Dark Moon Crossing (28 page)

Following a more logical track, who was likely to hang
out at the border besides the smugglers?‌ The uncomfortable answer had to be
the Border Patrol, and that link led to the late Bob Shirley. If he had
committed suicide as the authorities believed, what had his final words meant?‌
‘
I can’t do this anymore.’
What?‌ What couldn’t he do anymore?‌ Did
Loydeen Shirley know?‌ Most likely. And her look of abject terror when she’d
spotted Cutter, the nasty-faced skinhead, led directly to none other than Jason
Beaumont. And then, and then…what?‌ I ended up staring at the usual blank
slate until I fell into a fretful sleep.

After several restless hours, sunset finally arrived,
filling the tiny room with a soft, rosy glow. I was cheered by the unexpected
arrival of Rascal, who nosed the door open, trotted in and sympathetically
licked my face. He stayed on the floor beside the bed until Lin Su chased him
out. This time she’d brought a different-tasting tea, still sweet, but this
time with a bitter aftertaste. She insisted I drink every drop before she left
again, shutting the door behind her. Whatever was in it affected me almost
immediately. A delicious drowsiness settled over me and the fire in my throat
subsided. All my cares and concerns slipped away as I succumbed to the
lethargy stealing over my body, holding me immobile. I felt mellow, definitely
mellow. Yeah. And then I was soaring over lush meadows dotted with trees and
carpeted with vibrantly colored flowers I hadn’t seen since leaving
Pennsylvania seven months earlier. Luxuriating in the sensation of
tranquility, I weaved my way through a series of fantastic dreams presented in
wide screen and full Technicolor, yet it seemed that I could make out the
interior of my little room at the same instant. Was I dreaming that I was
awake?‌ My conscious mind reminded me that I was most likely experiencing
hallucinations brought on by the high fever. One dream in particular seemed
very real. In the dim light of the waning moon, I could have sworn I saw
Bethany leaning over my bed, her calculating eyes carefully searching my face.
I slept again, dreaming of strange hovering crafts inhabited by small beings
with wide, black eyes. Imprisoned by Lin Su’s powerful herbs, I kept trying to
wake up, but I could not seem to lift my lids. Vaguely, I wondered if the
dour-faced little woman had poisoned me.

Sometime
during the night, my fever broke and I fell into a comatose-like sleep until a
slight movement in the bed roused me briefly. Someone crawled in behind me and
as gentle fingers smoothed my hair and then wound around my waist, a warm glow
of happiness surged through me. “Oh, baby doll, my love, my sweet darling,
thank God you’re back. I’ve missed you so much. You’ll never know how much,”
whispered the husky voice close to my ear. Smiling to myself, delighting in
the feel of soft kisses on the back of my neck, I snuggled close, rejoicing in
sweet contentment. Was I lucky or what?‌ Even with my string of major
screw-ups, Tally had seen fit to forgive me. And I’d never known him to be so
effusive. With extreme effort I was able to lift my hand and lay it over his.
Murmuring, “I missed you too,” I glided back into peaceful sleep.

Dawn
light was seeping through the small window when I opened my eyes, amazed at how
much better I felt. Lin Su’s magic potions really worked. I didn’t feel
sick any longer, but my thought process still seemed fuzzy. The even snoring
from behind, resurrected the memory of Tally joining me sometime in the middle
of the night. Sighing, I recalled his gentle words of love. How romantic. He
called me his baby doll. I blinked a few times as my groggy brain slowly
engaged. Baby doll?‌ He’d never, ever called me that before. I rubbed a
pattern along the back of his hand and my stomach plunged in dismay. Uh-oh.
Something didn’t feel right about the fingers clasped tightly around my
middle. They were long and bony.

A
sharp gasp from behind, followed by Bethany’s outraged, “Grampy Boo! What on
earth is going on in here?‌” had me struggling to a sitting position. In
stunned silence, I turned and gaped at the doorway, unable to believe my own
eyes. Standing hat in hand with Bethany’s fingers curled like octopus
tentacles around his elbow was Tally, staring back at me in white-faced
bewilderment.

