His eyes on the mounting pile of gear, Dennis dialed from the pad where he'd written the number to the Golden Door. When the connection was complete, he asked to be put through to Betsy Collins. He was almost surprised when she answered on the first ring.
“Dennis Wagner, Betsy. I was wondering if you could tell me where Marcus is or give me the telephone number where your children are.”
“Let me be sure I have this right, Dennis. You're calling me here in California to ask me where my husband is? Why?”
“I haven't been able to get in touch with Marcus. He's not returning phone calls, and he isn't responding to the pager. He left a note saying he was going to Maine, something about the girls. I'm assuming something happened. Will you give me the number?”
“I'd give it to you if I had it, but I don't. It's somewhere near Bangor. It's one of those winter resorts that has all kinds of sports, ice skating, skiing, snowmobiling, and things like that. The number should be in the directory. It can't be anything urgent or my housekeeper would have called me. I
am
the girls' mother. Is that all, Dennis?”
“I guess so. If you hear from Marcus tell him I'm trying to reach him.”
“All right. Good-bye, Dennis.”
“Bitch!” Dennis seethed. “She doesn't know anything. She didn't even know anything was wrong with her kids. What kind of mother is that? Those kids of hers don't know what real parents are like. Every time they have more than one day off they get sent off somewhere. When Matt and I were kids on vacation either his mother or my mother would take us somewhere. They had as much fun as we did. This is a whole new world to me. I don't much like it,” Dennis mumbled.
“Everyone isn't like Marcus and Betsy, Dennis. They got caught up in this yuppie, me, me, me thing. It's all about them and no one else. They're selfish and greedy, and one day they're going to look back and wonder how it all went wrong. You aren't like that, neither is Matt or Sadie. Me either for that matter.”
“Guess you're right. It's too late to call that ski place now, don't you think?”
“You could try. The worst thing that can happen is you get a recording telling you to call back in the morning.”
Lily checked off her list, first-aid kit, topographical map, compass, GPS. Later when she knew exactly where they were going, she would plot in the whole area. Freeze-dried food, power bars, iodine tablets in case they ran out of water, hypothermal blanket, stove, flashlight, extra batteries, sleeping bag, one spare change of clothes, handheld communication radios, toothpaste, and other necessities. Gun. Bullets. The total couldn't exceed one-third of her body weight. She knew to the ounce that her backpack, fully loaded, would be three pounds shy of the allowed weight.
Her pile neatly stacked, Lily started on Sadie's. She half listened to Dennis as she heard the frustration in his voice turn to anger.
“What do you mean he hasn't showed up? You called him and he left the office to drive up there. At least I think he drove. What exactly is wrong with the girls and did you get in touch with the mother? No I'm not a relative and I respect your client's privacy. I'm Mr. Collins's boss, and I need to speak with him. You don't want to be the one responsible for the man losing his job, do you? Yes, I would like to leave a message and yes, maâam, I know it's late. I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important. Just tell Marcus to call Dennis Wagner as soon as he arrives. Would it help if I promised to send you a brand-new computer if you tell me what's wrong with the girls? I can have it shipped to you tomorrow if you give me your name and address. Yes, ma'am, it is a bribe, and I'll never deny it.” Dennis scribbled furiously. “Now, what's wrong with the girls that Mr. Collins had to rush up there? Lice? Head lice? Both girls? Oh, the whole group. I thought the girls were running high fevers. Never mind. What is it you expect him to do? Yes, yes, I see, he has to be notified so there can be no comeback if the girls are allergic to the stuff you use. Lice, huh? Thank you. No, I won't forget, and no, I won't tell anyone you broke the rules. Be sure to give Mr. Collins the message.”
“Lice?” Lily said. “That was his emergency? I can't picture Marcus dropping everything and rushing to Maine to agree to a treatment for head lice. Couldn't he give it over the phone?”
“Go figure.” Dennis grimaced. “I'm not a parent, so I don't know how things like that work. I guess he was worried. The whole group came down with the lice.” His eyes widened in alarm as he watched his pile of gear mount until it equaled Lily's and Sadie's piles.
