FROSTBITE (2 page)

“Here you go Fred,” Sheriff Alex Jones said as he handed me a steaming cup of coffee. I sat on a wooden chair at the police station, or for what passed as a police station in Parker Hills. It consisted of a small desk, some filing cabinets, and a single jail cell, usually reserved for Doug, our town’s chronic alcoholic.

“Thanks,” I muttered as I took a sip. Jones leaned against one of the filing cabinets, his tan uniform crinkling under the pressure.

Massaging his dark mustache, he asked, “You okay?”

“Just a little chilly Alex,” I replied. “Your deputy and the others are starting at the playground?”

“Yeah,” he answered barely above a whisper. “I’m gonna head out shortly too. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn’t anything else you could recall in your walk that could assist us in any way.”

“Nothing,” I answered as I ran my hand through my gray hair. “I wish there was.”

“Okay then,” Alex said, straightening up. “I’ll give you a ride home on my way back out.”

“That’d be fine.” After finding the glove, I had literally run straight to the police station. Alex gathered his lone deputy and a few others and they headed out about half an hour ago.

“I just can’t believe it,” Jones said, shaking his head. “A kidnapping? Here in Parker Hills?”

“I guess it is the only possibility,” I conceded. “Elizabeth did say the glove belonged to Alice?”

“Yeah,” Alex answered somberly. “A kidnapping,” he continued to mutter. “We’ve haven’t had a real crime take place here since I became sheriff over five years ago.”

“Your father would be proud,” I said.

“Thanks. I’m here to make certain that we don’t start having crimes here, especially ones involving children,” Alex replied, a hint of determination in his voice. “You finished with your coffee?”

“Oh yes,” I said, setting the mug down on the desk. “I’m ready if you are.”

“I’m ready,” the sheriff said. “Let’s go.”

***

“Let me know if I can be of any help,” I said as I climbed out of the police cruiser.

“I will,” Alex said. “For now, the best thing you can do is pray.”

“You got it,” I said and closed the passenger door. As I watched the car pull away, I had a sudden feeling of helplessness. There was a little girl somewhere out there who needed help. Maybe she had been abducted, then again maybe she hadn’t.

She quite possibly could have wondered off into the thick forest leading up to the mountains on the outskirts of town. There were miles and miles of wilderness out there. She could have fallen and injured herself. Right now, she could be lying in the freezing cold, waiting for help to arrive.

I told the sheriff that I would pray for Alice and I had certainly intended to do that. However, I just thought there might be something else that I could do to help.

At that moment, Deputy Rogers and several other concerned neighbors were searching the school grounds for her. I thought maybe I could either join them or check out the woods. I wasn’t
that
old that I still couldn’t be useful. Since there was plenty of daylight left, I decided on the woods.

***

I parked my little Honda in the poorly plowed parking lot of our recreation area. It consisted of a gigantic playground, several ball fields, and miles of hiking trails. I had half-hoped that by some miracle I would have found her here, playing in the snow, safe and sound. Seeing no signs of life, I got out of the car and started toward one of the trails.

I wasn’t sure if it was all in my mind, but it seemed to have grown colder with each step that I took toward the woods. I stopped at the beginning of the trail and shouted Alice’s name. I waited a moment and shouted her name again. I listened intently for any call for help or the slightest whimper that would indicate that she was hurt and needed assistance. After another minute of silence, I started up the trail.

As I walked the trail, I did notice that I hadn’t been the only one who’d been on the trail since the last snowfall. There was another set of tracks. Upon closer examination, however, I could clearly see that they weren’t the tracks of a child. It wasn’t uncommon for some of our more athletic residents to jog throughout these trails, even in the winter.

The trail curved and winded its way through the forest, thick with pine trees amongst many others. After a while one trail met up with another, and then shortly after that, another. I chose to stay on the same path so that I myself wouldn’t end up lost and have to have a search party come looking for me.

As I walked, I tried shouting the little girl’s name several more times but to no avail. After a while, I stopped and glanced at my watch, which was another present from Sarah. As a matter of fact, just about everything I owned had been a present from her from one occasion or another. We never were able to have children, however. That was the one present Sarah wasn’t able to ever give me, according to Doctor Adams. But that never much mattered because I loved her so much.

Anyway, I looked down at my watch and realized that if I didn’t start back down the trail in the near future, then I’d be trying to find my way back down in the dark. Shouting her name one last time, I turned to go back to the recreation area and paused. I strained my ears as best as they would allow me. I wasn’t quite sure, but I thought I had heard something. It wasn’t a voice; at least I didn’t think so. It sounded more like a muffled…moan. I don’t know how else to describe it.

