A whole new adventure begins for Marcia, the Arctic Fox, and her family!
A mysterious find on the grounds of the air force base presents the Chathams with a mystery too tempting not to explore. Of course, that can't be the only thing going on in their lives, can it?
Chet and Margot's lives get more complicated as their family and responsibilities grow. Can their fledgling business survive the challenges ahead of them? Or the mischief of a thieving Doxie?
Darryl and Marcia dive into the mystery of the find in earnest, unearthing even more mysteries in the base's -- and North Pole's -- past as they do so. From shipwrecks to lost bush pilots, what can they learn from their home's forgotten history... and how will it change its future?
A former nemesis returns, this time as an unexpected ally. But when tragedy strikes, can the Chathams and their extended family figure out what's happened before it's too late?
The Arctic Fox 2
Once more, special thanks to Malady for his help editing.
– Rosemary
Marcia Chatham ran out of the house and jumped into the old Mustang beside her boyfriend, Darryl. After their good morning kiss, they hurried to their first yard of the morning as part of their jobs working for Marcia’s older brother, Chet, doing yardwork for different people on the Air Force Base. They crossed McDonald Place, where two days before, they had discovered something in the ground. They didn’t know what it turned out to be, as Darryl’s dad, the CO of the base, had ordered that it be kept secret until they could determine more about it.
As they passed the street, Darryl slowed to a crawl. There was no one living on that section of the road as it had just been built, and a temporary fence had been erected at the start of the block. In addition, there were black tarps affixed to the fence, blocking anyone's view to what was going on.
Both were wondering what they had discovered. Obviously, something was in the ground there. Darryl had joked the night before that it must be a UFO. Obviously, that wasn’t the case, but what was it?
-=#=-
It was a long morning for the two. They worked on several things, some of which had nothing to do with yardwork at all. In one job, they helped a Sergeant who had a fascination with older cars in detailing a 1977 Ford Granada coupe.
A bit later, they went to the base cafeteria where they met up with Chet and Margot for lunch. Margot was Darryl’s older sister, and had been friends with Chet since they were much younger.
For many years, Margot had been Mark, and when she came out as trans, she and Chet had a falling out. Just recently, however, they had gotten back together, married, and adopted a young boy.
Having an older sister who was trans had prepared Darryl for Marcia. He didn’t bat an eye with her being a trans girl like his sister.
Chet offered to pay for all of their food, but Darryl declined, saying he’d pay for his and Marcia’s.
Their food came, and they took their trays to a table near the back of the hall. Marcia had informed Chet about their find of… well, something, at the house on McDonald Place, and he was curious.
“Any idea what they found?” he asked.
“No,” Darryl said. “Dad told us that night that it had to be kept quiet. At least until they found what they were dealing with?”
“Why keep it quiet?” Margot asked.
“Just in case it’s something that they don’t want anyone to know about,” Darryl told his sister.
“I see,” she said, nodding.
Chet caught his wife’s expression, however. He recognized it from when they were kids. “No, Margot. Don’t bug your dad about it. Or mine, for that matter.”
“I wanna know what they found,” she declared. “Don’t you?”
“Sure I do,” he told her. “But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna bug him until he tells me.”
“Well, that’s just one area where we differ,” she said with a grin. “And he’s never been able to resist telling his daughter what she wants to know.”
Darryl let out an involuntary snort, and covered it up with, “Excuse me.”
Margot flashed him an evil look. “You disagree, Darryl?”
“Who, me? I wouldn’t dare!”
“Uh huh.”
Once lunch was over, they headed back to their jobs, although to break the the monotony, Darryl and Marcia went to North Pole to work in the afternoon, and Chet and Margot worked on base.
At 4:30, when they finished work, Darryl and Marcia went to their older sibling’s house where Liz, Darryl and Margot’s mom, was babysitting her grandson. She had Chet and Marcia’s sister, Amber, along as well, and the toddlers were playing together like there was no tomorrow.
The kids were having a wonderful time on a backyard playset that Chet and Margot had refurbished together. Watching the kids was something that Liz loved to do. She had no idea where they got their energy from, but it was wonderful that they got along so well.
Liz turned around and smiled as Darryl and Marcia, or Foxy, as only he was allowed to call her, came out the sliding glass door. Marcia hurried to where the kids were playing, and Darryl sat down beside his mom.
It was a Thursday, and the three families had made it a habit each week, to have dinner at one of their houses on that night.
Darryl told his mom about the day he and Marcia had. When he came to the conversation at lunch, Liz laughed, but she commented, “I hope neither of them told anyone about you finding something in the ground there.”
“Well, Mom. We had to tell him why there was no payment for that house.”
“I understand, Darryl, but your dad won’t be happy if they did,” Liz said.
“Why would they?” Darryl asked.
“Well, just offhand Margot might.”
It was Darryl’s turn to laugh. “She likes to talk,” he commented. “I hope she didn’t. Dad wouldn’t be very happy.”
“Well, I suppose there’s not a lot that could be done about it. She didn’t know.”
A few minutes later Chet and Margot got home, and Chet immediately went to play with the kids along with Marcia. Amber and Chet had a wonderful relationship. She always wanted to play with her big brother, and he was happy to oblige.
