By the time they were fifty yards into the mine shaft it was pitch dark
except for the illumination from the flashlights Terry and Alfie had brought
with them. The temperature seemed to warm slightly the deeper into the shaft
they moved, the result, Terry thought, of the earth holding lingering heat from
the sun. Undoubtedly if it had been summer they would have thought it cool
instead.
They moved forward, looking for the tunnel that Rémy had said they
should turn into, off of the main shaft. They found it, finally, and from there
the second and then the third one.
“This place is huge,” Alfie murmured at one point. “We could end up in
Timbuktu by the time we find him.”
“Well, perhaps Central City,” Terry replied with a chuckle.
After what seemed like hours, they eventually arrived at the last of the
tunnels. Its ceiling was low, so low that Terry had to bend to keep his hair
from brushing it. As they made their way down the tunnel it got progressively
smaller until Terry finally suggested they shift. Moments later a dog and a cat
were traversing the final length of the tunnel. Ahead of them they saw a faint
light that came from around a sharp turn.
The cat held up one paw and when the dog gave a nod the cat slunk down
to peer around the corner. He saw a small cavern hewn out of the rock. A
lantern stood close to the entrance, momentarily blinding him to whatever might
be behind it. He heard a soft rustling and then someone said, “A cat?”
The voice sounded young, young enough to be Rémy. The cat crept forward
until he could see the owner, confirmed visually that it was the teen, and
shifted. Seconds later Alfie crouched there, fully clothed.
“Dr. Livingston, I presume.”
“Umm, yeah, right. Sure.” Rémy smiled slightly. “Old joke.”
Alfie shrugged before calling out for Terry to join them. He did,
shifting as soon as he was inside the cavern. “Nice digs, if you’re a fox,” he
commented as he took off his heavy jacket.
“The best I could find that’s safe,” Rémy replied. “A dog and a cat huh?
I didn’t know shifters came in those forms.”
“There are more things in heaven and earth…” Alfie intoned.
“Than are dreamt of… Yeah, I know. Hamlet, right? So, anyways, what
now?”
“Now you tell us everything,” Terry said as he sat down on the stone
floor and rested his elbows on his knees.
Rémy nodded warily. He waited until Alfie had settled as well and then
began to pace the small area. “Oliver, that’s my brother, was my idol while I
was growing up. He was everything I wanted to be, tall, muscular, sure of
himself, nothing seemed to faze him. Then, about two years ago, just before he
was killed, something changed. I don’t think mom and dad noticed but I did.
Oliver seemed wary, tense. He stopped kidding around with me like he used to,
or letting me hang with him, which he sometimes did before.”
“You’re certain all this wasn’t just because he’d realized he was an
adult now and you were still a kid?” Alfie asked.
“I thought so at first, yeah. But even at home he was like that, like
looking over his shoulder all the time.”
Alfie glanced at Terry. ‘So far
that fits with what he wrote in his journal’
‘So far. Let’s see where
he goes from here’ Aloud, Terry asked, “Rémy, did you ever try to talk
with him about how he was acting?”
“Once and he shut me down big time.” Rémy worried the corner of his lips
between his teeth. “So…I followed him a couple of times when he went out.”
“And?”
“The first time it was just nothing. He met some friends for dinner and
a movie. But the second time was different. He went to a bar, which was weird
‘cause he was death on drinking. I waited outside, across the street so I could
see both exits. He came out, umm, half an hour later or so, from the rear door,
with this dude. They were, I guess sneaky about it. First Oliver comes out and
leans against the wall where it’s dark. Then the dude joins him. He was all
into the business suit look but still, I don’t know, he was like tough. If that
makes sense.”
“As if it wasn’t how he usually dressed?”
Rémy thought a second and shook his head. “More like…like in a movie
where the gangster or the agent always dresses well but you know he’s really
scary underneath that, if you get what I mean.” When the two men nodded, he
continued. “They were talking real serious and then Oliver gave the man
something. Well, slipped it to him. Like I said, they were in the shadows but
I’ve got good eyesight, like you all probably do. I could see it was paper, but
not money.”
“Information maybe?” Terry asked.
“Maybe. I couldn’t tell you know, not the details. So after that the man
goes to a car parked in the lot and takes off. Oliver waits a few and then he
goes back into the bar. Ten minutes later he’s coming out the front door. He
looked around…Honest it was just like in some spy movie, the way he was acting.
Then he walks down the street to his car and takes off.”
Thank you for having me yet again. I like writing them, you like reading them. A good combo LOL
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