Paul
looked at his watch, it was 2:30. Returning to his office, he called Mike back
to discuss the situation with Lynnell's mother and how it would affect him. When
Mike answered, Paul explained why he had hung up so quickly and what had ensued
since. After finishing the tale, he added his concern about the possibility of
the wounds becoming infected. Mike sat in silence absorbing the story. At its'
conclusion, he asked Paul to turn on his computer and get on the Internet. Paul
complied while Mike continued to speak, "Buddy, that's not your only worry.
Access the Cleveland newspaper and take a look at the stories on page two."
Paul scrolled the second page and gasped when he saw the story lead in the top
left corner, "WOMAN HELD IN DAUGHTER'S DISAPPEARANCE'. He quickly read the
story and muttered, "Damn. Now what do I do?" Mike
answered
his question by commenting, "You better pray that the wire services don't
pick up the story, pal. If they do, you can bet your last dollar some sharp
reporter will sniff out her trail to your door. if that happens, the whole
situation will become a media circus. The best thing you can do is send her home
as quickly and as quietly as possible and then take yourself a long vacation to
parts unknown." Paul sighed and agreed with him that it was what he should
do. "The only problem with that, Mike, is that the girl won't go. She's
adamant about that. From what she's said, I figure the only way she would do it
is if she were hog-tied and shipped home in a sealed box." "If that's
the case Paul, you got more problems than a library has books. I'm warning you
pal, you've got to act fast on this. I figure you only have forty-eight hours to
squelch this before the story goes national. Give me a call when you decide what
to do; I'll help all I can. Good night, Paul" Mike hung up the phone
leaving Paul looking at the receiver. Unable to think of anything to do, Paul
shut down the computer and went to bed.
Paul
woke up shortly after dawn, showered, shaved, and dressed before 6:15. Stopping
just long enough to start coffee, he headed out to the pool to try and
back-track the cat; he wanted to give the rangers as much information as he
could. It was a dangerous animal, and the sooner they could move it to a more
remote location, the better. Searching the area, Paul came to the conclusion
that the cat ran away in the same direction from which it had approached.
Returning to the kitchen, he got a cup of coffee and headed to his office to
call the rangers about the cat.
As
he explained about the cat to the ranger, he intentionally left out Lynnell's
involvement and injury, figuring that the less they knew, the less he would have
to explain. Finishing the call, he moved to the computer and checked his E-mail,
his schedule, and his bank account. With so much money in an account where the
interest was compounded daily, he amused himself with figuring how much his net
worth increased each day. Knowing that he had several meetings in town, Paul
filled his briefcase with papers, added his cell phone, and went to wake Lynnell.
Tapping
gently on the door and getting no response, Paul slowly turned the knob and
eased the door open enough to see she was still asleep. Lynnell was lying on her
side facing the door, the sheet, clutched tightly in one hand was pressed to the
side of her face. Paul was instantly struck by her peaceful, angelic expression
and, how it so reminded him of the last time he had seen his own daughter's
sleeping face. A gasping sob broke free from his lips, causing the girl to stir.
Quietly closing the door, he leaned against the wall, squeezing his eyes tightly
shut to force the sight from his memory. Taking a deep breath to regain his
composure, he turned again to the door and knocked, firmly this time. A sleepy
voice called out, "Just a minute," and was quickly followed by,
"come on in." Opening the door, Paul saw that she was still on her
side but the sheet was pulled up to her chin. one sleepy eye opened and a barely
intelligible, "Good morning." drifted up from behind her bands and the
sheet. "Morning, Lynnell, I have some meetings in town today and I need to
talk to you before I leave. Will you please get dressed and come into the
kitchen?" Lynnell's other eye opened and, with a yawn, she replied,
"I'll be out in a minute." Paul closed the door and returning to his
office, got his briefcase and headed to the kitchen. After pouring himself
another cup of coffee, sat down to wait for Lynnell.
She
entered the kitchen wearing bright red shorts low on her hips. only partially
zipped, the top three inches were folded inside, the top of her panties just
peaking out from behind the gap, and she again had the towel around her neck to
cover her chest. Paul asked her to turn around so he could check the bandages on
her back. Seeing they were in place, he told her to turn back around and sit
down. When she was seated, Paul explained that he had several meetings to attend
and would be gone most of the day. Handing her a scrap of paper with the cell
phone number, he told her to call if she needed
to,
but only if it was really important and couldn't wait until he returned. That
done, he explained about the Forest Ranger team,that would be arriving soon.
