The Camp (11 page)

They walked along in silence, stepping off the narrow road once to let a car pass.

“That guy you introduced me to last night—he’s one of them, right? And also your uncle?”

She pondered an explanation. “He’s not really my uncle. He and his wife rescued me from a well about ten years ago.”

“Wow, that must have been scary.”

“I don’t really remember much.”

She stole a look at him watching her and pretended to be looking at her feet.

“They’re EMTs up here, taking a river rescue course.” She drew out the next words as though speaking about a troubled child. “If my father makes it on time, we’ll all have dinner together tonight.”

The sun reflected off the dirt road that had now turned to asphalt, making it seem hotter than it was. Amy coyly unbuttoned the bottom of the three buttons on her golf shirt.

“So, just a vacation then?”

She wrestled around with what to reply, finally concluding that none of this would matter after she went back home.

“My father’s a private investigator and has just solved a tough case. So this is kind of a celebration.”

When they came to an old log home, she stopped.

“The old James place. Nobody’s lived there in fifty years.”

Amy reluctantly continued up the road before stopping again. Deciding she wanted to take a closer look at the old cabin, she turned, stepped into the weeds, and headed back. She expected Ron to object, but was surprised when he started yelling.

“Hey! You can’t do that.”

When she looked over her shoulder, he was tearing through the weeds in her direction.

“Stop. C’mon, Amy. Stop.”

When she reached the side of the cabin she turned. “What are you getting so excited about?”

He lurched up next to her, panting, his hands on his knees.

“I don’t see a ‘No Trespassing’ sign or anything.”

He straightened up, still slightly out of breath.
 

She saw the extreme look of concern on his face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see any harm…”

He cut her off. “A few months ago, a body was found inside. A girl about your age, drug overdose.”

She took a step away from the cabin. “Who was she?”

He shook his head as he spoke. “Nobody knows. Figured she was a runaway. Sheriff told everyone to stay away—that it was still a crime scene.”

They walked back through the weeds in silence until they reached the road again.

“We don’t really have any crime around here. Once in a while, one of the girls up at Hiouchi runs away, but that’s about it.”

She looked back at the cabin. “What’s Hiouchi?”

“A camp for troubled teenage girls.”

He suddenly stopped. “You’re not a troubled teen, are you?”

She turned to look him square in the eye. “Don’t be silly.”

With a face of mock concern, he tilted his head. “Okay, then. What school do you go to?”

“Ashland High. I’m a freshman.” Well, shit. There it was. She said it.

“Lucky.”

She furrowed her brow. “What? Why?”

He jogged up to what looked like a wagon trail—two ruts separated by a high row of weeds. “See there?” He just stared up the road until she arrived at his side.

“You’re kidding, right?”

He just shook his head. “Twenty-one kids ranging from ten to sixteen.”

She laughed, but stopped when she saw how forlorn he looked. “You’re telling me you attended a one-room schoolhouse?”

“Up to the eighth grade, until the county figured out what was going on. We had one teacher and none of the parents wanted their kids bussed into what they considered ‘the city.’”

He headed up the road and it was a good thing, because Amy didn’t know what to say and wanted to check out the steeple-topped building.

“That’s the same school that my grandfather, the man who built the lodge, attended. I thought it was pretty neat until I got to a public school and saw what I was missing.”

Amy felt terrible and guilty for not knowing what to say. Maybe if she hadn’t mentioned where she went to school, he wouldn’t be thinking about his own education.

She took a double step to catch up, and then grabbed him by the arm. “Ron, would you like to have dinner with us tonight?”

“Are you sure? It sounds kind of like a family thing.”

“Actually, it’s my celebration, too.”

He turned around, now walking backwards. “What are you celebrating?”

They kept walking, facing each other.
 

“Well?”

Amy berated herself for letting the cat out of the bag about her father’s occupation. I’m really going to get it for that, she thought. Why not just keep going now? What the hell.

“I’ve been studying Kenpo Karate since I was seven, and just passed my brown belt test.”

