Undercover Baby Rescue, page 9
She chuckled. So did he. Then she felt her smile fade.
“What were you dealing with at the time?” she asked. “I could tell you were worried and weighed down, and I’m wishing I’d asked what all you were dealing with.”
Justin turned and faced the fire. Shadows from the flames danced on his face.
“Even if you’d asked, I don’t know if I would’ve told you,” he said. “I’ve never exactly been good at asking for help. Basically, my sister was getting into constant fights with a social worker at a halfway house she was staying at and wanted me to referee. My brother owed money to a friend and somehow I ended up in the middle of that. My mom was in a panic about which relatives were coming to the wedding. On top of all that I was working double shifts to cover for a colleague of mine who kept dropping the ball, when the team was short-staffed as it was.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked. “I had no idea you were working double shifts to cover for someone. And why didn’t you let your family figure their own stuff out without putting you in the middle?”
“I don’t know,” Justin said. “It was like I was in the middle of a hurricane with a thousand things swirling around me and didn’t have time to stop and figure out which way was up. I just kept reacting.”
She’d always known Justin was a caring man—and she admired his heart so much—but was that really how he saw his place in the world? To stand in the hurricane and keep everybody’s else’s lives from falling apart? No wonder he hadn’t been ready to marry her.
“But why didn’t you just take a deep breath and hit Pause?” she asked.
His eyes snapped to face her again.
“Because I was worried that if I did, something would go terribly wrong,” he admitted. “And I was right. Sadie asked me to adopt Matty. I told her I needed time to think about it, and less than twenty minutes later he was kidnapped.”
“That wasn’t your fault,” Violet said.
“How do you know?” he asked. “Maybe if I’d reacted differently, stayed there with Sadie and talked things out a few minutes longer, Matty would have never been kidnapped. Maybe I wouldn’t be sitting here in this cabin knowing that my nephew is now lying in a crib in the home of the family who bought him from his kidnappers.”
“Or maybe they’d have kidnapped Matty later that night after you left for work. Maybe they would’ve kidnapped a different child, and we’d have no idea where to find them.”
Didn’t he realize that if he spent his life worrying over what would happen if he wasn’t there to save the day, he’d drive himself crazy with guilt over things that were out of his control?
Then she watched as his sad eyes searched the flames and realized that maybe he already did.
Justin’s phone buzzed soon afterward letting them know it was three in the morning and the time they’d planned to switch rooms. She went into the bedroom, pulled a mattress off one of the bunks and dragged it into the living room so Justin would have something other than the couch to sleep on. Then she wished him good-night, went into the bedroom and shut the door, noticing Justin had put one of his portable, sliding backup locks on that door, too. She plugged her phone into an outlet under the window, set the alarm for eight and lay down on the bunk opposite the one Justin had slept on.
Despite the exhaustion that radiated through her limbs, Violet didn’t expect to fall asleep. She hadn’t even realized she had until she awoke to hear the triangle clanging and see a sliver of bright light beaming through the cracks in the shutters. She got up and pulled the shutters back. Blinding morning sunlight filled her gaze. The rain that had fallen in the night had frozen into a dazzling sheet of ice that coated the ground and encased each tree branch, twig and pine needle. She reached for her phone. It was dead.
“Violet?” Justin knocked on her door.
“I’m sorry I overslept,” she called. “My phone is dead.”
“It’s not just you,” Justin said. “My phone is dead, too. It looks like the power is out in the entire camp. Thankfully, I’ve got a portable battery charger, but I doubt we’d get much of a cell signal anyway.”
Violet quickly changed her sweater, splashed water on her face and ran a brush through her hair. She plugged their phones into Justin’s portable charger and tucked them both inside her jacket pocket. Then she and Justin set out for the lodge.
The ice was so thick their feet skidded across the surface without making a dent. She couldn’t imagine how treacherous the narrow mountain road out of the camp would be. As they approached the lodge, they could hear the sound of raised voices coming from inside. It sounded like Don, and maybe others, were arguing.
She glanced at Justin, and his eyebrows rose. But before they could figure out what the ruckus was about, she noticed Ariel slip out of the side door and head toward the path which led to the DuBois cottage.
“Hey!” Violet called and hurried toward her. “How are you doing? Some storm last night, huh?”
Ariel turned back. She had a large, covered tray of what Violet guessed was food in her hands.
“Good morning,” Ariel said. The smile that crossed Ariel’s face seemed genuine but still Violet could see the worry in her eyes. “Yeah, power is out for the entire camp. Thankfully, the kitchen has gas stoves. We do have a backup generator that covers the lodge and some of the primary buildings, but Lorenzo wasn’t able to get it working.”
“What’s all the noise about in the lodge?” Violet asked.
Ariel took a step back toward the tree line as Violet and Justin reached her. Ariel lowered her voice.
“Some of the investors say they’ve seen enough and want to head home. Ross is trying to convince them to stay until tomorrow.” She sighed. “Lorenzo had tried to tell him that the camp wasn’t ready for this kind of investor weekend. But when Ross found out Frank, Emelia and I were leaving, he wanted to quickly throw something together for potential investors while we still had enough staff to run it.” She turned to Justin. “We haven’t actually met. Are you Viv’s husband?”
