Vanished (7 page)

Jake stopped and turned.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“The infirmary.”

Jeri caught up with him. “Why? Are you hurt?”

“No, but some rescue workers are. Frostbite. Exposure.”

“Miss Barbara said the windchill’s supposed to be minus twelve tonight.”

Jake whistled. “Frostbite’s deadly. If your skin freezes, your flesh turns black and falls off,” he said with relish. “Sometimes fingers and toes have to be amputated.”

Jeri shuddered. “No one’s hurt that bad, are they?”

“Maybe not,” Jake admitted. “But if they get that bad, I’ll be the first to report it.”

Or make it up?
Jeri wondered, recalling the Head’s anger at Jake sensationalizing the news. However, she clapped her mittens together and stomped her feet in case he was right. She preferred to keep all her fingers and toes. “Where’s Lindy?”

“Down at the lake, filming background stuff mostly. I drove the TV van up here.”

“Hey, Lindy said you were in Rock River and didn’t drive all night from Connors to get here.”

Jake raised one eyebrow. “I never said we did. We were just a couple hours away when you called.”

Jeri’s mouth fell open. She could swear … Jake stared down at her, as if daring her to argue. Instead, she pulled the voice-activated recorder from her pocket. She rewound it a few seconds, then hit “play.”

“No one’s hurt that bad, are they?”

“Maybe not. But if they get that bad, I’ll be the first to report it.”

There was silence, then clapping and stomping sounds.

“Hey, Lindy said you were in Rock River and didn’t drive all night from Connors to get here.”

“I never said we did. We were just a couple hours away when you called.”

Jeri clicked off the recorder. “I borrowed this from the media lab for interviewing people. If you
did
tell me you drove six hours to get here, it’s somewhere on this tape.”

Jake stared at her, and Jeri tried to stare back without blinking. She honestly didn’t think his earlier comment
was
on the recorder because he’d told her over the phone. Hopefully Jake wouldn’t remember.

Jake’s voice was cold. “It’s illegal to tape someone without their knowledge. If you use it, you’ll be arrested.” He left without another word.

Jeri watched till he disappeared around the corner of the science building. Then, head down against the wind, she plodded over to the Equestrian Center. She hoped Houston was inside the warm barn and she wouldn’t have to hunt for him outside.

She shoved the sliding door far enough to slip inside, then dragged it closed.
Ahhh …
warm air. She sniffed the hay and horses and leather. It reminded Jeri of summers spent on her grandparents’ Iowa farm.

“Houston?” Bright lights lit the indoor ring, several inches deep with sawdust, but he wasn’t there. She started down one aisle. Rows of stalls held horses of all breeds, who were mostly yanking hay from mesh bags or slurping water from buckets. Around the corner, she passed the tack room, with its rows of saddles, bridles, and blankets.

The giant clock on the wall, shaped like a horse head, read 3:30 already. “Houston?”

“Yeah?”

She found him mucking out a stall. “Ms. Carter said to tell you she cancelled the trail ride for today.”

Houston tossed a forkful of dirty straw into a wheelbarrow and then leaned on his pitchfork. “C-c-can’t say I’m surprised.” His face was all sharp angles, with deep-set eyes in shadow under his heavy brows. “Not with everything g-g-going on.”

Jeri nodded, almost numb from thinking about Rosa and praying for Rosa and worrying about Rosa. Could it really have only been twenty-four hours since the van disappeared?

“Did you know Rosa was one of the girls missing?”

“Yup, and I’m sorry.” He tossed another load into the wheelbarrow. “She’s a nice g-g-girl, not like those rich snobs.”

Jeri shifted uncomfortably. She knew he meant girls like Nikki who made fun of how he looked and talked.

“How’s Prancer?” Jeri asked.

Houston removed his hat, wiped his forehead, and replaced it. “Prancer picked up a rock yesterday. He’s limping a bit today.”

“Rats.” Jeri always rode Prancer. He was an older horse, and he didn’t try to rub her off against a fence or break away on trail rides and gallop off. “Is it bad?”

“Nothing a little rest won’t c-c-cure.” He grinned. “Or a handful of oats from his favorite rider.”

“Okay. I think I will.” Jeri recalled when the center had inherited Prancer and a dozen other horses last fall. In fact, that’s how she’d gotten to know Houston. “Remember when I went along to pick up the horses donated by that widow who moved away?”

