As I got closer, I could hear Luka telling someone very clearly that they needed to get their tails off her property and go home. She told them in no uncertain terms to leave her alone.
When I heard a male voice reply, my heart sank. Luka was in danger.
9
Luka
After Gage left, I walked out back to the pond to think for a moment. Whether I was sad, frustrated, angry, hurt, or scared, the pond always seemed to calm me. It was as though it was speaking to me, telling me that everything was going to work out just fine in the end. I never did well cooped up in boxes, anyway. It was one of the reasons why I had wanted to move out to Uncle Lester’s cabin. I needed some space. Even when I lived with my dad, I did as much of my work outside in the backyard as I possibly could.
I needed that calming sense that the lake gave me a lot with everything that was going on. I was confused, and though I knew I loved Gage and he loved me, I couldn’t understand why he would keep something from me. A few times, I had thought he was going to tell me whatever it was, but he always seemed to change his mind at the last second. I wished he would come out with it already. I had a feeling we could get through whatever was causing him so much grief.
I watched the sun glint like rippling diamonds in the water. Birds flew overhead, searching for their food. Once in a while, one would dive toward the pond, although I never saw anything in their beaks. It’s possible they caught a mouthful of the tiny minnows that darted about without my notice. It was almost as though I were watching a nature video playing out in front of me, and I had a front-row seat.
Smiling at the beautiful scene playing out in front of me, I tried to sort out everything that had happened this morning. Gage seemed pleased by the fact that I wasn’t frightened by the bear tracks and by my knowledge of how the bear was sacred among certain cultures.
At the same time, there was something about the tracks that had upset him a lot. He withdrew into himself, and it seemed as though he didn’t know that I was in the room with him. He seemed shocked when he heard me say something silly, just to catch him off guard.
I insinuated that I knew he was hiding something from me with the comment about Cupid and Psyche, which was one of my favorite Greek myths. I was pretty sure that he understood the message. However, I had always heard men do not understand hints or insinuations, and experience had proven that to be true many times in my life. You have to be blunt and lay everything out on the table for them.
Whatever his secret was, obviously, he was worried that it would impact our relationship. I guessed that when he got back, I would just have to tell him that I loved him no matter what. There was not too much that could make me stop loving him. We were bound together by a higher, spiritual power that was so much stronger than words or a piece of paper.
With that settled in my mind, I told myself that I had to get to work. I had been procrastinating long enough. Not only did I love writing, but if I was to be continuously successful, I had to keep my books on the shelves. If writers didn’t keep new books on the shelves on a regular basis, the readers would forget about the author and their books. There was always another author who was more than willing to take my spot.
Although I had set up one of the bedrooms to be a very comfortable office, I found myself drawn to the pond.
I wonder if I was a mermaid or a fish in my past life?
I laughed at the thought.
I found a folding table and a chair and set them up on a relatively flat spot by the pond. I went back in for my computer, notes, and my ever-present glass of sweet iced tea.
The only thing missing from my perfect scene was a couple of dogs. I had always loved dogs. I thought in a couple of days, I would go into town and visit the animal shelter. I’m sure they would have a couple of dogs in need of some love.
In the warm sunlight and the crisp, clean air, the characters started talking to me again. The main female character was able to see and talk to ghosts. She had two who lived with her. Her partner, the main male character, couldn’t see or hear them, but he fully believed in his partner’s ability.
The ghosts had been particularly helpful in this case. They had broken into the morgue to visit the corpses. All of the dead men had needle marks on them in weird places. They heard the medical examiner talking into her recorder, noting that the men shared similarities with a couple of other unsolved cases, in which the men were injected with a horse tranquilizer known as ketamine. On the streets, it was known as Special K. The drug had the same effect as the popular murder weapon used by medical personal, succinylcholine. It causes all of the muscles to shut down, and the victim suffocates to death.
The medical examiner made a note to herself to ask the forensic toxicologist to check for Special K. Most of the time, toxicologists didn’t look for specific drugs that weren’t commonly used unless they knew the drugs might be present. These special drugs didn’t show up on regular tox screens.
I had just finished the section where the ghosts heard the medical examiner snap off her recorder when I thought I heard voices in the background. I was so engrossed in my story that I brushed them off, much like a person would brush away an annoying mosquito. I was so focused that I didn’t even realize that I had a visitor until he was standing right beside me.
If I had dogs, I would have been alerted a long time ago. I definitely needed dogs.
When the man spoke, I jerked, nearly tipping the table I was working at. I whirled around, standing up at the same time. My chair fell backward, and my iced tea went flying into the great unknown.
“Luka, I’ve missed you,” a hated voice said.
Jason was standing in front of me. Two of his friends, Jim and Frank, were standing a few yards behind Jason. All three of them had rifles. I’ve never liked his friends anyway. They had always given me the creeps. Now, I really didn’t like them. I would never admit this to Jason, but I was scared.
“Jason, what in the world are you doing here? I think I made my feelings about you pretty clear the last time we spoke. We’re done. I don’t want you near me. I don’t want you on my property,” I spoke loudly and clearly, grateful that my voice didn’t shake, which would have betrayed my nervousness.
“Well, I decided I needed to come back and to get what’s mine,” Jason said. “You belong to me. You are mine.”
I laughed. “Jason, I’m not yours. I’m not an object or a possession. Besides, I’m married to another man.”
“Where’s the ring on your finger? I don’t see one.”
“I don’t need a piece of jewelry to be married to someone. That is simply a symbolic gift that most people adhere to.”