“I am,” Justin said. “I’m Josh. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” Ariel said. “You’re the one who lent Emelia your coat last night, right? That was really nice of you.”
“No worries. How is she feeling today?”
“She’s okay.”
Violet could tell Ariel didn’t really believe what she was saying. “Is that her breakfast?”
“Yeah,” Ariel said. “Emelia wasn’t feeling up to coming to the lodge for breakfast today. Her stomach doesn’t always like camp food. Hopefully, it’ll be better for her in Europe. Frank used to give her this special Scandinavian hot chocolate, and it really helped her sleep. He gave me some for Christmas, too.”
Something in her tone made Violet wonder if she was trying to convince them that Frank was a good person. Or maybe convince herself. She couldn’t imagine the tone had been all that comfortable in the cottage last night.
“You mentioned she’d been sick a lot,” Violet said, “and Lorenzo didn’t seem to think Matty was really missing. I don’t want to pry, but Josh has had some experience dealing with addiction—”
“Addiction?” Ariel’s voice rose. “You mean you think Emelia drinks or takes drugs? No, nothing like that. She’s just really delicate. Well, according to Frank.”
“Emelia told us that Frank was missing last night, and when she tried to knock on your door, it was locked.”
Violet wondered if she was taking a risk asking about something so potentially personal. But Ariel just frowned.
“Yeah,” Ariel said. “I usually wake up whenever Matty cries. I can’t believe I slept through it.” The sound of a walkie-talkie crackled from Ariel’s pocket. She pulled it out and held it to her ear. “Okay, yeah, one minute.” She put it back in her pocket. “That was Lorenzo. I’ve got to drop this food off and then get to the rock-climbing cliffs. Lorenzo wants me to get there early to check the harnesses. Should be a lot of fun, and I hope you guys will be there. Then I’ve got to rush back and finish packing before we leave.”
“You’re going at the end of the week, right?” Violet asked.
Ariel shook her head. “Not anymore. Frank told me this morning he managed to rent us a private jet at an airfield not far from here. We leave tonight.”
SEVEN
Ariel hurried away. Justin turned to Violet, and they locked eyes.
“Tonight. Is it even possible to get a DNA sample to the lab, get it tested and issue a warrant to stop them from leaving the country with Matty by then?”
“It’s possible, Justin, but it’ll be tight. We’re just going to have to be more aggressive about getting Matty’s DNA sample, as much as I don’t want to risk getting caught. But the moment we know the cabin is empty or see Matty’s diaper bag left unattended, we’re going to have to go for it.”
Justin closed his eyes and silently prayed for help. When he opened his eyes, he saw Violet’s head was bowed, too, and heard her whisper, “Amen.”
“You good?” she asked.
Determination shone in her gaze. He took a deep breath and felt fresh strength fill his core.
“Yeah.” He offered her his hand, she took it and they walked around the lodge and in through the front door.
The first thing he noticed was that one of the investor couples had already packed their bags and left them by the wall inside the door. Food was laid out buffet-style beside the kitchen pass-through. While a few people were milling around with plates, most stood watching Don and Ross, who still seemed locked in whatever conversation they’d overheard when they first approached the lodge.
“Look, I’m not concerned about the fact one of your staff had a medical emergency in the middle of the night,” Don said. “Or the fact one of your staff made an inappropriate comment to my wife about it this morning.”
Justin wondered who that was and when that had been. Don’s arms were crossed, and he looked more frustrated than anything else.
“I fly people into very remote areas for our wilderness tours,” Don added, “and I’ve seen all kinds of medical crises from heart attacks to panic attacks. My concern is that there didn’t seem to be any serious contingency plan in place to take care of her.”
“I appreciate your concern about a member of our staff,” Ross said. “Believe me, I care deeply about every member of the Mount Prince Wilderness Resort family. But I assure you it was a minor and private incident.”
“With all due respect, you’re missing Don’s point,” Scott chimed in. He looked around at the others. “I know I’m not in the same line of work as you all. But we do a lot of wilderness training in the reserves. Personally, I don’t care that the beds are uncomfortable, there are rat traps in the cabins, the water is freezing cold or the power is out. But I’ve had the feeling something was off about this place since yesterday, and I think we all just want to make sure people are safe.”
Was it his imagination or did Scott’s eyes flicker in Justin’s direction when he said something felt off? Did Scott think there was something off about him?
“Do you have any idea when the power will be back on?” Gloria asked.
“Lorenzo’s working on it now,” Ross said. “I’m sure it won’t be much longer. Then we’ve got a whole day of activities planned, including rock climbing, skating and a cedar plank barbecue.”
“Thank you, but we’ve seen enough to know that we’re not interested in investing in your camp at this time,” Missy said. Her tone was calmer than her husband’s had been, but also sounded more final. “While we appreciate your time and your hospitality, we’d like it if you could drive us back to our vehicle as soon as possible.”
