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  She looked at his face, his soft brown eyes and sighed. “An important status update on an ongoing investigation is confidential stuff. I’m afraid that would cost you lunch.”

  “Well, with my schedule it’s hard for me to drive into town and still have time for lunch.”

  “I understand,” she said, feeling crushed.

  “So could we make it a dinner? That way we could go to a nice place in Martin.”

  She swallowed and forced herself to ignore her pounding heart and look calm. “That’s fine.” Her voice seemed high.

  Only after Roger Tanner was gone did Dorian allow himself a loud laugh. “Girl, you need to lighten up.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s okay if you admit liking the guy.”

  “I...”

  “In the words of the ancients, you are smitten, Charli. Don’t be an idiot and deny it.”

  She would’ve protested, but that would’ve been a lie.

  “Did the Lake Woman say anything else?”

  “She wanted to know if I returned the Zuni fetish. She thought Melly Block would need it for a new husband.”

  “So she can be a thoughtful legend,” Dorian mused. “Who would’ve thought?”

  Chapter 17

  Mexican Solution

  Charli had just gotten home from the meeting when Elle called. “I'm at the airport,” she said.

  Charli had intended to use the short walk back from Dorian’s pawn shop to think about the various scenarios for Carter Block’s disappearance. Instead, she had found her brain imagining her upcoming dinner with Roger Tanner—a dinner at which neither of them would say one word about the Lake Woman. She looked forward to learning about him. She’d never imagined herself interested in an outdoorsman before but he intrigued her.

  Elle was bubbling over. “Hey Charli, you want some news, I got news,” she said. “And I’m starving. Meet me at the pizza place.”

  “Which pizza place?”

  “How many pizza places do we go to, girl?”

  “Fine. Give me ten minutes.”

  “Take any longer than that and I’ll already be sitting in a booth with my first beer.”

  Soon she was slipping into the vinyl-covered seat opposite Elle. A waiter took their order for drinks. “Beer,” Elle said. “A pale ale.”

  Charli nodded. “Same.” When the man left, she reached across and grabbed Elle’s arm. “So tell me what happened. You found her?”

  “Our local agent had found her. I went and talked to her. I feel sorry for Christine, to be honest. It turns out she has been sitting alone in a miserable hotel in a beach town watching her money disappear and wondering what happens next.”

  “So no Carter Block.”

  “She claims she has no idea where he is.”

  “And you believe her?”

  “Oh, absolutely. The girl is depressed. She admitted to the plan, laid out exactly how they intended to run off together. She had a vague idea of what he was doing. He told her he was selling things off and had a scheme for raising cash, but she didn’t pay much attention to the details. Her focus was entirely on his promise that they’d have enough money to spend an endless honeymoon in beach towns.”

  “So he sent her ahead?”

  “Not exactly. According to Christine Horner, Carter was improvising. He didn’t know how long it would take before he could take off. He told her his wife was figuring it all out, so she was supposed to be ready. The moment things came together, he would have to sneak off quickly. If he disappeared, they arranged to meet at that hotel.”

  “So keeping things loose.”

  “He was supposed to call when he got back from his fishing trip, but didn’t and his cell was off. On Monday, she called the dealership and learned that no one had seen him. She stayed home for two days waiting, then decided he’d gone off. So she followed and has been waiting there for some word ever since.”

  “And there was no other fallback plan?”

  The pizza came and Charli had to wait while Elle served herself a slice, took a bite and washed it down with the ale. “None. She began wondering if his wife killed him. She said that he told her his wife hated him and wanted to see him dead, and of course, she was working out his scam.”

  Charli chuckled. “I kind of don’t think so. She was so sure the Lake Woman got him, not the girlfriend. She’s the one who left the Zuni fetish out there—wishing him luck.”

  “It didn’t work too well.”

  “It could’ve helped if they were really there for the fishing. That turns out to be a cover story.”

  “So why go out there? To drink?”

  So she brought Elle up to date on the poaching side of things. “Turns out all three of them were making good money poaching.”

  “So maybe someone got greedy,” Elle said. “Money flowing through their hands like that and Carter planning to take off. Maybe they had a falling out and Shorty and Ralph killed him.”

  Charli couldn’t get behind that. “They don’t seem that sort.”

  “So they seem like poachers?”

  “I have no idea what poachers should be like.”

  “But you know what killers would be like?”

  She had a point. “The thing is that I had another dream.”

  Elle’s forehead wrinkled. She wasn’t pleased with the news. “And?”

  “The Lake Woman suggested she’s got him, but because he was poaching. Apparently, she has appointed herself an honorary ranger, protector of the wildlife and all that.”

  “What does your real ranger think of that?”

  “I suspect he thinks it’s cute.”

  “You told him about your dreams?”

  “Well, Dorian let the cat out of the bag.”

  “Dorian?”

  “Purveyor of things camping?”

  “Right.”

  “It turned out okay. I knew my dream thing would come out sooner or later. Unfortunately, it had to, since it isn’t likely they will stop again. The man showed courage in the face of the weirdly paranormal.”

