The cat sat on her haunches and blinked up at her, as if to tell her to go back to bed.
June sighed. “I’m sorry I woke you but I can’t sleep until I figure out what is going on. Hopefully nothing. Once I make sure, you and I can go back to sleep.”
The feline’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m just going to talk to Danielle and then and I’ll be right back.”
Mr. Bigglesworth’s stare could be uncomfortable. She didn’t have to blink very often.
June didn’t meet the cat’s eyes. She put on her socks and shoes and pulled her jacket on over her pajamas. Then she stepped out into the cold night air. With her phone working as a flashlight in one hand and her cane in the other, she walked into the frigid darkness. At least it wasn’t snowing.
The occasional RV had left a porch light on but for the most part, it was pitch black outside. The stars overhead dazzled her. She caught herself just standing all alone in the night, looking up at the night sky. Then the cold really set in and she put her tired mind back to the task at hand. She would go say goodnight to Danielle and put both their minds at ease. It was the right thing to do.
She shone her light over Prince Albert’s pen. It was still empty, but someone had closed the gates. As she got closer, she could see that the trough had been righted, but the boot print still remained in the hardened mud, though it wasn’t as distinct as it had been. She was half-surprised that no one had destroyed it, but then maybe no one else had noticed it. Too bad she had taken that nap. Maybe then, she would have had the time to check men’s shoes on that print.
She moved past the female’s pen. All the alpacas were bedded down, seemingly untroubled by the missing members of their flock. Then again, she didn’t know enough about them to be able to tell, and what could they do even if they were upset about it? Wander around, like she was doing?
A couple of alpaca heads popped up as she moved past.
Danielle seemed to be behind their pens.
June’s cane clicked with every step, no matter how slowly she put it down. She moved cautiously across the frozen dirt. Despite how carefully she stepped, the sound from her movements seemed abnormally loud for nearly one in the morning.
“Danielle?” she whispered. Now that she was closer, she could see the light wasn’t from a flashlight. It was too steady, and coming from behind the pens.
Of course it wouldn’t be a flashlight. No one could hold it steady for hours on end. What were you thinking?
“Danielle, are you out here?” she whispered a bit louder.
No answer.
June felt a spike of fear, but she was already out here. She might as well figure out what that light was coming from. She rounded the corner of the pens and shone her flashlight in that direction. She tried to remember what was back here, tried to picture it in the daylight.
And then it came to her, it was the trailer that sat behind the pens, the one for the ranch hand. Blanche had said that the trailer didn’t have electricity. Clearly, it was working now.
I should turn around right now, thought June, but her feet and her curiosity seemed to have a mind of their own. She stepped closer to the trailer, careful to keep quiet. She stopped just past the girls’ pen, her heart already hammering in her chest. She was only yards from the trailer, which had caught her curiosity. It was creepy being out here all by herself. She should go back. She had promised not to do anything rash.
She turned to leave, which is exactly what she should have done in the first place.
Something thumped behind her.
June turned back to see the trailer door open.
Silhouetted in the light, a man stood, watching her. She couldn’t make out his face, but she thought she recognized his thin frame anyway. The teenage boy who had helped with the alpacas, Travis.
She stood stunned. What had she been thinking? “Sorry to bother—”
Someone grabbed her from behind, clamping a gloved hand over her mouth.
She tried to scream, but it only came out as a muffled moan, not loud enough to wake anyone.
Fear turned to indignation. How dare someone just grab me like this! She had as much right to wander out in the night as anyone else. She elbowed her attacker in the stomach with the hand that clutched her phone, the light flashing around and into her face. The other hand swung her cane wildly, trying to get enough leverage to whack him. After almost hitting her own shin, she landed a blow, probably on his thigh.
“Ow,” said her attacker, definitely male, and a voice she had most certainly heard in the last day. He wrenched the cane out of her hand and threw it onto the ground.
Her fingers stung, and she struggled to breathe. She tried to elbow him. She wasn’t just going to stand here and be manhandled.
He wrenched his hand away from her mouth.
“Help!” she screamed, but she was gasping for breath by then and her voice came out barely above a whisper. She screamed again, her throat hoarse as if she had been yelling for hours.
He grabbed her chin and stuffed a sweaty bandana into her mouth.
She tried to spit it out, but before she could manage, another one was tied around the back of her head. Instantly, her gag reflex rose. Don’t throw up, she told her stomach. She closed her eyes and took steady breaths through her nose, trying not to smell the sweaty rag.
“You’re coming with me, whether you like it or not,” said her attacker. He pushed her forward, and she went, unsure of what else to do.
Think, June. Get away.
She could just make out the hulking shape of the trailer in the darkness. Wooden stairs led up to a somewhat blocky shape. She wished she could see better. The light on the porch went out, creating purple spots in her vision.
They marched silently forward. How had she gotten herself into this predicament? Why hadn’t she listened to herself and gone back home?
