Chapter Twenty-One
Eerily Silent and Still
Aster continued to pull in gulps of air as she tried to catch her breath. ‘Banjo’s gone too. Darren thinks they may have taken off into the woods behind the amphitheater. He got distracted with his duties as deputy mayor and lost track of her. They’ve asked that you come and help.’
She tapped her hand against her elbow three times. A decades-old sign us girls had made to communicate as kids. It said we needed privacy from our grandparents, or from Belladonna whenever she showed up unexpectedly, which always made us unsettled.
‘Let’s go.’ I clasped her arm, leading her out of the tent.
‘Wait.’ Bryce chased after us. ‘Let me help. What can I do?’
‘Go away and stop bothering my clients,’ Aster huffed.
Yeah, she wasn’t letting that go.
He stayed in step with us. ‘You’ll need more people if there’s a search party.’
‘Is there any way we can stop you?’ I said, swapping a weighted glance with Aster.
‘Nope,’ he said firmly.
We raced through the streets, dodging in between tourists and local families.
Clo waited for us on the corner near the tavern.
She wrung her hands together. Swayed nervously like she was about to jump out of her skin.
She’d become good friends with Darren and Mara over the years, even inviting Mara over to help in her garden.
Once she caught sight of us, she asked Aster to help her round up some more locals for the search. While they headed back into the throng of the festival, Bryce and I made for the entrance to the amphitheater.
Lia stood in a circle with a few men and women from the fire station and some SAR volunteers.
She’d changed out of her pink jumpsuit and was back to her regular uniform of cargo pants and traffic-cone-orange SAR shirt.
The group talked for a few minutes, putting together a plan.
A tall, muscular guy with a shock of white-blond hair stood a few feet away speaking to Mara’s father, Darren, who looked like he might crumble at any moment.
‘How old is this girl?’ Bryce asked.
‘She’s eleven.’
‘Does this happen a lot? Kids getting lost? There are a lot of woods around here.’
‘Most of the kids know not to wander off, but if they want to get away from their parents, hang out with their friends, the forest is the best place to go.’
‘Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.’
‘There were times when the quiet of the forest helped me think, but I also knew not to wander so far away that I couldn’t find my way back.’
‘What will they do first?’
‘Divide into teams. One crew will go on foot. Some on four-wheelers. Others on horseback. A basic grid search. They’ll need to work quickly, though.’
‘Why?’
‘It’ll be dark in a couple of hours. As soon as the sun goes down it gets cold, especially the higher you get up into the forest.’
Bryce stayed quiet, but his narrow focus said he was mentally taking notes on the scene. Putting every movement, every snippet of sound, into his memory for the article.
For the first time this thought did not make me nauseous. Lia and her team were extraordinary, and if Bryce could document that for the world it was a good thing.
As we waited for Lia to finish her meeting, Jessa and Bree jogged in our direction.
‘What can we do to help?’ Bree asked, her stare narrowing on Bryce.
‘We’re waiting on Lia for instructions,’ I said.
‘I’m Bree. This is Jessa. We work with Dr McGuire. Who are you?’
‘Bryce O’Dell. I’m a… friend.’
Jessa’s brows shot up.
‘You’re that reporter? The one with the dog who got into the weed?’ Bree’s tone was venomous, but Bryce didn’t wither.
‘That’s right.’
‘Why are you here? This is a town matter,’ Bree snapped.
‘I want to help. The more hands the better, right?’
Jessa bobbed her head. ‘We need to find Mara and Banjo quickly. That dog is nearly thirteen. The terrain farther into the forest will be tough for him to navigate.’
Bree continued to stare daggers at Bryce until the rescue team broke, and Lia stalked toward us. Her attention flicked once to the blond guy, and the line of her shoulders quickly tightened.
‘What do you need?’ I said as soon as she stopped at the edge of our circle.
‘Why is he here?’ Lia gave Bryce a tense stare.
‘I just asked the same question,’ Bree said.
The tension was already neck high and none of this would help us find Mara.
‘You need another set of eyes. I can be helpful if you’ll let me.’ Bryce spoke up before I could.
Lia scrubbed a hand through her poof of curls.
Huffed out an irritated breath. ‘Go join the crew over in that small huddle near the entrance. They’re going to do another sweep of the festival and the shops.
Make sure we didn’t miss Mara somewhere.
Jessa and Bree, please go with him. Check the library and that spot behind the candy store with the picnic tables the kids like. ’
‘Does she have a phone you can track?’ Bryce asked.
‘No. Darren, her dad, hasn’t allowed her to have one yet, and he’s kind of beating himself up over that right now.’ Lia’s stare darted to where the poor man was pacing and yanking on the ends of his dark hair. ‘He thinks that’s the reason she took off. Her friends have been teasing her about it.’