  “The last American stoic.” Elle grabbed another slice of pizza. “So, assuming your dream is spot on accurate, any idea how I put that in the forms? I mean, writing: ‘While in a dream state, our consultant met with the spirit of the lake who admitted to abducting the insured,’ doesn’t carry much weight in the corporate world.”

  “It’s lucid dreaming.”

  “That would take even more explaining—explaining that might cost me my job.”

  “Sorry I can’t do more. Can’t you just say it is an unexplained disappearance?”

  “Sure, but that leaves me back where I started before we began the investigation. The guy is missing and I have an open case. Even though it winds up being a blemish on my record, I can live with that, but as much as Melly Block is a strange little bird, if Carter is living with the Lake Woman, she deserves the payoff. And the policy he bought for the girlfriend... someone else’s problem, of course, but still...”

  “I see that.” She felt an idea forming. “I have an idea, but it’s a long shot and I can’t guarantee a time frame.”

  “Aren’t they all long shots?” Elle sighed. She held up her pizza. “This pizza tastes so damn good. You can’t believe what passes for pizza in Mexico. It was awful.”

  “You ate pizza in Mexico? You flew all the way to Mexico and ate pizza? No chili rellenos, or tacos, or...?”

  Elle held up a hand, stopping her. “It was okay. I’m a survivor and the margarita I washed it down with was brilliant.” She looked around. “Too bad they only have a beer license in this place. If I have to go back and fill out the forms with no real information, I’ll wish I had a drink.” She touched Charli’s hand. “I’ll stall the paperwork for a time. See what you can come up with using your long shot.”

  That was Elle. Pragmatic, through and through.

  “Okay,” Charli said. “Why not? Maybe I’ll find proof he is dead.”

  Elle made a
face. “Would you hit me if I said, ‘In your dreams,’?”

  “Probably.”

  Chapter 18

  The Poachers Confess

  When Elle showed up on Charli’s doorstep the next day, she was waving a memory stick. “The poachers confessed. The police pointed out that they had them for poaching and that automatically made them murder suspects.”

  “And they panicked.”

  “The police were kind enough to give me a copy of the recording of the poachers confessing. We need to listen to it and see what we can learn.”

  So Charli made coffee, they got notepads, and sat down to listen straight through, with only a minimal amount of giggling and the making of funny faces. As with any story Ralph and Shorty told, it was riddled with a mix of self-serving excuses and some contradictory facts. The main story came across clearly, however. They hadn’t done a thing to Carter Block; they certainly had not killed him. And, in Shorty’s words: “The poaching thing was all Carter’s idea.”.

  “Carter was certain we could make good money, and he said he needed it for his girlfriend,” Ralph said separately.

  And they agreed that neither of them had a reason to see Carter dead. “The money we made is in his account,” Shorty explained. “He had a special account for it. We were going to share it when he got ready to leave town.”

  “With him dead, we are screwed out of that too,” Ralph moaned.

  The explanation sounded like they believed their own story even if no one else did. “We’d all been drinking that night. There weren’t many deer, but we’d managed to kill one. While we were dressing it, Carter shouted out that he saw another one. He grabbed his rifle and fired off a shot. He must’ve hit it—”

  “Even though he’s a lousy shot,” Ralph said.

  “—cause something sure ran off, crashing through the underbrush. He went chasing off after it. Like I said, he was in a hurry to pull together some cash. We stayed to finish processing the kill we had.”

  “He never came back,” Ralph said. “We went looking for him, but we didn’t see a damn thing but the tracks he’d left, the ones that the rangers found later. We knew we had to tell the authorities that he’d disappeared, so we went back and cleaned up all traces of the deer kill. We wrapped the carcass in plastic and put it in the pickup. Then we went to the ranger station and told them about Carter running off in the night. That part was true, you know.”

  When they finished listening, Elle shook her head. “Those boys still don’t seem like killers to me. And if they weren’t lying about Carter having the money where they couldn’t get it...”

  “I think they are finally telling the truth,” Charli said.

  “The problem is that if they are, then they don’t have any more idea where the body is than anyone else and there is still no proof he is dead.”

  Charli chuckled. “You’ve seen that place, Elle. If they are telling the truth, then I think you know as well as I that there is only one... person, who will know exactly where the body is. She is probably the only one who can help us locate it.”

  “Even if I said I believed in that green witch, how does that help me close the case? I doubt she’ll wander into the police station and report a body.” She grabbed her arms and shuddered. “I can’t believe that I even went to you to find him, much less that we are dealing with some paranormal creature who abducts fishermen because her lover was taken from her a few hundred years ago.”

  “And yet, you’ve met her.”

  “I saw something. I don’t know what I saw.”

  “So, you came to me because you had no one else to turn to and wanted to solve this; you wanted to help Carter’s wife out.”

  “Right.”

  “And now you have to admit that we need her help—the Lake Woman knows where the body is.”

