by Sloan Parker
“A wolf howl.”
“Sure.” Richard snorted out a laugh. “Except there are no wolves in this part of the country.”
Luke pointed toward the closed tent door. “I’m telling you. That was a wolf. Wait. Shh.” He held up a finger to keep us from speaking again.
We all listened.
“There it was again,” Luke whispered.
Richard looked to me.
I shook my head. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“Me either.” He gestured for Luke to lie back down. “You’re tired. Come get some sleep.”
Luke lay down beside me again. A minute of quiet passed. Then he asked in a soft voice, “Do wolves eat people?”
Without warning, Richard quickly shifted over me onto Luke. Grasping Luke’s wrists, he pinned his arms above his head and spread out to lie over top of him. “Are you scared?”
“No.”
“Because if you are, I want you to know one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I’ll protect you. Always.”
“Sure. And who’s going to protect you?”
“Matthew.” Richard let go of Luke and returned to lie on his back on my other side, his hands folded behind his head. “If you haven’t noticed, he knows far more about what he’s doing out here than we do.”
“Yeah, he does.” Luke wrapped an arm around me.
I lifted my head and asked Richard, “You really think that?”
“Uh-huh.” He shifted his hips from side to side as if he couldn’t get comfortable. “I miss our bed.”
I laughed. “Me too.”
He rolled to his side and laid an arm over my waist atop Luke’s so they were both holding me but also touching each other. “You’re doing a good thing here, Matthew.”
“Yeah,” Luke agreed. “Not everyone would’ve bothered talking to the sheriff when the kid asked, let alone come all the way out here.”
“Thanks.”
Despite their words, Richard seemed reluctant. I had a feeling he really didn’t think we’d ever find Alex alive, but he didn’t say anything about that.
A half hour later we were all still lying awake, listening to the drizzle of light rain patter the top and sides of the tent. Within minutes, the soft rain became a downpour and the wind kicked up. I elbowed Luke in the side. “You jinxed us.”
He scoffed. “The weather report said only ten percent of the county would get rain tonight. Who the hell knew it would rain right on top of us?”
Richard snorted out a laugh. “That deal was probably sealed the minute you started putting together our tent. You’ve got the worst luck.”
Before I knew it, Luke lunged over me to get to Richard. He pinned him down the way Richard had done to him earlier. “I so do not. That’s you.”
“Nope. I live a charmed life. How else do you think I got the most reticent, closed-off, commitment-phobic man I’d ever met to move in with me after the first date?”
Luke rolled his eyes. “You fucked him into a stupor.”
“Damn straight.” Richard bucked up under Luke in a teasing attempt to dislodge him. Then the two of them were in the middle of an all-out wrestling match, the tent swaying under the thrashing weight of their bodies.
“Stop!” I called out. “Stop! You’re gonna rip the tent, and then we’ll all be sleeping in the mud and rain.”
They halted the wrestling and turned their heads my way. Luke was straddling Richard, and they had their heads close, both breathing heavily.
Oh no. I knew what those looks meant.
Yep, five seconds later, they were tickling the hell out of me, and I couldn’t stop laughing.
No, more like giggling.
But I didn’t care. They both seemed to love hearing that sound from me.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“No. No. Matthew!”
I bolted upright. So did Richard.
I had awoken a few minutes earlier to find the rain had stopped. The sun was just starting to make an appearance, its golden rays warming the cool morning air. Outside the tent, the high-pitched squawk of songbirds punctuated the sorrowful call of a mourning dove. It had still been a little too early to head out, so I snuggled in against Richard’s side and closed my eyes again. I was just drifting off once more when Luke called out and started frantically kicking at the sleeping bag covering our feet.
He hadn’t had a nightmare in such a long time, not since he went to see his father in prison. I was unsure what to do. Once, when I’d previously tried waking him, he’d accidentally hit me, and it had left him feeling like shit for days after.
