“Did ya check the whole cabin?” Sheriff Wilcox asked impatiently.
“Yes, sir.”
“What about other buildings around here? Are there any?”
“Not right here, but…”
“What about the tire tracks? Show me the tire tracks!” the sheriff interrupted still impatient. “Did they lead anywhere?” The heavyset man with the badge was getting increasingly frustrated with the ongoing search. “Dang it, Tommy, they had to go somewhere's!”
“Well, sheriff, sir, we found them over there in that loose dirt…sir.” Tommy pointed. He was a little slow at times but good at following directions as long as you gave them to him one or two at a time.
Walking over to the spot indicated, Sheriff Wilcox bent over looking at the tracks. “That, there, looks like Danes' jeep tracks,” he muttered to himself. He wasn’t necessarily surprised since they were at Greg’s cabin, and he did drive all over the place in that contraption of his. But there was another set of tracks.
Straightening up, he stared up the road that headed farther into the mountains. It was mostly gravel and forest debris and not used much by others. However, the chance of finding anything more significant would be slim, he surmised. Still he turned and looked at the three young men who had gathered close by, waiting for further orders.
“Did any of you check up that way for any more tracks?” He pointed anyway.
Jake stepped forward a pace then stopped to answer. You didn’t want to get too close to the sheriff when he was all churned up about something. And he was definitely churned up about this. “Um, well, we checked for about quarter of a mile.”
Jake was the oldest of the three, at twenty-eight. He shifted uncomfortably where he stood and continued, as the sheriff remained silent, still scouring the ground for any other tidbits of evidence. “And we looked as best we could from the main highway to here, but if there were any other tracks to find, they would’ve been wiped out by our own tracks.” He glanced uneasily at his two companions, not sure what the sheriff’s reaction would be.
“Yeah,” the sheriff said, absently scratching his right eyebrow. “Okay then. Let’s keeping looking up this here road,” he pointed with a short thick arm. “Keep yer eyes open for anything, ya hear? Anything!” He started toward his patrol car, then stopped and turned around. “Seth! Where’d you find them tissues?”
“Right about here, sheriff,” he hurried to the spot and pointed. Seth was twenty-six and slightly shorter than Jake but bulkier. He had a few freckles and dark red hair. A former member of his high school wrestling team, he continued to work out and stay in shape.
The sheriff walked over, then bent down to look. “Here, you say?”
“Yes, sir, right about here.”
The sheriff looked up at him but didn’t say a word. Instead, he began walking around the area, looking at the ground then called to Seth, “Come here, boy.”
Seth nervously followed, with Jake and Tommy staying at a slight distance equally curious and ready to back up their buddy.
“Careful!” the sheriff snapped. “Come around this way.” He drew a large arc in the air with his finger.
Seth did as he was told, and so did the other two.
“What does this look like to you?” He pointed to an area near the bottom step leading up to the cabin porch.
“I...I’m not sure what you mean,” Seth stammered.
“This!” the sheriff hollered at him, adding a few expletives. “Looky here!” Again the sheriff pointed. “What do you see?” His fuse was definitely short this afternoon. In fact the sheriff had been storming around all day, ever since sunup. He had the whole county in an uproar with local volunteers participating in a manhunt for some woman he claimed had committed some kind of heinous crime. They didn't know what, but when the sheriff was in this kind of a mood you didn't ask a lot of questions.
Seth squatted down and took another look. “A...A shoeprint?” He looked up at the sheriff hopefully.
“Exactly! And what kind of shoe?” he demanded.
“A very small one, sir.”
“Small!” The sheriff looked disgusted. “A very small shoe! Take another look!”
“Well, sir, it...oh, wait.” Seth looked again. “Maybe a woman’s shoe with a tiny high heel in the back?”
“There ya go, Seth. See? All ya gotta do is pay attention...and think!” There was a slight tone of sarcasm in the sheriff’s voice. He continued, “Now, then, who do you suppose was wearing that shoe?”
“The girl!” Tommy seemed surprised at the sound of his own voice then stepped back behind Jake in case he was wrong.
