He thrust his chair back from his desk and stood. This morning he’d checked the list of caches in the area and discovered an event at the park this morning at ten. It was a quarter till ten now. He’d just mosey down there and see who showed up. Snatching up a picture of Bechtol, he headed out of the building.
He might as well walk. The day was sunny and warm. Joggers passed him in spandex shorts, and he waved at an acquaintance, then crossed the street when she acted like she was heading his way. The last thing he wanted was another condolence.
Several fathers threw softballs with their children, and Nick had to avert his eyes when a toddler shouted, “Daddy!” and ran to her father. He passed his hand over his stinging lids and walked past quickly.
He found the geocaching group at the flagpole. They were impossible to miss with their GPS units in their hands and the packs they carried on their backs or on their belts. Dressed in jeans and hiking boots, two women and three men stood talking, energized. A cloth bag swung from one woman’s hand. One man consulted a compass.
Nick’s gaze lingered on a familiar face. “Zack, what are you doing in town?” Until he moved to the UP a year ago to expand his lumberyard business, Zack lived down the street from Nick and Eve.
He was a German Baptist dressed in black pants, a white shirt, and a flat-brimmed black hat. Nick guessed him to be about forty-five. Zack’s red beard seemed to expand as he greeted Nick with a surprised smile. “Nick, my friend, how pleasant to see you.” He squeezed Nick’s hand in a firm grip. “My manager retired, and I’m down for a few weeks to hire another,” Zack said. “How about you? What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d come learn about this sport. It sounds fun.”
“Ah, yes. I’m quite fond of geocaching and thought I might hook up with old friends today. Let me introduce you.” Nick intended to pick Zack’s brain when the others weren’t around. Maybe he’d seen or heard something in his previous excursions with the group. “This group is the Bay City Searchers,” Zack said. “I was part of their group before I moved north.”
He rattled off the names of the other members so fast, Nick knew he’d never remember them. “Nick Andreakos,” he said, shaking their hands. “Where are we going today?”
A fair-haired man about forty smiled. “I’ve downloaded three caches out near the bay. It will be fun to have a geomuggle with us.”
“Geomuggle?” Nick asked, trying to place where he’d seen the man.
“A newbie,” Zack said, smiling a little. “You can ride with me, Nick,” he offered.
“Thanks.” Nick followed him to his van, a shiny black Chrysler Town & Country. “Who was the fair-headed guy again?”
“That’s Judd Haskell.”
Then it clicked. “He found a body out geocaching, didn’t he?”
“So he told me yesterday. Were you on that case?”
“Yep.” Nick didn’t want to get into it. If Zack didn’t know about Eve, Nick didn’t want to tell him now. “So how does this work?” He climbed into the van and discovered it was much dirtier inside than out. Gum and candy wrappers littered the floor. Big books that looked like research works sat in stacks on the back bucket seats.
Zack glanced around. “I apologize for the mess. The class I’m taking for my master’s requires a lot of study. I’m learning a new language.” He drove out of the lot and headed toward Saginaw Bay. “As Judd said, he downloaded some caches that we thought might be interesting. They’re in the same general area, so we don’t have to spend too much time driving. What we’re going to do first is follow a MapBlast map to the general area.”
“So we’re not using the GPS yet?”
“Not yet.” Zack turned onto the access road to the bay. Glancing at his instructions, he cranked the wheel and drove along the waterway to the parking lot.
“So what’s the draw to this sport anyway?”
Zack grinned. “It’s a treasure hunt, my friend. The search for the unknown, a way to feel like an explorer. People who hide the items find it a way to share their own interests with others.”
“I guess that does sound fun.”
Zack parked. He opened his door and got out.
Nick hopped out too. “Now what?” he asked as the other vehicles parked and the searchers came to join them.
“Now our enjoyment begins.” Zack fiddled with his GPS unit. “It’s this way,” he said, heading off to a stand of trees.
Nick could see the draw of the sport. There was an air of excitement in seeking out the “treasure” and wondering who’d spot it first. He joined in as they tromped around the small stand of white birch. “What are we looking for?”
