The Charity

by Connie Johnson Hambley

  Michael was familiar with Toby Saunders. It was true, he was a strong boy who showed a great deal of interest in and knowledge about the outdoors. He was accepted as a resident of the school in part because he excelled at sports and was a balance against the other residents who were not as physically gifted. As coordinated as he was, Toby still had a great measure of difficulty in relating to people. His parents felt that the Franklin School would be a consistent source of support and structure while they proceeded through a messy divorce.

  “I want to make sure you understand what we are up against. The rangers are organizing several search teams to start at the picnic area where you were and then fan out in a standard search pattern. Because of the storm building and the high winds, we can’t get a crew in the air for an aerial search. The state police and another citizen volunteer a couple of helicopters for searches like this. They won’t go up in this weather. It’s going to get awfully cold up there, Mrs. Saunders, so we’ll do all we can.”

  “He’ll freeze! He’ll freeze up there tonight if you don’t find him.” The woman let out another agonizing wail.

  Michael continued. “The rangers know the search has to be a fast one because of the storm. Devlin called in all surrounding crews and my department for any available hands.” Michael took it one step further. “Mrs. Saunders, some of the search parties will be on horseback. They can cover a lot more terrain than anyone on foot.”

  A wave of relief washed over the distraught woman. “Oh! I am so glad to hear that! I’m sure they’ll find Toby.”

  “We’re confident they will. Now, the best thing you can do is to go back home and wait for someone to call you. There really is nothing more for you to do here.”

  The mother smiled weakly. “Yes. Yes you’re right.” She got up to leave and paused with a thought. “You have my number where I can be reached, right?”

  “Yes. Someone will call you once an hour to keep you posted.” He escorted the woman to the door. “I suggest you try to get some sleep. Do you need a ride or would you like someone to stay with you?”

  “No, thank you. I’m sure my neighbors will stop by. I’ll be fine.”

  Michael watched as the woman drove down the road. He turned to Devlin. “Are all of the teams on the mountain?”

  Devlin looked at a sheet of paper and responded. “No. The horses are being trucked up here now. I’ve asked for all of the spare radios and transmitters I could get my hands on to be dropped off here. We should have enough for each member of the search.”

  “That’s good. I know my department has delivered any available radio and tracking equipment.” He paused and added, “Who’s riding?”

  Devlin read off the list of six names. When finished, he put the paper down on the desk. “Good crew. Most of them have been on searches before.”

  Michael drew in his breath and shook his head. “Yeah, but that terrain is pretty rough for most of them and the weather is getting worse. What about Wyeth?”

  The name did not sound familiar to Devlin. He looked again at the paper. “Wyeth?”

  “Jessica Wyeth. She was on Chad Bleauvelt’s team when he won the Harvest Hunter Pace. She can ride better than anyone around and is tough enough to be a huge help on this kind of search.”

  The ranger’s eyes grew wide with recognition. “No. I don’t think anyone called on her. Are you sure she’d be good on a team?”

  He ignored the ranger’s implication. “Yeah. I’ll call her.”

  The knock on the door came just as Jessica rolled up the blueprints for the new barn. She had spent the better part of her afternoon negotiating with a contractor in Harlan, just south of Perc, for a workable timetable and price. She wanted to use someone local, but no one would even talk to her. Even when she left a message that she wanted to rebuild her barn before she put the farm on the market, no one bothered to return her calls. The Harlan firm was the only one willing to work with her.

  The sudden presence at her door made her jump. The past weeks in Perc had brought more than their fair share of unwanted intrusions. Reporters. Curiosity seekers. Malicious jerks. She learned not to open the door for anyone. She got up from the table and leaned her body against the door.

  “Who is it?”

  “Jessica? It’s Michael.”

  For a split second, she was unable to move. This was the first time she had even heard his voice since she returned from Boston and now he was on the other side of the door. When she could, she responded with a flat voice, “What do you want?”