“We feel the same,” Toby added. “We have dinner with the grandchildren every Saturday night and are eager to get back home for it.” He gestured to the bags stacked by the door, and Justin wondered when they’d made the decision to leave. “But we do agree this place has some strong potential, so Carol and I would be happy to consider coming up another weekend in the future when you’ve got a stronger pitch in place to address the issues we’ve raised. I’m sure many of the others feel the same way.”
“I see.” Ross’s perpetual salesman’s smile faded. “Are any of you planning on staying for the rest of the weekend? Or should I ask Lorenzo to stop working on the generator and focus on shuttling people back to the parking lot?”
Ross glanced around the circle.
Justin started to pray that he and Violet wouldn’t be the only two who decided to stay. Otherwise, it would be even harder to get Matty’s DNA. He watched as Scott whispered something to Gloria and Missy said something to Don.
“Scott and I will stay,” Gloria said. “Our flight home doesn’t leave until tomorrow, and I’d like to get a wider breadth of what the camp has to offer even if we’re not ready to invest at this time.”
Justin silently thanked God.
“We’re happy to stay until tomorrow, too,” Justin said. “Viv and I really love climbing and did it a lot when we were dating. I don’t think Dukes Wilderness Adventures is ready to invest, but it would be good to see more.”
“And Missy and I aren’t in a rush,” Don added. “And we still have to pack up if you want to take the Whitchers first.”
Ross quickly acknowledged what they’d all said, before switching back to his regular platitudes about how great his camp was, trying to squeeze in every last moment of sales pitch that he could.
Justin signaled Violet, and they moved over to the closest table.
“I think we should grab food quickly,” he said softly, “head to the climbing hill and try to talk to Ariel before the others get there. Let’s see if we can find out when their cottage will be empty or they’ll be bringing Matty to the lodge.”
“Agreed. Do you remember how to get there?”
“Yeah.” Justin nodded. “I paid pretty close attention to the layout of this place yesterday.”
As much as he hated the idea of trying to sneak into the cabin in daylight or grabbing something from the diaper bag in a public place, they were running out of options and time.
They hung around the lodge for a few more minutes, making small talk and eating some, then as breakfast began to wrap up, Justin and Violet took the usual way back to the cabins until they were out of view. He gestured to a narrow path through the trees. They cut through and came out on one of the marked paths they’d walked on their tour the day before. They turned south and continued until they reached a fork in the path.
“This way,” Justin said.
A sudden scream—terrified and panicked—filled the air.
They ran down the icy path toward the sound. The trees parted. A steep drop-off from the cliffs lay ahead of them, with a small wooden hut for climbing equipment.
Ariel stumbled out of the trees so quickly he wondered if some unseen person had shoved her. Justin forced his legs to run after Ariel, with Violet matching pace beside him.
“Ariel!” Violet called. “Are you okay?”
She didn’t seem to hear them. Ariel staggered unsteadily as if injured or drunk.
“Ariel!” he shouted. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
But it was like whatever had happened to make her scream had also left her so disoriented she could barely register what was going on around her. She stumbled forward.
“Stop!” Justin ran faster.
But he watched helplessly as Ariel lost her footing, slipped and fell over the edge of the towering cliff down onto the harsh rocks below.
* * *
Ariel let out a scream as she disappeared from view. For a long, agonizing second it seemed to hang in the air. Then it fell silent. Justin heard a painful gasp slip through Violet’s lips, and he realized she’d stopped running just as suddenly as if someone had punched her in the gut.
“Come on.” Justin grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. “Ariel needs us.”
They pushed forward toward the ledge. His eyes scanned the forest where Ariel had emerged. There was no one there, but it looked like two sets of footprints scuffed the ground, and he thought he could hear what sounded like someone running away through the trees.
“What happened?” Violet asked.
“I have no idea.” Justin said. “Someone probably attacked her with something that left her disoriented. I think they wanted her to fall and for it to look like an accident.”
They reached the edge of the cliff and looked down. It was a five-story fall of sheer straight rock. Ariel lay at the bottom. Her eyes were closed, and she was on her back like a child’s toy that had been tossed on the floor.
He reached for his pocket before realizing Violet was charging both phones in her pocket. She pulled out his phone and handed it to him.
“No signal,” he said. “How about you?”
“No,” she said, “but Ariel should have a walkie-talkie, remember?”
He looked back at the climbing equipment hut.
“I’m going to rappel down there,” Justin said. “It’ll be faster than running back to the lodge, and we still might be able to save her.”
He turned to go, but Violet’s hand grabbed his arm.
“I’m going with you,” she said. “We’ll do a tandem climb, like we’ve done before.”
“No,” Justin said, automatically. “We’ll both be safer if you stay up here and you belay my rope.”
“Not if whoever just attacked Ariel comes back and attacks me while you’re hanging off the edge of a cliff,” Violet said.
Well, it was hard to argue with that.
“Good point. We do this together.”
They ran to the equipment shed, and thankfully, it was well stocked. They quickly stepped into harnesses and tightened the buckles. They strapped metal crampons, which would dig like spikes into the ice, to their boots and grabbed curved ice axes that they’d drive into the cliff as they climbed down, both of which would give them a far better grip than they’d get with just their hands and feet alone. Justin and Violet tethered themselves together.
