Page 30 of Wilderness Search (Eagle Mountain: Unsolved Mysteries #2)

“You have to bend down kind of low to get in here, but I promise it’s all right.

” Olivia put her hand on top of Willa’s head and urged her to crouch down farther to squeeze into a narrow opening between two boulders.

Willa did so, crawling on hands and knees through a short passage, gravel digging into her knees.

Just when she was sure she couldn’t go any farther—the opening was too narrow—she felt fresh air against her face, and popped out into a wider space.

Olivia scooted in after her. She took something from her pack, then switched on a little LED light and set it on a tree stump.

Willa looked around at a circular space, about four feet across with a floor of smooth sand.

She raised her eyes to the ceiling, dark and flat.

“That’s a tarp up there,” Oliva said. “I stole it from a wood pile at camp. I don’t think anyone has even missed it yet.

The outside has about a foot of leaves over it.

You’d have to dig down to even see it. It took me most of a day to construct it, but once I had it in place I didn’t have to keep moving. ”

There was no missing the pride in the girl’s voice.

“I’m impressed,” Willa said truthfully. “Did you make the brush shelter in the national forest, too?”

“I did. But I only spent one night there before a hiker found it. I left to take a look around and when I came back, I saw a woman nosing around. I knew I had to have someplace better. Someplace closer to camp, so I could keep track of what was going on.” She knelt and opened her pack again.

“Would you like some tea? I have a little stove and I can heat water. I only have one cup but we can share.”

“Tea would be good.” Willa sat with her back against the wall, knees bent, and watched the girl unpack a single-burner stove, like the kind used by backpackers.

Olivia turned the knob and hit a striker and the stove lit.

Then she filled a small metal cup from a bottle stowed in the side of the pack and set it over the flame to heat.

She took a bag with what looked like shredded leaves in it and carefully sprinkled some in the cup.

She looked up and caught Willa watching her.

“It’s just dried mint and some clover. It tastes better than you might think.” Olivia sat back and they waited for the water to boil. “How’s your ankle?” she asked after a moment.

Willa had forgotten all about her ankle. She felt it. Only a little puffy. “Not bad.”

“Did you hit your face when you fell?” Olivia asked. “Your lip is all swollen, and I think you’re going to have a black eye.”

Willa touched the corner of her mouth and winced. She patted the puffiness around her eye. “Someone attacked me,” she said. “By the pit toilet. He was… I think he was molesting a girl. One of the campers. I yelled at him and he let her go and went after me.”

“Oh God.” Olivia buried her face in her hands, and her shoulders began to shake.

Alarmed, Willa crawled to her. “What’s wrong? What did I say?”

Olivia raised her head and wiped at her eyes.

Then she leaned forward and switched off the burner.

“That will need to steep a minute.” The only sign that she was still upset was the way her hand trembled as she pulled it away from the stove.

She took a deep breath and looked at Willa.

“I’ll bet it was Scott Sprague who hit you.

He hit me, too. But he killed Trevor. Or, I’m pretty sure that’s what he was doing when I saw him.

That was why I had to run away. As long as he’s still walking around free I can’t go back. ”

“Mr. Sprague killed Trevor Lawson?” Willa asked.

Olivia nodded. “I think so.”

“But why?” Willa asked.

“Because Trevor interrupted Mr. Sprague when he was feeling me up behind the pit toilet, just like you interrupted him today. It was what Mr. Sprague did. He took girls back there on bonfire nights—and other times, too—and kissed you and fondled you and…and other things. If you cried too loud or threatened to tell, he would hurt you even more. He said if I told anyone what he did he would say I lied and no one would believe him. He said he had done the same thing before. I knew he was telling the truth because I had heard that the year before some girl accused him of molesting her and he called her a liar with a sex addiction and her parents believed him and not her. I figured the same thing would happen to me. Everyone knew I had been sent to camp because I was seeing an older boy. But the thing is, Jared and I never actually had sex. Nobody believed that, either.”

She leaned forward and picked up the cup and passed it to Willa. “It should be ready now. Sorry, you kind of have to strain out the leaves with your teeth.”

