“Did she mention any special friends at camp? Other campers?” Travis asked.
“She talked about the girls in her cabin,” Sylvia said. “But never any boys.”
“She wouldn’t have mentioned boys to us,” Daniel said. “Not after what happened with Jared.” At his wife’s wounded look, he added, “She’s a teenager. It’s what teenagers do. They don’t tell their parents everything.”
“We questioned her cabin mates.” Travis looked to Aaron. “They didn’t mention any boys Olivia was particularly friends with.”
“Her friend Stella said Olivia never paid attention to any of the boys,” Aaron said. “They tried to tease and flirt with the other girls, but Olivia ignored them.”
Sylvia nodded, but said nothing.
“Stella also said that starting about two weeks ago, Olivia had been quieter,” Aaron said. “As if she was upset about something.And about then is when she began sneaking out of the cabin at night.”
“How can that happen?” Sylvia asked. “I thought a counselor slept in each cabin with the girls. Isn’t she supposed to prevent that kind of thing?”
No one had an answer for this. Aaron remembered his own teenage years—how devious he and his friends had been in getting around restrictions and rules. They weren’t bad kids, causing mischief and getting into trouble. But they had craved independence and tested their limits at every opportunity.
“I talked to Scott Sprague on the phone yesterday afternoon,” Daniel said. “He said he keeps a close eye on the campers and he doesn’t think Olivia was seeing anyone associated with the camp. He suggested someone from outside might have been coming onto the property.”
“We’ve questioning everyone in and around the camp,” Travis said. “We haven’t identified any suspects at this point. We’re sending out a couple of search dogs again today, and hope to get a drone up to do an aerial search now that the weather is better.” He cleared his throat. “There’s something else you should know. A search dog yesterday located a slashed T-shirt near the foundation of a storage building. There was blood on the shirt. It’s the same blood type as your daughter’s. We need a blood sample from one or both of you for DNA comparison.”
“Blood?” Sylvia look as if she might faint.
Her husband gripped her hand. “You say the shirt was slashed?”
“With a knife or razor. But there was no blood on the ground in the area, and no blood trail leading away from the shirt. It’s possible the rain washed away any trail. At this point, we don’t know.”
“But Olivia is hurt. She’s out there alone somewhere. And hurt.” Sylvia began to weep, head bowed, sobbing quietly.
Daniel rubbed her back. “I want to be a part of the search,” he said. “If Olivia hears me, maybe she’ll come.”
“It’s better if you and your wife stay together, so that we can notify you as soon as she’s found,” Travis said. He didn’t say the last thing they wanted was for the girl’s father to stumble upon her lifeless body, but Aaron knew that’s what he was thinking. “Someone can take you to the lodge at camp. You can wait there, nearby. We’d also like you to go through Olivia’s things at the camp. You might spot something unusual or out of place that we would miss.” This task would give them something else to focus on, and a way to feel useful.
“Of course,” Daniel said.
“Deputy Ames will drive you to the camp,” Travis said.
“We have our own car,” Daniel said.
“Then he’ll follow you there,” Travis said.
Aaron nodded. Neither he nor the sheriff believed the Pryors had anything to do with their daughter’s disappearance, but it was good police procedure to keep an eye on them and gauge their initial reactions to the scene. And deputies were going to question everyone at the camp again, in the hope that this time someone would have something useful to say. Something that would lead them to Olivia.
A casual visitorto the camp would have had no clue to the previous day’s chaos. The sound of cheerful children’s voices echoed among the pines and groups of campers gathered on the shore of the lake or around the cabins. Despite Olivia’s disappearance, everything appeared to be operating as usual at Mountain Kingdom.
Aaron escorted the Pryors to Olivia’s cabin, and the bottom bunk where she had slept. At the end of the bed was a metal trunk that held her belongings. Her mother sat on the bed andsorted through the contents of the trunk, tears streaming down her face as she smoothed her hand over pajamas and swimsuits, and a stack of green Mountain Kingdom T-shirts, like the one the search dog had located.
“There’s nothing unusual here,” she said when the trunk was empty, its contents stacked on the bed beside her.
“Did she have a phone?” Aaron asked. Veronica had told him campers were not allowed to have cell phones, but he was curious if Olivia had sneaked one in.
“No, I have it with me.” Sylvia dug in her purse and handed him the cell phone.
“Has it been on the whole time?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I switched it on after we found out she was missing. In case she tried to call.” She bit her lip, holding back tears.
“Could you unlock it for me, please?”