Both dogs lifted their heads, then lowered them when Sadie burst into the apartment. “I got it! I really do! I know where the building is. The police didn't recognize it at all. They were young so they're excused. You know, before their time, that kind of thing. But, listen to this. One of the cops had just arrested this old codger for disturbing the peace. He was drunk as a skunk. He heard me talking to the officer on duty and chirped up and said he knew where the building was. And wait till you hear this. An old crony of his owned the building and they used to go hunting and stayed in the lodge. He said they used to take their boys with them and go hunting. He said some of the best duck blinds in the state are right there. The man's name was . . . Calumet Laroux,” Sadie said, as though she was announcing an Academy Award winner for the best actor of the year.
Lily leaned back on her haunches, her hand wrapped around the Wish Keeper. When nothing happened she sucked in her breath, at the same time turning away from Sadie and Dennis so they wouldn't see what was happening. She rubbed at the pendant, gave it a twist and then closed her hand into a tight fist. She stared down at her backpack. Maybe she'd used up all the trinket's energy or whatever it was that transfused itself to her person. Maybe Matt was dead, and that's why it was no longer working. Maybe she was ready for the boys with the white jackets. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.
I'm coming, Matt. I'll find you. I promise. Just do the best you can until I get there. I'll do the rest.
Chapter Nine
Matt was hungry enough to chew on a doorknob. He looked down at the knob in his hand and had to wonder how many hands had touched it. On second thought, maybe he wasn't that hungry after all. What he was, was pissed-off mad. At himself, at his circumstances, and at the three dudes responsible for his misery.
Now that he had come full circle and back to his starting point, he realized he wasn't quite as confident as he'd been earlier in the morning. A yoke of worry settled itself on his shoulders as he entered the building he thought he would never see again. He walked back outside almost immediately and around to the back of the building, to see which second-floor windows had been boarded over. His shoulders slumped even further when he realized he would have to be a trapeze artist to climb out of the window, assuming he could even get it open, and then somehow climb up to the steep roof. An impossible feat, even if he was fifteen years younger and ten pounds lighter.
“Shit!”
Back inside the building, with the door hanging open behind him for light, he viewed all the roasted, toasted bats from yesterday. His eye fell on one of the bats still flopping around, whose mouth was foaming. So they were rabid after all. Now he didn't feel so bad about the fire. He turned to run, but one of his knitted socks snagged on a splinter just as he came down hard on the ball of his foot. He yelled in pain as the splinter gouged through the socks into the middle of his foot. One eye on his foot, his other eye on the flopping bat that was way too close, he ran, dragging his injured foot behind him. He had the good sense to slam the door shut before he dropped to his knees in the little clearing outside the building.
He hated the sight of blood, especially his own. He yanked at the large, rough splinter and then pulled off his socks completely, forgetting the blisters on his heels and toes. He screamed in agony as blood poured from his foot. His clenched fists pounded the ground in front of him. Now what was he supposed to do?
Get off your ass and do
something
. He looked at his foot, trying to see if there were any more splinters in the open wound. He'd come down hard on his foot, and the wood spike had gone through the three layers of his wool sock and into the fleshy part of his instep. He wanted to touch the wound, to try and squeeze it to see if any tiny splinters were gouged in the flesh, but his hands were black with the sticky resin from the pine boughs. He sure as hell didn't need an infection. Lily had said survival was basically common sense. She'd left out the word
knowledge
. He closed his eyes as he tried to remember what if anything he had learned when he'd taken the course with the other top executives. No one had punctured their foot. He'd gotten poison sumac, and he now knew what those leaves looked like. He itched just thinking of the experience. He'd never touch one of those vines again. Maybe mud. Somewhere he'd learned that if you packed wet mud around a bee sting, the swelling would go down and the stinger would come out when the mud was washed away. What would mud do for an open wound? Maybe leaves on the wound and then the mud and the sock. He was going to have to go back into the house and go upstairs to get more socks from the window seat Then how was he going to find some mud? The ground was just short of being frozen, there was no water, and he had nothing to dig with but his hands. The leaves, if he could find leaves, would have to do. He was pleased to see the blood was starting to clot. He also knew that the wound would open up the minute he started to walk on it.
Maybe it was time to throw this one out to the universe, too. He did, and didn't feel one bit better.
