Page 22 of Finding Basil (Foggy Basin Season Two)

Chapter Fourteen

The call came two hours after they went out looking. It came to Juan, but he placed it on speaker.

“What’s up, Mom?”

“The sheriff called, and he finally got a hold of the hospital. They were reticent about giving out the information, but finally, he said he wasn’t asking about Steve’s illness, just whether his companion was still there.

Basil dropped him off and didn’t stay, but the sheriff feels like he was heading home, surely. ”

Juan and Herb’s eyes met after Herb parked the car. Herb asked, “What is he planning to do?”

“The sheriff? Nothing. He said he’ll put out a watch for the truck and for Basil, but he cannot, by law, put out an APB or anything until twenty-four hours are up.”

Juan turned bright red as his anger flared. “Mom, that’s bullshit!”

“I know, but it’s the law. Now you know why your abuela doesn’t trust the police.”

Herb said, “I’ll talk to him. Maybe…maybe he just needs some convincing. Let me ask you, Michelle, if you are okay with me turning Basil in for breaking into my house.”

Juan smiled at him as Michelle got angry, at first. “That’s the lowest thing in the world, Herb! Why would you…?” The line went silent for a few seconds. “That would make him look for Basil officially.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Do it. Do it right away.”

They drove to the sheriff's station, and Herb took the few stairs up to the door two at a time. Once inside, he went straight to the desk, where Clay West was on the phone. He held up one finger to Juan and Herb while he finished the call, and once he did, he said to them, “I already have people looking for him, and I’m organizing a search party.”

“That’s great, but you could probably get the state police and more looking if he was a wanted man, right?”

Clay smiled crookedly. “Keep talkin’.” As Herb told him how he knew Basil was with Steve in the first place, seeing them coming out of his house, West said, “Well, I’ll be damned.

” He got on the radio and sent out an All-Points Bulletin for Basil, and once he’d done that, he said, “Just so you know, you can drop the charges once we find him.”

“Thank you. And the search party, where will they look first?”

“Along the roads from here to Santa Clara, where the hospital is. There are about twelve roads that, some way or another, wind around from there to here.”

“Twelve?”

Juan said, “Basil doesn’t like the highways. He’ll take a road if he can, so show me all twelve on your map and I’ll likely pinpoint a couple he’d take, and also, we can get a jump on the search party.”

Clay took them to the county map, and next to it was a map of the seven counties surrounding it. He showed them three highways, which they discounted easily, then he went in on smaller roadways. “This one here is the railroad access, and these three are the highway access roads.”

“Access roads are always iffy. They stop in places, and you have to at least cross the highway on most of those. Here, what’s this one?”

He pointed to a thin blue line that wound around a few hills and past a lake. Clay West said, “Good eye. It takes an extra hour to go that route, sure, but it’s the prettiest.”

“Basil’s likely all daydreaming because of Herb, so he’d want a route that allowed him to do just that. We’ll take that one.”

They headed out on that road within minutes of leaving the sheriff's office. From the time he got on the road, he drove slowly, and with every dip in the terrain, they slowed more.

There was no sign of Basil broken down on the side of the road or run off of it anywhere, but they weren’t giving up until they got right to the hospital.

“Do you think he’d take the same route he took to get there?” Herb asked.

“Nah. He’d want the quickest route to get there, and one with the fewest stops. Steve has jumped out of moving vehicles before.”

“Damn. When Basil mentioned him, I never realized he was so bad.”

“I feel sorry for the guy, you know? Or I did before this. That shit…constantly taking you way far up and back down to the depths, it’s gotta suck.

Basil, man, he fretted over that guy night and day.

Pleaded with him to stay on his meds, but like I told him, you can’t make someone do something, even if it’s good for them. They got their own mind.”

“Exactly. I understand why he kept trying, though. And knowing it makes me feel worse for thinking…things. Basil doesn’t give up easily. He loves something or someone, and he sticks to it until he can’t.”

“Finally got that, huh? That’s my brother. I was always the opposite until I got married and had kids. I gave up fast if I didn’t like something or it was too hard. My wife cured me of that.”

“Did she? I’m hoping Basil can cure me of a lot of things.”

“He’ll do it. When we find him.”

Herb loved it was phrased that way. When and not if . All that was important to him at the moment was finding Basil.

