The Reservoir (17 page)

He took a shoring breath and then leaned his torso closer to the floor, his shoulder pressed against the wood as he snaked his arm into the hole again.  Suddenly, he pulled back and made a chagrined face. 

“What is it?” Thomas asked, eyes wide with apprehension.

“I don’t need to stick my hand in here, when I could just do this…”  He used his knife to loosen the boards adjacent to the one they’d already removed.  They popped out easily, like pieces from a jigsaw puzzle.  He sat back on his knees and surveyed the gaps created by the missing boards.

Niqui walked over to join him, her eyes widening immediately.  “Look, do you see it?”

“What, Niq?”

There’s something there, just jutting out from that corner…”  She pointed at the gap farthest from him.  He moved closer, carefully positioning himself over the gaps.  He reached for the object she was pointing at and pulled it out.  He held it up, turning it for the others to see.

“It’s a knife!” Thomas said. 

“It’s a knife!” Aaron echoed.

Daniel pulled Zack’s truck into the parking lot at the super market in Amboy.  He went around the cab of the truck, to open Kendall’s door in order to help her down, but she had already swung out of the truck and landed on the steaming asphalt.  She glanced up at the sky.  “It’s so hot, all I want to do is swim.”

Daniel sighed.  “From now on, any swimming I do will take place in my backyard pool.”

Kendall nodded with understanding.  “Let’s get our shopping done.”

They entered the store, hurrying to the ‘Medicinal Supplies’ section and found the butterfly bandages and rubbing alcohol.  “Don’t forget your allergy pills,” Kendall reminded him.

She followed him to a store display containing cold and allergy medicines.  He picked up a brand name box and winced.  “Too much money!” he declared, promptly putting it back on the shelf.

Kendall reached for a generic brand.  “Will this work?”

He checked out the box.  “It’s going to have to.”

From there, Kendall detoured to grab a bag of chips, and then they paid for their purchases.  Outside in the parking lot, the pair stood near Zack’s truck, glancing around uncertainly.  Daniel shrugged.  “What do we do now?  Who do we talk to?” he wondered aloud.

Kendall shrugged, turning around in a slow circle to take in the town.  She pointed a finger at a nearby restaurant. 

“I don’t think our friends would appreciate it if we have a leisurely lunch date with all hell potentially breaking loose at the cabin.”

“I haven’t heard any sirens,” Kendall observed, “and for your information, I’m not suggesting a date,” she said acidly, shaking her head as she tossed their purchases into the truck and locked the door.  “Zack told us to try to get information from the locals, right?  What better place to do that than at a diner.”

“Oh, okay,” Daniel said, hurrying to catch up with Kendall, who started off toward the restaurant.  “Hey, Kendall,” he said tentatively, “I mean, it’s not like I wouldn’t want to be on a date with you.  The truth is, if we weren’t currently caught up in this ghost hunt slash killer hunt, I’d definitely suggest we go on a date.  Heck,” he said cheerfully, “we could go in there and pretend it’s a date, and I’d be happy as a clam.”

“As a clam?” she repeated, coming to a stop and shaking her head.

“Yeah … happy,” he murmured, staring intently into her eyes.

“Do I have something on my face?” she asked finally.  Suddenly, her hand flew to her forehead as she remembered the goose egg sized mosquito bite between her eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” Daniel asked with concern.

“You’re staring at my mosquito bite, aren’t you?”

“I didn’t notice any mosquito bite,” he told her.

“How can you miss it?  It’s like a big, red target on my forehead.”

“I didn’t notice it.  Really.”

She dropped her hand.  He noticed it then.  He winced.

“You did too notice it!” she turned and stormed off.

“Not until just then,” he said, running after her.  “It’s just a mosquito bite.  It isn’t permanent.  It hasn’t affected your looks…”

She stopped again.  “What exactly does that mean?”

He grinned sheepishly and began kicking at the asphalt with the toe of his shoe.  “It mean, with or without the mosquito bite, you’re … beautiful.”

She stood quietly for several seconds.  “You’re not so bad yourself.”  She started walking toward the restaurant again.

Daniel fell into step beside her and reached for her hand.  She stopped, glanced down at their entwined fingers, shrugged, and continued walking.  They reached the diner and paused outside the door.  “Should we go in?” he asked.

Kendall glanced heavenward, and then met his gaze.  “That
is
why we’re here.”

