“Babe, what is it?”
Arden’s expression turned grim. “It’s Ellie. Walter wandered off and she went to look for him alone. She can’t find him and she’s hurt.”
Seventeen
Kyle’s heart pounded and he took some deep breaths to take him to that place of calm where he could think and plan. They got ready to help and then bundled up in parkas, scarves, hats, and gloves while Arden filled him in on the texts Ellie kept sending. She was in the woods and didn’t have enough bars to make a call but her texts were still going through.
Ellie and Walter had spent a quiet Christmas morning eating and opening gifts, and Walter seemed really with it. Ellie went out to check on their chickens and when she came back in, he was looking for his car keys and insisting on driving. Rick had been telling him that the car would be faster than trying to take the bus down into Denver and somehow he remembered that. Walter said he’d just gotten a phone call saying that Maggie was sick in town and she needed him. The receiver was off the hook on their landline phone but no one was there. There had been a call, but the area code was out of state and when Ellie tried it, she got a recorded message for buying a timeshare.
Ellie got Walter calm and put him down for a nap in his room while she made dinner. When she went to get him up an hour later, she opened the door and his window was open. The lock was broken and Walter was gone.
“She went to the bus stop to look for him and he wasn’t there.” Arden held back her tears even as her voice wavered “So she went back around the house to try and track him better. That’s when she realized there was more than one set of footprints and that they led back through their propertyawayfrom the road.”
“Fucking hell. Rick the Dick.”
Arden nodded as she checked over the first aid kit she’d pulled from under the kitchen sink. “As soon as she realized there was a second set, she came to the same conclusion. She tried to follow them, but the prints were disappearing in the wind and snow quickly.”
“Why didn’t she call us right away?” Kyle leashed Camo and headed to the front door. He grabbed Nancy on the way out. The shotgun felt good and right in his hands.
Arden let out an exasperated sigh. “She told me earlier they were having a good day and she told me to enjoy my military man, as she called you. She didn’t want to bother us.”
Kyle rolled his eyes. Under any other circumstances, he would have deeply appreciated the woman’s sentiment. “You ready?”
“One sec.” Arden opened the drawer when she kept her gun, pulled it out, and stuck it in her waistband the small of her back.
They went out the door and into the blowing snow. Camo immediately barked and tried to run toward the barn.
“How far is Ellie from her house?” he shouted over the wind.
“Not very, she says. Maybe only four or five hundred feet into the trees. She tripped on something and twisted her ankle. She doesn’t think it’s broken, but she tried to put weight on it and couldn’t. So she just sat back down and tried to call me, and she’s been texting ever since. She sent one off to George, too.”
“Smart.” Kyle could only imagine Ellie doing worse damage if she tried to hobble around on a twisted ankle in the snow. “It still might take us a while to find her, but it’ll go faster with Camo.”
“We’ll take the snowmobiles. That’ll save us some time. She said she’s directly across from her house and then up the hill maybe another two-hundred feet.”
As they headed for the shed with the snowmobiles, Camo tried to veer toward the barn again. “Come on, boy.”
“God, I hope that lion hasn’t come back,” Arden said.
“All the more reason to get to Ellie faster and track Walter down,” Kyle said. He opened the hatch on the dog carrier and Camo jumped in. They took off out of the shed and headed for the Sanders’ ranch. Five minutes later, Kyle followed Arden as she veered off the road and onto the Sanders’ property. It was easier to find than he thought it would be. They still had power and lights shown from the house. The tracks were still visible—but barely—in their headlights. They followed them to the trees, but with the storm and the dark, they left the snowmobiles behind and went on foot.
“Ellie!” Arden shouted. “Can you hear me?”
They heard a woman’s voice just over the wind. Camo’s ears perked up.
“Go find her, boy,” Kyle said, then let out more of the retractable leash. Camo barked and took off, Kyle and Arden keeping up as best they could. Ellie kept yelling and her voice grew louder as they made their way through the trees, swinging their flashlights back and forth in an arc.
“We’re almost there, Ellie, hang on!” Kyle shouted. “Keep yelling!”
Movement in the trees ahead caught Kyle’s eye. Camo was a furry missile headed straight for it. A moment later, Kyle could make out Ellie waving her arms. “We see you!”
“Oh thank God!” Ellie dissolved into tears. Then she waved them on. “I’m fine! You’ve gotta find Dad, please!”
Arden dropped down next to her with the first aid kit. “I think I know enough about animals to get you mobile. Kyle’s going to keep looking for Walter while I take care of you, okay?” Arden had read his mind and said exactly what she needed to.
While Arden worked on Ellie’s ankle Kyle asked, “Ms. Sanders, do you have anything of your dad’s on you so Camo can get his scent? I’m wearing his parka, but it probably has too much of me on it at this point.”
“I don’t…wait, check the inside pocket, Kyle. He always kept a handkerchief in there.”