He didn’t say a thing, was just doing the math in his head. “How old are you?”

She mentally slammed her forehead. Daddy and Aunt Claire are going to kill me. I guess I’m the only person left to betray.

“I’m fifteen.”

Ron turned back around and slowed up until she was next to him.
 

“Wow, and you’ve got a brown belt. Is that, like, really deadly?”

“How much further to the store? I’m getting thirsty.”

She was grateful that he didn’t press her for more details and stopped asking questions. There was no way she was going to tell him anything more about her friends, her father, or herself.

He looked over at her. She was walking with her arms crossed.

“Hey I’m sorry. I’m always talking too much.”

When she didn’t reply, he walked along in silence until they came to a bend in the road. “It’s just a bit further now.”

They reached the apex of the curve where they could see the store. She suddenly stepped off the road and into the weeds by a tree.

Ron looked at her surprised. She waved him over.

“Who works there?”

He looked over at the store, then back at Amy. “Cindy owns the place. Josh and Billy have been there almost as long as she has. That guy unloading the truck, he’s new. Locals can’t figure out why she hired Frank.”

She didn’t take her eyes off the guy unloading the truck. It sure looked like Ed’s perverted roommate.

“Anyone else new?”

He leaned against the tree. “Word is that she brought someone up from the Rogue Valley to operate the rafting part of the business. But nobody’s seen him yet. I thought you said you were thirsty?”

She stepped onto the road and walked backwards until she couldn’t see the store and figured if Frank looked in their direction, he wouldn’t see her. Then she turned and headed back down the way they’d come.

“What’s up?”

“I don’t want to miss my father when he arrives. That’s all.”

Chapter Seventeen

Gill ran back to the parking lot. He had a body and two near-drowning cases— one in critical condition—and there was no support crew anywhere.

His first clue explaining the disappearance of his staff came when he reached the lot. One of the three ambulances was gone, along with a Land Rover. What ever happened was a medical emergency.

All three medical groups were instructed to leave keys in an easily accessible hiding place on the outside of their vehicle. This way, anyone would be able to drive an emergency vehicle whenever it was needed.

He pulled the keys out of the tailpipe of the ambulance. Not sure how to work the mic, he parked in front of the lodge and called the sheriff to notify him about the body.

The ambulance was able to move up the trail until it came to a half-dozen trees that crowded in.

By the time he reached Claire, Rye was sitting up. She had stripped off her drysuit and wrapped it around his core.

She looked over at the sound of running and heaved a sigh of relief when Gill emerged from the woods.

“We’ve got to get him to the ambulance and start an IV.”

“It’s about half a mile down the trail.” He looked over at the body, then stepped up to help get Rye on his feet. “How you doing?”

She struggled under her husband’s weight. “I swallowed half the river, but kept a good core temperature.”
 

Supporting Rye under each arm, they worked his near-lifeless bulk halfway down the trail before they had to stop and rest, bracing him against a tree.

“What the hell happened to my spotter and your staff?”

Gill shrugged. “I’m not sure except it was medical. When I got to the parking area, an ambulance was missing, along with one of the Land Rovers.”

Rye startled them both when he lurched away from the tree. “I think I can walk.”

They grabbed each arm as he began to sag.

“Maybe not.”

All three laughed in that tight way people do when the humorous side of something tragic becomes apparent.

In spite of his protests, they strapped him in before hooking him up to the IV.

“Somebody here call the sheriff about a body?”

Gill looked over at Claire, who gave him an ‘okay to leave’ nod.

He stepped from the ambulance, extended a hand. “Larry Gill.”

The officer took the proffered hand. “You in charge?”

“Yes, sir. We’re conducting a river rescue course. I’m fully licensed and bonded and have all the permits.”

The Sheriffs deputy nodded. “Can you take me to the victim?” He paused and looked at the ambulance. “They gonna be alright?”

Claire sat next to Rye, holding his hand and looking out, watching them walk down the trail and disappear into the woods.

“You awake?”
 

He opened his eyes. “Yeah.”

“That body was Ed Thomas.”

