Rampike Read online

  “What was he doing up there?”

  “I don’t know, just standing there.”

  “Looking at you?”

  “Not at first but then he must have felt my eyes on him because he looked down right at me.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then nothing, he went on with his day and I did the same.”

  “And that’s it?”

  “I know it’s not very exciting, sheriff, but you asked about Maul Thorndean and that’s all I got for you.” Sally smiled as she spoke; back to her cheerful self.

  Joe sipped at his coffee and wondered if it was possible Maul was living in the shaft, or if perhaps, there was an old miner’s shack up there that he’d never seen before. If there was, it was something new to go on and he decided to take a walk up that way when he was finished his coffee.

  Before he said anything else to Sally, there was a noise from the corridor off the main room and the young couple came through the door carrying their bags.

  “Morning,” Joe said turning to face them and smiling.

  “Morning,” they both said and they at once looked very nervous.

  “Don’t worry, kids, he’s not here to inspect your marriage license,” Sally laughed. The newlyweds laughed nervously looking from each other to Sally to Joe.

  “I’m Sheriff Joe Moorefield,” he said leaning over to shake their hands.

  “Jarrod; and this is my wife Ava.”

  “I hear you’re heading to California?”

  “We sure are,” Jarrod said, the idea bringing a huge grin to his face.

  “It’s a long drive from here,” Joe said. “Have you had a mechanic look over the car on your travels?”

  “She’s a reliable vehicle,” Jarrod said.

  “All the same, if you want, Jeff across the road is a mechanic.”

  “Thanks,” Jarrod said and Joe took this as a no thanks and decided not to push it any more.

  “Well, there’s been a lot of snow overnight so the roads will be dangerous to the pass and then down the far side too, I imagine,” he said. At this Ava looked at Jarrod, her face filled with terror,

  “Dangerous?”

  “More dangerous than would usually be the case,” Jarrod assured her and looking to Joe said nodding. “I’m sure that’s what the sheriff means?” Ava looked at Joe who nodded too.

  “Oh I’m not looking to scare you,” he said with a smile. “I’m just doing my job. You shouldn't have any trouble getting to the valley on the other side and anyway, I’ll be driving that road myself later on today and I can see that you’ve come to no trouble.”

  “You see?” Jarrod said and then quickly changed to Sally. “Everything here was fantastic; we’d like to settle up with you if we could?”

  “I’ve yet to take issue with that!” Sally smiled, and she pulled a sheet from the notebook by the bar.

  While the couple and Sally settled their business, Joe looked along the bar to the galley window Sally had been talking about. From his viewpoint, all he could see was a couple of yards to the right of the building at a slant. He said goodbye to the couple and once they were out of the room, he asked,

  “Do you mind if I come back there and have a quick look out your window?” Sally regarded him for a moment and answered,

  “I don’t think you’ll see him, but be my guest.”

  Joe got up and went behind the bar — the first one he had seen from the back in his life — and went to the galley. Leaning on the sink he looked up the hill to the small clearing he knew was where the mine entrance had been. It didn’t seem so far up as he had supposed but he also knew that it was not a direct walking route to get to it; he would have go around by the lake and come back down on the site from above. This thought made it seem even more unlikely that Maul would be living there; he couldn't imagine the man giving up the high ground.

  “I’ll go on up and have a look,” he said as he walked back out to the customer side of things.

  “Well, you see Maul up there you tell him I was asking for him to come back on into town, things are a little dead around for my taste at the moment.”

  “I’ll tell him,” Joe said smiling as he placed the money for his coffee and a tip on the counter by his cup.

  Half an hour later Joe Moorefield stood outside his office once again. He’d changed some of his clothes and got more supplies for a hike. It wasn’t particularly long but with the weather as unpredictable as it was it was probably better to be safe and have more than he needed with him. There was a low breeze as he walked that tossed up the white surface all around and making it look as though there was light snow once more.