With a smile on her face, Margot watched her husband playing with the kids for a bit, then shook her head. It amazed her how good of a father Chet was to their new son, Sammy. He would run up to both the kids, roaring and with his hands held up, pretending to be a bear. In turn, they would scream and run away giggling. Not only did the children love the play, but Chet genuinely did too.
After a bit, Chet ‘caught’ them both, and all three ended up on the ground, tickling each other.
At 6 PM, Gloria and Mike Chatham, Chet and Marcia’s parents, arrived, and fifteen minutes later, Bob Johnson, Darryl and Margot’s father, arrived. Both sets of parents had brought their own steaks, and Chet excused himself from the kids and fired up the BBQ.
Marcia took over with the kids, and they had fun, but it was clear that the kids wanted Chet to return and play.
Not only did Chet put the steaks on the grill, but Margot brought out some corn cobs, and they went on too. It was now routine for Chet to be grilling, so he didn’t have to ask anyone how their steaks were to be cooked, so it wasn’t long before things were ready. While the steaks were being cooked, Gloria sauteed some onions and mushrooms with some wine and butter, one of her specialties to go along with steak.
It was a wonderful dinner, and a great time was had by all. True to her word, Margot tried to get her father to tell what had been found.
“How did you find out about it, Margot?”
“Well, it was our employees who found it, Daddy. We needed to know why there wasn’t going to be payment for that house.”
“Uh, huh,” Bob replied. He reached for his wallet, asking, “How much was the price for that house?”
Margot got a wicked grin on her face. “Two hundred, fifty dollars.”
Bob froze and looked up. “Say what?”
“Well, Daddy. It’s not going to be a continuing contract. We can’t get there now, so we have to recoup our losses.” She tried to keep a straight face, but she wasn’t nearly as good at it as her sister-in-law.
Bob put his wallet back in his pocket and simply stared at his daughter as she broke into laughter. “How much really?”
“Just tell us what was found.”
“I can’t. Not until I get authorization from my superiors.”
“Please,” she said, trying for Bambi-eyes.
“No, deer,” her father answered, “Pun intended.”
At that, Darryl snorted with laughter. “I told you, Sis. You’re not going to get the information out of him.”
Margot glared at her brother, but had to admit that he was right.
-=#=-
The next day, pieces of whatever it was started to arrive at Mike’s maintenance hanger. When he and Bob had looked into the hole to see the wreck, they had been able to make a fair guess as to what it was, but it was only a guess. He found it amusing that his daughter-in-law was trying so hard to find out what it was, but so was the Air Force.
He resisted the urge to micromanage the investigation, even though he certainly wanted to be out in the hanger, helping. He was very curious.
When he left his office that night, it was with the report that the wreck wasn’t complete.
-=#=-
Mike watched as the last of the pieces were brought into the hanger. They littered the floor just outside the window in his office that he used for monitoring what was happening with his crew. He was surprised that in the report, there was a body bag that was taken to the hospital. He wondered who had piloted the thing. It wasn’t assembled yet, and he wondered if the pilot would yield any information.
He told the lead of the investigation that he would be back in a little while, and drove to the hospital. In the hospital, he asked where he would find where autopsies were done, then made his way into one of the lower levels. The base wasn’t designed for such occurrences, so they had to make do with one of the regular doctors.
Mike was surprised when he saw that the doctor performing the investigation was the head of the hospital. Bob was also there, watching from a bit of a distance, and Mike couldn’t blame him.
There were several pieces, but the doctor was able to determine that they came from one body, and that the body, was in fact, a human male.
“That rules out a UFO, then,” Mike said to Bob.
He only received a nod in return.
“Only one man was flying it,” Bob finally said.
“My men will determine what it is,” Mike promised.
“I know, Mike. There’s no doubt about that.” He turned to the doctor. “Can you tell me how long he’s been there?”
“Not really, Colonel. He’s been frozen for quite awhile. I can tell you he probably wasn’t military, though.”
“How can you tell that?” Mike asked, shocked.
“From what I can see of his clothes, they’re civilian. He was wearing a parka, but it’s definitely not military.”
“I see,” Mike replied.
-=#=-
Mike stood and looked at the wreck. It was an amazing find, and the army engineers who uncovered it and lifted it out of the ground had been ordered not to reveal what they had recovered until the CO heard back from his superiors.
Mike heard footsteps to his right and glanced that way to see who it was. Bob stopped at Mike's side and looked at the destroyed machine.
Mike's people were working on identifying it. It had a metal frame, covered with cloth, and appeared to be a biplane. The engine was made by Kawasaki, and was a V12! It had shattered when the plane hit the ground.
The plane was obviously a fighter, as it had two machine guns mounted on the front. The question was, how did it get to Fairbanks?
The pilot's body had fared relatively well in the ground, as it had been in permafrost. There was a lot of oil spilled at the crash site, but not a lot of fuel. In fact, it was quite likely that the plane went down due to running out of fuel.
But what was it doing there?
Please don’t forget to leave kudos and comment!
Thanks!
-- Rosemary
Wow! It's been a little while since I posted a story, or even a chapter. I've had a sore left arm due to a bone spur growing into a ligament. I finally got a shot to reduce the pain, and I've been able to type again.
