I watched him until the woods swallowed him up, hoping he'd make it back to his camp. I was worried, but figured the island wasn't all that big and that eventually he'd get there.
The dark stillness settled around me again, and I wished Cooper hadn't gone. Max would laugh when I told her how nice Cooper had been and how I actually missed him. I wasn't sure how long I'd sat there waiting for Cooper, but it seemed like at least an hour. I could hardly keep my eyes open, so I crawled back into the boat and settled down between the life jackets. Again, the frogs and crickets entertained me. Water lapped on the boat and gently rocked it.
Sometime later, another noise broke the serenity. Behind the chirping and bullfrogs croaking, I heard a steady thump, thump, thump. The thumping grew louder. I opened my eyes and saw a bright beam of light coming from the sky. At first I thought maybe I had died and that God was sending an angel down to get me. Then I realized it was a helicopter with a searchlight.
I couldn't see the helicopter itself; the light was too bright. But nothing made that sound or stirred up the air like a chopper.
I waved and stepped out of the boat. I thought it strange that the search-and-rescue teams would go up at night, but I let the thought slide, happy that I wouldn't have to spend the rest of the night alone.
The chopper swung away from me, and I thought they were going to leave me behind. The huge machine rose, then came down again, almost resting on the rocky point near where I'd been sitting most of the day. In the chopper's light I could see something drop to the ground. I started running toward it.
As quickly as it had come, the helicopter rose again and thump, thump, thumped away. The searchlight was no longer on. They hadn't seen me or the boat.
"Wait! Wait for me!" I yelled. Hadn't they seen me? Then I realized that the light had never actually shined on me or the boat, only on the rocks and the trees.
I dropped onto my knees and started to cry. "Come back. Please come back."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The helicopter had dropped a package.Maybe they'd seen me after all, and it was too dangerous to land so they left me a care package. The image of food and warm clothes propelled me toward the rocks. I stumbled, but managed to catch myself. When I reached the package, I tore into it, or tried to. The package had been wrapped in black plastic and tied in about ten places. I sat back, wishing I had something sharp and wondering why anyone would make a care package so hard to get into.
Maybe so it wouldn't scatter all over the place when they dropped it.
Or maybe it isn't food and clothes. Maybe it's drugs. I pushed the second possibility from my mind, determined to check out the contents. Working at a square of plastic, I managed to tear away some of the plastic.My fingers and arms hurt, but I couldn't stop. Under the black plastic was another layer. In the scant moonlight I could see a patch of white. I dug into it and felt something powdery. Something told me it wasn't dry milk.
As reality hit, I brushed the stuff from my fingers and backed away like I'd been stung. Drugs. The guy wasn't coming to rescue me at all. The island was being used as a drug drop. This meant only one thing. Someone would be coming to pick up the package, and he'd probably do it while it was still dark.
I folded the torn plastic back in as best I could and hurried back to my boat. Anyone coming for the package would see me, and I knew I should move the boat, but I couldn't. I had to rest and wait for Cooper. And try to stay alive for the rest of the night.
I lay back down but couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about the helicopter and the package I'd seen fall out of it. I hoped whoever planned to make the pickup would wait until morning. The sky had grown completely black, and the air smelled moist like it does before a heavy rain. "Not rain, please, God," I pleaded aloud. "No rain."
"Cooper, where are you?" I listened intently and peered into the woods for signs of his flashlight. Where are you? Why haven't you come back? Several answers swirled in my head. Cooper hadn't found his camp. Maybe he was hurt. Maybe Cooper had just decided to be a jerk and not come back. Or maybe the helicopter pilot had seen him.
I must have slept some during the night, though I have no idea how I managed it. I awoke as the sun came up. I was cold, but not wet. Shivering, I got out of the boat and jumped up and down to get my blood circulating. The life jackets had worked pretty well to insulate me.
I could see the package the helicopter had dropped the night before. The bundle was rectangular, about two feet wide and three long and about two feet deep. It was wrapped in black plastic and secured with duct tape.
