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The Trickster…
“Somebody…You believe that?” Lewis said this as if he did.
Hart didn’t. But no time for theology now. “I’d like to move a little faster. When they hit the trail they might start ru
“Run?”
“Right. Smooth ground’ll give us the advantage. We can move faster.”
“Them being women, you mean?”
“Yep. Well, and one of them being hurt. Pain slows people down.” He paused and stared to their right. Then hunched over the map and examined it closely with the flashlight, its lens muted by his undershirt.
He pointed. “That a smoke tower?”
“What’s that?”
“Rangers look for forest fires from them. It’s one of the places I thought she might go for.”
“Where?”
“On that ridge.”
They were looking at a structure about a half mile away. It was a tower of some sort but through the trees they couldn’t tell if it was a radio or microwave ante
“Maybe,” Lewis said.
“You see any sign of them?”
Now that their eyes were used to the dark, the half-moon provided fair illumination but the ravine separating the men from the ranger tower was shadowy, and in the bottom a canopy of trees provided perfect cover.
The women heading for the tower made some sense, rather than the Joliet Trail or the ranger station. The place might have a radio, or even a weapon. He debated for a moment and risked sca
Then they heard a rustle of leaves, and turned fast toward the sound.
Six glowing red eyes were staring at them.
Lewis laughed. “Raccoons.”
Three big ones were pawing at something on the ground. It glistened and crackled.
“What’s that?”
Lewis found a rock and pitched it toward them.
With a mean-sounding hiss, they ran off.
Hart and Lewis approached and found what they’d been doing-fighting over some food. It looked like bits of crackers.
“Theirs?”
Hart picked one up, broke it in half with a snap. Fresh. He studied the ground. The women had stopped here apparently-he could make out prints of knees and feet. And then they had continued north.
“Women. Stopping for a fucking picnic.”
Hart doubted, though, it was to rest. That wasn’t Bry
He consulted the GPS and pointed ahead. “That way.”
“Mind that patch there,” Lewis said.
Hart squinted. When the moon was obscured by branches or a wisp of cloud, the forest around them turned black as a cave. He finally saw what Lewis was pointing at. “What’s that?”
“Poison ivy. Bad stuff. Not everybody’s allergic. Indians aren’t.”
“Doesn’t affect them?”
“Nope. Not a bit. You might not be allergic but you don’t want to take a chance.”
Hart hadn’t known that. “What were you, a Boy Scout?”
Lewis laughed. “Fu
“You were saying you have two? Brothers?”
“He was the older one, what else? I’m in the middle.”
“He know it was poison ivy?”
“I don’t think so. But something I always wondered about.”
“Must’ve sucked, Lewis,” Hart said.
“Yup…Oh, ’bout that. My friends call me Comp. You can use that.”
“Okay, Comp. Where’s that come from?”
“Town where my parents lived when I was born. Compton. Mi
“That’s right.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Was a while ago.”
“Still.”
They continued on through the tangled brush in silence for what seemed like two miles though it was probably a quarter of that. Hart checked his watch. Okay, he decided. It’s time.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone he’d been carrying. He pushed the ON button, and it went through that electronic ritual they all did nowadays. He figured out the settings and put the ringer on vibrate. Then scrolled through recent calls. The one on top was “Home.” He noted that the call had lasted eighteen seconds. Long enough for a message was all.
He wondered how long it would take before-
A light flashed and the phone buzzed.
Hart touched Lewis’s arm and motioned for him to wait, then lifted his fingers to his lips.
Lewis nodded.
Hart answered the call.
GRAHAM FELT HIS scalp crawl when Bry
It clicked. He heard the rustle of wind and his scalp stopped tensing but his heart took over, thumping hard. “Bry
“This’s Officer Billings,” said the low voice.
Graham frowned and glanced at A
The voice asked, “Hello?”
“Well, this is Graham Boyd, Bry
“Oh, sure, sir. Deputy McKenzie.”
“Is she all right?” Graham asked fast, chest throbbing.
“Yessir. She’s fine. She gave me her phone to hold.”
Relief flooded through him. “I’ve been trying all night.”
“Reception’s terrible up here. Comes and goes. Surprised when it rang just now, to be honest.”
“She was due home a while ago.”
“Oh.” The man sounded confused. “She said she called you.”
“She did. But her message said she was coming right home. It was a false alarm or something.”
“Oh, she was going to call again. Probably couldn’t get through. About the case, turned out it wasn’t a false alarm, after all. Was a domestic dispute, pretty ugly. Husband tried to downplay it. Lot of times that happens. Deputy McKenzie’s talking to the wife right now, getting the facts sorted out.”
The relief was so thick Graham could taste it. He smiled and nodded to A
Billings continued, “She left her phone with me, didn’t want any distractions. She’s calming the situation down. She’s good at that. That’s why the captain wanted her to stay. Oh, hold on a minute, sir…Hey, sergeant?…Where’s Ralph?…Oh, okay…” The trooper came back on the line. “Sorry, sir.”
“Do you know how long she’ll be?”
“We’ve got to get Child Protective Services up here.”
“Lake Mondac?”
“Near there. Could be a few hours. Bad situation with the kid. Husband’s going to spend the night in jail. At least the night.”
“Few hours?”
“Yessir. I’ll have her call you when she’s free.”
“Okay. Well, thanks.”
“You bet.”
“’Night.” Graham hung up.
“What?” A
“Domestic situation?”
“Sounded pretty bad. Husband’s going to jail.” Graham sat on the couch, staring at the TV screen. “Why’d she have to handle it, though?”
Not expecting an answer. But he was aware that the knitting needles had stopped and A
“Graham, you know Bry
“Her jaw? Sure, the car accident.”
He had no idea where she was going with this.
The woman’s gray eyes were on his. That was one thing about A
“Accident,” she repeated slowly. “So you don’t know.”
More yellow jackets, Graham was begi
“Go on.”
“I just assumed she’d told you.”