Wonderland Creek

  A moment later he released me. “You all right?” he asked. I nodded, but my heart had never pounded this hard in my life. “I think you’d better come to the mine with me.”

  He was right. I would go crazy here all alone. And if the wildcat did show up, I wanted to be with Mack and his rifle.

  “You climb on first and sit in front of me this time,” he said. “I’m afraid you’ll slide off the back without the saddle. Can you climb on by yourself?” It was very hard to mount the horse without the stirrups, but Mack led Belle up to the porch and I balanced on top of the wobbling railing. It took several tries, but I finally made it onto her back. Mack handed me the gun, then climbed on behind me, following my lead by balancing on the railing. On this trip he would have to wrap his arms around me.

  I exhaled. “Let’s get this over with.”

  We followed the creek for a while, then plunged into the dark, featureless woods. At one point I thought that we might be close to Maggie’s house and I remembered that she had seen paw prints around here. I was still holding Mack’s gun, but that didn’t mean I could aim and shoot it.

  It seemed as though hours and hours passed as we plodded into the night. I had no idea where we were. Would we wander these woods until dawn?

  At last, Mack drew Belle to a halt. I saw a clearing ahead and a large, hulking structure looming in the darkness.

  “What is that thing?” I whispered.

  “The coal tipple,” he whispered back.

  “You mean we’re at the mine?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wait . . . the mine is on the opposite side of the road from where we started. When did we cross the road?”

  “A little ways back.”

  I hadn’t even noticed. Mack could drop me off in this forest and I would be lost forever.

  “What are we waiting for?”

  “To see if there’s a guard. Hand me the gun.” I passed it to him, and we watched the clearing for what seemed like a very long time. My hips ached from straddling the horse. I had slid around a lot more without the saddle and I’d had to use my legs to stay seated. Now I longed to get off.

  “Can’t we get down and watch instead of sitting here?”

  “We can make a faster getaway if we’re on Belle. Besides, how will you climb back on again?”

  “Oh.” I hadn’t thought of that. I should have stayed at the cabin. No, I should have stayed in Illinois.

  More time passed. We changed vantage points a few times, watching the mine office from several different places while still remaining under the cover of the woods. I didn’t see any movement. No one was guarding the mine.

  “I think it’s safe,” Mack whispered. “Do you want me to leave you and Belle here while I walk to the office? She’ll get you home if anything happens.”

  I was aching and sore and didn’t want to stay on Belle a moment longer. But I was too proud to admit it. “No, I’ll go with you.” I would figure out how to mount her again when the time came.

  “Okay, I’ll slide off first,” Mack said. “Hold the rifle.” I held it while he climbed down, then handed it back to him. He laid it on the ground. Mack tried to catch me as I slid down, but I still landed awkwardly. “All set?” he asked when I had regained my balance. I nodded and Mack picked up the rifle.

  “By the way, the gun isn’t loaded,” I told him.

  “It isn’t? Where are the bullets?”

  My heart dropped to my stomach. “Um . . . in the saddlebags.”

  “But the saddlebags are back in the cabin.” He opened the gun chamber to check, as if hoping I was mistaken, hoping he really had ammunition after all. “Great!” he said as he snapped it closed again. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  “Mack, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to ride with a loaded gun on my lap, and . . . and then I forgot.”

  He turned away from me. He was upset. But at least I wouldn’t have to worry about Mack shooting his gun at someone and landing us in even bigger trouble. He walked toward the mine office, leading Belle by her halter. I followed, looking down at my feet, trying not to trip or stumble or step in a hole. We crept through the trees, staying in the shadows and avoiding the open spaces. I couldn’t see much. Everything about this journey seemed to be taking too long and I didn’t know how we would have enough time to search through all those files, find what Mack needed, and then get all the way home again before dawn. Fear had turned my insides to water. I needed an outhouse. I didn’t want to admit it to Mack, though. Maybe I could hold it a while longer.

