Chapter Twenty-Eight

When Piper came in, her aunt and mom were in the kitchen gathering up what would be needed for the wagon train trip the next day. Piper had been up for hours but had not come downstairs. Her gut, her Gift, told her the horrible nightmare was important, and she had to get it on paper quickly while all the gory details were vivid in her mind, even though she had sketched it quickly once before. This time, the dream had been much clearer, so she added details hidden from her the first time the nightmare occurred. As she had looked at the finished sketch, she knew there was one more detail to add. She closed her eyes, getting the marking in her memory, and had finished the drawing.

“Need any help?” Piper looked around at the work in progress in the kitchen.

“Always. You can tape those boxes and pack these dry goods.” Her mom looked past Piper. “Where’s Zach?”

“He went with Hank to get the horses. Hank wants to ride up the trail we’ll be following tomorrow to make sure the sites are ready for camping.” Piper rubbed her hands together and smiled. “I can’t wait! This will be so much fun…like the old days at the ranch, huh, Mom?”

“So true, but I don’t remember having outhouses all along the way.”

“Wow! What a luxury!” Harri drawled in sarcasm. She stopped and looked at Cayce. “You were serious about that battery-operated hair dryer and curling iron, weren’t you?”

Cayce laughed. “Curling iron, yes. Blow dryer, no. But I’ve got an extra western hat you can borrow.”

“Never mind. I’ll just wad my hair up under one of your baseball caps and look like Peg. But I’m taking my swimsuit and hitting every hot springs pool we come to. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” Cayce held out her hand to Harri, who sealed the deal with a good firm shake. “But I don’t think you could look like Peg if you were playing her on Broadway.”

“I just hope Hank gets me the extra help he promised for cooking and cleaning up. I’m used to quite a bit of help in the Teacake, you know.”

“We’ll help. I told you Zach and I both will help.” Piper packed the boxes. “About the ride up today, I’m going. How about you, Mom?”

“Yep! You know I’m not going to be left behind. And I’m planning on taking a fly rod and my vintage creel I absolutely love, dear, thoughtful daughter. Maybe we’ll bring back some more trout for you to cook, Harri.”

“I’m taking my new Winston, too. I’ve never gotten a chance to use it. Hank says there are some streams full of brookies and cutthroat in the high country. Zach wants to use his vintage Hardy, too.”

“I’m taking my gold pan…that is, when we take the wagons up. I’m hoping there’s something more lucrative than trout in those mountain streams.” Harri rubbed her hands together.

“Fly fishing, panning for gold—it should be fun.” Cayce walked into the pantry and brought out a big bag of flour and a container of shortening. “Why don’t you go today, Harri? You can stand one afternoon astride a horse.”

“Yeah. Right.” Harri bowed her legs and walked slowly to the pantry. “Not on your life, Sista. Actually, Teesh is coming over and we’re going through her old newspapers to see if we can find any information about the”—she made the universal gesture for quotation marks—“black fog. I’ve got us some leftover stew and biscuits ready to heat up, and I’m hoping Charlie will come by and eat pie with us.”

“Teesh told you to stop worrying, Harri.” Cayce headed back to the pantry. “Boy, you sure did an about-face about the Peeping Tom, or Boo Radley, as you referred to him.”

“Yeah. I really like Charlie. He’s such a good soul. I feel blessed to know him.” Harri took out the vintage Dutch ovens. “Look at these. All cleaned up and cured to perfection. I’m adding my method of curing cast iron to the cookbook.”

“I think Charlie has taken a special liking to you and your chocolate factory, Harri,” Piper added. “And Sara sure does love him, as well as Teesh.”

“Yeah, but Teesh is a little vague about Charlie’s family, especially Lester. She changes the subject or gives a partial story every time I ask her about Lester’s relationship, or lack of one, with Charlie. And Lester is Charlie’s financial guardian. What’s up with that?”

“I’m sure Teesh has Charlie’s interest at heart. She really loves that little man.” Harri picked up a giant bag of marshmallows and threw it to Cayce, who put it in the box and picked up the tape, ready to close the box.

“Oh, wait! Before you close that box, I have something very important to add.” Harri walked into the parlor, and Piper heard her open the small coat closet, a recent addition by the front door.

“Here you go. An absolute must for camping, if you’re taking marshmallows, that is.”