I dropped onto the sand and thought about Cooper. Why hadn't he come back? Could he somehow be involved with drugs? Was that the real reason he'd come to the island? Was he really alone?
Somehow, I couldn't picture Cooper as a drug dealer. I had no reason not to believe him. But could I really trust my instincts? Then I wondered if he'd seen the helicopter and wondered again if he might be in danger. Maybe that was why he hadn't come back. Maybe whoever had come for the drugs had seen his camp and done something to him.
For the first time since I got to the island, I prayed that no one would come—at least not the people who were going to pick up the drugs. I tipped my head back and sighed. If drug dealers were coming I didn't want them to find me here. I needed to be out of sight and leave no trace that I had been here. I didn't know how much time I had, but I would have to get my boat and myself out of sight. Maybe I'd watched too much television, but I had a feeling if the people the package was meant for showed up and found me, they wouldn't be too thrilled. With the information I had, they'd probably have to kill me.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The sun was bright and hot by the time I managed to pull the boat up the sandy beach and into a stand of fir trees and vine maple. I'd set the vests back in the box to hide them from view. With the spring foliage out, the vine maple made a good shield for me to hide behind. When I'd finished hiding the boat, I was hot and sweaty and hungry and didn't want to do anything but sleep. I stumbled back to the lake to refill my water bottle. After drinking nearly all of it, I refilled it again and then went back to the boat to wait. I sat on a log at the forest's edge and listened for the sound of a motor boat or for voices.
I thought about hiking into the woods in an attempt to find Cooper, but decided against it. I was just too weak. I heard the sound of a plane and moved back into the brush. It flew overhead and I realized too late that it was probably one of the search-andrescue planes. I should have been out there waving my arms. I should have had the orange life vests out there.
I wasn't thinking clearly. The person or persons coming to pick up the drugs were probably coming by boat. "Okay, Jessie," I mumbled to myself. "Next time you hear a plane or helicopter you are going to run out into the opening and wave your arms like crazy."
Waiting is the hardest thing in the world, especially when you can't do anything but think and worry. By noon I began to doubt that anyone would come. Maybe the drug pickup person would wait until dark. That would mean another night alone.
Or maybe not alone. I shivered. What if the person picking up the drugs is here on the island right now? Maybe they live here or are camped out. What if Cooper had run into them or found their camp? I got up and went back to the rock to look at the package in question.
Maybe you're wrong. Maybe it isn't drugs. But I knew it was. I pried out the loose plastic and watched a tiny stream of the powdery white substance slither to the ground. Another thought snared me. My fingerprints were on the package. I tucked the plastic back, securing it as best I could with the duct tape, then wiped the places I might have touched with my shirt.
Heading back to my boat, I heard a small engine. I ducked behind the brush and hoped no one could see my pink shirt. Relief spilled itself over and through me. Only one person sat in the boat that motored into the cove. Max.
I started to get up and held back. How could Max know I'd be here? Was Max coming for the package? Had Bob and Serena forced her t
o work for them? Max looked around the cove and started back out again. She wasn't there for the package. She was looking for me.
I jumped out from my hiding place. "Max! Wait!" I waved my arms as crazily as the seagull had flapped its wings. "Max!" I screamed, hoping she could hear me over the small motor. She glanced back at me and turned the boat around with such force, I thought she was going to sink it.
"Jessie!" she yelled back and waved.
I ran down to meet her. When she stepped out of the boat, I threw my arms around her.
She hugged me back. "What are you doing out here? Where's your boat? Man, I thought you'd gone over the falls. That's where I was looking this morning."
She moved back and grabbed my arms, her hands nearly circling my bony forearms. "Why did you take the boat out by yourself? What were you thinking?"
"Max. We don't have time to talk now. Please. We have to get your boat out of sight."
"What?" She let her arms drop to her sides. "You're delirious." She glanced around. "Where is your boat?"
