Page 7 of Wilderness Search (Eagle Mountain: Unsolved Mysteries #2)

“I found a couple of blankets,” Tatum said, and laid them on the sofa next to Stella.

“And I brought an ice pack.” Her eyes met Willa’s, then she turned to Stella.

“I heard what you said about Olivia sneaking out.” She shrugged, deliberately casual.

“It happens. I mean, there are rules, but not everybody follows them. Do you know who she was meeting? One of the other campers?”

“I don’t know,” Stella said. “Honest, I don’t. She wouldn’t say.” She looked miserable.

Willa gently patted the wrapped ankle. “Does that feel better?” she asked.

“A little.”

Willa settled the ice pack in place. “She’s going to need X-rays,” she told Tatum.

“Mrs. Mason is going to take her to the clinic in town in a little bit,” Tatum said. She turned back to Stella. “Did Olivia tell you anything else? Maybe about her boyfriend back home?”

“You know about that?” Stella’s eyes widened.

“I heard her parents sent her to camp to get her away from an older boy she had been seeing,” Tatum said. She glanced at Willa. “She wouldn’t be the first camper to come here in an effort to get her away from someone the parents thought inappropriate.”

“Olivia said her boyfriend was sixteen,” Stella said. “But that they weren’t doing anything wrong.”

“It might help find Olivia if the sheriff knew about this,” Willa said. “Someone could try to track down this person Olivia had been going to meet.”

“Good idea.” Tatum pulled a radio from her pocket. “I’ll let someone know.” She took a few steps away.

“I’m really going to be in trouble now, aren’t I?” Stella said.

“You’re helping your friend,” Willa said. “No need for you to be in trouble for that.”

“Will you stay with me until Mrs. Mason gets here?” Stella asked.

“Of course.” She was finally beginning to feel warm again, and Stella was a sweet child. She liked Tatum, too, who was close enough to Stella’s age—was she even eighteen?—to sympathize with the girl.

Willa regretted that decision when she heard footsteps approaching and turned to see an older woman walking toward her, accompanied by a sheriff’s deputy. An expression Willa couldn’t read passed across Aaron’s handsome face when he recognized her, but he quickly masked it, and focused on the girl.

“Hello, Stella,” he said. “I’m Deputy Ames. I understand you have some information that might help us find your friend Olivia.”

Stella picked at the pink and purple woven bracelet around her left wrist. “I don’t know if it will help or not. I mean, I didn’t actually see Olivia leave the cabin.”

Aaron sat on the sofa beside the girl, but not too close. “Tell me what you know,” he said. “I promise, you’re not in trouble. But the more information we have, the better we’ll be able to narrow our search and find Olivia.”

“All I know is that Olivia had sneaked out of the cabin before. She went to meet someone, but she wouldn’t say who.”

“Did she have any special friends among the other campers?” Aaron asked. “Boys or girls?”

“No one in particular.” She bit her bottom lip, then looked up, as if just realizing something.

“I can’t think of a single time I ever saw her even talk to a boy.

I mean, they’re all the time trying to get our attention, or teasing us.

But Olivia ignored them all. So it couldn’t have been a boy she was meeting. ” Stella looked relieved.

“What about staff?” Aaron asked. “Was Olivia friendly with any of them?”

“Veronica is our counselor,” Stella said. “We’re all friendly with her. And Tatum. She does crafts with us and stuff.”

“What about male staff?” Aaron asked. “Did you ever see Olivia talking to one of them?”

Willa stiffened. She thought she knew where this was going and she didn’t like it.

Stella shifted, as if suddenly uncomfortable. “The other male counselors—Wade and Crispin—tell us what to do, or they’ll ask questions if they’re teaching us something. And Mr. Sprague talks to all of us if he sees us. He’s always asking how we’re doing and stuff like that.”

“Did you ever see Olivia alone with any of the staff members?” Aaron asked. “When they weren’t instructing you?”

Stella shook her head. “No.”

“Tatum said something about Olivia having a boyfriend back home,” Aaron said. “Did she ever say anything about him coming to see her here?”

“No.” Stella brightened. “Do you think that’s what happened? Maybe they ran away together. I mean, if he’s sixteen he can drive, right?”

“Did she ever mention running away with this boy?” Aaron asked.

“No.”

“What did she tell you about him?” Aaron asked.

Stella slumped, her elation having vanished. “She said after her parents found out she was sneaking off to see him, they made him promise to never contact her again and he hadn’t. She was kind of mad about that and said she never wanted to see him again.”

“Was Olivia happy here at camp?” Aaron asked.

Stella considered the question. “She seemed to really like it here until a couple of weeks ago.”

“What happened a couple of weeks ago?” Aaron asked.

“I don’t know. She just…” She ducked her head, gnawing her bottom lip again.

“Just what?” Aaron prompted.

“She was crying one night, after lights out. I asked her what was wrong and she just said she wanted to go home.”

“Do you have any idea what was wrong? Do you remember anything happening?”

“I thought she was just homesick. We all feel that way sometimes.”

“After that, was she still homesick?”

“She was just…quieter. Like maybe she was sad. But she didn’t want to talk about it.”

“Anything else you think we should know? Anything that might help us find her?”

“I’m sorry. I can’t think of anything.”

“Thank you for your help.” He stood. Mrs. Mason moved forward. “I’ve got my car at the front door,” she said. “Tatum has a wheelchair.”

Tatum wheeled the chair forward and Stella left with her and Mrs. Mason.

When they were alone, Aaron turned to Willa. “I saw your brother. I was surprised to find out he works here.”

Willa didn’t mention that she had been surprised, too. “He was home with me all night,” she said. “Until after I got the search and rescue call that Olivia was missing.”

“Are you sure?” Aaron asked. “He could have slipped away while you were asleep.”

“And abducted a girl in the middle of the night? I can’t believe you’re suggesting something so ridiculous.” She struggled to keep her voice down, but fury made her shake. She clenched her fists, fighting the urge to physically attack him.

“It’s my job to ask hard questions,” he said. “Of everyone.” Everything about him was hard—his voice, his clenched jaw, the look in his eyes. Cop mode, she had thought of it, before she had to face the demeanor herself after Gary was arrested.

“I’ve given you my answers,” she said. “Why can’t you accept them?” She didn’t wait for his reply, but turned and stalked across the lobby, aware of the stares of people milling about the space.

“Aaron!”

Another deputy—a muscular blond—entered the lobby. He hurried past Willa and he and Aaron met beneath a massive antler chandelier in the middle of the space. They conferred, heads together, then raced outside, feet pounding hard on the floor, faces taut with urgency.

Willa hurried after them. She found Danny with a group of other people just outside. “What’s going on?” she asked, reading the same urgency on his face.

“They’ve found something,” he said. “Something that might be related to Olivia.”