"There will be three of them, a tracker with a couple of dogs, a ranger
with a tranquilizer gun, and the driver to drop them off. I think it would be
best if they didn't know you were here, so stay inside and out of sight. Give
them about an hour to get out of the area before you go outside. So far, they've
never returned to the house and there is no reason to think they will this
time." Nodding her head in agreement to each point, she promised to stay
inside, "Besides, I've got nothing but a towel to wear until I heal,"
she added giggling. Rising from the table, Paul picked up his briefcase. Giving
her shoulder a gentle squeeze, he said good by and headed to the car. Lynnell
watched from the window until the car was out of sight. Finally alone, she took
off the towel and scrounged around the kitchen for some breakfast. When she had
finished eating, she put the dishes in the dishwasher and headed for Paul's
room. It was time to find out about her host.
Lynnell,
unable to control her curiosity, began searching the room. Closet, chest of
drawers, and night stand, nothing escaped her prying eyes. Using extreme care,
she made sure of each item's location in relation to everything else before
carefully examining it And returning it to its' original spot. There was little
to find in the bedroom, yielding only the nature of his taste in clothes and
several pictures of a woman and young girl. She correctly assumed they were his
dead wife and daughter. The pictures disturbed her in a vague, indefinable way.
She couldn't understand why, but the woman in the pictures seemed oddly
familiar. She returned the pictures to their place and, giving the room one last
look to assure herself that all was as before, Lynnell headed to the living room
with its' book cases, home entertainment center, and bar.
The
bar yielded little more than his taste in wine(white), beer(Killian's Irish Red
Ale), and liquor(vodka and sherry). Moving to the bookcase, she found his taste
in books covered the spectrum, missing only romances and westerns, she estimated
that there were more than 500 books in his collection. Tucked into a dark corner
of the highest shelf, she found a photo album filled with pictures of his life
from his earliest years in school to the last entry, a clipping from a Colorado
Springs paper giving an account of the tragic death of his wife and thirteen
year old daughter in an avalanche. The snow had knocked the car from the road
and over a three hundred foot cliff. It had taken eight days to dig their broken
bodies from beneath the snow and debris. The cause of the avalanche was,
according to the clipping, an unknown cross-country skier who's trail had been
found at the top of the slide area the day after the accident. Replacing the
album, Lynnell moved on to the entertainment center and found that he listened
to all types of music except country and opera. She took note that the
collection of CDs leaned heavily towards New Age, World music, and old rock and
roll. Returning the CDs to their slots, She heard a truck pulling up in front of
the house. Ducking low, below the level of the window, she moved behind the bar
and crouched down out of sight in case someone came to the door and looked in
through the window.
Hearing
the vehicles' doors slam, and voices that didn't sound as if they were
approaching, Lynnell raised up and slipped from behind the bar. Carefully
approaching the door, she saw three men unloading gear from the back of the pick
up truck. Two back packs, four canteens, a rifle case, and two frisky beagles
who were immediately leashed and tied to the bumper. one of the men, the oldest,
started towards the front door clearly intending to call on Paul. Lynnell again
ducked down and pressed herself to the door. The man rapped sharply on the door
several times and waited for a response. After a minute, he left the porch and
said to his companions, "Looks like Brown left, unless he's in the workshop
in back. He knew we were coming and said he might be gone when we arrived. You
two get started and I'll pick you up this evening on the old north logging road.
That is, unless you get lucky and bag the cat before then." He returned to
the truck and departed in a grinding of gears and cloud of exhaust.
The
beagles, knowing they were on a hunt, eagerly began casting for a scent and
pulled the tracker towards the back of the house. Hearing the men move around
back, Lynnell slipped from the living room to watch from her bedroom window. The
dogs pulled the tracker to the far side of the pool and, catching the cat's
scent in the dew dampened grass, dragged him towards the trees and higher
ground. When they had disappeared from sight, she returned to her prowling and
headed for Paul's office where she expected to find much more about him.
Checking the book cases first, she found a myriad of books on ceramics, glazes,
and techniques interspersed with notices of art shows pending and past,
clippings from several area papers about his work, and invitations to enter
shows, teach classes, judge contests and join discussion groups. All of which
gave her the impression that he was well liked, and held in high regard as an
artist, at least on the local level.
Lynnell
moved on to the computer station, leaving the desk for last. Stacks of
fan-folded printouts threatening to topple over lined the back, while a fairly
new tower and monitor dominated the space in front. Littering almost every bare
space of the area were slips of paper listing various World Wide Web addresses,
most notable and eye-catching was the address for the Cleveland paper. Her
curiosity knowing no bounds, she turn the computer on and finding it unprotected
by a password, accessed the Internet and her home paper. She casually scanned
the front page stories finding nothing of interest and scrolled to the second
page. The story about her mother' detention leaped off the page at her. Lynnell
reread the story several times before shutting the computer down and leaving the
room, tears rolling down her cheeks. Turning into the hall, she went to her
room, threw herself on the bed and cried herself to sleep.