I explained the situation the best I could while I tried to pull her boat out of the water. It was made of wood and far too heavy for me to handle alone.
"No kidding." She glanced up at the package, and I knew she had every intention of opening it.
"Please, Max," I grunted. "Help me hide the boat. It's too heavy for me."
Fortunately, she did as I asked.
We took off the motor to make the boat lighter. Once we'd hidden her boat, she pulled off her life jacket and shoved it, along with the motor, under the seat. When she straightened, she was holding a package of chips. "You must be hungry. Didn't you bring food?"
I told her about the seagull and she practically rolled on the ground laughing.
"It wasn't funny. I had to spend the night under a life jacket. " I needed to tell her about Cooper too, but that could wait. I half expected him to show up anytime.
"I'm sorry. I have more food if you need it." She frowned. "You really think there are drugs in that package?"
"I'm sure. It's white and powdery. What else could it be? The pilot makes a drop at night. It's all wrapped up in black plastic. No one has come to get it yet. " That's when I told her about Cooper.
Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits. "Cooper is here?"
I nodded. "He was. Unless I was dreaming. I guess that's possible."
"You must have been, kid, because there's no way Cooper Smally would be camping out here alone. I'm going to open the package."
"Please don't, Max. We don't want to get our prints on it. You'll just have to take my word for it."
"You have a point." She bit into a chip and offered me the bag.
I took a handful, and for the next few minutes I fed my face. I loved the salty taste on my tongue and the way they melted in my mouth. Mom never lets me eat chips at home. Too greasy and they're fried in a type of grease that turns toxic at high levels of heat. I felt guilty about eating them, but figured a few wouldn't hurt me. I felt even guiltier about something else—spying on Bob and Serena without telling Max.
I knew my parents had called her—told her I'd left a message saying I'd be at her place. Like she'd been reading my mind, she asked, "So why did you tell your parents you were with me?"
I shrugged, not knowing what to say.
"You should have told me." Max turned away from me, her gaze scanning the inlet.
"About what?"
"Quit playing games. I saw you, Jess. I saw you hanging around our back door."
I sucked in a sharp breath. "You saw me?"
"You went behind my back."
"I didn't want you to be mad at me and I . .."
She pushed herself away from the log and took a step toward the water, then swung around. Arms folded and legs apart, she looked ready for a fight. "You were spying on Bob and Serena. Were you going to turn them in?"
I winced at the accusing tone in her voice. "I had to do something. You can't stay with them. I'm afraid they'll kill you or that you'll start using or . . ."
"I won't do drugs. I'm not stupid." She unfolded her arms and sat back down beside me. "They'd never kill me."
"They might. When people use cocaine they can get really weird. Remember when Mrs. Downing talked about the drug-induced rage in health?"
"They don't get that bad," she insisted again.
"Come on, Max, you don't have to be afraid of living with someone else. Being in foster care can be a good thing."
"Humph. A lot you know."
"I know you'd be a lot better off. Just because you had one bad experience. . ."
Max clamped her mouth shut and stared straight ahead. I knew there was no point in talking to her about it.
"Well," I said, "you really can't blame me. You come over and tell me we can't be friends anymore and that you're leaving. I don't want you to go. I thought if I could get some proof that Bob and Serena were into drugs, the police could arrest them and you'd be safe."
Max twisted around to look at me. "Did you get it? The proof, I mean?"
"I got a picture of Cody's car and wrote down the license plate. I heard them talking. I saw the briefcase full of money. I'm pretty sure that Cody was one of the guys arrested at the warehouse."
"So you're going to turn them in?"
"The seagull dropped my bag in the water, remember? My camera, my binoculars, and even my notepad were in it. All I have is what I saw, and the police may not even believe me—especially after the fiasco at the gift shop."
"Shh. I hear something."
I heard it too. We ducked into the brush as the small fishing boat putt-putted into the cove and headed straight for the sandy beach. My chest tightened. I could hardly breathe. "Max, look. It's the guy from the store."
