Page 43 of High Country Escape
“You’ll go back to the house?”
“Yes.” She didn’t want another encounter with Ledger. But even more, she wanted to never have to think about him again. That was the only way she would ever feel truly free.
After five days, they called off the physical search for Sarah Michaelson. “We ask the public to continue to keep a lookout for any sign of Sarah,” the sheriff said in a statement to the media. “We have conducted an exhaustive search of the area surrounding the campground, utilizing dozens of volunteers, hundreds of man-hours, tracking dogs and both aerial and ground searches. Though we are no longer actively searching, we do ask that anyone who might have seen anything that might pertain to Sarah’s disappearance from the Bryson Creek campground around noon on September 17, please contact our office.”
Volunteers continued to roam the woods, and the girl’s picture was on posters all over town. To Dalton it felt as if searchers had tramped through every inch of the woods and mountainside. The knowledge that no one had found Sarah hung over the search and rescue volunteers. They didn’t like to fail in the mission they had trained for.
When Dalton wasn’t working, training for SAR or with Roxanne and his parents, he tried to find out more about William Ledger. He didn’t tell Roxanne what he was doing because talking about Ledger clearly upset her. But what he found while reading through old newspaper accounts and whattrial documents had been released to the public haunted him. Roxanne had been all but abandoned by those who were supposed to protect her. Anger burned in him on her behalf. So much of a normal childhood had been stolen from her. And the man who did this was walking free.
Despite his previous luck in finding people online who didn’t want to be found, he had no luck determining what had happened to Ledger after he was released from prison. One newspaper account mentioned that he was going to live with a “friend” but Dalton could find no further details. He asked Aaron to tell him what the sheriff’s department knew, but his brother swore they hadn’t discovered anything new, either.
He tried to see Roxanne every day, casually dropping by his parents’ house to borrow something or accept an invitation to dinner. Roxanne laughed at his mother’s comment that they hadn’t seen this much of him since before he moved into his own place, and she always seemed glad to see him, but he didn’t think sitting in the living room or on the front porch talking qualified as a real date. He was trying to be Roxanne’s friend, waiting for her to see him as more.
“Let’s get out of the house and do something fun,” he told her a week after she had moved in—the day after the sheriff called off the search for Sarah.
“What do you have in mind?” she asked.
“We could take a hike or something, in the mountains. There are a lot of great trails.”
“I’d love that, but Aaron told me I needed to stay close to home until they figure out who’s behind my wreck and the break-in. He was so insistent, he kind of scared me.”
“Aaron can be that way—a little intense.” He thought for a moment. “How about we get you out of the house, but we don’t go far. And you won’t be alone. I’ll be with you.” He flexed hismuscles in a mock he-man pose and she laughed—the reaction he had been hoping for.
“So what do you have in mind?” she asked.
“What about a picnic at the lake? Or if you’d rather go to a movie or out to eat...”
“A picnic sounds wonderful.” She took his hand and squeezed it. “I’ll look forward to it.”
She was waiting at the curb when he arrived Thursday afternoon. “Is my mom watching out the window?” he asked as she slid into the passenger seat of the Jeep.
“Probably.”
“Did you tell her we were going out?”
“No. Though I could tell she was curious when I told her I had a date. But she really is trying hard to respect my privacy. I appreciate that about her.”
“I didn’t think my mom ever respected privacy,” he said. “But I guess that’s only with her children.”
“When I suggested it was time for me to move back to my own place, she told me she didn’t think that was a good idea.”
“You were thinking of moving back?” He tried to keep his voice light, but his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Is that safe?”
“Your mother told me it wasn’t. She said she had no idea why, but that Aaron had pulled her aside and impressed on her how important it was to watch out for me.” She cleared her throat and when she spoke again, her voice was a little ragged. “I’m touched, really, how much your whole family seems to care.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “You’re an easy person to care about. And I don’t think you should move back to that tiny house. It’s so remote and you’re all alone out there.” He also made a mental note to pull Aaron aside soon and find out what made him so insistent on keeping Roxanne from venturingtoo far alone. Had the sheriff’s department heard something about Ledger’s location?
“My house isn’t that remote,” she said. “Kara is just across the drive, and Mr. Lusk lives less than a mile away.”
“It’s not the same as being in a house with other people.”
“Yes, well your mom got so upset I agreed I wouldn’t leave just yet. But I can’t stay with your folks forever, and it doesn’t seem the sheriff is any closer to finding Ledger—if he was even the one behind those attacks.”
“You saw the man who ran you off the road and you recognized him,” Dalton said. “And who else would know about the doll Ledger gave you?”
She sighed and sat back in her seat. “I’m glad you believe me. I wonder if the sheriff does, or he’s just humoring me.”
“Aaron wouldn’t insist on you staying safe if he didn’t think you were at risk,” Dalton said. “I’m not trying to frighten you—I just want you to know we’re all taking this seriously.”