Page 12 of Wilderness Search (Eagle Mountain: Unsolved Mysteries #2)

Willa worked at the clinic all day Tuesday, checking her phone every hour for updates.

Volunteers were still searching for Olivia, but the efforts were more targeted.

Danny said the sheriff’s department had launched a drone.

They had brought in a second tracking dog, but they were having no luck picking up Olivia’s scent, possibly because of the rain since she had disappeared.

At noon, she texted Gary to ask how he was doing.

He replied OK , then refused to respond to further texts.

He didn’t like to be nagged, but she couldn’t help it.

Her mind kept replaying the nightmare of him being hauled away in handcuffs, outside their house in Vermont.

Gary might have convinced himself that wasn’t going to happen again, but she didn’t have that kind of faith.

A little after four o’clock she was updating a patient chart when her phone buzzed with a search and rescue alert. Before she could respond, a call came in from Danny. “You’re going to get an alert about a fallen climber,” he said.

“It just came through,” she said.

“I’m tied up here in Junction. And Dr. Rand Martin, our medical director, is in surgery.

I know you’re at the clinic today, but is there any way you can get free?

It sounds like this climber is going to need medical attention and while there are plenty of people who can assess him and give the appropriate care to stabilize him until he can be transported, if he needs pain meds it’s better if we have a licensed person on-site. ”

“Of course.” She stood and began gathering her belongings. “We’re not that busy, and there are people here who can cover for me.”

“Thanks. Let me know how it goes.”

She told her supervisor what was up and got permission to leave work early, texted Gary to let him know she might be home late and set out, grateful to have something new to focus on, even temporarily.

Someone she didn’t know was having what was probably one of the worst days of his life.

She could help make that day a little bit better.

Scott Sprague studied the damage to the storage room door, unspeaking, then moved into the center of the small space.

“I can’t say for certain whether anything has been taken,” he said.

“When the counselors need things like water or a sleeping bag or pack, they’re supposed to log what they take, but that doesn’t always happen.

” He indicated a clipboard hanging by the door.

Aaron peered at the last listing on the board. “The last entry is dated two days ago. Someone took two bags of marshmallows for the bonfire.”

“Employees wouldn’t have broken the door to get in, would they?” Travis asked.

“They’d better not,” Scott said. “You say Gary Reynolds reported this to you?”

“Yes.”

“He should have told me first, and I would have notified you.”

“I was nearby when he discovered the damage,” Aaron said. “I think that’s why he came to me first.”

Scott said nothing. He exited the shed and Travis and Aaron followed. “Are you any closer to finding Olivia?” Scott asked.

“We’re still searching,” Travis said.

“But you’re not finding. She’s one little girl. How far could she have gotten in a rainstorm? You should have found some sign of her by now.”

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of places to hide in this rugged country. A lot of places to get lost.”

A lot of ways to get hurt, Aaron thought, but didn’t say it out loud.

“You took Reynolds in for questioning,” Scott said. “What did you find out from him?”

“Nothing,” Travis said.

“He’s my newest employee,” Scott said. “I don’t know much about him. Seems suspicious this girl disappears right after he shows up.”

“Do you think he knew Olivia?” Travis asked.

“What do her friends say?”

“They don’t remember ever seeing her alone with a staff member or even another camper,” Travis said.

“Kids are good at hiding things. And they don’t always tell the truth.” Scott spread his hands wide. “Don’t get me wrong. I love kids. It’s why I run a kids camp. But they’re not all little angels. You can’t believe everything they say. Or don’t say.”

“Have you considered temporarily closing the camp and sending the children home?” Travis asked.

Scott’s expression hardened. “I don’t think you understand what a thin financial margin I operate on here, Sheriff,” he said.

“Closing the camp would be utter disaster for Mountain Kingdom. We might never recover. Of course, if I believed the children were in any real danger, I wouldn’t hesitate to send them away.

But I really don’t see how petty vandalism and one missing girl—who probably ran away—is a serious threat. ”

“Not everyone would agree with that assessment,” Travis said.

“I’ve run this camp for decades,” Scott said. “I know how to keep my campers safe.”

The sheriff held his gaze for a long moment, but Scott didn’t blink. “We’ll let you know if we find anything,” Travis said.

They left Scott contemplating the damaged door. “I want to talk to Wade Lawson,” Travis said.