“Coat hangers?” Piper asked. “What do we need with coat hangers on a camping trip?”

“I’ll show you, dear niece.” Harri unwound the twisted wire from around the hook. Cayce smiled.

“Once I get this straightened out, it will be perfect for roasting marshmallows.” Harri held her breath and bit her lip in an attempt to get the tough tight wire separated from the hook. She stopped and grabbed the hook to twist it away from the rest of the wire.

“We could just trim green sticks to a point like Dad used to do,” Piper offered. “I think it would be easier.”

“Boy, this is a lot harder than it used to be. They just don’t make coat hangers like they used to.” Harri grunted and shook her fingers. “Here, you’re a strong rancher woman. You try it.”

As soon as Cayce took the coat hanger, she stopped and stared at it. She pulled the other end of the hanger, making it elongated, and twisted the hook downward, inside the shape she had created.

“Look familiar?” As she held the hanger up, Harri stared with her mouth open.

Piper had no clue what was so exciting about a bent hanger and lost interest, going to look out the window. “They’re here!” She took off for the parlor as her mom handed the hanger to her aunt, and then they both followed Piper.

Her aunt muttered, “So much for helping.”

When Piper looked back, her aunt shrugged, holding up the hanger shape, staring at it.

****

Cayce and Piper finished saddling their horses before Hank and Zach got the packhorse loaded.

“You girls didn’t waste any time,” Zach commented as he saddled his horse.

“It has been months since I’ve ridden. I can’t wait, Zach. I’ll always be a cowgirl at heart, even though I might be an urban cowgirl sometimes.” Piper mounted her horse and rode it around the yard. Soon, Cayce, Zach, and Hank joined her.

Harri came out on the porch, Teesh following, each with a glass of iced tea in hand.

“Guess you don’t know what time you’ll be getting back?” Harri asked.

“Nope. Don’t wait supper on us, Harri.” Cayce looked up to see Zach and Piper loping up the canyon trail. “We’ll grab a sandwich when we get back.” Cayce kicked her horse and headed after the two.

“I’ve got my satellite phone, Harri, if you need us for any reason.” Hank mounted his horse and headed after Cayce.

****

Harri and Teesh pored over the volumes of old newspapers, having decided to search just the period up to 1928. The stacks of the Bar None Sentry rose to a height hiding the two of them.

“I’m not sure we needed every volume of the newspaper, but I know Zach is interested in the town when it was in its heyday. Cayce and I are more interested in it from the beginning of the early twentieth century. Looks like Zach emptied your cellar.”

“It’s fine, Harri. I haven’t had this much interest in the newspaper since the museum came to look.”

Harri told Teesh about Cayce and the others having the question game with Sara the night before in the bathhouse and how Sara was terrified of the black fog. Teesh did not think the Reverend Mather had lived during her and Sara’s lifetime, and since Belle died in 1928, the Reverend had to have died prior to that time if Cayce’s paranormal experience in the saloon was true, and Harri sensed it was.

“Cayce and I have looked the cemetery over, and we never found the grave of Abel Mather. I wonder if he was buried somewhere else.”

“I doubt it. More than likely, his tombstone has disintegrated and his grave is no longer marked. That happened to a lot of the graves in the old cemetery.”

“Okay, Teesh, you start with the issues from the early nineteen hundreds, and I’ll take the first few years the paper was in business.”

An hour passed with neither finding anything about the Reverend’s death. Harri frequently walked to the window and looked out, hoping to see Charlie making his way toward the hotel. Teesh watched her and smiled.

“Now, you stop worrying about Charlie, Harri. He will be just fine. If the pie is gone, you’ll just have to make another one, and I know you will. I believe Charlie has found some really good friends, and you’re at the top of his list, Miss Harri of Harri’s Chocolate Factory.” Teesh chuckled, and Harri smiled as she walked back to the table.

“Now, back to the search for the Reverend Abel Mather.” Harri flipped through another volume.

****

I loathe Absalom’s lover. A snarl covered Belle’s face under her veil as she stared at the two women below. But Abel Mather makes my teeth gnash. I’ll help the lover’s sister and the old woman find out about Abel if it will send him to hell faster.