Danny Edwards glanced around as he pulled the boat onto shore.
He scanned the tree line. Apparently satisfied that he wasn't being watched, he climbed up onto the rock. Without opening the package, he lifted it onto his shoulder and carried it back to his boat. He was in and out of there in less than five minutes.
Max narrowed her eyes again, and I thought for a minute she was going to go after him. "He's getting away. I could tackle him and . . ."
I put a restraining hand on her arm. "Let him go. When we're sure he's gone, we can go to the police. Detective Johnson will check it out—especially when I tell him about the helicopter. Besides, the guy might have a gun."
When he'd cleared the cove, Max and I started dragging her rental boat and my rowboat down to the water. She did most of the dragging; I could barely walk. Since I was too weak to row, she tied the prow of my boat onto the back of hers.
"What about Cooper?" I asked. "What if he's really camped here? He seemed nice and . . ."
"Which proves it had to be a dream."
"I don't think so. I'm afraid something might have happened to him."
"If we don't want that guy getting away with those drugs, we have to get out into the open water where the search teams can spot us."
We didn't have to wait long. Once we cleared the island and were about 100 yards out in open water, a plane flew overhead and Max and I waved. Within minutes Sheriff Clark showed up on the sheriff 's boat. They circled us and closed in. My dad was on board, leaning out so far to reach for me, I thought he would fall in.
"Jessie, Max. Thank God you're safe." Dad had tears in his eyes and used his shirt sleeve to brush them away.
I thought I was in for a huge lecture, but he took one look at me and yelled at the sheriff, "We need to get her on board now. Call 911. Have the paramedics meet us at the dock in town."
"I must look pretty bad, huh?" I asked Max. All the while she'd been rowing, I'd been lying down, feeling too weak to sit.
She didn't answer, but I took her silence as a yes.
My dad and the sheriff fished me out of Max's rental boat and wrapped me in blankets. Dad carried me below deck and settled me on one of the bunks. "Stay here. I'll be right back."
Going
somewhere was the last thing on my mind.
The next thing I knew, Max was in the cabin with me. Dad thanked her for finding me. "I just wish you'd told us where you were going, Max," he said.
"I didn't think anyone really cared." Max ducked her head.
"They do, Max. We do." After checking me over again, he asked, "How did you know where to look for her?"
Max tossed me a worried look. "I knew she wouldn't be able to row very far. Coming down the lake wasn't a problem because she had the current and the wind behind her. But I knew going back, she'd have a tough time, especially with the wind coming off the mountain. Yesterday after you called me, I headed for the falls. See, I figured if she got caught in the current that's where she'd end up. When that didn't pan out I went to the beach access by my place and did a little calculating. I figured she had to have been blown toward the other side of the lake. And since there was no sign of her on the lake itself, the next logical step was that she'd ended up on one of the islands."
"So you've been out looking for her since yesterday morning."
Max nodded. "Except for going home to sleep."
"Why didn't you tell us what you were thinking? We wasted a lot of time searching the upper end of the lake."
"I didn't think anyone would listen to me." Max chewed on her lower lip. "When you called I wasn't completely honest with you. I thought maybe Jessie was hiding out or something. She wasn't at my place, but what I didn't tell you was that she had been there around one in the morning."
He frowned and turned toward me. "Jessie, why would you sneak out like that? If you wanted to stay at Max's, you could have asked."
"She didn't come to stay overnight, Mr. Miller." Max took a deep breath. "Jessie was trying to save me."
"We got the boats in tow, Mr. Miller," the sheriff said as he leaned down from the top of the stairs. "You folks need anything?"
"No," Dad said. "Just get us back to town as fast as you can. " The engine powered up, and we were under way.
"Sheriff, wait," I called up to him. I sounded weak and felt even weaker. "There's something I need to tell you, and it's really important."
Max & Me Mysteries Set Page 8
