Buffalo Mesa Mummy

Chapter 22

When Mr. Kershaw finished telling his story he bowed his head and there was silence in the underground room for a long time.

“Mr. Kershaw,” Maria asked softly, “What happened? Why didn’t you go back and help Samantha?”

“I tried.” Mr. Kershaw answered and then jumped to his feet. “I mean it, I tried really hard. Dark Wolf was so mean and dangerous. I mean he is very evil man, who enjoys hurting people. He told me he was going to leave the girl in the cave for a couple of days so she would be almost crazy, and then he was going to go back and take care of her.”

“I told him that we couldn’t kill her. I mean we had been stealing artifacts, but we hadn’t hurt anyone and she was so young.” Mr. Kershaw sighed and returned to his crate. He let out a big sigh and returned to his story.

“He just kept laughing at me and saying I was stupid. He wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of his scheme; me or the girl.”

“It started to rain, I mean so hard we could hardly see where the trail was. We barely made it across that wash that is half way to the road. The water was coming through the holes in the floorboard, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back to the girl before at least the next day.”

“Dark Wolf drove back to my store and put the closed sign on the door. Then he locked us both in the storeroom and started drinking. He kept drinking until he passed out right in front of the door.”

“I was about to go crazy. I was afraid I would never get out of that room. Finally, the next morning, I was able to squeeze through the door and I took off as fast as I could drive.”

At this point of the story Mr. Kershaw began to weep softly. He wiped his eyes and rubbed his temples, like he was trying to rub away the memories. 

Finally he started speaking again, “I couldn’t get across the gully for hours and when I did get back to the cave I found Samantha McMillan dead. It didn’t make sense to me, but I found out later about her heart problems and that she carried her pills in her backpack. I should have put the pack with her instead of leaving it at the cave entrance, and then she could have gotten her medicine.”

The troubled man looked at the three young people intently and spoke through gritted teeth.

“That poor girl died because I was stupid and a coward. Do you understand that? Can you imagine how it feels to be responsible for the death of an innocent young girl, just because you were afraid to do something?”

“How did the cave get sealed up?” Peter asked, as he stood and stretched. He was no longer fearful that Mr. Kershaw would shoot them just to keep them quiet.

“I got as far as Los Lunas when Dark Wolf met me on the road. He had woken up and figured I had gone back to the cave. He ran me off the road, pulled me out of my truck, and punched me. Before I could tell him the girl was dead he broke my nose and my left arm.” Mr. Kershaw said with very little emotion in his voice.

“He wasn’t a man, he was an animal!” Maria said hotly.

Charlie looked at her with a little amusement. Here was Mr. Kershaw confessing to taking part in a crime where Samantha McMillan had died and Maria was mad that he had gotten beaten up.

“Dark Wolf dumped me at the hospital and said he was going to take care of everything. He also told me that if I said anything at all to anybody they would find my body in the ashes of my store. He said he was leaving town for a while, but he had people that would be watching me.” Mr. Kershaw said with a slight sigh.

“But how did the cave entrance get closed? Did Dark Wolf do it?” Peter asked again.

“Oh, he did it alright,” Mr. Kershaw said with a nod. “He left the hospital and dynamited the entrance. When I got out of the hospital two days later I went right back to the cave and saw what he had done. I know the right thing to do was go straight to the police, but I kept remembering what Dark Wolf said. I knew he would kill me if I said anything and…and I was scared.”