They found Wade with a group of boys and girls in an open-air pavilion, where they were working on some kind of leather craft. “Can we speak with you a minute?” Travis asked.

“Sure.” He caught the eye of the woman across from him. “I’ll just be a minute, Veronica.”

He followed Travis and Aaron to a tree some distance away. “What’s up?”

“We got the coroner’s report back on your brother,” Travis said.

Wade’s expression tightened. “What did it show?”

“He had over twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system. And he had taken sleeping pills. A couple of them, at least. Seconal.”

Wade shook his head. “Trevor didn’t take sleeping pills. He wouldn’t hardly even take an aspirin. He didn’t like pills of any kind. And he never got drunk.”

“Never?”

“I can think of maybe two or three times in his life I ever saw him even tipsy. And he wouldn’t drink and drive. Besides, when I saw him at the bonfire, he was perfectly sober and happy.”

“He didn’t argue with anyone that night?”

“No! What makes you think that?”

“He had a black eye, two broken fingers and a busted lip,” Travis said. “The coroner thinks all those injuries happened several hours before he died.”

Wade stared. “Somebody beat him up?”

“Have you seen anyone around here with bruised knuckles or any injuries like that?” Aaron asked.

“No.” He took a deep breath, then looked Travis in the eye.

“None of what you’re describing is anything Trevor would do.

Do you think someone could have kidnapped him, beat him up, filled him full of pills and alcohol, then forced him off the road?

Because that’s the only thing that makes sense to me. ”

“Who would do that?” Travis asked. “And why?”

“I can’t figure it out. It sounds like a movie plot or something.

But I can’t believe he would kill himself.

I know people probably say that all the time but Trevor really wasn’t like that.

He was a happy guy. And if something was bothering him, I would have heard about it.

He wasn’t the type to keep things to himself. ”

“Did Trevor know Olivia Pryor?” Aaron asked.

“Do you think this has anything to do with what happened to Olivia?” Wade asked.

“Did Trevor and Olivia know each other?” Travis asked.

“I don’t think so. I mean, I never saw him talking to her or anything.

” He rubbed the back of his neck. “When he started working here part-time, I made a big deal about how he had to stay away from the kids, especially the girls. You don’t ever want to be alone with them, or touch them, or do anything somebody might misconstrue.

That’s a sure way to get in big trouble.

I harped on it a lot and Trevor took the warnings to heart.

He was friendly, but not too friendly. Mostly, he just helped me out and focused on the job. ”

“We haven’t found any connection between Olivia and your brother,” Travis said.

“I hope they find her soon,” Wade said. “She was a good kid. Polite. Smart. Her parents must be sick about this.”

“We’re not going to stop looking for her,” Travis said. “Call me if you think of anything helpful.”

“Yeah, sure. Thanks.”

Wade returned to the crafts session, and Travis and Aaron headed for the main lodge. “We’re sending the drone up again this afternoon,” Travis said. “And tonight we’ve got a military helicopter flying over with heat-sensing technology. If she’s out there, maybe they’ll find her.”

Aaron sensed the worry behind his words. The sheriff wasn’t known for talking. Right now it was as if he was listing out loud everything they were doing to find Olivia, listening for anything he might have left out or overlooked.

“Tell me about the girl in Vermont,” Travis said. “The one who was killed.”

Aaron paused, gathering his thoughts. “Rachel Sherman was nine,” he began.

“She disappeared right after dinner. She was on her way back to her cabin with four friends and stopped to use the toilet. They went on without her. She never showed up at the cabin, so the counselor sent a couple of older girls to look for her. They couldn’t find her, so she alerted the camp manager.

A search was conducted by camp staff, then they called the police department.

We searched and the next day found her body up under some brush on a creek about half a mile from the camp.

She had been strangled. Sexually molested, but there was no DNA. ”

“And no idea who killed her?”

“None. There were rumors there had been a man camping in the area, but we never found him. It’s always hard when you don’t solve a case, but when it’s a kid…”

Travis nodded. “I’m going to talk to the Pryors again. Maybe they can help me learn more about what kind of kid Olivia is. How she thinks. If she was attacked by someone and got free, where would she go?”

“Why wouldn’t she run to someone in authority in the camp?” Aaron asked. “One of them could have called us right away.”