Yee Naldooshi

Chapter 2

"Alex! Alex! Thank God you're answering your phone!" Mo continued, "You wouldn't believe the day we've had."

Alex rolled her eyes, then glanced back down at the reports that she held in her hand. Half-heartedly listening to the phone that she had squeezed in between her chin and shoulder, Alex was pretty sure that there was grumbling in the background about something being dirty… or was it hungry… which ever, she was sure it was Julie who was now muttering about bed bugs and cheap hotels.

"What are you two up to now?" Alex tried to concentrate on the fact that this account really relied on the need to secure a viable marketing presence that would resound with the upscale middle-American family. Marketing was getting so cut-throat, but one's advertisements had to be subtle yet hide that fact at the same time. Attract the right people and those people will come because they want what you have, you just need to sell it. "Sell it." Alex could hear the word's of her boss ringing in her ear as she reviewed the demographic data for the area in which they were trying to slap in the newest "Whole Foods" market.

"Oh my God, my car… I'm so pissed off right now, and I'm about to kill Julie…"

Were the local demographics quite right for this upscale grocer? Alex was not convinced. Not convinced at all. Organic foods and locally sourced products would typically cost a bit more than the basic retail supermarket, and Alex just wasn't sure that this was the right market.

"My car is dead, Alex. It's dead. Listen..."

This prospective town was already a bit depressed as a result of a recent bankruptcy and layoff at the local manufacturing plant… why introduce a store that provided product at least 34% higher than what the consumers were already paying? Alex couldn't make sense of it. Hold on… what did Mo say?

"What? Julie's dead?"

"No, my car is dead. Would you listen to me for a change? The Honda is a goner and we're stranded. I need your help," said Mo.

"Mo, I'm kinda busy here…"

"Alex, we're stranded. Do you know what stranded means?"

"I've got a presentation to the board of directors." She had taken pains to wear a power suit for her presentation that said she was a woman on the rise. Her blond hair matched the business attire, and was gathered into a smooth french knot.

"I swear, I'm going to kill Julie unless you come right now. She is driving me insane. I need you to come and get us out of this dump. Please? We're on to something big here. Alex, we need your help."

Alex, short for Alexis, heard the desperate plea on the other side of the phone and thought to herself, "Dangit." She could hear Julie grumbling and pacing in what she presumed to be dingy motel room. Alex knew what was going on. They were in a situation. A "situation". They were always in a "situation", it seemed.

"Mo, I got some things going on here."

"Write this address down. I promise it will be quick. It's Friday night, you shouldn't be working anyways."

Sure, Alex had a load of work to do. For instance, there was the miserable outlook of having to present this worst case scenario to the board of directors. Being polished for the presentation was critical, especially since she had a terrible fear of public speaking.

"Is she coming to get us?" she heard Julie ask.

Julie had tired from pacing and taken a prone position on the lone king sized bed. Julie could hear that the phone conversation was going no where. Frustration gave way to irritation. Morgan and Alex needed someone to take charge. "Tell her that I'm going to beat her ass if she doesn't show up here within the hour."

"Hey, I'm trying to get this thing done at work tonight so I can… Oh alright." Dammit, Alex, thought to herself as she asked. One night. One night, that's all she asked for. Between work and saving the fearless duo from ridiculous escapades, Alex wished for one quiet evening. One quiet evening or save her fair friends from impending doom, this was her decision.

Actually, come to think of it, Julie and Mo were fairly safe. They were in a relatively clean motel room and had one king sized bed to share. What could possibly go wrong? Other than Julie snoring, what could go wrong?

"Write this down," Mo demanded.

Alex sighed, or was it an agonized moan, "Oh… Ugh… I'll get you in the morning. Is that okay? I can't do it tonight. I promise. First thing in the morning." Alex was determined to sleep in till 9 tomorrow, maybe even 9:15.

Hearing that, Mo glared at Julie. Julie was such a bed hog. One night. Surely, she could suffer one night.

The flimsy door of the hotel room swung open before Alex could knock a second time.

"Thank God you're here," said Julie.

"What happened to you?" Julie's red hair was teased up like a drunken cockatoo's crest.

"Just get us out of this place. I need a shower. In fact, I need two showers." Julie barrelled past Alex with coat in hand and headed directly toward Alex's car.

"Well, why didn't you take a shower this morning?"

"Because we weren't planning to stay overnight! We didn't pack..." Her last sentence was cut short by the slam of the passenger door.

Mo emerged from the dark motel room and paused to wave her pistol in the air in front of Alex. "I am packing, and this piece of luggage says to get us home, now, before I unload a clip on the red-head." Mo's bedhead was no more flattering than Julie's.

Alexis sighed. It was going to be a long ride home. Hopefully the ride would also be silent.

Alex popped two Ibuprofen in her mouth and drank from her bottle of water. The ride home had not been silent and she was left with a headache. Mo and Julie had reached an amicable truce after their showers, and were the best of friends again. All that remained of the tension in the car was Alex's headache.

The three women stood at Julie's dining room table. Paper was strewn across every inch of oak. "I'm still not even sure what you guys were doing," Alex said.

Julie gave a long sigh and pointed to the newspapers on the table. She spoke in an overly patient voice. "We've got a lead on a case. Missing persons. Technically, you'd call it a cold case. This woman has been missing for about 10 years." Julie shuffled a variety of newspaper clippings. "Wealthy Field Scientist Missing." "Scientist Missing 3 Months. Police Still Searching." "Police Give Up Hope Of Finding Researcher."

