Treasure of the Anasazi Page 13

  “What about that unit number?” I asked loudly.

  I heard a laugh that turned into a hacking cough.

  “I think you lost your $20,” speculated Rudy.

  “It was your $20. C’mon, let’s look around. I guess we’re going to have to find him on our own.”

  It turned out to be easier than I expected. The unit at the end of the row had a mailbox hung near the door with Doyle hand painted across it. This must be his permanent residence. It was kind of sad. I guess I didn’t have any right to jump to conclusions. I didn’t know the circumstances that led him to end up here. It may have been just a personal choice. I’m sure it was cheap enough. I suppose since he presumably didn’t have any family, this was all the room he needed. Since there was a fresh coat of paint on only this unit, it was obvious that he took pride in how it looked, which was in sharp contrast to his car parked under the adjacent carport. It was an old, rusty Ford, noticeably full of what appeared to be a collection of trash. Benny had a reputation of sorts, whether it was deserved or not, of being a bit of a hustler and scrounger. Nothing really dishonest. I don’t think he had ever had a real job since high school. He drifted between odd jobs, earning just enough money to get by.

  There wasn’t any way to see in. All the blinds had been closed. I knocked on the door and waited. There was no sound from inside.

  “Benny, it’s Jack Trader and Rudy James.” There still wasn’t any response.

  “I hope he doesn’t ask for $20,” said Rudy, with a tone somewhere between sarcasm and not joking. His comment didn’t need a response.

  “C’mon, Benny. We just want to ask you some questions. We want to know about your journal.”

  “Did you hear something?” I asked Rudy.

  “Nothing.”

  Just then I saw one of the blinds move slightly. A small gap began to appear between two of the blind slats.

  “I know you’re in there, Benny. You might as well open the door.”

  A few moments later we heard the deadbolt latch click and saw the door crack open. We still couldn’t see him. It was dark inside.

  “Why do you want to know about my journal?”

  Even though we couldn’t see him, I felt lucky that we had found him. We were one step closer to finding out what was going on.

  “Can we come in?”

  “I guess so,” said Benny, reluctantly.

  He closed the door to unhook the chain latch across the door. He opened the door wide enough for us to step inside. I hadn’t seen him clearly at the Mexican restaurant, but now I recognized him from school many years ago. I began to set one foot through the doorway when a foul odor hit my nose. How could anyone stay in there? I froze in my tracks, then took a step in reverse back to the outside.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Rudy.

  I waved him ahead. He retreated almost as fast as I had. Benny must have been in there so long he had become accustomed to the smell. I didn’t want to offend him.

  “It’s kind of close quarters in there. Why don’t we talk out here?” I asked.

  “Out there?”

  “Yeah. C’mon out,” I said.

  He peeked nervously each way out the door. “I’d rather not. Why don’t you just ask your questions from there, and I’ll see if I can answer them.”

  Rudy and I exchanged questioning looks. I thought he was being a bit peculiar, but I decided not to push the issue and I was definitely not going inside.

  “Okay… well, we stopped by Mel’s looking for you and he said… “

  “You were looking for me? Why?”

  “We saw you with a couple of strangers at a restaurant in town the other day. Those two are responsible for the shooting of the Ranger at Mesa Verde.”

  “You’re sure?” asked Benny, obviously surprised. “I read about the Ranger being shot. I thought they said it was an accident.”

  “Yeah, that’s what they said, but it wasn’t. There was an eyewitness.”

  “Then Smith and Jones have been arrested?” asked Benny. He seemed to perk up a bit knowing they may be in jail.

  “No. Not yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “For one thing, the police don’t know about them yet.”

  “I’m confused. You know about an eyewitness but the cops don’t. Why?”

  “I don’t want to get into that right now. We’ve come here to ask you a question.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Mel said you talked with them a couple of times at the tavern. He told us about the journal too. We want to know if you’ve been talking with them about the journal.”

  “Yeah, sure. They had heard me talking about it, were curious, and called me over. They were really interested in it and the only ones around here that seemed to take me and the journal seriously. They even wanted to borrow it for an evening, but I said no.”

  “So, do you believe there is a lost Anasazi tribe in the Restricted Area?”

  “No, but maybe at the time the journal was written there could have still been a Ute or Navajo village somewhere out there. I’m sure they’re long gone by now.”

  “When was the journal written?” I asked.

  “It began in 1873. It appears that Noah Bartholomew started the journal soon after he was appointed to the position of Territorial Indian Agent when the Ute Mountain Reservation was created.”

  “What about the spring?”

  “Oh, I’m sure there’s a spring out there. Probably more than one really, but with special properties? I don’t know why the agent wrote that, but no, I don’t think there’s any truth to it.”

  “And the treasure?”

  “I wish. I think Bartholomew was working on his fiction writing. There’s also no evidence that the Spaniards came anywhere near Mesa Verde.”

  “Well, I think Smith and Jones believe it. Tell us something about the journal. How did you come across it?”