With even the slightest chance that I heard something, I shouted Alice’s name again as loudly as I could. Then I listened. After minutes of silence, I decided that it had been nothing. So back down the trail I went, careful not to wonder off the path. After a few feet though, I heard a loud crashing sound. Stopping suddenly in my tracks, I spun around and looked in all directions.

I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary right away. Then I spotted it. About twenty yards off the path to my left, I noticed several small trees had fallen. This struck me as odd. Why would a couple trees suddenly topple over? Behind the trees was an unusually large mound of snow. I didn’t remember seeing that on the way up. The way it looked from where I stood, it seemed almost as if the mound of snow had somehow
plowed
into the tress, knocking them over. The ground behind the mound wasn’t elevated, so it couldn’t have been a mini avalanche.

I took several steps off the trail, trying to get a better look at the situation. Then I suddenly stopped. To this day, I still really don’t know why I did. Something in my gut just told me that something was wrong. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was, just that it was…something. Just then, a fierce wind howled through the forest, chilling me to the bone. I quickly returned to the trail and hurried back down to my car as fast as my legs would allow. I didn’t realize at the time just how close to death I actually was.

As I sat in my usual chair in front of the fireplace, I contemplated calling the sheriff. I thought that I could call him and tell him…what? That an old fool got spooked in the woods at sundown I came to the conclusion that that wouldn’t have been very helpful and therefore, I held off.

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly nine o’clock. With every passing hour, it looked as if they weren’t going to find little Alice Saunders. I couldn’t imagine the pain and emotional turmoil that Elizabeth and Tom must have been going through at that very moment.

It must have been about ten-thirty before I decided to try to give sleep a try. I went upstairs, showered, and climbed into bed. I tossed and turned all night, images of a single pink glove with blood on it floating at me through a menacing, dark forest.

***

Suddenly there came a loud bang from downstairs. I sat upright and rubbed my face. It was daylight. Turning, I looked at my alarm clock that was on a nearby nightstand. It was almost ten o’clock. I haven’t slept in that late in decades. When the banging sound came again, I realized that it was my front door.

I grabbed a robe and hurried down the stairs. I opened up the door to see the face of Deputy John Rogers. His young face showed signs of fatigue. “Morning John,” I said.

“Morning Fred. Sorry for the banging, but I guess you didn’t hear the doorbell.”

“That’s quite alright,” I replied. “Did you find Alice?”

“No sir,” the deputy answered. “As a matter of fact, we lost someone else.”

I blinked. “Huh? Who?”

“The sheriff would like to see you.”

“See me?” I repeated.

“Yep. As soon as you can.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll get dressed and be right over.”

“Thanks Fred,” he said. “I’ll see you later.”

***

“Hi Fred,” Sheriff Jones said as I entered the station. I had thought Rogers had looked fatigued, but Jones had him beat by a country mile. “Thanks for coming over on such short notice.”

“Not a problem,” I replied. “What can I do for you?”

“May I be frank?” Alex asked.

“Of course.”

“You and my father were good friends for a long time, right?”

“Right,” I answered. “Many, many years. He was one of my best friends and I miss him dearly.”

“Out of everybody in Parker Hills, he trusted you the most,” Alex said. “When he was sheriff, he could always depend on you to help him think things through if he were in a bind.”

“He came to me from time to time,” I admitted.

“Well, if it’s not too much trouble, I was hoping that maybe you could help me sort a few things out,” he said hesitantly.

“Sure,” I responded, not knowing what I could possibly do. “I’ll try my best.”

“Okay, thanks. Come look at this,” he gestured to a map that he had laid out on his desk.

I walked over and looked down. It was a map of Parker Hills. There were two thumbtacks pushed into two separate spots. “What have we got here?”

“The first tack here is where you found the glove,” Alex answered. “The possible spot of Alice’s abduction.”

I nodded. “And the other?” The second tack had been placed on the outskirts of town, not far from the recreation center.

“That’s where Norm Donaldson disappeared last night.”

My mouth hung open. Norm was a great resident who always went out of his way to help anyone. His wife had just given birth to a baby boy. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “He had been out searching for Alice with us. After the schoolyard we started into the woods on the east end of town. Finally at about two in the morning I told him to go home and get some sleep. He said that he would but first he wanted to check out the recreation area first.”

My mouth went completely dry. “Yeah,” I said, clearing my throat. “I had the same idea. I checked it out after you dropped me off yesterday.”

“You did?” His eyebrows shot up. “You should have told me you were going to do that.”