He closed his eyes again. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know, but based on the bloating, he’d only been in the water for 24 hours.”

“Any obvious injuries?”

“None that I could see under the circumstances.” Rye didn’t respond again and didn’t open his eyes. His hand had gone limp in hers and she gently lay it across his stomach and took his pulse at the carotid artery. Asleep.

She checked the IV and the needle then quietly stepped out onto the lawn. Every time she took a deep breath she coughed. She was just recovering from a coughing fit when an odd rhythm of footsteps brought her around the ambulance, where she almost ran into Paul.

“I asked about you when I checked in and they said there had been some kind of accident.”

She walked him to the front of the emergency vehicle so their voices wouldn’t wake Rye.

“Ed Thomas is dead.”
 

Paul dipped his head to make eye contact. “What?”

Claire was feeling the weight of her ordeal and sat down, cross-legged. Paul followed suit as best he could.

“Today was the last day of training and the final scenario. I was playing the part of the victim, one of three who had been flipped out of a raft. The scenario called for me to be suspended part way into a hole.”

Paul made a questioning face.
 

“It’s a place where the water plunges over a boulder and creates a circulating effect. The search team was supposed to find and rescue me by throwing me a bag filled with coiled rope. Seemed simple enough.”

She looked away as if the memory of the event was too fresh in her mind. But as an EMT, she also knew that this was the best way to accurately describe an accident.

“Some kind of medical emergency caused my spotter and the staff manning the rope that kept me out of the hole to leave their posts.”

She stood up, coughed, then stretched, and sat back down.

“Anyway, Rye rescued me out of the hole and in the process, Ed surfaced. Sheriff’s looking at the body now.”

“How’s Rye?”

“It was a bitch getting the big guy from the river to the ambulance. But by the time we got him strapped down, he was responding well. Fairly serious hypothermia, but he’ll be fine.”

Paul stood and gave Claire a hand up. “Thanks. You’re just in time. Once he’s gone through the IV, I need to get him up to the room and into a hot tub and start filling him with warm foods. I’ll need a hand.”

Back in the woods, the two men stood over the body. “You alright?”

Gill had dropped down to one knee. “Just getting over an adrenaline rush. I’ll be fine in a minute.”

“I’ll let you recover while I go back to the cruiser and get a tarp. The Medical Examiner is coming from Gold Beach, so he might not be here for an hour or so.”

In their room at the lodge, Claire opened the door of the bathroom and had to duck to keep from getting hit with a washcloth. “Hey!”

“Get me a towel or clothes or something. I’m starting to turn into a prune.”

“Alright, Mr. Bad Patient. Let me collect the dishes.” She scanned the plate and soup bowl, both scraped clean. “I see you haven’t lost your appetite. Your sweats will have to do.”

Once on the bed, Rye with a third bowl of soup in hand, they had begun to discuss the tragic events of the day when they were interrupted by a knocking at the door.

Rye started to get up but was pushed back with a firm hand to the chest. “I’ve got it.” The knocking continued until she opened the door.

“Paul? She looked past him expecting to see Amy. “What’s up?”

She motioned him in. “Rye’s pretending he’s all better.”

He looked at his friend. “He looks fine.”

“Don’t let him fool you. He’s weak as a kitten.”

Rye held up both fists in a mock boxing position. “Come over here and say that.”

“You and Amy have a falling out?”

The Private Investigator sat on the end of the bed. “Not that I’m aware of. She doesn’t want to come out of her cabin. When I ask if everything is alright, she just shakes her head. I told her about the accident and she was concerned but didn’t want to come visit.” He looked directly at Claire. “I don’t know. I thought it might be a woman thing.”

Claire nodded. “Right. A woman thing. Got it. She saw a spider and now won’t leave the safety of her cabin.”

“C’mon. You know what I mean.”

“Get with it, Paul. You’re the single parent of a developing young woman. But seeing how you’re apparently inept in this department, I’ll visit the young lady.”

When she got to Amy’s cabin, the lights were still on, so she knocked and called out.