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It’s your fucking son, lady. I took a deep breath and said, “Yes. I’m a stranger—they might just run.”
“Oh. Right.” She sniffed, a sound that was somehow filled with displeasure. “Let’s go then.”
I switched on the flashlight; the bright beam pooled out in front of me, silvering the nearby leaves and muting the call of the cicadas. The pulse coming from the shoe led me to the left; after squeezing past a number of thorny bushes, I found a slight path. Mrs. Rankin followed close behind, her annoyance staining the air. Hopefully, this little adventure would impress on her the need to stop overindulging her damn son.
It was a good hour before the signal coming from the shoe jumped into sharper focus. I stopped and swept the light across the trees. There was no sign of the teenagers, but they were nevertheless close.
“Call your son, Mrs. Rankin.”
“Charlie? You out there?”
“Mom?” The voice came from our left.
I swung the light around. A slender figure popped up out of the scrub and flung a hand across his face to protect his eyes.
“What the hell are you doing all the way out here?” he said.
“What the hell do you think I’m doing? Rescuing you, you idiot.”
“I thought you’d just send the rangers.”
“What? And get us all in trouble again? That would be bright, wouldn’t it? Where are the others?”
Three “We’re here” followed this question, and all four boys stepped onto the path. There was little contrition on their faces—they’d enjoyed every minute of being ‘lost’, and that alone made me wonder if it had been deliberately done.
“We’d better get you lot home,” Mrs. Rankin continued. “Before your mothers start wondering where the hell you are.”
If their mothers weren’t already wondering that, I’d be seriously surprised.
“So who’s she?” Charlie said. “And why is she carrying my shoe?”
“She’s the psychic who helped me find you.”
“By using my shoe?”
“Yes. And the cost of hiring her is coming out of your allowance, Charlie, I can assure you of that.”
“Oh, Mom—”
“Don’t ‘oh Mom’ me. You were warned to keep to the marked tracks and you didn’t. Just thank the lucky stars it was us that found you rather than the Marins.”
“We’re not that close to their boundary.”
A comment that all but confirmed my suspicion they weren’t as lost as they’d made out. I shook my head, then turned around and led the five of them back to the SUVs. Mrs. Rankin ushered the boys into the back of her vehicle, then grabbed her purse and handed me the fee. She obviously wasn’t lacking for cash if she carried that sort of change around.
“Thanks for your help.” She hesitated. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this little adventure to your ranger friend. I wouldn’t like it getting back to the wrong ears.”
A request that had come way too late, and one I wouldn’t have obeyed anyway. “I suggest you get back into town without delay, Mrs. Rankin. There’s been some trouble around these parts recently.”
“That seems to be a running theme in this reservation. Might be time to move again, I’m thinking.”
I made no comment; I just nodded, climbed into my SUV, and reversed back between the trees so she could get past. Then I followed her back onto the gravel road that wound its way out of the area.
I’d barely gone a mile or so when there was an odd thump. The steering became sluggish and unresponsive, the wheel began to vibrate, and there was an odd flapping sound coming from the rear of the vehicle. I pulled off the road and jumped out. The rear left tire was flat.
So much for the sturdiness of new tires.
I opened the rear door, pulled up the floor mats, and then tugged out the spare and the tire-changing kit. Only to discover the wheel nuts had been done up by Superman himself and there was no way I was ever going to get them undone. Not even by jumping up and down on the lever thingy.
