Chapter Ten
Dalton didn’t make it to his parents’ house in time for dinner that evening.
He had just left Aaron at the soccer fields when his phone alerted with a search and rescue summons to look for a missing camper in the mountains above town.
He stopped by his apartment long enough to grab his SAR gear, then headed for headquarters.
“That’s a pretty small campground,” Tony said. “Only eight campsites, if I’m remembering correctly.”
Gage, the sheriff’s younger brother, moved to stand beside Danny.
His expression was grim. Dalton remembered the sergeant had a young daughter of his own, probably close to Sarah’s age.
“The entrance to the campground is only about a hundred yards from the family’s camp,” Gage said.
“It’s right on the forest service road. No one saw Sarah around the time she went missing, and no one reported traffic on the road, though there’s a lot of brush and some big boulders that block the view of the entrance from most of the campsites. ”
“Are we sure she walked up to the entrance?” Harper asked. “Maybe she changed her mind and went in a different direction.”
“We’re not sure of anything at this point,” Gage said. “We’ll need to search the entire area around the campsite. On foot. Most of that area is heavily wooded, making an aerial search, even with a drone, impractical.” He glanced at Danny. “That’s all I’ve got right now.”
Danny nodded. “All right, everyone. Carrie has maps of the area. You’ll work in teams to search your assigned sections. Anna and Jacquie will start at the family’s campsite and try to determine which direction Sarah went, but as soon as she’s cleared the campground itself we’ll start our search.”
Volunteer Anna Trent and her trained search dog, a black standard poodle named Jacquie, moved to join Gage. “We’re ready when you are, Sergeant,” she said.
Gage, Anna and Jacquie left and the others lined up to take a map and receive their search assignments.
The road to the campground was lined with vehicles—sheriff’s department SUVs and Forest Service trucks, along with passenger cars of locals who had heard about the missing girl and showed up to help search.
People milled about the campsites and clustered around the girl’s family, who stood with Sheriff Travis Walker and Forest Service Ranger Nate Hall.
“Search and rescue is here,” the sheriff told Sarah’s parents as Dalton and the others followed Danny into the camp.
“Thank you for coming.” Sarah’s father, red-eyed and white-faced, greeted them.
“Is there anything you can tell us to help in our search?” Danny asked. “For instance, had Sarah seen something on an earlier hike that interested her? Something she might have tried to go back and photograph? Or is she the type of kid to get sidetracked by an animal or a bird?”
Sarah’s mother shook her head. “No, she isn’t like that. Sarah is very mature for her age and she wouldn’t have wandered off by herself. If she said she was going to the campground entrance, that’s where she would have gone.”
“Is she shy or outgoing?” Danny asked. “Would she have talked to strangers?”
“She isn’t shy,” her mother said. “But she knows not to engage with people she doesn’t know. We taught her to be careful.”
“Sheriff!”
They turned to see Deputy Jamie Douglas leading a slight, older man toward them. “This is Mr. Roman,” Jamie said. “He may have some information for us.”
Roman wiped at his nose and looked nervously at the crowd gathered around him.
About five foot six, he was dressed in a red-and-black flannel shirt that looked a size too large, khaki pants and black sandals and wore the expression of someone who wanted to be anywhere else but talking to law enforcement.
“I don’t know if it means anything or not, but earlier today, I thought I heard a scream.
But it could have been an animal or something. ”
“When did you hear this?” Travis asked.
Roman sniffed. “About noon? I wasn’t looking at a clock or anything, but I was just back from a hike.”
“Just the one scream?”
“Yeah. Not all that loud.”
“Which direction was it coming from?” Travis asked.
“I thought up toward the road.” Roman looked around. “But it’s hard to tell direction in these woods.”
“Did you hear anything else?” Travis asked. “A car or other voices?”
“Not really. Just campground noises. People at the next campsite were packing up to leave, and they were talking back and forth, so they pretty much drowned out everything else.”
“Thank you, Mr. Roman,” Travis said. “Deputy Douglas will get your information, and we’ll be in touch if we have more questions.” He turned back to Sarah’s parents. “Tell the searchers what Sarah was wearing, please.”
“She had on blue cotton shorts and a T-shirt from Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park,” Mrs. Michaelson said.