Once
more, special thanks to Malady for his help editing.
Because of her age, Gloria's doctor was keeping a close eye on her and her baby. Each ultrasound had shown a healthy child, but Gloria was still concerned.
She wanted this baby between her and Mike to be perfect. It was silly, she knew, but she and Chester had a wonderful son in Chet. How much better would a child from her and Mike be?
She tried to put that thought behind her. Chet was an incredible young man, and she was very proud of him. Marcia and Amber were wonderful girls too.
There was something about a child that was both hers and Mike's. It was a testament of their love. She knew, though, that it would be easy for her to favor the new baby over the others, even if only because he or she would need more care than the others, and while Marcia might understand, Amber probably wouldn't.
She was four and a half months into the pregnancy and it was getting noticeable to others. She'd only gained about ten pounds so far, but it was pretty much in one, very obvious location.
She was on her way to the kitchen, when she heard the door open. She smiled as she saw her son open the door, holding her grandson's hand. He also had a bag slung over his shoulder that would hold the necessities for the day. Sammy saw his grandma and pulled his hand out of Chet's. "Gamma!" The little boy yelled as he ran to her, his arms outstretched.
At the same time Sammy was hugging her, a bundle of energy rushed by Gloria, and ran to her big brother. Chet caught Amber and swung her up, tickling her on the way.
"You go work?" Amber asked when she stopped laughing.
"Yep," Chet told her. "I've got work."
"I help!" The little girl exclaimed.
“You bet!” Her big brother said. “I need you to play with Sammy.”
“We both help!”
“You'll both be able to come with me when you get a little bigger.”
“I big girl!” Amber declared.
“You sure are!” Chet agreed. “You need to be a little bigger to use my tools, though.”
Amber's lower lip pushed out, and Chet whispered something into her ear. She turned her head to look at Gloria, and then smiled. Chet put her down, and she walked over to her mom and took her hand.
She told Sammy very solemnly, “We help Mama. She pegnent.” She said the last word very slowly, and with determination.
Gloria raised an eyebrow and looked at her son. “Do you like your ear?” She asked him.
“Sure do,” he replied, “but I like you more -- you and that little baby brother or sister.”
She glared at him and told him, “I'll hold off on the ear twist till you pick up Sammy.”
Chet laughed as he headed out the door. Gloria went into the kitchen and listened to the two toddlers' chatter as they planned their day and how they would help her. She laughed to herself as she reflected that there was no doubt that all of her kids were wonderful -- each one a treasure to love.
Marcia and Darryl were working on a backyard in North Pole. The teams alternated where they were working. Each week they switched “towns.” Chet and Margot were working in the base housing areas this week.
Chet had initially warned the younger couple about the house they were at now. The backyard was surrounded by a chain-link fence and the owner had a strange dog. It was a breed popularly known as a Dusky, or cross between a dachshund and a husky, and she was named Dusky Doxie. Actually, she was a very beautiful dog, taking her size and shorter legs from the dachshund side of her genealogy, and her markings from the husky side. Her coat was where the “dusky” side of her name fit well, as she was a gray and white husky. The gray covered her almost everywhere except for the white spots over each eye and on each side of her muzzle.
The yard was kept very clean, but the owner had installed a dog door into the opening of his glass patio doors.
Darryl and Marcia walked around the yard, making sure that all dog toys and rocks were out of the way, then just to be certain, Darryl went ahead while Marcia ran the mower.
At present, they were using a rotary mower. Chet was trying to find a good reel mower that he could put an engine on. He had the engine Marcia had gotten him for Christmas, and it would be perfect for what he wanted, but not many of the good, old, well crafted reel mowers were in existence anymore. Thus, in North Pole, a nice, self-propelled Toro was the mower they used, saving Chet’s restored antique mower for the base, where perfect yards were expected.
The mower was a nice one, designed to move at whatever speed the individual was walking at, and they were making good time. The yard was level, and the owner made sure it was pretty well free of obstructions. Out of the corner of her eye, Marcia saw the dog run by. She always had trouble keeping from laughing when she saw the dog running, because of the short legs. She was hoping they'd be able to see it in the winter. She really wanted to see it in the snow.
The dog lay down a little ways from them, and started gnawing on a bone it had carried outside with it. They made another row with the mower, then stopped as Darryl took the bag over to the compost pile. Marcia knelt down and petted the dusky, who rolled over and lay back in ecstacy, tongue lolling out the side of her mouth, begging the girl to scratch her tummy. Marcia obliged and was rewarded by exuberant husky speak. Marcia loved petting her sister-in-law’s husky as well, as the hair was almost like fur on their ears and face.
When Marcia started the mower again, Dusky Doxie ran back to the house, and in through the dog door. Darryl spotted the bone that had been left in the grass and put it in his pocket.
The rest of the afternoon went by without any problem. Once they were through, Marcia ran the mower over to the compost pile and Darryl emptied the bag. Marcia went out to the pickup and got a couple of shovels, and brought them out to the back yard. They turned the compost over a few times, then went back toward the front yard. They stopped at the cabbages, and gazed at the size. The largest was nearly two feet in diameter. Darryl guessed that it was somewhere around 75 pounds. Marcia pulled a few weeds from beside the enormous plants and shook her head. As they left, she quipped, “That’s a lot of coleslaw.”
