Blind Faith

by Sharon Sala

  She gathered up an extra phone to video the interviews and her iPad with the notes she already had on it, then left her apartment.

  Her landlord, Merlin, was outside in the driveway picking up the morning paper as she circled the mansion and headed for the main gate. Wyrick smiled. Merlin was old-school. He refused to read newspapers online. She waved at him as she passed.

  When he smiled and waved back, she thought he looked pale, and when she glanced up in the rearview mirror, he appeared to be walking stooped over.

  It made her wonder how old Merlin was. In her mind, he was timeless and ageless—like the Merlin of fantasy. She made a mental note to check in on him tonight, and headed for the Caldwell residence.

  Since all four of the kids went to the same school, they lived within easy driving distance of each other, and talking to Trish Caldwell was first on today’s agenda.

  The Caldwell residence was a nice but unassuming home. Wyrick already knew Beth Caldwell was a widow, and she was also a teacher in an elementary school in the same district where her daughter went to high school, which meant they were off for the same holidays and school breaks. A handy setup for a single parent.

  Wyrick pulled up in the drive and parked. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, then went up the steps and rang the doorbell. When it opened, she started talking before Beth Caldwell had time to react to her appearance.

  “Mrs. Caldwell, I’m Wyrick, Charlie Dodge’s office manager. We spoke on the phone.”

  Beth blinked and then smiled. “Come in. I called and told school I’d be delayed a bit. We’re in the kitchen having waffles. Would you join us?”

  “I’ll have coffee with you,” Wyrick said, and followed her through the house and into the kitchen, where Beth introduced her.

  “Trish, this is Wyrick, the lady I told you about.”

  Trish looked suitably impressed by Wyrick’s appearance.

  “Fierce! I love it,” Trish said.

  Wyrick had hard questions to ask and didn’t want to establish any kind of friendly rapport, but she appreciated the positive response.

  “Thank you,” she said, and sat down as Beth put a cup of hot coffee in front of her.

  “How can we help?” Beth asked.

  Wyrick took a sip of the coffee, then set it to the side, taking out the phone she was going to record on and a mini tripod.

  “Normally, my boss is the one doing all of the interviews for his cases, but timing is critical here, and so he took off to the site where Tony went missing, and I’m videoing everything for him,” Wyrick said.

  Trish’s eyes welled. “I look terrible. I didn’t sleep much last night. I just can’t quit thinking about Tony.”

  “No one is going to see this but the boss. Just go ahead and finish your breakfast. The questions are easy.” Then she started the video.

  Trish nodded and took another bite, chewing as she waited for Wyrick’s first question.

  “So, how long have you and Tony been dating?” Wyrick asked.

  “Three months and a couple of days,” Trish said.

  Wyrick nodded and made a note in her iPad.

  “Where did you meet?”

  “At school,” Trish said.

  “Are you an official couple, or—?”

  “Yes, we’re official,” Trish said.

  Wyrick nodded, waiting while Trish took a few more bites, because she suspected when she moved into the next sets of questions the girl was going to lose her appetite.

  She glanced at Beth. The worry on her face was evident, as was the love she had for her daughter. Wyrick could feel it.

  “Trish, how long have Tony, Randall and Justin been friends?” Wyrick asked.

  Trish blinked. “I’m not sure, but I didn’t meet Tony until just before school began this fall.”

  “Did Tony know you used to date Randall Wells?” Wyrick asked.

  Trish paled. “I don’t know.”

  Beth frowned. “Honey...you didn’t tell him?”

  Trish looked nervous. “At first I didn’t think it mattered. We’d just met, and I didn’t know who his friends were. We’d been dating barely a month when Mom and I saw them all together at the mall. It was awkward and weird.”

  “Did Randall and Justin seem surprised that you and Tony were a couple?” Wyrick asked.

  Trish thought a moment and then frowned. “No. No, they didn’t. Randall was cool, and so was Justin. I mean...it had been months and months since Randall and I had dated. He’d even had a girlfriend or two since.”

  “After you and Randall broke up, did you date other boys before Tony?” Wyrick asked.

  Trish shook her head. “No.”

  “Who broke up, you or Randall?” Wyrick asked.

  “I guess I did,” Trish said.

  Beth interrupted. “What are you suggesting?”

  “I’m not suggesting anything, but the boys stated they all had a fight the night Tony went missing. And that they’d been drinking. So, if Tony had no idea he was dating Randall’s former girlfriend, things could have been said that caused the argument. And that could have been the reason Tony left.”

  Trish dropped her fork and started crying.

  “Oh my God. It’s my fault! It’s all my fault. I should have told him, but by the time we got close, I didn’t want to lose him...and now maybe I’ve lost him for good.”

  Beth jumped up and went to her daughter.

  “No, no, don’t think like that. We still have to have faith he’ll be found alive, honey. And you didn’t cheat on him. You are all young and will date lots of people as you grow up. You were single. Tony was single. You were both fine.”

  “I should have told him,” Trish said.

