Book of Days_ A Novel - James L. Rubart [48]
After the next set ended, Tricia and Taylor gathered their things and got up to leave.
"Best of success, Cameron, hang in there." Taylor bent down to shake Cameron's hand.
"Thanks, maybe we'll talk again."
"Maybe."
The park shadows grew till Cameron was the only one left in the park. The band had packed up and the last stragglers had ambled back toward their homes or hotels.
Wait. He wasn't the only one left. A figure in shadow leaned against a tree on the opposite side of the park. It was too small to be Jason. Was it a man? A woman? He couldn't tell, but he knew the person was staring at him.
Cameron stood and called out, "Hello."
No response. No movement.
"Can I help you?"
The figure shifted his weight and pulled his hood further down on his face.
As Cameron started walking toward the figure, the person walked backward a few paces, then turned and sprinted away.
Cameron raced toward the fleeing figure, but he had too much of a jump on Cameron. By the time he reached the spot where the person had stood, he had vanished.
The temperature had dropped at least twenty degrees since Cameron first arrived, or maybe the appearance of someone watching him made it seem that way.
Threatening notes. Someone stealing his research. Stalkers trailing him. Great. It added a nice flavor of fear to his quest.
But it also added validity. He was getting closer.
And Jason was right. Taylor Stone was far more tied into the Book of Days than he was willing to admit. Cameron would stay close to Taylor and somehow find a way to get the man to confess.
As he crawled under the sheets that night, hope fluttered up from his heart.
"I'm making progress, Jessie." He clicked off the lamp next to his bed. "I know you're with me. I'll see you in my dreams."
Three Years Earlier
Intermittent breezes had buffeted Cameron and Jessie as they hiked the two miles up Mount Erie in northern Washington. They could have driven, but they were considering entering their first triathlon, and the exercise would be a good addition to the mountain-bike ride they'd taken earlier in the day.
He grabbed her hand and gave a quick squeeze. She smiled, let go of his hand, and sprinted up the path. "Think you can catch me?"
Maybe not, but she'd caught him. All of him. Forever.
They crested the top of the trail and gazed down on the farmland a quarter-mile below.
It looked like a postcard, pencil-thin dirt roads separating bright green fields as far as they could see, with inlets of Puget Sound reaching out like fingers into the rich green-and-gold ground.
The sun would set in two hours, so they couldn't linger long before heading back down. They'd had one of their first dates here, and he'd taken her back once a year ever since. He would keep bringing her here till they had to drive to the top and get to the viewpoints using walkers.
They found their traditional seat, an outcropping of rocks with just enough room for both of them to sit, and dangled their legs with four hundred feet of open space below them.
"Perfect day?" Cameron asked.
"Only one thing would make it better."
"That is?"
"When we get home we find out a major studio wants to buy one of your short films, make it feature length, and have you direct."
The wind continued to swirl erratically, pushing Jessie's hair back in bursts, then dying so it fell on her shoulders like wayward feathers seconds later.
Perfection in human form.
She turned toward him. "What if I told you something you'd never believe?"
"I'd believe it."
"No. This is something I know you could never accept."
"I would accept it, because it's you."
"You wouldn't. It's the unanswerable argument. If I know you won't . . . it's like saying God, who nothing is impossible for, can make a stone too heavy for Himself to lift."
"Easy answer." Cameron laughed. "Since there probably is no God, he wouldn't be able to lift it."
Jessie ran her fingers over the top of his hands, then intertwined their fingers. "You promise to believe me?"
"Yes, tell me."
Jessie closed her