“And blue sandals. She was carrying a cell phone in a pink case. She was so proud of that phone. She got it for her tenth birthday. It doesn’t have a lot of apps on it or anything, but she loved taking pictures with it.
” She put a hand to her mouth, fighting tears.
“Thank you both,” Travis said. “We’ll keep you updated on anything we find.
” He walked away from the family. Danny and some of the volunteers, including Dalton, followed.
“Gage and Anna and Jacquie are at the family’s campsite now,” the sheriff said.
“I’m hoping they’ll pick up a scent. Wait to head out until we see what they find. ”
They didn’t have to wait long. Gage soon joined them. “The dog led us right to the road,” he said. “Then she lost the scent. Anna thinks that means the girl got into a vehicle. She and Jacquie are still searching, trying to pick up the scent again.”
“So maybe Mr. Roman did hear a scream, when someone pulled the girl into a vehicle,” Danny said.
“Or maybe it was an animal noise and the girl went willingly with someone she knew,” Travis said.
“The family is from Junction, aren’t they?” Gage asked.
“I’ll ask them if there’s anyone local Sarah would have gone with,” Travis said. “In the meantime, we’ll have searchers comb both sides of the road leading from the entrance. Search for the girl, but also look for any signs of a struggle.”
Dalton was assigned to search with Harper and Caleb.
The three searched along a half-mile section of the road and into the woods a hundred yards.
They took turns calling Sarah’s name, their shouts and those of other searchers echoing through the trees.
Dalton tried to remember everything he had learned in his training on searches.
He had been taught that children would sometimes hide from rescuers, and that kids could walk much farther than most people estimated.
“If somebody grabbed her off the road, she could be miles from here by now,” Harper said when they stopped to drink water.
“There was that guy earlier this year who was trying to kidnap kids,” Caleb said.
“Yeah, but he went after boys,” Harper said. “And he’s in jail now.”
“There are too many creeps out there,” Caleb said.
Dalton remained silent. Was this what had happened to Roxanne? Had William Ledger grabbed her off the street? His attempt to run Roxanne off the road and the break-in of her house pointed to him being in the area. Could he have decided to target another little girl?
They searched until darkness made navigating the thick woods impossible, then regrouped at a clearing a few hundred yards from the campground that had been designated as a staging area. “You look beat,” Bethany said when she found Dalton by a watercooler.
“Yeah.” He pulled a twig from his hair. “Did your group find anything?”
She shook her head. “Not one footprint or piece of clothing or anything.”
Dalton looked past her and spotted the sheriff and Gage walking toward the road. He headed to cut them off. “Dalton, where are you going?” Bethany called, but he ignored her and picked up his pace.
He caught up with Travis and Gage at the road. “Sheriff, wait up!” he called.
They stopped and waited for him. “What is it?” Gage asked. “Did you find something?”
Dalton shook his head. “No. But I was wondering—do you think William Ledger might have grabbed the girl? She’s the same age Roxanne was when she was taken, and he had to be the one who broke into Roxanne’s cabin and left the doll and the note. I mean, no one else would do that, would they?”
“We’re still looking for Ledger,” Gage said. “If we find him, we’ll certainly question him about this.”
“Are you saying he got out of prison and just disappeared?”
“He failed to report even once to his parole officer,” Gage said. “He’s not leaving an electronic trail under his own name. There are bulletins out to every law enforcement agency in the US and Canada warning that he’s wanted for parole violations, but no one has reported seeing him.”
“What about the truck he was driving when he ran Roxanne off the road?” Dalton asked. “That was pretty distinctive.”
“No one has seen it, either,” Gage said.
“He probably ditched it shortly after the accident and is driving something else now,” Travis said. “He’s using cash, or maybe a stolen credit card, to pay his expenses. He may have changed his appearance and he’s certainly using another name.”
“Do you know if Roxanne has had any more trouble?” Gage asked.
“I haven’t talked to her today,” Dalton said.
“An Amber Alert went out this afternoon for Sarah,” Travis said. “We’ll issue a new bulletin for Ledger as well.”
“I hate thinking about that little girl out there, with someone like him,” Dalton said.
“We’ve got deputies combing the county for any sign of her,” Travis said.
“Go home and get some rest,” Gage said. “We may need you to search tomorrow.”
“I’ll be here,” Dalton said.