“Well, it was sort of on the spur of the moment,” I said. “She wasn’t there so I went a couple of miles into the trails.”

“Find anything?”

“No,” I answered. I almost told him about the trees, but decided not to. “How do you know he disappeared there?”

“We found his car this morning,” Jones replied. “His wife thought that he had stayed out all night with us. When she told me that he didn’t come home, we went straight to the ball fields and found his car.”

“You have people in the woods right now?”

Jones nodded. “Rogers and a few others. Why?”

“Let’s go,” I said.

“Go? I don’t want you out in the cold…”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, maybe a little too defensively. “I want to check on something.”

***

A cold shiver found its way up my spine as we headed up the hiking trail. On the ride over, Jones told me he had seven or eight volunteers and Deputy Rogers out on the trails. I looked down and saw that there were a lot more tracks on the path now than there was yesterday.

We walked pretty much in silence. After what seemed to be forever, I spotted the fallen trees. “Here it is.”

“Here is what?” He asked, looking around quizzically.

“Those trees,” I replied. “Those trees toppled over yesterday while I was out here and I thought I heard something.”

“They just fell?” He sounded incredulous. “And what did you hear?”

“I’m not sure; it was probably just the wind.” I knew I sounded preposterous “Let’s take a closer look.”

“Okay,” Rogers obliged.

We left the path and worked our way through the pines and dead brush and came upon the spot. I knew I was going to sound even more ridiculous, but I asked anyway. “It’s even colder today than it was yesterday, isn’t it?”

“What? Oh, yeah, by a couple of degrees maybe. Why?”

I stared down at the empty area where that huge snow mound had been yesterday. Now there was only a thin layer of snow left. I quickly scanned the surrounding area for any signs that somebody might have been in the vicinity anytime soon, but found nothing. Then, I kneeled down and studied the ground.

Where the mound had been was now very flat and smooth. All the debris within the immediate vicinity seemed to have been smashed down, as if something heavy had been lying on top of it. Now a snow mound the size I saw yesterday could certainly have done that, but then where was it?

“You okay?” Alex asked from over my shoulder.

I stood up, brushing the dirt and snow from my pants. “I’m fine Alex.”

“What’s eating at you?”

“I don’t know,” I honestly answered. I had no idea why something like that had bothered me so. “Yesterday, this whole area,” I said, swinging my arms. “Was one huge snow mound.”

“What?”

“Really,” I continued. “About ten feet long by maybe three or four feet wide. Look at the ground. Do you see how this whole section here has been compacted down? Compare it with the rest of the area.”

Alex scanned the area and then looked down at my feet and nodded. “I see it.”

“Okay,” I continued. “I came walking up this path yesterday and didn’t notice it. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it wasn’t here, I’m just saying that I didn’t notice it.”

“Go on.”

“Well, I was coming back down the path and heard the loud crash of these trees collapsing. Just behind the trees as you can tell by the ground, was this large snow mound.”

“Okay,” Alex said, looking a little more than skeptical. “I’m not sure…”

“You asked me earlier if I could help you sort things out,” I interrupted. “Now I’m asking you the same favor. Where did it go?”

“Huh?”

“The snow mound. Where did it go?”

“I…don’t know.”

“It couldn’t have melted,” I said. “And if it had collapsed, there would be several huge piles of snow everywhere.”

“I guess…”

“Then where did it go?”

“Fred,” he said. “I don’t know where the snow mound went. But I think it would be in our best interest if we stuck to trying to find the missing people we’ve got here.”

His comments struck home. I had no idea why I was making such a huge fuss over something as silly as snow when we had such a tragedy on our hands. It was just that feeling of dread that I had yesterday…it was overwhelming. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Alex said as he ushered me back to the trail. “You’re exploring every possibility. If the snow had been disturbed then that might have meant that Norm had been by here. It was definitely worth a look.”

We continued up the trail. Eventually, we did run into Deputy Rogers and a few others, one of them being Tom Saunders. “Any luck?” Alex asked his deputy.

“No,” John replied. “I have another group west of here.”

“Okay, but nobody goes anywhere alone,” Jones said. “We use the buddy system.”

“Absolutely,” John agreed. “We’ll catch you later.”

We said our good-byes and we turned and started back down. “I’ll take you back to the station.”

“Okay.”

“And do me a favor Fred?”

“Yeah,” I stopped.

“Don’t go out on your own anymore, okay?”

“Sure,” I said and started to walk again.

“I want your brains not your brawn,” Jones said.

I smiled. “I’ll do my best.”

At that point in time, I never felt so old or useless in my entire life.