Meadowview Acres (33 page)

Of course the next thing out of Tony’s mouth was, “So who is this guy, the rig operator?”

Sheriff Buchanon didn’t see much use in hiding the information. Tony would find out soon enough. Besides, he hadn’t even talked to Darren yet. He stood and put his hat back on making his way to the door of the trailer.

“I’ll send him over to pick up the Cat today and you can talk to him. His name’s Darren Jackson.” He saw Tony Clark’s face register a look of shocked confusion as he walked out the door.

The sheriff was happy to be leaving the trailer. Tony Clark had left a bad taste in his mouth. He had met men like Tony before, men who only cared about themselves, and had no respect for them.

Back in the cruiser, he checked his voicemail – nothing from Mark or Bill. He checked in with Rachel at Dispatch. She said things were pretty quiet, so he told her that he was going to check on something and wouldn’t be back to the office until that afternoon. He then dialed Darren’s cell phone and waited for him to answer.

“Hello,” came the young man’s voice.

“Hey, Darren, Sheriff Buchanon here. I’m about to head over to the woods to check on Mr. Port and Mr. Hamilton’s progress. Interested in going with me?”

Sheriff Buchanon could hear a rhythmic beeping in the background. Darren answered, “Sure. I’m at the hospital with Shasta. When will you be here?”

“I’m heading your way now, give me ten minutes then meet me by the Emergency Room.”

They said goodbye as the sheriff pulled out of the gravel parking lot and headed east toward Community Hospital. The rain was steady now, much to the disappointment of Sheriff Buchanon. He was hoping for dry conditions for the burial. He thought wet weather would make things more difficult.

He made it to the hospital and swerved into the half circle entrance of the ER. Darren came trotting over to the cruiser as he stopped. The young man hopped into the passenger seat and fastened his seatbelt.

“How’s Shasta today?” Sheriff Buchanon asked. He hadn’t thought to ask Bill earlier; they had had other things on their minds.

“She’s better,” Darren responded. “Her skin isn’t so touchy and she’s breathing better.”

Darren looked out the window at the rain and asked, “Have you heard from them, Mr. Port and Mr. Hamilton?”

“A little earlier, yeah. They had gotten about eight miles in, so they had quite a bit to go. I didn’t tell them I was coming out. I just decided after I met with Tony Clark.” The sheriff grimaced as he remembered the conversation.

“Oh, yeah, how’d that go?” Darren asked. The wipers were squeaking as they swiped the rain off of the windshield.

“It went fine, I guess. I don’t see how your dad was able to tolerate that man for twelve years, Darren. He must’ve had the patience of a saint.” Sheriff Buchanon shook his head.

He turned left and headed down Main Street. “I told him the department is building a training center in Chester. He doesn’t need to know the real reason. Anyway, he bought the story and he’ll have the dump truck with the gravel and sand mixture ready first thing tomorrow.”

Darren asked, “What about Dad’s Caterpillar?”

“Well, I wanted to talk to you about that,” Sheriff Buchanon started. “Of course he blew a gasket when I told him that we were going to impound the Cat. He had been looking for another operator when I got there this morning. I told him that I’d only have it a couple of days, and that I may have someone to drive it for him after that.” The sheriff stopped there, waiting to see if Darren figured out yet that he was the replacement. Of course, he did.

Darren furrowed his brow. The sheriff knew that the young man was mulling the idea over and waited quietly. They were going through the middle of town. People were running to and from their cars, trying to dodge the raindrops.

Finally, Darren said, “I guess that might be okay. I’ll have to talk to Mom first, though.”

Sheriff Buchanon said, “I told him that it’s only after school and weekend work for you, not permanent. You have school to think about. And honestly, Darren, if you just don’t want to do it, then I’ll tell him I was wrong. We’ll be finished with the rig by then, and I won’t give a crap if he’s angry.”

“No,” Darren replied. “It’s really okay. I just don’t know what Mom and I are going to do long term, you know? I don’t know if she’ll want to move closer to her family in Shale or if we’ll stay in Meadowview. I don’t even know about school.”

The Sheriff noticed the worry on Darren’s face. “It’ll all work out, you’ll see. Your mom’s a strong woman. I’m sure she has a plan, and I’m more than sure that her plan includes you going to college. Weren’t you offered a football scholarship from State?”

