Page 25 of Glimmer in the Darkness

James had never considered that possibility.

“Biggest reason we think it’s her, though?” Cote rested his forearms on the table between them and leaned forward. “She ran. Innocent people don’t run.”

“Maybe when they don’t think anybody will believe them, they do.”

“If what she said is true, then by running she’s allowed her kidnapper to snatch two more little girls, one of them my niece.” For the first time, emotion clouded his words. “My brother’s granddaughter is missing, and your ex-girlfriend’s got her. So if you have any idea where she is, you’d better start talking or you’re as guilty as she is.”

Chapter Nine

Two hours passed while Cassidy pretended to read. Some cars drove by, and many stopped at the office building.

Finally, Cassidy saw a man who looked familiar come from the road behind her. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, so too young to be Wilson. He walked around the far side of the building that housed the restrooms and disappeared from view. A moment later, he stepped out from the other side of the building carrying rolls of toilet paper. He entered the men’s restroom, emerged seconds later with fewer rolls and, after announcing his presence, went into the women’s room.

This had to be Eugene.

When he exited—free of toilet paper—he paused and gazed across the grounds. She lifted her novel when his gaze came her way, then lowered it a moment later to watch him.

He was about six feet and lanky. A beard and mustache covered much of his face. She recognized him not so much by his looks but by the guarded way he carried himself—hunched, eyes darting about as if waiting for an attack. He’d been picked on enough in school that she supposed he’d earned that defensive posture. He wore a red baseball cap emblazoned with the name of the campground, a light green T-shirt, and dark green shorts that went halfway to his knees. Looked like uniform pants, like those that might be worn by a park ranger or a Boy Scout.

He emptied trash cans in the dumpster at the perimeter of the common area and returned them to the restrooms. Then he walked up one of the narrow dirt roads toward the campsites.

Cassidy snatched her things and followed. If she could just hear his voice… And then she’d have to go into the office building to hear Wilson’s. If she could get up the nerve.

Tents and cars dotted the landscape, flashes of bright colors amid the greens and browns of the forest. She walked among them, picking up snatches of conversations, the low hum of voices that sounded like they were coming from TVs. People must be watching on tablets or phones. Who went camping to watch a screen? Wasn’t the point to get away from that stuff?

Music came from one tent, snoring from another. Little kids chased each other. One boy was jumping for the lowest branch of a pine but couldn’t quite reach it.

Ahead of her, Eugene hurried up the road, despite an incline that had her panting. He didn’t speak to anyone on the walk. When someone called out a hello, he raised a hand in greeting but didn’t say anything. Not very helpful.

She tried to act like she belonged, though the deeper they went, the sparser the tents became. When Eugene passed a small wooden sign nailed to a tree that read No Campers Beyond This Point, she stepped into the forest and wandered toward the lake, though she couldn’t see it from there. When she was far enough away that one would have to be looking for her to see her, she turned to study the small building at the end of the road.

It was smaller than a single-car garage. There was a window beside the door on the front. On the side beneath an attached overhang, a green cart, like a golf cart, was parked.

Eugene went inside.

The forest floor was clear here, and she had no trouble giving the shack a wide berth as she rounded it. When she’d gone to the far side and faced back the way she’d come, she realized that the road had carried them higher than she’d originally thought. Through the pines, she could see the tops of tents, the restrooms, the volleyball court, and the beach far below.

Her focus shifted back to the shack. There were no windows on the rear side, but a door led to three steps that, were Eugene to come out, would lead him straight to her. But why would he come out the back? There was nothing here but forest.

And nobody for him to talk to. How was she supposed to hear his voice if he never talked to anybody?

Only the occasional shout from the campground reached her. Otherwise, just the sounds of the forest kept her company.

Now what?

She turned and climbed higher on the hillside. If she walked a mere fifty or seventy-five yards toward the highway, she’d intercept the trail. Perhaps this was how Eugene or Wilson had gotten to her and Hallie that winter day. Perhaps he’d been out for a leisurely walk and happened upon them. In fact, if the trails were as close as Cassidy believed, was it possible he’d heard Hallie’s laughter? The girl had always been exuberant, but especially that day. After an illness had kept her homebound for a week, she was feeling better and eager to go outside. And, thanks to the warm weather—mid-forties, a scorcher for January in the mountains—she’d insisted they play outside.

Cassidy stilled and listened but could hear nothing from above, very little from below. The low hum of people and engines, cars and motorboats, though hardly noticeable, would drown out all but the loudest shouts. In the wintertime, when nobody was about… It’s possible one of the Cages had heard Hallie’s laughter or Cassidy’s calls for the girl to slow down, wait up.

She should never have let Hallie out of her sight. If only she’d been smarter, made better choices.

After fighting the regret and self-recrimination for a decade, Cassidy’d learned how to shake it off, and she did so now.

It was possible Wilson or Eugene had heard the laughter, wondered who was up there in the middle of winter, and gone to investigate. He’d likely not had evil plans when he’d set out, only curiosity and boredom. She knew the kidnapper hadn’t planned anything because he hadn’t been prepared. Armed, yes, but it was likely he always carried the gun and the knife. He’d had no water, no food, no blankets.

So, he’d happened upon them, made the snap decision to kidnap them. And then he’d taken them to his mountain hideaway rather than back here. Why?

Because, whichever one did it, he didn’t want the other to know. It made sense.