Page 32 of Wilderness Search
Jake moved in to peer over Aaron’s shoulder. “It’s a shoe print,” he said. “A small shoe print.”
Aaron studied the faint outline, as if from the sole of an athletic shoe. “About the size a thirteen-year-old girl might wear,” he said.
“My guest didn’t notice that,” Dwight said. “She was asking me what kind of animal made the tunnel.”
Jake and Aaron looked at each other. “One of us has to go in there,” Jake said. “In case she’s in there.”
“I’ll do it,” Aaron said.
“Let’s photograph that shoe impression first.” Jake took out his phone. “And the structure, too, in case you tear it up.”
Photographs taken, Aaron prepared to crawl on his hands and knees down the narrow tunnel. It was a tight fit, and branches scraped his back in several places, but after approximately four feet he emerged into a larger space. “It’s like an igloo made of branches,” he said. He could hear Dwight and Jake just outside. An igloo just big enough for one half-grown person to shelter.
“Is anyone in there?” Jake called.
“No. But the grass is all pressed down, like someone was sleeping here.” He studied the ground closely and spotted a bluelabel. He placed this in an evidence envelope, then retraced his path down the tunnel.
He was grateful to stand upright once more, his back protesting as he straightened. He handed the evidence bag to Jake. “I found this. It’s the same brand of water as the ones taken from the Mountain Kingdom storage shed.”
Jake looked back at the tunnel. “Do you think Olivia was hiding out here? Why?”
“Maybe she wanted to prove she could?” he guessed.
“When I was a kid I read a series of books about a kid who lived alone in the wilderness after a plane wreck,” Dwight said. “I used to daydream about doing something like that, but I never would have really tried it.”
“I read those books, too,” Aaron said. “Maybe Olivia did, too.”
“That doesn’t explain the bloody shirt,” Jake said.
“No, it doesn’t,” Aaron said. “Unless that shirt is the reason she’s hiding. She’s afraid whoever did that to her is still after her.” He looked around then. “You would have to be right up on this place to ever see it.”
“Smart kid, to figure all this out,” Jake said. He pulled a coin from his pocket. “You want heads or tails?”
“What for?” Aaron asked.
“The loser waits here while the other one goes back to Dwight’s house and calls it in. We’ll have to get forensics, see if we can find any definitive evidence that Olivia was here.”
“She was here,” Aaron said. “No adult made this. Everything about it is kid sized.”
“Heads or tails?” Jake repeated.
“Heads.”
The coin came up tails. Aaron settled in to wait while Jake and Dwight returned to the lodge. After a while he sat, his back against a tree, warm sun on his face. For the first time in days, he felt at peace. This wasn’t a place where someone had been heldcaptive. This was a hideout. A safe place. Olivia had been here recently; he was sure. And she was alive.
The only questions were why had she hidden out here, and where was she now?
Chapter Nine
“We’re asking search and rescue to assist with an intense, targeted search in this section of national forest between Mountain Kingdom Kids Camp and Mount Wilson Lodge.” Sheriff Travis Walker stood before the gathered search and rescue volunteers Wednesday afternoon inside the main building of the Mount Wilson Lodge. He indicated a section outlined in red on an enlarged map pinned to the wall. “We’ve found some indication that Olivia Pryor has been in this area recently.”
A murmur rose among the volunteers. “What did you find?” Bethany asked, addressing the sheriff.
“We’re passing around a smaller copy of the map,” Travis continued. “On the back is a photograph of a brush shelter where we believe Olivia spent at least one night. The location of this shelter is marked on the map. Keep your eyes open for similar primitive shelters like this.”
“How would a thirteen-year-old girl know how to build something like this?” Dr. Rand Martin, Eagle Mountain Search and Rescue’s chief medical officer, asked.
“Mountain Kingdom has a three-day wilderness adventure course where they take the kids out and teach them survival techniques, including building shelters,” Sergeant Gage Walker, the sheriff’s brother, spoke up. “Olivia’s parents also say she isa big fan of adventure novels and TV shows. Looks like she was paying close attention.”