"You know how Mo has these dreams of living in the country. Well, she asked her realtor about a piece of land; it's got a cabin on it right next to a lake. Really private. Quiet. Serene. And, while they were chatting, the realtor mentioned that this property was essentially right next to the area where this scientist was last seen. So, we kinda started looking into the missing persons case."

"Do not blame this on me," Mo said heatedly, truce apparently forgotten. "I had to take a look at the property. You were the one who wanted to start us on this hunt."

Julie continued, "It just so happens that the cabin and land are close to an area that I am curious about." She pulled out a small map that had hand-drawn symbols written on it. "This is the map that I found after my...incident."

Alex sighed. "Right. So, I'm guessing this isn't over yet."

Julie answered with a quiet "No."

To move the topic away from the 'incident', Mo began raving enthusiastically about the cabin. "I want you to look over the cabin with me," Mo wheedled. "You've got such a great sense of style."

"You want me to go out there? Remember, there was someone shooting at you!"

"I'm sure it was just a concerned neighbor protecting the homestead," said Mo blithely. "If you live in the country, people are neighborly and they are going to take care of you. So unlike the city. We just need to get to know each other, you know, new neighbor to new neighbor. You're going to want to move to the country once you see how wonderful it is."

Neither Julie nor Alex was buying this particular line. Mo was always wanting to get away. One day it was the country in a secluded cottage, the next it was the oceanfront with a little bookstore. Yet neither would satisfy her sense of adventure. The search was endless.

Seeing their doubtful looks, Mo said, "Besides, there's a suspicious map. A building that we wanted to reach but got stopped by gunshots. And weird events. Aren't you intrigued?"

"I think there might be something to this, Alex. Don't dismiss it," said Julie. "Call it women's intuition, but I am very interested in this place. I just have a feeling that it is significant to what happened during my 'incident'. And then there is the part about the missing scientist. We're not exactly sure what that scientist was after, or why but there's something on this land. I can feel it. We can feel it."

"You think there's something there. You've got a feeling. Well, I've got a real feeling about this, too. I feel like if someone is shooting at you, then you should stay away!" said Alex.

"Alex," said Mo softly. "This really is suspicious. If we look hard enough, we're going to find our answer, and maybe even the scientist and whatever she was searching for."

"Hey, look at this," Julie interrupted. She was perusing a geologic map that denoted every contour and every sketchy road possible. "If we take Forest Road 1013 down the the other side of the ridge here," she pointed to a spot on the map, "we could get to that marked place on my map by going in on the north side rather than the south side like we did yesterday. And, we wouldn't even have to see that dang Honda of yours. We'd bypass it."

Mo's nostrils flared. She loved that car. In fact, she was still pissed off about how it met an untimely end. That car could go for another 100,000 miles, easy. It was still salvageable. In fact, she was going to consider rescuing her beloved car as an optional mission for this weekend. She decided to keep that notion under wraps for the moment.

"We just need something with 4-wheel drive," continued Julie.

"Wait a second," Alex tried to interject, but had no success in getting anyone's attention.

"Julie, let's bring all of our gear this time," Mo said with excitement. "We might need to do a stake-out. But I'm not getting stuck in the middle of nowhere a second time without our stuff."

"Want me to bring the shotgun?"

"Yeah."

The two singers slash private-eyes were off in a flurry. Alex stood in bewilderment in front of the dining room table, amazed at how fast the women were buzzing around.

Alex tried again to get their attention. "I said, Wait a second!" she yelled.

Julie paused from throwing a fleece blanket on top of her body pillow. "Did we forget something?"

"Yes! Where are you going to a get a 4-wheel drive to take out to a mountain cabin beset with a gun-shooting hermit?"

"No problem. We'll call Tate. As long as we tell her there is fishing involved, she won't mind at all."

One phone call and an hour later, Tate arrived at Julie's. Tate was a friend who worked a thankless job in government service, but the upside was that it left her with three-day weekends for fishing. Throw in a little sequestration and she could possibly fish for a week or two at a time. All that fishing also meant that Tate kept a 4-wheel drive pickup on hand.

The four women were standing in Julie's garage, surveying the mountain of equipment piled in the center of the cement floor. Cute clothes and warm boots suitable for a mountain climate were packed, along with hair products, plenty of moisturizer, and food.

"Mo, you want my truck? Why?" Tate was addressing Mo, but she left off looking at the camping supplies to begin looking at Alex.

"Tate, pay attention. We need to use your truck to get us back up the mountain. Someone shot out my tire and…"

Tate's gaze zipped to Mo. "Shot? Your car got shot and you want me to loan you my truck? Are you out of your ever-lovin' mind?"

Julie butted in, since the conversation appeared to be going downhill. "There's a fish camp not far from there. Pack your fishing things and you can fish after you drop us off."

Tate looked back at Alex. Seeing where her gaze was focused, Julie said, "I'm sorry. Let me introduce you. Tate, this is…"

"We've met," Alex said smoothly, and put out her slim hand in greeting.

"Yes, we have. I wasn't sure you would remember, " said Tate, as she put her hand out to grasp Alex's in a handshake that was more of a hand-holding motion.

"Of course I remember. You were singing Joan Jett on the stage of The Crazy Parrot. I was there for a drink after work. It was spectacular. But, I thought you were joining Julie and Mo in their singing group."

Tate blushed. "No. That was just me, fooling around. I'm not a professional like they are."

Mo rolled her eyes. "Come on you two. Tate, get your keys, we need to go. You can admire each other later." To which, both Tate and Alex smiled sheepishly, their eyes still locked together.