Page 45 of Mountain Captive

“No way,” Caleb said. “First rule of working in the wilderness is you don’t split up.”

“Something must have distracted Chris, or she would have remembered that,” Carrie said.

Rand wanted to know what that something was. He thought about arguing with the others, but that was delaying the search. He took out his phone and called up a mapping app to pinpoint their location. He would come back here—with or without the others. He wasn’t going to abandon Chris.

“WE’VECALLEDOFFthe search because we’ve determined the call was a hoax,” Sheriff Travis Walker addressed the crowd of searchers gathered at the Guthrie Mill trailhead. “We haven’t identified anyone who fits the description the caller gave, the phone itself was a temporary ‘burner’ phone purchased at the local gas station by someone the clerk could only describe as ‘an average-looking, middle-aged white male.’ We haven’t located any vehicles left overnight at any of the trailheads, not just in the area of the mill but anywhere in the county. We have issued a plea for any information from anyone who might know the family described or the person who called in the report, but at this time we feel there’s too great a risk that someone else will be hurt while searching for someone we can’t be satisfied even exists.”

“What about Chris Mercer’s disappearance?” Rand asked. “What are you doing about that?”

“We’re sending up a drone to survey the area where she went missing, and we’re enlisting search and rescue to assist in a targeted search for her.” Travis scanned the faces of those around him. “I know you’re concerned that one of your own is missing,” he said. “I promise, we’re doing everything in our power to locate her. She is our number one priority.”

“Search and rescue has a search dog, right?” Rand remembered meeting the woman who had trained the dog—Anna something.

“Anna and Jacquie are away for the week doing a course for an additional certification,” Danny said. “By the time we got another dog and handler here, the rain would have degraded any scent trail.”

At his words, Rand and several others looked up at the dark clouds moving toward them. “Can you think of anything else that would help us find her?” Travis asked.

“Chris and I hiked the Blue Sky Trail yesterday,” Rand said. “We spotted some campers across the valley. We thought it might be some of the members of the Vine. I meant to call and tell you about it this morning, but I forgot.” He had been too distracted by his new closeness with Chris to want to think about the Vine.

“Do you have coordinates for this camp?” Travis asked.

“We were standing at the top of the ridge at the end of the trail, looking south.”

Deputy Dwight Prentice approached. “Sheriff, if I could speak to you for a moment.”

Travis moved away with Dwight. Rand followed, listening in on their conversation while trying to appear uninterested. “Wes has located a group of campers with the drone,” Dwight said. “They have a couple of tents set up in the next basin over from the mill. There’s no sign of Chris Mercer or of anyone fitting the description of the supposed missing family.”

Travis looked back at Rand. “How many people were in this camp you and Chris saw from the Blue Sky Trail?” he asked.

“There were over a dozen small tents and several large ones,” he said. “Easily a couple of dozen people of all ages.”

“The drone reported only a couple of tents and five or six people,” Dwight said.

“And where are they, exactly?” Travis asked.

Dwight consulted his notebook. “A basin to the west of Guthrie Mill, next to a big outcropping of rock.”

“That’s a different area than the one Chris and I were looking into,” Rand said.

“Let’s talk to these people anyway,” Travis said. “Maybe they’ve seen or heard something.” He keyed his radio microphone and told Wes to keep searching with the drone. “Dwight, come with me to talk to these campers.”

Rand moved forward. “I want to come too.”

“No,” Travis said.

“I’ve spent more time in the Vine’s camp than anyone else here except Danny,” Rand said. “I’ll recognize if these campers are part of the group.”

“Why do you think the Vine is involved?” Travis asked.

“Because Chris is missing. The group has been hunting her for fifteen years, and they’ve already tried to take her once recently. I’m sure they had something to do with her disappearance.”

Travis and Dwight exchanged a look Rand interpreted as skeptical. “You can’t come with us,” Travis said.

“Then I’ll follow you up there.”

“I could have you detained for interfering with an investigation.”

“What would that do but create more paperwork and hassle for you?” Rand did his best to look calm and nonthreatening even though inside, this waste of time chafed. “I promise I’ll stay out of the way. But you’ll have a third set of eyes on hand to watch these people while you question them.”

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