Page 38 of Glimmer in the Darkness

She swiveled and started climbing again. “You have no right to distrust me when you refuse to hear the story.”

“Do you want to tell it?”

He followed as she climbed. “I need you to understand.”

He wanted to understand, but not right now. Not yet. When they weren’t moving. When he wouldn’t be distracted. When he could focus and study her face and weigh her words.

“Let’s talk about the kidnapper,” he suggested. “What can you tell me about him?”

“He wore a thick parka, but I got the sense he was slender underneath it.” Her words were measured, emotionless. “He was tall, but not…” She turned, glanced at James. “How tall are you?”

“About five-eleven.”

“I think he was taller than you.”

“How old?”

She grabbed a tree trunk and hoisted herself up a small rise. “He wore a mask.”

“The whole time you were with him? That’s weird.”

He climbed up behind her and saw she’d stopped and turned to face him. “Why?”

James thought back to Cassidy’s words Monday evening. “You said he planned to kill you, right?”

“I said he didn’t expect me to be there.” She started hiking again. “I thought he’d kill me. But… I don’t think he planned any of it. I think it was… It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. He saw Hallie, he snatched her, and then I came along and—”

“Then why the mask?”

“I guess he didn’t want Hallie to see his face, either.”

“No, I mean… If he didn’t plan to kidnap you guys, why would he have a mask?”

“I don’t know. How would I know?”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“It was cold. People wear ski masks when it’s cold.” She skirted a huge rock blocking her way and climbed the gentle rise beside it.

“It’s not that I doubt you.” He did, but it wasn’t only that. “I’m just trying to understand.”

“Okay.”

The stream beside them went from gentle to quick, falling over stones and terrain in mini-waterfalls.

Above him, Cassidy stopped and looked up. “Not sure this is the best route.”

He followed her gaze and saw what she meant. The hillside was getting steeper, rockier. “Let’s move sideways a bit. I think we want to get more to the east anyway.” He led away from the stream. The slope was steep, and he picked his way to the side, moving upward slowly and using tree trunks as handholds to keep his feet.

“I’m wondering about the timeline,” she said. “Where do you think the kidnapper’s been all these years, assuming it’s the same guy?”

“You think he’s been gone?” James asked.

“What else accounts for the gap in time? Maybe he was in prison.”

“Possible.”

When he added nothing else, she said, “Possible he moved away. Do you know anybody who moved away then and has now come back?”