My
gaze ricocheted from Tally to that of my befuddled bed partner, Cecil Beaumont.
“You’re not Penelope,” he quavered, his rheumy eyes dulling in confusion.
Equally mystified, I disengaged his hand from my waist. “No,” I mumbled, “I’m
Kendall. You’ve made a mistake.” My voice was back! It sounded low and
throaty, but, hey, it was there.

The
old man’s face turned beet red. “I…I…I’m sorry. Someone told me that…my wife
was in here.”

I
fired a suspicious glance at Bethany. “Really?‌ I wonder who would tell you
that?‌”

He
massaged his temples. “I can’t exactly remember now.”

“What
is the
matter
with you?‌” Bethany snarled at me, sprinting to the bed.
“Do you have to sleep with every man in the county?‌ Come on, Grampy, let me
help you out of here.” She pulled him to his feet and led him out the door,
hollering, “Felix! Felix, I need you right away! Tally, I’ll be waiting for
you downstairs.”

As
their footsteps faded away down the hall, I pulled the covers up around my
chin, gazing sheepishly into Tally’s quizzical eyes. “You have to believe me
when I say this isn’t what it looks like. I…I thought it was you,” I murmured,
running a hand through my tangled hair, terribly cognizant of how awful I must
look in contrast to Bethany’s blonde perfection. Damn, he looked good standing
there all trim and tanned in those snug blue jeans. “Whew, I don’t know what
was in that last cup of tea Lin Su gave me, but I had some really spacey dreams
last night. I still feel all muddle-brained.”

He
said nothing, just glared at me in stony silence.

Hoping
to thaw his arctic expression, I added brightly, “But I do feel quite a bit
better this morning.”

“Well,
we can all be thankful for that.” The obstinate set of his jaw and undertone of
sarcasm wasn’t lost on me.

I
groaned, scooping clumps of frizzy hair away from my face. “Jesus, Tally,
nobody feels worse than I do about this whole fiasco and I don’t blame you one
bit for being ticked off at me. My plan was to follow one last lead for Lupe
before coming home and….”

He
cut me off with, “But your obsessive curiosity took precedence over me.”

I slapped the mattress. “Quit saying that! You know
it’s not true.”

“And
how would I know that?‌”

My
temper flamed, overriding the twinge of guilt. “Hey, I didn’t set out to
deliberately get myself trapped all night in that wretched little jail. You
think it was fun sleeping on a cold, hard floor wrapped in damp newspaper?‌”

His
shrug was unsympathetic.

“I
know you’re going to think I’m paranoid, but I have a bad feeling someone shut
me in there on purpose.”

He
shifted his weight and shot me a dubious look. “And why would anyone do that?‌”

I
shrugged. “I don’t know, but I can tell you this. Someone in this house was
eavesdropping on my phone conversation and knew damn well I was going there.”
I repeated the threats aimed at me by Jason and Cutter outside La Gitana on
Monday, but his already hypercritical expression dissuaded me from voicing my
suspicion that it may have been more to Bethany Beaumont’s advantage to have me
out of the picture.

“Oh,
give me a break. This isn’t a Nancy Drew novel. That sounds like a couple of
guys just shooting off their mouths.”

“Tally,
I’m serious! Whoever was yelling for help knew my name. The next thing I
know, I’m face down in the dirt. Pretty odd coincidence, don’t you think?‌”

He
leaned into the doorframe and folded his arms, staring at me as if I were an
errant child. “I’m sorry you’ve had such an awful experience, but regardless
of the reason it happened, it was you and you alone who made the choice to take
this cockeyed assignment. The outcome for me is the same. You were a no-show
and as far as I’m concerned, your promises aren’t worth diddly squat.”

“Look,
I’m sorry—a thousand times sorry, a million times sorry. What do you want me
to do?‌ Can’t we just continue with our plans and head on to California this morning?‌”

His
face registered incredulity. “You know what?‌ I think I liked it better when
you couldn’t talk.”

I
wrinkled my nose at him. “Come on, Tally, we’ll only be one day late for the
show.”

“So
that’s your solution. Just leave?‌ Right now?‌ What about your car and the
fact that you’re sick?‌”

“Weren’t
you listening?‌ I told you I’m feeling better. I’ll just have to deal with the
car situation when we get back.”

