All The WayChapter 22
Later that night…
The handholds and ledges that transversed the village were invisible from below. It had taken several days for Richard to discover the star map was not referring to the stars outside but the stars on the dome of the cave. The rock ceiling above the village had at one time displayed a massive star chart, an ancient planetarium. Gradually the chart faded, became covered with spider webs and a thin coating of dust making them invisible from below. The Anasazi used the sun, moon, and constellations in their daily lives. Some of the best astronomers were the shamans who used their ability to predict the seasons for hunting, planting and gathering crops to wield great power in their community.
Richard held the small plastic flashlight between his teeth as he crawled along the ledge, the final foot and hand holds would lie just ahead. He grimaced as he reached forward and felt the ledge give way into blackness. Casting the light back and forth he found the foot and hand holds beyond the ledge. In a few quick, cat-like movements he gripped the holds and swung into the mouth of the charnel cave. The original opening had been closed, but he had managed to make it wide enough to slide through. Richard's agile body easily slid through the slot and crawled along a narrow passageway and dropped into a vast cave. As he labored to catch his breath, the dust billowed up around his mouth coating his moist skin. The smell of death and decay still hung heavily in the cave. As he lay prostrate, catching his breath, he wondered what time it was. It was dark, long past sunset. All the nights had been this way since he had arrived. Had he slept, he couldn't remember?
Slowly, he pushed himself to a sitting position, his hands and arms brushing against skeletal remains that rattled like autumn leaves. From his knapsack he pulled out the lantern and with a hiss brought the instrument to life. At first the light was dim and cast sinister shadows against the walls and the monstrous stacks of bones. Richard adjusted the light further, illuminating the cavern. He slowly stood and moved along a narrow central path. On each side corpses lay neatly stacked one on top of another. The bones for Julia's blood work were from this cave. The skeletons were neatly piled as though in a warehouse. Carter moved cautiously through the center and estimated there were close to one hundred remains packed together. He knew enough about bones to know they were mostly women and children. Few men were in the cave and of the few men present their remains revealed signs of arthritis, disease, healed breaks, missing or worn teeth. The men in the cave were the elderly of the village. So where were all the young men? If they were in the cave he had not found them. But then he was just starting. This cave was not the end only the beginning of his work.
Each night as he and the mask communed he knew what he must do. With each passing day it became more and more clear. He had hoped Julia would be able to find enough blood cells from the three skeletons, but she informed him the pelvis gave only a small sample and nothing appeared out of the ordinary. He recalled how she sat so neat and confident in her full white apron.
So now he was back to see if any of the other skeletons might have soft tissue or organs for study. In the closed environment the soft remains would be dried and mummified, just like the Pharaohs. With that thought Richard smiled broadly, thinking how his day would be compared to the "day of days" his great uncle Howard Carter had so enjoyed. His father, Huntington Carter, proudly recalled the day Howard Carter opened the tomb of Tutankhamen and the event became the defining moment of his life. Would Julia be at his side when the reporters surrounded him, waiting anxiously for him to address the world with his defining moment? He sighed. Once they made their discovery she would willingly be his again. She would forget about other men…men like Stokes. His faced darkened at the thought. But, he knew deep inside, Julia's ambitions were as strong as his own. Together, yes, he would consider sharing this ultimate prize with her. After their triumphant day with the press, he would take her to meet his mother. He had never brought a woman home before. Mother was a difficult woman to please, just like his father. The thought made him smile again. He was certain she would be pleased with Julia.
His father always reminded him, 'Dickey, women of that 'sort' know what they are doing, they get what they want, you get what you want, and they move on. Men were meant to rule the world and their wives, well, their place is to have children and give pleasure. They should be quiet and thankful for the lifestyles their husbands provide.' With his father's guidance he felt no remorse for all the women he had used, women who moved in and out of life like eager servants.
Richard stopped at the rear of the cave. He had scanned each remain looking for soft tissue. How odd, there should be some organs remaining? Animals could not have reached the high cave to consume any flesh.
Carter moved the light around and caught a glimpse of a small figure standing at the edge of his light. He stopped abruptly and stared. The figure stepped into the light. He rubbed the dirt from his face and squinted.