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Matt woke and looked around. He knew the day was going to come very soon when he would start to hate the smell of pine. At Christmas he'd have to get an artificial tree. He moved gingerly, shrugging off the pine boughs he'd broken off yesterday. He must have slept a very long time. The sun was just now creeping over the horizon. That had to mean it was around six or seven o'clock, more likely seven. Something was wrong. He didn't feel right. Then he allowed himself to feel his foot throb. He was warm and incredibly thirsty. Where could he possibly get water where no water existed? Lily would know. Sadie would know. He looked around and felt pleased with himself when he saw the heavy dew on the scraggly bushes. He crawled around, licking as many leaves as he could. It took thirty minutes of licking before his thirst was quenched. He felt proud of himself. He hoped the day would come when he could tell Lily what he'd done. He could picture her smile, see her beam with pride that he'd remembered something from the wilderness journey they'd taken together.
Matt stared around the clearing. He knew the direction he'd come in on because he'd broken and trampled the brush. Which direction should he go now? He tried to look beyond the tops of the pine trees but it didn't help. He had to choose a direction and start out.
He hobbled inside, careful to steer clear of the flopping bat, and made his way upstairs. He reached in blindly, his eyes on the eaves as he grabbed as many pairs of socks as he could. The trip down the steps was agony. His breath exploded in a loud
swoosh
of sound the minute he was outside with the door closed behind him. With the clean socks on his feet, the decision not to wear the Wellingtons was easy. He would take them with him, though, because sooner or later the bottoms of the socks would wear through.
Matt started off, choosing to go west. He didn't know why. An hour into the trek he started to feel uncomfortably warm, and his chest felt heavy. He opened the quilted jacket. The boots were heavy. He thought about leaving them behind, but Lily's words about common sense demanded he carry them. Walking was becoming more difficult even though he was basically walking on his right heel and more or less dragging it along. He tried to ignore the pain.
It was midafternoon when he realized the terrain had changed. The ground was less hard, more springy. Maybe that meant he was near water. Or maybe it meant it had rained in this section of the woods. The trees were a little more sparse, the undergrowth considerably lighter. He could actually see ahead of him for sections at a time.
It was time to stop. His right leg refused to function, and he was starting to ache all over. He was coughing, too. He couldn't carry the jacket and boots any longer.
He looked for a place to stop for the day. Maybe if he slept for an hour or so he would be able to walk another hour, possibly two before total darkness. It had become fairly routine, yanking at the scrub pine and breaking off the branches, layering the ground and then breaking off another layer of pine boughs to cover himself. He sank down on the ground, grateful for the softness of the pine boughs. As his eyes started to close, he wondered if he had a fever. He wanted to touch his forehead the way his mother used to do when he was little, but sleep overcame him before he could do it.
Help was on the way, but it was long hours away.
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A light drizzle was falling as Lily led the parade out to the Rover. She carefully stored their gear and the dogs in the deep cargo hold. Sadie took the front passenger seat, while Dennis climbed into the back.
“I can find my way to Highway 61. I can put us in the general proximity of where we want to go. From there you'll have to direct me, Sadie. There's a map light on your right.” She turned to look at Dennis. “This could well be a wild-goose chase, Dennis. If Sadie and I decide that's the case, then we're heading back, and I'm going to the police. Make sure you understand that. I don't care about Digitech stock taking a nose-dive or Marcus Collins or even you at this moment. Matt's been out there seven days. That's an entire week. I don't know if he has water or food. I'm hoping he does, but if he doesn't, he isn't equipped to handle an experience like this. The weather alone could do him in. I'm not selling him short, I'm telling you like it is. Do you understand, Dennis?”
“Yes I do, and I agree. Let's just hope for the best.”
They rode in silence, sipping on coffee they'd picked up at the twenty-four-hour convenience store. It was full light when Sadie said, “Slow down, Lily. This is as far as you can take the truck according to the map. There might be another way in, but it's not on this map. Normally there is a front end and a back end. I imagine if this place has been deserted for a long time, the back end has overgrown. This looks like a fairly current map. Let's rock and roll, people.”
