Page 63 of Final Escape
Ian’s ears reddened. “Shutup.”
“I saw, too,” blurted a blond with glasses. “And I bet he’s got it in his pocket, ’cause he was afraid we’d tell.”
Joe’s head jerked up and he leveled a steady look at Ian from across the raft. “What’s going on here, boys?”
Ian dropped his head. “Nothin’.”
“Ian...” The warning note in the scout leader’s voice was unmistakable. When Ian didn’t respond, the man frowned. “We’ll talk about this privately later, son. But if you broke the rules, you know that you could be sent home.”
A long pause. Then, the boy jerked a shoulder. “I didn’t do nothin’.”
“He stole abillfold.I saw,” whispered the one with freckles. “It was close to our campsite.”
“Didnot!” Ian roared as he launched toward the younger boy.
Joe leaned over in an instant and blocked the charge.
The raft tipped wildly, one end rising high out of the water. Two boys screamed, arms flailing. Carrie dropped the oars and caught the front of their life jackets as they started to fall out, then she fell back, bringing them with her as she landed on the rising side of the raft and forced it back down.
The raft slapped the river, sending a massive wave of water into the boat...and just ahead, she could see the trio of boulders that marked the start of the next rapids.
Carrie grabbed the oars that had narrowly missed hitting the passengers and took a quick survey. “Everyone is here—now hold ontight.And stay seated, hear? I really want to get you all home in one piece.”
* * *
AT THE LANDING SITE, Carrie pulled alongside the first raft and helped everyone out of their life jackets. Ian, his head bowed, refused her help and fumbled with his straps until he finally gave up in obvious frustration.
“These buckles are really tricky,” she murmured. She looked over at Joe, who was directing the other boys up the hill, and nodded for him to come over.
“I know you all plan to discuss this later,” she said quietly, looking between the two of them, “but this is really important because your campsite isn’t more than a couple miles from Wolf River Rafting.”
Ian dug a toe in the wet sand.
“I need to see the billfold, Ian.”
He shot a defiant glare at her. “So, you gonna search me?”
“Ian.”Joe rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You could be on a Greyhound headed for Chicago first thing in the morning if you don’t cooperate. I’m sure the lady has good reason.” Joe looked up at her. “Did you lose your wallet?”
Carrie debated about how much to reveal. “Let me see the wallet, Ian. I need to see the driver’s license inside, for starters.”
“I didn’t steal it, or nothin’,” he said sullenly, unzipping an inside pocket of his jacket. “It was in the woods. Nobody was around.”
“Exactlywheredid you find it?”
He shuffled his feet. “The big boulders next to the river, close to our campsite. It was wadded up with some stupid tent and some other junk—shoved way back. There were a bunch of rocks jammed in front...but I could see the red stuff—”
“A one-man tent?”
“I don’t know. Yeah...I guess. Nothin’ worth taking except...uh...the billfold.” His head jerked up. “There wasn’t no money in—honest. It was empty already.”
She stared at the object in his hand, her heart thudding in her chest. A buzzing sound filled her head as she slowly extended her shaking hand.
It was damp, the black leather deeply worn at the folded edges, slick with mud. She tried to quell the shaking of her hands as she took it from him and tried to marshal her numb fingers.
But even before she opened it, she knew...whether from some sort of residual scent, or a feeling deep in her heart. But sheknew.
The credit cards, driver’s license and cash were gone. All the rest of the detritus that a billfold tended to accumulate over the years—the ticket stubs and receipts and outdated membership cards—was missing, too.
