Page 33 of Wilderness Search
“Do we know why she ran away from camp?” Danny asked. “Can we expect her to try to hide from us?”
“We don’t know why she left camp,” Travis said. “And yes, she may try to hide. But she’s been out there three days now and may be ready to return, if not to Mountain Kingdom, then to her family.”
“May I say something, Sheriff?” Scott Sprague stepped forward. The camp owner had added a silver Stetson to his khaki-and-polo uniform, the hat mimicking those worn by some members of the sheriff’s department. “Thank you all for volunteering to help with the search for Olivia,” he said, his voice projecting clearly in the large room. “All we want is for her to be safe. Whatever reason she decided to run away, it wasn’t because of anything that happened at the camp. We know she was happy there.”
“Already working on covering his reputation,” Carrie Andrews, on Willa’s right, whispered.
Scott continued, talking about the illustrious history of his family’s camp, and reminding everyone that this was the first time anything like this had happened. The gathered volunteers exchanged glances and shuffled their feet.
“Thank you, Mr. Sprague.” Gage put a hand on the camp owner’s arm, silencing him. “Let’s get out there and start searching. We want to take advantage of every bit of daylight.”
Willa turned away, but found herself face-to-face with Carter and Dalton Ames.
“Hi, Willa.” Carter offered his hand. “I don’t know if you remember us. We’re Aaron’s brothers. We saw each other a few times in Vermont, but I didn’t recognize you until Aaron told us about your name change.”
“Of course.” She shook hands with each of them in turn. What was she supposed to say? “Um, this is a little awkward.”
“Don’t worry,” Carter said. “We won’t tell anyone your secret identity.”
She winced. “Thanks.”
“Aaron told us the whole story,” Dalton said. “Sorry you were being harassed back in Waterbury. And it’s great that you joined search and rescue.”
“Yeah. If you need anything, let us know,” Carter said. He glanced over his shoulder as someone called his name. “We just wanted to say, no hard feelings or anything.”
“Yeah.” Dalton clapped his brother on the shoulder. “We’d better go.”
Willa stared after them. She had a memory of Aaron’s brothers as friendly but involved in their own world. All her focus had been on Aaron. At least they didn’t hold any grudges about the way she had ended her relationship with their brother.
Willa was assigned to search with Bethany and Carrie. “I saw you talking with Carter and Dalton,” Bethany said as Willa approached. “I hope they didn’t embarrass you or anything.”
“No.” She glanced at Carrie, who was studying her phone screen. “They just welcomed me to search and rescue.”
“Aaron made them promise not to ask you out,” Bethany said.
“No! They didn’t ask me out.” Aaron had told them that? Why? Of course, she would never have agreed to go out with them. Talk about awkward! “What else did Aaron say about me?” She couldn’t help it—she had to know.
“Well…” Bethany looked over to see that Carrie had turned away and was talking with another volunteer. Then she leaned closer to Willa and lowered her voice. “He said he doesn’t think your brother had anything to do with that little girl’s murder back in Vermont, that he was only acting guilty because he was scared.”
Willa stared. Why couldn’t Aaron have seen this at the time of Gary’s arrest? Why change his mind now, when it was too late to undo the damage?
Bethany shrugged, maybe reading the unanswered questions in Willa’s eyes. “He’s not one to admit he’s wrong very often.”
Carrie turned to them. “We’d better get started.”
As they moved out of the building, a fourth person joined them. Aaron, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, held up a copy of the map. “I’ll be with you three,” he said. He looked at Willa, then away. He couldn’t have overheard her conversation with his sister, but she still felt the impact of Bethany’s words. Aaron had admitted he was wrong about Gary, but wasn’t that too little, too late?
“You’re out of uniform,” Bethany said to her brother.
“We thought the uniforms might scare off Olivia.” He slipped a daypack onto his back and glanced at Willa again. “You’re the trained professionals. I’m here to follow your lead.”
Carrie turned the map over and studied the photograph of the shelter. “They really think Olivia built this thing?” she asked.
“I saw it,” Aaron said. “It was really clever.”
“Why would a kid go to all that trouble?” Bethany asked. “The camp looks like it would be a blast. Was Olivia secretly bullied or something?”
“No one we talked to mentioned anything like that,” Aaron said. “The other girls in her cabin seemed to really like her.”
