by Traci DePree
“I’m fine. I’m just sorry. You don’t need this on top of everything else.” She sighed. “It’s like James is compelled. I don’t understand it. Why can’t he just accept things as they are and stop pushing?” She shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Kate.”
“You don’t need to be sorry,” Kate assured her. “Friendship goes both ways. I’ve raised a son, so I totally understand.”
Livvy’s face broke into a smile. “Thank you.”
Kate squeezed her hand.
Before long the group had spread out again as they had the past two days and resumed calling for Paul and Marcus, scanning for any sign of the men’s trails or their presence, listening for the faintest sound but hearing only the barking of search dogs and the whir of helicopters.
Kate climbed over the trunk of a thick tree that had fallen in a storm, and Eli reached out a hand to help her. She nodded her thanks, glad she’d remembered to bring her hiking stick, then gazed ahead. It was a chilly morning, with temperatures in the midfifties, so she’d worn a fleece that she knew she’d eventually have to remove after she began generating heat from all the hiking. But she was glad she had it on right then as the cool air nipped at her cheeks.
As she came around a bend on a trail that rose at a gradual angle, Kate caught sight of a piece of cloth hanging from a tree branch up ahead.
She hurried toward it and shouted, “There’s something here!” Eli and Rebecca were at her side almost immediately, as was Sheriff Roberts. The Jenners, Wilsons, and Joe were too far ahead to hear Kate’s announcement.
Kate recognized the cloth the moment she saw it. It was a strip of fabric from one of Paul’s Columbia shirts. She took the cloth in her hands to examine it more closely. It looked as if it had been torn deliberately into a four-inch strip, and there was blood on it. A chill ran down her spine at the implications. She looked around the clearing and saw another piece of material on the ground. She hurried over to the spot and bent down to pick up the cloth.
“Do you recognize it?” the sheriff asked.
“It’s Paul’s,” she confirmed.
She turned to scan the area. Directly behind them, and a couple dozen yards away, was a creek with a small cave along its banks. The cave’s roof was only three feet from the ground, so there was no way anyone could stand inside it, but it might have provided shelter from the previous day’s rain.
She pointed at it and said, “Let’s look over there.”
The sheriff pulled the radio from his belt and called to inform Ranger Morton.
When Kate reached the spot, with Eli, Rebecca, and the sheriff at her side, Kate could see that it was a campsite. Ashes from a burned-out fire made a circle in the dirt directly in front of the cave, and low-hanging branches looked as if they had been cut by a saw. Kate remembered that Paul had a small handsaw, though she couldn’t recall if he’d packed it among his things.
Eli squatted down next to the fire and held out a hand to test its warmth. “It’s stone cold,” he said as he stood back up. He placed his hands on his hips.
“He built a fire,” Kate said to herself, relieved that he’d been able to keep warm. “He wouldn’t have used green wood for a fire,” she said as she examined the cut tree branches.
“He could’ve used the branches for cooking food, though, if he was roasting fish or whatever,” Eli suggested.
They looked around for any signs of a meal. There were several cattails laying on a rock.
“Are cattails edible?” Eli looked up at Sheriff Roberts.
“Yes, they are,” the sheriff said. He scratched his chin and studied the fabric Kate had handed him.
“If he did catch some fish, he probably buried the remains in a different spot from where they were sleeping,” Rebecca said. “To keep bears away.”
Kate was glad Paul had taken their children on all those outdoor adventures and had taught them so much about wilderness survival. Of course, he’d never intended for them to ever have to use that knowledge.
Kate turned to survey the area. The air felt damp there, close, and a stream splashed down the rocky incline toward the valley below.
“Look at those rocks.” Rebecca drew Kate’s attention to a pile of moss-covered rocks at the stream’s edge.
Kate joined her and bent to examine the jagged, slippery surface.
“That one looks like someone slipped on it,” she said. “See how it’s torn?”
The mossy surface was smeared, revealing the shiny, wet rock face beneath. It confirmed what Kate already suspected when she saw the torn fabric.