"Howard Blair!" he breathlessly announced.
The thin lips of the man pulled into a tight smile. "I told you I would be checking on your progress, Dr. Carter."
Richard rubbed his face again. "How did you get here?"
Howard Blair dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and red bow tie stood quietly in the cave. His black shoes glistened in the light. His hairline formed a widow's peak giving his thin face an elfin look. Richard's brows furrowed. How was the man not covered with dust and grime? He shook his head.
Blair's long fingers smoothed down the pencil thin mustache. "I hope you are making progress, Dr. Carter!"
Richard grew nervous as he tried to answer confidently. "Of course, we're moving right along. It won't be long, I assure you."
"Yes, your assurances," Blair replied with a prolonged hiss. "We, who is the 'we' of which you refer?
Carter realized he had never mentioned Julia Hoffman in their discussions. "I brought along an assistant, an assistant who does blood work. As a matter of fact we finished work today."
"I see, "Blair hissed. "You never mentioned an assistant. This could complicate things you know. The agreement was with you alone. Involving another, well, you can see this presents a problem."
Richard's mind was racing, but he wasn't getting anywhere, his thoughts were spinning in circles. He couldn't do it without Julia. But Blair was saying he couldn't do it with Julia. This was a "Catch 22".
Blair lost any amusement, his voice sharp. "Dr. Carter, our arrangement is with you alone, do you understand. It will remain with you alone. You will have to 'deal" with this assistant in some manner. We do not want any complications. If there are complications we will be forced to deal with this assistant."
Carter found his mouth dry and was unable to speak. The lantern began to shake in his hands and reached down to steady it. When he looked up, Howard Blair was gone. Richard felt relief, but only briefly. What could he do? He and Julia had signed an agreement; she would never consider backing out. Deal with her, Blair had ordered, or we will deal with her. What did he mean by 'deal'? Richard's hands began to tremble again as well as his legs. He had to sit down and moved to the back of the cave. Finding a ledge, he sat down, placed the lantern next to him and stared out over the endless piles of skulls and bones. What could he do?
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The next morning…
Julia sat on her cot moving the smoky quartz stones between her fingers. Their surfaces had been polished with care to a velvety sheen. The spirals on the reverse sides had been delicately carved, each curve exactly the same distance from the curved line before. Julia smiled visualizing Eliot's fingers meticulously moving the ancient tools across the quartz surface. Her fingers caressed the surface of the stone again remembering how soft his skin felt when she touched and kissed his cheek. She moistened her lips recalling the wonderful pipe tobacco and the dreamy feeling she had in the crook of his arm.
"Julia." She heard her name softly whispered from outside the tent.
Quickly she rose and slipped the quartz stones in her pocket and moved to the opening.
"Who is it?" she asked.
She heard a quiet laugh. "It's Eliot."
Julia smiled as she picked up her journal, opened the fly and looked up at Eliot Stokes.
"I wasn't sure," She replied as she stepped out of the tent, checking their surroundings. The sun barely peaked over the edge of the canyon rim leaving the camp still in cool shadows. They could hear sounds from the mess tent, but Richard's tent remained silent. Julia reached out and took Eliot by the arm and led him to their research tent.
"I'm sorry, but I've been trying to avoid Denis Summerlin. The man is like my shadow."
Eliot chuckled at the thought of his diminutive colleague following the physician like a puppy. She carefully opened the fly with the professor close behind. He stood silently in the research tent taking in the assemblage of equipment.
"Julia, you've done a remarkable job."
She smiled at the compliment and pleased he had noticed her efforts. Experiments at the old house were just as challenging and had prepared her for the rigors of this expedition. Julia gestured to a chair and turned on a light. He took the offered chair and watched the physician's nimble fingers turned the journal pages. The professor perused the notes while Julia stood nervously at his side looking back and forth between Stokes and the entrance. What would Richard do or say if he found Eliot in their tent? She pursed her lips in determination. Carter would just have to deal with her decision. Eliot slowly turned the pages. From time to time his fingertips pressed against his lips, eyes narrowed in thought. Suddenly, he closed the journal and stood, his fingers smoothing back his hair as he slowly walked back and forth in the tent. Julia anxiously watched, waiting for his response, when he stopped in the center of the tent.
