Secret Keepers and Skinny Shadows: Lee and Miranda (11 page)

                               
CHAPTER 23

Present Day

L
ee’s busy morning faded into afternoon. Miranda was riding shotgun singing along to “Big Girls Don’t Cry” on the radio. They were on their way to Benson, five miles down the road. He was going over the murder in his head, along with the investigation and how much he had learned about Bert’s life. He intended to stop at the cemetery on the way and dig around Bert’s tombstone or maybe Hap’s looking for the key that Lilly may or may not have buried there.

He pulled onto the grassy, gravel rutted road stopping the car next to Bert’s grave, popped the trunk lid before getting out. Miranda took the shovel out of the trunk and went right to the headstone.

Closing the door, he paused leaning on the side of the car. The air was cool and crisp, the sky was growing darker by the minute, in the far distance he could hear mighty peals of snow thunder echoing off the mountains. Lee was hoping it wasn’t going to snow. He pointed his face up to the sky enjoying the few rays of sunlight breaking through the dark clouds.

He turned in the direction of the water rippling in the shallow river that ran behind the cemetery. The water was low in some spots it was dried up, exposing a dry path to the other side, across rocks held into place with a black muck.

On the other side of the river was a wide field, squinting, he focused in on a lone deer feeding on winter grass at the edge. A flock of wild turkeys were scratching and eating what they could find. White mist formed small clouds rolling up the mountainside disappearing into the sky. The mountain range encircled the wide valley, standing like sentinels guarding the land and the secrets it held. This was truly a place that stood still in time. The land hadn’t changed since the first day he set foot on Joan’s doorstep over thirty years ago, but the people living in the valley were now a second generation of secret keepers.

Big black crows were squawking and landing in the distance then flying off again. Lee looked around. Shaking his head, while thinking: in a few more years this place will be so over grown no one will be able to see it from the road.

He glanced in Miranda’s direction, she was standing with her legs crossed leaning on the shovel handle. She followed him with her eyes, as he ambled over stopping at her side. Without speaking, Lee studied Bert’s tombstone, while ignoring Miranda.

“Oh, are you ready to do some work, now that you’re done daydreaming?” she said with a smirk.

Lee continued to ignore her thinking she could be sharp-tongued at times.

“Well, Kid, should we dig here?”

Lee knelt in the thick grass and started to pull it from the ground on his side of the stone, large clumps of dirt clinging to each handful he piled it up to his right.

“If anyone drove by the cemetery, and happened to look in our direction, they would probably think we were cleaning up an over-grown tombstone of a loved one.”

“Good thought, Lee. I agree.”

“I can feel someone watching us.”

“Oh, not that again. Come on, Lee, enough is enough.”

“No, Miranda, the hair on the back of my neck is standing up.”

He stood and did a three-sixty. “Nothing. That’s so strange. Why do I keep having that feeling?” Then Lee spotted someone in the parking lot behind the chain link fence of the factory across the street.

“Look quick.” Miranda stood. HIT THE GROUND, KID!” The sound of gunfire echoed through the mountain valley. Miranda’s body crumbled under the weight of Lee’s as he fell on her, shielding her from a bullet. He looked up in time to see someone jump into a waiting car, speeding north on the highway.

“Lee, get off me, I can’t breathe.” She was pushing and shoving him. He didn’t realize just how tiny Miranda was until now.

“I’m enjoying this it might be the only time I get to be on top of you.” She was still pushing him away. Lee jumped up. He was breathing hard, trying to catch his breath he walked around Bert’s stone, brushing off his pants and jacket. He grabbed Miranda’s hand pulling her to her feet. His breathing was beginning to slow down and his heart wasn’t beating as fast.

Lee could see Miranda was still shaking when she put her arm through his, all the while darting her head from side to side. He didn’t know what she was looking for.

“That was too close, Lee. This little research project has taken a dangerous turn. I think I’ll start carrying my gun.”

“Do you think so, Miranda?” Lee could breathe normal enough to talk now. “I have a gun in the trunk of my car, I’m getting it out and strapping it on.”

“What are you doing carrying a gun in the trunk of your car?” She said, still holding onto his arm as they walked back to the car.

“Some of the places I would visit for research weren’t always the safest, so I bought a gun and was licensed to carry. At times like this I’m glad I took the time to do it.”

“Thanks, Lee, for trying to protect me. That was close. Your instincts and quick actions saved one of us from a bullet.”

“I guess you believe me now.” Lee opened the trunk, leaned in, unlatched a compartment on the side and pulled out a holster with straps. He unwrapped it to reveal a .45 magnum.

“That’s a lot of gun. Do you know how to shoot it?” She asked, wide-eyed. A strong, gust of cold wind nearly blew her off her feet, pelting her with snowflakes. He steadied her with one hand.

“You bet I do.” Lee took off his jacket and strapped on the gun, then put his coat back on. He patted the part of his jacket hiding the gun. “Now let’s get into a real gun battle. I’ll be ready the next time.”

“Wait a minute, Lee. We should only use a gun if there’s no other way to solve the problem.” She closed the trunk lid.

He was glad his heart had stopped racing and he could breathe normal again. “I got a quick glance at the shooter,” he said. “I couldn’t make out who it was. All I could tell was it looked like a man. One thing is for sure, Kid, someone wants us dead, or they are trying to scare us off.”

He looked at Miranda. “Are you okay? Do you want me to take you home?”

He was still a little shook up. Miranda’s breathing was almost back to normal. He supposed it was because she had had experience being shot at, that she recovered so quickly.

“I’ll be fine. It’s been awhile since I was last shot at by someone. I had almost forgotten how scary it was.”