“Someone’s hurt,” she said when she stood back up. “Paul wouldn’t tear up his brand-new shirt for any other reason.”
BY NOON THEY’D JOINED back up with Ranger Morton’s team and had reached Clingmans Dome Road. The search dogs barked, urging the group up along the steep road along the Appalachian Trail. The road was closed during winter months because it was simply too treacherous to traverse with the complications of snow and ice.
Myriad questions passed through Kate’s head as she walked along. Who was injured? And how badly? Did the strange men have anything to do with it? But that didn’t seem to make sense, since she’d just seen the men that morning at the visitor center. How did they know about the search for Marcus? Had they seen it on the news, or had they followed Kate and Rebecca when they’d driven to Gatlinburg on Monday night?
She shook off the lingering questions and thought about the campsite they’d found. Did Paul have adequate clothing to stay warm without the thick wool shirt? She prayed he’d taken something else, a jacket or a fleece, perhaps. But she doubted it, since it hadn’t been as cold when he’d first gone looking for Marcus.
Kate glanced at Joe, who had come up alongside her and was climbing the road with the rest of the group. He’d amazed Kate these past few days, not only with his knowledge of the area and his ability to handle the difficult terrain, but also with his sheer stamina for someone so old...not to mention his kindness.
Joe had reported that the doctors wanted to run some tests on Sam, so Sam was stuck in the hospital for the foreseeable future. But according to Joe, Sam wouldn’t allow Joe to sit by his bedside for another minute when Paul was still missing. Kate was just glad Sam was okay. She wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if the search for Paul had caused him harm—or worse.
Rebecca and Eli were up ahead. Her blonde head was tilted toward him, her ponytail swinging from the back of her Tennessee Bucs baseball cap. Eli must have said something funny because Rebecca had broken out in her musical laugh. Kate watched them. They had an easy way about them. Rebecca lit up whenever he was near, and Eli’s face would flame in that embarrassed yet pleased expression Kate had seen many times in the past few days.
Kate so liked the young man that a part of her wished it would work out between the two of them. Yet she knew how conflicted Rebecca felt about the relationship, especially after pledging her love to Marcus. She was glad her daughter was a person of honor, but if Marcus wasn’t worthy of her, then what?
Kate’s ears popped, and the ache in her legs told her she was climbing higher. She paused to rub her arthritic knee and gazed at the now-familiar Clingmans Dome. The awe-inspiring observation tower loomed ahead, with its 375-foot ramp that wound to the top in a spiral. The morning’s fog had lifted for the most part, though patches of it clung to sections of the valley below them. Several members of the search team had walked past the tower toward the Forney Ridge Trail where the dogs were sniffing around.
That was when Kate saw the strange men again. Even though they were a good fifty yards ahead, she knew it was them. They appeared to be searching like the rest of the team, but Kate knew it was a front. But why, why would they so openly show their faces in public when they knew Kate and Rebecca were around? She was sure they were involved in Marcus’ disappearance, and the fact that they were posing as searchers unnerved her. The sheer audacity of it made her mind spin.
“Rebecca,” she cal
led ahead, trying to regulate her voice so only Rebecca could hear and not the men she was drawing closer to.
Rebecca turned toward her, as did Eli.
“Look.” Kate pointed to the closer of the two men. “It’s them.”
Rebecca looked, then nodded at her mother as her eyes widened. “It’s them all right.”
Kate and Joe caught up to where Eli and Rebecca were standing.
“So, what do we do?” Rebecca whispered.
Eli was already pulling off his pack and retrieving his walkie-talkie. Pressing the TALK button, he called for Sheriff Roberts.
“What do you have, Eli?” the sheriff’s voice came over the air.
“Kate and Rebecca spotted the men who showed up at their home on Sunday. We need you over here ASAP.”
“I’ll bring company,” he replied, then the walkie-talkie clicked off.
Kate looked ahead where the search-and-rescue team continued carefully scouring the woods west of the two men. With the sheriff on his way, she felt no need to alert the team about the men...at least not yet.