Darren’s answer was a little quiet. “Yeah, but we haven’t really talked about that yet. Things kinda happened, and we haven’t had the chance.”

“Well, you make the time to talk to her, Son. Your mom’s going to know how important it is to you and what an achievement it is. After tomorrow, things will settle down, and you can decide. As for the work with Gary Sam Construction, you do it if you want.”

He got to the end of Main and took a right, then headed west on Route 68 out of Hallston.

“If you do decide to work for Tony Clark, remember something. You don’t need that job, but he needs an operator. Don’t let him make you think that he’s doing you some kind of favor by hiring you. And don’t let him take advantage of you.” He looked over at Darren, and the boy was smiling back at him.

“Don’t worry, Sheriff,” he said with a little sideways grin. “Nobody takes advantage of me.”

Sheriff Buchanon chuckled and knew the boy was right. He might be soft spoken, but he was a mountain of muscle and very smart. That boy was going to go a long way in life.

A few minutes later they made it to the rough gravel road and started down. The sheriff could tell they wouldn’t get far in the cruiser and wished he had a truck. He had decided that he and Deputy Clay would ride in the small dump truck leading Darren in the bulldozer. The boy’s car would be a problem. Fusions are nice, but not for this terrain. He hoped they could find a truck to borrow for Hunter and Eli.
Shasta – Shasta has a Ranger
. He made a mental note to mention it to Bill.

The cruiser was struggling on the rough road. Sheriff Buchanon could feel his tires searching for purchase in the wet rubble. He decided not to risk getting stuck and stopped the car about a hundred yards into the woods.

“That road’s pretty rough,” said Darren. “Do you think Eli’s car can make it?”

“Probably better than mine, but it gets even rougher further down. I was thinking that maybe they could borrow Shasta’s truck. I was going to mention it to Bill.”

“That’s actually a great idea,” Darren replied. “The Ranger’s a good little truck; it would take this road with no trouble. I’m sure Shasta won’t mind.”

“I think I’ll try Bill’s phone and see where they are,” said Sheriff Buchanon as he reached for his cell on the dashboard. He punched in Bill’s number and waited.

The rain was easing up; the only drops now coming from the trees above. It looked like that would be the end of the wet weather.

“Huh. It went straight to voicemail,” said the sheriff. “I guess I’ll back us out of here, and we can try him again in a bit.”

The road was too narrow to turn the cruiser around, so they navigated in reverse until they were out of the woods. Sheriff Buchanon swung the cruiser into the field next to the road and cut the engine off.

They sat there for the next hour discussing the plan. The sun had started to peek out from the clouds, and a gentle breeze was blowing. Darren was thinking about telling the sheriff about his dream. He was in the bulldozer, and it had started to fall into the hole that he had dug to bury the Rock of Varuupi. Darren had thought of the dream a lot. It made him a little uneasy. He was about to tell the sheriff about it when they heard the sound of a vehicle coming down the rocky road.

“It’s them,” Sheriff Buchanon said excitedly as he opened the door to the cruiser.

Darren followed suit and was standing beside the sheriff as they watched Bill Port’s black Blazer emerge from the tangled brushy entrance to the woods. Bill pulled the SUV over and parked by the cruiser. Both men got out. Sheriff Buchanon could tell that they were excited. That was a good sign.

“Hey!” Bill Port greeted them both with a big smile of excitement. “Sorry we’ve been out of touch, but cell reception gets a little hairy in there.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty much a dead zone past a certain point,” Mark Hamilton agreed. “But we’ve found a perfect spot for the burial.”

Sheriff Buchanon looked from one man back to the other and finally had to say, “Well, one of you start talking. What did you find?”

Bill and Mark looked at each other, and Mark said, “Go ahead, Bill. You can tell them.”

Bill said, “Okay, so we followed the dirt path past the gravel one and got in around eighteen miles or so. Then, it starts to get really narrow. It was a little tough on the Blazer, but the bulldozer and the dump truck should have no trouble. The sides are mostly saplings and feeders which can be mowed over as you go.”

The man was so excited he kept shifting his weight from one leg to another. Darren thought he looked like a little kid who needed to pee.