****

Another hour passed without the two finding anything about the black fog. The historians were in the kitchen eating stew when they heard a loud bang. They both hurried back into the parlor and found one of the volumes had fallen from the table, or had been pushed and lay open on the floor. Harri left it open and put the volume in front of Teesh, who began scanning the page.

“Here it is, Harri! It’s the story of the shooting in The Nugget.” Teesh pushed the volume over in front of Harri, who read the article aloud from it.

September 12, 1915. The Reverend Abel Mather was shot and killed in The Nugget Saloon after a brief altercation with customers. The Reverend is said to have gone temporarily insane and wielded his whip at several bystanders and then threatened The Nugget’s owner, Belle Ezell. Miss Ezell is reported to have pulled a Colt .45 and shot the Reverend dead.

One miner stated, “The preacher done went plum damn crazy and was acting like Satan had holt of him. He was lashing out at ever’body who got ’twixt him and Belle.”

The sheriff declared Miss Ezell innocent of any crime since all witnesses supported her claim to self-defense. No trial will be held. A graveside service will be held at the cemetery due to the burning of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Reverend Mather’s church. One of the pastor’s fold, Hyrum Smith, will officiate. Burial will follow at Bar None Cemetery.

“Well, that’s that. Now we know what Cayce saw in the saloon really happened, and I’d say she’s right about the Reverend being the black fog. What do you think, Teesh?”

“I’d have to agree. I guess that’s why the church was never rebuilt after it mysteriously burned down.” Teesh glanced up at the second floor, where Belle was sometimes seen as an apparition. Then she continued. “Thank you, Belle, for showing us this article. Now, if you can show us how to eliminate that nasty black fog, maybe Bar None and you can have some peace. If you want it, that is.”

Harri glanced up at where Teesh was looking and thought she saw a shadow move down the hallway. She redirected her attention to Teesh.

“I know the church was never rebuilt. It has always looked just as it looks today, but more churches were established when the town was in its boom time. They all shut down when the town started dying. What few Christians remained held meetings in their homes.”

“I wonder why the townspeople let such a man kill their little church. I saw a picture of the log church in an earlier volume, and it was a beautiful little church. Hank says Joshua plans to rebuild it. Do you know the history of the old church, Teesh?”

“Well, I bet we can find it. Let’s go back to some of those early newspapers, about 1880.” Teesh moved volumes aside. Harri helped when she saw Teesh struggling with the heavy volumes.

“Here we go, Harri. It has to be in this volume. See here? This is the wedding picture of Absalom and Yu in 1878. I think she gave birth a couple of years later. It says here, Absalom had the log church built for his and Yu’s wedding. I guess he wanted his new wife to be converted to Christianity. Don’t know what she would have been as a Chinese immigrant. Maybe Buddhist?”

“Probably Buddhist. See if her baby girl is listed in the obituaries. Cayce and I couldn’t read the headstones where Absalom, Yu, and Tamara are buried.”

Teesh went through the rest of the volume and then started in another one. Soon, she tapped Harri on the arm and pointed to the obituary. “Yep, here it is. Tamara Lin Duluth, infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Absalom Duluth, died August 2, 1880, and was buried in the Bar None Cemetery.”

Harri flipped forward a few more pages and found Yu’s obituary. “How tragic! Yu died three months after her daughter. Absalom had it all and lost it all in three months’ time.”

“Life is never long enough, it seems; although in my case, I think I might be overdue.” Teesh chuckled again. “No complaints, mind you.”

Harri and Teesh continued to look through the volumes, not sure exactly what they were looking for but driven to continue. Harri closed her eyes and ran her finger down the big stack they had not yet gotten to, and stopped at one near the bottom.

“Let’s see if the Way finds me.” Harri flipped through the volume, turned a page, and then flipped back.

“Oh, my! This is terrible, Teesh! I feel so bad.” Harri continued to scan the article while Teesh waited patiently. Harri looked up with tears in her eyes. You’ll have to read it, Teesh. I don’t think I can.” Harri put the page in front of Teesh, and she read aloud while Harri cried.

December 12, 1918

Cave-In Claims Life of Local Miner

Bar None was hit by tragedy Sunday afternoon when a cave-in occurred in the Duluth Mine, near the Bar None entrance. It was said some of the town’s children were playing in the mineshaft without their parents’ knowledge just before the tragedy occurred. The cave-in began as a rumble, and two of the children ran out, but two others were trapped by falling rock. The two children who escaped ran for help to the cabin of Peg Leg Annie Coleman. Peg sent the children for more help while she headed into the mineshaft.

