Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Hannah, Bianca, Chief Ricco, Cici, and Cap climbed into the Iron City logoed minivan that Fire Chief Ganea picked them up in.
For the first time, since...she swallowed hard.
..since Alyssa’d been shot, she felt safe.
Still, who or where the shooter was, she hadn’t a clue.
She inhaled, catching Hunter’s familiar woodsy scent.
The pine and cedar notes brought back the pleasant memory of their shared kisses.
She turned to look at Cap. Not only did he look like Hunter, he smelled like him, too.
The man offered a crooked smile. She returned with one of her own.
Though he smiled, the worry lines did not erase from his face. He reached over and placed his large hand over hers that rested on the armrest of her bucket seat in the middle of the van.
“He’ll be fine. He has to be,” he said.
She nodded, then looked over her shoulder at Cici, who sat in the way back of the van. The woman’s eyes watered. A quick glance at Bianca back there next to Cici offered no empathy or concern. She wore a blank expression, but looked a little pale.
Within ten minutes, Chief Ganea pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital.
Cap climbed out of the van and then motioned for his sister to do the same. “You go in and get things squared away here, and I’ll go back to Yooper Adventures, and get everything and everyone back on track, then I’ll come back here.”
“Okay.”
Cici slid out of the van and disappeared into the hospital.
Once Cap climbed back in, Chief Ganea drove off toward Yooper Adventures.
“What do you think, Chief? Justin texted and said the other two teams of hikers and campers have been pulled back to base and are fine. Luckily, two groups had finished their excursions this morning before this all happened, but we have a couple of additional groups waiting to go out. The ones Cici, and Hunter were going to guide.”
“Until we figure out what is going on, we need to keep everyone out of the woods.”
“What am I going to tell them?”
Chief Ricco thought for a moment. “A version of the truth. I’d be willing to bet by the time we get there, some variation of the truth will have beaten us there. I know this isn’t great for your uncle and Yooper Adventures, but canceling will be best for everyone.”
“I agree,” Cap replied.
“What about Alyssa?” Hannah asked, choking on her friend’s name. Hot tears burned her cheeks. She wanted to know that her friend had been taken care of and wasn’t lying on the unforgiving rock atop Lover’s Leap Falls.
Chief Ricco twisted in his seat to face her. His dark gaze emitted empathy. “She’s been brought back to base camp.”
She swiped the tears from her cheeks.
“How? Who?” was all she could muster.
“Dewey, the officer you met earlier, and three DNR officers took good care in bringing your friend back to camp. Dewey has called her parents, who she listed as her emergency contacts on the form she filled out for Yooper Adventures.”
Hannah’s heart felt like it exploded at the thought of Alyssa’s poor parents getting this call from Dewey.
Chief Ganea turned into the parking lot of Yooper Adventures just as a hearse pulled out, followed by an Iron City squad. Hannah’s chest tightened, and her eyes flooded with tears. Alyssa was in that hearse.
Chief Ganea parked near the front door of the office, and a tall, slim man who looked to be in his mid-thirties walked toward them. He sported athletic shorts and a Yooper Adventures logoed T-shirt.
Cap slid out of the vehicle. “Justin.”
“Cap.”
“The clients are waiting to hear from you,” Justin swung his gaze to Chief Ricco, “or you, I guess, about what they are supposed to do.”
The chief nodded. “I’ll address the group. We’re going to send them all home. We can’t risk their safety, as we really don’t know who’s behind the shooting.”
Justin nodded.
The chief looked at her and Bianca. “Give me a minute to talk with the campers, and I’ll be right back.”
She and Bianca waited quietly in the office with Chief Ganea as Chief Ricco and Cap addressed the crowd.
A few minutes later, Chief Ricco and Cap entered the office.
Cap looked at Justin. “I’m going to the hospital. Text me once all the guests have cleared out. Uncle Lee is still a few hours out.”
“You got it,” Justin replied.
Cap spun to leave.
“Wait!” Hannah called out.
He looked at her.
“Please let me know how Hunter is doing?”
“You bet,” he said and then left.
“I have all the gear sitting outside your SUV,” Justin said to her and Bianca.
Their gear. Alyssa’s gear. She hadn’t really given that any thought, but now that he’d mentioned it, she was thankful she didn’t have to go and get it. Chief Ricco probably wouldn’t have let her anyhow. All she had was what was in her backpack, which was now in the minivan.
“Thank you,” she responded.
