Notes: The musing about Jared's son is XenoEmblemFTW's idea!

Chapter Nine

The rest of the Bunch was waiting at the ranch when they arrived, as were Yusei and Antinomy, who weren't about to leave until everything was solved. The ranch was in darkness, with Amanda having ordered mining to stop until the other safety features were fully implemented. But as they all watched, a dark figure walked across the grass in the direction of the tunnel.

"Is that our guy?" Billy wondered.

"Let's wait and see what he does," Radley said.

As they had expected, he went to the trapdoor and lifted it. When he started to go down, Kalin stepped forward and shined a flashlight in his direction. "Ms. Bennett ordered mining to stop," he said, and then frowned. "Dave?"

Dave scowled, raising an arm to shield himself from the sudden light. "What are you doing here?" he growled. "Are you trying to be the ranch's private police force now?"

"I believe we should ask what are you doing here," Radley said calmly.

"I'm looking for the missing guards!" Dave said. "They're still gone and they shouldn't be! Now, what about you guys?"

Kalin sighed and held the light away. "We're trying to catch the final criminal," he said. "Carlton."

"Who told you it was him?" Dave snapped. "He's been with Ms. Bennett since she first started trying to do this."

"According to his co-conspirators, he got fed-up with the idea after that ranch hand was killed," Kalin said. "When Jared wanted to shut the ranch down, Carlton agreed."

"He was also greedy and wanted to take over the mining operations himself," Radley added.

"Why tell all this to me?" Dave grumped. "Shouldn't you be trying to find him?"

"We were hoping you'd help," Kalin grunted. "If you've seen him anywhere or know where he is, you could tell us."

"He's probably in bed," Dave retorted. "I'm only up because I'm still trying to find those guards."

"If they're lost in the tunnels, it could still take hours to find them," Radley said. "And I doubt just one guy can do it."

"Yeah, your men were looking for hours and didn't find anything," Dave said. "But I'm trying again anyway."

"It means that much to you?" Kalin said.

"You haven't exactly been sociable that we've seen," Radley said.

"They need to be found anyway," Dave said. "Ms. Bennett wants that." He still sounded gruff, but not as nasty as before. "I was hoping to turn them up before she gets back from the hospital."

Radley sighed. ". . . The other crooks really didn't say their inside man was Carlton," he confessed. "They said it was you."

Dave stared at him. "Then why . . . ?!"

"Neither of us were really sure they were telling the truth," Radley said. "So we decided we'd make up a story and see how you reacted. Instead of trying to condemn Carlton, you insisted he was innocent."

"Of course, if you had a conscience, you might say that anyway instead of letting him take the fall for you," Kalin said. "But what we'd like to know is why they would say it was you if it really isn't."

"I don't have any idea!" Dave growled. "But I'd like to see them myself and demand answers."

"Technically, we could arrange that," Radley said. "They're in jail. Although there's no guarantee that they would give you any straight answers."

"You're one of the only ones working here who was never a member of Malcolm's Crew," Kalin said. "That could be why they picked you as a patsy."

"Carlton is another who wasn't," Radley said. "And Ms. Bennett herself, naturally." He paused. "But there is one more possibility. It could be someone who was part of Malcolm's Crew, someone who for some reason decided to turn against his fellow Crewmembers."

"Would any of them do that?" Kalin frowned. "I know we were considering Seluga, but what about the others?"

Radley sighed. "I don't know. I thought the others here were all more clean-cut and more like the Bunch. But maybe I'm just being naive again. Who was that one who joined with Rick and Jake? . . . Fred. I wonder where he is."

". . . There's another possibility, and I hope I'm wrong," Kalin said. "What if it was Rick or Jake?"

"I don't think so," Radley said. "Jake has been at the hospital non-stop. He wouldn't have been around to let them in to cause more trouble."

"Unless by then he'd instructed them on how to get in themselves," Kalin said. He sighed. "I really don't want to believe that, though."

"I'm sure it's not them," Radley insisted.

"And when we were at the hospital, Seluga still wasn't well enough that we could talk to him," Kalin frowned. "He might know something more."

"You know, Fred is one of the missing guards," Dave spoke up.

". . . Who's the other?" Kalin asked.

"Jason," Dave said.

"We need to find them," Radley said. "I'm not convinced they're on the ranch at all. If they stayed in the tunnels and wandered off, they could be halfway to the City by now."

"Seluga remembered being dragged," Kalin said. "It would probably take at least two people to do that. Maybe the guards really are guilty and skipped out after making sure Seluga was in a hard to find place."

Radley nodded. "Although you, Dave, probably could drag Seluga by yourself."

"You said you didn't think I was guilty!" Dave snapped.