  “Please. I tried to call.”

  Warily, she unbolted the door and pulled it open.

  They stood for a moment looking at one another. Michael was in his blue uniform and a thick blue parka with the Harlan County Sheriff’s seal on its arm. He did not waste time. “There’s a young kid lost at Cumberland Park, southern ridge. We need your help in finding him.” He made no move to enter. He lowered his voice and added, “I got worried that I couldn’t get you on the phone.”

  “I take it off the hook now. Too many reporters are trying to talk to me.” Jessica stopped talking and assessed the request. The kitchen grew dark with the pending storm and very small with the presence of the sheriff. “Why do you need me to help? There must be a small army of people out there right now looking for him.”

  “There is, but with this weather we can’t get helicopters in the air fast enough or long enough for a search. We need you and that mountain goat of a horse that Hoyt Percival has to help us find that kid before too much time goes by.”

  Jessica shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t think you quite understand this, Sheriff Conant,” the words were coated with acid, “but Mr. Percival does not want me anywhere near his horse and my own horses are far from trail worthy. I’m sure that no one would want to work with me on a team. I don’t want to be more of a problem than an asset on this search. I think you need to find someone else.”

  “I’ve already spoken with Hoyt. Gapman’s being transported to the park now.”

  “What? That’s impossible.”

  “Jessica, the boy that’s missing is a resident at the Franklin School. He’s a friend of Karen Percival. His name is Toby Saunders. Hoyt agreed to ride another one of his horses and insisted that you be the only one to ride Gapman.”

  She looked at Michael and saw the genuine concern etched on his face for the young boy. If anyone else had asked, she would not have hesitated for a moment to help in the search for the child. Seeing him again had taken her by surprise. Shea would warn her to stay away—to not get involved.

  “Okay. I’ll help.”

  Michael let out a long sigh of relief. “Great. I’ll wait while you get ready. We need to be at the park base station in an hour.”

  They rode the distance to the station in uncomfortable silence. A few heads turned as Michael’s truck pulled up. No one spoke as Jessica emerged.

  Devlin quickly walked up to them. “The first two teams of riders went out about forty minutes ago.” He nodded his head in acknowledgment toward Jessica. “We have your horse ready for you, Miss. Hoyt Percival agreed to ride with you.”

  Jessica’s mouth smiled in acknowledgment. Her eyes did not change. “Thanks.”

  Devlin went over the arrangements for the search. “There’s barely an hour and a half left of daylight. The weather reports state the storm will start either later tonight or in the early morning hours. Each team has radios and emergency supplies complete with transmitters. I suspect they’ll be back after dark.”

  Jessica remembered other searches she had been on while on ski patrol out in Utah. “Back? That doesn’t make any sense. The time spent returning to camp tonight and getting ready to go out tomorrow is wasted. One more hour exposed to extreme cold could mean the difference between life and death for that kid. Why aren’t they sleeping on the mountain?”

  Michael looked
at her in surprise. “The storm is going to hit tonight and they don’t want to get stuck up there, too. Besides, it’ll be pretty tough camping for anyone.”

  She snapped back, “It’ll be a damned sight harder for that kid to get through this night than someone prepared for a night on the mountain.” She turned and addressed a question to the ranger, “Do you have appropriate gear for that?”

  “Yes. Definitely. We have some rangers who went up on foot, spending the night on the southern ridge. If the storm gets bad, they’ll have an easier time of it getting back in the daylight tomorrow.” Devlin pointed to the mentioned area on a topographical map. “These are the areas the horseback teams are searching. We want you to cover this area.” He drew his finger along a circled portion of the map. The brown lines showing the steepness of the grade were nearly on top of one another. The chosen search area for Jessica and Hoyt was along the steepest section leading to the highest point.

  Hoyt joined them. “Gapman’s ready. I’ll be riding his stable mate, Tuckerman.” He glanced at Jessica. “Nice to see you, Jessica. I’m mighty pleased you agreed to ride Gapman. I know that boy from the school. We gotta find ‘im.”