They took their equipment back to the pickup, loaded it up, and got into the cab. Darryl evidently felt something odd in his pocket, and looked thoughtful for a second. “Hang on, Foxy. I’ll be right back.” He jumped out, and hurried to the door. He was about to ring the bell when the door opened. Mrs. Smith, the owner of the house, handed him a rather large box, overflowing with produce. Marcia watched as they said a few words, then Darryl pulled something out of his pocket. It was Dusky Doxie’s bone. He handed it to Mrs. Smith, and she laughed. The dog was standing beside her, and as soon as she saw the bone, she started giving husky speak, begging to be handed the treat.
Darryl picked up the box that he had set on the porch to hand over the bone, and hurried back to the pickup. He put the box in the bed, turned, waved to Mrs. Smith, and got in the cab. “It’s a tip for all our work. She gave some to Margot and Chet last week, so this is ours. Lots of zucchini, carrots and radishes.”
“Okay. Zucchini, I can understand, but carrots and radishes? Why would she give those away?”
Darryl chuckled. “Yeah, everyone gives away zucchini in the fall. Carrots I can understand too.”
“I like carrots,” Marcia declared. “Just because you don’t.”
“Well,” he replied. “There’s no accounting for taste.”
“Really?” Marcia questioned him. “My taste includes you as very important.”
“You’ve got some good taste, and some bad,” he teased.
“Do I?” she asked, folding her arms and glaring at him.
“Did I just dig a deep hole?”
“Very.”
Darryl nodded and grinned as he steered down the street to their next yard.
Mike stared at the report on his desk. He had read it three times already, and couldn’t believe it. Well, he believed it, but it didn’t really make sense. Why was a Kawasaki K-10 biplane just a few miles out of Fairbanks? He had googled the plane, and found that it was the last biplane used by the Japanese in World War II. The type of plane was beyond doubt. It was definitely a K-10, but how had it ended up here?
He picked up his phone, and called Bob.
“Hi, Mike,” he heard as soon as Bob picked up his phone. “I’m looking at the report.”
“What do you think?” Mike asked.
“I’m really not sure what to think. I’m pretty sure this had to have happened around World War II.”
“Yes, but how did it end up underground, Bob?”
There was silence for a moment. “I don’t know,” the CO confessed after a moment.
“I think we need to get a survey of this area. Also, we need to contact the World War II History Center and see what a K-10 was doing in this area.”
“Until I get the go ahead from the brass, I can’t do that.”
Mike chuckled. “It’s so tempting to ask Marsh to get all the information she can on all the planes that were in this area in the time frame.”
Bob laughed as well. “She could probably get what we need, knowing her. But she’d also know that our ‘artifact’ was why we were asking.”
“I know. She’s too smart for her own good.”
Bob thought for a moment. “I don’t think finding out about planes in this area would help though.”
“How do you figure?”
“There’s no reason for a biplane like that in this area. Plus the report says it ran out of fuel. The pilot was wearing civvies. I don’t think it was the normal pilot. Anyone familiar with that plane wouldn’t have let it run out of fuel.”
“I agree. So it was in the hands of a civilian. How?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to see if I can disclose some of this information, so we can contact the History Center.” He chuckled. “Maybe we can get Marsh and Chet teamed up to figure it out.”
Mike laughed as well. “Don’t forget Margot.”
As Bob hung up his phone, he thought about how he was going to ask for a release of information. “I suppose it’s nothing to worry about. It’s quite a ways after the fact. There shouldn’t be any reason to keep it secret now.”
Mike also was looking for other information. He suspected that the plane went down elsewhere. There didn’t seem to be any indications of previous repairs. Did the pilot defect? That seemed very unlikely. The plane would never have gotten into the hands of a civilian, especially during the war.
So had the plane landed on Allied soil? If so, what happened to the official pilot? While he agreed with Bob that the official pilot would not have made such a mistake as low fuel easily, it was a possibility, given unfamiliar terrain and wind patterns. But would he have flown his fighter so blatantly over Alaska?
So many questions.
Please don’t forget to leave kudos and comment!
– Rosemary
Colonel Johnson sat behind his desk and happily read through the orders he’d gotten from above. The wrecked plane was no longer considered a secret. He was somewhat surprised that the orders came through as quickly as they did, but he wasn’t going to complain about it.
He quickly called Mike and filled him in. As soon as he got off the phone, he knew Mike was going to be making some calls to see if he could figure out anything new.
Speaking of figuring things out... That night, at the Johnson home, after dinner, the two colonels found out how quick their kids were.
“The plane is a Kawasaki K10, probably lost in World War II. The K10 was the last biplane that the Japanese used as a fighter. The one found in the ground even had ammunition for its machine guns.”
“Why was it here?” Chet asked. “This is a bit too far inland, not to mention north for a Japanese fighter.”
“Especially a biplane,” Margot added.
“I put out some feelers today, but I haven’t heard anything back yet,” Mike told them. “We do know that the pilot wasn’t Japanese.”
Marcia pulled out her phone and started tapping the screen. “I wish I had my laptop,” she murmured.
Darryl got up from the table and hurried to his room, coming back with his Windows machine.