"We didn't think it made much sense, but what about this case does?" Radley replied.

"I'm not even from here! I don't have any reason to want to hurt people from Malcolm's Crew!" Dave insisted. "And why would I want to ruin the one place willing to give me a job?"

"Maybe you were offered a lot more to ruin it?" Kalin said.

"I wasn't," Dave growled.

"Well, somebody's lying somewhere," Radley said smoothly, "because Ms. Bennett said Henry and Jack were the missing guards. Unless there are four of them now?" He raised an eyebrow.

Dave stared at him, stunned, before attempting to stammer out a reply. "It is Fred and Jason! Henry and Jack finished their shift before them!"

"And Ms. Bennett didn't know the shift had changed?" Radley mused. "Or did she deliberately lie? Hmm. So many mysteries and so many possibilities of who is telling the truth."

"She definitely knew what times the shifts changed!" Dave cried. "But she'd have no reason to want her own ranch shut down! This place is her heart and soul!"

"I'm inclined to agree with you," Kalin said. "But what does that leave?"

"Someone could have rewritten the schedule and she saw the wrong one," Radley mused. "Or she was so upset about all the people being hurt that she forgot Henry and Jack's shift already ended."

"Or maybe you're lying about it being Fred and Jason missing," Kalin said to Dave.

"Go check the bunkhouse if you won't believe me!" Dave snapped. "They're gone, and Henry and Jack are there!"

"Actually, that's a good idea," Kalin said.

"I know them well enough to point them out," Radley said. "Why don't you take us there, Dave?"

"What should we do?" Billy called over from the fence.

"Wait there in case something else strange happens," Kalin said. "With this case, it's hard to say."

"Be careful," Yusei said in concern. And then he climbed over the fence. "I'm coming with you."

Kalin smiled a bit. "You're not a law enforcement officer."

"No, but I'm your friend," Yusei said. "I know you can handle this, but I'm here and I want to help."

Kalin nodded. "Come on then."

Dave led them to the bunkhouse without hesitation. And then they found that he seemed to be right; Henry and Jack definitely were the ones there, and they and the rest thoroughly insisted that Fred and Jason were the missing ones. Calling Amanda to ask her about the mix-up resulted in her being genuinely surprised but then just as concerned.

Radley sighed as he hung up the phone. "You know, there is one other possibility, come to think of it," he said. "What if no one on the ranch is responsible and we were lied to as one last-ditch effort to cause trouble for the ranch?"

"I wouldn't put it past Jared, but I don't know about Roger," Kalin said. "And if they're not responsible, why can't we find those guards?!"

"They could always be victims too," Radley said. "Seluga said he couldn't tell who dragged him. Both Fred and Jason were part of Malcolm's Crew. Don't you think he would recognize their voices?"

"It seems reasonable to think so," Kalin admitted. "But when he was so badly hurt, he might not."

"We need to step up the search for those guards," Radley said. "What all hasn't been checked yet?"

"By now we've gone over almost everything," Dave said. "I don't know how thoroughly the caves at the edge of the property have been searched. They don't seem to connect with the tunnels and they might have just been given a quick look."

"Then let's go there," Radley said.

He and Kalin and Yusei all stayed alert as Dave led them over the property to the caves, just in case he would suddenly prove Roger's story true and turn on them. But Dave seemed determined to prove otherwise. Soon they arrived at the red rocks with cave openings that had formed and eroded over time. All of them looked dark and uninviting.

"How far back do these go?" Radley asked.

"Different lengths," Dave said gruffly. "But Ms. Bennett didn't want to do anything with them, so we've really only looked in them enough to make such there aren't wild animals nesting in there."

"That's encouraging," Kalin deadpanned.

"Stay ahead of us," Radley instructed Dave as he pulled out his flashlight.

"I'm not going to try to stuff you in here and leave you to die," Dave scowled.

"Good," Radley smiled. "But stay ahead of us anyway."

"You know, if we do find the guards in here, how do we know you didn't just deliberately lead us to them?" Kalin grunted.

"Why would I do that if I put them here?!" Dave fumed. "I wouldn't want them found if I'm guilty!"

"Unless they don't know you're involved," Radley said.

"You people are impossible!" Dave snarled.

"Sadly, it is a legitimate question," Radley said.

"Then nothing I do will convince you!" Dave said. "Why not just arrest me and get it over with?!"

"We still don't know what to believe," Kalin said.

The caves certainly seemed empty. Each one they ventured into was dark, lonely, and looked as though humans hadn't walked inside in years. Layers of dirt and dust covered the floors, undisturbed by footprints or drag marks. It was only in the penultimate cave that the situation changed.