“We’re uncertain of what it is we seek,” Zack said. “It could be as insubstantial as a film canister, or it could be a large box. Look for hiding places. The cache is close.”
Nick spied a flash of red in the fork of a tree. “Is this it?” He reached up and grasped a red metal canister.
“You’ve found it!” Zack said, consulting his GPS unit. “Over here, friends.”
The rest of the group gathered around to watch Nick unscrew the lid and draw out the contents: a signed score of Swan Lake, two tickets to a showing of the ballet in New York City, and a DVD of the same ballet.
“Ooh,” the women said in unison. “We can take something if we leave something.”
“I’m game for a trip to New York if you are,” the younger woman said.
“They’re ours,” the redhead agreed. “Did you bring anything to put in it?”
“Yeah.” The brunette pulled out a DVD of Pride and Prejudice.
“Are we supposed to take that?” Nick asked.
“It’s allowed,” Zack said. “You need to sign the guidebook. We’re FTF.”
“FTF?”
“First to find.” Zack said. “Sign your name and write a small paragraph about how you found it.”
“Can’t I just sign my name?” Nick hated reports.
“That will suffice.” Zack chuckled. “I’ll jot down a tad about our experience. I’ll sign our names as well.” He waited until Nick handed him the logbook, then began to write.
Nick looked around while Zack finished up. He could see glimpses of blue through the trees and the white from boat sails. The scent from the bay began to lift his depression. It was good to get outside and try to move on with his life.
Zack gave him the canister to put back in the tree. “The next cache is new also. They both just came up this morning. This way.” He set off away from the water to a deeper part of the treed area.
Flies came to greet them as they pressed deeper into the woods. Nick walked through mayapples and moss. They climbed a wooden stile that was more rotted than good. On the other side, Zack held up his hand and pointed.
“It should be right over there.”
The women dashed for the clearing. A large tree lay across the opening and hid the downward-sloping side of the meadow from view. The redhead reached the tree and stopped.
Nick saw her hands go to her eyes. She began to shriek. Alarms rang in his head as he ran toward her. It was probably a snake or something. Then he saw where she was looking.
A blonde woman lay snuggled up against the fallen oak. Her hands lay on her chest, but they were severed from her body. A peanut butter sandwich was clutched in one hand.
She had no face.
A WISE MAN MUST ALWAYS BE WILLING TO ALTER HIS COURSE of action as God demanded. Abraham Joshua Heschel said wisdom was the ability to look at all things from the point of view of God.
Gideon began to click on Web sites, glancing at them and shaking his head, then going to the next one. They proved his belief that the human race was corrupt and evil to the core. He had a ripe field.
He checked his favorite news site and frowned when he found a snippet that said his dear Sophie hadn’t yet been identified. It wasn’t acceptable. Did he have to do everything? Such incompetence.
He moved on. One blog entry caught his attenti
on. The person bragged about going on vacation with a homosexual lover. The picture of the two women, fingers entwined, made his stomach clench. Still, the world had a way of dealing gays their fair share of pain without his assistance. They weren’t his mission.
He started to go on, but then the woman in the photo’s background caught his interest. She stood half hidden by the sweep of bare branches overhanging a bench.
The hair was hers. And the arrogant chin. If only he hadn’t lost his picture. He’d dropped it somewhere at the Mount Sinai camp. Gideon’s gaze scanned the text of the blog. Rock Harbor. He’d never heard of it. Near the Keweenaw. That was a place he did know. The UP was a place of deep spirituality for him, and his group was there.
How ironic that she’d found sanctuary there. He smiled, clicked off the site, and went to find his daughter.
Odette was in the kitchen. She dried her hands and smiled when she saw him. “Hey, Pop, you’re home early.”
Her beauty made his heart ache. So like Miranda had been once. Blonde hair, blue eyes, pink cheeks. The boys hadn’t been too much of a problem yet, but lately she’d been pressing him to buy more fashionable clothes than the shapeless dresses he made her wear.
