Broken Bonds

7

Matt grabbed her—almost tackled her—and rolled them off the low concrete single step into the wet leaves. He pulled her around the corner of the cabin, where they huddled, kneeling with her pressed between him and the outside wall.

“I—I can’t believe that,” she whispered. “We could have—could have been hit.”

“And I’m the common denominator. Either someone’s been following me, looking for another chance at me, or someone’s staked out your place, knowing we’re together.”

They were whispering in each other’s ears. “The headlights made us the perfect target,” she said. “If we hadn’t stepped apart...the arrow came head high, not chest level.”

“Either way it could have killed one or both of us.”

She was not only scared but furious. Someone had ruined her new place, ruined this beautiful night.

“Stay here,” he said. “I’m going to get to the car, turn it around so the headlights shine into the trees where the arrow must have come from. It’s sticking in the wood at an upward angle—like it was shot from the sky. Probably just arced up, then hit.”

“Should we call Gabe?”

“Not unless we spot someone. My bet is we’ll find no one out there. And it’s late. Let’s give him a break and call him in the morning. Tonight you can go down to stay in one of the guest rooms at the lodge where—”

“It’s my first night here! I’m not running, even if some stupid hunter or even worse wants to scare me off.”

“Char, just for the night!”

“I’m not going to leave. I’m going to get that arrow for evidence, tape up the hole and lock my doors.”

“Then I’m staying, too.”

“What?”

“I’ll sleep on the couch, just in case.”

“And if it’s you the shooter’s after? That could have been the second attempt on your life.”

“You just hunker down here, and I’ll be right back.”

He ran low to his car, got in and turned it around, switching on his brights so the headlights probed the trees on the other side of her driveway. She peered around the corner of her cabin. Nothing except shifting shadows of the tree trunks, one against the other. Then glowing eyes, like a cat’s—oh, two deer—peered out at them before bounding off. Could some local hunter have been stalking game at night, shot, and the arrow missed and zinged into her door, a freak accident a hunter didn’t want to own up to? Elinor Hanson said her husband sometimes hunted with bow and arrow, so others must, too. Lake Azure had an archery range.

Matt finally turned off his headlights and got out of his car. He locked it behind him with a touch of the key. The lights blinked once before the car went dark.

“Did you see the deer?” she asked.

“You mean someone was aiming at those deer and hit your door? If you make me leave, I will, but I think I should stay the night to make sure nothing else happens.”

And so, Matt Rowan spent the night of their first date in her cabin. Actually, she was glad to have him on the couch between her and the pierced front door. Except having him so close all night not only comforted her but made her toss and turn in half-waking dreams not of fear but of longing.

* * *

At seven in the morning, Char heard Matt talking on the phone about things happening down in Lake Azure, not about their problems. She got dressed, popped into the bathroom, then found him in the living room, pacing and talking on his cell. He tilted it away from his mouth, but kept listening as he whispered to her. “Call Gabe, maybe take the arrow down to him. It’s still bagged on the kitchen table. I was online looking at arrows for what must have been a recurve bow. Yeah, Jen,” he said into the phone. “I’ll be right in. Order me some breakfast from the dining room to be brought to my office, okay?”

“A recurve bow?” she asked when he punched Off.

“A crossbow with a real punch, but luckily it arched upward and caught the door on the downward trajectory—that’s what I’m suspecting, anyway. But the arrow we took out of the door doesn’t look like ones online. I read that you can unscrew the metal tips and reuse them. I wonder if the shooter makes his own shafts and fletching. Mention that to Gabe when you show him the arrow.”

She walked closer. If he’d used the bathroom, she hadn’t heard him in there. His clothes were wrinkled but he looked awake and alert. The only way she’d know he’d been here all night was his beard stubble—black, like his hair but flecked with silver.

“So,” he said as she plugged in the coffeepot that sat on the wooden counter. “Are we still on to visit the McKitrick family later today?”

“You’re willing to go back up on Pinecrest after what happened there—and here?”

He came into the kitchenette, turned her toward him and took her shoulders in a light grip. “I refuse to let someone spook me. As stubborn as you are—”

“Strong-minded.”

“Right. You ought to understand that I’m not going to turn tail and run. I want to get to the bottom of this.”

“Me, too. We’ll go in my truck.”

“And I’ll bring a gun, just in case.”

“You have a gun?”

“And a rifle. Which I never touch, but I’ve got a license for both weapons. I prefer shooting below par on the golf course. How about three o’clock? And we’ll be careful we’re not followed.”

“I’ll pick you up at the lodge?”

“Good. And you know, despite what’s happened, it feels right to be with you.”

“Me, too—the same.”

He bent to kiss her cheek. His beard stubble brushed her skin. “Pinecrest Mountain, here we come again. And watch yourself until then.”

“Matt, that archery range down near the tennis courts—does anyone shoot recurve crossbows there?”

“Not that I’ve seen. Strictly Robin Hood, Boy Scout stuff, but I’ll ask Ginger, our instructor. You are heading out right after me, aren’t you?”

