Riddles that Kill Page 23
“Much better. We both are,” said Rod, eyeing Maria gingerly.
Maria’s mother began cleaning up the leftover food containers on the tray.
“So,” said Rod, saddling up even closer to Maria, “the real question is, how did you know it was Natalie? Did Clyde and Dillan give her away?”
“Nope,” said Maria, “her smart phone did.”
Rod looked at her with amazement, laced with curiosity. “Tell me everything.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
However, nothing—including the viciousness of a mythical cannibal—could deter prospectors from Jarbidge whose only compass was the allure of glittering gold. In 1909, a man by the name of Dave Bourne discovered gold in the canyon. Drawing major interest from newspapers across the country, the discovery triggered a gold rush. Mining in Jarbidge continued until the 1930s.
“Journey to Jarbidge” by Eric Cachinero, Nevada Magazine.com, March/April 2014.
Zipping up her suitcase one-handed was one of the most awkward things Maria had ever done. She sat on top of the case to keep it from moving while pulling on the zipper. It worked for a few inches and then the metal teeth would get stuck.
Aggravated, she had to stand up and reposition herself to try the whole rigmarole again. The sling holding her cast itched the back of her neck, and she couldn’t wait until she got the stupid thing off.
Two more weeks and she would graduate to a soft brace that would keep her shoulder immobile until the wound completely healed. Then, she would be … hopefully … as good as new.
In general, things were looking up.
Justin was doing well. His parents had gotten him back into therapy. He’d had some mood swings and panic attacks, but that was to be expected. For the most part, Natalie had treated him well and the doctors felt the young boy would make a good recovery, both emotionally and physically.
In other good news, Brian’s lawyer had not succeeded in getting him off on a plea of insanity. He was headed to prison for a very long time, as was Rod’s ex-wife, Dakota.
Maria’s parents had come to Kanab to help while she recovered from her surgery. It had been wonderful to have someone take care of her. Maria had forgotten what that felt like.
And Rod had been amazing. He literally was at her beck and call. He must have apologized a hundred times for breaking their relationship off, insisting the shadow man had made him do it.
Maria believed him, one hundred percent. Yet, it wasn’t enough to convince her to fully re-engage the relationship. She never wanted anyone else to be hurt because of her. It was time to cut ties with those around her before her presence in Kanab hurt anyone else. Tomorrow she was headed back to Pittsburgh with her parents.
It was going to be hard leaving Rod. During her time recuperating from the gunshot wound, Maria had kept him at arms’ length. Still, he’d visited her at least once every day, patiently helping and encouraging her. The one thing he hadn’t brought up was the marriage—or, more precisely, the annulment.
Today was the day she had to make sure it happened. She didn’t know when she would be back to Kanab to sign papers.
As for her job, Maria had told Pete she was going on a vacation with her parents. She was, after all, on medical leave. But once she got to Pittsburgh, she’d let him know she was quitting and she would recommend him for the position as chief of police.
The doorbell rang the exact moment Maria finished getting her suitcase closed. It took a minute for her to get the door, but when she opened it she was rewarded with an image of Rod, on his way home from work, wearing a sharply tailored suit jacket with slim pants and stylish wing-tip leather shoes.
“You’re looking great today,” he said, leaning in to kiss her cheek. He had done his best to ignore her off-ish attitude the last few weeks. “You up and at it?”
“Yeah, I am,” said Maria, wishing she’d thought to do something with her hair that day. “Just finished packing.”
Rod cocked his head to one side. “Packing? Where are you going?”
“I’m headed to Pittsburgh for a little bit. Visiting home. It’s been a while.”
Could he tell she was lying? Maria felt as guilty as a kid who just pulled the fire alarm at school for fun.
Rod walked through the open front door, taking Maria with him. He led her to the couch and sat down, leaving a space for her. “Maria, what’s up? Something is wrong, I can tell.”