“After about two miles of the really narrow part of the path, it opens up quite a bit. It’s not a path anymore, though. It’s just woods, but they aren’t dense, so you can just wind your way through them. The ground evens out a lot there, too. It’s not as rough.”

Mark interjected, “We found the outbuilding. It wasn’t where it shows on the map. It’s way closer to the cliffs.” They were like two kids talking about their first day at camp.

Bill picked the story up again. “Right, and here’s the best part. Out of the four walls, only two are still standing! They’ll be easy to knock down.”

Sheriff Buchanon was confused. “And why do we want to knock them down?”

“Oh,” It was Mark again, “because the floor of the outbuilding is a slab of concrete! It’s at least four inches thick, guys!”

“Yep,” Bill said, “all we have to do is knock down the walls, lift up the concrete slab, dig the hole underneath and place the slab back on top. It’s perfect!”

Sheriff Buchanon thought about what he was hearing. “So how far into the woods are we with this outbuilding?”

Mark spoke up immediately, “Almost thirty five. That’s the best part. We’ll only be around three miles from the cliffs! No one would ever think about building anything substantial that close to the drop off. That thing’ll be buried forever.”

Sheriff Buchanon had to admit that it did sound ideal. “Nice work, guys. It doesn’t sound like we’ll find anything better.”

Darren had a thought. “So how are we going to find it tomorrow? Neither of you can be around the artifact.”

Bill motioned to his Blazer. “I plugged it into the GPS. You can take my truck.”

“Well that solves the problem of Hunter and Eli borrowing a truck. I was going to ask for Shasta’s Ranger, though,” Sheriff Buchanon said.

“That would have been fine,” replied Bill. “But this way, you have the coordinates and we already know that the Blazer can make it through.”

“Thanks, Bill,” the sheriff said. “You too, Mark. You’ve set my mind at ease. I think we might just pull this off after all.”

Don Buchanon always had a little trepidation before confronting a perpetrator or busting up a crime in progress. A little fear was healthy, it kept you on your toes. Something about this job felt different, though. The unpredictable nature of the curse had him spooked. He reminded himself that they were armed with all the facts. They had done everything possible to ensure that the plan was carried out successfully.

He looked at Darren. “First light?”

Darren nodded his head and said, “Let’s get to work.”

CHAPTER 35

Down the Gravel Path

B
ug was waiting for Clara to pick her up. She was already fifteen minutes late. Bug was a little anxious because this was new to her. Shasta was never late. Shasta was always right on time or a little early.

Bug hadn’t minded having Clara fill in for Shasta at first. She had been friendly and fun. It was almost like she was trying to make up for something. Bug didn’t know what that could be, but it didn’t matter. She was glad to have someone to hang out with while Shasta was in the hospital.

Bug had gone to see Shasta the day before, too. Monday night when the fire happened, Bug was seriously freaked out, but after the meeting on Tuesday when Clara came to sit with her, she had felt much better. That was only last night, but to Bug it felt like a long time.

Her dad had made her go to school. He said it would do her good. The middle school was still in session, but the high school kids were out for the rest of the week because of the fire. The school officials had to figure out what to do without one science teacher and three large classrooms. It was a mess.

Bug had talked to herself a lot the last couple of days. She did a lot of research online, too. She looked up Smoke Inhalation Treatments, Smoke Inhalation Side Affects and Basic Driving Skills. She had decided that she needed to know how to drive, just in case of emergency.
Knowledge is Power
.

She looked at her watch again. Clara was now twenty-two minutes late. She decided to wait on the front stoop so she let herself out the door and locked it behind her.
Never can be too careful
.

Bug remembered the last time she had sat on the front stoop. A shiver went through her little body as she thought of Hansen convulsing on the ground. She wished for the hundredth time that Clara would get there.
Where is she?

A car turned into the entrance of Meadowview Acres. Bug recognized it at once. Her dad had gone just that morning to scout out a site in the woods to bury the rock. Bug hopped up from the stoop and ran to the driveway.

Mark honked a greeting when he saw his daughter. She waved fiercely. She was excited to hear what had happened that morning. All of the sudden, she was glad that Clara was late.

“Hi Dad,” she greeted as she ran to hug his middle.