Willa tested the tea, more out of politeness than anything else. “It’s not bad,” she said.

“It would be better if I had sugar, but I forgot to take any of that. I have a couple of cookies, though.” She dug in her bag and pulled out a bundle wrapped in plastic.

“Stella left them for me a couple of days ago. She didn’t know I was the one taking the food she left but she really helped me out.

She didn’t leave anything today, though. I hope she didn’t get in trouble.”

“You eat the cookies,” Willa said when Olivia offered her one. “I ate at the bonfire.”

“Smores!” Olivea groaned. “What I wouldn’t give for one of those.”

Willa set aside the tea. “How did you learn to do all of these things?” she asked. “The shelter and the tea and everything.”

“From books, mostly. I like to read adventure stories. And some of the stuff I just figured out on my own.” She popped a piece of cookie into her mouth and chewed, then swallowed.

“Did you make the trap in the woods?” Willa asked. “The pit with the branches over it?”

“You know about that?” She rose up on her knees, her expression excited. “I made that after I saw Mr. Sprague sneaking around the woods, looking for me. I was really hoping he’d end up in that hole, unable to get out, and nobody around to hear him yell. Too bad it didn’t work.”

“Someone else fell into it,” Willa said. “A man who was searching for you. He broke his leg and a couple of ribs.”

Olivia looked stricken. “Oh no!” She flapped her hands. “That wasn’t supposed to happen! I didn’t think anyone else would be out there. Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. Is he going to be okay?”

“He’ll be okay. But why would you make a trap like that?”

“I just saw the hole and thought it would be perfect.” She groaned. “I really only wanted to get back at Mr. Sprague. I didn’t think about anything else. What happened to the trap?”

“Sheriff’s deputies marked it so no one else will fall in.”

“Good.”

“Are there any other traps in the woods we should know about?” Willa asked.

“None, I promise.”

“How about other shelters or hiding places?”

“None of those, either. Once I fixed up this place, I didn’t need anything else.” She sighed. “It was almost fun, at first, figuring things out and building stuff. But it’s getting old.”

“So many people were searching for you,” Willa said. “How did you keep from being found?”

“It wasn’t as hard as you might think. Big groups of people in the woods make a lot of noise.

Most of the time I could hear them coming from a long way away.

I doubled back behind them and hid in places they had already looked.

” She frowned. “The dogs were harder to avoid. I did a lot of things like walking in streams or across rocky places. I climbed trees and walked along fence rails. It was kind of a game. I think they did pick up my scent a few times, but they always lost it. As miserable as the rain was, I think it helped destroy my scent.”

She rested her chin on her upraised knees.

“I saw Mr. Sprague looking for me a couple of times. He was alone, sneaking around. He was right by one of my hiding places one time and I thought I would die before he finally left—I was so scared. I knew if he found me, he would kill me.” She lowered her voice to a deep, nasal timbre, not unlike the camp owner’s.

“Poor little Olivia, she had an accident in the woods. Isn’t it terrible? ”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Willa said. She hesitated, then added, “Do you mind telling me what happened with Trevor?”

“I don’t mind. I planned all along to tell someone, as soon as I was sure I was safe from Mr. Sprague.

” She sat back, considering. “Last week, at the bonfire, Trevor came around the corner of the outhouse and his flashlight lit up the whole scene—gross Mr. Sprague leaning over me, trying to stick his tongue down my throat, him with his pants already undone. I screamed and Mr. Sprague turned around. I ran away, but then I had to stop and look back. I was hoping to see Mr. Sprague on the ground, being beaten to a pulp by Trevor, who wasn’t a really big guy, but he wasn’t little, either, and he was a lot younger and stronger than Mr. Sprague.

Instead, I saw Mr. Sprague punch Trevor, and Trevor went down like a fallen tree.

Then Mr. Sprague dragged him over to this cabin nobody uses anymore.

A night watchman used to use it, I guess, though now the kids just make up stories about how the watchman hanged himself there and the place is haunted. That didn’t really happen, did it?”