"Kalin . . ."

Kalin started and looked over at Radley's concerned voice. Blood was all over the floor, both in puddles and streak marks.

Yusei was horrified. "Could someone even survive losing this much blood?"

Dave swore. "There's shoe prints here," he said.

". . . And they are smaller shoes than yours," Radley noted. "Whoever dragged the body wasn't you."

Dave grunted in acknowledgment and went on ahead. "Hello? Fred? Jason?"

A weak moan was their response.

"Someone's still alive," Kalin said. Not caring any more about having Dave go in front, he ran out, shining his flashlight around to find the source of the moan.

He almost tripped over the bodies at his feet. When he looked down, he was chilled. Both Fred and Jason were there, beaten and bloodied. Fred had weakly pulled Jason into a protective hug. Jason, either unconscious or worse, didn't react.

Kalin immediately dropped down beside them. "What happened?!" he demanded of Fred.

Radley ran up, took in the scene, and promptly pulled out his phone to call for an ambulance. When Yusei caught up, he knelt to start examining the wounds.

"Early this morning," Fred rasped. "We'd just come on duty and we heard moaning. We found Seluga hurt, and Jared Adamson from the lumber yard dragging his body. He saw us and just went crazy. We both got knocked out and woke up here, and he just kept . . . beating us and beating us. . . ." Fred shuddered, blinking as blood ran down his face past his eye. "He said we deserved to die because we sided with Malcolm, who killed his son. . . ."

Kalin swore. "Is Jason alive?"

"Y-Yes," Fred said. His voice was weakening now. "I threw myself over him to protect him and I got the worst of it. . . ."

Radley hung up the phone. "You need to rest," he said. "We just need to know the answer to one question. How did he even get on the property?"

". . . He . . . he said he found a tunnel connecting his place to here," Fred mumbled.

"So nobody here let him in?" Radley asked.

"No," Fred said.

"Okay, just rest," Radley soothed. "The ambulance is coming."

"And now there's only one paramedic," Kalin frowned.

Radley heaved a sigh. "Well . . . I know some basic first aid. I can help. You?"

"Me too," Kalin agreed.

"Same," Yusei said.

Dave stepped back. "I still want to know why they'd lie about me," he snarled.

"We'll worry about that later," Kalin said. "We'll need your help too. These people are badly hurt."

Radley nodded in sad agreement. "As if Jared hadn't racked up enough charges against himself as it is," he said. He bent down to start cleaning up the blood and seeking out the worst injuries.

"These two had better pull through," Dave growled.

Kalin pressed a cloth against Jason's arm. He feared more that maybe only one would pull through. That was a nightmare he wouldn't wish on anyone, especially close friends. He said a silent prayer in his heart.

xxxx

Amanda was overwhelmed when the group arrived at the hospital with the ambulance. "What is this?!" she exclaimed, staring at Fred and Jason in horror. "What happened to them?!"

"Jared Adamson happened to them," Kalin said, watching as they were quickly wheeled into the Emergency Room. "He said he found a tunnel connecting his property with the ranch, according to Fred. He came over, hurt Seluga, and beat these two practically to death when they accidentally found him." He ran a hand over his exhausted eyes.

A hand flew to Amanda's mouth. "No!"

"And the crumb had the gall to say I was the one letting him on the ranch!" Dave snarled.

"Actually, it was Roger who said that," Radley frowned, "and he seemed penitent, which makes it all the more confusing."

"Dave and Seluga are built similarly," Kalin mused. "If they only came at night, I wonder if Seluga caught them sometime and Roger mistook him for Dave."

"But would he have helped them?" Radley wondered. "Malcolm denied wanting to get the ranch, and I can't believe Jared would even consider letting Seluga help him." He shook his head. "There must have been some other reason. We'll be sure to ask when we're done here." He paused, then took out his phone. "On the other hand, I think I'll ask Scotch to ask now."

Scotch was all too happy to have something else he felt he could do to help. In a few minutes he sent another text, which Radley read with a frown.

"He says Roger said he lied about Dave because Dave had been rude and uncaring about Roger's brother's death when they spoke of it," he reported. "Roger wanted to get him in trouble."

Kalin sighed in exasperation and gave Dave a frown. "Well, you didn't deserve to be framed as an accessory to this mess and Roger shouldn't have carried his feelings that far, but you're not very sociable or kind," he said bluntly. "I don't blame him just for being angry."

Dave scowled. "Sure, it was terrible what happened to the kid," he said. "But he should have known working on a ranch was dangerous and he might get hurt! It's his own fault he died. His brother had no right to come here and try to shut it down."

