Chapter Thirty-Six
Death in the Dark
Willow
The light vanished and swallowed Willow whole. She lifted her hand, but it was erased by nothingness. Panic coiled tight in her chest. Each breath came in ragged gasps that hurt her lungs. She tried to inhale deeply, but failed.
Her stomach lurched. The sour taste of bile burned her throat, but nothing came up. She’d been too nervous to eat before she left to meet Deputy Wallard.
His face flashed in her mind. He was dead, and sadness crushed her. He had a wife, a child, a life, even if he was amoral. Now his body was hanging in the corner of the room. Even though she couldn’t see it, she felt his grotesque shadow.
Her body shook. She pressed her fists to her mouth, whispering inside her head: Don’t cry.
Don’t scream. The darkness and silence pressed in, smothering her until she could hear her pulse pounding in her skull.
She was trapped in a place worse than prison.
Slowly, she reviewed everything that happened. None of it made sense.
Time passed, and the cold sank into her bones.
She finally pulled one of the blankets from the camp bed.
It was a sleeping bag and she was warm within a short time though she continued to shake.
Her bladder finally began protesting. She’d watched Larry place toilet paper beside the toilet.
The bed separated her from her destination.
Her legs almost gave out when she stood.
Placing one palm flat against the wall, she slowly took a step.
Her knee hit the aluminum leg of the bed, but it didn’t stop her.
The same knee hit the toilet. In prison, she’d learned there was no room for modesty.
The juvenile facility she’d spent the first three years in had a toilet with a three-foot wall so the guards knew what she was doing, but couldn’t see her lower half.
The adult prison had no privacy, and had been an adjustment.
It didn’t take long to be reduced to the animal they treated you like.
She finished quickly and inched to the camp bed.
In her mind, Deputy Wallard stared at her.
Panic rose again. Larry had been proficient with the deputy’s body.
Willow didn’t know a lot about hunting, but what she saw made her think of hunters prepping their catch.
It was all too much, and her thoughts turned to Dale.
He would have no idea what happened to her.
A horrible thought struck. Had Larry left her here while he went and killed Dale and the dogs?
She stopped the terrifying thoughts. They didn’t help.
There was no reason to kill Dale. He would report her missing, and the police would find her truck and the deputy’s truck.
What would Dale think?
Eventually, she drifted into a fitful sleep.
◆◆◆
Dale
As the evening turned late, Dale began to worry.
At midnight, he called Willow’s cell. It went straight to voicemail.
Something was wrong. For most women her age, this would be nothing unusual, but for Willow, it was the first time she’d gone out with a friend.
Not calling or answering her phone this late meant something was wrong.
He hated to call Lucia, but he didn’t have Sofia’s number. Lucia answered on the second ring.
“Hello,” she said groggily.
“Hi Lucia, it’s Dale Berger.”
“Your name is on my screen, what’s wrong?”
“When you worked for the sheriff’s department and received a call after midnight, it meant something was wrong. Willow went to Show Low with your niece, Sofia. It’s late, and I tried Willow’s cell, but it went straight to voicemail. I was hoping you could call Sofia.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” she said.
“What doesn’t make sense?”
“Sofia and my sister left for Vegas yesterday,” she paused, “No, now it’s day before yesterday. They were staying through the weekend, and asked me to go with them but I had previous plans. They swung by here on their way out and switched cars. Mine has better gas mileage.”
Dale went silent, his mind racing. This made no sense.
“Dale?”
“Something is terribly wrong,” he finally said.
“Is there someplace she would go to get away for a few days?”
“No. She only leaves the ranch once or twice a month. The party was a big deal for her. Until Sofia, she had no friends besides me. Something has been worrying her, but she wouldn’t tell me what it was. I swear to you, Lucia, she has no one in this world but me and the dogs. She’s in danger.”
“Call the Sheriff’s Department and then call it into Navajo County in case she’s in their jurisdiction.” Lucia didn’t question his statement about danger. “Please call me back after you make the reports. I’ll contact Sofia just in case she knows something.”
“Thank you, Lucia.”
He called Apache County first and spoke with a dispatcher he didn’t know. She said a deputy would call him. Next, he notified Navajo County and was patched through to a deputy immediately.
“How many hours has she been gone?” Deputy Taylor asked after Dale explained what happened. He sounded young.
“Look, Deputy Taylor, I’m a recently retired deputy from Apache County.
You know it’s the totality of the circumstances and not a set amount of time that shows a person is in danger.
My granddaughter rarely leaves our property.
She’s not comfortable with strangers. Yes, she’s old enough to go wherever she pleases and stay out as late as she wants, but this is very outside her normal behavior.
She was upset before she left, but wouldn’t discuss it.
Something is wrong. You can be on the good or bad side of this. I’m not known for exaggeration.”
The man hesitated before asking, “What type of vehicle was she in?”
Dale gave the information along with the plate number.
“I’ll put a request in to check the speed cameras and see if she passed them,” the deputy said.
There were two speed cameras at separate ends of town that recorded each license plate that passed. Dale had used the search feature numerous times when tracing someone’s story. If Willow entered Show Low in her truck, Deputy Taylor would have the information within an hour.
The call ended, and Dale sat thinking for a moment. More than anything, he hoped he’d blown this out of proportion and Willow was simply acting like a normal woman her age, but with Sofia out of town, it meant she lied to him. Whatever was going on, Willow was in trouble.
He called Lucia again.
“Sofia has no idea where Willow is. They haven’t spoken since the party. Is there any chance Willow made friends with a man she didn’t want you to know about?”
“There’s no reason she would keep it from me. I don’t judge her, and I want her to make friends and to go on dates. She’s with me more than she should be. It was hard enough to get her to go to the library and spend time there.” His phone buzzed. “I have a call coming in. I’ll call you back.”
It was Deputy Mitch Stevens from Apache County. He wasn’t Dale’s favorite, but he was far from the worst.
“Look Dale, I’m aware of the complaint she made against Kirk Wallard. I just came from his wife’s house. She thought he was on duty, but dispatch informed her he wasn’t scheduled for today. He’s also not answering his phone. Could this be related?”
Ice traveled through Dale’s veins.