Page 78 of Hunting the Truth
Chapter Thirty-Nine
They parked at Deer Valley Pass trailhead. Maya considered hiding the truck in a grove of evergreens, but she didn’t want to scratch it up. It wasn’t like the old vehicle was in mint condition or anything. In fact, some of the letters toChevroletwere missing and spelledChev leton the back. But she didn’t want anything serious to happen like a tree branch falling on it, so she parked in a normal location, risking someone seeing the truck and calling it in to Pops or Josh. Even if that happened, the response time would be a little while, giving Maya, Juniper and Eric a head start on their search.
Maya felt like she was starting to get the answers she needed, except for one thing—who killed Nana and why did they stage it to look like a suicide? It had to have been because of the evidence that was so desperately wanted, but if so, was Eric the killer? Or was it someone like Abigail and Blake? Or were they all in on it together? Was Eric actually at the scene or did someone set him up? If Maya could get a few more answers then as far as she was concerned, Eric Torres could rot in prison along with everyone else involved.
She stepped out of the truck. Juniper stayed put, taking her middle seat duties very seriously and staring at Eric. Maya walked around and opened Eric’s door. Juniper decided to not wait and came flying out, stepping on Eric on the way.
“Thanks a lot,” he muttered.
“Guess she didn’t want to wait,” Maya said.
Eric shuffled his way out and stretched his legs. His arms were probably cramping, but she didn’t care. There were ways to slip out of those restraints and he probably knew them. Maya wanted to see if he left them on. If he did, then in her mind, that might mean he was more trustworthy.
“The mine entrance is up the trail about a mile,” she said.
They walked in silence and in the usual order—Eric first, followed by Maya and Juniper. The trail came around a bend, and from what she remembered, the mine entrance should have been straight ahead of them. But there was nothing.
She came to a stop and pulled out her map. Eric stopped too and turned around. Juniper kept her eyes on him, still daring him to make a move.
“The entrance should be right here,” Maya said. “Just a little way in front of us.”
She put the map down and studied the landscape when it finally hit her. A rockslide had come down either in the winter from an avalanche or this spring with the snowmelt runoff. The rocks had cascaded down and covered the mine entrance.
“Looks like there was a rockslide and it covered up the entrance,” Maya said. “The evidence could be lost forever if that’s where it’s at.”
“Is there another way in?” Eric asked.
“Possibly,” she said, studying her map. “We’ll need to hike up and around to the backside of this mountain to find out. But even if there is another entrance, the mine could be very unstable. I’m not sure it would be safe.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Eric said. “Let’s keep going and check it out.”
“Okay,” Maya agreed. “But if the mine doesn’t look safe, we’re not going in there.”
He shrugged. “Let’s see what we’re getting into first.”
“The next part of the trail is going to be a bit more difficult.”
“That’s great,” he said, sarcastically. “Having my hands free to help balance would be great too.”
“I’ll think about it,” Maya said, knowing there was no way she was going to let him loose if she could help it. Before they started again, she gave Juniper some water. She took a drink herself and offered some to Eric. Then they were on their way.
The trail started to climb and had more obstacles including rocks and shallow holes. A few times Eric slipped in front of her, but he caught his balance. Maya was beginning to wonder if she maybe should let him go free when she caught sight of something shiny. The sun had glinted just right.
“Stop,” she said. “Juniper, sit. Stay.”
“What now?” asked Eric.
“Stay where you are. Let me check out the trail ahead of us. Juniper, guard.”
Maya stepped by Eric, not happy to have him behind her, but she didn’t need a booby trap to go off right now. And at least Juniper was there to help guard him. While the person making them didn’t create the deadliest traps in the world, they could still do some serious damage. And she supposed if they caught you in the right spot, theycouldbe deadly.
Maya got down on her hands and knees and studied the trip wire. It stretched across the trail, but it also looked like this booby trap was getting more sophisticated. She followed the wire back to the bushes and continued to try to figure out how she could disarm it. She noticed a white card in the bushes that had fallen on the ground. At first, she thought it was a credit card, but when Maya picked it up and brushed it off, she saw it was a student ID. She stuck it in her pocket wondering if the marijuana stash Juniper had found could possibly be from the same person.
At least now she had a good idea who was setting these traps.
“Can we just carefully step over this wire?” Eric asked. “Or is there something I don’t know?”
“The person setting these is getting more sophisticated,” Maya said. “I wouldn’t step over it. There could be another wire or something else that might catch us off guard. It may take me a little bit, but I think I can disarm this.”