  “Purely by accident. I was at an estate auction. Towards the end they were selling boxes of books for practically nothing. I raised my number and the box was mine. It turns out it was well worth the dollar.”

  “Someday, you might think about donating it to the county museum. It sounds like a great piece of local history.”

  “I suppose so. But I think I’ll hold onto it for now.”

  “When did you first meet Smith and Jones?”

  “About three weeks ago.”

  I turned to Rudy, “That fits. That’s about when Emitt was shot.”

  “They didn’t waste any time, did they? They must have started looking for the spring right after their first meeting,” said Rudy.

  “This is all about the spring? They actually went looking for it?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Then I’m responsible for the Ranger being shot.”

  “Don’t be crazy. You couldn’t have known what they were going to do. You didn’t, did you?”

  “Of course not. Is the Ranger all right?” asked Benny.

  “Yeah. He’s going to be fine.”

  “I’m glad. You’re not going to tell the cops are you?”

  “About your involvement with Smith and Jones? I don’t know. I may have to at some point.” Benny’s shoulders slumped. “We’ll have to wait and see. I won’t if I can help it, but I won’t lie to ‘em. And if I do I will let them know you were very cooperative.”

  “Is there anything I can do now?”

  “I guess you still have that journal?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Can we see it?”

  “It sounds to me like you already know what’s in it.”

  “Just hearsay. Maybe we can see something that you overlooked.”

  “That’s what they said.”

  “We just want to take a look. Please.”

  “Wait here.”

  “No problem,” I said.

  Benny closed the door. We could hear rustling inside. He came back with the journal and hesitantly handed it to me.

  “You know u
s, Benny. Would it be alright if I took it home to study? I promise you’ll get it back.”

  “When?”

  “We’ll bring it back in a day or two, okay?”

  “I’d rather you didn’t take it at all.”

  “You can trust us.”

  “I guess so. Only because I know you. Don’t lose it.”

  “Thanks, Benny. We’ll bring it back before you know it.”

  “So, that’s it?”

  “That’s it. I do have one more question for you. Have you been holed up in here for the last couple of days?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  “In two words, Smith and Jones. The more time I spent with ‘em the more I distrusted and disliked ‘em. I decided to keep a low profile for awhile and avoid them all together.”

  “We don’t blame you for that,” I said.

  “I’d rather not have any more to do with them. And now from what you tell me my instincts were right.”

  “Don’t you have somewhere else you can go? You know if they really want to find you they will. We didn’t have any trouble.”

  “No. This is it. I’m just hoping they won’t come looking for me.”

  “I wouldn’t think they’d have a reason to,” I said, trying to ease his fears. “They’ve already seen your journal. I don’t think it serves a purpose to them anymore.”

  “But then, you know how dangerous these guys can be. They already shot a park ranger because he got too close. If they try to eliminate any ties to the journal, you could still be in danger. Just to be safe, I’d continue a low profile for now.”

  There still wasn’t any proof that we could share with Joe, but maybe it was time to have a talk. There were some things he needed to know, but not all things. We had found out about the journal and we knew that Benny had told Smith and Jones about everything in the Restricted Area. As near as we could tell, it was shortly afterward that Emitt was shot. Since then they had been caught in the act of crossing over into the Restricted Area. To maintain some degree of credibility, I wouldn’t tell Joe about the other piece of the puzzle, that there was an eyewitness to the shooting and that she was a ghost. And for the moment I wouldn’t tell him about the Anasazi either.

  Chapter Sixteen

  After leaving the motel, Billy drove straight to the park, pulling over at one of the pull-offs within view of the park office. If there was a map of the Restricted Area, it would be there. He would have to wait until just the right moment. Fortunately this was a slow time and there were no tourists nearby. There was one car parked out front, probably belonging to the administrative assistant. None of the park vehicles were around.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Donny.

  “I’m not sure yet, but somehow I need to get inside to look around.”

  They sat in silence, Billy staring at the office.

  “Donny, do you think you could get the lady behind the counter to come outside?”

  “How?”

  “Tell her someone fell at Spruce Tree House and needs help.”

  But that would be telling a lie.”

  “It’s just a little lie and it’ll help Daryl. Can you do it?”

  “Okay, Billy. I’ll do anything to help Daryl.”

  “Good. Are you ready?”

  “Billy, can’t we just ask the Ranger. I’ll bet she knows where the spring is and she could help Daryl too.”

  Billy was stunned. After all their run-ins, he would never have thought of asking for her help. Of course if anybody did know, it would be the Ranger. Whether or not the acting Ranger knew, he wasn’t sure. Slowly, a smile began to appear on his face. Leave it to Donny to think of the obvious, simple thing to do. The immediate problem was that they didn’t know where she was. The second problem was whether she would be willing to help, based on their history.

  * * *

  Sitting around the motel was making Smith antsy. He paced inside the room until Jones had had enough and told him to go outside, where he continued to pace, up and down the walkway outside the rooms. He stepped back inside.

