Chapter Twenty-Three #2
“After that, I rested, trying to figure out what to do. The obvious answer was to flee, hole up, and wait for our pick up. I’d tried playing detective, and I didn’t get anything.
So I went back to our camp. Someone had been there.
When Blake went to soak his foot, he left his backpack behind.
It was gone. My stuff had been rifled through, but left behind.
Except for the food. They’d taken my share of the food. ”
“Your share?”
“We split it. Blake had more—he could carry a heavier pack. Mine was gone. I grabbed my backpack and set out. I didn’t get far before I spotted someone up ahead, waiting, just off the path. I’m lucky I saw him.”
“Him?”
“Him or her. I didn’t get close enough to tell anything except that it was definitely a person.”
I’ll return later to asking her where this happened. “And then?”
“I backtracked, and they came after me. Through the trees. They were trying to be quiet. but I heard them. So I ran. I full-out ran. I turned onto any new trail I hit, and then started ducking through any opening. Finally, when I thought I’d gotten enough of a head start, I hid.”
Again, I’ll get details later. I nod for her to continue.
“I stayed there for a couple of hours, planning to head out at night, but then it got dark and I couldn’t see where I was going.
I found water and drank, and then just found another place to sleep.
I couldn’t sleep, of course. When I wasn’t crying over Blake, I was afraid for my own life.
I had no idea what was going on, why anyone would kill him.
Then I heard something. I thought it was an animal, and I went very still, and it was so quiet, I heard breathing. Someone was out there, right near me.”
She pauses to catch her breath, as if the memory set her heart racing.
“I thought it must be a coincidence. They couldn’t have found me.
I didn’t leave a trail. I was so careful.
I went completely quiet, and I heard them getting closer until they were right there, and I knew they’d seen me.
Somehow, they’d seen me. I pretended to be asleep.
I had my knife in my hand, and I just wanted a look at them, and then I’d run.
I heard someone lean over me, and I leapt up and stabbed at them. ”
She laughs, the sound hollow and ragged. “They grabbed the knife before it even made contact. I couldn’t see anything. It was fucking night. How did I expect to see them? They didn’t have any kind of flashlight, but they could obviously see me. All I could make out was a dark face with goggles.”
“Dark face? You mean dark-skinned?”
“I think so, but I couldn’t even see eyes behind the goggles.
They—I’m sure it was a he—put their hands around my throat.
I felt those hands, gloved hands, and I …
I’m not even sure what I did. Kicked? Screamed?
Bit? Punched? I did something, and they couldn’t get a good grip.
I ducked and kicked hard. I don’t know where I kicked—the stomach, the nuts—but it made him yowl and fall back, and then I ran. ”
Dalton moves up beside me and reaches for Rory. “We’re done with the bear,” he says. “I’ll take her.”
“Thanks.” I pass the baby over, and then turn to Gretchen. “So you ran.”
“I did. Once I was up and going, I could see enough by the moonlight to tell the difference between an open passage and a tree, and that’s all I needed.
I kept running. I don’t think he followed, though.
Not for long anyway. Then I was alone, and I just kept going.
When it was light out, I found a spot, and by then, I was so tired, I slept.
It was nearly dark again when I woke, and that didn’t do me any good, so I stayed there until dawn.
That day—yesterday—I was stalked. I could tell someone was there, but they weren’t trying to get to me, just following me, tracking me. And then I ran into you.”
“And after that?”
“By that point, I didn’t even know what was happening.
Sometimes I’d hear voices, but before I could get close, they’d be gone.
I started to think I was hallucinating. I haven’t had anything but water in three days.
I don’t have my backpack—I left that behind when I escaped whoever tried to strangle me.
I’ve just been wandering around, hoping that one of those voices is someone who can help me. ”
Does that make sense? She knows her husband’s killer is out here. She suspects his killer is after her. Yet she hears other voices and believes they could help? After she attacked us for trying to help the day before?
Of course, she was actually right—there are two settlements of people out here who could have helped—but that’s not what you expect to find in the middle of the Yukon wilderness. If someone killed your husband out here, and you hear voices, there’s a good chance one of them is his killer.
If it were me, I might have gotten close enough to see them and make a judgment call. That’s what she seemed to be doing, and I don’t know how many options she had, lost in the forest, without any food.
“And then the bear found you?” I say.
“After I heard the voices. It was a man and a woman, but it didn’t sound like you and your husband.
Again, I started getting close, and again, the voices stopped.
I heard someone walking. I even thought I saw a man walking away.
I went to get closer, and I lost track of him, and stepped out in front of that bear.
That must have been what I saw. I didn’t have my spray, and I was trying to think of what to do when it charged.
I remembered seeing that tree—thinking I could sleep under it—and I ran back and dove under just in time. ”
I walk over to where our own backpack has been abandoned. I take out two energy bars and a water canteen. When Dalton sees what I’m doing, he passes Rory to Kendra and comes over to undo Gretchen’s bonds.
“If you run,” he says, “I swear we aren’t going after you. Whoever is trying to kill you will get another chance.”
She only nods. I come around her front and hand her a bar and the canteen. She eats one bar in a few bites and reaches for the second. When I withhold it, she scowls.
“You will get it,” I say. “Just not so fast. Give your stomach time to start working on that one and get some water down.”
Once she’s had the water, I hand her the second bar and warn her to eat it slowly. “There’s plenty more where that came from. Just take your time, and don’t get sick.”
While she eats, I ask her more pointed questions. Without a compass, she can’t pin down where all the events took place, but she gives me what she can. Same as for the voices she heard, which had no distinguishing accents or other features—not particularly low- or high-pitched.
When it comes to the figures she saw, I get whatever details I can. Then I need to talk to Dalton, but that’s tricky. Mathias left after he finished butchering the bear, and I won’t expose Kendra. So I quickly discuss plans with Dalton, speaking as obtusely as possible.
We decide to put Gretchen in Lilith’s cabin, as we planned earlier.
She’s seen Anders, so he’ll guard her. I’ll want a second guard, but I need to speak to people and find out who will do it.
She’s also seen April, but my sister isn’t a proper backup guard.
It might end up being Dalton. We need two people with Gretchen, both to keep her from running—if she’s lying to us—and keep her safe—if she’s telling the truth.
We already know that someone has been staking out that cabin.
Dalton agrees. For now, he’ll take her to Lilith’s place with Anders. They won’t use the ATV. If it comes to it, the ATV might be a way to lure in her supposed stalker, but for now, I have a laundry list of other things I need to do.