Within fifteen minutes, the sheriff and Ranger Morton arrived, along with two more officers. Kate pointed in the direction of the two men and was thankful that they seemed oblivious that they’d been spotted. Within seconds, the strangers were surrounded by officers. Kate, Joe, Rebecca, and Eli joined them.
“What are your names?” Sheriff Roberts boomed authoritatively.
“What’s this all about?” one of the men said. The taller man’s penetrating eyes shifted between the sheriff and Kate, who crossed her arms over her chest.
“We have reason to believe you are responsible for the disappearance of Marcus Kingsley, aka Mack Kieffer, and Paul Hanlon.”
“Isn’t that what this search is for, to find out where those two men are?” he asked. He lifted his shoulders in a shrug and looked at his partner.
“Listen,” the stumpy man said, “we’re volunteers here just like everyone else. We came to help!”
“Have you seen these women before?” Sheriff Roberts pointed to Kate and Rebecca, undeterred.
Both men looked at them, and Kate felt a fire spread over her cheeks.
“No, sir,” the smaller one said in a thick East Coast accent. “We haven’t seen them anywhere.”
“Where did you say you were from?” Kate asked.
“We didn’t.” The taller guy turned to her. “Listen, lady, I don’t know what you have to gain by accusin’ your own search crew of...I don’t even know what! But you’re gonna drive away good help with an accusation like that. We’re decent, honest guys who came out ’cuz we heard you were in need, but if you’re gonna accuse us of doing somethin’ to your husband, well...” He shook his head. “It just ain’t right.”
Kate turned to look at Rebecca. She was staring at the man in disbelief, watching his mouth as he spoke. She glanced up to see that the sheriff had gone into a huddle with the local authorities. Eli and Joe both stood watch with arms crossed over their chests like Roman sentries. Finally Sheriff Roberts pulled Kate aside.
“We don’t have any evidence to arrest them, Kate,” he said.
“It is them,” she said.
“I’m sure you’re right,” the sheriff went on, “but knocking on your door and asking if you’ve seen someone isn’t a crime. Unless we have some physical evidence that they’ve done something wrong, I can’t take them into custody.”
“What about the ring? They stole Rebecca’s ring,” she said, feeling desperate but trying to keep her tone controlled.
“Can you prove that?”
“They were at the house when it disappeared,” Kate reminded him. “And the car they drove was stolen.”
At that the sheriff radioed Sugarlands and asked them to have the police search the parking lot. Then he said to Kate, “I’ll pat them down and check their gear, but that’s all I can do for now.”
He returned to the men and searched for any sign of the missing ring, but there was nothing in their pockets. The smaller of the two sneered at Kate. She looked away, wanting to scream in frustration.
Several moments later, the sheriff’s radio buzzed.
“Sheriff Roberts here.”
“Yes, sir. This is Officer Downey from the Gatlinburg police. We were in the neighborhood and were able to get to the Sugarlands lot quickly. We checked for that stolen vehicle you described and took the liberty of running all the plates that were there. There wasn’t a stolen car among them.”
Kate hung her head knowing what she wished she could prove: that these men were guilty of much. But of how much, she couldn’t say.
KATE WATCHED THE MEN the rest of the afternoon, as they descended Forney Ridge Trail and stopped at Andrews Bald. They had acted offended at their unjust treatment, yet they hadn’t stopped searching. It was the strangest thing.
The one comfort she took from it was that if the men were with them in the search, they weren’t with Paul and Marcus doing who knew what. But then again, she also didn’t know what kind of damage they had already done.
Kate lifted her gaze to the spectacular view, as one ridgeline met another in a hazy progression of rusty slopes, and her heart sent out an involuntary prayer to the Creator of this beauty. She reminded herself of God’s faithfulness, and her heart found momentary solace in the thought.
Yet as the day continued to tick by, Kate knew that everyone was beyond exhausted. She felt the same. But she couldn’t give up on the search, on Paul, and she hoped those in charge wouldn’t either. Her heart throbbed with pain whenever she thought about Paul. She’d loved that man for almost thirty years. This wasn’t how she’d envisioned the end of his life. It was too random, too trite for Paul. He was a man of vision, a commanding leader. For him to disappear in the woods...there was just something wrong about it. When it was his time to leave this earth, she wanted him to be surrounded by loved ones, not alone on a cold mountainside.
