“I never would have thought our receptionist was such an avid outdoorswoman.”
“You don’t know the half of it. I’ve spent two days in a tent with her.”
Aubrey had imagined an entire week devoted to quiet walks and heart-to-heart talks. When Grant spoke, his words had the same hesitation he’d shown during their courtship days.
“I have an idea for tomorrow.” He paused. “If you’d rather spend the day with your team, I understand.”
Aubrey pulled Grant to a stop and kissed his cheek, the beard stubble rough against her lips.
“I’d rather spend it with you. What’s your idea?”
“It’s a surprise.”
Aubrey wanted to scream that she’d had enough of surprises for a lifetime, but both their phones buzzed at once. Junie’s number showed on Aubrey’s phone.
“It’s not fair,” Junie said. “If Cody gets to spend all week with Grandpa Garner and Grandma Hildy, I should have gotten to spend the whole week with Grandma Skye!”
“Slow down,” Aubrey said. “You’re all going to Grandma Skye and Grandpa Bernie’s tomorrow. There’s been no change of plan.”
“Then you’d better tell that to Cody,” Junie said. “He’s staying here in bootcamp.”
“Yesterday you texted me that Shane was enlisting in the Navy Seals.”
“Well, yeah,” Junie said. “He got some papers and stuff, but I guess he hasn’t joined yet.”
“If you were trying to upset me, young lady, it worked.”
With no trace of remorse in her voice, Junie continued. “If Shane gets to join the Navy, why can’t I go to the party Friday with Erik? Nobody ever died at a stupid party.”
“They do all the time,” Aubrey said. “Parties are as dangerous as combat. We’ve already discussed this. Your father and I made our decision clear.”
Junie was obsessed with going to a party with a senior. The boy was too old for her, and not just in a two-years-older kind of way. Aubrey suspected Junie would end up getting her feelings hurt. Hopefully that would be all that was damaged.
“We arranged this months in advance, and the deal was for you three kids to split your time equally between the grandparents.”
“Mom,” Junie whined, but Aubrey didn’t slow down.
“Your grandparents were kind enough to take all three of you. Feed you. Entertain you. I don’t want to hear from you kids again unless you’re calling from the emergency room.”
Sotheara found privacy behind the bath house, then called Sage. She told him about Jessie’s assault, and her bleary remembrance of something strange in the forest.
“Hey, I’ll bet she saw the toxic waste dump site,” Sage said. “Get her to take you there.”
The fact that the woman had been knocked unconscious seemed to slip right by Sage.
“Jessie’s in the hospital. She’s not going anywhere until the doctor releases her. Besides, a lot of things could have looked weird to her.”
“Where’d you find her? The dump site has to be nearby.”
“I marked the location on my topo map.” Sotheara’s map was a spider web of markings recording where she had explored. “I was on top of a hill. I could see all around, and I didn’t notice anything unusual in the area. Jessie was unconscious before Bud stepped out of the woods and onto the trail. I don’t know whether he was trying to finish her off, or if he was trying to help her.” An icy paranoia crawled up her spine. She glanced around. Nothing but shadows and more shadows. “But my impression of Bud is that he’s not interested in helping people.”
“Neither am I, babe. The week is half gone, and you haven’t found the dump site yet. If this Jeremiah guy kills your boss, they might close the camp. You’ve got to find out what Jessie saw, before you lose the chance.”
Sage sure was bossy. Sotheara’s discovery of monkeyshines in the accounting records at Bender Clips had initiated Operation Clean Sweep, but it had quickly become Sage’s project.
“I don’t have a car.” Sotheara heard the crunching of boots on gravel as someone approached the bath house. She lowered her voice. “You dropped me off, remember? She’s at the hospital in Lodgepole.”
“Hitch a ride with someone. Pretend you’re concerned about the woman.”
“I don’t know who to trust. Half the people here are Second Amendment crazies.”
“There’s gotta be someone. They can’t all be as scary as you claim.”
