Shadow Creek (32 page)

She sat on the wet ground for several more minutes before deciding it was probably better to keep moving. Hopefully at some point she’d run into some hikers or park rangers. Yesterday, every time she turned around, it seemed like the rangers were there, with their stupid uniforms and their stupid frowns and their stupid lectures. So where were they now? Where were they when you actually needed them?

At least she’d have some funny stories to tell Sasha when she got home.
If
she got home.

Thinking of Sasha now, Brianne realized that the pretty blonde was probably the last person she wanted to see. Initially, she’d been flattered by all the attention Sasha had shown her, Sasha being older, more experienced, less inhibited. It had been Sasha who’d initiated their friendship, Sasha who’d introduced her to Tyler, who’d encouraged her to go out with him, later pressing her for all the intimate details of their encounter, enjoying each salacious, if largely fictional, tidbit Brianne tossed her way. So clearly, Sasha’s taste in men was dubious at best. No, the sad truth, Brianne realized as she reached down to the ground to push herself up, was that beyond a shared taste in expensive exercise gear, the two young women had almost nothing in common and even less to talk about.

“I could really use something to drink,” she said aloud, trying to pull some saliva into her mouth as her hand brushed up against something at once foreign and familiar. Her fingers
grasped what felt suspiciously at first like a bunch of worms, except these worms were cold and thick and seemed to be attached to one another at their base. Snakes? she wondered, feeling her stomach lurch. No, that was impossible. Snakes wouldn’t continue to lie immobile and stiff in her hand. They’d be slithering around and trying to crawl up her arm. And even the smallest of snakes would be longer than whatever it was she was holding. “Don’t look,” she told herself. “Just drop it, start walking, and don’t look back.”

Except, of course, it was already too late. Even without looking, she knew what it was.

Which was the moment she started screaming, loud, unearthly sounds she could scarcely believe were coming from her mouth. Sounds she didn’t think she was capable of making, as she ran blindly from one tree to the next, hurling herself over rocks and stumps, shouting, crying, screaming. “No, no. This isn’t happening. It can’t be happening. No, please. I’m still asleep. This is just a bad dream. I’m still asleep. I’m still asleep.”

If she kept screaming, maybe they would pierce through the confines of her awful nightmare, catapult her into consciousness. She’d awake to find herself back in her comfortable king-size bed at the lodge, Jennifer asleep beside her, her mother in the next bed beside Melissa, James sprawled out on the sofa in the adjoining room. Or better yet, they wouldn’t be in the Adirondacks at all. She’d be snug and safe in her own bed in Brooklyn, having dreamed up this entire unfortunate excursion. There’d be no lodge, no campground, no stupid car in a stupid ditch, no being lost in the woods, in the rain.

No severed hand dangling from her fingertips.

She screamed again, even louder this time. Leaning against the trunk of a tall tree, she shook the memory of the severed
hand dangling from her fingers, as her body convulsed in a series of painful dry heaves.

When she looked up, he was standing there, not more than twenty feet away. His face was flushed, as if he’d been running, and sweat stained the front of his uniform. He wasn’t quite as good-looking in the daylight as he’d been in the darkness of the previous night, but at that moment Brianne thought him the handsomest man on earth. “Henry,” she cried, running toward the park ranger and falling into his arms. “Thank God you’re here.”

“WHAT DO YOU mean, you heard screaming?” Val immediately jumped to her feet, causing the picnic table at which they’d all been sitting to shake and sway.

“I
think
it was screaming,” Jennifer qualified.

“Was it Brianne?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t tell. I just heard what sounded like a scream, and then the line went dead.”

“That’s it. I’ve had enough. I’m not waiting around anymore.”

“Val, please,” Jennifer cautioned. “Henry said we have to be patient, that the rangers might not be able to get here before noon.”

“That was before there was a scream, before his line went dead,” Val said, reminding Jennifer of what she’d just told them. She tried to curb her growing panic. “Brianne’s in real trouble. I can feel it.”

“I’m sure Henry would have called right back if he found Brianne.”

“Maybe he can’t call. Maybe there’s a problem with his
phone. Or maybe something terrible has happened to Brianne and he doesn’t want to call …”

“Don’t do this to yourself, Val,” Gary said from somewhere beside her.