  Thankfully it stayed fine on the walk up and as he passed the lake (a large pool really but he never got into this point with the locals) he noted that it had partially frozen over. When he’d first come here he recalled the previous sheriff telling him if the lake froze, they were probably in for a harsh time of it. He suspected the pool was fed by a warm spring somewhere within the mountain but didn’t know for sure.

  Though he was no tracker, Joe could see that there had been movement in the general area of the mine opening. Various animal tracks and droppings were scattered around and there was even one well preserved boot-print in the mud. Joe leaned over to look at it more closely for any giveaway marks on the grips but saw nothing that could help him. As he touched the sides, he found that the hole and print were frozen solid. Standing up he then placed his own boot beside it for comparison. It was roughly the same. He knew that Maul was a couple of inches shorter than he was but he didn’t know about the man’s shoe-size. It might have been Maul, or it might not; there was no way to tell for sure save checking the underside of Maul’s boots the next time he saw him.

  From where he stood, Joe could see down to the town. It looked even smaller from up here, more like a farmhouse with a few out buildings than a town. His own little sheriff’s office looked smallest of all and it made him wonder why the buildings had been built so small and close to one another.

  Turning his attention to the mine entrance, he noticed that the old wooden boards that were nailed down across were rotted and there were some holes at ground level where animals must go in and out. It wasn’t big enough for a man, however. Joe tugged gently to see if any of the boards were loose but none were. Maul wasn’t living in there, anyway. As he pried like this, he felt the soft of the wood and knew how easily it would come apart in his hands if he wanted it to. There obviously had been little forethought in closing the mine, and Joe supposed it was a blessing that there were no children or teenagers living in Mercy. It would surely be a draw and a death-trap to them!

  Just then, his hands felt a different texture, and he looked at the wood. It was dry and hard and white; very familiar to him. He pressed, and the wood shattered and fell down within the shaft. It was the same as the wood all around Maul’s place. There was little of it on the planks and Joe spent the next few minutes looking around the clearing for any more evidence of what must be some arboreal disease he’d never heard of. There was little sign but every few feet he would come across some trace but it was always small and didn’t seem to be spreading. He wondered if the trees here were perhaps more resilient that at other parts of the forest. Were these marks the last remnants of the disease on this area?

  Chapter 11

  Ava stood shivering in the cold and looking around nervously as Jarrod pushed the mounds of snow from the car with his hands. There really had been a lot of it overnight and when he was done clearing all the windows, there was a pile almost a foot deep all around. He opened the door — which also took a lot of effort as it had frozen — and then beckoned Ava to get in.

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t take too long to heat up today,” she said through chattering teeth as she got in.

  “Let’s hope,” Jarrod echoed. He didn’t think it would, but he knew once they were moving Ava would be fine. There were plenty of blankets to keep her warm, and if that didn’t do it the exciteme
nt of being back on the road might. He sat behind the wheel and pushed the key into the ignition and turned.

  A choking noise emitted from the engine but this was not the usual gasps for life Jarrod had become used to before the car would sputter into life. This was a grinding noise he’d never heard before and he worried the end had finally come. Ava looked at him, her smile fading rapidly.

  “What is it?” she asked looking to his hands as he turned the key once more.

  “It’s probably nothing, just the cold,” Jarrod said pressing on the accelerator hopefully. That same harsh noise as before filled the car and Ava put her hands to her ears as Jarrod let off the pedal and killed the ignition. “I’ll have a look under the hood,” he said as cheerily as he could before she could say anything else. He got out and had a time of it trying to get the lid of the hood up. It was both frozen shut and there was so much snow that it weighed a tonne too. At last, he got around these obstacles and he looked at the engine. He could tell there were all sorts of things not right from the first glance. He was no mechanic, but he had looked under here many times before and what he was seeing was not familiar to him at all. He wondered if this much damage — which is what he assumed he was seeing — could have been done in only the last few weeks of pushing the car so much each day to get as far as they could as fast as they could.

