Free Short Cut to Santa Fe by Medora Sale Page B

dead and over that cliff. Nothing’ll find you down there for at least five years. Nothing human, anyway. Everybody understand that?”
    The loudest sound in the bus was the noise of the two brothers breathing.
    â€œNow,” he went on, “I want to know just who you are and what you’re doing here. Don’t ask why. Just believe me that it’s important. At least it’s important to me, and I’m the one who’s armed. And you’d better be convincing.” He paused to look the group over. “There’s no hurry. We got all night. How about we start at the back, with you two kids?”
    â€œOh, but the kids are—” Harriet started.
    â€œThe hell they are,” said Gary. “They were on the plane, weren’t they? And that’s more than you were. I’m beginning to find you more and more interesting, lady.”
    â€œI’m Stuart,” said the boy, suddenly and loudly. His face was chalk-white, but he seemed to have a firm grip on his reactions. “Stuart Rogers. And this is my sister Caroline.”
    â€œLet her answer for herself. Is that your name?”
    â€œYes. Caroline Rogers.” The girl stared at him the way birds are supposed to stare at snakes, but her voice was steady enough. “Our parents run the Hotel Sans Souci. It’s between Santa Fe and Taos. When we come home we usually catch a ride with the Archway bus. There’s always room because regular passengers never sit on those backseats. But this time we missed it, and these people gave us a ride. They were just trying to catch up to the bus, so we could get home.”
    â€œIs that true?”
    â€œYes,” said Harriet. “I figured you’d pass by their intersection and they’d be able to recognize it. Then I could drop them off.”
    â€œWhere were you coming from?” Gary didn’t seem to be as interested in the story as in the twins.
    â€œFrom Dallas. That’s where we live.”
    â€œYou said you were going home,” said Gary.
    â€œWe are. Our parents live here,” said her brother. “We live with Aunt Jan except during vacations. We go to school in Dallas. Our parents know the man who owns Archway and they let us fly home for the weekend on the Archway plane.” The child sounded desperately tired and Harriet’s eyes suddenly filled with tears for an instant, quickly suppressed.
    â€œThe hell you do.” Gary’s voice was flat and without expression. “That sounds crazy to me.”
    â€œIt’s not crazy,” said Caroline. “We do it all the time.”
    â€œYour parents rich? Do they own the hotel?” asked Gary.
    Stuart shook his head. “It’s owned by the Marenda Corporation. They manage it for them.”
    â€œShit. That’s no use,” said Gary, and lost interest in the twins. “Anyone know the woman back there?”
    The sudden shift in topic caught them off-guard. There was silence.
    â€œWho is she?”
    Karen Johnson intervened nervously. “Her name is Diana Morris and she’s from Virginia. That’s all we know about her.”
    â€œShe’s a librarian,” said Caroline Rogers suddenly. “We were talking to her at the airport and on the plane, and she told us she was a librarian. She said it wasn’t a very exciting job but she really liked it. We were talking about books.”
    â€œA librarian? I thought this was some sort of posh tour,” said Gary.
    Teresa Suarez turned slightly in the direction of the gunman. “She told me on the plane that she was in lousy shape after a nasty divorce, and had heard that the mystic powers of the sacred places would heal her. A very chatty woman.” The voice was low-pitched and cultured. “I said I didn’t know about mystic powers, but I thought getting away from home would help. Clearly I was wrong.”
    â€œWho are you, lady?”
    â€œMy name is Teresa