FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 40

Chapter 40


Before our journey I convinced Rollins to stay with me in the big Oasis Hotel near Furnace Creek, where he and Joy had gotten the horrific news about their daughter. They had stayed there another week, in hopes that Katherine Rollins would show up.

         Rollins hated my idea. I couldn’t blame him.

         “What’s the point? Why do you want to put me through that hellish day again?”

         “Because there might be staff there who saw your daughter.”

         “She never stayed there! We slept in tents!”

         “I know. Look, I know it’s a long shot, but the Furnace Creek area is pretty small. We know she went to a coffee shop. Which one? Why not the hotel’s?” 

“If we’re staying there I want my own room.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

 “I insist,” he said.

“Your money,” I said.

That evening we tried the waitress and the manager of the Oasis’ “coffee shop,” which was really a restaurant. 
         The manager remembered speaking to the park rangers and the Inyo County sheriff after Katherine’s disappearance. He had already seen pictures of her. 

         “She never came in here that day,” he said. “Why don’t you try the 49er? Little coffee shop.”

         Rollins and I exchanged a tired look.

         “Thanks,” I said and gave the bartender a five.

         It was time to call it a day. We agreed to hit the coffee shop in the morning.

It was a bitch to get to sleep that night. Apparently, it was the same for Rollins, who knocked on my door. I let him in. He was dressed the same, as if he had just stepped out of his car. Only difference: He had taken off his shoes. For some reason I thought he had come over to ask about my time in prison.

         I was wrong.

         “Who is this guy?”

         “We don’t know. That’s why we’re here,” I reminded him.

         “Do you even know what he looks like?”

         “Vaguely. The Inyo County Sheriff shooed this guy and his girlfriends away from a campsite. There was a dead jackrabbit lying there, so he figured they were poachers. Since the rabbit wasn’t on the Endangered Creatures List, he couldn’t arrest them for that. They had broken the Park rules by firing a gun, but maybe the sheriff didn’t want to bother with that

         “Yeah, but what did he look like?”

         “I’m getting to that. Mind you, this came from my brother, who got it from the sheriff:  Short. Long dark hair, pulled back into a ponytail. He wore a buckskin jacket, which might seem weird, but I understand the desert can be cold in late fall. Big eyes. That’s what the sheriff remembered most. That, and the girls with him. They followed him around like puppy dogs. There were four of ‘em.”

         “Better than nothing,” he said. “And we don’t know his motives for all this.”

 

         “Why not?”

         “That ranch burned to the ground years ago.”

         I got out my wallet and gave him a ten.

         “What’s that for?”

         “I need a map to get out there,” I said.

         Ranger Rick hesitated.

         “And no, I won’t disturb anything or bring anybody who would.”

         Willie gave me a skeptical look.

         I pulled out a ten.

 “Map you want is four dollars,” he said.

Rick rose and headed for a shelf.

“I’ll give you ten. Keep the change.”

That night I had Rollins research Barker Ranch on his laptop. Before it became neglected and ruined and finally burned down, it was a true oasis. There was a creek nearby. There was a back patio with a trellis above it. Twisting grape vines provided shade. A classic arbor. Vegetables grew there. There were fruit trees.

I imagined a thirsty prospector and his mule discovering this place before anything had been built on it.  It would be like The Garden of Eden. Maybe he would suspect that it was a mirage until he dipped his hand into the bubbling creek.