“I’m hungry,” he declared.

“Well, maybe we could get a quick bite,” she said. 

“It’s a date,” Daniel said.

“No, it’s not,” Kendall said.

He looked crestfallen, and she squeezed his hand.  “I want our first date to be a
real
date,” she explained. 

“Oh, okay.  Can I still hold your hand?”

“Whatever floats your boat.”

Daniel gave her a quizzical glance.  “Does that mean ‘yes’?”

Kendall chuckled.  “Yeah, that means yes.”

The couple was about to enter the diner, when a big white pickup truck pulled alongside the curb and parked.  Kendall happened to notice the lettering on the back window of the canopy, “Search and Rescue.” 

“Well, if that isn’t divine providence,” she muttered.  Daniel gave her a questioning glance and she pointed a finger toward the truck. 

“Oh!” he said.

The driver climbed out of the truck, jogged to the back to retrieve something, and then slammed the canopy closed.  Kendall picked up her pace to reach him, calling out a “hello!”

The man, probably in his mid-forties, with blond hair and a weathered face, turned.  “Hello!” he said cheerfully, and then turned as if to head for the restaurant entrance.

“Excuse me, Sir!” Daniel called.

The man turned with a questioning glance.  “Anything I can do for you two kids?”

Kendall suddenly noticed the bumper sticker on the man’s truck.  “
My Search and Rescue dog can find your honor student in the forest.
”  She cracked up laughing, and pointed at it so Daniel wouldn’t miss it.  He read it and laughed.

The man smiled.  “Yeah, always gets a laugh,” he said.  “Are you both honor students?” he inquired.

Daniel nodded. 

“Well, good for you!” the man said pleasantly.  “Good grades are important.”

“And Daniel here is definitely directionally challenged,” Kendall said.  “We lose him in the forest all the time.”

Daniel gave her a bewildered glance.  “You do not.”

The man laughed at the exchange, and shook his head.  He turned to go.

“Uh, Sir!” Kendall called.

“Was there something else you needed?” he asked.

“We were wondering if you have a minute to talk?” Daniel said.

The man checked his watch.  “Sure thing, but you’ll have to follow me in here and watch me eat.  Or, you could join me.  I’ve got thirty minutes or so before I need to meet somebody, so not much time…”

“We’ll talk fast,” Kendall assured him.

He held the door and they entered the restaurant.  Several tables occupied the space, as well as a counter lined with stools.  “We’ve found the old timers,” Kendall whispered to Daniel, pointing at the line of elderly men facing the counter.  Most wore flannel work shirts and caps.  Two were in camouflage, while a lone man wore a suit.      

As they passed, the men turned one by one, each calling out a cheery hello to the search and rescue guy.  His name was John, and he held up his hand in a wave until he reached the end of the line of men.  He found a table and dropped into a chair with a weary sigh.  He nodded for the kids to sit down.

Daniel held Kendall’s chair for her, which didn’t go unnoticed by John.  “Good lad,” he said with approval in his voice.  He aimed a thumb at him, and told Kendall, “Hang on to this one.  He’s a gentleman.”

Daniel took his seat then, and waited until the man had had a chance to check out the menu before speaking.  He snapped it closed and declared, “I’m going to have the usual.”  He turned toward the kitchen, “Usual!” he called out.  His announcement was met with, “You bet, John!”

“How ‘bout you two?  What sounds good?”

Daniel glanced at Kendall.  “We’re not hungry,” she said, deciding they could wait until later to eat, despite the rumbling in her stomach.  They had business to attend to.  “Something to quench your thirst?” the man inquired.

“I think I will have a coke,” Daniel said, and John called out for a coke.  He gave Kendall an inquiring glance. 

“I’m just going to have water.”

“Water for the lady!” he called, and then folded his hands on the tabletop and gave them another questioning glance.  “What can I do for you?”

Daniel glanced at Kendall, who gave a slight shrug.  He turned back to the man.  “Do you like your job?” he asked him.

The man nodded with a smile.  “Yes, I do.”

“Is Search and Rescue your full time job?” Kendall asked.

“Oh!  You think…?  No, actually, I’m a volunteer.  I’m an accountant by day, but when someone gets lost in these woods, I go out as part of a team.”