“As soon as I get my shot of battery acid here,” she said, indicating the coffee. “Can I pour you a cup?”

“Sure. To go, please. I have a meeting at eight. You’ve got my cell number, so call me today if anything seems strange.”

He took the coffee she poured into her own travel cup and headed out.

If anything seems strange, he’d said. Oh, yeah, a lot seemed strange. How strong her feelings were for him. Deep concern that someone might be out to kill him—or now, her. And a little bit of mistrust for two thoughts she’d had last night but was trying to ignore. First, that the weird arrow attack gave weight to advice from Matt and her family that she shouldn’t stay in the cabin, but surely that could not be a setup or warning from any of them. Worse, that before Matt turned his brights on last night, he’d blinked his headlights as if it were a signal to someone out in the darkness of the trees.

* * *

“You weren’t home last night at all, were you?” Royce asked, popping his head into Matt’s office door, then stepping in. Matt had a suite of offices on the first floor of the lodge, and Royce always stayed upstairs in the guest suite while his assistant, Orlando, took one of the smaller rooms.

“I turned off my phone for a while,” Matt told him, looking up from his laptop. Next to it was the tray with the remnants of his hastily eaten breakfast.

“It upset me, considering what happened to you. I was worried. So I had Orlando go over and knock on your door—no dice—no Matt.”

“I was with a friend.”

“Really? Let me guess. A lady friend?” he asked with a wink.

Matt decided not to play that game. Char and his feelings for her were strictly his business, at least for now. After all, Royce had tried to suggest she had set him up to hit him up. “Royce, how can I help you?”

“You’re touchy, but then it is early morning, and you don’t look like you’ve slept. I wanted you to know I have a suggestion for you about a local guy—been a small-time farmer—who would be a good groundskeeper to take Woody’s place.”

“Woody was head groundskeeper, so he’d need to be good.”

“I’ll bet he is. Joe Fencer. The family is selling their land to EEC out on Valley View Road across from the big drill spot, that old religious cult land. Brad said Joe’s wife told him on the q.t. she was afraid that he needed something to do and was real conflicted about giving up his family’s land. You’re the man around here, so how about it?”

Matt hesitated. He’d been looking for someone local who had farm or gardening experience. He decided not to tell Royce he’d seen Brad hosting the Fencers last night when he was with Char. Still hovering at the door, Royce stared at him hard.

“I’ll interview him tomorrow, if you want to give me his number.”

“Great. Good. Like to tap into local talent, right? I’m learning the wisdom of that myself. See you later for your board dinner meeting, then.”

Royce had barely stepped out when Orlando knocked once on the door frame and stepped into the office. Matt put the phone down before he made his next call. He was starting to think his “open door” policy was a mistake today.

“Listen,” Orlando told him. “I never got to tell you I’m glad you’re unharmed after that freak accident up on the mountain.” His dark eyebrows seemed to meet over his aquiline nose as if he were always frowning.

“Thanks. Wish I could say it was an accident, but I don’t think so.”

“Did you get a good look at the driver? I’m sure the local sheriff’s on it, but can I do any sniffing around while I’m out and about for Royce? I’m thinking it could be a local redneck who hates the fracking but hit you instead of Royce since I’m guarding him.”

“I only saw the guy’s eyes at a distance—through two windshields and my own panic. You’d better leave things to the police. But thanks for being concerned, Orlando.”

“Well, sure I am. I know how much you mean to the boss, like the son he never had, he said. He keeps me pretty tight to him, but let me know if I can help—that’s all,” he said, and went out.

Matt felt good Orlando had made the effort and the offer. Matt knew he thought Royce spent too much time here in the boondocks, as he’d overheard him call Cold Creek—that is, until everyone on Royce’s payroll except Matt, who had opted out, starting profiting from the local fracking boom. Matt wondered if Royce had offered Orlando a big piece of that action. But since Matt himself had turned that down, he decided not to ask.

* * *

After Char dropped off the arrow at the sheriff’s office—Gabe was out on a domestic dispute call—she headed for Grant Mason’s home, where Kate was overseeing the dig of an ancient Adena mound, practically outside her fiancé’s back door. Kate was always good at thinking her way through things, and Char knew she could use some help.

As usual, there were several trucks and a car parked in the loop of driveway before the large, handsome house. The front door was locked, so rather than ring the bell, Char walked around back.

“Hi, Kaitlyn. Is Kate here?” Char asked Kate’s right-hand woman, Kaitlyn Blake. The grad student resembled Kate in coloring, in personality—even in name. Sometimes Char was felt slightly jealous of Kaitlyn since Kate seemed like a big sister to her. But, just like Grant Mason’s love, Kaitlyn’s friendship had helped Kate get through some recent betrayals and hard times.

“Oh, hi, Char. She’s sifting out some debris for teeth and bone fragments. And probably muttering under her breath about how much the undergrads working here have to learn, or about the cave-in, which set things so far back. I’ll go get her.”

