Pursuit (34 page)

“You seem more than a little pissed. What's up?”

“Don't ask.”
Julie put her knee against the glove compartment door, cranked back the seat and closed her eyes.

“That bad, huh?”

“Yeah, I blew up at Cheryl's doctor. I totally lost it.” She continued with a few other words to herself.

“You just said, ‘that stupid asshole, bastard,' am I correct?”

Julie laughed. “Yeah, something like that. The doc said some things, then I said some things, and so forth, and that leaves you and me out here wandering in Daniel Booneville.” For a while, she watched the passing scenery, settling into a new reality of Cheryl's being out of danger. “While we're in the neighborhood and things are fresh, we should do a little detective work.”

They searched out Ed's Eats, and sure enough, Granny was sitting on the wood steps, corncob pipe cradled in her open palm. After introductions and refusals of coffee, they piled into the unmarked Crown Vic with Gault in the passenger-side seat, Julie in the back.

Though Julie had already primed Todd on how Gault came upon Cheryl, that didn't stop her from retelling the events of the entire day. When she exhausted herself with that story, she jumped in with another.

“But before we go too far, I want to explain about the pipe. It were Pud's, and it's just an affectation. I keep it around 'cause it feels like that old devil is back with me.” She paused. “Okay. Let's get back to things. Head on out this way south, straight on the way you're headed. I met up with your baby about eight to ten mile down a ways.”

For a while, they rode in silence. “And how's our baby today, missy?”

“She's fine, thank you. She recognized me, said a few words, went back to sleep.”

“Coming up on our tree. Little farther, little farther. There. Pull over to your left, sir.”

“Call me Todd, please.”

“Okay, Todd. Pull in back of that gnarly evergreen.” The old gal whipped her well-worn yellow tractor cap off her tangle of grey hair.

Once they had stopped at the side of the road, Granny turned in her seat. “I was heading west coming from back that way,” she said, pointing, “when I see your youngster stumbling between that huge old monster tree up ahead and this twisted pine off your rear trunk. If you're going to get out and have a look, I'll take a pass and just sit here, okay?”

Julie and Todd got out.

“You want to look around a few minutes while I hike down there, see what's what?” Julie asked Todd.

“I'll check out the riverbed.”

They parted. Julie walked along the edge of the road, not knowing exactly what she was looking for. She walked off the gravel shoulder after fifty yards. A clearing from where she stood to the river seemed a likely place for someone to have come out of the water and make their way up the country lane. Looking to a copse of thorny bushes on the sandbar, she picked up a scrap of denim on a nearby beached log. Across the moving river, there seemed to be nothing but towering cliffs.

Todd made his way through a gaggle of brush growing down to the waterside.

“Nothing of interest here, Todd-O. She must have come from this side—the side we're on, the forest. She couldn't have come off the steep cliffs; way too treacherous.”

“Let's see if there's any sign of where she could have come from.” Todd started back up the rise to the road.

They walked along the road edge on opposite sides of each other.

“There's a fence here! Looks like it's been bent down!” Todd called to Julie, who went ahead fifty yards.

She crossed over and trotted back to where Todd was pointing. She slid down the still-damp culvert bank and inspected the crunched wire fence.

“Look here. Where it's bent, there's a few rusted shavings. Then under and around the bend itself, it shows all silver and new.”

“It doesn't mean it was Cheryl who came over this.”

Todd looked at the countless bends in the top portion of the wires. “But someone recently did, that's for damn sure.”

“Listen, Biggie, how's about this for a plan—since we're here and this trail is still hot, let's pursue it for a while. Would you mind taking Gault back to her truck, then meeting me back here in an hour? It will give me a chance to head in here a ways, see if there's a cabin hidden back in the woods. Who knows what I might find. What do you think?”

Todd looked up and down the road. “If there were a cabin in there”—he waved his arm at the vast forest in front of them—“there would be a road leading to it. A path, something.”

“Yeah, you're right, but I'd still like to hang out, get a feeling for this jungle.”

“Back soon, Sergeant.” Todd headed for the car.

Julie stepped over the bent fence, wishing that she had proper hiking gear. She walked into the heavy forest, thinking a plan might be to cover as much of the area on either side of the fence opening as she could manage. She
paralleled the road toward town for a hundred yards, and then went into the more heavily wooded area and turned in the opposite direction.

After a few minutes, she lost sight of the road. She drifted off her planned route and just started to veer back to her left when she spotted a recently broken branch on a large pine tree. The limb was about chest high. If the break was as new as it appeared, it would have been broken by someone about her height or Cheryl's. She took a Kleenex from her jacket pocket and dangled it on the branch before heading back toward the road.

Julie waited nearly a half hour for Todd. She paced the dirt road, seeing only one passing vehicle. A faded blue Camaro driven by a man with a crew cut and long sideburns.

He stopped across the road from Julie and sported a grin. “I could turn this buggy around and go your way, buttercup.”

Julie threw out a quick “No, thank you” and kept walking. When he put the car in reverse to keep up with her long stride, she flashed her badge with her right hand and with her left pulled her short jacket away from her Sig. “I guess you didn't hear me. I said—”

He pulled away, his rear wheels spinning in the soft gravel roadway. By the time Todd arrived back, she had worked herself into a tizzy.

“What kept you, Sandman? Christ, I could have walked to Arkansas by now.”

“Okay, Sarge. Keep it up and I won't give you your present.”

Julie looked up at her partner. “Present? You working an angle?”

Todd reached across to the passenger seat and produced a pair of black sneakers.

“Eight, wasn't it?”

“Ah, you're too much. Where did you find these?”