  Beth sighed. “Yes, probably so, but you can’t change any of this now. And you’re not responsible for what happened to three boys who got drunk on a camping trip, understand?”

  “Your mother is right,” Wyrick said. “A woman has the right to date who she wants, and granted, it might have been an uncomfortable conversation, but it shouldn’t have made a difference. I’m sorry to upset you, but we always need the whole truth when we’re trying to solve a case.”

  “It’s okay,” Trish said, wiping her eyes. “I just pray you find Tony alive. I love him, and if he’s too mad at me to want to be with me anymore, then that will have to be okay, because all I want is for him to be safe.”

  Beth glanced at Wyrick. “If your boss has news, will you keep us updated?”

  “Yes,” Wyrick said. “Thank you for the coffee and the information. It’s been helpful.”

  Beth walked her to the door. “If those boys are hiding something, they aren’t going to tell.”

  “But I’ll know it if they’re lying, so there’s that,” Wyrick said, and left without explaining herself.

  Three

  Charlie had been hiking down Boot Canyon Trail for the better part of two hours when he paused to use his binoculars again. He swept the horizon, then aimed them down and started a slow search of the area below him.

  As he did, something flashed in the sunlight below, catching his attention. He looked down, but saw nothing that would explain the flash. He looked again and again through the binoculars without ever relocating the flash, but he couldn’t ignore it. So he began looking for a landmark to mark the area where he’d seen the flash, and picked a pinyon tree that had been struck by lightning. Using it as a marker, he found what looked like a natural path on the slope and started down. The incline was steep and rocky, but there was just enough growth of pinyon and juniper to hang on to as he began to descend. The going was slow, but safety demanded it.

  It took over thirty minutes to get down the slope to the dead pinyon tree, and then he began searching the area for something shiny. It could have been anything that would have caused that flash, from a
n empty glass bottle, to a piece of metal. But he had to find it to be sure it wasn’t some kind of signal from someone in need, so he began poking around in the underbrush and looking among the crevices.

  Another fifteen minutes passed before he saw what looked like a canvas strap on the ground beneath some brush, and as he reached down and pulled it, he quickly realized it was attached to a hiker’s backpack.

  His heart skipped a beat as he knelt down to check it out. It was obvious that animals had been at it. He could see drag marks where they’d pulled it out from beneath a rock. A portion of one side had been torn open, and the wrappers from the protein bars that had been in it were scattered beneath the pack and caught in the underbrush.

  Charlie turned it around, and when he did, he saw a metal dog tag clipped to a zipper pull...the kind of identification a soldier would wear. That was what had caused the flash of light. Sunlight caught on that shiny piece of metal. He turned it over and saw the name, Grant Dawson. It was from WWII. The timeline would have made him a great-uncle or a great-grandfather to Tony.

  “Dammit,” Charlie muttered, and began digging inside the pack. He found Tony’s wallet and ID.

  He stood there a moment and then looked up the slope he’d just descended. If Tony had fallen down from above, then why had his backpack been beneath the rock? It would have been on the ground or on top of the rock. And if he’d fallen, then where was Tony? He would not have left this behind.

  All of Charlie’s warning signals were going off as he began circling the area, looking for signs of blood or drag marks that would indicate animals had dragged a body away. But he found nothing that would lead him to believe Tony was ever here.

  “What the hell is going on?” Charlie muttered, and then reached for his phone.

  He called the ranger station first to notify them of what he’d found, then gave them the GPS coordinates and said he was leaving it for them to recover.

  “But that area was thoroughly searched,” the woman said.

  “I don’t doubt that,” Charlie said. “I think it had been hidden before, because there are visible drag marks where it had been pulled out from beneath some rocks. I think animals are responsible for moving it back into view, because it was torn into and food wrappers are all around it.”

  “Okay. We’ll get someone out to retrieve it, and good work, Mr. Dodge. Are there any signs of the boy?” she asked.

  “No, ma’am, and there are no signs to indicate he fell from above. There’s no blood or signs of a body being dragged off by predators. I don’t think he was here, but I can’t explain the hidden backpack. I’m going to continue searching down here in the canyon.”

  “I’ll make note of that for the rangers,” she said.

  “Oh, one other thing,” Charlie said. “Yesterday I met an old man on the trail. He was meditating, and when he saw me, he asked me if I’d heard the ghost. He said he hikes the trails up here a lot, so I walked off and left him meditating. Is he okay? I mean, is he competent to be out on his own?”

  “That sounds like Leroy. Really dark skin, long white hair and a face full of wrinkles?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Was it okay to leave him on the trail like that?”

  “I don’t know anything about a ghost, but he’s a savvy hiker, and while he’s a bit eccentric, he’s sharp as a tack. Don’t worry about him.”

  “Okay, then,” Charlie said. “If I find anything else, I’ll let you know.” Then he hung up and called Wyrick, hoping she would have worked her magic and learned something that would help him find the kid.

  * * *

  Wyrick’s appearance at the Wells home resulted in a cool reception.

  Nita Wells answered the door, looked somewhat horrified, then almost shut it in Wyrick’s face.