  At last we were as close to the office as we could get and still be under the cover of the woods. “I’m going to leave Belle here,” he said. “Do you want to stay with her?”

  I was tempted—until I remembered the wildcat. Besides, if the sheriff did catch Mack, how would I find my way home? The only route home I knew of was the road, where I was sure to be seen. “I’ll come with you,” I whispered.

  Mack turned and gave Belle a good patting as he talked to her. “Now, you stay here, Belle. Don’t go wandering off anywhere, okay? And don’t follow us. We’ll be back for you, I promise. That’s a good girl.”

  He was being ridiculous. A horse couldn’t possibly understand those instructions. But she lowered her head and began munching on a patch of weeds as if perfectly content to wait. Mack crept forward, crouching low.

  “First, we’ll run as far as the tipple and take cover behind it. Ready?” I nodded and we sprinted across the open space until we reached the towering structure. Mack waited a long moment, holding his breath, listening. “Okay, next, we’ll run as far as that ditch along the railroad tracks.” I nodded again and we ran across the open space toward the tracks, then dove into the ditch. I was shaking and winded. I expected to hear the crack and boom of gunfire at any moment. These people had murdered Hank and might have tried once before to kill Mack.

  “Ready?” Mack asked when I caught my breath. We would have to traverse the widest open space yet, crossing the tracks and taking cover in the weeds beside the mine office. “I’ll go first,” he whispered. “If nothing happens, follow me a minute later.”

  I watched him stand and sprint across the tracks, staying low to the ground. Then I lost sight of him as he hid in the weeds beside the office. I thought about snakes—did they sleep at night or hunt at night? But I had bigger things to worry about than snakes. I drew a deep breath and followed Mack out of the ditch and across the tracks, watching my feet so I wouldn’t trip. I didn’t see where he was hiding until I was almost on top of him. He grabbed my hand and pulled me down next to him. I felt like a criminal for a very good reason—I was one.

  Mack pointed to the back door, then crept toward it. I followed. My heart was about to thud right out of my chest. I was surprised to see that the window hadn’t been repaired. Mack reached inside the same way I had and unlocked the door. He waited for a long moment after the door creaked open, listening. He held up his hand, cautioning me to wait. I was happy to comply. If gun-toting deputies were lying in ambush, I might be able to escape. Mack dropped to his hands and knees and crawled forward on all fours, disappearing into the darkness. A moment later he returned and motioned for me to crouch down and follow him. We both inched forward until we reached the file drawers.

  “So far so good,” he whispered as he sat down. He looked as relieved as I felt.

  “Now what?”

  “Now I start digging for evidence.” Mack grabbed the handle on the first filing cabinet and yanked open the drawer. It was stuffed so full that it was going to take a week, not one night, to look through it. And there were two more drawers besides that one. He opened one drawer after the other, then groaned as he quickly rifled through the contents. “Look at all these files. There must be hundreds of them.”

  “What can I do to help?” I didn’t want to be his accomplice, but I also didn’t want to get caught. We needed to get out of here safely before daybreak.

  “I’ll start with this drawer. You take th
at one and just read the file names to me.”

  “I can’t read anything. It’s too dark.”

  “Where’s my miner’s hat?”

  I didn’t reply. We both knew where it was. In the saddlebags with the ammunition. In the cabin. “Well, you didn’t remember to bring it along, either,” I said when I saw his accusing look.

  “Forget it.” He sighed. “We’ll just do the best we can.”

  I knelt on the floor and did what he said, squinting at the file tabs, my nose an inch away from the pages. Mack was doing the same. “Most of these are dated,” he said a minute later. “Look for any files from 1934, the year that Hank died. It’s a place to start.”

  I found receipts. Pay records. Invoices. The work was tiring and eye-straining. After a while I grew sleepy. Mack seemed discouraged.