“Why, Tommy!” The sheriff looked at him, his voice was silky smooth. “What a genius you are!” He glared at Jake and Seth. “Of course it’s the girl!” he sputtered. “And she’s probably with Danes!” His face was red with anger. “They are somewhere up in them hills, so find them!” He stomped over to his patrol car and reached inside the window, jerking out the radio microphone.
While he checked in with his deputy, Jake, Seth, and Tommy huddled together for a moment quietly discussing what they should do next until the sheriff hollered at them to get moving, which they did. All three got into Jake’s dinged-up dark blue truck as the sheriff wildly motioned for them to head on up the road.
“How does he expect us to find anything more this late in the day? It’ll be getting dark in a few more hours,” Jake remarked as he carefully maneuvered his truck over and around potholes, large rocks, and fallen debris.
“Yeah,” Seth agreed. “What are we supposed to do? Stay out here all night?”
“All night?” Tommy asked, sounding a bit worried as he pressed both hands against the dashboard trying to hang on.
“It’s okay, Tommy, we’ll be fine,” Jake reassured him, looking at Seth. “We’ll stick together. It’ll be fun.”
“Yeah, Tommy,” Seth reassured him, “we're a team and we stick together.” Seth looked back at Jake, realizing that yes indeed, they probably would be spending the night in the forest. Even so, he was much happier to be with Jake and Tommy. He had spent most of the day with Sheriff Wilcox, listening to him bellow at everyone over the radio as they drove all over the place looking for some girl. But it was a sure thing the sheriff wouldn’t be helping out tonight with any search.
“I bet ol’ Sheriff Wilcox will be paying Rosie a visit tonight,” Seth remarked and winked at Tommy. He was familiar with the sheriff’s habits. Everyone was.
“Probably,” Jake answered, not taking his eyes off the road.
The boys rode on in silence as Jake skillfully guided his truck over the rough terrain, continually dodging rocks and larger debris. It was slow going and they really didn’t know what to look for. Danes’ jeep was all they figured or that girl but it was unlikely they were going to find some gal hiking in these woods wearing one high heeled shoe.
The sun was setting behind the mountain range casting more shadows in the forest. It was definitely darker at ground level and becoming more difficult to see. Jake turned on his headlights, which helped some but with the jostling and bouncing of the truck, even they didn’t help all that much.
“Should we turn on the CB?” Tommy finally broke the silence.
“Uh... I don’t think so, Tommy,” Jake replied. “Do you really want to hear the sheriff holler at us some more?” He smiled and glanced at Tommy.
“No!”
Jake and Seth both laughed. “Well, let’s just keep it off for a while longer,” Jake suggested. “Besides, I really don’t think there will be anything to listen to until morning.”
“Can’t we go home tonight and come back tomorrow?” Tommy asked uneasily.
“Uh...well...no, buddy. We’re probably gonna sleep in the woods tonight,” Jake replied, then added, “We’re gonna have a campout! Just the three of us. Pretty cool, huh?” He tried to make it sound like fun. But Tommy wasn’t so sure.
/> Actually, Jake wasn’t at all thrilled with the idea of spending the night in the mountains either. He owned a filling station and grocery store in the town of Cold Creek, and being this far away from home was a concern to him. He had purchased the business from his great Uncle Pete a year ago and liked the idea of owning his own place. It even had a room with a pool table in it, which created a place for some of the local guys to come hang out. His uncle still took care of the filling station, to stay busy, and helped the infrequent traveler with directions, but Jake was in charge of the grocery store…all the ordering, the stocking, keeping the books, everything. When the sheriff requested his help, Uncle Pete had told him to go ahead, that he could take care of things while Jake was gone. The problem was, though, that Jake had thought he’d only be gone for a few hours, not the whole day, and certainly not overnight! His uncle would be worried, and there wasn’t any good way to get a hold of him to explain what was going on.