Kate shook off the morose thoughts. She didn’t want to face the fact that Paul could be dead. He was too smart for that. In her heart she knew it. Paul could walk out of these woods if he wanted to. Something was keeping him from it.
Chapter Twenty
Kate finished getting ready for bed. Rebecca hadn’t come back to the room yet, and Kate suspected she was talking with Eli. Was this their fourth night here? She could barely keep track. The days had melted together into one torturous eternity. Discouragement ate at her and left her feeling jittery. How she longed for sleep, and yet even in sleep, she was weary as one nightmare led to the next.
She’d just gotten off the phone with Marcus’ sister, MaryAnne, who wasn’t able to book a flight to Knoxville until the following day. There, she would rent a car and drive to Gatlinburg to join them. Kate had heard the worry in her voice.
“Everything that can be done is being done to find your brother,” Kate had assured her. “Hopefully he’ll be out of the woods by the time you get here, and you can simply help him recover.”
MaryAnne thanked her, then hung up.
Then Kate called Melissa and Andrew to update them on the search for their father. Both offered consolation, but Kate could hear the worry in their voices as well. She stared at the phone after she hung up.
I want to call with news that Paul is safe, she thought. No more calls like these.
New questions had been nagging at Kate since they left the search that afternoon. Now that she knew that the strangers weren’t with Paul and Marcus, what was keeping search and rescue from finding them? They’d certainly found enough signs that they were on the right track.
The pieces of Paul’s shirt came to mind, and Kate sent up a prayer for whoever was injured. She hoped it wasn’t anything serious, though it wouldn’t take much, compounded with sleeping in the cold, to take a person to a life-threatening state.
A panicked knock sounded on Kate’s door. She glanced at the clock. It was only ten, though it felt much later. Kate went to answer it and felt a moment of fear before openin
g the door, as she thought of the men they’d confronted on the trail. But what she found instead was a distraught-looking Livvy on the other side. She was wringing her hands.
“What’s wrong?” Kate asked.
“Have you seen James?”
Kate could hear the worry in Livvy’s voice as she scanned the room behind Kate.
“No. Is he missing?”
“We can’t find him, and after our argument in the van this morning, I’m afraid of what he could’ve done. He was so angry all day...”
Kate’s heart went out to her friend. She reached for Livvy’s arm and pulled her into the room.
“Okay, take a deep breath,” Kate said.
Livvy did as she was told, then her eyes searched Kate’s.
“So, when did you see him last?” Kate asked.
Livvy exhaled before speaking. “Just after supper. He told us he was going to go play his guitar in the motel rec room.”
The room that adjoined the manager’s office consisted of several video-game stations, pool and Ping-Pong tables, as well as candy and soda vending machines.
“When we went to get him to tell him it was time to go to bed, he wasn’t there, and he didn’t answer his cell phone.”
“Did you ask the manager if he’d seen him?”
Livvy nodded. “He told Danny that James was there for maybe half an hour. Said he was on his cell phone talking to someone, then he left.”
“He could have simply gone for a walk and lost track of the time,” Kate offered, but the expression on Livvy’s face told her that Livvy’s mother’s intuition wasn’t buying the explanation.
“Do you think he would’ve hitchhiked back to Copper Mill?” Livvy asked. “It would be a crazy thing to do, but I know he didn’t have any money.”
“First, let’s ask around the motel. Maybe he’s talking in someone’s room,” Kate said, hoping they’d find him chatting with one of their friends at the motel. “Let me get dressed.” Kate retrieved her clothes from the dresser and went into the bathroom to change back into day wear.
“We should’ve listened to him,” Livvy was saying when Kate came back out. “I’m afraid we pushed him too far, and now he’s—” She blew out a breath and rubbed a hand across her forehead. “I remember what it was like to be a teenager, thinking I knew better than my parents. And Danny can get so stubborn if the boys don’t listen to him.”