“Nothing is wrong. I’m just … I’m going to miss Kanab.” She fought back the tears. When had she become such a sentimental fool?
“Maria, how long are you going to be gone?” An uneasy look on his face told of the concern he felt.
“I don’t know,” Maria lied. “A week. Maybe more.” She turned to wipe a droplet from her cheek, hoping Rod hadn’t seen it there.
“Something is going on you’re not telling me about. Maria, are you really going to Pittsburgh?”
Maria was doing a pitiful job of keeping Rod from the truth. She might as well come clean. It would be better for him to know. She had no desire to hurt him. In fact, her leaving Kanab was for his own good.
“Yes, I really am going to Pittsburgh, but I’m not coming back. I’ve put everyone here in way too much danger. I’m leaving for good. It’s the best thing for everyone.”
Stricken, Rod reached for her hand but Maria pulled it away. “It’s not better for me, Maria. Guaranteed. You’ve saved my skin twice. Can we please talk this over? If this has anything to do with me breaking up with you because of—”
“No, it has nothing to do with that. I just have too much history, too many issues. I bring bad luck.”
Rod rolled his eyes.
“No, I really do.”
“Maria, you’re having some stress because of everything you—
“No, I’m not, Rod. I’m leaving to protect those around me, which brings me to another point. We need to get the … annulment from … you know … Vegas. What do you need me to sign? I won’t be back again, and I’m sure it would be easiest to do while I’m here.”
Rod’s eyes searched hers, hoping to find a way in. Maria dropped her gaze, unwilling to let him through her defenses.
He let out a long sigh. “If you want it done the quickest way, we need to go to Nevada. If you could postpone your flight to Pittsburgh by one day we could take care of the annulment tomorrow. I’ll get you to Vegas and back, but it will take a good part of the morning and afternoon.”
“Yeah, I can do that. Thanks, Rod.”
Her plan was working out. It was only an unfortunate side effect that her heart felt like it was about to be torn into pieces. But that would pass.
It was for the best.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
One of the most famous events in Jarbidge’s history occurred in December 1916 when a stage robbery resulted in the murder of the driver. The robber took the mail and $3,000 cash and then propped the body of the driver up in the seat, resulting in covering his hands in the driver’s blood. The robber then went to the banks of the river and opened the mail, carelessly scattering the envelopes about. After the robber was captured, he was found guilty of his crime due to the bloody fingerprints and palm prints found on the envelopes he threw away, the first time such evidence was admissible in court.
“Jarbidge,” Ghosttowns.com. http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ nv/jarbidge.html
Rod and Maria barely spoke on the ride to the Kanab airport. Maria feared if she said too much, she might get emotional. Even though her mind knew it was time to leave Kanab—and Rod—her heart was having a difficult time adjusting.
Rod had booked a helicopter for the trip. It was nice—almost like a taxi cab with the pilot in front and the two of them behind a partitioned area where tourists could experience southern Utah in aerial style.
“After our last flying experience, I thought I’d get us a chauffeur so he’d take the blame if anything went wrong.” Rod opened up his laptop bag and pulled out his computer. “Okay if I work?”
“I’ll get the blinds for you.” Rod pulled down the shade over the windows by their seats, and the back section of the helicopter darkened. “I promise I’ll type softly,” he joked.
Maria awoke to the gentle landing of the helicopter. She wasn’t sure how long she’d slept. Maybe an hour. Maybe two.
She couldn’t hear any sounds of the city over the helicopter blades turning above her. She sat up in her seat holding her left arm, still in a sling, close to her. “Are we here?”
Rod was upright in his seat. His laptop was no longer out. Instead, his hands were empty … and slightly shaking.
“What’s going on, Rod?” Maria raised the shade on her window to see a vast canyon below them. They appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. “This isn’t Vegas.”
The engine noise quieted and Maria’s heart began to beat sporadically. Rod still hadn’t said anything.
Where were they?