“Do you still think I’m paranoid?”

Lee said as he started to pull the weeds and grass again.

“No, at least not this time. They could have killed one of us. I think it was a warning to back off our investigation. We must be getting close to whatever or whoever they don’t want us to find. But I still think you’re a paranoid narcissist.” She smirked.

“Kid, you’re hopeless, do you know that? You can’t admit when you’re wrong. It isn’t in you, is it?”

“Let’s get back to digging around the stone,” she said.

They worked together clearing grass and weeds again.

“Can you still see the deer standing at the edge of the field or did the shot scare it off?” Miranda asked after a while.

They stood gazing toward the distant field.

“I don’t see anything there now. Maybe they were shooting at the deer,” Miranda said.

Lee looked at her, ‘I can’t believe you said that.”

Miranda was pulling weeds and piling them up as fast as Lee, ignoring his remark.

“I wish I would have thought to bring gloves,” he said. She stopped working, he looked at her as she put her hand in her jacket pocket.

“Here, I forgot I brought you some.” She pulled out a pair of gloves and handed them to him.

“Hum, nice, blue sticky on the palms. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Have you spotted anything yet?”

“Nope, not on this side. How about you? I’m about ready to move over to Hap’s tombstone and start looking there.”

“Well, not so fast Mr. Impatient. I’m not sure, but it looks like there’s something here right up against the stone, but I can’t seem to get it loose.”

He grabbed the shovel and made his way around to her side of the stone.

“Let me try to wedge it loose with the shovel,” he poked and prodded at what looked like a small rusted metal box inside a dirty plastic bag.

“It won’t budge I guess we’ll have to dig a hole around it.” He shoveled, being careful not to hit it, then the box dropped into the hole. They exchanged glances, Lee brushed the dirt off the top of the box.

“It appears to be a couple of inches wide and deep. But it still looks almost as good as the day it was put in the ground. Even the worms didn’t bother it. There doesn’t seem to be any writing on the plastic bag,” Lee said.

She pulled off her gloves and picked up the box between her index finger and thumb. She shook it.

“Nothing, I was hoping to hear a key rattle in it.”

“If there’s a key in there, it may be glued to the inside with rust,” he said.

He couldn’t believe their luck, now to get it open and see the contents.

Both of them were on their knees in a praying position looking down at the box Miranda now held in the palm of her hand, unwrapping the plastic layer by layer. When at last the box was exposed, there appeared to be a thin layer of rust coating the metal.

“Well, for heaven’s sake, open it.”

“Be patience, I don’t want the thing to fall apart look how rusted and fragile it seems to be, it’s been in the ground for who knows how many years.”

He couldn’t take his eyes off the box it was as though it would vanish if he did. Watching as Miranda turned it he saw a small latch. She sucked in her breath. “Cross your fingers.” With a gentle touch she tugged on it.

He stiffened holding his breath, then the lid popped, dropping rust and dirt on the palm of her hand, revealing a piece of clear plastic wrapped around a strip of paper that was about two inches long, he reached in taking out the contents,

“Be careful.”

“Kid, why are you whispering?”

“I don’t know unwrap the darn thing.”

Lee was unfolding the wrapping with slow measured movements.

“STOP, RIGHT NOW!”

Lee jumped and his heart started racing, he slid is empty hand inside his coat and put it on his gun. Before she looked up, Miranda put her hand holding the box behind her back. Lee slid the plastic into his front coat pocket.

“What are you two doing down there? You vandals come in all ages and sizes, don’t you?”

Lee turned to see who was behind him as Miranda looked up. Their eyes met the angry gaze of a big whisker-faced guy, as they stood at the same time.

“Oh, sorry, Miranda, I didn’t know it was you,” he said. “I didn’t know you had anyone buried in this cemetery.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Gus, you scared me to death, we were trying to clean up around this overgrown tombstone of my family friend.”

Lee pulled his hand from inside his coat, leaving the gun in the holster.

“As I said, I’m sorry. Some of us from the neighborhood have been taking turns watching this place because there have been so many vandals around here this last year. They don’t respect cemeteries like they used to.”

“Gus,” Lee said, “someone was standing in the parking lot over there across the street earlier and fired a rifle at us. Did you happen to see who it was or know anything about it?”

“No, sir. I don’t know anything about that. I was driving by when I spotted you two. You mean someone was standing in the parking lot over there watching you guys and shot a gun at you?”

“Yes,” Lee said, “then the person jumped in a car and sped away.”

Gus turned to the field across the river and pointed. “Maybe they were shooting at some of the deer that come out at the edge of the woods over there.”

“Well, why would anyone shoot right over our heads? We could have been killed,” Lee said.

“I don’t know, sir. It’s interesting that you would say that because there have been a lot of strange goings on around here lately.”

“What do you mean?”

“There have been a lot of strangers in town lately. They’ve been snooping around, asking questions. There’s this one old guy who must be in his eighties or nineties asking about some Lillian person.”

Lee exchanged glances with Miranda. He was sure they were both thinking the same thing.

Gus continued. “This old guy approached me at the park the other night asking me if I knew a Lillian somebody, I told him I never heard of her. I asked him what his interest was in her, he just mumbled, never mind, gave me the evil eye and walked to his car.”

“Why did he think you would know anything about a Lillian?” Lee asked as he shot a glance at Miranda.

“I don’t know, I was sitting at one of the park tables with my friend eating pizza when Milton brought up the murder of that Grayson guy from years ago. We were discussing it and what we thought happened, when the old coot sitting at the table next to ours came over and wanted to know if we knew this Lillian something. I can’t remember her last name.”