  Hours later, we had sifted through the first two drawers and were examining the third when Mack suddenly said, “Hey! This might be something. These are records of where they were digging right before Hank died. This one tells how many tons they mined . . . who was working. I think I found the year I’m looking for.” He laid the file aside and pulled out the next one, leaning against the drawer to read through it. I was getting nervous. Was Belle still waiting out there? Mack hadn’t tied her up.

  “I think I’m getting close,” Mack said, “but I’ll need to read through all these files. Can you keep watch for me?”

  “You never told me what will happen if the sheriff catches you here.”

  “He’ll kill me.”

  “Don’t be absurd. He might be crooked, but I don’t think he would murder you in cold blood.”

  Mack looked up at me. “Alice, I’m already supposed to be dead, remember? If he kills me, who would ever know except you?”

  “But . . . but what if I’m with you?”

  “Look. If I tell you to run, just do it. Don’t stop and ask me a million questions like you’re doing right now.”

  I suddenly had a new incentive to stay awake and keep watch for him. Why hadn’t he told me this before? Why hadn’t I thought of it myself? I had read plenty of mystery stories. I should have figured out that they would kill Mack. Of course they would. He was already dead.

  I wished I had waited for him back at the cabin.

  My need for a bathroom was urgent now. Embarrassed or not, I couldn’t wait. “Mack? Is it okay if I use the outhouse out back?”

  “I guess so, if you have to. Just be careful. Stay low.”

  The outhouse wasn’t far from the back door. I looked around carefully for any danger before dashing toward it and shutting the door. When I was done, I stood in the outhouse doorway for a moment, my senses alert, before dashing back to the office. I happened to gaze down through the trees toward the mine entrance when I saw car headlights approaching in the distance, traveling down the highway. Mack had been right: light really did travel a long way on a dark night, especially when there were no other lights for miles around. I wondered what business would take a traveler out on this lonely road in the middle of the night.

  I waited in the doorway, expecting to see red taillights after the car passed the entrance to the mine and continued down the highway. Instead, the car seemed to vanish into thin air. I dashed back to the office as fast as I could.

  “Mack! I think a car just pulled off the highway. I saw headlights on the road, but they disappeared when they reached the entrance.”

  “Is the car coming this way?”

  “It’s too dark to see.” That darkness had been the reason for coming on a moonless night, and now it was working against us.

  Mack stood and we went to the front window to peer out. “You’re right! There it is!” he said, pointing. I saw it, too. The black hulk of a car, barely visible in the surrounding gloom, was moving slowly up the entrance road.

  “We have to get out of here!” Mack turned back to the drawer and pulled out several more files, quickly checking their contents.

  “Who’s in the car, Mack? Is it the sheriff? H-how did he know we were here?”

  “It’s one of his deputies, more likely. He probably sends a man up here at least once a night to check for vandalism. People started stripping all the houses after the mine closed, taking anything they could find.” Mack continued to sort through the files as he talked.

  “And you just conveniently forgot to mention this nightly inspection to me?”

  “They don’t keep to a schedule, Alice. There was no way to know when or if they would come around, so why worry about it?” He stuffed a pile of files inside his jacket, tucking them into the waistband of his pants.

  “Well, schedule or not, you should have told me!”

  “I don’t have time to argue with you. Let’s go.”

  I followed Mack as we crawled toward the back door to the mine office. Sleepiness and fright made my legs heavy and clumsy. I wasn’t sure if I could run as fast or as far as I had earlier. “How are we going to get across the railroad tracks and make it through all of that open space without being seen?”

  “Let’s worry about one thing at a time,” Mack said. He clutched the stolen files to his chest, trying to protect them. He handed the rifle to me when we reached the door. “Here. Carry this.”

  “Why me?”

  “I don’t want to lose these papers. The gun isn’t loaded, remember?” When I still didn’t reach to take it, he asked, “Would you rather be caught with an empty rifle or a pile of stolen documents?”