Marcia grimaced. “I suppose this will have to do.” She logged in and hurried through several sites she knew.
“What are you thinking, Marcia?” Margot asked.
“Well,” Marcia said looking up for a moment, “it seems strange that a Japanese fighter would be flown by a non-Japanese person, with ammunition for the machine guns, don’t you think?”
Margot gave a snerk. “Sounds reasonable.”
“I’m looking to see when a plane like that would have gotten anywhere close to Alaska, then we’ve at least got a possible timeline,” Marcia explained.
“Check if there’s any report of a K10 lost in Alaska?” Darryl asked.
“I don’t think we’ll find anything that obvious,” Margot said. “The Air Force would have known about it if we can find anything that easy on the internet. Look for the pilot,” she suggested.
“Whattya mean?” Darryl asked.
“See if any Japanese people were found in Alaska around the time.”
“Or bodies,” Chet said quietly.
The suggestions were coming quickly from the two girls. It was like they had tuned into each others’ brains as they continued making suggestions. Margot ousted Darryl from his chair and huddled over the computer with her sister-in-law. Chet sat on the other side of the table, offering suggestions as well.
Darryl moved into the living room with the parents. He was smart, but the three working on the problem had quickly gone way beyond where he was. Every time he had an idea, someone else had already mentioned it.
He watched his sister and girlfriend with pride. Not that his brother-in-law was doing too bad either. It was clear, however, that Marcia was leading the pack.
His mouth opened in astonishment when Marcia suddenly announced. “We might have something.”
Darryl and his dad moved quickly back to the table, as did Marcia’s dad.
“We might have something, Daddy,” Margot told her father with a grin.
“Okay,” Bob replied “what might you have?”
Marcia giggled slightly, then turned serious and said, “We checked for areas where the Japanese and Allied forces fought near or in Alaska in World War II.”
Her dad sat down beside her, and the two mothers joined them as well.
“That makes sense,” Mike said to his daughter. “There were two islands in the Aleutian Chain that were fought over. The Japanese took them over, and the Allies fought them off.”
“Yeah,” Marcia agreed.
“So we looked at the possibility of a plane found there,” Margot supplied.
“I checked on that as well,” Mike said. “I didn’t find any plane found anywhere down there.”
“Did you look for a Japanese body?”
“Yes,” Bob said. “That was one of the first things we looked for.”
“I found,” Marcia said, “the records of some bones found on Unalaska Island, in the early 90s. Some kids were hiking, and they found the bones. They weren’t sure what they were, and started playing with the longest of the bones they could find.” She shuddered a bit. “I guess they were playing sword fighting.”
“And they were found to be Japanese bones?” Liz asked.
“No, but they were human leg bones. The article said a femur and tibia. They also found a fibula, but I guess it wasn’t big enough to really sword fight with.”
“They were a bit on the short side.” Chet had his phone out, and was skimming through the article. “They were clearly adult, but kinda small.”
“Before World War II, Japanese people were somewhat shorter,” Margot was looking at an article on the computer. “Interesting,” she murmured. “Especially in the legs.”
“A search was made,” Marcia went on. “They found some pieces of leather, but nothing identifiable.”
Bob nodded. “Anything more?”
“Not yet,” his daughter told him. “We’re still looking.”
-=#=-
Darryl and Marcia got a late start in the morning. Gloria had a doctor’s appointment, and Liz gave her a ride to the clinic. Marcia kept an eye on Amber and Sammy while they were gone, and Darryl did what work he could, but things went slow without Marcia.
At the clinic, the doctor did another ultrasound, and it appeared as though the baby was developing alright, but she had noticed that she was thirstier than normal. She was also having to go pee more often than usual, but had chalked that up to drinking more water and the growing size of the baby.
Her doctor wanted to make sure, however, and checked her blood sugar. It was higher then it should be, and she was warned to watch the carbs that she was taking in.
When she left the clinic, Gloria told Liz that she had type A1 gestational diabetes. “I’m a bit concerned about it. My dad had type 2 diabetes. I suppose I’m going to have to watch what I’m eating, even after I have the baby.”
“What did your dad do to manage his?”
“Not a lot. He managed to control it with his diet.”
They arrived home, before too long, and found the little kids playing outside, with Marcia sitting in a lawn chair, alternating between watching the kids and her laptop.
“Well, we’re back,” Gloria told her. “Are you ready to go help Darryl?” she asked her daughter.
Marcia grinned and texted her boyfriend. Almost done at Sgt Yancys house then will pick u up, came the reply. “He’ll be here in a few, Mom.”
Gloria grinned as she sat down in a chair beside her. “How have they been?”
“Great!” Marcia replied, grinning from ear to ear. “I played with them a little while ago, but I got tired. They’ve got energy to burn.”
Liz laughed from the other side of Gloria. “You’ve got to save some energy for work today.”
“That’s for sure!” She looked closely at her mom. “Everything okay?”
“It will be. I’ve just got to watch out for sugars right now.”
“Diabetes?”
“Just gestational.”
Marcia smiled, then commented. “You’re naturally sweet, Mom. It’s not a surprise that it’s in your blood.”
Gloria laughed, then told her. “Go change for work, young lady. You don’t need to scratch up your legs.”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Jeans just make my legs hot.”
