North of Roswell by Dick Harvey - HTML preview

Epilogue

Chief banks became a frequent visitor to the cabin and was well aware of Sara’s stone and the epitaph, but never mentioned it. Don and Dot kept in touch for a short time but Rick soon lost track of them. He heard years later that they had moved away. The only close friends that remained were José, his wife Jackie and the Banks. Of these, The Chief was by far the closest.

 Almost a year after Rick moved to the cabin the chief showed up one afternoon with a case of Heineken. After a few beers he said, “Rick we need to talk”.

“Uh-oh. Nothing good ever stats with we need to talk”.

“It is nothing like that Rick, it’s just that I could not get this case out of my head. You know what a nosey bastard I am.”

“I wondered how long it would take you Chief. Tell me what you have come up with”.

“Well I got to thinking about the fact that Proudfoot had done time in New Mexico and a few things that you and Sara said kind of led me to believe that you were from the southwest. I got to nosing around his case and others that occurred at about the same time and in the same area and I came across a strange case. It seems an Etty Hanson, her son and a rancher by the name of Matt Macklin, all went missing about the same time. Moreover, it seems that a young Indian boy by the name of Sean Proudfoot was suspected in the disappearance although it was never proven.”

“And you concluded”?

“That is the problem in a nutshell. I have not concluded much of anything. All I learned about the cases in New Mexico, along with some very strange things that the Ann Arbor detectives told me have done little but baffle me. Then there is that tombstone out in the yard. I have some very strange ideas about this case Rick, most of which would land me in the loony bin if I were foolish enough to tell anyone about them”.

Rick said, “Let’s go out and sit on the boat Chief and I’ll tell you a story. After all this time, I guess you deserve to know”.

They sat on the boat drinking beer for a long time after Rick finished. Chief didn’t comment on what Rick told him nor did he ever broach the subject again, and Rick was never sure whether he bought the whole story or not.

When John and Molly married they received a gift of seven hundred acres more or less on the Gulf of Mexico. Five days after the wedding Rick wrote a letter to John explaining what he wanted done with the remaining property and explaining where to find the deed and a notarized power of attorney. He wanted the hundred acres containing the cabin to be donated to Citrus County with the stipulation that the cabin and spring be maintained as it was in perpetuity.

Rick bought a throw away phone at Wal-Mart, with the minimum minutes. He then wrote a letter to his friend Chief giving him the number and saying that if he ever had need of his special gift he could reach him at that number. He also included that information in his letter to John.

Rick then packed the old Lincoln, donned his scuba gear, went out to the spring and dove in. It took nearly an hour to find what he was looking for.

The next morning on his way out of town Rick stopped and posted the letters.