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The handler bent to the ground where the dog stopped and then both handler and dog jogged over to Andrew and Jason. Andrew felt the blow deep in his gut as the handler spoke.
“Justice began working a track from the driver’s side but then stops. It’s as if the track ends in the middle of the road. There are some spots in the road. A small patch of what might be oil. It’s possible a car was stopped in the road at the spot where Justice stopped tracking. There are plenty of footprints there and also a few drops of what could be blood. Crime scene won’t be here for another thirty minutes to confirm,” the man reported to Jason.
The handler seemed reticent to draw any conclusions, which Andrew could understand. But, he wasn’t an idiot. Andrew knew Jill was likely put in a car and driven away.
“Kelly, any luck?” Andrew called to where Kelly was making phone calls.
“Nothing. No Jill Walshes or Jane Does in any hospitals nearby,” Kelly reported.
“We’ve got an all points out on Jill. Someone will spot her, Andrew,” Jason said.
“Jason, you’ve known me for six years. I can’t just stand around and wait. That’s not gonna happen,” Andrew said.
Chad and Jack closed in around Andrew, waiting for directions, their silent support indicating they understood the need to do something instead of sitting on a fucking mountain to wait.
Hell, even if they hadn’t understood, they would stand by Andrew’s decision.
Chad spoke next. “Jason, how sure are they that she didn’t walk away from the car or that someone didn’t take her into the woods here?”
“There’s no evidence of anyone walking into the woods. With the level of snow we still have on the ground, we would see any disturbance clearly. Justice is an extremely capable dog with an experienced handler. He can’t tell us for sure what happened, but I think Jill got into a car.” As Jason finished his assessment, Kelly walked up.
“I’ve called the Gundersons and the Peters. Jill isn’t at either of their houses and they haven’t seen anything unusual in the area.”
The Gundersons and the Peters were the only other families on the mountain.
“If Jill’s been taken off the mountain, then we need to leave the mountain,” Andrew said.
He could see Jason struggling with his response. It probably was not at all normal for the fire chief to leave the scene and go looking for a missing person with the missing person’s friends. Most likely Jason was risking his job to go with them.
The man rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and let out a frustrated groan. “Fuck it. I’ll drive.”
Jill’s head was pounding and her eyes wouldn’t open. She moved her head but was immediately rewarded with searing pain that brought on a wave of nausea.
She heard a whimper and thought it might have come from her. Then a soft, soothing voice spoke from her side.
“It’s okay, Christina. You hit your head but we’re doing some tests. I need you to lay still for me. Can you do that?” the voice asked.
Christina? Who is Christina?
“Jill,” she heard herself croak. Her voice didn’t seem to be working.
“Shh. Try not to talk, dear. Is Jill your friend? She’s waiting for you in your room. We’ll get you back there in no time. You just relax for one more minute for me.” The voice was so soothing.
Jill heard someone ask for a neuro consult. That was the last thing she heard before she drifted off again.
Jill opened her eyes and tried to take in the room around her. Small. Beige walls. IV in her arm. Hospital. And someone was speaking to her.
“Wakey, wakey, Jill. Time to go for a ride.”
She felt a bite of pain in her forearm and looked down to see her IV had been ripped out. She turned her head toward the voice and saw a woman who looked vaguely familiar. Where had she seen her before?
The woman put her arms under Jill and dragged her off the bed. Her body felt like rubber. She couldn’t move her arms or legs as she was dumped into a wheelchair.
Panic began to settle in her belly as confusion washed over her. Something wasn’t right. The woman pushed and pulled until Jill was sitting, albeit slumped over, in the wheelchair.
She felt the chair begin to move and as the chair crossed the threshold of the room, a foggy part of Jill’s brain was screaming out to her to stay. Stay in the room where she was safe.
Elevator doors. Sliding open and then closed.