Returning
to the house several hours earlier than planned, and with a guest following him
up the logging road, Paul pulled into the drive, turned in behind the house and
his guest pulled in behind him. Paul exited the car and stretched, waiting for
the other driver to emerge. "Welcome back to my little piece of
heaven," Paul said to his guest. "Wait here while I let the girl know
I'm not alone." As Paul walked towards the door, the other driver, began
unloading several cases from the back seat of his vehicle. Paul had to use his
key to let himself in the house. Figuring that Lynnell had locked the door to
keep
the rangers from entering, he casually entered and called out, "Lynnell,
I'm home." No answer. "Lynnell? Lynnell?" he called as he went
further inside. Getting no response, he started searching the rooms. When he
reached her room, he found her asleep on the bed. Paul went to the bed and
brushing the hair gently from her face, softly called her name again. This time
she responded by stretching and opening her eyes. "Paul, your home. I must
have fallen asleep." Suddenly aware that she was nude from the waist up,
she grabbed the pillow and pulled it in front of her. Paul, choosing not to
react to her bared breasts, calmly informed her that they had company, and asked
her to join them in the living room when she had thoroughly awake. He turned
around and left the room, closing the door behind him. Gingerly getting out of
bed, she brushed her hair and eased a loose blouse over her tender back and
buttoned it to her neck. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she opened the door
and headed for the living room.
Paul
and his guest stood as Lynnell entered the room. "Lynnell, I'd like you to
meet Mr. Mike James. He is my attorney and my closest friend. He and I have been
discussing your situation and he has come out here to advise us on some legal
matters. Before we get started though, you should know that your mother is being
held in the Cleveland jail. You didn't tell anyone that you were running away,
and you didn't leave a note, so the police seem to think that she was involved
in your disappearance. Lynnell, they think that your mother has killed
you." Paul paused, expecting her to react to the news but was surprised by
her nonchalance. Looking from the attorney to Paul, she stunned them both by
saying, "I know Paul, I've known all day. I got bored and turned your
computer on. When I saw that it wasn't protected by a password, I got on the
Internet and used the web address that you left by the monitor to read the
paper. Paul, I want to know why you didn't tell me this morning, before you
left. Why Paul?" Feeling guilty, Paul looked at the floor and said,
"I'm sorry Lynnell, I wasn't sure that it would be a good time to tell you,
knowing that I wouldn't be there all day to talk with you about it. That's why I
asked Mike to come out here; so we could talk it over and decide what to
do." He looked up at Lynnell, hoping that she wasn't angry with him.
Expressionlessly, she walked to the chair opposite the two men on the couch and
sat down saying to Mike, "I'm pleased to meet you, and I apologize for my
rudeness. You are here to advise and help, Mr. James, what do you suggest?"
"The
first thing that we have to do is to shut this story down, hopefully before it
gets picked up by the national media. I've given this a lot of thought, and I
believe that if you were to make a video tape, several actually, that we can
prove that you are still alive and get your mother out of jail. Beyond that,
Paul has expressed a desire for you to live here as his ward. In other words
Lynnell, he wants to be your legal guardian." Mike looked from the girl to
Paul then continued. "He and I have talked this out and we think that we
have figured out a way to arrange this, with the court's approval. But before we
can begin, we need to know how you feel about it. Would you want to live here as
Paul's ward?" Lynnell was astounded beyond speech, she could only look at
Paul, her violet eyes wide with shock. "Well, Lynnell," Paul said,
"What do you think?"
Tears
welled up and over flowed, tracing the curves of her cheeks to drop suddenly to
the curve of her jaw, and fall unnoticed upon her lap. Still not quite sure of
Paul's intentions, she spoke a single word, "Why?" Paul stood walked
to the bar and poured a sherry for himself and returned to stand behind
Lynnell's chair before speaking to the silent room. "I told you the other
day that my wife and daughter were killed on the mountain that stands alone.
Remember, I pointed it out to you. I didn't tell you how they died because it
still hurts so bad to remember but, you deserve to know. I used to be an avid
cross-country skier and my wife and daughter had driven me to the top of the
mountain early that morning. After dropping me off, they were going to drive to
Colorado Springs to go shopping while I skied home. on the way down, they
stopped to look at the view, I guess. An avalanche roared down the mountain and
swept their car off the road and over the lookout point; it was over three
hundred feet to the bottom. They never had a chance." Paul stopped for a
moment and Lynnell heard him draw a ragged painful breath before he continued.