He smiled broadly. "You copied Richard's notes?"
Julia hesitated, then answered. "Yes."
Eliot continued to smile, "I can only imagine how flustered and befuddled our dear Dr. Carter must be."
Julia was puzzled at his cheerfulness.
"Richard has been pushy, arrogant, and difficult. I'm not sure what's wrong with him?"
Eliot laughed. "Wrong!"
He took her hand in his and gently brought it to his lips and kissed it. She watched his manner in fascination.
"My dear, Julia." He chuckled again, very amused, "pushy, arrogant and difficult is the essence of Richard Carter's personality. Ask anyone!"
The physician removed her hand, not sure how to react. Suddenly, she felt like a fool for not seeing what others had apparently known all along. But in her defense, Richard had been different with her. As Eliot had observed so long ago Barnabas Collins brought out so many emotions in so many people. Perhaps Richard Carter was no different.
Eliot gleefully rubbed his fingers together as he turned and looked to Julia. "What a magnificent puzzle, where are the other pieces?"
Julia moved to the table where the bones were neatly displayed. Eliot pulled from his pocket his monocle and slipped it over his eye. Carefully he picked up the skull and began a quick examination. His hands moved efficiently over the bones, picking them up and examining them. In only a few minutes he had examined all the bones on the table, taking each one and holding them beneath the light before he turned and looked at Julia.
"I am sure you were disturbed by what you found."
Julia's eyes were moist. "Yes, I was disturbed."
Eliot allowed the monocle to drop from his eye. "As you should be. The three young children met with a very disturbing death didn't they."
Julia nodded her head. Eliot's manner became quiet and solemn.
"The counterclockwise spiral is a warning to the living. The forces of darkness and perversion are active here, Julia. I felt the presence last night as cold and chilling as the hand of death."
Julia's eyes narrowed, thinking how quickly Eliot was moving with the information she had given him. What an extraordinary man! When did this all start, this fascination.
"When did it all start?" Julia asked thinking out loud.
"The evil forces?" He asked and began to explain his theory, when Julia interrupted.
"No, when did your fascination with evil, the occult, the other world, when did it all begin?"
Julia knew the night she prepared her parent's bodies she could think of nothing else. What was it like to die or be dead? What became of their spirits and what was this 'other world'. The moments between life and death fascinated her. Her curiosity and research led her to the undead and ultimately, Barnabas Collins.
His eyes sparkled with delight noting the warmth in her eyes. He had never felt closer to her. Working with Julia, their minds dancing in close synchrony was a dream realized.
"My interest began when I crossed into that 'other world'." He paused dramatically. Julia stared intently into his blue eyes, encouraging him to continue.
"At the age of ten, I slipped through an ice fishing hole and was carried beneath the ice of the Penobscot River. The heavy winter clothing I wore immediately soaked up the icy water weighing me down like anchor, the swift current of the river pulling me along beneath the ice, away from the opening. My father and his friends ran after me, watching my red knit cap moving beneath the ice. During that time I had my first other world experience."
Julia stared in amazement. "You were in that state between life and death?"
Eliot smiled slightly, "There is not doubt in my mind, Julia, I was in that state between life and death, I am sure of it."
"How were you saved?"
"Further downstream another group of fishermen heard my father's cries. They placed their fishing gaff down their opening and were lucky enough to hook my coat. Luck, fate, I'm not sure, they had only one opportunity to stop me. There were no other holes between their opening and the bay beyond. They pulled me to the surface through their opening and because of their efforts I was revived."
Julia stared in amazement.
Eliot smiled. "Are you ready for more clues?"
Julia slowly nodded.
A few minutes later Eliot pulled back the flap to his photography studio. On the left side of the tent were several drafting tables holding row after row of finished photographs. Several long tables ran along the perimeter containing the site information, photographs, notes and journals. Julia appreciated the orderliness of his environment. The professor quickly stepped by her and moved around the tent.
