Page 31 of Canyon Killer
Caleb checked his handheld GPS. “About one and a half miles.”
“Would he have come this far off course?” she asked. “Wouldn’t he head back toward the trail? He was just trying to detour around the tree.”
“He might think he was heading toward the trail,” Caleb said. “It’s easy to get turned around out here.”
“We’ve found people who were miles away from where they were supposed to be,” Grace said. “And some of them we’ve never found, even though it seemed impossible that they could have disappeared so quickly.”
“Let’s hope this isn’t one of those cases,” Caleb said.
They continued through the woods, stopping to call Craig Boston’s name, listening for a response. After another twenty minutes had passed, Grace halted and said, “I thought I heard something.”
Bethany held her breath, straining to hear anything besides her own pounding heart. Then a new sound cut the stillness, a distant voice that might have been crying, “Help!”
“This way,” Caleb said and struck out to their left. “Craig! Craig Boston!”
“I’m here!” came a stronger shout.
They were nearly on top of him before they saw him. He was lying behind another downed tree, almost hidden by its still-green foliage.
“Am I glad to see you,” he said when they clambered over the trunk to join him.
“Are you Craig Boston?” Caleb asked.
“Yes.” He grimaced and gripped his calf. “I got caught up trying to climb over this tree and fell. I think my ankle is broken.”
“We’re with Eagle Mountain Search and Rescue,” Grace said. She knelt beside his head. “We’re going to take care of you.”
Caleb radioed that they had found Craig and gave the rest of the team the GPS coordinates for their location. Meanwhile, Grace and Bethany gave the injured man water and cut away some of the tree limbs so he could rest more comfortably. “We’re going to have some people here soon with a splint for your ankle and a litter to get you down to an ambulance,” Caleb said.
“I feel so stupid,” Craig said. “I’ve been hiking these trails for years, and I know better than to put my foot down anywhere I can’t see clearly.”
“Accidents happen to even the most experienced, prepared people,” Grace said.
“How did you know to look for me?” he asked.
“Your neighbor called 911 when you were late getting home,” Caleb said.
“She worries about me, hiking alone at my age. I guess this time her worries were justified.”
“I’m going to put some cold packs on your ankle to help bring down the swelling,” Caleb said. “When the nurse gets here he’ll fix you up with a proper splint and something for the pain. That will help you feel a lot better. Are you having any other pain? Any trouble breathing or chest pains?”
“No, it’s just the leg that’s bothering me.”
Bethany had learned that it could be helpful to distract alert patients with conversation while they waited for help to arrive. “Mr. Boston, are you related to Gerald Boston?” she asked.
“Call me Craig. Why do you want to know?”
“I’m one of the people who found his, um, remains. In the cave in Humboldt Canyon.”
He studied her more closely. “What is your name again?”
“Bethany. Bethany Ames.”
He looked lost in thought.
“Are you Gerald’s nephew?” she asked.
“I am,” he said. “Gerald Boston was my uncle, but he was only a few years older than me.”