Explain? Explain what? Jake wasn’t so sure that he knew what was going on! The sheriff had come into the store and asked if anyone had seen a young woman driving a gray car. Uncle Pete overheard the question and stepped out of the poolroom long enough to tell the sheriff about the young woman he had watched his friend Andy help earlier that morning. When the sheriff demanded to know which way she’d headed, Uncle Pete had simply said, “North,” then went back into the poolroom, obviously not interested in getting involved in any further conversation. The sheriff then commandeered Jake stating he needed his help finding this woman. The tone of his voice told Jake not to refuse.
Tommy was busy stocking shelves for Jake. His parents were away on a two-week cruise to Mexico and had asked if their son could stay with Jake and his Uncle Pete. Although nineteen, Tommy wasn’t as mature as most boys his age. Jake was like a big brother to him and was happy to have Tommy stay with him. Besides, Tommy was a good worker and liked hanging around with Jake and they could always use a little extra help around the store.
Outside, Jake found Seth sitting in the sheriff’s patrol car. He was closer in age to Jake and had been working at the Crocker County sheriff’s office for a few years. The office was in Meyersville just over Cummings Summit, headed north, but the sheriff spent a lot of time in the southern part of the county. Seth did odd jobs and cleaned up a little around the office.
Seth’s father had left him when he was ten, and his mother had run off with some traveling salesman a couple of years later. He had been on his own for quite some time and managed to keep out of any serious trouble, but at seventeen had tried to steal a tractor out of a farmer’s field. The tractor ended up in a ditch, and Seth ended up in the sheriff’s office. Instead of being turned over to the juvenile authorities, the sheriff agreed to let him work off the misdeed by helping out around the office and whatever else the sheriff needed done. Seth had eagerly accepted. No one wants to go to jail, but he realized too late that he was now in the sheriff’s “back pocket,” so to speak. If he didn’t do what he was told, the sheriff threatened to turn him over to the court.
At first, Seth had been somewhat grateful that the sheriff had let him off, but over time, he had come to regret it. There had been times he had been asked to do things he questioned, but due to the circumstances and ultimatum the sheriff had leveled, decided to keep his mouth shut and do what he was told. This assignment, however, was different because it also involved his two friends, and he wasn’t sure if he liked that or not.
The threesome continued to bounce and jerk their way along the dirt road. Tommy, being wedged between Seth and Jake, continued to hang onto the dashboard. He kept staring straight ahead not saying a word.
Jake finally broke the silence. He looked over at Seth and asked quietly, “You worried?”
Seth hesitated for a minute then gave the expected answer, “Yeah.”
“Me too,” Jake agreed.
“You scared of the dark too, Seth?” Tommy joined in the conversation. Then without waiting for an answer, he said, “Me too.” His eyes remained fixed on the road ahead.
Jake and Seth exchanged glances. No point in worrying Tommy just yet. Jake hated to put Tommy in the middle of this, but with his folks gone, he really didn’t have much choice. Uncle Pete liked Tommy just fine but didn’t have a lot of patience with him. But then Tommy was Jake’s friend, not Uncle Pete’s.
Jake kept mulling over the sheriff’s comments about only wanting to talk to the driver of that gray car…just talk…no big deal. But he sure seemed edgy about the whole thing, and he wondered why. What was so important about finding this woman? What had she done, really? He also wondered how Danes fit into the picture. He’d only returned to that cabin a couple of months ago, according to the sheriff. Was the woman a friend of his? Maybe she was his wife.
Jake didn’t see Greg Danes very much, but occasionally he’d come in to shoot some pool and talk to some of the old-timers. As far as Jake was concerned, Danes was a city guy who liked to grow a beard, dress in grubby clothes, and hang out for weeks at a time at that cabin of his in the foothills. Rumor had it that he was looking for gold in old abandoned mine shafts and caverns, but no one ever said he found any. On a couple of occasions, Danes had been spotted driving around up in the hills with some other guy, but no one knew who he was.
The trio continued their trek deeper into the mountains. There was no point in turning back now. Even if they did, they were sure the sheriff was going to send them out again in the morning. Jake hoped Uncle Pete would be okay, minding things at the store. He also hoped the sheriff had at least let his uncle know what was going on and not to expect Jake to return anytime soon.
Chapter 11