Sage’s single-minded focus on Operation Clean Sweep was beginning to annoy Sotheara. She felt as invisible to him as she was to her coworkers. She might not trust anyone from Bender Clips, but maybe Dale the EMT was still in camp.
The campfire circle was buzzing with conversation when Aubrey and Grant returned. Grant kissed her cheek and hurried to his team, so she joined hers. Before Berdie finished a pep talk, Ellen sprinted into the campfire circle, spraying dirt and pinecones as she slid to a halt.
“Bender’s coming!”
“Sure glad I didn’t call Search and Rescue yet,” Rowdy said. “They hate false alarms.”
Rankin half-carried Bender. Next came Nigel, dwarfed by his tall wife. Doug straggled behind them with Mason. Candace finally hobbled into view, walking as bow-legged as old Bud.
Madison leaned close to Aubrey and whispered, “I don’t even want to know what happened to her.”
Jeremiah and Roberto brought up the rear. Too many people asked questions at once. Nothing made sense.
Rowdy rang the chuck wagon triangle. “Hey! Quiet!” When the campers were silent, he addressed Bender. “The EMT stayed late, in case one of you folks needs first aid.”
Candace waddled forward. “I do.”
“What I need is the police,” Bender said. “One of you bastards tried to kill me, and I’m going to find out who!”
Rowdy released an uncomfortable-sounding chuckle. “Now Mr. Bender. People fall into those old mines all the time. You just lost your footing on loose rock.”
He herded them to the infirmary. The rest of Bender’s Defenders were merely dehydrated and sunburned. They self-medicated with aloe lotion and beer. The return of the missing team gave rise to spontaneous celebration as people descended on the makeshift saloon.
Berdie squinted at the crowd, deepening the wrinkles around her eyes. “There are things I’d like to know.”
“Like what?” Madison asked.
“How did Jack fall into a mine?” Berdie asked. “And when? Why did Rankin and Jeremiah return with Bender’s Defenders?”
“I’d like to know who knocked out Jessie,” Aubrey said.
“And if it was the same person who threw rocks at us,” Madison added.
“You’re forgetting someone. Who was standing at the top of the hill when we found Jessie?” Berdie spoke like a lawyer in a television courtroom drama. “Who was absent from her team most of the day? Who has been sneaking around the forest? Popping up in unexpected places?”
Madison and Aubrey exchanged confused looks.
“Where is she now?” Berdie asked. “Sotheara Sok is hiding something.”
ROWDY HUNTER’S
SURVIVAL TIPS
Being a greenhorn, you’re liable to hurt yourself worse than the elements or animals will. Do yourself a favor. Don’t be your own worst enemy in a survival situation. Get your eyes off that stupid smart phone and start paying attention. If you don’t, you’ll step right off a cliff, or between that mama bear and her cub. There are things in the wilderness just waiting for a chance to bite your backside.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Jeremiah whittled a rabbit from a chunk of pine. He had the distinct feeling people were avoiding him. Maybe the paper Madison claimed was a love letter really was the death threat. Word must be out. Kind of made him regret his hasty actions. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
Half the campers huddled a
round their boss’s empty chair while Doug Bender fielded questions. Rankin sat with Bender’s Defenders, even though he wasn’t a member of their team. Berdie Placer elbowed her way to the center of the group.
Aubrey Sommers sat with the Gold Strike team where Ellen babbled details of her sighting of Bender’s Defenders with as much drama as someone reporting a close encounter with aliens. Jeremiah’s team captain wasn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but her crumbs of information seemed to fascinate her audience.
If Madison wasn’t suddenly so skittish around him, Jeremiah might have joined her in the Wild Cat’s circle.
While most of the camp seemed to dismiss Bender’s assertion that someone had tried to kill him, the ladies of Stockton’s Revenge were busy interrogating their unaware coworkers. He finished carving the rabbit, then shoved his knife back in its sheath.
Now where was Sotheara?
Jeremiah wondered whether she had anything to do with Bender’s assault. Or Jessie’s. Sotheara disappeared for stretches of time, and no one seemed to notice. Aubrey Sommers broke away from the Gold Strike bench and joined him under the shadows of the pine, uninvited.