  I took the gun from him. We crept through the door, then Mack reached through the broken windowpane to lock it again. I wouldn’t have remembered. “Wait here,” he whispered. I watched him go around to the front of the building. I held my breath, expecting to hear gunfire. A moment later he was back.

  “We’re in luck. The car went down to check on the houses and the store first. But we won’t have much time to make a run for the woods. Are you ready?”

  I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure if my legs would cooperate. My heart was about to burst from fright. We had all of that open space to cross: over the railroad tracks, up to the coal tipple, all in plain sight if the guard happened to look our way. I drew a deep breath, and we retraced our steps, dashing across the tracks to the safety of the ditch, sprinting to the shelter of the coal tipple. I had to pause each time to catch my breath. Any minute now I might hear bullets whizzing past my head if we were spotted.

  We made one more mad dash to the safety of the woods. Mack plunged into the bushes and hit the dirt, pulling me down to the ground beside him. I gasped for air. I didn’t care about snakes or anything else except escaping without being seen. We lay still and watched for a moment as we caught our breath.

  The dark shape of a car without its headlights on rolled up the road toward the office. The car stopped in front of the office. Someone got out and walked around the building, shining a flashlight. The night was so still that I heard his footsteps crunching through the weeds. No wonder Mack had decided to stay here instead of running deeper into the woods with branches snapping and leaves rustling beneath our feet. If one of us so much as sneezed, the man would hear that, too. I thought about Belle and the snorting and stomping she did when irritated.

  The guard walked to the front of the building again and shone his flashlight into the window. Had we remembered to close all three drawers of the file cabinet? Had we put everything back the way it was?

  Too late to worry about it now.

  These were the longest minutes of the entire night, waiting, worrying, holding my breath as I watched the guard. I didn’t exhale until he climbed back into his car. I started to tell Mack that I was ready to run again, but he put his fingers over my mouth and shook his head. We waited some more.

  The car drove past the office and crossed the railroad tracks, heading in our direction. It continued up to the mine entrance and the man got out again, leaving the engine running. He walked up the narrow coal car tracks, shining his light in all directions, then stopped near the entrance
to the shaft. It was boarded up, but he seemed to be inspecting it carefully. I prayed he would return to his car soon and drive away, but suddenly Mack gripped the back of my head and shoved my face down into the leaves. He pressed his own face against the ground, too. I soon understood why when the beam of the flashlight probed the edge of the woods. We remained flat as the light swung slowly past us. I could hear Mack breathing, my own heart hammering.

  We waited. The light swept past us again from the other direction. We didn’t dare move or look up. Would he spot Belle in the woods somewhere behind us? Time stood still. Finally, we heard the car door close and the sound of the vehicle moving away.

  Mack lifted his head. “He’s leaving,” he whispered.

  “Can we get out of here now?”

  “Let’s wait five more minutes.” It felt like five hours. The ground was cold and hard beneath me.

  At last, Mack rose to his feet. I stood, brushing dirt and leaves from my clothes, and followed him back into the woods. It was pitch-dark. Not even a pinprick of light was visible. If one of us stepped into a hole, we would break a leg. We reached the spot where I thought we had left Belle, but she wasn’t there. Mack made a clicking sound to call her. We waited, listening.

  “Belle wouldn’t wander home, would she?” I asked.

  “No, I told her to stay here and wait for us.”

  “Right. Like a horse can understand orders. Belle hates the dark, not to mention wildcats. She probably ran back to the safety of her shed and is sound asleep by now.” I thought of the long, hard walk ahead of us through the dark forest and I wanted to cry. Mack clicked his tongue again, and a moment later I heard rustling in the bushes. Then Belle’s familiar snort. I sagged with relief.

  “There you are,” Mack said. “Good girl. Good Belle.” He patted her neck and rubbed her ears, then gripped her halter and led her deeper into the woods. My next worry was how I would climb onto her back.

  We seemed to wander for a long time. I had no idea where we were. “Here’s the trail,” Mack said suddenly. “Want me to boost you up?”