She stepped into a shallow hole in the hard-packed ground, and lurched forward when her foot didn’t contact the earth where she thought it would. Her phone tumbled free of her hand and bounced off the cold ground, skidding to a stop just underneath the trailer. Pain lanced through her leg and into her bad hip and she cried out, but the sound was muffled. She would have fallen on her face, but he held on, supporting her weight with his hands before pulling her back to a stable position.
Her arms would definitely be bruised in the morning, assuming she lived.
You have to fight, her mind screamed.
She put all her weight on her good leg and tried to kick between his with her bad one. She connected with something but clearly not what she was aiming for. Not that she could kick that high anyway, in the state she was in.
He grunted, then swore. “There’s no sense fighting. Just get in the trailer.”
She would have asked what his plans were if she could talk. Her jaw already ached from the bandana in her mouth.
She had almost completely forgotten about the other man when he rounded the corner of the trailer.
“What are you doing?” asked Travis. His voice came out in a squeak and his eyes were wide with concern.
“Can’t just leave her to mess up all our hard work. She’s been poking her nose where it doesn’t belong.” His voice came close to her ear. “Haven’t you?”
June elbowed again, but this time he was ready and simply stepped out of the way.
He shoved her forward.
Get onto the steps, then you can kick him from a higher vantage, she thought.
“You didn’t tell me you were going to attack any old ladies,” protested Travis.
“We wouldn’t have had any trouble if everyone would just keep their noses out of our business.” He yanked June’s arms backwards and tied them at the wrists. “Blanche even told her to stop, but she didn’t listen. And now she comes here in the middle of the night. What do you want me to do? Let her find the animals?” He shoved her up the steps.
A lancing pain went through her hip with each m
ovement, and the stairs shifted, making her balance even worse. She didn’t have her cane and she was almost grateful for his steadying grip on her upper arm.
“I don’t know. Not this. No one was supposed to get hurt.” He stood to the side of the stairs, looking up at her with horror in his eyes.
June’s mind reeled. What could she do? How was she going to get out of this? She wanted to kick again, but she knew she would fall, and the steps might crumble under her weight. It seemed too risky.
The alternative stood before her, an open door into a dark trailer.
She felt sick. What was she going to do? She was trembling and unsteady.
And then, in her moment of indecision, the choice was taken from her.
He pushed her into the trailer.
June turned and got one good look at Ronald before the door slammed shut.
It was him all along, and she had been almost certain that he had done it, but he seemed so affable that she’d had trouble envisioning him taking the alpacas. Part of her still didn’t want to believe it. He had been nothing but kind to her, had even defended her against the rest of the campers until tonight, but the image of Ronald’s face, twisted in anger as he slammed the door would haunt her dreams. She was sure of it.
June had bigger things to worry about. Darkness overwhelmed her senses. Her breaths came in short gasps against the wet handkerchief.
Outside, she could hear the men talking.
“You unplugged the trailer like I told you to?”
“Yeah, but—”
“No buts. I make the calls around here.”
June blinked away tears. Her arms and hip ached. Her stomach churned and roiled, threatening to empty its contents. She had been such a fool and now she was stuck here all alone, at the mercy of a couple of men she barely knew.
Chapter Twenty-Six
June leaned against the trailer door, trying to keep her weight off her bad leg. Her hip throbbed. Her hands and elbows ached from when she had fallen down and the subsequent righting from her assailant. The door was cold against her shoulder, but at least it deadened the ache in that part of her body.
It was so dark inside the trailer. She blinked, waiting for her eyes to adjust, but she only caught a glimmer of light coming from a window that was covered up. At least, she thought that’s what she was looking at. Her eyes caught the dim crescent of light and held onto it as if it were the only thing keeping her safe.
She was angry, mostly at herself. Once she realized that it wasn’t Danielle, she should have been smart enough to turn back and go home, or at very least to get Nathan as Rebecca had asked. Why hadn’t she called the police and let them handle it? Why had she cared so much about following Blanche’s wishes? Why, oh why hadn’t she just gone home?
She felt like a failure. She had managed to drop both her cane and more importantly, her cell phone. Would he have even thought to look and see if she had one? She could picture her phone lying just feet away from where she was standing and it might as well have been a world away for all the good it would do her now. It would have been so easy to text Rebecca, tell her that she needed help and apologize for coming out here in the first place.
Guilt stabbed at her. She tried to slow her breathing, tried to hold back the bile rising in her throat. She was only locked up in this smelly trailer because she had done exactly what she said she wouldn’t do. She could hear her daughter’s voice echoing in her head. ‘We don’t want you to do anything rash. We don’t want to see you get hurt.’ She had not meant to break her promise.
She finally knew who the thief was, but it didn’t feel like a victory. The alpacas should be brought home, but she had wasted her knowledge, and hadn’t told anyone else. What a fool she’d been!
None of this was her responsibility and yet, somehow, it was. She didn’t owe these people anything, certainly not the ones who had accused her family. Yet, she felt compelled to act when no one else would. There was something about this place, this campground. There was something here that had brought peace to her soul. Something special.
