Deadly Mountain Trap, page 30
But still, why let the bad things happen in the first place? That was a question she couldn’t seem to answer. Would reading the Bible help, or would it just push her further away?
It was important to Jake that she believed. They’d been in some kind of dance all day long, since that kiss. Toward each other, then away. Together. Away. Jake was pulling away again and she knew it was because of the faith issue. Cassie also knew from all the times she’d spent listening to Jake’s pastor preach in church during high school that she couldn’t make decisions about her own relationship with God—like if she wanted to have one—based on someone else. It was a personal thing. That much she understood.
But she didn’t understand God. And she wanted to.
But maybe she wasn’t supposed to.
Her head was starting to hurt, whether in sympathy to Jake’s injury or from all the thinking, or more likely exhaustion, she wasn’t sure. Cassie rubbed her forehead and rolled to her stomach, burying her face in the pillow.
Okay, God, if You’re real, I’ll give You a chance to show me, okay? Just make it clear. Like maybe help us with this case. And help me get to sleep.
Cassie sank deeper into the pillow and felt herself drifting off.
She woke up to crying, but slowly, like her body had been so deep into sleep it had to shake off several layers of mental blankets to even make it to this dazed, half-awake state.
There was a shadow at the foot of the bed holding Will, who was crying. She tensed but instantly relaxed when she realized it was Jake. Holding their son.
Cassie blinked her eyes to wake up, to get used to the darkness, and to try to reconcile what she was seeing.
She wanted to be with this man forever. Why did she keep trying to deny that? The way he held Will so carefully amazed her. Still, it wasn’t helping Will who looked to be having one of his rare, but occasional, night terrors.
“He won’t stop crying.” Jake’s voice was heartbroken and puzzled. “Does he want you?”
“Sometimes he can’t wake up. It’s like his mind gets stuck.” Cassie reached for him and sat him up. “Will, buddy? Can you hear me?”
It took a few seconds but he eventually nodded.
“Okay, it’s time to go to sleep now.”
He started to cry again. Cassie wanted to cry too. She was exhausted, and when she was awake, she was thinking about her aunt and the fact that she’d never get to see her again. Memories of her aunt brought back remembrances of nights like these. It had been her aunt who’d woken up with her, who’d tucked her in at night. Her dad had done what he could but he’d been grieving her mom’s abandonment and he’d been so busy with work. Much of her comfort as a kid had come from her aunt.
“Want me to tell you a story?” she asked as she thought about Aunt Mabel. She’d told her the same bedtime story nearly every night. It had been years since she’d heard it, and she’d never thought before to tell it to Will, but being up here in Alaska made her nostalgic. And it was a tiny piece of her aunt she could hold onto. “Listen, my sweetheart, to this tale. For from it, you will learn how to do the right thing, and from the truth, never to turn.”
The familiar opening slipped off her lips like she’d told it a thousand times instead of just listened to it. Memory was a funny thing. Cassie snuggled her son closer and continued.
“Once upon a time there was a princess who was as kind as she was beautiful. Her hair was golden, and the men of the kingdom were enchanted with her. One night, while she was sleeping in her castle at the base of a mountain, a man stole her away to his mountain cave. The man who had planned to marry the princess was brokenhearted and determined to find her. He pushed through crowds of trees and devil’s club to trace the steps her captors had taken. He climbed mountains.”
Will smiled a little. “I climbed a mountain.”
“You did,” Cassie agreed. “Part of one, anyway. Back to the story, okay? Ah yes, the prince. So he climbed mountains. He ignored the promise of other thrones if he’d abandon his quest and followed straight ahead instead. He was not stopped by rivers, and he even pursued, like true north, his princess, into the heart of darkness where she was kept. He navigated the maze to the dungeon. Left, right, left, left, and there she was alone and cold. He gathered her in his arms and kissed her, but he didn’t just stay there. He took her back to the town, where the people had loved her, and they were married there.”
“I saw a throne once,” Will mumbled as Cassie settled him back down onto his pillow, since he’d looked to her like he was sleeping. And maybe he was, he certainly wasn’t making much sense.
“Okay, sweetheart.” It was better to agree with him when he was like this.
“When we were hiking. There was a throne on the rock. We turned there and walked a looooooong way...” His voice trailed off and Cassie smiled at him. Then her smile fell.
She looked at Jake.
They had turned, abandoned a trail at a rock that, according to Will, had looked like a throne. They hadn’t continued straight ahead.
Shivers crawled down her arms, then back up again. “You don’t think...”
He nodded slowly. “Your aunt knew where the Raven Pass treasure was.”
Cassie whispered back. “And she told me how to find it.”
TWELVE
Jake led them to the room where they’d talked the other night and Cassie had been so sure there wasn’t any kind of second chance for them. She wasn’t sure how she felt now. Sometimes she was positive Jake still cared, and at other times she knew she’d destroyed what they had beyond repair years ago.