“I'm sorry, Dennis, but since you weigh in at 180, you have the heaviest backpack. Remember what I said about carrying a third of your body weight. That's why. I gave you the climbing gear, the stove, the spikes, and the flare guns. Sadie and I will take the dogs and our own gear. Let's go. It's at least an hour's walk to that abandoned hunting lodge. Don't talk, conserve your energy. Pay attention to the ground. I'll notch the trees as we go along. Let's go.”
An hour and twenty minutes later, the hunting party ground to a halt near the abandoned hunting lodge. Lily stooped down to her haunches and slid her backpack to the ground, sighing with relief. Dennis did the same, then sprawled on his back. To Lily's eye, he looked a pale green. “You're out of condition, Dennis.”
“I was never
in
condition. Walking up and down the halls at Digitech was my only exercise. I see now where that has to change. I'm okay, I can handle this. If you can do it, I can do it. I might not do it as well, but, by God, I'll do it. Now what?” he gasped.
“We check out the building, then make a decision,” Lily said. “Easy Gracie, easy. Buzz, calm down. Stay,” she said firmly. Both dogs sat back on their haunches, their eyes on Lily. “I'm almost afraid to open the door,” she said tightly.
“I'll open it,” Sadie said. Dennis was on his feet a second later, crowding Lily out of the way to stand next to Sadie, who reached down, turned the knob and then kicked the door wide open.
Gracie gave a mighty lunge and jerked free of Lily's hold. Buzz followed and both dogs bounded into the dark building.
“Stay back. Lily, call the dogs! Do it now! This place is full of dead bats and some live ones as well. I can see foam on one of their mouths. God, I've never seen anything like this. Someone must have built a fire, and they were nesting inside the chimney. There are hundreds of them.” Gracie threw back her head and howled as Lily struggled to pull her backward.
“I'll wait out here with the dogs. See if there are any signs that Matt was here.”
It was nine-thirty by Lily's watch when Sadie and Dennis exited the deserted building. “Well?”
“Someone was here. The ashes are cool, but not cold. The fire was recent, within the past few days. Like I said, there are hundreds of dead bats in there. A bunch of live ones too, up in the eaves. There's a second floor. The top of the window seat was open, and there's stuff in it, old clothes mostly. Large in size. There's no food, no sign of food or water anywhere, and there's no furniture either. Most all the windows have been boarded up. That's it, Lily. I think, and this is just my opinion, if more than one person had been here, there would have been a sign. There's nothing. If they left Matt here, he's gone. Gracie would know. Do you want to trust her in there with those bats?”
“No. I'd let her loose, but I'm afraid she'll run off. We'd never be able to keep up with her. I'll loosen the leash and see what she does.”
The retractable leash allowed the shepherd to move forward to the edge of the small clearing where the underbrush was the lightest. She barked furiously as she nosed the ground and pawed at it. When she made a mighty lunge forward, Lily fell to her knees, Gracie dragging her forward in her frenzy. When she backed out of the tangled vines, Lily's jaw dropped at what she held in her mouth.
“What is that?” Sadie screamed.
“It looks like a sock. Let me see, Gracie. Easy girl, I just want to look. It's a sock all right. Actually, it looks like it's four socks all in one. And there's blood all over it, along with a bunch of splinters. The sock was in a layer of pine boughs. Matt made himself a bed. That's good, he's thinking. He did pay attention after all,” she said quietly.
“You might want to take a look at this,” Dennis said, holding up a sharp, thin sliver of wood with blood on the end.
“You don't need to be a genius to figure this one out,” Sadie said. “Remember that spell you had with those green boots? They were probably too big and Matt put on extra socks from that window seat upstairs. He probably got blisters and took the boots off and got the splinter in his foot.”
“When? Before or after? If he had the boots, why didn't he leave?” Lily demanded.
“I don't know. It's just a thought. Maybe he got bitten by one of the bats and is disoriented. It's possible, Lily, so don't look at me like that. I hope it didn't happen. Why don't you try yanking that pendant again. Maybe something will come to you,” Sadie mumbled.
“I've been doing just that since last night.” She gave the Wish Keeper a hard tug, but nothing happened. “See?”
“It's starting to rain harder,” Dennis said, pulling the hood on his jacket up over his head. The girls did likewise. “We need to find some cover.”