Char sat on a patio chair and watched the busy scene until Kate appeared, looking dusty and sweaty but happy. “We’ve got a complete female skeleton, the first one!” Kate greeted her, clapping dirt off her hands. “And we’ve found what I think are the charred remains of a young male, who was probably a slave sacrifice. So, you aren’t heading back out to try to face down the person I’d like most to sacrifice—Bright Star Monson?”

“No. I’m going to give that a little time, but I am determined to talk to Grace alone somehow—when we’re not being spied on. Kate, I went out with Matt Rowan last night and—”

“Great! That’s worth sharing,” she said, beaming at her. Big sister Kate had always worried that her two younger sisters wouldn’t be happy because of their tough childhood when Tess was taken and then Dad left them.

“Just listen for a minute. Matt and I were standing outside the door of my cabin...” Char’s voice trailed off. Well, she might as well just spit it out.

But before she could continue, Kate spoke. “You moved in. Okay, I didn’t think you should, but you’re a big girl now.”

“Thank you! Anyhow, someone shot an arrow into the door right between us.”

“What? On top of his almost going off the cliff? Are you okay? You look all right. I’d hug you if I wasn’t a mess. Who was it? Who did it?”

“We don’t know or Gabe would probably have him—or her—under arrest. I thought I’d bounce some ideas off you if you have a second.”

“Sure. Shoot—I mean talk.”

Char explained about Henry Hanson being out hunting with a bow when she visited his family and that he might be angry with her for interfering in his daughter’s life. She figured he could be a stalker of people as well as game, maybe an abuser of his wife, at the very least. She mentioned the archery range at Lake Azure and the fact someone could still have been after Matt, not her. She told her they saw two deer shortly after the shot, so it could have been a hunter’s arrow that went awry. But she couldn’t bring herself to mention how it seemed to her that Matt had blinked his lights as if it might be a signal to someone—nor how he, like her own family, didn’t want her to stay in the cabin, wanted her to move down to an empty house at Lake Azure and had really pushed for that after the arrow hit.

“So you went back to Tess’s,” Kate said when Char took a breath. “Told Gabe what happened and slept there.”

“No, Matt insisted on sleeping on the couch and nothing happened—you know what I mean.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “You know, you left out Bright Star’s possibly being ticked at all of us, but especially you after you discovered that peephole. The Hear Ye faithful are supposed to be peace-loving folk, but I wouldn’t put it past him to have weapons to ‘smite’ his enemy. You did see those Bible quotes about hunting on the walls of that room, didn’t you—could he be hunting people?”

Char’s stomach went into free fall. “I saw them but didn’t read them, except for the one extolling himself. Hunting quotes—from the Bible?”

“Right. You’ve heard that the devil can cite scripture for his own purpose, haven’t you?”

“Can you recall what the wall plaques said?”

“I looked them up. Just a sec, and I’ll get what I printed out. It was a pretty easy search.”

While Kate darted inside, Char got up to pace. Too much was happening too fast, and she couldn’t just keep running to her sisters. She’d like to run to Matt but could she trust him? At least the way they met could hardly be a setup.

Kate rushed back out with a single sheet of paper. “You know, we found a couple of intact Adena arrows in the tomb,” she said as she passed the paper to Char. “That’s apropos of nothing, just crazed archaeologist trivia. Check out that first quote from the book of Jeremiah.”

Char read aloud.

“I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt from every mountain and hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.”

“Sounds like this terrain around here, doesn’t it?” Kate asked. She leaned in, looking over Char’s shoulder and pointed at the next one, from Psalms 140. She read it out.

“Let not a slanderer be established in the earth. Let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him.”

“Creepy, huh? Bright Star probably considers all of us slanderers if we don’t support him and his lunatic ways.”

“Or if we try to take someone like Grace and Lee away from him.”

Char read the last one from Lamentations aloud.

“They tracked our steps so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near, our days were over, for our end had come.”

She shook her head. “Kate, I agree he’s crazy, but I can’t see him—or one of his hunters—whoever that would be—stalking me. They wouldn’t even know where to find me.”

“I just want you to include him in the mix—and be careful. Most of all, don’t even think of returning to see Grace alone.”

Both of them jumped when a young man’s voice called out. “Kate, we’ve got a new find!”

“Well, back to the kind of hunting I do,” she said. “Listen, you and Matt Rowan have a standing invitation to have dinner here with us. Just give me warning so I can look presentable and get food on the table. And once again, you be careful about more than just wayward arrows. I’ll just bet Matt’s the kind who could sweep a girl off her feet. And, if anything strange happens at the cabin, you come here or go back to Tess’s.”

Char hugged Kate despite the fact she looked as if she’d emerged from a coal mine or had taken a fracking job around here. “I’ll be careful,” she promised. “Can I take these Bible quotes with me?”

“Sure. But don’t let them get to you.”

Or anyone get to me, Char thought as Kate headed back to her dig.

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