"No, he didn't," Kalin agreed. "But you didn't help the situation any. And honestly, I know what it is to not feel sociable and to treat everyone you meet with discourtesy and rudeness. That's how I treated Radley and the Bunch when I first came here. I regret it every day. In my case, I wasn't mentally well, so Radley and my other friends always tell me I really couldn't help it. But if that's not the case with you, you can definitely help it. I just hope you never have the kind of wake-up call I got when I found Radley laying dead and it hit me all at once how cruelly I'd treated him."

Dave grunted. "We'll see. I don't plan to be here forever, just until it feels like it's time to move on."

"Right now Ms. Bennett needs you," Radley said, "especially with four of her hands out of commission!" He folded his arms. "So I hope you plan to stay on for now, at least."

"For now," Dave agreed.

Kalin and Radley lingered at the hospital with their friends for a while longer, until the first report on Fred's and Jason's conditions came back from the doctor. Amanda looked to them with relief and joy in her eyes.

"It looks like they're both going to recover!" she exclaimed. "They'll need help for a while, of course, but they'll be alright! Seluga will be too."

"Good," Kalin said.

"And Rick and Jake said they'll consider staying on too," Amanda added more quietly. "I just hope I can live up to what they want."

"Don't treat them like china dolls and you'll be fine," Radley said. "Really make them feel like they're part of the family."

"I will," Amanda said. "And . . . maybe I'll watch you from time to time to see how you interact with your Bunch."

"Sure, go ahead," Radley said.

"Radley used to call me 'Teacher,' but really, he's the best teacher of the two of us," Kalin said.

"Oh, we each have our strengths," Radley smiled, lacing his fingers on Kalin's shoulder.

"Well . . . I'm sorry for how I gave you both such a hard time," Amanda said. "You didn't deserve that, especially when I'd asked for your help."

"No, we didn't," Radley said calmly.

"Thank you for sticking around," Amanda said. "It's alright if you go now."

"Then I think we will," Kalin said.

Radley nodded. "Let's go see the others and then go home to bed."

Kalin smiled. "That sounds like a plan to me." He looked to Yusei and Antinomy. "Thanks for helping out here. It's always good to see you, Yusei."

Yusei smiled too. "I wasn't really needed here. You guys had everything under control."

"Having your support was still great," Kalin said. "We need to visit in person more often."

"I agree," Yusei said. "Hopefully the next time, things can stay peaceful."

"Things rarely seem to stay peaceful around here for long," Radley mused. "But we can always hope. And wecan make the most of whatever peaceful moments we're allowed to have in between catastrophes."

"That's a good policy," Yusei agreed. He smiled and stepped back to Antinomy. "You guys be careful. I know you'll always have each other's back."

"Of course," Radley smiled.

Kalin drew an arm around Radley's waist as they headed for the doors. "This has been such a weird mystery," he grunted. "I wasn't sure anything could top my starting to discover what being a police officer is really like, but now I've also seen burning hatred from the outside looking in. Jared's behavior is absolutely repulsive in every way . . . and I can relate because I acted like that too. I didn't care who suffered."

"You were under the control of that dark force," Radley said. He hugged Kalin close. "And you told me your real desire was for the team to meet and play one last duel together. It sounds to me as though you never wanted to hurt Yusei; the evil force just took your desire and twisted it into something evil when it took you over."

"It still seems unforgivable," Kalin said. "Hatred itself is a dark force that can twist and control you even without the magical help." He frowned. "I have to see to it that Jared is condemned for what he did because it's against the law, but I wanted such condemnation for myself and didn't get it. I almost feel like a hypocrite. The only reason I'm walking free is because you can't be arrested for magical crimes."

"Kalin . . ." Yusei spoke up from behind them. "It's also because you were deserving of a second chance."

"And what about Jared?" Kalin said. "Is he not deserving just because he wasn't possessed by a magical force?"

"We'll let the law decide," Radley said. "And actually, coming to think of it . . . his son should be among the mining ghosts who wanted to stay in town instead of moving on. I wonder if he's been trying to communicate with his dad and can't get through." Like I couldn't get through to you when I was dead. . . .

Kalin frowned. "That's possible," he agreed. "I suppose there's nothing we could do to help the situation along."

"I think that nothing will work until the father's heart is able to see and hear the son," Antinomy said.

Kalin frowned more. "Will such a time even come?"

Radley considered the question and finally nodded. "I think so. I remember the old Jared. I think that person is still in there, somewhere."

"I hope so," Yusei said.

Kalin stared off into the distance. Did Jared deserve such a blessing after what he had done? Kalin couldn't answer that question. He still wasn't sure he himself deserved everything he had. But he deeply appreciated it all anyway.

He hugged Radley a little closer as they stepped outside.