Good thing Richard was thinking clearly. He reached across me, laid a hand in the middle of Luke’s chest, and gave a slight shake. “Wake up, Luke.”
Luke clasped on to Richard’s forearm and shot up in one motion. “What? What happened?”
“It’s okay. You were dreaming.”
“A dream? God.” He let out an exaggerated exhale and sank back down onto the sleeping bag. He took another breath, and then he reached out for me and drew me into his arms, hugging me in a fierce embrace.
“Was it your dad?” I asked.
“No.” He ducked his head and kissed the base of my throat, then kissed lower and lower until he had me lying on my back, his cheek resting against my chest. “You fell while we were hiking. You slid backward down an embankment and hit your head on a rock. I thought you were dead.”
“Oh. That’s sorta how I fell that day with my dad. Only without the hitting my head part.”
“Yeah. I guess that story really stuck with me.”
Richard shifted around inside the tent until he lay behind Luke, spooning him. “He’s going to be okay. Nothing like that’s going to happen now.”
“Sure.” Luke breathed deep once more. “He’ll be fine.” He lifted my sweatshirt and the T-shirt underneath. He laid his cheek against my bare flesh. His arms tightened around me.
“Hey.” I ran my hand through his hair. “I’m okay.”
“I know.”
We lay there holding him for several breaths, then I said, “The sun’s up. We should probably get going soon.”
“Yeah,” Richard agreed. But then he lifted his head. “Shh.” He sat up all the way and listened intently. “Do you hear that?”
Luke’s eyes widened. “The wolf’s back.”
The sound of footsteps crunching over fallen twigs came from outside the tent. “Park ranger here. Anyone in the tent?”
I grinned at Luke. “A wolf?”
“I did hear a wolf last night.”
Richard laughed as he unzipped the doorway of the tent and slid out. Luke and I followed.
A man stood on the other side of the campfire ring. He wore a brown uniform that had the park emblem on his shirt pocket. He had a wide stance, his hands on his hips above his loaded utility belt. Park rangers weren’t armed, but he still looked ready to pull out some kind of weapon at any moment. He stood in the dark shade of the trees. All that was visible of his face were the whites of his eyes. They were almost glowing.
He gave the three of us an apprehensive scan. “The sheriff said you folks might be on this trail. Figured you’d have to camp here for the night before you went any farther.”
“And you are?” Richard asked.
“Gus Cleary. I’m Alex’s friend. Not some strangers who barely knew him.” He stepped forward into the light, his hands still bracketed on his hips. He had long dark hair, secured in a ponytail at the base of the blue Detroit Tigers baseball cap he wore. The cap looked out of place with the uniform. “Emerson said you’re looking for Alex.”
Richard spoke again before I could. “We’re just trying to help if we can.”
“Did you tell his wife and kid what you’re up to?”
“Tomas knows.”
He scoffed. “Did you even think about what that’ll do to him, getting his hopes up like that?”
I stepped forward. “They need to know the truth.”
<
br /> “What? That the man they loved ditched them?”
“Alex didn’t just walk out on them. He’s here in this park somewhere, and they need to find out if he’s still alive or not.”
Cleary spun away and marched toward the stream. He stared out at the water flowing over the smooth rocks. Something about that reaction told me he didn’t believe that rumor about Alex leaving town either.
I wasn’t sure if he was going to talk to us again, take off, or what.
After a beat, he turned back.
Before he could speak, I asked, “Were you part of the original search team?”
“I was.”
I retrieved Tomas’s map from my pack inside the tent. “Could you take a look at this and tell us if you searched these areas?”
“I don’t need to. I know where you’re going. Tomas told me everything yesterday.” Despite his words, Cleary came forward, moving more slowly than before. “All those areas have already been searched.” His tone made it sound like he recited a memorized line.
“You sure?” Richard asked.