  “Why don’t we go out to the park office and pay our fines and get it over with? We should be able to get our guns back while we’re there. “

  “What about him?” asked Jones, referring to Daryl.

  “He’s not going anywhere. Gag him so he can’t yell out. We won’t be gone that long.”

  Jones thought for a moment. “Okay, let’s go. I could use a break from this place myself.”

  * * *

  Billy had decided to pull over to the park office to ask when Ranger Baker would be back, but the brothers were surprised when Smith and Jones pulled up to it instead.

  “I wonder what they’re up to?” Billy asked out loud, not expecting a response from Donny. “And if they’re here, where is Daryl?”

  As soon as Smith and Jones had gone inside, Billy leapt out of the truck and ran across the parking area to their truck. He looked in the truck bed, then inside the cab, no Daryl. He ran back to his own truck and got back inside.

  “Daryl’s not with them,” Billy told Donny. “That means he must be back at the motel, alone.”

  “Why don’t we go get him?” asked Donny.

  “That’s just what I was thinking.”

  * * *

  Smith and Jones’ biggest objection was the hassle of coming back out to pay their fines. Under any other circumstance, they might just ignore the fine, but in this case if things worked out as they hoped, they may be around for awhile. For the time being they needed to create the illusion that they were at least trying to be good citizens.

  “May I help you?” asked Julie, as Smith and Jones approached the park counter. She had no idea who they were. The last time they had been in this office had been earlier that morning, and it had been closed.

  “We need to pay our fines,” said Jones, both laying their tickets on the counter.

  Julie picked them up, saw the offense and the time and date. These were the two men Sam had told her about from last night. The hairs stood up on the back of her neck and she shivered from a chill that ran up her spine. Her heart began to beat faster. She was all alone in the office. Thankfully she had the counter between them. They had a look and an attitude about them that made her very uneasy. She usually wasn’t left alone in the office, but since Emitt was out of commission, they were short-handed.

  Attempting to appear composed, “That’ll be $200 each… please.”

  They pulled out their wallets and placed four $100 bills on the counter. Julie took the money and wrote out their receipts. As she handed them their receipts, she became aware that her hands were shaking noticeably. Julie pulled her hands back quickly and placed them behind the counter. While standing there, she remembered that Sam had returned to the site where these two had been picked up last night.

  “You okay? You seem nervous,” commented Jones, smiling.

  Julie didn’t respond. “Can I help you with anything else?” she asked.

  “We were supposed to get our guns back when we paid our fines,” said Smith.

  “I don’t know anything about that,” said Julie. “You’ll have to wait until Ranger Baker returns and talk to her about it. She’s the only one with keys to the gun safe.”

  Smith slammed his fist on the counter. Julie jumped and let out a shriek, backing away from the counter. Jones grabbed Smith’s arm.

  “C’mon, Mr. Smith. We’ll be back, little lady. By the way when do you expect the Ranger back?”

  Still afraid, “I don’t know,” she said at almost a whisper. “She went out to the place …,” she caught herself. She was going to say the place where they had been picked up last night.

  Jones smiled to Smith. They didn’t have to hear it. They could read between the lines.

  “Thanks. We’ll be seeing you next time,” said Jones. “Have a nice day.”

  After they walked out, Julie ran over to the door and locked it with the deadbolt and turned over the ‘
Closed’ sign. She went to the restroom and washed her hands and face, twice. She prayed that she wouldn’t be alone at the office if they ever came in again.

  * * *

  From outside they heard her lock the door and turned in time to see her flip over the closed sign. They smiled and chuckled just a little.

  “I didn’t think we’d have to make another trip to get our guns back,” said Smith.

  “Don’t worry about the guns. I have more in my suitcase,” said Jones.

  Smith and Jones hopped into their pickup. Smith started it, then took his hands off the wheel and leaned back, staring out the windshield.

  “What are you doing?” asked Jones.

  “Thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “This may be an opportunity.”

  “To do what?”

  “If the lady Ranger is out there all alone, this could be a good time to get another Ranger out of our hair and take care of a little payback,” said Smith.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t press our luck. It could have the opposite effect. Two Rangers being injured could bring even more heat.”

  “Injured? I didn’t say anything about injured. I say we get rid of this one once and for all,” explained Smith. “Accidents happen all the time and without her around, there will be one less person sticking their nose in our business.”

  “But two Rangers in one month, both on park property?”

  “If there aren’t any witnesses, does it matter?” asked Smith.

  Jones thought for a moment. “It would be nice to have both Rangers out of the way. What about the two guys that keep popping up?”

  “This is dangerous country. Who knows what could happen?”

  “I like the way you think, Mr. Smith.”

  * * *

  Billy started the truck and began to drive away when Smith and Jones came out. It had been too quick. They had missed their chance to go for Daryl. Billy hit the dash in frustration.

  The brothers watched as Smith and Jones drove away.