Peg cleared enough of the rocks and timbers away for the two trapped children to get free, but another timber began to sway, threatening to trap them all. Peg put her back to the timber and yelled for the children to run to the entrance. Peg, with strength unheard of for a woman, held the timber for several minutes, making sure the children had time to get out, and then was trapped herself when the whole east tunnel collapsed.

Mine owner Absalom Duluth and his partner Belle Ezell expressed sympathy for the town’s loss and called Peg a hero. Rescuers attempted to recover her body, but the cave-in was just too big an undertaking. Her body was not recovered. No known next of kin were available for notification.

Harri grew so upset she excused herself for a minute. She went to her room and continued weeping. Part of her sadness was feeling guilty for the way she had made jokes about Peg. Harri spoke out loud in hopes Peg was listening.

“Please forgive me for being so unkind to you, Peg. I had no idea you were a hero, but that shouldn’t matter. My parents taught me to be kind to everyone, and I have not been kind to you. Look at what you gave me as an offer of friendship, and I gave you nothing but a tongue lashing for wasting an unimportant bottle of perfume.” Harri picked up the mirror. “These beautiful gifts will be part of a monument to you, so you will be remembered not as Peg Leg Annie, but as Annie Coleman, a dear, sweet lady who gave her own life to save two children. I’ll see to it your cabin is rebuilt and your beautiful possessions are returned to it.”

Harri looked in the mirror and again saw the reflection of the beautiful young woman she had seen before. The woman smiled at her and nodded her head.

****

Hank stopped his group at the first campsite and ground-tied his horse, wrapping the rope to the packhorse on his saddle horn. The rest of the group halted by him.

“Wow! It’s beautiful up here. The tourists will love this.” Piper walked to the edge of the hill to get a better view of the valley below. “So where do we go from here, Hank?” Piper yelled over her shoulder just as Zach walked up beside her. She moved close as he put his arm around her waist. “Is this not fantastic, Zach?”

“Awesome,” Zach said, gazing at her.

Piper looked at him and noticed him staring at her. “Oh, you!” She nudged Zach with her shoulder.

“We’re going to follow that razorback along there and make our way halfway up that peak,” Hank yelled to Piper, pointing out the direction they were going. “The men were supposed to build another outhouse and campsite there. We plan to make that one by the first night.” Hank remounted, and Cayce did the same, pulling her horse up beside Hank.

“You two coming?” Hank called back as he and Cayce rode off.

Piper and Zach mounted up, putting their horses in a lope to catch up to their leader.

“I hope we have a little time at the next campsite. I brought my sketchpad.” Piper patted her saddlebag.

“I think Hank is pretty anxious to see if his crew did what they were supposed to do. He’s in boss mode. Guess we’ll know for sure tomorrow when we bring the wagons up.”

“How many wagons are we bringing, Zach?”

“Hank said just two the first trip. When Joshua opens up Bar None to the tourist trade, he wants at least five wagons, always a spare or two in case any break down.” Zach pulled his horse to a stop and threw his leg over the saddle horn. Piper stopped beside him.

“As they say in the movies, ‘wha’sup?’”

“Nothing other than the fact I can’t wait any longer to kiss you. Lean over here, beautiful.” And kiss they did, almost falling off their horses, which became antsy with waiting.

It took two hours of hard riding to get to the next campsite, much faster than the wagons would go. Several times, Zach and Piper lingered and then had to gallop to catch up.

“We’re almost there. Just over this hill and we should see the campsite. It’s right by a creek where we can rest and water the horses. I stopped in town and picked up some sub sandwiches and even put some drinks on ice. Maybe you three will get to wet a fly in the creek.”

“You should have told me. Harri and I could have packed a lunch.”

“You and your sister have done enough. It was my turn.” Hank kicked his horse into a gallop, and the others followed as they sped up the hill to the campsite.

As they topped the hill, Hank quickly handed Cayce the rope to the packhorse and kicked his horse into a dead-out run. When he reached the site, he leapt from his horse, not giving it time to come to a complete stop, threw the reins down, and ran toward the creek.

“What the hell?”