I nodded. “Yes. First the earthquake, then the mountain lion. I can tell you that my heart was in my mouth when that thing turned and looked at me. And that scream! It made my blood run cold.”
My mother shook her head. “You know, Darcy, we are not to believe in superstitions. That would be wrong. God is much greater than all the evil in this world.”
She traced a small crack in the top of her antique dining table. I knew that thoughtful look. “But? Out with it. What superstition are you talking about?”
“Oh, you know all the silly things about breaking a mirror or a black cat walking across in front of you,” she answered.
“And about owls being harbingers of good or bad luck. Yes, I remember. But that isn’t what you’re talking about, is it?”
Without looking up from that mesmerizing crack, she said, “I was just remembering what my mother, your Granny Grace, said about the scream of a mountain lion.”
“Granny Grace was a Christian, Mom. Surely she didn’t put any stock in old wives’ tales.”
“No, she didn’t. But she said there was a saying among some people that the cry of a panther meant death.”
A finger of fear traced itself down my backbone. That was understandable. Never in all my life had I heard anything so otherworldly. Taking a sip of coffee, I considered. “Well, I believe we can disprove that one. Although it scared me, that wild cat didn’t threaten me at all. He just hid in the bushes.”
Mom nodded. “Yes, that’s what he did. I imagine the earthquake had upset him and maybe put him on the prowl. You know, animals can sense an earthquake or a storm coming before it actually happens. Maybe that panther was out at Spirit Leap last night. Maybe that was what you heard in the woods.”
A panther? Well, why not? If it, with its finely tuned wild senses, knew that the earth was about to shake, it could have been nervous and moving around. But the footfall I heard didn’t sound like the quiet padding of a cat. It was too loud for that.
“Have you heard any local news tonight about the earthquake?” I asked, going to the television set.
“Actually, I haven’t thought of that! I guess the quake rattled my nerves and then I was worried about you.”
“It looks as if it’s big news,” I said, as a picture flashed onto the screen.
The TV anchorman stood by a large map of the United States. He was introducing a prominent seismologist.
“Quakes that can be felt in Oklahoma are relatively rare,” the earthquake expert said, “but they certainly happen, ten times more frequently than usual since 2009.”
“So does Oklahoma sit atop a major fault?” Drew Adamson, the anchorman, asked.
“Pressure can build along fault lines,” seismologist Charlie Thomas answered. “The Wizetta Fault, or the Seminole Uplift as it is called, is a very deep fault east of Oklahoma City.”
“The quake was felt over much of the central and northeast parts of Oklahoma,” Adamson said, indicating bright little dots along the state map. “Reports are coming in from Oklahoma City all the way down to Tulsa, Tahlequah, and Levi.”
“We will hope this is not a “forequake,” Thomas said. “That is a sort of pre-earthquake that comes before a much bigger one.”
“Oh, my goodness!” Mom said. “Turn it off, Darcy. We certainly don’t want an earthquake bigger than this one.”
I obliged and poured another cup of coffee.
“You know, Mom,” I said, “that mountain lion didn’t seem threatening, but he might have a taste for domesticated meat if he could find it. I think you or I had better tell our neighbors about my encounter with it. Their horses and mules might be in danger, although I guess the panther would have to be awfully hungry to jump on something as big as a horse.”
She snapped her fingers. “Oh, I almost forgot. Grant phoned. He asked that you call him at the office when you got back. He wants to know that you are safe, I’m sure. And he asked if the quake had damaged anything. I told him the only damage was to my nerves.”
I fidgeted. Should I return Grant’s call? I didn’t want to encourage him, but I wanted him to keep the lines of communication open in case he found anything else about Andrea Worth, or if he and Jim discovered some sort of proof at Spirit Leap that would make my story about a noise sound more like truth and less like hysteria.
The note of relief in Grant’s voice was unmistakable. “I’m glad you’re all right, Darcy. Earthquakes are something we don’t know much about here in northeast Oklahoma,” he said. “We usually know when a tornado is headed our way but an earthquake . . . .”
He was probably sitting at his desk shaking his head. “Do you remember that heavy old file cabinet in my office?”
“Uh-huh,” I answered.
“The quake scooted it away from the wall and left a crack in the ceiling. Anyway, Darcy, it’s great that you and Miss Flora are safe. I want you to stay that way. Which leads me to the next thing. Jim and I checked out the woods and pasture at Spirit Leap this morning before the quake and we didn’t find anything, but remember that Rusty Lang is on the loose again and I don’t think he has any particular love for you, Darcy.”
So much for finding proof that Jim Clendon was wrong about my overwrought nerves!
Grant paused. “Are you really sure that you heard something in the woods last night? Do you think it might have been just a deer?”
The feeling of being watched was real. If Grant believed Jim rather than me, though, there wasn’t much I could do to change his mind. However, I wouldn’t give Grant the satisfaction of hearing my story about the mountain lion. Then he would be certain the wild animal was my noise in the darkness.
“Oh, Grant, I don’t think so, but who knows? By the way, Rusty Lang shouldn’t be a problem. After all, I didn’t make him rob that drugstore. He simply paid for a wrong decision. Surely he doesn’t hate me.”
“I wouldn’t count on it, Darcy,” Grant said. “Criminals have to blame somebody. Think about it. He is from the Dallas area, so what’s he doing in Levi, Oklahoma? I doubt that he came up here because of a fondness for his cousin. Just keep your eyes open and don’t go anywhere alone.”
Grant might be the sheriff of Ventris County, but the last time I checked, he didn’t have the right to give orders to a law-abiding citizen. I bit my tongue. “Okay. I’ll be on the look-out,” I replied sweetly.
I hung up and saw that Mom was gazing at me with an expression that could only be called “extreme motherly concern.”
“Don’t worry, Mom; a person can’t go through life in a glow of love and friendship. Probably everyone gathers a few enemies along the way, but we don’t always know who they are. See how lucky I am to at least know about Rusty? I can be on guard now.”
She just looked at me and shook her head.
I walked over to the coffee pot. Good. There was enough for one more cup. “You know, Grant said that earthquake moved a file cabinet in his office. Could it have shaken up things at Spirit Leap? If we went back and looked, maybe we could find some kind of clue that Grant and Jim overlooked. I really believe someone was out there with me at Spirit Leap last night. I could sense it.”
Mom frowned. “If you are thinking about going back to that dangerous place, I can tell you right now that I’m going, too. Not today though; it’s too wet and dreary. What do they call those earthquakes after an earthquake?”
“Aftershocks.”
“Yes. Well, who knows? We might have one of those aftershocks. You could meet anybody or anything out there. Until we know that you are no longer in harm’s way, wherever you go, I go.” She nodded her head.
Sighing, I said, “And put you in danger too? I can’t see that’d help me.”
My mother lifted her stubborn chin. “Wherever you go, I go. Period.”
“Yes ma’am,” I said meekly.