Chapter Nine - Part Two

He went on.  “Bad man strangle girl.  In car.  Underneath bridge in big city.  He drive over second bridge toward mountain.  Winding road toward mountain.  Dead girl now in heavy box.  Man drive to lake.  He have boat.  It dark outside.  He put box in boat.  Go middle of lake.  Tie anchors, heavy rocks around box.  Throw box into lake.  Then he go home to cabin.  Further up winding road.”

“Girl’s family very sad.  Girl’s son grew up without mother.  Solved.  Just.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.  “How was it solved?  Did anyone ever find her body?  Was the murderer convicted?”

“No,” he continued.  Still solved.  Just.”

“Again, I’m confused,” I said.

“Me talk with Indian brave.  Lewis River Tribe,” declared the Chief.

“How could he have talked with an Indian Brave back in the 1970’s?” I asked Charlie.  “He was dead.”

Charlie answered, “He’s talking to you, isn’t he?   You’ve got to understand that the world doesn’t work exactly the way you’ve always thought it did.  Until yesterday, you didn’t even know there were spirits living in the same world as yours, did you?  Well, Native Americans are a lot wiser regarding these things than we’ve ever been.  They seem to have an understanding far beyond anything the rest of us have when it comes to spirits that ‘walk the earth’.  Maybe Chief can talk with a tribal member who lives in our realm whenever he needs to. Does that really seem so unbelievable, given what you’ve experienced recently”?

I answered more humbly, “Well, no.  I guess I just haven’t thought this all through yet.  It’s all so new to me!  I’m sorry, Chief.  Please tell me more about your investigation.”

 “Indian Brave find man.   He and Earth Spirit hide man in cave on mountain.”

 “Who is ‘Earth Spirit’?” I asked.

Madam responded.  “That’s where this investigation starts to get interesting.  Try to be patient and listen,” she chided.

I felt like a child.  This whole line of communication and thinking was completely new to me. 

“Man terrified, just like girl he killed,” articulated the Chief.  “Indian Brave and Earth Spirit hide man in cave near mountain.  Dark, cold in cave. Earth Spirit brought furs, food when man slept.  Man no see him.  Man go blind from darkness in cave.  Alone.  Like little boy who lost mother.”

I couldn’t be certain, but my interpretation was that the woman probably disappeared from Portland, OR in 1973.  The man offered to give her a ride to wherever she lived.  Instead, he strangled her, drove her up to one of the lakes by Mt. St. Helens, and then threw her in.  He must have lived near there, in the area where the Lewis River Tribes reside.  One of the tribal members was led to the murderer via the Chief’s spiritual direction.   As near as I could tell, the tribal member and some type of spirit hid the murderer somewhere in the Ape Caves near Mt. St. Helens.   I knew that an actual cave known as the Ape Caves existed.  It was a popular hike for tourists and locals. 

It made sense to me that it would be dark and cold in a cave.  I wasn’t sure about the Earth Spirit, though.

Madam shook her head in the affirmative.  “You’re doing a wonderful job, Dear,” she remarked.  “The murderer, who shall remain nameless because he deserves no name, was indeed placed in a hidden part of the well-known Ape Caves near Mt. St. Helens.  Back in 1973, nobody was thinking about the possibility of a future eruption in that area.  It was thought that the murderer would be relatively safe in the cave, but unable to ever find his way out of it.  The Earth Spirit to which the Chief refers is better known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot.”

I’m sure that my mouth literally fell open at that point.  “Ghosts, spirits, and now Bigfoot?”  My brain could only take in so much before I started to fear that all of this was simply a hallucination evoked by extreme trauma.  “How am I supposed to deal with the disappearance of Megan, and try to believe in the existence of Bigfoot all at the same time?” I thought to myself.

“Oh.  I wish you hadn’t done that,” said Madam.  “Spirits – all of them – are very sensitive to the world’s acknowledgement of their existence.  I’m guessing that . . .  Oh, yes.  Here he comes.”

A putrid stench filled the room.  Even Charlie looked startled, as though he didn’t know what was happening.  What appeared in front of us was a huge apparition, approximately seven feet tall, covered in dark matted fur, standing erect on two legs.  Its form was similar to a human, but much larger.  What struck me was its face.  This was a kind face that was more human than ape.  Its eyes stared straight into mine, and I could feel that this was an intelligent, sensitive creature.  And then it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.  The stench was gone.  The only thing that remained was my understanding that there is a spirit that appears as needed to protect the Earth from its inhabitants.  It had conveyed that message to me with one look that imprinted itself into the depths of my soul. 

This was, indeed, a new world for me.  As much as I liked to believe that I knew everything, I now understood that I knew so little as to be a child again.  “Dear Lord,” I thought, “please forgive me for my ignorance.  I’m going to do better.”

 “So what happened to the murderer?” I asked.  I needed to know.

The Chief spoke again.  “Food, animal furs.  Brought to man by Earth Spirit.  No sound.  No light.  Went blind. Man’s mind stop working.  Years.  Man lost everything, just like girl he killed.  Volcano.  Nineteen Eighty.  Loud.  Man’s heart stop after big noise.  His spirit explode with mountain.  Nothing left.  He took girl’s life.  Fast.  She no suffer long. Now he lost his own life.   Slow.  He suffered for long time in dark and silence.  Man hurt every person who loved girl.  Changed their lives.  No right to hurt people.  Man not of light.  Of Darkness.  Now gone.  Spiritual Justice.”

I knew then that I would never want to come up against the Chief in a fight for what is right.  I still didn’t quite grasp the full meaning of ‘Spiritual Justice’, but I felt certain that an explanation would be forthcoming.