He kissed her cheek. “Yes, my dear. I thought I’d spend the evening with you. I have a trip coming up, and I’ll be gone a few weeks.”
“Oh?”
“A job out of state.”
She sighed. “There seem to be a lot of those lately. Do I have to stay with Gram? I’m seventeen, Pop.”
“Too young to stay alone. I’m going to study a bit,” he told her. “Want to keep me company?”
She nodded, and they went down the hallway into the study. Gideon took down a copy of the Yajurveda.
“You’ve sure got a lot of books,” Odette said, pulling an Italian edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy off a shelf. “I think you’ve got every old book there is. Why do you read so many of these outdated things?” She flipped through some pages, then closed the book, an annoyed pout on her face. “They’re all in other languages too.”
“Most people are content to cling to one belief. Stupid sheep. Truth is everywhere. Don’t ever forget, Odette, that finding truth requires digging, determined study, and an open mind. And you need languages. You learn the truth by reading it in the original. That’s why I’ve always demanded you take a couple of languages, and why I’m always learning a new one.”
“I hate Spanish.”
She had never questioned him before. “Why so many questions, my dear?”
Her gaze went to the floor. “We never talk. You’re always gone.”
“Are you sure you’re not just trying to get out of having to stay with your grandmother?”
He knew he’d guessed her motive when a blush graced her cheeks. “Sit,” he said. “It’s time you broadened your education. Do a good job and I might let you stay with your friend Betsy this time—if her parents approve.”
“Really?” Her voice had a glad ring.
He flipped to Kandi I, a passage about the new and full moon sacrifices. The Vedic proverb, “Sacrifice is the navel of the world” was his mantra. Tonight was a new moon.
His gaze fastened on the fourth stanza, verse G. Thou art the oblation-holder that wavers not.
“You look shocked,” his daughter said. “What are you reading? Is that what you want me to study?”
“The Kandi,” he said. “New truth is always shocking.”
“What’s it say?”
“We’re not to waver when we know the right course,” he said, knowing she wouldn’t understand the profundity of his words.
The game was just about to get intriguing.
“SO REALLY ALL WE’VE GOT IS YOUR NAME?” DEPUTY DOUG Montgomery scribbled in his small notepad, then put it back in his pocket. He was a tall, raw-boned man, and Elena found him to be more a bumbling dimwit than a competent officer of the law.
Seated on Bree’s sofa, Elena sipped her tea and tried to calm her shaking hands. This felt all wrong. “I seem to have lived in the Detroit area from the little we’ve gleaned from the Internet. And I taught ballet.”
“I’ll make some inquiries.” Montgomery fixed her and Bree with a stare that tried for stern. “You should have come to me sooner.”
“I know.” She kept her voice meek in the hope of turning his displeasure. “I was afraid. I’m still afraid. Someone attacked me, almost killed me. I can almost see his face in my dreams.”
“I can understand that. I’ll make sure a deputy keeps an eye on things.”
“Thanks, Doug,” Kade said. He walked the deputy to the front door.
“Are you feeling okay about this?” Bree asked when the front door banged. She put her tea on the coffee table and brought her feet onto the sofa beside Elena.
Elena shook her head. “I’m not confident he’ll be discreet.” The sunset had ended, plunging the room into darkness, and Elena leaned over to switch on a light. Distant thumps echoed through the ceiling above her head, and she could hear the children giggling. At least Terri had no notion there was anything wrong.
“Doug isn’t the smoothest operator around, but he’s good at what he does. Let’s help speed up the process, make some more calls,” Bree suggested. She grabbed up the phone and pulled out the dog-eared computer printout they’d made of the list of Coxes in Detroit.
Elena took the pages Bree held out but then laid them on the sofa between them. “It feels pretty hopeless, Bree. I don’t think I can face another ‘Sorry, I can’t help you.’ Maybe Montgomery will turn up something.”