"They
were
buried under about a hundred feet of snow, the car, when it was found, was
crushed, and their bodies were mangled almost beyond recognition." Paul
drew in another shuddering breath that was half sob and went on. "The
police and the Forest Rangers determined that the slide was caused by a skier,
his tracks were found where the avalanche started. What was never known to them
was that I was the only skier in that area that morning. I caused the avalanche,
I killed them. I've never forgiven myself and I will always hurt when I think of
my loss. The one thing I regret most of all, is that I never got to help my
daughter grow up. I wanted so much to be there for her first date, teaching her
to drive, just being the best father I could for her." Tears now flowing
freely down Paul's facer he forced himself to remember and it was tearing him up
inside. After a few seconds, he forced himself to finish the story. "Lynnell,
honey, she had violet eyes the same shade as her mother's, and the same shade as
yours. I want to give you everything I was never able to give to her, do for you
what I was never able to do for her. Maybe, just maybe, it will heal the heart
that broke that day on that damned mountain Maybe, just maybe it will heal my
soul." Paul, unable to control himself any longer, walked from the room to
his office and closed the door, shutting out the world to give free rein to his
grief.
Lynnell
rose from the chair, intending to go to Paul. Mike, knowing his friends' need
for privacy said, "Leave him alone for a while, he needs time to deal with
it in privacy. Set back down and I'll tell you the rest of the story." She
looked longingly at the door, wanting so much to go to Paul but stopped, and sat
back down, knowing that Mr. James, who knew his friend so much better than she,
was probably right. "Thank you Lynnell." Mike said as she settled into
the chair. "What he didn't tell you, was what happened after the funeral.
Paul was understandably heartbroken but had managed to get through the ordeal
without breaking down. When he got home that night, it was a different story.
Paul began to drink very heavily. When that didn't make the guilt and the pain
go away, he turned to drugs. Days would go by without him sobering up or
straightening out. Time after time, I tried to get him to snap out of it, but he
wouldn't listen. He became bitter, stopped working, in general, he gave up on
life. For a year, Paul lived in a haze of drugs and booze. He was arrested
several times for public drunkenness, drunk,driving, disorderly conduct and
finally drug possession. I managed to keep him out of jail, but he went on with
his reckless, self-destructive lifestyle."
"I
don't know why, maybe God felt he had suffered enough or, maybe it was luck.
Somehow, in a near stupor(and I got this story from the bartender where it
happened), he bought a single Powerball lottery ticket. It was the only winning
ticket for over one hundred million dollars. After taxes, Paul began receiving
annual checks for more than three million dollars. That was several years ago.
The shock of winning was like a transplant for his soul. Within days, he called
me to get him admitted to a substance abuse recovery program.
In
six months, He emerged a new man. He returned to his studio and began to produce
some of the most beautiful work he had ever done. He and I made an agreement
with the government that got him this property and, he rebuilt an old logging
camp into what is here today6 That's the story but, there is one other thing you
should know," He looked deep into Lynnell's eyes and asked, "Do you
understand what impotence is?" Lynnell thought for a moment and said in a
soft voice, "You mean when a man can't have sex?" "Sort of, it's
more than that though," Mike shifted on the couch uncomfortably before
continuing on, ititis a problem that can have both mental and or physical
causes. When a man is impotent, he is physically unable to get an erection or,
if he does get one, he can't maintain it long enough to achieve orgasm,
understand?" Lynnell nodded her head and Mike continued, "the drugs,
the alcohol, the grief have left
their
mark on Paul. He has been impotent since the accident."
"I
know that your presence here has had a powerful impact on him. Hell, I haven't
seen him get this excited about anything for years. If, by some miracle his mind
releases its grip on his ability to have sex, I don't know how to put this but,
if he regains the ability that he has lost, I don't know how safe you would be
here. I've talked with a friend, a psychologist, who says that some men who
return to normal sexual function sometimes, not always, but sometimes lose their
grip on what is morally right or wrong. I just want you to know that it might
happen to Paul." Lynnell looked at Mike James and said in a soft voice,
"I understand. But you have to understand the man has saved my life two
times and, right or wrong, if it happens, I won't stop it. I feel that I owe him
that much. I'm not a virgin sir, and I'm mature enough, and smart enough to
understand the consequences of my actions." Mike looked the girl in the
eyes and said, "I hope you know what you're doing. If it does happen, and
anyone were to find out, it would literally destroy his life. Be very careful
young lady, the life you're playing with is my friends'. It's not a game,
understand." "Completely, Mr. James, I understand completely" she
replied and so saying, rose from the chair and again headed for the door to
Paul's office. After tapping gently, she turned the knob and eased the door
open. Paul was stretched out on the couch sound asleep. Lynnell looked at him
for a minute
then, closed the door and returned to Mike James. "I've thought it over. I'll compromise on one thing, I promise not to provoke him and I won't encourage Paul, but remember, I won't stop him, either. Now, what were you talking about when you said you wanted me to make some tapes?"