Maria wasn’t frightened, exactly. She was with Rod, after all, and she always felt safe in his presence. But something was not going according to her plan.
Rod had turned slightly pale.
“Are you feeling sick? Did we need to stop because you’re sick?” Maria looked around, searching for an in-flight throw up bag.
“I’m not sick,” said Rod. “Just nervous.”
“Nervous?” asked Maria, confused. “About what?
Rod exhaled slowly. “Maria, do you still love me?”
Taken aback, Maria used her good hand to steady herself on the seat. “What?”
“Do you still love me? It’s not a hard question.”
“Well it kind of is. It assumes I’ve told you at some point in the past that I do love you but I don’t recall ever saying—”
“I heard you in the Phoenix hospital tell me you loved me,” Rod interrupted her. “You thought I was asleep.”
“Oh.” Maria sat back. “I didn’t know you heard me.”
Rod shrugged. “I did. I was just too much of a wuss to admit it before now. But I think we’d better talk about it if you’re planning on leaving.”
Maria’s pulse hammered in her neck. The cabin of the helicopter was stifling. She wondered how much the pilot could overhear. “Rod, that was a couple of months ago when I said it, before everything happened. We can just forget about it.”
“I can’t forget about it. I tried—for about a half of a second—and it didn’t work. And I know why. It’s because, Maria, I love you. I knew it that night on Moquith Mountain when you and I watched the stars together. I knew it when you visited me in the jail where I was being held for my ex-wife’s murder. And I knew it when I saw you covered in mud apprehending a druggie in Kanab creek. I love you. I love every crazy thing about you.”
“Oh.”
Rod was not to be deterred by her lame response to his declaration. “When I broke up with you because shadow man was messing with my brain, it about killed me. My heart wanted one thing but my mind made me say something else. I think that’s what you’re doing right now. And I get it. You have memories that haunt you—horrible memories. Things I will never fully understand because I didn’t experience them. But I want the full package you’ve become, including the good and the bad you’ve endured. So now I’m asking you, Maria, despite what your brain is telling you, in your heart do you love me?”
Maria was sweating, profusely it seemed. “I can’t go there, Rod. I can’t. I’m a danger to others. I—”
“That wasn’t my question. My question was do you love me still? You said you did in Phoenix. Has that changed?”
Maria commanded herself not to answer, but her willpower was not as strong as the ache in her heart. She had to tell him. He needed to know.
“Yes.” Maria unsuccessfully tried to hold back a sob that had been trying to escape for weeks. “I love you. I didn’t even stop loving you when you didn’t want me.”
Rod’s face brightened. He held up his hand. “Again, just for the record, I was under the influence of—
“Oh, I know,” Maria interrupted him. “You were under the influence of the shadow man. But in the end, it was the best thing for everyone.”
“No.” Rod shook his head. “It wasn’t the best thing for me. This is.” He reached for her hand, picked it up, and brought it to his lips where he kissed it. “We belong together.”
Maria felt on fire. The kiss had traveled up her arm, through her shoulder, and into her chest where it throbbed—in a good way. “Rod, we can’t be together. If you stay with me you’ll end up dead. Guaranteed. I’m the worst bad luck charm in existence.”
“No, you’re not, Maria. Come on. Come outside with me.”
“Outside? But where are we?”
Rod opened the door to the now silent helicopter. Fresh, brisk air flooded the inside of the cabin, and Maria realized getting outside would be good for her. It would help clear her head. As it was, she was having a hard time thinking straight.
Once her feet were firmly planted on the ground, Maria looked around to an absolutely majestic view. There were no tourists. It was just the two of them … and the pilot, of course.
Rod slipped Maria’s hand into his. She didn’t resist. Her will power was shrinking.
“Are we on top of the Grand Canyon?” she asked.
“Yes. Come with me. There’s something I want to show you.”