He shook his head. “It’s too late. The fact is your
misadventures have…” he hesitated, turning towards the hall, then back to me,
lowering his voice, “…have ended up involving me. Now
I
have to spend
the whole day and probably tomorrow entertaining a of bunch of overweight
greenhorns on an imaginary cattle drive…” He paused and drew in a calming
breath. “But I gave Twyla my word that I’d stay and help them out, so I intend
to do just that.” For emphasis, he stabbed his thumb against his chest.
“Unlike some people, I keep my promises.”

Ignoring his disdain, I blurted out, “Does your
promise to entertain extend to the talented and oh-so- charming Bethany
Beaumont?‌”

His jaw tightened. “And what exactly is that supposed
to mean?‌”

I fussed with the bedcovers and avoided his probing
stare, feeling inept, vulnerable. “Well, you do seem to be spending an awful
lot of time with her.” Hopefully, I didn’t sound as petulant to him as I did
to myself. When he didn’t respond, I glanced up and caught him observing me in
thoughtful silence before he drawled, “Now that you mention it, she does seem
to appreciate my company.”

A flash of heat rushed over me. “Meaning what?‌ That
I don’t?‌”

“It doesn’t appear that you do as of late.”

“Hey, I’m sorry I have to work for a living. I’m not
some swooning little cowgirl cutie batting her baby blues and clinging to your
arm like a leech…”

He cut me off with, “Don’t try to turn this around.
This isn’t about me and it isn’t about her. It’s about you.”

Exasperation almost choked me. “Look, you of all
people know how busy I’ve been at the office with all the construction chaos
and us being understaffed all summer!”

“Yes, and I’m also well aware of where I rank in
relation to your all-important career path.”

“Will you quit saying that?‌” I shouted so loud, my
newly-returned voice cracked.

“Only if you stop demonstrating that it’s true. Is it
too much to ask for you to stop chasing off helter-skelter all over the blasted
state and maybe spend a little more time with me at the ranch?‌”

It wasn’t too much to ask but I wasn’t ready to admit
it. This was not the time or place to voice my concerns about my tenuous
relationship with his ever-so- annoying mother. “Can we call a temporary truce
and talk about this another time?‌” I asked, allowing a placating note to enter
my voice. “I really need your input on some things I’ve found out these past
few days.”

He couldn’t have looked less interested. “I don’t
have much time.”

“Just give me five minutes. I think you’ll be
intrigued.” I patted the corner of the bed in invitation. “Come on, please?‌”

He sighed and studied his watch. “Five minutes,” he
announced, crossing to perch stiffly on the edge of the mattress. I ached to
touch him, have him hold me, but his demeanor wasn’t encouraging. Instead, I
began my explanation with Lupe’s tearful request for help, only to have him
interrupt me. “Wait, wait, wait. I thought you said you were sworn to secrecy
and weren’t allowed to divulge any details about her mysterious problems.”

I grimaced. “Well, the parameters regarding my
promise to her have changed somewhat since last Friday night.” He listened
while I filled him in on all aspects of the story, appearing surprised by my
decision to adopt the kitten, and then mildly intrigued, until I got to the
part about Mazzie La Casse’s hypothesis linking the disappearances of the
undocumented migrants to alien abduction. The unmistakable skepticism seeping
into his deep brown eyes made me hesitant to repeat my own experience with the
strange pulsating lights, especially since, in retrospect, I’d convinced myself
that they could very well have been Border Patrol helicopters or possibly
surveillance balloons launched from the army base at Ft. Huachuca.

I wished I’d had my camera handy to record the look of
utter astonishment on his face. “A UFOlogist?‌ Invaders from outer space?‌ For
chrissake! Kendall, do you have any idea how nuts that sounds?‌”

“Of course I do, but logically….”

“Yeah, let’s do inject some logic, please.”

“Will you let me finish?‌”

He ignored me. “You want to know what I think?‌”

I cupped my chin in one hand. “What?‌”

“For Lupe to be out of touch with her relatives for
only two weeks is way too soon to fly into a panic. For my money, you’ve
squandered our hard-earned vacation on a classic wild goose chase. Do you know
how many hundreds of illegal immigrants cross the border every day?‌”

“As a matter of fact I’ve learned quite a bit….”

“Good. Then you realize that these people could be
any number of places. They might be caught in the paperwork maze of
deportation, especially if one or both of them has been hospitalized or
jailed. Hell, they could be stashed in a safe house in Phoenix for all you
know and can’t get to a phone. She could hear from them tomorrow.”

