“You promise that he’s okay?” Elena asked.
“There are things you need to know about him, and I don’t have time to fill you in, but I can promise that he won’t hurt us. If you want to come with, there’s another backpack in those rear cabinets. Grab it and I’ll put water and food in it. Then we need to go. Are you okay to hike again? I don’t know exactly how far we’re going.”
Elena followed his instruction and found a blue backpack with a Western River Sheriff emblem. Everything in their house was either Western River Sheriff or Forest Service. She pulled it out and they loaded up food, but Elena didn’t put her knife away. Josh didn’t want to say anything. If it made her feel safer, that was good. Not to mention she had good knife skills too. It might be better to have her hold it.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Eric was waiting outside and motioned for them to follow him. Elena stayed behind Josh. Normally, he’d rather have her in front where he could see her, but Josh also figured she probably felt uncertain about Eric. He didn’t blame her, since she had no way of knowing him and if Josh had told her who Eric really was, she might not have come. He was only going with Eric because, being a fugitive, choices were limited. Hopefully he wasn’t going from bad to worse.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Exhaustion swept over Maya, but she forced herself to keep going. She’d spent most of the night helping at the scene. She’d also noted the SUV that thought it was out of sight up on the hill and blending in with the reporters who were camped out following the accident. It had been there all night long but arrived after the news outlets. Maya made a food and coffee run at one point, volunteering to do it because she wanted to see the vehicle. She hadn’t mentioned it to Lucas because she wanted to get a closer look and see if it was going to tail her. That way she knew who she had to lose before going to her property to see if Josh was there.
Juniper had her head through the compartment window, quiet but alert. She knew that something was up. When Maya had driven by, she’d noted the license plate and that it was a rental car. She’d pulled out a marker and written the license number on the back of her hand to run through the system later.
The car had waited for her to go over the hill and start the descent into town before it followed her. Maya headed to the only open place in town at this hour—the gas station. It was a straight shot down the road, but she took a few extra turns, and sure enough, the car followed her.
Now back at the crime scene with coffee, water, and snacks, Maya noticed that the SUV was once again parked where they thought they were out of sight. They’d also followed her on the way back at a distance, pretending to pull off into a campground area.Idiots. If they better understood my jurisdiction, they would know that I know that the campgrounds aren’t open right now. Of course, maybe they’re not idiots and they wanted me to follow them to a remote area.
The thought made Maya shiver. They’d avoided being caught so far, and up to a point, she would leave them alone, but when she went to her cabin, she had to make sure they weren’t going to tail her. She needed to come up with a plan. She suspected they were the senator’s bodyguards. They’d arrived when he had come with Josh’s family. As if it wasn’t obvious in a small town with very little springtime tourism to show up and then follow an officer. She was back to thinking of them as idiots.
Then an idea came to mind. With a smile, Maya called Spencer. It was the middle of the night or early morning—she had lost track of time—but she had a feeling with Josh missing, his family would be waiting by the phone and not sleeping.
“Hello, Maya?” Spencer answered after a couple rings.
“Hi, sorry to call you right now…”
“No, it’s fine,” Spencer interrupted. “Do you have any news? Have you found Josh?”
Maya felt bad both for calling him at this hour and to break the news that she didn’t know anything, along with using him for her plan. “We haven’t found him yet, but we’re looking, and we have some good leads.”
“Okay, thanks for the update.”
“I have a favor to ask,” Maya said before he could hang up.
“Sure, anything.”
“I think we could use more hands to help with this investigation,” she said. “I’m the only Forest Service officer in the area. We have all the deputies out, plus CBI and State Patrol. Josh mentioned to me that the senator’s security detail are retired cops. Do you think they’d be able to lend us a hand? Nothing major, but, you know, little things like directing traffic. Stuff that’s better to have someone with experience helping with.”
“Sure, I bet Dale wouldn’t mind. I’ll call him.”
“Great. Thank you so much,” Maya said. “I’ll let you know when we find Josh.”
“Okay, and Maya, thank you. I haven’t said this to you, and I should have, but you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to my son.”
“And he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Maya said. “I’ll call you when I know something, and thanks again for the help.”
Great, now I feel even worse for using him.
She walked over to Lucas, who was looking as tired as she felt. “Hey there. I called in some extra people for traffic help.”
Lucas stared at her. “At this time in the morning, the only traffic along here is elk, deer, and moose. I think the bears are still hibernating, and the reporters aren’t going anywhere until they get their story.”
“The bears might be out already. It’s been a snowy but warm spring.”
“The bears?” Lucas asked.
“Yes.”
