Page 57 of Wilderness Search
“Are you sure you don’t have any other injuries?” Hannah said. “Let me check your blood pressure. You look very pale.”
“I’m fine,” Scott said with more force. Then more weakly he continued, “Thank you for your concern, but I really need to take care of my campers.”
“No,” Jake said. “You need to come to your office with us.”
“I don’t have time for that now,” Scott said. “And you need to find the man who attacked that child and injured me.”
“We’re looking for the camper. In the meantime, we need you to answer some questions.”
“I’ve already answered your questions. Over and over again,” Scott said. “None of them are helping you find Olivia. Or stop people like this man who attacked me.”
“We have some different questions now,” Jake said. He took Scott’s arm as Declan moved in on the other side. “These are about what really happened here tonight.”
Aaron, Gageand two other deputies searched all around the lodge and found no one.
“It doesn’t even feel like anyone has been here,” Gage said when they reconvened in front of the lodge. His phone beeped and he pulled it out, “It’s Jake,” he said, after glancing at the screen. “Yeah?” he answered. He listened for a moment, then ended the call. “I have to go,” he said. “The rest of you, get back to the bonfire. You’re looking for an upset kid who may or may not have been attacked by the pit toilets an hour or so ago.”
“The kid Scott saved?” Aaron asked.
“Supposedly,” Gage said. “We need to talk to them and find out what really happened.”
Aaron pulled out his phone and texted Willa:
Sorry I went awol. Something came up. Headed back to the bonfire now.
She didn’t answer, but who knew if she could even hear her phone, with all the noise around the fire now. Someone was leading a sing-along, complete with shouted choruses and fits of laughter. He circled the firepit, alert for Willa’s blond hair or the pink of the sweater she had been wearing.
Halfway around, he met Shane, who was also searching. “Have you seen Willa?” Aaron asked him.
“No. I’m looking for one of the campers. Tall, thin, long brown hair. Her name is Kelli, one of the older girls. Another girl said she saw her headed toward the pit toilets right before all the commotion with Scott.”
“I thought Scott said it was a little kid he rescued—a little boy,” Aaron said.
Shane shrugged. “I don’t know about that. But if this girl was near the pit toilets about the time the attack happened, she might have seen something.”
“Okay. I’ll look for her, too.” He had an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Maybe Willa had gotten angry that he had ditched her and decided to go home. She could have called Gary to pick her up, or caught a ride with someone else. He tried texting her again.
Sorry I was such a bad date. We thought we had something.
He stared at the screen, willing her to answer. But there was no reply.
“Have you two seen anything?”
He turned to see Jamie walking toward him. “I found another girl who said she saw Kelli running toward her cabin about half an hour ago,” Jamie said. “She said Kelli looked really upset.”
“Which cabin?” Shane asked.
“Pine Cabin—the same cabin Olivia was in. Can one of you come with me to talk to her?”
“I’ll go,” Aaron said. Anything to distract him from worrying about Willa.
He followed Jamie across the campground. “There are a lot of dark hiding places out here in the woods,” Jamie said. “I’m thinking a girl wouldn’t venture out here alone unless she was really upset about something.”
“Being attacked by a stranger would qualify as upsetting,” Aaron agreed.
Light shone through the front windows of the cabin, a rectangular log structure with green shutters. They knocked on the door. After a moment, the door eased open and a slender girl with long brown hair looked out. Her eyes widened when she saw Jamie and Aaron.
“Did you catch him?” she blurted.