“I’ve already thought of those scenarios but….”

As if I’d not spoken, he went on with his tirade.
“Or, they might already be in another state, and simply haven’t contacted her
yet. You’re forgetting that I’ve had a little experience dealing with these
people. Some work out fine, others just move on when the impulse grabs them.
As far as that first guy found hiding in Morita, have you considered the fact
that he was probably one of the smugglers
and manufactured this wild story
as a clever way to divert attention from himself?‌ It sounds to me as if he
wanted to be deported. Period. End of story.”

Hearing
him voice the same reservations I’d had, added to my feelings of self-doubt.
“But what about Javier?‌ How can you just set aside the similarities in their
stories—the weird lights, both of them being chased by these supposed bug-eyed
creatures, the other people traveling with them just poof, gone?‌ Tally, people
don’t just vanish into thin air. Something had to happen to them.”

Tally
waved away my objection. “Kids make things up. It’s as simple as that.”

That
was the fast and easy way to dismiss the entire episode, but I wasn’t
convinced. “What about his mother?‌ Why would a woman walk off and abandon her
child?‌”

“It
wouldn’t be the first time some Mexican handed off her kid to a
coyote.
Some
people are just plain stupid. Can you imagine giving a total stranger your
entire life savings and then trusting one of these scumballs to safely
transport your kid to relatives in the States?‌ Not all of the
coyotes
are men, you know,” he added grimly, “The good Sister what’s-her-face over at
the mission is probably up to her eyeballs in trafficking illegals, if you ask
me.”

The
hollow feeling in my stomach returned with a vengeance. He dismissed each
situation, one by one, in a very male, very left-brained fashion that was
difficult to refute. “Okay, but what about Bob Shirley?‌”

“What
about him?‌ You said he was going to be indicted on drug running charges.
Looks to me like he took the easy way out.”

I
fidgeted with the blankets. “Boy, if I always followed your analytical line of
thinking, I’d be out of a job tomorrow.”

He
eyed me critically. “Face it. There’s only a story here because you want
there to be one.”

“Not
true. You’ve left out a major part of the puzzle.”

“Which
would be?‌”

When I articulated my theory linking Bob Shirley to
the Knights of Right and the subsequent connection to Cutter, which then led
directly to Jason Beaumont, he exploded in anger and shot to his feet. “What
the hell are you getting at?‌ That the Beaumonts are somehow involved in
something…something unsavory?‌” His brown eyes were glowing coals of fury.
“I’ve known Champ…I’ve known this family my entire life and you couldn’t be
more wrong! How did you come up with such a cockamamie idea?‌”

Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I told him about the
butchered cattle we’d discovered on Sunday, Champ’s passionate reaction and
Rob’s callous warning of retribution. “The townspeople and ranchers in this
area are fed up to their teeth with these types of incidents. They think their
own government is working against them and have effectively tied the hands of
the Border Patrol. They’re scared, Tally. They’re scared for their families,
their livelihood and their future. Is it out of the realm of possibility to
think that some of them may have decided to join forces with these Knights of
Right kooks and taken matters into their own hands?‌”

“By doing what?‌” he thundered, flailing his arms.
“Skulking around in the dark dressed up in Halloween costumes and scaring the
shit out of the jumpers when they cross the border?‌”

I paused. “Well, unless you’re ready to accept the
possibility that all of these people were snatched by extraterrestrials, then
yes.”

“To what end?‌”

“Maybe it goes beyond just scaring them.”

He cocked his head sideways. “Are you saying that you
think they’re smuggling immigrants into the country, killing them, and then
what?‌ Feeding their remains to the
maaaad
caretaker of Morita?‌ Give me
a break!”

“Hmmmm! Now
that’s
a very interesting theory.”

Suddenly Russell Greene’s horrifying past pushed him
to the top of the suspect list and his grave warning to stay away and never
return took on a new and ghastly significance. If he’d not been wearing the
burlap covering on his mangled face, was it possible that the first illegal and
then Javier were actually describing him as the so-called bug-eyed creature?‌
But, hadn’t they both stated there had been more than one monster?‌ And what
about the sharp claws?‌ Still…?‌