“Maybe,” the sheriff said. “But we’ve been flying drones every time the weather clears enough to allow it and we hadn’t seen any tracks.”
“Does that mean they’re still out there?” Endicott asked. “Jackson must be exhausted.”
“They could be heading for Pandora,” Scott said.
“Where’s Pandora?” Denny asked.
“It’s a ghost town on the other side of this ridge of mountains.” The sheriff indicated a jagged ridge near the top of the map. “But you’d have to be crazy to try to make it all the way there on skis, especially with a kid in tow.”
“Crazy or desperate,” Denny said.
“If you received that letter today, wouldn’t it have had to be posted by Saturday or earlier?” Scott asked.
Endicott looked to the sheriff. “I would think so,” he said. “Don’t you, Sheriff?”
“The stamp is canceled,” the sheriff said. “According to the postmark, it was mailed Friday.”
“That’s taking a big risk, isn’t it?” Lily asked. “What if their plan failed and they weren’t able to grab Jackson? What if the weather didn’t cooperate?”
“Or what if the letter was lost?” Scott asked. “Why not just send an email or a text, or make a phone call or hand-deliver a note?”
“The Endicotts’ security may have scared them away from the house,” the sheriff said. “And the kidnapper may not have been tech-savvy enough to send an electronic message without us being able to trace it.”
“If the kidnapping didn’t happen, it would be easy to dismiss the letter as a crank message,” Doug said. “Mr. Endicott might have even thrown it away without reporting it to the sheriff.”
Denny nodded. “I might have.”
“We think it likely there are a group of individuals involved,” the sheriff said. “We’ll get a team to Pandora and see if we can intercept them. We’ll also continue to fly surveillance in the area.”
“What can we do to help?” Scott asked.
“Go home and get some rest,” the sheriff said. “We’ll take it from here.”
“Thank you for your help,” Doug said. “You can go now.”
Reluctantly, Lily followed Scott and the dogs out of the room. She waited until they were in the elevator headed to the ground floor before she spoke. “I notice no one offered us a ride home,” she said.
“I’ll take you,” he said.
He led her to the motorcycle, parked in a back corner of the parking garage. This time, Shelby didn’t hesitate to hop into the sidecar. Lily was able to fasten her helmet without help, and the ride to her apartment—in the daylight this time—wasn’t as unnerving. Scott drove slowly, and she clung to him, as much for the bodily warmth as to steady herself. The clock tower in the middle of the ski village indicated it was almost noon. Crowds of skiers convened in the cobblestoned courtyard that fronted many of the restaurants and shops. People in brightly colored pants and jackets lounged on benches or carried skis and snowboards toward the lifts. Children laughed and dogs barked. Shelby’s ears were straight up, but she maintained discipline—or maybe she was too frightened to risk leaping from the moving vehicle. Scott guided the bike between pedestrians and parked cars, and turned onto the main road leading away from the village.
Minutes later, he turned into the apartment complex. “Thanks,” she said again, after he had parked and she had returned his helmet. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Let me know if you hear any news about Jackson,” he said.
“Yeah. You, too.” She waved, then turned and followed Shelby into the building.
She waited inside, out of sight, and listened to the roar of the motorcycle recede as he headed toward his own building. Thecomplex had an elevator, but it was primarily used for freight. Lily always used the stairs, considering the climb part of her exercise routine. Even weary as she was, it didn’t feel right to resort to the elevator, so she started up the stairs.
Shelby bounded up ahead of her, still full of puppy energy.
Inside, she fed and watered the dog first. She debated making tea, but decided on the shower first. The hot water elicited a blissful groan as it sluiced over her. For the first time in almost two days she began to feel truly warm. Lavender-scented steam surrounded her, and she fought the urge to lean against the tile wall and fall asleep standing up.
Her intention was to make tea, eat something, then go to bed. But instead of feeling sleepy, after she ate she had the jangly, electrified feeling of having been awake too long to relax. Her mind replayed the events of the previous two days like a poorly plotted movie. Jackson had been so happy when she had spoken to him two days ago. How could he have just…disappeared? The thought of him in the wilderness somewhere, with a stranger or strangers, cold and frightened and maybe even hurt, tore at her.
She powered up her laptop and searched until she found a map similar to the one on Doug’s office wall. From what she had seen yesterday and this morning, the wilderness area was rugged, the direct route to anywhere interrupted by dense woods, imposing ridges or deep ravines. Reaching Pandora would mean a traverse of a pair of rocky mountain ridges full of dangerous obstacles obscured by snow, steep drop-offs, the near-constant threat of avalanches, and bitter winds. How was a child supposed to survive all of that?
She stared at the map until her vision blurred, and was about to close the screen when another thought occurred to her. If going over the mountain to reach Pandora was so difficult, was it possible to goaround? She traced a Forest Service road that led from town, skirting the wilderness area and ending acouple of miles before Pandora. The kidnapper would have to be careful to keep himself and Jackson out of sight, and the journey to get to the road from the place where they had spent the night would require navigating around dense woodlands and uneven terrain. But that route would also afford more places to hide or seek shelter from the weather.