“Something’s very wrong. I know it.”

“That’s good enough for me.” Melissa pushed herself away from the picnic table, grabbing James by the hand and pulling him up along with her. “Come on. We’re getting out of here.”

“Where are we going?”

“Wherever Val wants,” Melissa said.

“I HEARD YOU screaming,” Henry was saying, holding Brianne an arm’s distance away and looking her up and down, as if checking for signs of injury. “Are you all right? You’re not hurt, are you?”

Brianne tried to speak but only sobs emerged.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. Slow down. Take your time.”

“There’s … there’s …” She tried pointing, but her hand only flopped around ineffectually.

“Breathe,” Henry advised. “That’s right. Take deep breaths. More. From the diaphragm. Good. That’s much better.”

“There’s … a … a … 
hand
.”

“A … 
what
?”

Once again Brianne felt the bile rising in her throat. “Over there.” She lurched forward, retching violently into a cluster of pine needles.

“Okay. Okay. Take more deep breaths. Thatta girl.” Henry waited while she wiped the spittle from her mouth, then the tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry. Did you say, there’s a … 
hand
?”

Again Brianne pointed, this time with greater success. Then
she clasped both hands over her mouth to keep from screaming again.

Henry crouched down and began sifting through the earth until he found what he was looking for.

“It looks like it’s been hacked off with an axe,” Brianne said between gulps of air.

“No, I don’t think so.” Henry lifted up the offending object by its cold, dead fingers, his voice measured and calm. “More than likely, a bear did this.”

“Oh, God.” Brianne shot a wary glance over her shoulder. “Is it still here?”

“I don’t know. But it’s probably best not to wait around to find out.”

“Do you think the hand could belong to that guy, David, the one who disappeared from the lodge the other night?”

Henry shrugged. “Hard to say how long this has been here.” He tossed the hand down on some leaves.

“Are you just going to leave it there?”

“I’ll take care of it later. Now come on.” He took her by the elbow, began leading her through the dense foliage. “It’s time to get you someplace safe.”

THE HEADQUARTERS FOR the local branch of the park rangers was located in Bolton Landing, a charming little village that was approximately a twenty-minute drive from the Starbright campground. The small, boxy, redbrick building stood out like a proverbial sore thumb among the otherwise quaint architecture of the town, and was located at the foot of a narrow bridge that connected the village to a nearby island, on which stood the historic, green-trimmed, white-clapboard Sagamore Hotel.

Val pulled her SUV into the parking lot. Aside from a few
ranger vehicles, there were no other cars. What the hell were they so damn busy with that they couldn’t have sent someone out to interview her earlier? she wondered, running up the three front steps and into the main office, her companions struggling to catch up.

“Can I help you?” the young man behind the front reception counter inquired as they converged on him, Val the obvious leader, Melissa and James at her right shoulder, Jennifer and Gary at her left. Once again, they’d left Hayden behind in case Brianne returned to the campsite.

The ranger’s name was Steve Severin. He was of medium height and weight, with dark hair and a pleasant, if unmemorable, face. Val noted there were two desks directly behind him and a large glassed-in office at the back. Four other rangers were mulling about, including the older of the two officers who’d escorted Brianne and Tyler back to the lodge yesterday afternoon. She had a vague recollection that his name was Leo, but she wasn’t sure. He recognized her immediately and nodded in her direction, approaching cautiously. “We’ve been waiting all morning for you guys to show up,” Val admonished before he had a chance to speak.

“Show up for what?” he asked, opening the small gate to allow Val and her friends entry into the inner sanctum as the other rangers gathered around them. “Suppose you sit down and tell us what this is about.”

“You should
know
what this is about,” Val insisted impatiently. “Henry Voight called and explained everything to you first thing this morning.” She looked toward Jennifer for confirmation.

It was only then that she realized that Jennifer was no longer part of the group. She’d remained on the other side of the counter, and was seemingly engrossed in the long line of
rangers’ photographs decorating the hallway to the left of the front door.

“You’ve been speaking to Henry Voight?” Steve Severin asked.

“Well, no. It was Jennifer who actually spoke to him.” What the hell is that woman doing over there? Val wondered impatiently. Looking for a new recruit? “Jennifer, could we bother you for a minute, please?”

