Black Tide Rising by R.J. McMillen Read Free Book Online

“Don’t know,” he said.
    â€œIs there a ceremony he can perform?” Dan persisted. “Some kind of healing chant or something?” He knew he sounded naïve, even foolish, but the desecrated totem pole bothered him in a way he could not understand. He had never seen it before, but its destruction had created a feeling of deep personal loss.
    Walker didn’t answer. He had stretched his torso forward, his head low to the beach. Now he leaned back and then sideways, pushing hard against Dan, who was forced to brace himself against the beach.
    â€œWhat the hell are you doing?” Dan asked, pushing him back. “Is this some kind of weird ritual?”
    Again Walker didn’t respond. His body moved faster now, weaving from side to side, his head lifting and dipping although his gaze always seemed focused on the same spot.
    â€œWalker, this is …”
    â€œThere!” Walker straightened and pointed up the hill.
    â€œThere what? What the hell are you talking about? There’s nothing there but grass and weeds.”
    Walker turned to look at him and smiled. “You’re still the same, white man. You talk too much. You gotta learn to look.”
    â€œLook at what? There’s nothing to look at.”
    â€œThey left a trail.”
    â€œA trail?” Dan closed his eyes as he realized he was repeating Walker’s words. He had found himself doing that the last time the two of them were together and had hoped it would never happen again. It was a sure sign he was out of his depth. What the hell was it about Walker?
    â€œYep.”
    â€œWhat kind of trail?” Dan asked cautiously as he stared up at the wide, uninterrupted expanse of new grass.
    â€œMove over here.” Walker dragged himself a little farther along the beach. “You gotta get the light in the right place.”
    Dan looked at him for a minute and then moved to the space Walker had vacated.
    â€œStart at the totem,” Walker said, pointing. “Then look up the hill. Move like I did, side to side. It makes the angle change.”
    Feeling more than a little foolish, Dan did as instructed.
    â€œSo what, exactly, am I looking for?” he asked.
    â€œFootprints.”
    â€œFootprints?” There it was again. The repeating thing. “You can see footprints in the grass from all the way down here?”
    â€œYeah,” said Walker. “Two sets.”
    â€œTwo sets?” Shit. He had to stop doing that.
    â€œYeah. One’s bigger and heavier than the other.”
    Dan stared at Walker for a minute, then looked back up the slope. Either the man really was crazy or there was something there. Time to find out. He focused on the top of the totem and rocked his body slowly from side to side, rotating his head and nodding it up and down just as Walker had done. Slowly he moved his eyes higher, letting them skim the surface of the bright-green shoots of new grass that filled the bowl—and there they were. Four indentations. Two deeper than the others, the outlines rimmed by the rays of the sun.
    He moved his eyes higher still and saw another set. And then another. A clear trail leading up from the totem, just as Walker had said.
    â€œHow the hell did you know they were there?” Dan asked, turning to stare at the man next to him.
    Walker shrugged. “I didn’t. Just looked and found them.”
    Dan turned back to look at the tracks. “Hell, I figured it was just one guy. Came and went on the water. That would have been the easiest way.” He stared over at the lighthouse, his mind racing. “This changes everything. Two people? A man and a woman?” He looked back at the totem. “So maybe she’s not dead. Maybe she had a lover. Set it up to meet him. Maybe the totem was some kind of twisted goodbye.”
    He was thinking aloud, and even as he heard the words, he found himself shaking his head. It was a possible scenario, but it