Right now she didn’t know what she thought. The look on his face... Her stomach jumped if she paid too much attention. But he sat in a chair after she’d taken the couch, which seemed to imply he didn’t want to be that close to her.
Stop analyzing.
Cassie started talking so she’d stop thinking and overthinking. “Thanks for calming him down before I woke up, or trying anyway.” She offered him a smile as she sat. “It was so weird seeing someone else hold him and take care of him... I missed that, raising him alone. And I’m sor—”
He cut her off before she could apologize again. “You’ve already told me you’re sorry. It doesn’t change the past, okay? Just let it go. I’m trying to.”
Was it that easy for him? Because it wasn’t for Cassie.
Her shoulders sagged as she attempted once again to take the grace he was offering her. It didn’t seem real, the way he was willing to forgive her for it and move on. But then again, that’s what his church taught, and what Jake said that the Bible taught too. Jake took his faith seriously, so maybe Cassie should understand his behavior.
It was strange to Cassie that Jake should have been so surprised by her own lack of faith. She’d never meant to give him the impression while they were dating and then engaged that she agreed with him. But she was respectful and had assumed that meant something to him. Still, he’d acted strange since she’d told him that no, she didn’t trust God like he did. Or at all, for that matter.
She hadn’t read enough of the Bible to know if there was a reason that the faith aspect could be a deal breaker for him, but it was bothering him to some degree.
“So tomorrow...” Cassie decided it was better to stick with a neutral subject, and this was the only one they had. The rest of the possible topics of conversation were littered with unseen landmines.
“We need to get back to the trailhead and see if we can find the treasure.”
“For real, Jake, isn’t it time we involve the police? Especially because I’m starting to wonder if you were the target of the gunshots all along. Maybe they’d planned...” She stumbled. “...to kill you and then take me like they did my aunt. To try to make me help them find the treasure. They must assume I know where it is.”
He shook his head. “We still have no proof. We only have a guess. And you saw how Judah looked at us last night. I may send a text to Levi, just as a courtesy to a friend, but the department as a whole is not impressed with our working theory. Besides, the fewer people who know, the safer you might be. Remember the library—someone must have seen you there, tipped someone off.”
Cassie knew he was right. She’d seen the look on Officer Judah Wicks’s face when she mentioned her idea. He didn’t seem to be a man given to guesses or hunches; she could tell from the brief dealings she’d had with him. Best-case scenario would be they turned over their idea to the police, and the authorities ran with it, catching their culprit. Worst-case? Their information stirred up more trouble, more risk. Possibly for nothing, if their theory wasn’t correct.
It was better not to say anything. After all, nothing they were doing was illegal or even unethical. Unwise? Possibly. But Cassie had grown desperate to try to find whoever killed her aunt whatever way she was able. Her only hesitation was Will’s safety, but the situation they had worked out right now with him staying with that other family was going well.
Of course, the father, who was a police officer and the reason Cassie felt comfortable with the deal, had to go back to work in two days. They had tomorrow, the next day, and then that option would be taken from them and Will would be back with Cassie. She’d be out of the investigation then, formal or informal or otherwise. She’d lock herself up in this house with her son until someone else solved the case if she had to, but she wouldn’t expose him to any danger if she could help it.
“So...”
Cassie hadn’t realized until just then that Jake was sitting there, watching her as she thought. She had a feeling every idea she’d considered, every emotion, must have been displayed clearly on her face, because he looked hesitant, like he knew she was having second thoughts. And third thoughts.
“I think you’re right,” she heard herself say before she was sure she was ready. “We need to go hunt some treasure tomorrow.”
“Okay, so let’s look at the map and mark the places we think relate to the fairy tale, shall we?”
He pulled up an internet satellite map system on the laptop he’d brought to the chair with him. Cassie could barely see it from where she was on the couch, because of the angle of the screen.
Jake glanced her way and noticed her problem. “Sorry,” he said, then picked up the laptop and moved next to her. Not so close that their thighs were touching, but on the same couch anyway.
Cassie felt her breath catch ever so slightly and wished she could roll her eyes at herself without Jake noticing. What was she, sixteen with a crush?
No, this was the same man she’d had a crush on when she was that age though, which was maybe why her feelings were so strong. Jake had been her first and only love. Men had asked her out in Florida, but she’d used Will as an excuse, going on one or two first dates before giving up on the proposition entirely. She was focusing on being a single mom, she told people.
She still loved Jake. That was the truth. She’d been close last night, when she said she wasn’t sure. But now she was. Fully, completely sure. She felt her shoulders relax as the tension left her body.
If they could just get past this, find the treasure, get some assurance of safety...
Then was there a chance? Jake’s words had led her to believe there was, last night. But he’d not indicated anything of the sort today. Cassie believed some people who were truly in love with someone else never did get their happily-ever-after. Even if both of them loved each other. Relationships failed for a lot of reasons, or never got fully off the ground. They had enough reasons between them to ruin several relationships.
The biggest was the way she’d kept Will from him. But he insisted she didn’t need to apologize anymore, so that meant it was in the past, right?
