincable. Robert might have thought he'd just be sick a while, then get over it.

Tallulah was shaking her head. “Don't you go trying to confuse me,” she muttered. “It was Skye. She gave me bad herbs.” She took her hat off and rubbed her forehead. “Just get out of here,” she growled. “And don't come back.” Her back stiff, she turned around and went back into the snake shack. She pulled the door shut behind her with a slam.

“I guess we've been dismissed,” Jake said. “Still sure it wasn't her?”

“She still seems a little—deranged.”

“She gives me the willies.”

Skye nodded. “I guess we should talk to the sheriff again.”

“We could tell him what Wilson said, but he probably can't do anything. There's no proof it's Tallulah.”

“Let's get come coffee. My head hurts from thinking about it.”

They drove toward town. Rounding a curve, she saw a flash of movement.

“It's Wilson!” Skye pulled the truck to a stop and jumped out. “Wilson, I want to talk to you.”

The big man froze where he was picking berries. “I wasn't doing nothing, Skye.”

“I know.”

Jake followed her as she approached the man. He was filthy and his clothes hung on him as though he'd lost a lot of weight.

“I went to see Tallulah,” Skye said. “Have you seen her lately?”

“She has some of my planes,” Wilson said.

“Is she the Spider Woman?” Skye asked.

Wilson pointed a finger at Skye. “You stay away.” He turned and plunged into the forest.

They shouted after him but he didn't stop. “That didn't accomplish much,” Jake said. “Let's go get some coffee.” They drove to town, and then sipped their java and talked. He found himself too engrossed in watching Skye's face as she talked about her childhood.

His cell phone rang and he answered it. He glanced at his watch and was surprised to see they'd been at the coffee shop over an hour and a half. “Baxter.”

“Jake, you'd better get to the hospital.” Becca's voice sounded strained. “Someone attacked Wynne out at the site.”

 

Skye drove at breakneck speed to town. She'd had a funny feeling about leaving Wynne at the site by herself. She should have listened to her intuition. This was all her fault. When would she learn not to involve other people in her problems?

“I'm sorry, Jake,” she said. “I shouldn't have dragged you away from the site.”

“Don't blame yourself,” he said. “I knew better than to leave her alone. I shouldn't have left until some help got there. Your cousin found her. If we'd just waited a little while, this wouldn't have happened. I was all set on playing the hero and didn't use good sense.”

He sounded grim. Skye bit her lip. “Did Becca say how badly Wynne was hurt?”

“A broken leg for sure. She's still with the doctor.”

Skye winced. “She won't be much help on the dig. Would you let me take her place? You're going to need someone.”

“I'm not sure I want you anywhere around,” he said. “You might be bad luck. Everywhere you go, trouble seems to follow.”

Skye didn't blame him, but his words still stung. Her eyes burned, and she stared straight ahead.

“Hey, I was just joking.” Jake touched her arm. “You can help if you have time. I'd be glad for the company at least.”

He obviously didn't think her much help and was trying to placate her. She didn't reply. Maybe his joke was closer to the truth than he knew. Could God be trying
to tell her not to pursue any friendship with Jake? Sparks seemed to fly whenever the two of them met and someone got hurt. That couldn't be good.

“It could have been Tallulah,” she said. “Maybe we made her mad today. We were gone for over an hour and a half. That's plenty of time for her to have attacked Wynne.”

Jake shook his head. “I'm more inclined to believe it's Cameron.”

She pulled into the hospital parking lot and parked in the outpatient section. Jake was out of the truck almost before she had it stopped. He took off at a dead run toward the emergency room entrance.

Skye ran after him. She'd been praying for Wynne the whole time she'd been driving. If Wynne was seriously injured, Skye would never forgive herself.

The Baxter family was gathered in the waiting room. Becca stood in the circle of her husband Max's arms. Gram sat on a love seat, and Jake's cousin Tate paced the floor. Skye didn't see Molly, Max's young daughter.

“Jake!” Becca flew into her brother's embrace.

He soothed her and led her to a sofa beside their grandmother. “What happened?”

Becca was still sobbing softly, so Max answered. “She was working when someone jumped her from above. Her leg broke from the guy's weight.”

“Did she get a look at him?”

Max shrugged, his anxious gaze on his wife. “The guy had a nylon stocking over his face. She said it hap
pened too fast to get more than an impression that it was a man. Once her leg broke, she passed out from the pain.”

“Any other injuries?” Skye put in. When everyone's gaze turned to her, she wished she'd kept her mouth shut. Maybe they all blamed her.

“Cuts and bruises. But the break is a bad one. They've taken her to surgery,” Gram said. She leaned over from her place on the love seat. “Sit here by me, Skye dear. You look distraught.”

Skye allowed the older woman to pull her down onto the love seat. “I like Wynne,” she said. “I shouldn't have involved Jake in my problems.”

“Nonsense,” Gram said. “Jake is a good one to turn to in times of trouble. I'm sure he was only too happy to rescue a damsel in distress.”

Jake was paying no attention to them. Skye watched him pace the waiting room and knew he couldn't wait to see his sister with his own eyes and question her about what happened. Skye pitied the man who had attacked Wynne. Once Jake discovered the attacker's identity, the man would wish he'd never been born.

The sheriff entered the waiting room. “I hear there's been another attack out at the mine,” he said. He took his notebook out of his pocket. “Anyone want to tell me what happened?”

Max explained the circumstances. Jake glanced at Skye with a question in his eyes, and she nodded her head. The sheriff might as well be informed of everything, though she didn't think Wynne's attack was related to Wilson's warning.

Jake plunged into the story as soon as Max finished.

“I'll see if I can find Wilson,” the sheriff said, putting away his pen and paper.

Molly, Max's daughter, came from the direction of the bathroom. Her face brightened when she saw Skye and she ran to her.

“Did you bring anything with you for making dreamcatchers?” she asked hopefully. “I've been practicing since you showed me how.”