“I think Darryl likes that,” Liz told her, straight faced.
Marcia stared for a moment, then simply nodded, a smile appearing on her face.
A few minutes later, the women heard “He’s here! See ya!” from inside the house.
“Be careful!” Gloria yelled back.
“Take care!” Liz yelled at the same time.
-=#=-
Bob did some checking with the engineers on the surveys for the area. They had learned a lot from the kids the night before, but when he asked how the plane had gotten underground, his daughter gave him a mischievous grin. “We can't do all the work for you, Daddy.”
He looked through the land survey of the area, and photos taken from an air survey. He glanced through them, but there wasn’t a lot of interesting things to notice. The place where the plane crashed contained a pond, formed by a beaver dam. While the photos were black and white, they were quite high quality, and he could even see the lodge.
Probably how the plane ended up underground, he thought. If the plane was sitting in that pond, it could have been covered pretty quickly.
He looked through some more, pictures, then emailed them to Mike.
He wasn't sure how it was going to go over in a report, but he decided to write one including what the kids found out the night before.
He got busy typing.
-=#=-
The week had flown by, and the kids, including Darryl, had made some headway regarding the plane. They were forgoing their usual Friday night Couples’ Only time, and meeting for dinner with both families to fill their dads in.
Chet and Margot were at Mrs. Julie Smith’s house, searching the yard for dog toys and bones. When they found them, they tossed them to the edge of the back yard. Several times, Doxie picked up a ball in her mouth, and happily brought it back to Chet.
“No, Doxie. We’re not playing fetch.” he told her, laughingly. “Besides, you’ve got that ball covered with dog slime now.” He obligingly picked it up and tossed it again. The dog had a habit of picking up all manner of items, and wanting to play with them, and Chet was making headway of about two or three ‘toys’ to every throw of the slimed ball.
Mrs Smith was standing on the back porch getting a good laugh at the young man and dog. She finally descended to the patio and called the dog, who grabbed the ball, and carried it to her master. Julie bent down, picked up the ball, and set it down on the patio table. This was apparently the sign that the game of fetch was over, and the dusky sighed and lay down, her eyes on the toys the couple had tossed off the lawn.
Chet started the mower, and started making passes across the grass, while Margot continued looking for things in the grass. This wasn’t the only place they had to be careful. There were several dogs and children in backyards around the neighborhood, and all of them tended to leave things in the grass.
Chet had made several passes, when there was a loud pop from the mower. He knew immediately that he’d hit something and released the bail, stopping the engine. A few feet away, he saw Margot fall to the ground, clutching her leg.
He hurried to her, and saw the red fluid pouring from beneath her hand. Mrs. Smith, who had been an EMT for several years, hurried over, and gently moved the young woman’s hands from the spot. She was rewarded by a spray of blood.
“Looks like an artery was cut,” the former EMT said, as she pulled her belt off. “Call an ambulance Chet!”
Chet was white faced as sat down on the ground. He couldn’t dial 911, but suddenly remembered his phone was programmed to dial it if he held down the 9 button.
Julie applied a tourniquet to Margot’s leg, and took Chet’s phone out of his trembling hand.
Chet took Margot’s hand and squeezed it tight. Margot was turning white, and he couldn’t seem to do anything except hold her hand and wonder what had happened.
A few minutes later, some people hurried around the house, carrying a stretcher. They examined her for a few moments, then loaded her onto the stretcher.
All the while, Chet felt like he was in a tunnel. He wasn’t able to ride in the ambulance with Margot, and was definitely in no condition to drive, so Julie locked up her house and Chet’s truck. Chet climbed into the car alongside her, and they hurried off to the hospital.
-=#=-
Once more, special thanks to Malady for his help editing.
– Rosemary
Cover photo by Jonatan Pie. Downloaded from Unsplash
As usual, I’m thanking Malady and KymmieLorain for their invaluable help in the writing of this story.
Chapter 22
Saturday, October 2nd, 2021
It had been a rough week. The kids in the high school didn't know how to react to the death of two fellow students. Vic hadn't been a great friend to anyone, but Michelle had been liked. She hung with the same crowd Vic did, but people respected her ability in music.
It had turned out that Vic and Michelle had been raped and subsequently beaten to death. These facts hadn't been acknowledged by the police, but somehow, it was known to be true.
The rumor was that three people raped the two, and they were all closely related to Vic.
-=#=-
10:00 AM
Darryl and Marcia had asked if they could spend the day with Chet and Margot. They wanted to try and figure out what had happened with Vic and Michelle.
When they arrived, Rick and Carla were there as well. Neither of them figured they could compete with the other two couples, but they wanted desperately to know what had happened.
It was getting chilly, so they decided not to go out back.
Sammy was playing with a toy piano. He had already mastered the demo on the toy, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and was experimenting with different melodies he'd heard, although it frustrated him when he couldn't find the right notes. The toy was only one octave and had no sharps or flats. Margot had been planning to get him a regular electric piano, but her mom told her in no uncertain terms not to do that. It had already been purchased for Christmas.
Allie was reading a book, sitting cross-legged by Sammy. When he was able to play a melody, he had to show it multiple times to her, and she dutifully and patiently listened, encouraging him to play.