Her jaw ached, bringing her back to the present. She had to breathe through her nose because of the gag. It smelled bad in here. Maybe they were having plumbing issues, but that was the least of her concerns. Her mouth was dry and the bandana was cold with her saliva.
She couldn’t see well enough to find a place to sit and the thought of sitting in whatever was making that awful smell kept her on her feet. She felt for the latch that was on most RVs, but didn’t find the handle. Before she could even begin to worry about getting out with her hands tied behind her back, she had a new terror.
In the darkness, something moved.
She strained her eyes and looked in every direction, but she couldn’t make out anything. Her heart hammered in her chest loud enough that she was certain whatever was moving around inside the trailer could hear it too.
“Who’s there?” June’s words were muffled by the bandana, sounding more like, “oooo ehrr?” There was only the tiniest sliver of light. It wasn’t big enough to illuminate anything. She could hear the creak of the floorboards as something heavy shifted.
Another step. It sounded like the scuff of a tennis shoe.
She tried to calm her mind. Her attacker wouldn’t have put himself or his partner in here, right? This had to be someone else who they were trying to keep quiet. Perhaps it was Danielle, who met the same fate earlier in the night? But Danielle wouldn’t be sneaking up on her like this. She would have made noise even if she was tied and gagged.
June’s heart pounded in her ears. “Who’s there?” she garbled again. She tried to sound more in control of her emotions than she really was. She focused on the slit of moonlight coming in through the window, but it wasn’t enough to see by.
“Hello?” she asked, the word still muffled by the bandana.
No answer.
The floorboards creaked again and someone moved closer.
She heard whoever it was breathing.
June pressed herself against the door. She banged with her good hip, trying to make it open. Go away, go away, go away, she repeated over and over in her head. She knew her breaths were rapid, her fear apparent, but it was too late to care. She was trembling now.
She could just make out a dark shape in the blackness. Or, she thought she could. Maybe her mind was just playing tricks on her.
“Stay back!” she tried to shout, but her words came out as more of a muffled spitting sound. June felt a scream at the back of her throat and then she saw it—
The fuzzy, white face of the male alpaca appeared in the tiny sliver of moonlight coming through the paper-covered windows.
She would have clutched at her chest if her arms were free. Relief overwhelmed her and she had to take a few steadying breaths to calm her nerves. “I can’t believe it’s you,” she tried to say, but of course it was “Aye aaah eee ih ooo,” that came out.
She should have realized that they’d had to hide the alpacas somewhere before transporting them. All that time, the animals had been hiding right under their noses or at least one of them was.
Prince Albert regarded her for a moment before sniffing her. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have wanted him to be in her space, but right now she was just grateful for the companionship. At least she would have something to help keep her warm, as long as she could convince him that they were on the same team.
Hope washed through her. This was the smart alpaca, the one who could get out of his pen, right? If she wanted to get out of this mess, she was going to need his help. No, she thought. We’re going to need each other.
She turned, trying to make sure that her hands and the rope that bound them were in that sliver of moonlight. She didn’t know if he could see well enough or if he would understand what she was trying to say. Maybe this wouldn’t work, but she had to try.
Prince Albert came closer and nudged her arm.
“I can’t pet you,” she tried to say, but she didn�
��t think it would make a difference if her words were clear or not. She was talking to an alpaca, after all.
We’re a team now, she thought at the alpaca. It’s you and me together and we’ve got to figure out how to get out of here.
Danielle had told her that they cut the grass with their teeth instead of ripping it out by the root. His teeth had to be sharp enough to do that. It seemed promising if she could somehow communicate with him.
She waved her bound wrists the small amount that she could manage, trying to show him that she needed his help. She felt like a complete moron. How was the alpaca supposed to figure out that they had tied her wrists together and that she needed his help to get them undone?
Maybe they had left something sharp in here and she could cut her own ropes.
She felt Prince Albert sniffing at her wrists.
Just then, there was a tickling in her throat and she coughed.
He stepped back.
She glanced over her shoulder at him. She wanted to apologize for startling him, but she had no way of doing that and her voice was already hoarse.
Tentatively, he came closer as if he were uncertain what to do, and she remembered that they made that humming noise when they were happy.
June began to hum.
His lips brushed at her wrists and she tried not to giggle. It was such a strange feeling. She imagined him cutting into the rope with his sharp teeth, and then she could see him miss and cut into her wrist instead. Panic surged through her. Maybe this was a bad idea.
What are you going to do? She thought angrily at herself. Just let them get away with this? She held as still as she could manage. It was a risk she was going to have to make and the alpaca seemed to understand what she needed.
Finally, he bit into the rope.
June hummed louder, at first a constant tone and then a song she used to sing with her kids when they were little. She could feel the pressure on her wrists tighten. She tried not to move, tried not to be as ticklish as she felt.
His teeth moved side to side on the rope, nipping away at the strands with each bite.
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