That maybe they had some kind of future?
“Do you see this line right here?” Jake motioned to the computer screen and Cassie turned her attention back to it. Yes, there in the trees, a thin line of tan seemed to go into the woods and then disappear.
“Yes.”
“Part of that is where we were the other day. But judging by the directions in your story...” He frowned. “Can you say it again for me?”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll write it down if you’ll bring me some paper.” She smiled up at him and he handed her the computer while he went to get a notebook. She studied the aerial view of the location as he did so. Strange to think that the location of the treasure could have been photographed by satellite. Of course they couldn’t see the treasure or any indication of where it was, not from the altitude of the picture, but the general topography, trees, rivers were all there—it was strange to think it was there too, hidden.
So close. Still so far.
“Here you go.” He handed her the notebook and sat back down, taking the computer from her.
This time he sat closer to her, and whether he’d done it on purpose or not, it was distracting her to no end. Cassie reminded herself she was an adult and could certainly pay attention no matter whose thigh was pressed against hers.
She swallowed hard.
She could pay attention, right?
“Okay...” She took the pen Jake held out and started writing the story down as best she remembered it. Some of her aunt’s word choices had varied. It wasn’t like a poem that had particular lines, just a story. The only part repeated perfectly was the bit at the beginning about remembering what you heard.
“She really was trying to get me to remember,” Cassie observed as she wrote those lines. “But why?”
Jake shook his head.
“I don’t remember her talking about the treasure or the legend ever, which means she talked about it a lot less than the average Raven Pass citizen. Why spend every night then telling me how to find it?”
“She clearly didn’t take it. She would have been too young or not even born then.” Jake sounded like he was thinking aloud, but Cassie nodded because she agreed with him.
“Right. We may never know,” Cassie offered, though she hoped that wasn’t the case. But still, it was better to be prepared for the possibility than to be heartbroken if it turned out to be true. Bracing against unrealistic expectations was something she’d caught herself doing many times since her happily-ever-after with Jake hadn’t happened. Yes, that had been her fault, but it didn’t seem to matter.
“I think we will.” He sounded much more confident than she felt. He continued working at the computer, pressing buttons, zooming in and surveying the land and then zooming out again. He finally printed the general area and together they highlighted the basic trail it sounded like they should take. Where directions were vague, they highlighted large chunks of Alaskan wilderness.
It could take days to thoroughly search the area, longer than that if they accounted for the time needed to look in extremely small spaces. But Cassie didn’t think that would be necessary. The heart of darkness in the story could only be something like a cave, of which there weren’t many in this part of Alaska, or possibly an old hollow stump hole, which sometimes seemed like vast holes in the ground, or a mining shaft. The entire area around Raven Pass, especially on the north side against those mountains, was known for having been active during at least one of the gold rushes. Cassie believed there were mining shafts that hadn’t been explored since the time of the murders and the gold’s disappearance, but she didn’t know how difficult it would be to find them. Terrain could have changed, trees could have grown up. Even with the “throne” Will had noticed as a starting point, they could still have a considerable amount of trouble finding it from there.
Could her aunt have tried to show people where the treasure was and then been unable to find it? And why, after all these years, did someone know her aunt might have a clue to the treasure’s location? Cassie just didn’t know. She should probably stop speculating because it was starting to give her a headache.
Or that could be because it was the middle of the night and she wasn’t sleeping.
“I need to go back to sleep,” she finally said when fatigue had overwhelmed all of her senses.
“Sleep well.”
Jake reached out to squeeze her arm and Cassie stopped. She’d been starting to stand, but his touch made her lose all motivation to leave.
“Thank you,” she said in a whisper, meeting his eyes. “You didn’t have to do any of this. You didn’t have to try to keep me safe, or try to figure out why someone killed my aunt, but you are.” She shrugged, suddenly feeling self-conscious and too vulnerable. Late nights made her feel this way. “Anyway, thanks.”
“Cassie...”
She couldn’t read his tone, couldn’t tell from his voice what he wanted. And it was impossible to say who moved first, but one minute they were sitting side by side on the couch and she was talking, and the next she leaned into him, or he’d leaned into her, and they were kissing again, all the familiarity and magic of the past mingling with something that made her stomach flutter—hope of having a future.
Tired or not, Cassie didn’t want the kiss to end. She kept her eyes closed, kept saying with her lips what she was still too afraid to say with her words. Jake said everything back to her.
And then he pulled away. Shook his head.
And she knew by the look in his eye that she had been wrong to think the words he’d said last night meant what she wanted them to. He was sure he still loved her, he said.
But that didn’t mean they had a future.
She swallowed hard, brushed at invisible lint on her jeans. “I’m sorry, I don’t know...”
“It wasn’t just you.” His voice was thick with feeling. “We can’t do this, Cassie.”
And somehow she thought maybe if she fought for them this time, maybe if she didn’t give up so easily, things would be different. “I won’t leave again, Jake. I’ll be here, like I promised last time. We can start over, but better, you know?”