  “I’m Wyrick. You are expecting me.”

  “Oh! Well, I wasn’t expecting all this,” Nita said.

  Wyrick stared the woman down without comment, forcing her to break the silence.

  “We’re in the living room,” Nita said. “Follow me.”

  Wyrick entered with her head up, her stride long and purposeful. The look on the teenage boy’s face was both fascinated and shocked.

  “Do we need a lawyer?” Nita asked.

  Wyrick turned, fixing her with a cool, studied stare. “I don’t know. Do you?”

  Nita blushed.

  Randall frowned. “Mom. Chill.”

  “This is Wyrick,” Nita said.

  Wyrick sat down without an invitation, choosing the sofa so she could use the end table to set up the video.

  “You’re recording this?” Randall asked.

  “For my boss,” Wyrick said. “He’s already in the mountains searching, so he sent me.”

  Randall nodded, but he couldn’t quit staring at the dragon tattoo where her breasts should have been. It was obvious there was much more to the dragon than what the eye could see, and that fascinated him.

  “I’m ready,” Wyrick said, and hit Start on the video. “Okay, Randall, whose idea was it to go camping in the Chisos?”

  Nita leaned forward. “I think it was—”

  “I asked Randall, so I want Randall’s answer,” Wyrick said.

  Nita flushed. She didn’t like this wild woman, and she resented any implication that her son might be at fault.

  “Me and my friend Justin went last year. We made friends with Tony after he moved here, and when he mentioned he used to backpack and hike back in California, we invited him to go with us,” Randall said.

  “Why didn’t all three of you drive down together?” Wyrick asked.

  Randall shifted in his seat. “Tony had a truck. He offered to bring all the gear, and so we drove down in our car. He followed us.”

  “Not a very fun trip for Tony...driving all that way for hours and hours alone,” Wyrick said.

  Randall shrugged.

  “Did you meet Tony before he started dating Trish Caldwell or afterward?” Wyrick asked.

  Nita gasped. “What does that have to—?”

  Randall flushed. “I don’t remember. Besides, what does that have to do with—?”

  Wyrick went straight to the point. “Trish never told Tony that she had once dated you. Is that what your fight was about?”

  Nita gasped. “She didn’t? I mean...are you sure she—?”

  Wyrick kept looking at Randall. “Trish said she never told him. So when we find him, is he going to tell us that’s what the fight was about, or would you rather come clean and tell me now?”

  Randall was wild-eyed and looking from his mother to Wyrick and back again.

  “Randall?” Nita said.

  “We drank some beers,” Randall said.

  “Too many, I assume,” Wyrick said. “Three drunk teenagers on a mountain, and two with a secret the other doesn’t know. Who told?”

  Randall looked down at the floor. “He kept talking about his girl this and his girl that, and I blurted out...‘I know all about her, because she was my girl first, before you ever moved here.’ Then Justin laughed and said she’d been with a lot of guys before Tony.”

  Nita groaned. “Randall, that’s not true. Trish is a good girl and you know it.”

  Randall shrugged. “I didn’t say it. Justin did.”

  “So what happened after that?” Wyrick asked.

  “We had a little scuffle. Traded a few punches, and then we all got in our tents and passed out. When we woke up the next morning, he was gone.”

  Nita was pale and shaking. “Did you tell the police this?”

  He shook his head.

  She got out her phone and started texting.

  “What are you doing?” Randall asked.

  “Texting your father to come home.”

  Randall covered his face.

  “Was he just missing, or had he packed up an
d left?” Wyrick asked.

  Randall shrugged. “All of his stuff was gone. That’s why we assumed he just walked back down. We didn’t expect his truck to still be in the parking lot when we got there.”

  “Just to be clear. You didn’t look for him at all?” Wyrick asked.

  Randall shook his head. “No, ma’am. We did not.”

  Wyrick stood abruptly, shifting her focus to Nita.

  “I’m going to ask the both of you not to call the Young family. I’m going over there right now. And if you care anything about Tony Dawson’s life and getting to the truth, you will do as I ask.”

  Nita was shaken, but her whole attitude toward Wyrick had changed.

  “You have my word. Randall and I will be sitting right here together, waiting for his father to get home.”

  “I’ll see myself out,” Wyrick said, then stopped the video, packed up her things and walked out.

  As she was driving away, she was already thinking about Justin Young. Would he be as open, or would he try to lie his way out?

  She already knew there was more to the story than what he had admitted. Because, while Randall was telling her they didn’t search for him, she’d seen all three of them arguing, and it had been daylight, and they’d all been wearing backpacks. She didn’t know what that meant, but only two of them came off that mountain. Tony Dawson was still there, but did they leave him in trouble, or did he go off on his own?

  She pulled up to the Young residence about fifteen minutes later, and as she got out, she saw someone briefly look out the window and then move away.

  “Yes, I’m here,” Wyrick muttered, glad this was the last interview. She wasn’t a people person and had generated more conversation during these interviews than she did in a week. She knocked, and moments later, the door swung inward.