Page 58 of Long Pig

“What the hell?” Dale stood so abruptly, his chair almost tipped backward.

“Sit down, Dale. That’s what I want to talk to you about. Do you have any idea why they are both missing or why they would meet out there?”

Dale paced back and forth a few times before he took the chair again. He ran his hand through his thinning hair. “Goddammit. She disliked the deputy intensely. He scared her. There is absolutely no reason she would meet Wallard.”

“His family is throwing a fit. They left a few minutes before I called you. They’re screaming that Willow seduced him, and now he’s in danger, possibly dead because of her.”

Willow’s past came crashing in on Dale. Once Wallard’s family knew about her years in prison, things would get worse.

“There’s something you need to know,” Dale said.

He proceeded to tell Cosby Willow’s story. The chief deputy’s expression changed the more Dale spoke. He had no choice, really. It would have come out. Willow was in danger, and he would have trouble convincing people that she was not the one to blame.

Jim stayed silent for several moments when Dale finished. “It doesn’t look good,” he finally said. “I can’t keep this information to myself. It will be all over town as soon as I talk to Benson.”

Dale looked at the floor, and then his head rose, and he stared Cosby in the eyes. “She was acting strange two days before she disappeared. Pull Wallard’s log. I was out of town theday things changed. I think he came for a visit.” He switched directions. “Have they towed the vehicles?”

“You can’t be involved in this.”

Dale rose slowly this time. “Consider me involved. She’s my granddaughter, even if we don’t share blood. You can give me the information I need, or I can discover it on my own. Deputy Wallard threatened her. You can take that to the bank.”

He walked out ten minutes later with a folded sheet of paper in his pocket. He drove to Roger and Louisa’s place and repeated the story he told the chief deputy.

Louisa covered her mouth halfway through, and looked like she would cry. “That poor, poor girl,” she whispered when Dale finished.

Roger took her hand and looked at Dale. “Willow is a good person, and there isn’t anything you could say to convince us otherwise. She’s exactly like her grandmother. Her story explains a lot. What can we do to help?”

Louisa stood and grabbed a tissue. She wiped the tears from her eyes and laid her hand on Dale’s shoulder. “She’s in trouble, and you will find her.”

The dogs stayed with them, and Dale headed to Little Mormon Lake Road after he spoke to the park ranger who found the trucks.

“Deputy,” Russel Lutnik, the ranger, said, with his hand out. He was in his forties, tall with a thin face and defined jaw. A dark tan covered his face and arms. He had laugh lines at his mouth, along with friendly eyes.

“Retired, call me Dale,” he murmured.

“Law enforcement is not a job you retire from. Chief Deputy Cosby told me to give you full cooperation. As I said on the phone, the trucks were towed into Show Low.”

“Did you look around the area?” Dale asked.

“A little. I was mostly looking for who left the vehicles behind before I called the license plates in.”

“Do you mind sticking around and doing a sweep with me?” Dale asked.

“I’d be happy to.”

They started at the location where Willow’s truck was parked and went fifty feet behind it, widening the grid as they walked. Next, they did the same thing from the location of Wallard’s truck.

In the tall grass, Dale saw something flash. He walked a few feet and bent down. “Over here,” he called.

Willow’s phone rested in the dirt, covered by the taller grass.

Russel took pictures while Dale pulled plastic gloves from his pocket. He’d come prepared. Dale lifted the phone. The smashed glass was intentional. It wouldn’t turn on.

“We need to keep looking,” he said. “Do you want to take custody of this, or do you want me to drop it off to the chief deputy?”

“You’re thinking foul play, I take it.”

“Willow is like a granddaughter to me. She’s had a tough time of it since the day she was born, but whatever happened here, she wasn’t a willing participant.”