Page 42 of Trapped: Until The Darkest Of Night

“Lou?”

No answer.

I unwrap the sandwich for Lou, put it on a plate, and pull open the folding door. The smell coming toward me needs…some getting used to. God, I swear, if she doesn’t wash herself soon, I’ll put her in the shower with her clothes on. When I look at her, I immediately regret the thought. She sits huddled on the bed, her head on her knees, and her arms wrapped around her bent legs.

“Hey, Lou, here’s something to eat,” I say quietly.

She doesn’t even look up.

“You should eat something; you didn’t touch anything this morning.” I hold out the plate as if I’m hand-feeding a shy deer.

No reaction. Then she raises her head a tiny bit and looks up at me.

“Lou, I won’t hurt you. Believe me.”

Her eyes are pleading. Just like at the campground when she got into the RV, not yet knowing what was in store for her.

She is silent. She doesn’t beg and she doesn’t try to change my mind. Brave crosses my mind. Or proud. Maybe she is both. This time, this new realization feels warm inside me unlike the first time with the soap when I thought she was suddenly a different Lou.

Smiling, I set the plate in front of her on the bed. “Bon appetit.”

I pull the door close, go up front, and sit at the table. While I’m eating, I leaf through the newspaper and finally spot a story in the middle of Yukon Quest about Lou's disappearance.

CANDLELIGHT VIGIL FOR LOUISA

In the case of missing sixteen-year-old Louisa, no new information has come to light.

What follows is a minimalist summary of what happened. Then there is only one more:

According to a report by the Daily News California, the four brothers of the missing girl are planning a candlelight vigil for their sister. It is scheduled to take place tonight at Lodgepole Campground in front of the visitor center where the girl was last seen. The brothers want to demonstrate against what they consider inadequate police work.

Park ranger Thomas Baker expects a number of participants. The candlelight vigil begins at 7:00 p.m.

For a moment, I picture Ethan trying to smile away the worry. Quite pretty… Quite pretty is mine now. I quickly distract myself from the rising uneasy feeling in my stomach. I cut out the newspaper article and put it in the lockable cabinet above the door with the others.

In the evening, I leave Canol Road and continue down a former logging road.

After an hour and a half, I pull over on a graveled turnout, where I can also turn around tomorrow morning. The area is perfect. The spruce trees are so densely packed that hikers rarely stray into the area and none of the well-traveled trails are nearby. The turnout is large and secluded enough to build a campfire. Maybe this will distract Lou a bit.

I lock the two doors of the driver’s cab and go back to her. For the first time, she doesn’t recoil at the sight of me. I silently free her from the chain, but I don’t take off the handcuffs just in case I have to fasten them quickly.

“I’m going to go build a fire. We can grill later if you want,” I suggest.

She nods tentatively.

I breathe an inner sigh of relief. “If you like, you can come out and help me.”

She looks down and shakes her head as hesitantly as she nodded.

I give her a quick look. Her hair hangs down in strands and looks more like that of a street mutt than flax. “You could shower.”

She nods again.

“But be careful with your wrist.”

She runs her finger over the bandage, lost in thought as if casually stroking a cat. I push past her and go to the narrow closet at the head of the bed.

“There are clothes in here for you. You’re an XS, right?” I had folded and stacked everything neatly and now I am truly excited to see what she has to say about the dresses. The white blouse she is wearing is also among them.

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