“General store. Shoes laced and tied, hanging along an aisle sporting bathing trunks, workout gear, and a whole lot of other junk. Try them on.” He passed her a pair of sweat socks and watched as she laced up her new sneakers. He locked the car just off the road. His new tennis shoes, a combo of red with bright green stripes.

“I marked a tree back in the woods.”

“What gives?”

“Nothing big-time, just a broken branch; thought it could lead to something. Nice walkers, by the way,” she said, pointing to his new shoes. “No danger of
you
getting lost. Those guys are already crying for help.”

They proceeded into the tangled forest. After they came upon Julie's marked tree, they spread out like they had while looking for Cheryl and Billie back in town. They looked for footprints, handprints, disturbed underbrush. If they found a pattern of her shoe print, it could possibly lead to a house, cabin, or other dwelling.

“By the way,” Julie asked, “I saw you reaching into your pocket before. What gives?”

“Just a little Daniel Boone-ism. I bought this packet of ribbons; thought I'd tie one on a tree once in a while, so we could find our way back.”

“Clever, Mr. Boy Scout. Let's do it.”

They spread out and scouted south through the woods. A half hour went by.

“Hey, Sarge! Hey!” Todd was on his hands and knees looking at something on the ground.

“What's up, Sherlock?”

“Sneaker print, looks like to me. Take a look.”

“I'd say that's about the right size. And from the depth”—she pressed her own new sneaker next to the soft imprint—“I'd say a hundred thirty-five or a hundred forty pounds max. What do you think?”

“Yeah, right. Good call. Let's go in trail for a while. You look right, I'll look left.”

Todd led the way. One of their problems was that the sun had dried most of the open area, leaving patches of soft earth under shaded areas.

They came to a bog; probably a natural spring. She paced off to her right to skirt the wet area next to half-buried brush in the trampled swampy earth. “Todd, look at this.”

“What?”

“She came under here, crawling probably.” Julie pointed to a tangled nest of branches. “Can you imagine my girl creeping through here at night, alone? Maybe even getting chased? That sneaker imprint, exact same shape and size as the last one. Crawling, walking, stumbling. Jesus, no wonder she's being treated for exposure.” Julie turned a full circle, looking into the woods, and then walked away from Todd, not wanting him to see her crying. “Let's push on for another quarter hour, okay, Mr. Devlin?” She tried to keep it light, walking on ahead, occasionally stopping to examine a trampled bush or broken branch. A tall pine stood before her, skirting her path. A shiny object caught her eye: two D batteries nestled in a depression filled with mud. It looked as if someone had stepped on them. She called Todd and bent down to take a closer look.

She poked at the batteries with a stick. “These look
new to the environment. Someone changed batteries here recently.”

Todd knelt next to her. “Probably not much of a chance for fingerprints, with all the mud, but I'll bag it anyway.” He pried the two batteries out of the mud and put them in a ziplock bag.

Julie pointed at a pair of shoe prints off to the right of the water hole. “Looks like cowboy boots, men's nine or ten. Damn. Is that rain?”

“Afraid so.” Todd dug into his jacket pocket for his camera.

Julie pulled off her jacket and spread it over the shoe prints. When Todd was ready, she swept the jacket away and spread a dollar bill down next to the pointy-toed impression. “We just made it.”

They watched the rain obliterate the footprints.

They would follow what looked like a trail that would disappear, only to reappear some thirty yards later. The path never seemed to stay in the same direction, varying from 180 degrees east to due west. Todd found a rise and they climbed a hill that looked as if it had been hit by lightning years before. Several large trees had been knocked down, their rotten carcasses spread across the knoll. It wasn't a clear view, but through the tops of a few tall pines, they could glimpse water.

Todd clasped Julie by the shoulder and pointed through a gap in the limbs. “I'd say about a half mile at least.” They looked to the east. “Nothing but pines; same to the west. The lake in front of us is at least two to three miles from where we left the car. It's too late to go all the way down to the water, but we can check with the GPS for a body of water south of the country road we were on; find out where we are, go from there. What do you say?”

“You're right. I need to get back to the hospital, check with Cher. And we should also bring Walker up to date. Thanks for today, Big Man.”

They started the long trek back.

Julie sat next to Cheryl's bed, listening to her child's heavy breathing. She felt her hands and feet. Warmer. Not normal but better. The doctor left her IV still attached.

“Ma?”

“Yes, Cher, what is it?”

“Are you there? Don't leave me, please?”

“I'm here. You're safe.”

“Tell Aunt Billie I'm okay, will you, please? Scoot's at the house down the street. The man called. Would you tell him not to play his music?” She tossed about in the narrow bed. “I threw up, Ma, in his face. Gross. Did I go to shop class, mom?” She squeezed her eyes shut.

Julie ran her hands up and down Cheryl's arms. “Try and forget everything, just rest.”

Cheryl breathed deeply several times and then relaxed. “He smelled like garlic and dog doo.”

Julie seeked out the hospital administrator, requesting that a mere a five-minute audience would do. He proved to be accommodating and invited her to meet.

They chatted briefly about Cheryl's circumstances and Julie's need to have a different doctor assigned.

“I have nothing against Dr. Ryan; it's more a personality issue than anything else.”

“I'll see what I can do. Nathan can be somewhat frustrating at times. I understand your daughter's situation. We want you to know we have her best interests at heart.”

Julie thanked him and hustled off to meet with Todd.

“I called the captain,” he said, “and explained the
tracking, trailing, and especially guessing. Walker thinks we should come back to headquarters to put together a search party. His words were ‘would be a good idea.' He thinks it's a waste of time, your ‘gallivanting in the woods.' Once again his words.”