“I need to get out of here,” Bianca said as she wrapped her arms around herself. Those were the first words she’d spoken in a while.
“We’ll get your stuff out of the van and I’ll drive us back to town in your vehicle,” Chief Ricco said.
Like her friend, Hannah wanted to be away from this place. Away from Iron City. Away from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She never wanted to lay eyes on this place again. She wanted to close her eyes and reopen them to find herself out of this nightmare.
The sensation of Chief Ricco’s warm hand that came to rest on her shoulder reminded her that this whole thing was real. As far away from a dream as one could get.
Fire Chief Ganea disappeared with the minivan, and she, Bianca, and Chief Ricco loaded their gear into her SUV. Chief climbed into the driver’s seat, she in the front passenger seat, and Bianca in the back. He drove them to the Iron City municipal building.
The chief led them into the building and partway down a long, narrow hall, where they took a left into a small conference room.
A few eight-foot tables sat in the shape of a square.
She and Bianca sat next to each other on one side of the square, and the chief sat opposite them.
Dewey entered the room and sat next to Chief Ricco.
The pretty blonde woman who’d been working the front desk earlier in the day, when she first entered City Hall, entered the room.
“Can I get you anything to drink or eat? Soda? Coffee? Sandwich? We have a great deli down the street.”
“Do you have any sparkling water?” Bianca asked.
“Yep.”
“I’ll take one, too,” Hannah said.
She didn’t really need sparkling water. Regular tap water would suit her just fine. But she’d go with the flow.
“Coming right up. Anything to eat?”
The thought of food made her stomach toss.
“No. Thank you,” Hannah replied.
Bianca shook her head.
“I’m sorry, ladies. I know you’re exhausted and emotionally drained, but I need to ask you some questions. We need to find out who...”
The chief paused for just a moment before saying the horrible words she knew he’d say.
“Who murdered your friend. Was it intentional? Random? Is there anyone who had issues with your friend? Anyone who didn’t like her?”
“No. ...”
Suddenly, Hannah couldn’t bring herself to say her friend’s name. It was just too hard.
“Everyone loved her. She was so nice and thoughtful. She didn’t even really want to take a trip like this. She did it for me. This is all my fault.”
The chief held his hand up. “Stop right there. This is not your fault. You couldn’t have known.”
The man’s dark eyes emitted sincerity, and she took a moment to soak that up. That was exactly what she needed to hear, yet she still had doubts and felt responsible for what had happened. Was this the infamous survivor’s guilt she’d heard about?
He released her gaze, and then she craned her neck to look at Bianca. Her gaze was not warm or consoling at all. Did she blame her for Alyssa’s death?
“Tell me again exactly what happened.”
“We hiked up to the top of Lover’s Leap Falls.
Alyssa was taking a photo of me and Hunter.
A shot rang out, and Alyssa fell forward, landing hard on the ground.
At first, I didn’t realize what was going on.
Hunter must have though, because he threw himself in front of me and wrapped me in his arms. Then another shot rang out, and that one hit Hunter.
It was then that he launched us over the falls.
There really wasn’t anywhere else to go because it’s wide open up there.
Hunter took the brunt of the fall. I pretty much came out of the fall scratch-free. ”
Hannah paused and took a breath. She felt anxious.
Not because of how the chief and Dewey were looking at her, because truth be told, both men kept their gazes neutral with a bit of empathy.
Their body language was the same. They actually made her feel more at ease, but the incident itself sent her into a state of fear and helplessness.
“Then?” the chief asked.
“We quickly got out of the pool of water and ducked into the woods. Hunter knew where to go to get away from the shooter, but his injuries slowed him down. We knew the guy was following us because he yelled at us. I stashed Hunter and kept moving in the direction he’d told me, then I came here.
I don’t know where I lost the shooter or when he stopped following.
I’m just so relieved he didn’t find Hunter. Maybe he thought we both kept moving.”
The chief and Dewey nodded in unison.
The chief turned his attention to Bianca. “So, you stayed back at camp?”
“Yes.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t really care for the outdoors. We’re on this trip because of Hannah,” Bianca replied.
The accusing tone her friend used stung.
The knowing look tossed her way from Chief Ricco let her know he felt the same about Bianca’s accusing tone.
“What did you do while the others were gone?” the chief asked.
“I laid on the beach. Soaked up the sun. Took a nap.”
“Did you see anyone or hear anything odd?”
“No.”