The closer they got to the mountains, the steeper the drop-offs beside the road became. Some plunged down at least a hundred feet, and they pulled over on a turnoff dirt road, parked and walked full miles, sticking close to the guardrails.

Every foot of road they walked and didn’t see a broken guardrail was heaven to him. If he’d gone over the edge in any of those spots, Herb knew he wouldn’t make it.

They got back to the car and drove to another turnoff, doing the same, walking each step of the road.

When they came to a part with no guardrail and two long blank lines from skidding tires, Herb’s heart was in his throat.

“Is he down there?” he asked Juan, who was climbing over the guardrail that was intact.

The tire skids just happened to be right where the guardrail ended.

Herb ran for the spot where the tire marks were, and he and Juan looked over the edge at the same time.

There, in the truck that was about twenty feet off the side of the road, Basil was slumped over the wheel, but that wasn’t the worst part.

The truck was stopped precariously on the side of a narrow shelf on the slope.

If the truck slid further, he was going to spin violently down to the bottom of the hill, which was a good hundred and fifty feet.

“Oh, fuck, Herb, what the fuck! Is he even alive?”

Herb had seen movement, though barely. “He is, but who knows for how long? Call the state patrol, call Sheriff West, whoever 9-1-1 will get on the dispatch with. Tell them we need a crane, helicopter, ambulance, and firemen, and tell them there’s not much time. If he comes to and moves…”

There were tears in Juan’s eyes, and he barely saw that through the tears in his own, and the blur of fear that further skewed his vision.

To think of watching anyone die that way, but especially the man he loved, it tore him open. He knew he’d never recover from losing him, and neither would his family or the town of Foggy Basin.

That bright spot of life gone, the entire world would have to mourn, even if they’d never met him. Good people like that were important to keep the balance of all the awful people in the world.

Juan was talking with 9-1-1 a mile a minute, giving them directions and pleading with them to hurry.

Herb moved around the guardrail and made his way to the truck as slowly and gently as he could.

After placing a hand on the hood to feel for the heat of the engine, he found it cool. Basil had been there all night.

He saw what had stopped him from careening over. There was a full tree with a thick trunk under him, the top broken and the trunk holding him on the undercarriage of the truck.

He’d never been so thankful for a tree in his life.

The window was down, so he stepped as close as he felt safe to it and reached in his hand, checking Basil’s pulse. It was strong, which gave Herb such relief, he thought he might sob.

“Basil, baby, please don’t wake up yet. Not yet. Don’t move. Just don’t move.”

It was then that Basil opened at least the eye Herb could see, and it hadn’t been easy, as it was covered over in blood from the cut on his forehead.

“Shh, don’t move, baby, and don’t try to talk. It’s okay. Everything is okay. Help is coming.”

“Herb…how…?”

“You’ve been gone a long time. We were worried. Your whole family is looking for you. Juan is just up the embankment.”

That made him cry, which not only broke Herb’s heart, but scared him.

“You can’t move, baby. Not even a little. The truck is…it could fall.”

“I’m so scared. I’m scared.”

“I know, baby boy, I know.”

Juan was standing next to him, as he’d climbed down too. “Hey, little brother, it’s cool. It’s gonna be fine. The police and firemen are on the way; they’re sending a helicopter. You’re gonna finally get to ride in one! Remember how you always wanted to when you were a kid?”

Basil smiled. “You remember that?”

Juan’s voice broke as he said, “Sure. I…I remember everything about you. You’re my best friend, my…my brother! I remember your first fucking smile and how Mom and Abuela fussed over you, like you were something special. I didn’t know they were right until we grew up, and I saw it for myself.”

“That I’m better looking and smarter?” Basil croaked, then chuckled, sending Herb’s heart racing.

“Don’t move, baby. Don’t move.”

“Sorry. I’m so sorry about this, Herb. I lied to you, I did…I did something.”

“I know all about it, honey. I don’t care a bit about all that. I just want you safe. That’s all.”

Basil passed out again, and Juan grabbed Herb’s arm in a vice grip. “What the fuck?”

“He’s breathing. God, when are they getting here?”

It wasn’t two minutes after that an entire crowd of first responders came, and the flurry of activity did nothing to squash his fear. His anxiety was horrible at that moment, and he kept picturing the truck finally giving way, leaving the shelf and plunging down into the deep gorge.