When Marcia sat down, she watched her brother for a few moments. He himself didn't notice his sister's attention, but instead was watching his kids. The pride on his face was readily apparent. He loved kids so much. She thought back to how he seemed when she first met him, breaking his jaw with Darryl's book bag. It seemed like that first person wasn't Chet at all. He was an entirely different person, that she didn't want to ever see the old one again.
He had been a bad bully. Not just a bad person, but someone trying to be a bully who was bad at it. When he decided to throw off that fake persona, he showed himself as being one of the most wonderful people there could ever be.
Marcia remembered Chet's mom, now her own mom, grabbing his ear and almost dragging him into the house after Marcia had broken his jaw. It was no wonder Gloria was so mad at him. She knew who he really was. And she knew why he was trying to be a bully.
This Chet, watching his kids play with such pride – this was the real Chet, and she was proud to be his sister.
Margot was also watching Chet and the kids and her thoughts had been running similarly to Marcia's.
Finally, Chet glanced at his wife, who was beaming at him. Then he glanced at his sister and found a very similar look on her face. "What?" he said in defense. "I love kids."
“Uh-huh," Marcia grinned.
Chet swiveled around in his recliner until he was facing Rick. He suggested they record the brainstorming session so they'd have a reminder of what was said as they thought about things more. Everyone agreed, so he put his phone on record, laid it on the coffee table, and then asked Rick the latest word.
“Well, I think I can confirm the rumors. The police asked me for a DNA sample. They took one from Dad too. I’m not sure why they'd want one from him, though.”
“So you figure the three relatives theory is true?” Margot asked. “Maybe they think your dad might be related in some way.”
“I sure hope not,” Rick said. “That would make me related to Simmons too.”
“Do you think it’s true?” asked Marcia.
“As disgusting as I find it, yeah,” Rick said, a look of revulsion on his face. “I believe it’s true.”
Marcia nodded, and she seemed to withdraw into herself, a serious scowl on her face as she looked down at her lap.
Both Darryl and Chet had seen the look before, and when Rick asked Chet a question, he simply put a finger in front of his lips, then pointed at his sister.
Rick scowled, but at Carla’s urging, he sat back on the couch and waited.
“What do you think are the possibilities of your dad being related to Simmons?” Marcia finally asked.
“I doubt it. They don’t look anything alike.”
“True,” she agreed, “but that’s not definitive proof.”
“Well, it was proof of Vic not being my dad’s son,” Rick argued.
“No. Vic's birth certificate was proof. At least legally. Their appearance was just a sign of it. At best, evidence."
Thinking about what Marcia said, Rick murmured, "I see," but Marcia was already scowling into her lap again.
They waited for her to speak again, and finally, she said quietly, without looking up: "Go ahead and discuss things. What you say helps too. I'm not going to solve this on my own."
It took a few moments for the other five to start conversing. They had been keeping quiet for Marcia to think, but finally, Darryl said, “I’m really sorry, Rick. I know this idea is disgusting but, can we take it as a fact that Simmons was one of the three who raped them?”
“Not as fact,” Margot said, “But it’s a good possibility.”
“But why would he do that?” Carla asked. “He was his son!”
“There are cases of incest all the time,” Rick said, his revulsion showing again.
“But…” Carla clearly didn’t want to believe that anyone would do that.
Marcia suddenly asked, “Have they found Simmons yet?”
“I don’t think so,” Rick answered.
“What are you thinking, Foxy?” asked Darryl.
Again, Marcia looked at Rick. Hesitantly, she asked, “Where did Crystal go instead of your uncle’s?”
“Why?” he countered.
“We’re not sure,” Carla said. “She won’t tell anyone. Not even Fred.”
Marcia turned to her sister and brother. She was deeply in love with Darryl, but she knew Chet and Margot would follow her logic easier.
“Here’s my theory.” Turning to Rick, she assured him. “It’s only a theory, okay?”
He slowly nodded. He knew very well how perceptive she was. It might be a theory, but a very good one.
“We know that Simmons was Vic’s father,” Marcia began. “I hesitate to use the word ‘dad’ because he really doesn’t seem like much beyond a biological father.
“Anyway. He was always ogling Vicki in class. I noticed it. I’m sure Darryl noticed it.”
Darryl nodded in agreement.
“The thing was, he ogled all the cute girls. It wasn’t a paternal look at all. He was taking in their looks.”
“He didn’t look at you that way,” Darryl said.
“He knew that I was born a boy.”
“His loss.”
“Thanks,” she said and gave his cheek a quick peck, “but I’m just as happy he didn’t look at me that way.”
Darryl raised his eyebrows as if just thinking of the ramifications of that, as he nodded his head and said, “Yeah. Me too.”
“The point is, the way he looked at those girls was distinctly sexual.”
“You aren't thinking…;" Rick stopped what he was saying.
“He eyed girls in our classes the same way, Rick,” Margot pointed out.
“Oh.”
“Could the two guys he was with at Ross’s be the two other people whose… well, seed the police found?” Darryl asked.
Marcia smiled at him. Somehow he'd come up with that theory too. "That's a possibility," Marcia said. "I don't know how likely it is, but… What if they were some of his wide-ranged sons?"
“Oh, wow!” Rick groaned. “This gets worse and worse.”