  Letting the hood drop he shook his head at the expectant face of Ava peering at him through the windshield.

  “What is it?” she mouthed, and he walked to her side and opened the door a little,

  “I guess we’re going to have to look in on that mechanic the sheriff was talking about after all.”

  “Oh no,” Ava groaned.

  “Don’t worry; I’m sure he’ll have it fixed in time. Why don’t you go back inside and get a cup of coffee to keep you warm while I go talk to him?”

  “No, I’ll come with you, I want to hear what he says,” Ava said and Jarrod knew that there was going to be no discouraging her out of this.

  They trudged over to the store and went inside.

  “Hi again,” Jeff said from behind his counter.

  “Hi,” Jarrod said, “We need a mechanic; is that you?”

  “Yes it is,” Jeff smiled, though he was not best pleased about the prospect of handing frozen metal on a day like this.

  “Our car is out front of the tavern, there,” Jarrod pointed and Jeff looked out at it, “But it won't start; it’s making a strange noise like I never heard from it before.”

  “It might be just seized up from the cold night we had,” Jeff said hopefully, “But I guess we better go out and have a better look.”

  “Why don’t you stay in the store and out of the cold?” Jarrod suggested to Ava. Jeff looked at her with what she perceived as distrust but the man caught himself and smiled, nodding,

  “That sounds like a sensible idea to me.”

  “If it’s all the same, I’d like to come out and look with you. I’ve been developing an interest in how cars run since we came on this trip,” Ava said. Jarrod looked at her in surprise and Jeff laughed.

  “I guess we’ll be having ladies doing all kinds of jobs in the future!” he said leading the way out through the door. Jarrod was still looking at his wife as he went out after her. What was she doing, and why was she so interested in the car all of a sudden? The truth struck home almost as soon as he’d had the thought — she wanted to hear what the mechanic said not Jarrod’s own enhanced version. She didn’t want to be protected from the truth.

  As this idea, he grew nervous as they approached the car. It had looked bad, but he hadn’t indicated that to Ava when she asked. It could be a huge job after all; the car might even be at the end of the road considering what he saw under the hood. He opened up the hood and put the rod in place to hold it up.”

  “Holy shit!” Jeff exclaimed and then looking at Ava and covering his mouth said, “Pardon me ma’am.” Jarrod’s heart sank at the reaction and he could bring himself to look at Ava for fear of seeing either tears or anger in them.

  “What is it?” Jarrod asked of Jeff. The mechanic looked at him as if in disbelief,

  “All these wires and cables have been torn out,” he said, “This was done deliberately!”

  “Deliberately!” Ava said, a bolus of fear choking up her windpipe as she gripped Jarrod’s arm.

  “Who would do such a thing?” Jarrod said dumbfounded, “Out here?” he added as if to emphasize the oddity of it.

  “The person who was at the window last night!” Ava said, and she started to cry.

  “Someone was at your window?” Jeff parroted, and he looked around the place. It was clear that he was just as uneasy with what had happened to the car as the young couple were.

  “She thought she saw someone...”

  “I know what I saw,” Ava interrupted Jarrod. “But I let you convince me it was my imagination!”

  “Who was it?” Jeff asked looking to her.

  “How would I know who it was?” she answered indignantly.

  “You didn’t recognise him then? He wasn’t anyone who was in the tavern last night?”

  “I don’t know, it was late and dark outside, it was hard to make him out,” Ava said as though in apology for her lack of focus at the time, and then turning swiftly on Jarrod said, “But I know there was someone there!” Jarrod felt at a loss,

  “I don’t understand any of this,” he said.

  “We better talk to the sheriff about this,” Jeff said.

  “Who do you think it was?” Ava suddenly asked him.

  “I have no idea, but there’s only one person who I can imagine doing something like this to a stranger’s car.”

  “Who?”

  “Maul Thorndean.”