‘Okay. I’ll go with the group,’ Bryce said. ‘Hopefully, we’ll find her.’
‘Stay with Bree and Jessa. Don’t wander off. I don’t need to send out another search party.’
He gave Lia a mock salute and jogged off.
Darren stayed huddled with the blond guy.
‘Is that a new volunteer?’ I said.
She let out an irritated breath. ‘Nope.’
‘You want to talk about it?’
‘Again, no. What I do want to discuss is how far you need to go into the forest before Banjo can sense you.’
‘Lee, I have no idea. I’ve never put that to the test. Animals, they just find me.’
Without another word, she turned for the trail. I followed quickly, keeping up with her steady pace. More than once she stopped and tugged me to the side of the path. Her expert hearing tracked the movement of the four-wheelers before I could see them coming our way.
Once they passed us, we continued to climb up the steep terrain. ‘Never thought I’d say this, but it’s a good thing Aster bought us those stupid coveralls, because it’ll be easy to spot you on the trail.’
‘Don’t ever say that to her or she’ll start buying us matching clothes for holidays too.’
She flashed me a brief smile but it faded as soon as the blond guy jogged down the trail toward us. A few days’ worth of scruff covered most of his chin, and his arms rivaled the size of some of the local tree trunks.
‘I’ve asked Darren to stay here like you instructed. To keep his phone on in case we have to contact him. I’m on radio channel four if you need to call for EMS.’
‘Thank you, hopefully it will not come to that.’ She said the words so stiffly I thought her jaw might crack in two.
The big guy shot out his hand toward me. ‘I’m Aiden Pelphrey.’
Lia tensed as I shook his hand. ‘Dani McGuire.’
His eyes sparked. ‘Your sister, Lee? The vet?’
Lee? Well, that’s interesting.
‘Yep, that’s right,’ I said when Lia did not bother to respond.
‘It’s a pleasure. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you.’
Lia fisted her hands at her sides. Oh, there was definitely history between them.
‘Really? Are you from around here?’ I pushed, which made Lia grit her teeth harder.
‘I grew up in Ouray. Went to CU Boulder for undergrad. Been working in Wyoming for a while.’
‘How long have you been volunteering with search and rescue?’ I said.
‘Ten years.’
Huh. Same amount of time as my little sister.
‘I work with a different county. I’m in town because, uh, well, I know a few guys… people.’ He gave a shy glance to Lia, who I swore was doing her best to hide the blush on her cheeks. ‘I mean I know some folks here.’
Lia pointed at the crew heading farther up the north trail. ‘Enough with the twenty questions. Let’s go,’ she said, tugging me forward.
‘Nice meeting you,’ Aiden said.
‘You too,’ I called over my shoulder.
Lia moved up the path like a soldier on a mission, and I chased after her.
‘Lee, he’s cute. Why haven’t you—’
‘Not another word, Dani. I swear.’
Her fists clenched again, and I bit my tongue. I definitely wanted more details about Aiden, but for now we had to focus on our one job: finding Mara and Banjo.
There was no need to speak as we ascended the trail.
Lia and I both knew our roles. She dropped her shoulders, tipped up her chin to scent the wind.
Her gaze focused on the ground, picking out small changes in the terrain, broken branches, overturned soil, anything to determine if Mara came this way.
Every few paces she’d stop, turn her head left and right as if she could hear the woods speaking to her.
‘Wind is picking up from the east at twenty-one knots. It’s going to get worse as the sun sets. ’
Her steps continued at a brisk pace, and I tried to keep up.
The muscles in my legs stretched and pulled.
I used my peripheral vision to track the animals in the brush for odd behavior, but nothing was unusual.
A few squirrels raced to the end of the branches on the high trees.
Deer edged closer to the trail’s edge and clocked my movement.
If Banjo was close, these animals were not aware of it.
‘Lee, anything?’
‘No, and it’s starting to piss me off.’
We were only fifteen minutes into our search when footsteps echoed through the forest. Aster took long strides to keep up with Bryce as they ascended the trail toward us.
‘I told you to help Bree and Jessa,’ Lia sniped at him.
‘There were too many people. I found Aster, and she thought you might come this way so I followed.’
‘The terrain is going to get rough. You need to go back to town.’ Lia looked at me for help.
‘Bryce, we can’t slow down. We have to locate Mara quickly. Go and find my grandmother and Ms Ruthie. They’ll find some other task for you.’
I had faith that the three of us together could find Mara, but that couldn’t happen if Bryce was tailing, and studying, us while we searched.