“Yup.” Houston grinned briefly. “Wish someone would g-g-give
me
free horses! I’d start my own stable.” He wiped his calloused hands on his jeans. “Well, if the trail ride’s c-c-cancelled, I’ll put the trailer away and g-g-go help with the search again.”

Jeri waved to Houston and then went to feed a handful of oats to Prancer. Stroking his nose, she glanced out the window to the woods up the hill behind the horse barn. It was part of the Landmark School campus. They rode horses there year-round.

If the van
had
made it through the Two-Mile Stretch, couldn’t it be hidden up there in the woods? The towering, thick evergreens could easily keep the van from being seen from a helicopter. After the police called off the search and got rid of the barricades, a van hidden there could safely drive out.

She patted Prancer’s neck one last time and then looked for Star, a small Morgan mare … and Jeri’s second choice. At least Star was short and easy to mount. However, when Jeri entered the stall, Star shied away from her, kicking over her water bucket.

“Whoa there,” Jeri said. “Steady, girl.” She held out an apple from the supply Houston kept in the tack room. Then she reached for her bucket filled with brushes, combs, and hoof picks. In fifteen minutes, Star was saddled. They left the barn, walked up the hill, took the gravel road, and then turned onto the trail. Jeri leaned forward in the saddle when the trail rose steeply, wishing she was on a relaxing ride, not searching for missing people.

As Star walked through the shadowed woods, Jeri was struck by the eerie silence. Jeri searched both sides of the main trail for human or vehicle tracks. She spotted nothing larger than small animal prints and dainty deer tracks crisscrossing the trail. If only finding Rosa and the others would be as simple as following tracks.

Star skittered and danced a bit, then settled back down. Jeri searched the area, but saw nothing. Had Star smelled another animal? All her senses alert, Jeri combed the area, back and forth, side to side.

Star and Jeri took a smaller trail, which branched off the main trail, and moved farther into the woods. But she still found no sign of the van. With it being overcast, daylight was fading earlier, and Jeri knew she had to get back before it was too dark to see her way through the unfamiliar woods. The icy wind picked up, and although the trees cut the wind a lot, it whistled and whined through the branches. She pulled her scarf up higher.

The whining noise increased to a roar, and Star shook her head and pinned her ears back. The roar reacheda crescendo, and Jeri realized it wasn’t the wind. She glanced over her shoulder. A snowmobile, its rider wearing a ski mask, zigzagged down the hill, heading right toward her.

Star reared suddenly, landed hard on her front legs, and bucked. Jeri was thrown from the horse and landed facedown in the snow.

Coughing and gasping for air, Jeri rolled over and wiped snow from her eyes. The snowmobile roared on down the trail and disappeared over a hill.

“You jerk!” Jeri yelled.
Talk about rude!
Jeri fumed.
Not to mention dangerous!
She could have really been hurt. And he didn’t even stop to check.

Snow was in her ears, down her shirt, and up her sleeves. Star was nowhere in sight. Thank heaven Houston had trained all the horses to go back to the Equestrian Center if they got loose. (He jokingly called them “homing horses.”) But that meant she had to walk back, and her ankle was sore.

Groaning, Jeri crawled painfully to her feet. She’d had one too many spills–first the bike, now the horse. Following the trail, she shuffled awkwardly down the hill toward the school. Just before she reached the main trail, she spotted some larger tracks. What were they? Fox? Raccoon? At least the black bears in the state were hibernating now. Then she remembered that bobcat’s yowl. She picked up her pace and tried to keep her weight off her sore ankle.

When she finally made it back to the horse barn, she found Star waiting outside, her reins dangling. Thankfully, she had no marks on her or injuries. Jeri led her inside, brushed her down, and put the saddle and bridle in the tack room.

Stomach growling, she headed toward the dining hall. She was nearly there when girls poured out the doors and down the steps. They were finished already! Jeri sighed. Oh well. She could make something in the dorm kitchen. She waited till she spotted Abby and Nikki and then fell into step beside them.

“Where were you?” Abby asked. “I checked your room before supper.”

“Long story.” Jeri rolled her eyes. “Any news on the search?”

“Forecast is bad,” Nikki said. “They’re predicting a huge temperature drop and tons of snow.”