They walked slowly to an alcove of trees and then skirted around the edge of it. Maria’s attention focused on an enormous canyon gorge below. It was a breathtaking array of colors—reds, purples, and pinks—and it made Maria slightly dizzy to be this high. So much so, when a melody of voices from her right shouted, “Surprise!” it nearly sent her into full blown attack mode. She was reaching for her gun tucked in its holster at her back when she realized she was staring into the faces of friends and family.
Both of Maria’s parents were there, as well as Rod’s parents and Grant. Beth and her husband and all her kids were waving at her. Behind them were Pete and Ms. Tuttle.
The oxygen in the air seemed to be thinning. Maria had a hard time catching her breath. “Rod, what’s going on?”
Pulling her slightly closer to him, Rod cleared his throat. “Maria,” he began, “I love you, and you—more or less—think I’m an okay guy. We also happen to have a marriage certificate. Justin, hold it up so she can see it.”
From the front of the group Justin waved a sheet in front of him with “Graceland Wedding Chapel” scrawled on the top of the paper.
“It’s signed by both of us and it’s legal. I checked.”
Maria stifled a laugh.
“My question is, why get rid of a good thing?”
Rod cleared a few rocks from the ground and knelt down on one knee. “Maria Branson …uh … Thorton, can we please, please, please, not annul our marriage?”
Maria gasped.
“I want to be your husband. No, I need to be your husband. A real husband. I want to live my life with you at my side. I want to be there in the morning when you wake up, and I want to be the last thing you see at night. I want to laugh with you. Cry with you. Go on crazy adventures with you. You make me feel whole.”
Maria stood, dumbfounded. Her mouth hung open in disbelief. Her mother smiled and winked. Maria’s logical side reeled. “But … there’s too much. I’m a liability. I….”
Rod stood up and kissed her mouth, long and hard, stopping her from saying another word. He leaned in closer to her ear and whispered, “Maria, believe me. You’re not the cause of everyone’s problems. As I see it, you’ve been the solution.”
Was it true? Her mind sought for peace and, miraculously, she found some. Yet doubts remained, plaguing her about her worth and value.
“Rod, I …”
He held her close, his arms wrapped around her while taking special care not to hurt her injury. His br
eath was firm and steady. He spoke into her ear again so no one else could hear. “Please, take a minute to answer. Don’t give up on me. I love you.”
Fearful images of her lonely nights in Tehran flooded into her mind. She had lived when her comrades didn’t, and for that she blamed herself. And now she took on culpability where there was none to be given. She punished herself for all the bad deeds in the world.
But did her fallen comrades truly want her to suffer the rest of her life? Would she want them to if tables were turned?
Was Maria allowed to love?
And be loved?
And then there was Rod. Imperfect. Kind-hearted. Always willing to stick his heart and soul on the line.
He adored her. Somehow, it didn’t bother him that she saw ghosts, or chased bad guys, or hardly slept.
And she adored him—his integrity, his willingness to open up, to give of himself. His humbleness.
Maria’s body relaxed into Rod’s strong frame. He sensed her surrender, reveled in the moment, and then pulled her slightly away. “How about it, Maria?” He smiled. “Will you be my wife?”
“Rod Thorton, do you really think I’m going to give in to this kind of peer pressure? You bring everyone I love up here and ask me in front of them not to annul some marriage that happened while we were both high out of our mi—.” She glanced over at Beth’s kids. “…while we were both not thinking straight?”
Rod didn’t take his eyes off of Maria. “Yes, and guilty as charged.”
“And just because you can afford to fly me to the Grand Canyon doesn’t mean I have to say yes to anything. That’s called bribery.”
Rod pushed a strand of wind-blown hair back behind Maria’s ear. “I understand.”
“And, just so I’m perfectly clear, even after these shenanigans if I say yes to not getting an annulment you still owe me a decent wedding vow ceremony. The Graceland Wedding Chapel doesn’t cut it.”
Rod couldn’t stop smiling. “Agreed.”