“It’s not just you all. We do have a noose here, and we are pulling it in. On a fellow who likes handing out cyanide pills,” Griffin reminded him.
“We’re just two old geezers and a young’un, walking around the Quabbin. Hey, the bike tours are still out in full bloom and it remains one of the greatest tourist attraction areas here. We blend in. Honest. Not so sure the rest of you law-keeper types do, though!”
He grinned over at them, turned and headed toward the others.
Charlie and Isaac waved at them. They spoke among themselves for a minute, and then all of them got into a large blue sedan.
“And they’re off,” Rocky murmured, joining them.
“Two of them in the state and involved with or aware of what had happened from the time Sheena Petrie was killed,” Devin noted.
“But they didn’t find her.”
“No, Syd Smith found her. But Syd isn’t here,” Vickie pointed out.
“He isn’t,” Griffin agreed. He shrugged. “Syd was her friend. He watched out for her when she was alive. If he’s not at peace with what happened to her, he is, at least, at peace with the fact that he was there for her in life. Maybe these guys don’t feel that they did the right thing back then.”
“Or maybe they were involved,” Vickie said. “What about Milton Hanson?” she asked. “Has there been any word of him at all? Have they found anything on him?”
“No, not yet,” Griffin said.
“Suspicious,” Vickie said.
“Yes, suspicious,” Griffin agreed.
“All right,” Griffin said. He hesitated, looking at Devin and Vickie. “I talked to Barnes this morning. He found reports on fifteen robberies of pharmacies around the state. Three of those were armed and, thank God, two out of three the alarms went off, but the perps were gone when cops got there. The others were all robberies in which the stores were really burglarized—cameras knocked out, supplies stolen—but no one threatened, hurt or killed. This is a really organized group. Vickie, you stay out of harm’s way.”
“We’ve got it, promise,” Vickie said. “We’re just going to find the landmarks using the overlay, and by evening we’ll be back with you.”
“Promise,” Devin agreed.
“Okay,” Griffin agreed. He wasn’t happy.
Vickie spoke softly to him. “Griffin. I’ve had the dreams. I have the Nathaniel Alden book. I have the information that Gloria Martin gave to us. And, before Alex disappeared, there was something that he wanted to tell me. There are two situations that combine as one, and there is a lot we have to be afraid of happening very, very soon. One, Alex is being held somewhere, along with a blonde woman—whether she’s Helena Matthews or not. They could both die by tomorrow night. We have to find the truth quickly. Because, if I’m right, a killer is using the past. He wants everyone to think that there is a crazy suicide cult out here, ready to bring back Satan. But he’s holding Alex to find Jehovah, because, somehow, the Martin treasure that the Puritans denied him is buried in Jehovah.”
“Maybe,” he told her.
“Maybe!”
“And maybe there’s a crazy-ass suicide Satan cult out there. But you’re right about one thing—time matters. So, go be brilliant. But don’t get out of the car. Wait for us, please.”
“Until the ends of the earth!” she promised him, smiling.
“I don’t intend to be nearly that long,” he assured her.
“Come on,” Rocky said to him. “The sooner we get in on this, the sooner we’ll be meeting up with these two!” He smiled at Devin, paused, kissed her quickly and headed for Griffin’s rental.
Devin was already heading toward the car they had taken, a Jeep. Vickie grinned and waved at Griffin, hurrying to run after Devin.
15
“Did you notice which way our friends went?” Devin asked Vickie.
She was doing the driving; that allowed Vickie to hold the map.
“You’re referring to Charlie Oakley, Robert Merton and Isaac Sherman, right?” Vickie asked in return. “They seem a strange trio, don’t they?”
“I guess. Robert and Charlie have known each other for years. I’m sure Robert is here because he’s worried about Charlie, who seems to believe that he has to pay for what happened all those years ago. And Isaac...well, he’s latched onto them. He wants justice. Not so sure they’re a trio—other than that happenstance has thrown them together.”
“They went to a blue car,” Vickie said. “Of course, that was hours ago. Who knows where they are now.”
“Right. When they got into the car, did they go north or south, east or west?”
“I didn’t notice,” she told Devin. “I think that Griffin wishes that they weren’t out exploring, though. I believe he and Rocky are seriously worried about people running around without anything like a real plan.”
“And they don’t even know that we expect another murder in about twenty-four hours, either,” Devin murmured.
“It is scary,” Vickie said. “Hey. Some of these peaks—that look like little hilly islands now!—appeared to have been pretty high once, long ago,” she murmured. “Devin, see that little road ahead? Take that.”
“It’s a dirt road. It isn’t real anymore, Vickie. It’s one of those roads that will end up in the water,” Devin said.
They’d been driving a long time; they’d stopped several times, surveying the landscape, going over what they had heard, what they knew and what they could theorize.
“I know—I think it goes to the water and ends there, or maybe becomes a path, though I don’t see any of the paths for bikers or hikers around there. In fact...” She paused, frowning, and looked over at Devin. “That area has warnings—heavy forests and danger from bears and other wildlife.”
“You want me to go to where there is no path?”
“I think there will be a path.”
“We’re not supposed to get out of the car.”
“We’re not going to get out of the car. But look. There’s a little crossroad there, and then the dirt road continues, goes into something like a forest path.” She paused. She wasn’t sure why, but when she looked ahead—through the depth of the forest around them—she could have sworn she was seeing the same path she had seen before, over and over again, in a dream.
“Devin, I just want to get up there. I think, from the end of that path, if we look to the right, there’s...something!”
“Something like what?”
“I’m not sure, but Alex was excited. He had been eager to see me the night he didn’t show up. He said he had something cool to tell me. Devin, I think that there’s a building here. A building on the old map and...wow.” Vickie paused and looked at Devin. “The current map we used is an ‘Earth’ map, showing true landmarks. The ‘true landmark’ sits right over an old landmark. A building of some kind. Buildings were supposedly torn down in this area!”
She fumbled in her bag to find the larger tablet she carried with her, swearing softly when she couldn’t get any internet service.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to look up the old mental institution. Oh, it may be in the Nathaniel Alden book. I have that here, too.”
“We are in the middle of the woods! I can’t even get my phone to work. How are you expecting internet service?” Devin asked her.
“Hey! Satellites are way up above everything!”
To Vickie’s amazement, one of those satellites picked up their location.
She keyed in her coordinates and discovered with amazement and elation that she could connect to the internet.
Her fingers went still.
“Devin!”