Page 47 of Wilderness Search
“She says she doesn’t and I believe her. She’s really worried about her friend. She’s been saving back part of her lunch every day and leaving it in a tree in the woods for Olivia.”
“Does Olivia come to get it? Maybe we could hide and wait for her.”
Willa shook her head. “Stella said sometimes when she comes back the food is gone, but she doesn’t know if Olivia is taking it, or animals. I think it’s probably animals. The tree where she’s leaving the food is still in the camp. If Olivia is as frightened as Stella made her sound, I’m not sure she would risk coming that close.”
“Does anyone else know about this?” Aaron asked.
“Stella said Scott caught her carrying part of her lunch outside the mess hall one day. He told her she needed to stayclose to camp or the person who had hurt Olivia would hurt her. He told her about the bloody shirt they had found.” She glared at Aaron. “What kind of person frightens a child that way?”
“One who wants her to stay close, no matter what,” Aaron said. “What did he do then?”
“He made her stay in her cabin and miss afternoon swimming as a punishment for wasting food.”
“He obviously didn’t frighten her enough to make her stop leaving food for Olivia,” Aaron said. “I still think it would be worth staking out that tree to see if Olivia shows up.”
“If you do that, you can’t tell anyone about Stella,” Willa said. “I promised. And if someone at camp is the person who frightened Olivia away, I don’t want to risk them going after Stella.” They reached a small sign for the overlook and turned onto a short side trail. Thirty yards later the trail opened up to a view of the landscape below.
“I wanted to come up here and see this,” Willa said.
Aaron moved in close beside her. Not touching, but close enough to smell her floral shampoo, and see the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. “I think Olivia is down there somewhere,” she said.
“If she would come out of hiding, we could keep her safe,” Aaron said.
“She must not believe that. Not yet.”
“What could she have seen that has her so frightened?”
“Whatever it was, it was at the camp,” Willa said. “You’re going to have to dig deeper there.”
He put a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t pull away. “You need to tell all of this to the sheriff,” he said.
“I promised Stella.”
“Travis Walker is a good man. He’s not going to endanger a child. But he needs to know about this. He’s the only one who can authorize any kind of investigation at the camp.”
She bowed her head. Her hair fell forward, revealing the nape of her neck, pale and vulnerable. As fragile as a child hiding food—and secrets—for her friend. Or another child, hiding in the wilderness. Or any human heart, so easily broken and difficult to mend.
“I’ll talk to him,” she said. “But only if you come with me.”
“Of course.” He put his arm around her and she leaned back against him. The position was so familiar, but he had never thought he would feel this closeness again. He didn’t dare hope it would lead to anything else, but it meant a lot that she trusted him enough in this moment to lean on him, however briefly. Neither of them said anything for a long while, then she turned and walked back down the mountain, him following behind.
Chapter Thirteen
Willa had seen Sheriff Travis Walker around town, on search and rescue calls and during the search for Olivia. With leading-man good looks and a solemn, reserved demeanor, he had attracted the attention of more than one lovestruck tourist who had gone on to learn he was a happily married father of two. But it wasn’t his looks or his attitude that intimidated Willa. As she sat across from him in his cluttered office at the sheriff’s department, she was all too aware that he was a man with the power to put an innocent man—like her brother—behind bars. And the power to dismiss the concerns of someone like her.
“Aaron tells me you have some information that may help us in our search for Olivia Pryor,” he said after Aaron had formally introduced them. Aaron sat in a second chair next to Willa, a silent, encouraging presence.
“I gave a first aid class at Mountain Kingdom Kids Camp this morning,” Willa said. “The girls from Olivia’s cabin were in my first class and one of the girls, Stella, told me Olivia confided in her that she—Olivia—had seen something she shouldn’t have. She was clearly frightened, but she wouldn’t tell Stella what she had seen or what had frightened her. She said she was afraid that Stella would be hurt, too. And the next night, Olivia ran away.” Did summarizing the story this way made it sound trivial? “Stella was really afraid for Olivia. Whatever Olivia saw musthave been bad. If we could find out what that was, maybe that would help us find a way to bring Olivia home safely.”
“Tell me the timeline,” Travis said. “When did Olivia see this event that upset her?”
“The night before she disappeared,” Willa said.
“That would have been Saturday night,” Aaron said. “The night of the bonfire.”
The sheriff nodded. “Olivia was reported missing on Monday. We believe she ran away Sunday night.”
Five days ago. For five days Olivia had been out there in the wilderness. Alone. Afraid. Hungry and thirsty. Cold.