“Man, it’s already freezing!” Jeri said. How would Rosa and the others survive now–
if
they were still alive?

Abby held the front door of the dorm open. “I talked to that camera girl with the funky hair this afternoon,” she said. “She said Jake might get promoted to TV anchorman for the ten o’clock news if this ‘scoop’ turns out to be big enough.”

“No way!”

“I asked her how they got here so fast,” Abby added, “and she called it a lucky fluke. They were told to cover a story in Rock River, but it turned out to be nothing.”

“Hmmm,” was all Jeri said.

Purple Hair seemed honest, but Jeri knew Jake had lied to her. Had he set up a phony story so they’d be in the area? Jake had certainly arrived
first
and gotten the ‘scoop’ on the story.

She gasped when the logical conclusion hit her. How would Jake have known ahead of time that there would be a sensational story to scoop at Landmark Hills unless he was behind the kidnapping himself? Or at least knew who was?

Saturday, 7:41 a.m. to 8:38 a.m.

The mood in the dining hall Saturday morning was somber. It had been over forty hours since the van disappeared, and there was no break in the case. Jeri poked at her blueberry pancakes. Even though they were her favorite breakfast food, she could only swallow a few bites.

They were nearly done when Headmistress Long stood. “Attention, please. We have a hopeful development this morning.”

Oh, thank you, Lord!

“It appears that the missing girls are still in the area.” She paused and licked her lips. “A helicopter flying overthe lake at dawn spotted two coats and a purple scarf by the water’s edge.”

“Rosa’s scarf!” Jeri whispered to Abby.

“There was no sign of a vehicle,” the headmistress said, “just footprints, according to the police.”

Nikki raised her hand and stood. “What about the ice? Was it broken?”

The headmistress glanced at their house mother, who finally nodded. “Don’t jump to conclusions, but yes, the ice was broken through. We don’t yet know the cause.”

Jeri glanced at Abby. They were thinking the same thing, judging by the horrified expression on her face. Temperatures had fallen all week, so the broken ice wasn’t from melting. And if the hole was large enough to be seen by a helicopter, was it big enough for a van to fall through?

Questions bombarded Jeri’s mind, pounding insistently. Did Mr. Reeves or Heather drive the van into the water? Did anyone escape? Why were coats left on the shore? They’d freeze without them! Or–
horrors
–did the girls no longer need coats? Had the kidnapper dumped their bodies in the lake during the night?

The Head cleared her throat. “Divers in wet suits are now searching the lake. We’ll take hot drinks and food to the Two-Mile Stretch. The authorities hope that the students escaped and ran deeper into the woods to hide. They will search there.”

Surely I’ll get to go back down there today,
Jeri thought. She just had to be there!

The headmistress moved to the exit, and Jeri hurried after her. “Please wait!”

Head Long turned, her face weary. “Yes?”

“Can I please go back today?” Jeri asked. “I promise not to talk to the reporter or any parents.”

“No.” Her shoulders drooped. “I can’t afford any more unfortunate incidents. You stay away from the lake, the parents, and the press.” The Head turned and walked out the door.

Jeri stood motionless as girls swirled past her, following the Head’s instructions to go bundle up in heavy clothes. Someone laid a hand on her arm, and Jeri turned, expecting Abby. It was Nikki instead.

“The Head should let you go back with us,” Nikki said. “You want me to ask her again? I could promise her that you’d stay with me.”

Tears sprang to Jeri’s eyes. Nikki was the last person she expected to try to help her. “Thanks, but I think it’s a no-go.”

Nikki studied her cowboy boots. “I
do
know how worried you are about Rosa.”

Jeri nodded, then turned and headed to the dining-hall restroom before she burst into tears. She was sitting against the wall, pondering the Head’s words and behavior, when Ms. Carter walked in.

The house mother hesitated and then lowered herself to the floor beside her. “What’s on your mind?”

After chewing on her lower lip a moment, Jeri finally blurted it out. “I’ve been thinking. I wonder if Ms. Long had something to do with the missing van.”

“The headmistress?” The house mother blinked in surprise. “What in the world makes you say that?”

“She was mad that I called a reporter, even though it meant everyone in the state would be looking for the van much sooner. She didn’t like me emailing people to look for it either.” She rushed on. “I know this sounds dumb, but listen. If
she
wanted ransom money, she’d know which girls had the richest parents.”