“Nice rabbit,” she said. “You’re really good at carving animals.”
Jeremiah held the wood rabbit between his thumb and forefinger. “Just a little hobby of mine. Lavelle wanted a wolf for her grandson. Turns out she has a half dozen grandkids. I hope I have enough time to finish carving animals for all of them.”
“Madison really likes the wolf you gave her. Say, I was wondering, are you the one who found Bender’s Defenders?”
“Naw. They were almost back to camp by the time I ran into them.”
“You left to go fishing,” Aubrey said. “Did you catch anything?”
“You’re not much for subtlety, Miz Sommers. You want to know something, just ask.”
She looked startled for a moment, her brown eyes reflecting the campfire. She was a pretty little gal, and seemed more comfortable in the woods than most of his coworkers. Jeremiah had bought candy from Grant Sommers to support his Pinon Pine troop. Maybe the whole family was into the outdoors. Nice to know someone was keeping the frontier spirit alive.
“Why did you threaten Bender?” Aubrey asked.
“I’ve got no respect for Jack Bender. He’d sell us all to the Chinese if he could make a buck. But I wouldn’t kill him. I was just trying to shake him up before the games started.”
“You do realize that if your boss is murdered, that note implicates you.”
“What note?” Jeremiah smiled. “Oh, you must mean Miz Wilhelm’s love letter.”
Aubrey laughed briefly, then turned serious. “Madison is my friend. I won’t stand by and watch if I think someone’s toying with her heart.”
That was something Jeremiah had never been accused of. He was typically on the sucker end of the stick when it came to romance.
“You don’t have to worry. I don’t stand a chance with a woman like her.” Jeremiah felt his cheeks burn with a blush. He hadn’t meant to be so open about his interest in Madison.
“I can’t speak for her, but I think she likes you. Except for her suspicion that you might murder Jack Bender.” Mis Sommers shook her head. Her curly hair brushed her shoulders. “I don’t know how you people can work for a man like that.”
“Maybe if the economy weren’t so bad,” Jeremiah said, “Bender Clips would have gone out of business for lack of staff, but people are desperate for work.”
“What about you? You’re a smart guy.”
Miz Sommers was full of surprises. Most folks were content to brand Jeremiah an uneducated loser. He considered for a moment, wondering how much he wanted to share with his coworker’s wife. She had moved from brash interrogation to a genuine conversation.
“Sometimes it’s best to keep your head down,” Jeremiah said. “Let everyone else play games and think they’re winning, while you keep your eyes on your own goal.”
“What’s your goal?”
He shrugged. “I just want my piece of the American Dream. To retire to my property in the mountains someday. Spend my time hunting, fishing, and building stuff with my hands.”
Aubrey smiled. “That’s my husband’s dream, too.” The smile melted with a sigh. “I just don’t know whether we’ll ever get there.”
Jeremiah patted the little woman’s shoulder. “You’ll get there.”
She had shared a lot with Jeremiah. He owed her an answer to her original question.
“You’re right. I didn’t go fishing. I left camp to scout around. I figured if I caught Jack and Candace in a compromising situation, it might be good for a bonus. Money to pay off my land. Just a little light blackmail. Nothing serious like murder.”
No wonder Grant came home from work most nights wrung out like a dishrag. Jeremiah had lessened some of Aubrey’s concerns, both about his intentions toward Madison and the issue of murder, but their conversation ended as Bender and Candace returned from the infirmary.
Aubrey’s teammates gathered on their log bench as Bender hobbled to his throne-like camp chair. Candace settled onto a lesser seat beside him.
“Find me a footstool,” Bender yelled at Rankin. “And get me a drink.”
“Did the doctor give you pain medicine?” Rankin asked. “That doesn’t mix with alcohol.”
“That kid is an EMT, not a doctor. And you’re neither. Well? Hurry up.” He watched Rankin trot toward the saloon. “I swear that man moves as slow as he thinks.”
Rankin heard. He glanced over his shoulder, glaring at the back of Bender’s head.