  She smiled at the man’s bowed head. “It’s nice to see you too, Hoyt. I’m glad we’ll get to ride together.”

  “Hoyt. Jessica feels that spending a night on the mountain will be more efficient in the search than returning to camp. You two will be on the northern ridge that will get the brunt of the storm, and it has the toughest terrain. Are you up for that?” Michael posed the question to the man and watched his response carefully for any reservations.

  Hoyt considered the question. “Yeah. I agree. It really won’t do much good comin’ back down tonight and I sure don’t want to wait until morning to get up there. I’ll bet we can make it to the top of the ridge tonight and make a good sweep tomorrow.”

  Devlin broke in. “That’s all fine and good, Hoyt, but it’s going to get pretty rough there tonight. I know you have experience in these mountains, but what about her?” He motioned toward Jessica.

  She took a step forward, brought her face up close to the ranger’s, and locked his eyes with her own. Drawing in a measured breath, she spoke her words deliberately and slowly. “Thank you, Ranger Devlin, for your generous concern. I can assure you that my years of experience looking for avalanche victims and injured skiers has more than prepared me for a night on your mountain. If that experience wasn’t enough, I think that surviving on my own on the streets of Boston and elsewhere has more than prepared me for this search.”

  The ranger took a step backward as if stung by a hornet. Michael dropped his head so no one would see the look on his face.

  A few onlookers closed in on the circle of people planning the search. They wanted to learn what was going on, but they also wanted to get a better look at Jessica. Her outburst drew quiet gasps.

  Their presence made Jessica’s skin crawl. Probably reporters, she thought. She could not wait to leave. Turning to Devlin, she assumed the demeanor of a professional who had a job to do and wanted to get it done. “Let’s see your gear. I want to make sure I’ll have everything I need before we get up there.”

  A few minutes later, she returned leading two horses. Gapman and Tuckerman were ready with the gear strapped to their saddles. The horses ears pricked forward and they sidestepped with the excitement they felt in the air.

  Jessica stroked Gapman’s neck and looked at Hoyt. “He looks terrific, Hoyt. You’ve been treating him well.”

  “Yeah-o, Miss Wyeth. I’ve been trying to keep to that training program you set up for him a while back. Been working wonders.”

  Michael came over to them and reviewed their search plans for the final time. “Keep listening to the radio. You and Hoyt are the ‘Ridge Team.’ We’ll call you the moment we learn anything or if the weather takes a turn for the worst.” He looked at the lanky hardware store owner and the woman beside him. “Be careful. We don’t want to send a team out for you as well.”

  Hoyt laughed at the joke. “We’ll be okay. ClaireAnne will have a fit, but tell her not to worry none.” The man pulled himself up on to Tuckerman’s back. The immense black horse snorted with impatience.

  Michael turned to help Jessica mount. She brushed him aside. “I can do it, thanks.” She settled onto Gapman’s back. The horse flicked an ear back and arched his neck. She looked at Hoyt. “Okay, let’s do it.”

  The wind began to howl and the trees swayed in its currents. The storm decided to put off its arrival until later but seemed to be using the extra time to gather its strength. The sky was turning an odd shade of gray with the sunrise. Embers from the campfire glowed, attempting to resurrect themselves.

  The man took a long stick and poked at the coals. A few more branches were added and soon white flames reached up and around them. A new burst of static took his attention. He turned his head with interest.

  “Base Twelve? Base Twelve?”

  It was a woman’s voice this time. She was growing impatient with the delay in the response.

  “Base Twelve?”

  “Base Twelve here. Go ahead.” The voice of a very sleepy man finally answered.

  “This is Ridge Team. Any word on the boy?”

  “Negative.”

  You won’t be hearing anything from him. Not one little sound.

  “Well, try to sound hopeful when you speak with his mother.”