  “The animal you were all trying to scare us about?” Jarrod asked. Jeff nodded guiltily to this question.

  “He’s never done anything like this before,” he said, “but I just can’t see any way that it could be anyone else.”

  Jeff had only taken one step away from the car when Ava asked,

  “How long would it take you to fix the car?” Jeff looked at her and then at Jarrod before peering back down into the damaged engine.

  “I don’t have most of those cables in stock. I’d have to order from Emerson and it could be two days before they came up here.”

  “Two days!”

  “I’m sorry, this is not a usual problem, normally those wires and cables are replaced long before they are too damaged but this is wholesale destruction.”

  “What are we supposed to do?” she asked.

  “I suppose you’ll have to stay here at the tavern until I can fix your car,” he shrugged. Jarrod put his arms around Ava and pulled her close to him.

  “Can you go ring for the parts now and we will go tell the sheriff about the car?” he suggested to Jeff.

  “Fine,” Jeff said, and he walked off back towards his store.

  “Why would someone do this to us?” Ava asked through her tears as she buried her face in Jarrod’s shoulder.

  “I don’t know, Ava, but don’t worry, we’ll let the sheriff know, and then we will be safe here until the car is ready. We’ll leave the very second it's fixed, night or day, I promise.”

  “I don’t want to be here,” Ava said, “Maybe the sheriff, or that mechanic will drive us to Emerson?”

  “I’ll ask,” Jarrod assured her and hugged her tighter than ever. “I’ll ask.”

  There was no answer when they got to the sheriff’s office but the door was open. Inside there was a notepad and pencil handing on a string on the wall that said: Leave a message here and I’ll get to you as soon as I see it — Sheriff Moorefield.

  “Write something,” Ava said. Jarrod picked up the pencil and poised it over the paper.

  “What will I say?” Ava didn’t have a suggestion but only nodded back to the paper like they were in some dire hurry. Jarrod paused another moment and then wrote:

  Dear Sheriff Moorefield, Ca
n you please contact Jarrod in the Tavern when you get this message. Someone has done damage to our car. Regards, Jarrod.

  “Shouldn’t you put your surname on it?” Ava asked as they left.

  “I don’t think he’ll be confused as to who it’s from.”

  When then came out, Jeff was back on the street and he waved them over when he saw them.

  “The sheriff in there?” he asked.

  “No, we left a note though.”

  “He might be in the tavern having some coffee,” Jeff said.

  “I don’t think so; he was in there earlier and has left since.”

  “Did you get to order the parts?” Ava asked.

  “No, I didn’t get an answer, but I’ll try again in a few minutes. Don’t worry I’ll get them ordered today.”

  “Do you think you could drive us into Emerson?” Ava asked. Jeff looked very surprised at this request and he shook his head before talking.

  “No, I couldn’t do that, I have the store here to look after and someone else might need a mechanic too.”

  “Come on,” Jarrod said taking Ava by the hand. “We should check back into the tavern.” This wasn’t what she wanted to hear; she only wanted to be out of this town, but she knew at that moment that there was no other option.

  Chapter 12

  Mouse Allen stumbled out of the Lone Wolf Tavern into the blustery night. Two things happened when the cold air shocked into his body; first, he suddenly felt much more drunk than when he decided he was going home, and second, he felt he needed to pee. Badly. His car was only a few yards away, so he decided to go and take a quick leak behind it rather than go back inside and have Sally mock him about coming back to use the toilet.

  Taking the leak didn’t prove to be so easy, however, and the cold weather coupled with his bulky coat made things difficult and he ended up peeing a little on his leg.

  “Fuck!” he griped through gritted teeth shaking his leg out and trying to make sure no more hit him. He looked back to the tavern as he re-buckled and was glad to see no one about who might have witnessed this. He climbed into the truck and turned on the ignition. It started as well as ever and he reversed out from the building without a glance behind. It was late and the chances of hitting someone were so slim he rarely looked at all when he was like this.