Madison elbowed Aubrey. “If looks could kill.”
Once Bender’s many needs were attended to, his bandaged ankle elevated and cushioned with an ice pack, a drink in one hand and a fork in the other, Rowdy rang the triangle.
“Each team needed a photo of a game animal.” Rowdy pulled a cloth off his dry erase board. “You all did that, so it’s a six-way tie. But there were lots of great pictures. We’re having a People’s Choice award for your favorite photos.”
Madison whispered, “What a joke. Everyone is going to vote for their own team.”
Photos projected onto a screen on the side of the chuck wagon. The differences were dramatic, with some blurry, like Aubrey’s shot of the deer in the meadow, and others crystal clear. Everyone burst into applause at one shot of a buck silhouetted against Gold Hill. Shirley proudly proclaimed that was the Belle Starr’s contribution. Madison’s shot of the porcupine earned applause for being the most unique. Tweet’s photo was too blurry to make out.
“Porcupines aren’t food,” Shirley said.
“I defer to our expert woodsman,” Rowdy said. “Mr. Jones, are porcupines edible?”
“Not my favorite,” Jeremiah said, “but they go okay in a stew.”
The campers enjoyed a rare moment of unity as they voted for their favorites. The buck won handily. The photo appeared on the chuck wagon screen as Bud dumped more wood on the campfire. The scrawny old wrangler glanced up, then pointed a boney finger at the picture.
“Hey, that’s on the computer screensaver we sell in the gift shop.”
The peace that had briefly reigned shattered in an instant. A dozen voices rose in angry accusation. Reba produced a copy of the offending screensaver, and the Belle Starr’s pilfered photo of the buck was disqualified. The remaining photos were contested anew, the better ones suspect now. In the end, Madison’s shot of the porcupine won.
She froze when Rowdy called her name.
“Really? I won?” Her voice squeaked on the unfamiliar word.
More tears rolled down Madison’s cheeks than a winning Miss America contestant’s as Rowdy handed her a fistful of treasure chest keys. Each member of Stockton’s Revenge now possessed two precious keys.
They learned why Candace was hobbling when Rowdy ex
plained he had to disqualify her edible plant choice. The woman was fortunate she had not eaten a sample of the three-leaved ivy, but she had spread its poison to her bum when she used it as toilet paper.
Rowdy broke the four-way tie for the edible plant part of the scavenger hunt by awarding the Belle Starrs keys due to the artistic arrangement of their vegetation. The fishing segment had a clear winner with Berdie’s catch. Millie demanded the trout to cook for tomorrow’s dinner. Stockton’s Revenge received another treasure chest key.
“Three keys,” Berdie said. “We’re on our way to victory, girls.”
“I caught six trout.” Bender waved his third whiskey sour in the air.
“The One That Got Away is always the biggest,” Rowdy said, “but in Survive or Die you’ve got to produce the actual fish.”
“Are you calling me a liar?” Bender squinted at Rowdy.
“No, sir, Mr. Bender. I’m just saying we can’t measure what we can’t see.”
“The person who pushed me into that blasted hole stole my fish.”
“Pushed you?” Pastor Omari asked.
“Yes, pushed,” Bender said. “One minute I’m taking a leak in the bushes, and the next I’m sliding down a mineshaft. Why won’t you people listen? Someone tried to kill me!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Sotheara assuaged her guilt at the pleasure of riding to town with Dale by telling herself she was on a fact-finding mission. Jessie’s memory hadn’t improved any by the time Sotheara reached the tiny Lodgepole hospital. The skinny marathoner couldn’t even focus on the topo map.
Sotheara hitched a ride back to camp with Shawn, feeling a little deflated. Her hope for a big break for Operation Clean Sweep had been a bust, plus she’d missed the dramatic return of Bender’s Defenders. Sotheara joined her team on their bench.
Jack made falling in an abandoned mine while peeing sound like Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. Rankin’s already ruddy complexion, lit by the flickering campfire, appeared close to bursting into flame. As Bender rattled on interminably about the mineshaft, Rankin could no longer contain himself.
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