Bree studied Elena’s face for a long time before she nodded. “We need some fun. Let’s go geocaching after church on Sunday. I can dig up some locations that won’t take all day to get to.”
Elena had heard Bree talking about the sport for weeks, but there’d been no time to actually do it. “How’d you get into that anyway? I would think it’s too much like search-and-rescue work to be fun for you.”
“I think that’s why it does appeal,” Bree said. “It’s the other side of what I do. I love being out in nature and looking for something frivolous instead of serious. I get such a kick out of finding crazy things out there. Like the set of California Raisins that started singing when I opened the lid.”
“How’d you get started?”
“One of the clubs had an event up here two years ago. Kade was asked to coordinate sites for the caches, and I got roped into helping. After one weekend, I was hooked.”
Elena giggled at the rapture on Bree’s face. “You’re so weird.”
“But you love me anyway.”
“Yeah, I do.” Elena touched Bree’s knee. “I don’t know what I would have done without you and Kade, Bree. Where I might be. Maybe six feet under.” She shook her head. “I wish I could remember more.”
“If all of your memory doesn’t come back, you’ve got the important things,” Bree said. “Yourself and your daughter. I think all of us have wished we could start over a time or two. There’s something very appealing about a fresh slate.”
“I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve got no baggage right now.” She smiled. “That’s a good thing, right?”
“Right.” Bree returned her smile.
“I’ll never be able to thank you enough for the past months.”
“It’s what friends do.” Bree patted the top of Elena’s hand as the phone rang on the stand. Bree reached over and grabbed it. She glanced at the caller ID. “It’s Doug.” With a click, the phone was on and at her ear. “Hey, Doug, what’s up?” She listened for a few moments. “I see,” she said, glancing at Elena. “You’re sure?” Nodding, she listened a few more moments, then clicked off the phone and put it back on its cradle.
“He hasn’t found out something already, has he?” Elena didn’t like the stricken expression on her friend’s face. Or the way Bree was avoiding her gaze.
Bree sighed. “Yeah, he did. It came right up when he ran it. The only Elena Cox in the Detroit
area is a teacher who died two years ago. That’s the one we read about on the Internet. It’s not you.”
Not her? She absorbed the news in silence a minute. The little tidbits of information they’d collected were all wrong too. She hadn’t expected quite this clean a slate.
“Then where did I live? Where’s my family?”
“Doug is checking to see what other Elena Coxes are in Michigan, but it may be days before he figures it out.”
She didn’t even know her own name. Maybe it was a good thing. Maybe her attacker wouldn’t ever know it either.
9
THE STOCKING GIDEON WORE OVER HIS FACE THE NIGHT he’d entered Eve’s house should have kept his identity safe. But his first day in Rock Harbor, he tensed, then relaxed when Eve’s gaze touched his face and moved on.
He could take his time, observe her behavior in anonymity. It was nearly three weeks before the next full moon. He could choose his moves carefully, perfect his approach. Finish what he’d started with the others before ending at the beginning.
He headed to the coffee shop and passed two men in park service uniforms, talking in front of the sheriff’s office. He slowed when he heard what they were talking about.
The bigger man stretched. “Well, you ready to go shoot some more swans? I’d hoped we could get them all the other day, but that darned protest slowed us down. We’ve only got another ten or so to handle.”
Gideon barely choked back his gasp. Shoot swans? What kind of maniacs would do such a thing? His hands curled into fists at his side.
“I sure hate to do it, Kade. I hope none of them drown when we knock them out.”
So they were just going to tranquilize them. But why? Gideon pretended to examine a shop window.
“Me too,” the one called Kade said. “But it’s got to be done. I hope moving them works. If they come back to the trumpeters’ lakes and ponds, we’ll have to kill them. I’ve got my tranquilizer rifle in my truck. Did you bring yours?”
“Yeah, I brought it.”
Kade went to his vehicle, parked along on a side street, and took out a gun. Then he slid into a truck with the other man, and they drove off. Gideon clenched and unclenched his fists. There had to be some way to make the man pay. Glancing around, he saw no one on the side street.