Willa ended up breaking into a run to keep up with the swift little girl. She leaned against a tree and tried to catch her breath, watching as Stella tucked something in the crotch of a tree. She made sure her offering was secure, then turned and raced back toward camp.
And collided with a waiting Willa. The little girl looked up, wide-eyed, then burst into tears.
Willa knelt and patted Stella’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’re not in any trouble. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Stella continued to sob.
“What’s wrong?” Willa asked. “What has you so upset?”
“My friend is hurt and lost and I’m so worried about her.” The little girl leaned into Willa, sobs shaking her slight frame.
“Do you mean Olivia? Were you leaving something for her in the tree?”
“I put part of my lunch there.” She looked up, expression pleading. “Please don’t tell anyone. I’ll get in trouble. Mr. Sprague caught me coming out here one day and I had to miss afternoon swimming as punishment. He said I was wasting food and that was wrong.”
“Does Olivia come after you leave and get the food?” Willa asked.
“I don’t know.” Stella scrubbed at her wet eyes. “Sometimes when I come back the food is gone, but I don’t know if Olivia gets it or an animal. I hope she gets it. I don’t like to think about her hungry.”
“Do you know where Olivia is hiding?” Willa asked.
“No. I promise I don’t. If I knew, I would tell you. I’m worried about her.”
“Do you know why Olivia ran away?” Willa asked.
Stella toyed with the friendship bracelet on her left wrist. “She didn’t tell me. And I didn’t know she was going to run away, either. If I had, I would have told her not to.”
“But she said something? Something to let you know she was upset?”
“She said she saw something she shouldn’t have. And she said she was afraid.”
“What was she afraid of?”
“She said if she told me I might get hurt, too.”
Too.“Had someone hurt Olivia?” Willa asked.
“I don’t know.” Stella looked doubtful. “Maybe? I never saw her hurt. But then they found that shirt with her blood on it…” Her voice gave way to fresh sobs.
Willa waited for the sobs to subside. She searched for something to distract the girl. “Did you make your bracelet?” she asked. “It’s pretty.”
“Olivia made it.” She held out her wrist, the show off the chevron pattern of pink, purple and green threads. “I made one for her.” Fresh tears welled in her eyes. “A deputy showed me a bracelet they found in the mud. It looked like Olivia’s. They wouldn’t say, but I think maybe they found it with the shirt.”
“How did you know about the shirt?” Willa asked. Surely no one had told the children.
“Mr. Sprague told me. The day he caught me with half my lunch wrapped in a napkin. He said I needed to stay close to camp or the person who had done that to Willa would hurt me the way they had hurt her.”
She began to weep again. Willa held her tightly, and cursed Scott for frightening the child this way. “When did Olivia tell you these things?” she asked.
“The night before she left. The next day she seemed okay, and when I asked her how she was feeling, she said she was fine. But then, after dinner that night she was acting upset again. She didn’t want to talk about it and told me not to worry, but how can I not worry when I don’t even know where she is?”
Willa nodded. Olivia clearly needed help, but so did Stella. “When do you see your parents again?” she asked.
“Not for another month. When camp is over.”
“Do you talk to them on the phone?”
“On Sunday afternoons. I told them last Sunday that I don’t like it here anymore and I want to go home, but they said I had made a commitment and it was important that I keep it.”
