Page 61 of Wilderness Search
She nodded. “Yeah. I saw his brother, Wade, out by the boat house. I could tell he’d been crying. I asked him what was wrong and he told me about his brother. I wanted so bad to tell him Trevor didn’t commit suicide—that Mr. Sprague had gotten him drunk and poisoned him. But then Mrs. Mason came up and told me I needed to get back to my cabin. Everybody knows she’s Mr. Sprague’s stooge, so I couldn’t say anything with her standing there.”
“What do you mean, Mrs. Mason is Mr. Sprague’s stooge?”
“Oh, she’s got this huge crush on him. You can tell by the way she moons over him. She does anything he tells her, and she’s always spying on us and reporting back to him, even though he either ignores her or orders her around like his personal servant. But if any little rule gets broken, he’ll end up hearing about it, and we know she’s the one telling him. I’d feel sorry for her if it wasn’t so gross.”
“Why did you have to run away?” Willa asked.
“Because Mr. Sprague sent me a note to meet him Sunday night. He did that sometimes. I had to sneak out and go or something horrible would happen. I know it wasn’t smart or brave of me or anything, but that man scares me. So I went and let him do his nasty thing and kept my mouth shut. I figured camp would be over in a few weeks and I’d never have to see him again.”
She fiddled with her shoelaces. Willa wanted to reach out and pull her close, to tell the girl that none of this was her fault. But would those words from a stranger mean anything?
Olivia looked at Willa again, determination in her eyes. “When I got word that Mr. Sprague wanted to see me that night, I was terrified. I figured he would kill me, the way he killed Trevor. He knew I could tell everyone he was the last person who had been with Trevor, even if he didn’t know I had seen what hehad done in that cabin. It would be a lot harder for him to make people believe I was lying about something like that.”
“So you decided to leave instead?”
“Yeah. I took what food I could from dinner and stuffed it in my pockets, then took an extra blanket and some water and camped out in the woods. The next day I decided I could do better and took a sleeping bag and a pack and more food from the shed. I had to break into the building but it wasn’t that hard. That door is really old and kind of flimsy.”
“They found a shirt,” Willa said. “With your blood on it.”
“Oh yeah, that.” Olivia made a face. “I really wanted the cops to take a good look at Mr. Sprague. I knew I wasn’t the first girl he had bothered, so I thought if they started asking questions, someone would say something. So I took one of my old shirts and ripped it up and put that blood on it.”
“You put your own blood on it?” Willa couldn’t keep the horror from her voice.
“Gross, right? But we had a first aid class and I remembered one of the things they said was that head wounds bleed a lot, even if they’re not serious. So I stabbed my forehead with a pair of scissors.” She pointed to an inch-wide cut on her forehead, already almost healed over. “It hurt so bad! And I felt pretty stupid. But it did bleed a lot, and I wiped it all up with that shirt and shoved it under the edge of Mr. Sprague’s house. It was raining so hard I just hoped the rain wouldn’t wash all the blood away before someone found it. But then they did find it and they didn’t even look at Sprague.”
“So many people were searching for you,” Willa said. “Why didn’t you go to one of them and tell them what happened?”
“Because I figured the first thing they would do is take me back to camp, where Mr. Sprague would make a big deal about me being a runaway juvenile delinquent who made up liesbecause I didn’t want to get in trouble. And then when all the cops left he would strangle me in my sleep or something.”
“They’re going to be looking for me now,” Willa said. Aaron would be looking for her. He would know she wouldn’t leave without an explanation.
“I know.” She picked at the frayed hem of her jeans. “But they’ll believe you. You’re an adult. So then maybe they’ll believe me, too.”
“They’ll believe you,” Willa said. She slid over until she was next to the girl and put her arm around her. Olivia had done a good job of surviving on her own, but for all her maturity, she was still a little girl.
She laid her head on Willa’s shoulder. After a while, she said, “It was fun at first, hiding from everyone, making this hiding place and stealing food. But I’m really tired now, and I think I’m ready to go home.”
“Do you know how to get back to the camp from here?”
“Yes. But we need to wait until morning. Trying to get anywhere in the dark is dangerous. I fell into a gully one evening and it took me hours to climb out.”
“Promise you’ll go with me back to the camp in the morning,” Willa said.
“I promise.” She yawned. “If I spread out my sleeping bag, we can both sleep on it. It’s better than the hard ground. And I have the blanket from my bunk.”
They made their bed and Olivia turned out the little lantern. Soon she was sleeping, breathing evenly next to Willa. But Willa lay awake, staring into the darkness, praying for morning to come soon.
Kelli agreed tocome with Aaron and Jamie to speak with Gage. “I figure I’m safer with you guys than here in this cabin by myself,” Kelli said.
“We won’t leave you alone until we’re certain you’re okay,” Jamie said. “But Sergeant Walker needs to hear your story so we can take Mr. Sprague into custody. Aaron and I can tell him what you said, but it will be better if he hears it from you. And he may have more questions for you.”
“I can talk to him.” She stood, then hesitated. “Can I make sure Emma is okay, first? I mean, what if Mr. Sprague was so mad after I ran away that he went after her?” All color drained from her face and Jamie reached to steady her. “I just now thought of that.”
“I’ll find Emma,” Declan said. “Do you know where she is?”
“If the bonfire is still going, she’ll be with the younger girls. Their counselor is a woman named Sage. Or they’ll all be in Willow Cabin. It’s the cabin farthest from the lake and closest to the parking lot.”
“We’ll be up by the lodge,” Jamie said to Declan. “If you could bring Emma to us.”