  “I admit that we are at a dead end. Even if I accept that the Lake Woman exists, I can’t see her making a confession to the cops, or them taking it if she did. And I’m certainly not spending another night at camp green witch.”

  “You don’t need to. I’m afraid it’s on me now.”

  “What do you mean, Charli?”

  “In my case, she makes house calls. All I have to do is swallow my fear of her and ask the right questions.”

  “And you think she’ll answer?”

  “For reasons I’d rather not go into, I’m pretty sure she will. I might not like the answer, but I think she will tell me. She might help. If you want me to ask.”

  “Of course I do. Don’t tell Lester, but you know I have to believe in this Lake Woman after she got in my face out there. So, I’d like you to ask her, find out whatever she knows. Whatever you can stand to find out, that is. That woman leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to social graces.”

  “Well, she is an Indian who is over 200 years old if she’s a day. You kind of have to forgive her.”

  “That’s a decent excuse, but doesn’t change things.”

  Charli could see that Elle was remembering how terrifying it was to see the woman. That made her feel bad. Her friend’s orderly world had been rattled by Charli’s need to find out if her dream was real. “I’m sorry I dragged you out there, Elle. I really am. If I’d known what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have. And I didn’t think it through. I mean, I’d already met her. She had to be a real shock for you. It just never occurred to me somehow that you two would wind up meeting.”

  She looked thoughtful. “I get that, Charli. I can’t imagine how it would’ve been possible for you to know what was going to happen, and I don’t think for a minute that you thought it was funny to drag me out there just to scare me. I resisted, but I think I wanted to go with you... and in a way, I’m glad. Not the camping part, but seeing the Lake Woman.”

  “Why is that?”

  “The vast majority of life is explained. Every day there are new explanations that clarify things that were mysteries. While that’s probably pretty useful, it also makes things a little less exciting. Sometimes I’m grateful for a sign that there might be a little magic and wonder left in the universe.”

  “You really feel that way?” Charli asked.

  She cocked her head. “Yup. In some ways, I’ve envied your willingness to study the unknowable. You aren’t trying to make the vague concrete but trying to make a connection between the mysteries and the human spirit. I couldn’t live in that world, but it’s nice to know, to be reminded it is there, and not just some delusion.”

  At that moment Charli wanted to hug her.

  Chapter 19

  A Spirit Kindness

  The sun was soft behind puffy clouds as Charli walked barefoot along a path that wound through the bald cypress trees growing around the lake. This time there was a lightness around her. The air was fresh and clean, and things seemed bright, although the light was dim. A spring in her step said that she was feeling good.

  Then, in a clearing, she spotted the now-familiar green figure she always seemed to meet here. The Lake Woman was sitting on a tree trunk that had fallen at some time. As Charli stood there, watching, the Lake Woman turned and looked at her, then waved at her, wanting her to come closer. As Charlie approached, she watched the green face.

  “You seem pleased,” Charli said because it was true. Her face looked as relaxed as she’d ever seen it. It was almost a human face.

  “Happy, if not pleased,” she said. “Even my world is one of compromise.”

  “Your new husband is working out?”

  “As a man who will serve me as one, rather than desecrate my lands.” She blinked. “But you knew that already.” Charli found it unsettling that this creature actually remembered their conversations. “What have you come to ask?”

  Charli summoned her courage. “I’ve come to ask a favor.”

  “A favor? You want me to be merciful? To that man?” Anger came close to flaring up in her.

  “No, not to him.”

  She calmed down. “What then? Who needs my mercy?”


  “The wife you took him from. She doesn’t understand.”

  “I took this evil man out of her life. Isn’t that mercy enough?”

  Charli almost smiled. “I think that part is not troubling her, but she needs for the body to be found.”

  “Only the physical body? What for? She cannot torment it any longer. It is past that.”

  “For a burial ritual.”

  The green smile was knowing and unnerving. She shut her eyes. “Yes, I remember such things, the ceremonies we performed for the dead.” Then her eyes opened. “And, of course, she must show the body to her family before they will let her take a new man.”

  “Something like that,” Charli said. “She is suffering now.”

  The green locks waved as the woman nodded. “I can do that much for her. The man’s mortal flesh is useless to me.” She stood and seemed taller than Charli remembered. “I will take care of that for her.”

  “Where do we find it?”

  “I will take care of it,” she said in a voice that told Charli the conversation was over.

  Then the Lake Woman stepped toward the lake. In the distance, Charli saw a small boat with two men fishing. She wondered if she should call out and warn them. But what would she shout? “Watch out for the Lake Woman?” Besides, the Lake Woman approved of fishermen, apparently, and she might not like Charli interfering in things any more than she had.

  “You got your favor,” she told herself and she was certain the Lake Woman would come through. “Now why don’t you wake up from this dream?”

  “Because you need to finally acknowledge that you can work inside your dreams. That your dreams are real.”

  She turned and saw the Indian woman sitting on the ground, cross-legged. “You are real, alive outside of my dreams?”