  A cackle filled the cold air. The mother did her job well.

  “We’re resuming search efforts now. The wind has picked up and it’s started to snow. We’ll head further north and then east along the ridge on Chasm Logging Path.”

  The old logging trail. Good choice.

  “Roger, Ridge Team. How was your night?”

  A soft hiss of static filled the air. “Cold.”

  “Roger. Keep us posted. Base out.”

  A smile rippled along the thick scar.

  Jessica and Hoyt spent the better part of their ride up the mountain and camping overnight talking about the search and the strategy employed by Devlin and his team of rangers. Hoyt had been involved in several searches in the past. The search also proved to be a safe topic for them. He still seemed a bit uncomfortable around her and Jessica was not going to force a confrontation. If Hoyt wanted to talk about it, she would, but she was not the one who was going to bring it up.

  Jessica tightened the girth of the saddle and checked the fastenings of the gear. She looked at Hoyt and laughed. The man’s face was nearly obscured by the thick face muffler and hood of his red parka. Two bloodshot eyes could clearly be seen.

  “You look terrible.”

  Hoyt managed a smile. “Well, you can’t say you blame me for preferrin’ a soft bed to that sleepin’ bag, do ya?”

  “I hope you don’t really think you’re going to get sympathy from me.” Jessica threw him a quick smile. She gave the horses one more check, placed her left foot in the metal stirrup and threw her right leg over the horse’s back. Her bulky green ranger parka and black winter boots made the movement less fluid than usual. “C’mon. I think we can search for six hours, more if the storm takes it easy on us. If the storm picks up we should head back down to the station. Either way, we should have time to get there before dusk tonight. Ready?”

  The two people rode in silence letting the morning and the storm progress. They separated themselves by a distance of fifty feet to maximize their search pattern. Normally Jessica would have suggested more but the snow would occasionally come down heavily and visibility was limited. She took a sip of hot coffee from the insulated container she filled at camp earlier as her eyes looked carefully at the snow covered ground and the landscape around her. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

  That’s exactly what bothered her.

  “Devlin’s a good man. He’s been around these parts for a while. ‘Knows ‘em like th
e back of his hand.” Hoyt was answering Jessica’s inquiry about Devlin. She wanted to get a better feel for the man heading up this search. “I’ve seen him find hikers that people gave up for dead. Yup. He’s a good man.”

  “What do you think of the search pattern he set up for Toby? That mother sounded like she was pretty frantic.”

  “The pattern’s a good one for someone lost from that falls area. It’s a standard ‘bulls eye’ approach with the search parties fanning out from the point where the person was last seen. Most people walk downhill from there and then get stuck in the small ravine. Teams usually catch up with them there.”

  Jessica mulled over his words. “That’s what bothers me. We are searching the outer rings. There has been absolutely no sign of the boy in the inner circles. Not even a footprint. I understand the boy is hardy, but even most men would have difficulty making it this far or they would have curled into a shelter and stayed there. Either someone would have found them with the night vision binoculars, or, well, seen something.”

  Hoyt agreed and understood her question. “Devlin said that the mother was more than panicked about her son and that he really didn’t trust the information she gave him. He guesses she got pretty turned around when she went back up the mountain. I suppose he’s just covering all the possibilities.”

  Jessica replayed the night’s conversation in her head as she rode. Pieces of the puzzle were still missing. Gapman asked for a looser rein by stretching out his head. He lowered his head and picked his way carefully along the steep hillside. She glanced over at Hoyt.

  The black form of horse and rider was nearly obscured by the increasingly heavy snow. She could tell by Hoyt’s posture on Tuckerman’s back that the man had seen something. Gapman responded willingly to the slight pressure of the bit in his mouth and changed direction. They pulled up alongside Hoyt.

  “What’d cha see?”

  The man hesitated. “I’m not sure. I thought I saw a form move. Not an animal, but upright and in the trees. ‘Just up ahead.”