“Oh, okay,” she said.  “We were wondering if you were involved in the search for Cassie…”  Suddenly, she realized they didn’t remember the girl’s last name.  She felt ridiculous.  “Um, we don’t know her last name,” she admitted.

“Been talking to Thomas,” the man said knowingly.  “That is one determined little man,” he said with both admiration and pity in his voice.  “Staying up at the lake, are you?”

They nodded.

“Where abouts?” he asked.

“At my friend’s stepdad’s cabin,” Kendall told him.  “His name is David Gray.”

John nodded his head in recognition.  “Deputy Gray?”

“That’s right,” Daniel said.

A waitress appeared then and put a plate in front of John, a soda in front of Daniel, and water in front of Kendall.  Turned out John’s usual was a hot turkey sandwich.  “Looks good, huh?” he said.  “Sure you two don’t want anything?  Oh, shoot, I forgot to ask for coffee.”

The apparently clairvoyant waitress promptly put a mug of coffee in front of him.  “Thanks, Sheila,” he said, and turned his attention back to the kids.  “You were saying…  Oh, yes, you wanted to know if I was involved in the recovery effort for Cassie Cooke.”

“But you didn’t recover her, right?” Kendall said.

He shook his head, a baleful expression on his face.  “No, never did find her.  Police figured she ran off with friends, but…”

“You don’t think she did?” Daniel asked.

John sighed.  “I … never really bought into the idea.  The girl apparently went out close to dusk.  According to her parents, it got dark soon after she left.  I just can’t fathom a young girl taking a jet ski down the Siouxon in the dark.  Have you been back there?” he asked.

They both shook their heads ‘no.’

“Well, she would have had to either swim to the falls and climb, or tramp through thick woods to get to the trailhead.  Either way, I just can’t see a young girl doing that in the dark.”

“Do you think someone snatched her, and left the jet ski as a diversionary device?” Daniel asked.

“To be honest, I’ve always wondered if that’s not exactly what happened.  Seems to me, if she had gone off with friends and was still alive, someone would have seen her somewhere by now.  And from what the parents told me, she wasn’t the type of kid to take off in the first place.”  He glanced off into the distance briefly, but refocused.  “I realize parents always say that, but what the police have to understand is this—much of the time, it’s true.”

“Do you think her body is out there, in the reservoir?” Kendall asked softly.

John sighed and met her gaze.  “I wouldn’t be surprised, frankly.  That water’s deep out there and with all the trees and debris, what better place to hide a body.”

“But didn’t divers do a search of the area?” Daniel asked. 

“They searched the waterfall, the creek area, and almost to the bridge.”

“But no farther?” she said.  “Why?”

He shook his head.  “By that time, law enforcement had learned about Cassie’s fight with her mother, and the fact that the argument was over a road trip with her friends.  They called off the search.  Keep in mind, they’d been searching for a couple days at that point.  And with the jet ski having been found in relatively shallow water…”  He shrugged.  “Law enforcement figured if there was a body to find, it would have been found near the jet ski.”

“But somebody could have discovered her there and carted her off…”

“Could have,” John acknowledged.  “But again, if they disposed of her body in deep water, and did a good job of it, well…”  He shrugged.  “We’ll never find her.”

“So, the water’s just too deep and vast…” Daniel murmured.

The man watched him speculatively.  “Why the interest, kids?”

Kendall spoke up.  “I guess we’re kind of amateur sleuths.  I hope to become a deputy someday,” she said.

“Well, good for you,” he said approvingly.  “How about you?” he asked Daniel.

“I’d like to go into forensics,” he told him, and was being truthful.  He hoped to work for the State Patrol someday as a forensic scientist.

Suddenly, John looked forlorn.  “Thomas told me just the other day that he wants to be a detective, so he can solve his sister’s disappearance.”  He sighed.  “That little Thomas will break your heart,” he said.  “He can weave a tale, too.”  He glanced at Daniel, and then Kendall.  “Kids, it might be best to discourage him from talking about his sister.  I know his folks are trying to help him grieve and move on.  Apparently, they were told to bring him up here to confront his demons, but I don’t know…”  He shook his head.  “Seems mighty cruel to me.”

He sighed, but continued.  “Poor girl’s dad tramped around the forest above the reservoir for months.  Nearly had a nervous breakdown.  But I can certainly understand.  If something happened to one of mine, I don’t know if I could go on.”