“I’m sorry,” Marcia said quietly. “I didn’t think you’d want to hear this.”
“No, but once I understood who Vic was, it was like… Well, I suddenly understood him so much better.”
“I know,” Marcia said in the same tone of voice. “Me too.”
“Yeah. I was looking forward to having a brother. Go on. I need to know what happened.”
“It’s only a theory,” Marcia said. “I could have it completely wrong.”
“Yeah,” Rick said. “You could.” He didn’t sound convinced.
“We don’t know where Crystal went, but it wouldn’t have left enough time for her to get to Whitehorse and back, so I don’t think she was the one who used the debit card there. If the two men were sons of Simmons, one of them may have. Where were they from? The lower forty-eight? If so, did they drive here?”
Chet was nodding. “That’s a good question.”
“Might Simmons react the way he did when his daughter came out as his son?” Marcia cocked her head a bit. “And how far would he take his anger?”
Margot was beginning to see where her sister-in-law was going. “So you’re saying that Crystal has something to do with Simmons's disappearance?”
“Do you think he’s dead?” Chet asked.
“I don’t know, but if such a person killed my son, I know how I’d react.”
“How would she know he did it?” Carla asked her.
Marcia shrugged. “My guess is she’d confront him. Maybe she was prepared to kill him, or maybe it was an accident. I don’t know, but I’m sure if she suspected, she went to see him ready to exact revenge.”
They talked a while longer, and around midnight, Darryl took Marcia home. When he arrived at his house, he was still thinking about what had been said.
Chet had made a copy of the recording for everyone, and Darryl played back Marcia’s theory. He figured she was pretty close to the actual truth.
Epilogue
Allie was officially adopted by Chet and Margot. They got a bit of a surprise afterward. Bill and Sylvia explained that their daughter, Lisa, had left the farm in Palmer to them. They thought it best to sell it, for an extremely low price, to the young Chathams, where it would be used to help their granddaughter and her new family.
There was a staff that worked the farm, which had several fields of different vegetables. After visiting the farm and speaking with the staff, Chet and Margot decided to allow the manager to continue to run things. The farm was very profitable, and Lisa had used a local job in a bank to support herself and Allie, and the money from the farm had gone directly to pay off her loan, so she had owned it free and clear.
=#=-
Chris had a few snags while he was in the hospital, but he was released at about the 35-week mark. Everyone was thrilled to have him home, and he seemed to revel in the attention. Marcia was delighted to help in his care, and Amber was absolutely ecstatic to have a little brother.
-=#=-
It was a couple of weeks later that Simmons's body was found. His car was in the river, southeast of North Pole, and his dead body was in the trunk.
A painted, broken bit of fingernail was found inside his shirt. Marcia was right. It came from Crystal.
When confronted at her house, she didn’t deny it. Fred tried to make her wait for an attorney, and it quickly came out that he’d figured out what she’d done.
Both of them were taken into custody, her for murder and him as an accessory after the fact.
That, of course, left Rick in an empty house. It was too hard on him, his entire family being ripped apart in the way it was. He couldn't stay in the place, so he moved into Carla's apartment, and then he and Chet closed up the house for the winter.
At trial, Crystal said that she had confronted Simmons for what he’d done. Simmons was furious that she was allowing Vic to transition.
The two men were the ones who also raped the kids. One was his brother and the other, his nephew. They had been picked up by the police and would be sent back to Alaska to stand trial there, as both lived in the lower forty-eight.
Simmons had decided to show Vic what a girl like her was supposed to be for, so he had his way with her and Michelle. Then his brother and nephew did as well. After they were satisfied, they realized they’d have to get rid of the two, so they stabbed both and put them in Vic’s car. They jammed the gas pedal down and let it run into the river.
Simmons had admitted to Crystal that they followed the two from Ross's to a secluded spot where they were making out and attacked there.
When Crystal confronted him after he bragged about it, he tried to hurt her, but she was backed against the fireplace, where she grabbed the ash shovel.
She was able to hit him across the face, and he stumbled backward and fell. Acting on instinct, she jumped onto him, straddling his chest. She then went to work, driving the shovel again and again into his face.
Had she gone to the police at the time, it would have been self-defense, but since she hid her actions and only admitted when accused by the police, she faced prison.
Fred admitted that he got her to talk about it when he heard that she’d never gone to Talkeetna to see her brother. He knew that she’d be facing prison, so he agreed to keep it quiet.
The two were sentenced to time in prison.
-=#=-
In the spring of 2023, Chet and Margot were best man and matron of honor, respectively, at Rick and Carla's wedding. Darryl was a groomsman, and Marcia was a bridesmaid. Granny sat in the front row, beaming through the entire service as the two said their vows.
At the wedding reception, Chet told them that he was making Rick COO of Chatham Yardworks, which had expanded into Fairbanks, and had quite a staff. He and Margot would be moving to Palmer to manage the farm as the manager had given his notice.
Darryl and Marcia were accompanying them where they would attend Alaska State University in Anchorage. The only stipulation that Gloria and Mike had given their son and daughter-in-law was to make sure they had separate bedrooms!
The End
(of book 2)
Don’t forget to leave kudos and comment!
– Rosemary
P.S. Book 3 is being written now.