Cleary removed the cap he wore and ran his free hand over the top of his hair, smoothing the loose strands. He replaced the hat as he blew out a huff of air. “Hell, I don’t know. All the places the park rangers checked out were searched thoroughly, but the ones that the deputies went over…” He shrugged as if it was anybody’s guess.
“Did you look here?” I held out the map and indicated the next location where we were headed.
“I wasn’t assigned that area. I’m not sure who was.”
Richard spoke up again. “Then it doesn’t hurt for us to take a look, does it?”
Cleary glared at Richard once more, but the look softened as he answered. “No, I suppose it doesn’t. I just—” His words cut off sharply. He tipped his head back and remained silent. There was something he wasn’t saying.
“Mr. Cleary,” I started.
“Call me Gus.”
“All right, Gus, do you think something bad happened to Alex out here?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” He searched my face for a long moment as if trying to decide if he could trust me. Then his expression changed to something much more jaded and angrier. “But I will say one thing for certain. That asshole sheriff wouldn’t know how to conduct a search out here if his own life depended on it. He also never gives a shit about anyone who gets hurt or lost in this park. The way he figures it, if they were stupid enough to head far away from the public areas, then they deserved what they got. He’d never publicly say that, of course. He’s an elected official. But it’s how he conducts business. He didn’t care about what happened to Alex, except how the whole thing made him look on TV.”
That surprised me. Sheriff Emerson didn’t seem like the most cooperative guy in the world, but I hadn’t sensed any true malice in him, not like what Gus described.
“The sheriff and his deputies,” Gus added. “I’m not sure they tried all that hard to find Alex.”
“Why would you say that?” I asked. “They were out here for days, right? They used search dogs, a helicopter.”
“Well, they had to make it look good. The local news was on their asses. But they couldn’t even find his truck, and I know it’s out here.” He jabbed at his chest with his thumb. “I’ve been trying to find that vehicle, find him whenever I have time off from work, so I really don’t know what you all think you’re going to be able to do in a couple of days.”
“We’re going to try our best.”
He considered me with skepticism for several more seconds. Maybe he deemed me sincere. He gave a nod, then checked his watch. “I’ve gotta get going. We have a ranger meeting back at the main station. Just wanted to see for myself if you were really out here.” He scrutinized me for a moment more, then marched past us. He stopped before reaching the trail, his entire body alert, ready to take off again at any second, but he didn’t. He turned to face me. “Thank you for doing this.”
Luke made an exasperated noise of disbelief. “You’ve got a funny way of showing your appreciation.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve got trust issues.” Gus hesitated for a second longer. Then he started for the trail again without another word.
“Wait.” I raced after him. Richard and Luke followed close behind. I didn’t think either of them trusted this guy, but there was a genuineness to Gus Cleary that I liked. He stopped and waited for me to approach. I held the map out once more. “Where do you think we should look?”
He eyed the map but didn’t take it. “The rangers searched south of Springbrook Trail pretty good. I’d try where the kid said north of that. He knew his dad better than anyone.”
“Okay.”
Gus said nothing more at first, but he didn’t take off either. “You’re right about Alex. He didn’t leave his family. I’ve known that man for years. He was the most loyal person you’d ever meet. He loved his wife and son. And the new baby. He lived for them and that wildlife center. I’ve never met a man who loved his life more.” In contrast to his words, Gus took a frustrated step my way. He jabbed a finger at me. “He did not just walk out on them.”
Richard bolted between us. “Watch it. We’re not the enemy here.”
I laid a hand on Richard’s back. “It’s okay. It’s not me he’s mad at.” I eased around Richard to stand beside him. “We’re going to do what we can to prove that Alex was here in the park that day.”
Gus sighed as he tipped his head back, once more staring up into the canopy of trees. When he spoke again, it was in a more thoughtful tone. “You really shouldn’t go much farther down this trail.” He gestured to all three of us. “You guys don’t exactly look like you’re regular hikers.”
Richard shrugged that off. “We’ll be fine.”
