“For a couple of days. That’s all.”
“Doesn’t it make you wonder why Cavenaugh—Detective Cavenaugh—would not want to call it in?”
“I…don’t know,” Gabriel said, but he clearly understood what she implied, which brought him right back to his suspicion that Cavenaugh was indeed hiding something.
“Look at it this way.” She took him by the arm to stop him and met his eyes when he looked at her. “The bones were scarred with teeth marks, but none of them were broken. That tells us the cat was unable to break through the cortex to get to the marrow. What makes you think it would be able to bite off an entire finger? Think about it.”
Gabriel pictured the phalanges that had remained articulated. None of them had still been attached to the metacarpals or metatarsals, nor had there been any residual cartilage on the bases of the proximal phalanges. Cavenaugh must have recognized it right away.
“Christ,” Gabriel whispered. “They were severed before Oscar found them.”
***
Fueled by the lack of sleep, the manner in which they had awakened, and the task at hand, the tension in the main room of the front cabin was palpable. They had eaten their soggy oatmeal in silence, and now the dirtied paper plates hung in a plastic trash bag by a nail from the back of the northern cabin in hopes that the smell would entice Oscar to return. The coffee wasn’t percolating nearly fast enough to keep up with the demand. Will had joked that this was probably the only place in the world where there wasn’t a Starbucks within a block, but none of them had found it remotely amusing.
Cavenaugh, Kelsey, and Gabriel scrutinized the satellite maps while the other three played the daily video blogs on Cavenaugh’s laptop, making notes of anything the ghosts on the screen said that sounded like directions. They only narrowed the search to a ten mile radius for fear of being too aggressive. The last thing they wanted was to miss the right hot spring based on a faulty assumption. The springs were hard enough to spot on the maps as it was. With the dense forest and ragged cliffs, they could barely discern the river cutting right through the center, let alone smaller ponds. They guessed the maps were made in roughly March or April as there were still shaded slopes white with snow, while others showcased evergreens and aspens already beginning to sprout leaves. Details were relatively sketchy, but they had managed to locate several small creeks and a dozen larger bodies of water. They eliminated the lakes fed directly by the streams and those where they could see the wooden arch of beaver dams. Those were obviously freshwater, and they were looking for isolated pools without current or significant runoff, which narrowed their prospects to four. Two of them were within three miles of the cabins, one just under five, and the last barely within their radius. Considering they were only visible as faint reflections through the overhanging treetops, there were no guarantees they were actually bodies of water and not some stray piece of corrugated aluminum from an elk hunter’s blind, but they needed to explore every viable option.
All four possibilities were just below timberline, nearly hidden by the final surge of pines. One was on the southwestern slope of Mount Isolation, and there was another on the northern side. The third was on the northern slope of Mount Haverstam, roughly four miles south of Mount Isolation, across a valley bisected by a small stream. The fourth and farthest, was nearly ten miles to the northwest, on the northern slope of Mount Cranston. It was the least likely candidate as the rocky face was carved with eroded trenches above the pond, which potentially suggested that it was fed by seasonal runoff from the melting snow, but as they couldn’t entirely exclude it, they would save it for last.
“Listen to this,” Maura said. She sat on the middle cushion of the couch with the laptop on her thighs while Jess and Will leaned in to see the screen from either side. “This is from the book of Isaiah, chapter fourteen, verses twelve through fifteen: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”
“Three of the four are on the northern slope of the mountains,” Kelsey said, “but I don’t feel we can eliminate the fourth based on its proximity. It’s the closest to the cabins, and looks like it’s one of the larger springs. What else do you have?”
“Here,” Jess said, pointing down at the binder in which she was taking notes. She traced under the words as she spoke. “This is Ephesians, chapter six, verses eleven and twelve: Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
“All of them are roughly the same elevation,” Kelsey said.
“But of the three mountains, Isolation is the tallest.”
“This is getting us nowhere,” Will said.
“We need to remember that we’re dealing with more information than they had when they disappeared,” Gabriel said. “They didn’t have satellite images or any knowledge of hot springs. They were following the clues from the bible alone.”
“You said something about the bacteria turning red, right?” Jess asked.
“Yeah, for UV protection.”
“I know it’s a stretch, but fire could be used as a metaphor for the color red, like in this quote from Ezekiel: Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.”
“Do you really think it’s possible they found what they were looking for based on these verses?” Will asked. “I mean, what are the odds of all of this stuff existing right here in Colorado? Didn’t all of this biblical stuff happen somewhere in the Middle East?”
“It’s like they say here,” Jess said. “This is from Daniel: Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. Stephanie said in the video that they interpreted this to say that the world is divided into four parts, and that the fallen angels were banished to similar locations within each. And that the fourth kingdom describes North America, specifically the United States.”
“Angels don’t chop someone’s fingers and toes off,” Will said. “That’s the kind of thing men do.”
“You don’t believe in angels?” Maura asked.
“This isn’t the time.”
“Your brother believed in them,” Jess whispered.
“Grant was a dreamer. He would have believed anything he was told. The more outrageous the better. But he was my brother. My only little brother. And I’ll be damned if I don’t return home with some kind of news for my mother…and someone to be held responsible. So you ask if I believe in angels? Not a chance in hell. And despite all of his faults, I loved my brother, and I’m here to see that somebody pays for his death.”
Will stewed in silence for a moment before rising and storming out the back door.
“Should one of us go after him?” Maura asked.
“He just needs to blow off some steam,” Cavenaugh said. “He’ll be back soon enough.”
“Yeah,” Gabriel said, gesturing toward the window. The snow was falling so fast and thick that it was like watching television static. Even the tall pines were now invisible beneath their winter coats. “Where could he possibly go?”
***
Gabriel was exhausted. The adrenaline rush from the previous night had long since abandoned him and left him drained. They had spent the remainder of the morning and early afternoon plotting their courses through the forest and viewing the videos chronicling the last days of their family members. It had been painful for all of them to watch, especially with each other. After the final entry, they had all drifted silently apart like specters.
Will had returned after a couple hours, noticeably subdued. He had offered a mumbled apology to them as a group, but had said little else for the remainder of the time they had been together. Gabriel couldn’t blame him. Will had nearly vocalized his own thoughts verbatim. It was hard enough to lose someone cherished, even harder when the reason why seemed absurd. Their loved ones had vanished while searching for something that had meant the world to them, yet made little sense to those left behind to mourn them.