"Damn!" He cursed softly under his breath as his hands and eyes moved along the drafting table touching each photograph. Julia stepped to his side and tried to see what had caused his state of alarm. Eliot's finger pointed to gaps in the line of photos.
"Someone has carefully rearranged them trying to fill in the gap of the missing photos."
He moved to the table and carefully scanned the rows again for the missing materials.
"The site map is missing." Eliot moved from the table to the curtained door, Julia at his side, her heart pounding.
"This is the outer area of my dark room." A heavily curtained room separated the two areas. Eliot pulled back the curtain and stepped into a small room containing shallow vats and metal containers. Hanging from clips were negatives. A single red light bulb hung from the ceiling. Eliot opened a metal box on the shelf by the entrance; then sighed loudly.
"This box contains undeveloped spent film, a day's worth of effort. Thank goodness it's still here and…" Eliot's eyes moved to the clips and negatives and frowned at the gaps. "It appears the negatives to our missing photos are missing too." He removed each negative and moved to the outer room and turned on a light. In a few seconds he exhaled deeply.
Julia's eyes narrowed in thought. "So they're gone. Someone doesn't want us to solve this puzzle. What did they show?'"
He sat down and carefully smoothed down his mustache, then smiled. "There's one more photograph."
Julia returned his smile. "Where?"
Eliot brought his finger to his temple and pointed. "Here." Reaching across the table he pulled toward him a drawing pad and charcoal pencils. Swiftly the charcoal pencils moved across the paper, at first revealing a generalized wall of kiva #5, then the mural. At the bottom of the wall near the floor Eliot added two faint objects, then extending the line upward he drew a large circle. Dramatically he paused and turned to Julia.
"When I developed those kiva photos I noticed these stray items in the periphery. This is what I discovered on closer inspection."
Eliot returned to the charcoal and with an elegant flourish began a spiral. Instead of starting at the outer edge and moving inward in a clockwise direction, he started moving inward in a counterclockwise direction. Julia gave an audible gasp. Eliot turned to her and nodded.
"I would suspect if we were to inspect this village even closer we might find other spirals like this one." Eliot paused again, continuing to think out loud. "However, Herb and I surveyed and mapped this area of the canyon. I can't recall seeing any other spirals like this."
"Eliot, you said you thought the spiral was a warning to the living from the forces of darkness." Eliot nodded, listening intently. "Suppose the warning was written by one of those little girls. Suppose the warning was from the victims." Julia shivered; thinking of the darkness of the kiva and the resemblance to her prison in the basement of Collinwood. "Suppose the victims were confined in the kiva. They might have used whatever they could find to draw the spiral, trying to warn others to stay away or explain what had happened to them."
Eliot turned to the paper and began drawing again in the large circle. Julia watched as an icon appeared.
"It looks like a large cat."
"Precisely. This is a Mayan logograph. This is a sign that represents a whole word. The word, balam, is represented by the jaguar; thus the head of the animal. A jaguar is a lithe jungle cat, black in color, hunting in the dark shadows of tropical forests. The jaguar is strong and cunning. The source of our perversion of nature I feel is tied to this jaguar symbol. The bearer of this symbol belonged to the elite of Mayan culture. If that is so, then why were they here in Utah? Why not stay in the Yucatan in the life of luxury and privilege?"
Julia smiled as their eyes meet, twinkling with excitement. Julia knew very well the answer to his question. Collinwood was steeped in privilege and filled with outcasts.
"They were outcasts," Julia announced.
"Yes, Julia, I agree. Dangerous outcasts I am afraid. I fear the jaguar represents a shaman or a group of shamans. The jaguar hunts in darkness and grabs its victim by the throat and crushes the trachea. Death is instant."
A solemn silence fell between them as their heads dropped in thought. Julia's hand rested on his shoulder, her fingers gently smoothing the fabric of his shirt.
"I can only imagine those frightened little girls waiting in the darkness of the kiva, waiting for their lives to end." Julia said solemnly.
Eliot nodded, took her hand in his and gently caressed her fingers.
~~~tbc~~~