“Officer Voight didn’t report for work this morning,” Leo said as Jennifer turned toward them.

“Didn’t you say it was his day off?” Val asked Jennifer.

“This can’t be right,” Jennifer said, her face drained of its natural color.

“What can’t be right?” Steve Severin asked.

“The name under this picture. It says this man is Henry Voight.” She tapped the photograph directly behind her.

“Yes, that’s Henry,” Leo said as the others nodded their agreement.

Jennifer looked warily toward Val, who already knew without hearing the words what Jennifer was about to say. “That’s not the man I met last night,” she told them. “I’ve never seen this man before.”

H
OW ARE YOU DOING?” Henry asked after they’d walked about a quarter of a mile. “Am I going too fast for you?”

“I’m okay,” Brianne said, although the bottoms of her bare feet were under constant attack by the sticks and stones that covered the ground, and the uneven terrain was causing her calves to cramp. Amazingly, her ankle didn’t hurt at all.

“What happened to those nice shoes you were wearing?”

“I threw the stupid things away.”

He laughed. “Good move. They weren’t exactly built for hiking in the Adirondacks. Although, I have to admit, they looked pretty fantastic.”

Brianne smiled. “Thanks.”

“And they probably cost a small fortune.”

“Not so small.” She sighed, the smile quickly disappearing. “My mom’s gonna kill me.”

“Yeah. Something tells me she’s not going to be too happy about any of this.”

Brianne sighed again. She’d already told the park ranger about having snuck off with Tyler—she’d left out the part about their having been discovered in flagrante delicto earlier in the afternoon—and about how Tyler had subsequently driven his car into a ditch—she’d left out the part about Tyler’s drinking and his subsequent fight with Hayden—and about how they’d then managed to get themselves lost in the woods, and how Sir Galahad had left her, supposedly to find help, and never returned.

Yes, she thought. Henry was right. Her mother wasn’t going to be too happy. “Maybe you could speak to her first, soften her up a little.”

Henry grinned shyly. “I can try.”

Brianne thought how cute the ranger looked when he smiled, and she found herself wondering if he had a girlfriend. Although her mother would undoubtedly insist he was way too old for her, she thought, irritated with her already. Still, he was responsible and hardworking and he’d rescued her from nearly being eaten by a bear, for God’s sake. Surely that should count for something. “Are we almost there?” she asked after another ten minutes, trying to keep the whine from her voice.

“Shouldn’t be much longer.”

“You’re sure you know where you’re going?”

Henry laughed. “I’d say I know these woods like the back of my hand,” he joked, “but I wouldn’t want you to throw up again.”

Brianne scowled, trying not to feel the waxy, dead fingers
of the severed hand in her own. “As if there’s anything left in my stomach to throw up.”

Henry’s eyes narrowed. “When was the last time you had something to eat?”

“Not since breakfast yesterday morning.”

“You haven’t eaten anything in twenty-four hours?”

Brianne shrugged, as if this was no big deal. She’d refused to eat the hot dogs being grilled last night at the campsite, even though they’d smelled delicious. “I’m a vegetarian,” she’d reminded her mother testily, although they both knew this wasn’t, strictly or even remotely speaking, true. The truth was that she liked the idea of being a vegetarian far better than she actually liked being one. The truth was that she liked nothing better than a good, juicy piece of red meat. The truth was she was starving. “I
am
pretty hungry,” she admitted after several more minutes had passed.

“We’ll get you something to eat when we get to the cottage,” Henry said.

“Cottage?”

“You should be able to see it any minute now.” As if on cue, a dirt road suddenly materialized behind a row of thinning trees, a small log cabin appearing, like a mirage, at its far end.

“Oh, my God,” Brianne exclaimed. “That must be the cottage Tyler was talking about.”

Henry came to a sudden stop. “Tyler told you about a cottage?”

Brianne quickly filled in a few of the details she’d left out of her story the first time: that she and Tyler had been fighting and he’d gone off in a huff; that he’d returned later with the news he’d spotted a road and a cottage about a mile away; that she hadn’t been able to walk on her sore ankle, which was the reason Tyler had gone on alone. “Whose cottage is it?”