“It’s dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.” There was something ominous about that warning that made me think he wasn’t only referring to the difficult hike or natural threats. Or maybe I was reading too much into things, wanting to see explanations and evidence where we were never going to find any.
Despite his warning, Gus said, “Fine. But just stay on the trails as much as you can.” He removed a business card from his wallet and handed it to me. “Call me if you get into any trouble. Or if you find any sign of Alex or his truck. I can talk to my boss. He’ll get the sheriff to open the search again.”
I pocketed the card. “Thanks.”
He didn’t move. Didn’t speak. When he finally did say something else, his voice was tight with emotion. “I tried to find him. Before it was too late. I really did.”
“It might not be too late.”
Breathing deep, he gave another nod. “Be careful out here.” He took off again and was out of sight down the trail in no time.
“Well,” Richard said, “he sure was helpful. I can’t decide if he wants us to leave the park or keep looking.”
“Yeah,” Luke agreed. “What’s up with that?”
“I don’t know,” I said as I stared off at where Gus had left. “If I had to guess, I’d say he wants both.”
“Why?”
“Maybe he wants answers, but he also doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
Luke studied me for a long breath. “So… are we still doing this?”
Richard waited for my answer too.
“Yeah. We are.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“No!” I gripped Richard’s arm and jerked him to a stop. “Not here. Too dangerous.”
After the first few steps, the path before us was startlingly steep. The grade would require some sort of rappelling gear. Especially for novices like us. “We need to find another way.”
Richard gave a nod. Then instead of heading down the narrow, rocky dirt path that led into a similar valley as the day before, we hiked along the top ridge until we came to a more manageable slope.
Once down in the valley, we took a good look around but found nothing odd and no trace of Alex’s backpack, so we contin
ued on to the next location, trekking through a series of rock formations that created outcroppings and arches over the dirt path.
We weren’t seeing many places where Alex could’ve taken his truck off-road, so we decided once we were done hiking the remote locations from Tomas’s map, we’d return to the Jeep and head down each of the access roads to search for spots where Alex might have been able to drive from the access road into the forest.
We were in the process of making our way down another embankment that led to a shallow stream when my foot got tangled up in the underbrush covering the trail. I pitched forward.
Luke caught me before I went down. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just tripped.”
“You’ve been doing that a lot lately.” The furrowed brows demonstrated his concern. Probably because of his nightmare.
“I’m okay. It’s this trail. It’s pretty uneven.”
“Sure. It’s just not like you at all.”
“Really, I’m fine. I just want to keep moving.” I wasn’t sure if that appeased him or not, but we continued on without another word on the subject.
We reached the third location, a heavily wooded area with enormous pine trees that towered over us like skyscrapers and left a carpet of rust-colored pine needles covering the forest floor. There we found nothing yet again. Dusk was fast approaching. I was beginning to doubt we’d ever be able to locate anything helpful, even if Alex or his truck were out there somewhere in the park. It wasn’t like we had experience conducting this kind of search. We could’ve already walked right by some sort of evidence that proved Alex was there that day and not had a clue we’d missed it.
As we wrapped up searching in that area, the sun was beginning to set, and the sky was growing dark. I’d already used the map to pick out a campsite for the night, one of the last park-maintained primitive sites we’d see for quite a while, positioned near a small waterfall. According to Alex’s book, the falls spilled out over a series of rock steps into a sizable body of water, creating a stunning swimming hole that would be far more popular with tourists if it were in a more accessible location. I was anxious to see it.
It wasn’t long before we found the site. Despite the numerous breaks we’d taken, we were all hot and sweaty, exhausted from another day of such an intensive, arduous trek with heavy packs on our backs. The spring day had felt more like summer, and the setting sun hadn’t cooled the evening air all that much. Hopefully the humid heat wouldn’t last all night. We needed our rest. The next morning we’d be heading into an even more desolate, isolated section of the park, and we’d be taking one of the most remote trails.
