It took two minutes to boot up, find the satellite, and come back with full reception.
He had five messages. All from Larry.
27
As Gracie and Dakota topped the hill they found the others. Jed had ridden ahead and gathered everyone off to the side of the trail and they sat their horses and looked back at the stragglers.
Dakota said, “Oops, looks like we let them get too far ahead of us.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“Naw, I can handle it.”
Gracie saw where Jed had tied a red bandana on a sapling to indicate to D’Amato and Russell-and possibly Tristan Glode and Wilson-where to turn off.
Jed said to Dakota, “You need to keep the hell up.”
Dakota lied, “Gracie was having a little trouble with Strawberry. We got it all worked out.”
Jed narrowed his eyes and looked from Dakota to Gracie and back. Gracie could tell he wasn’t sure he was buying the explanation.
Her dad rode over to her. “Everything okay, honey?”
“Fine,” Gracie said.
He rode close alongside and reached out and touched her cheek. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
“Me too,” she said.
She could see the relief in his face. He said, “We still do need to talk.”
“I know.”
“Danielle, too. We all need to talk. I thought it would be easier on this trip but we’re constantly with everyone else.”
Gracie nodded, and he touched her again and walked his horse back to his place in line.
She said, “Dad?”
When he turned, his face filled with concern, she said, “Danielle and I talked with her. She seems nice.”
He beamed, and said, “She is.”
“Okay,” Jed barked, gesturing toward a thick copse of trees at the edge of the meadow, “this is where the trail breaks off. And if everyone will keep in line and follow me and not wander too far behind,” he glared at Dakota, “we should all be okay.”
And with that he turned his horse and gathered his mules and set off across the meadow. To Gracie, it didn’t even look like a trail.
She turned and looked over her shoulder at Dakota. Dakota shrugged and extended her arms palms up in a
28
Cody wanted to hurt someone, break something, unleash holy hell. He’d chewed up two packages of Stride gum and drained his Nalgene bottle, pretending the warm plastic-tasting water was 100-proof alcohol, but it wasn’t. His cravings for nicotine and booze pulled at him from the inside like talons and he thought,
The single cigarette he had remaining was in his breast pocket, but he’d sworn to himself to save it for when everything was over and Justin was safe. As he rode past pine trees he wondered what their bark would taste like if he stripped it, crumbled it into powder, and inhaled. When he rode Gipper over small streams of water he looked down and wished it came from a brewery.
His head swam and he couldn’t concentrate, but there was one thing he knew and he finally said it to Bull Mitchell.
“You need to turn around and go home.”
Mitchell acted as if he hadn’t heard him. He rode ahead, comfortable in his saddle, his shoulders wide as if telling him to shut up and go away.
They were an hour from Camp One, an hour from where they’d found the body. They hadn’t talked, but Cody recognized that Mitchell had picked up the pace and made his horse and the packhorse work harder than before.
“I said, you need to turn around now and go home,” Cody said again.
Mitchell didn’t turn his head. He drawled, “And why is that?”
“Because I promised your daughter I wouldn’t put you into a bad situation. But we’re in one. We’ve got a dead body and who knows what we’re riding into. The deal was you’d guide me. I figured we’d find them and you could hang back and let me do my job. But we’ve got a dead man hanging from a tree and this isn’t what the deal was.”
Mitchell rode along.
Cody said, “This trail we’re on is all churned up by Jed’s horses. An idiot could follow this, it’s like a highway. I don’t need you anymore and your daughter does. Your wife does. I’ll return the horses when I’m through.”
Mitchell chuckled drily, and said, “Will you now?”
“Yes. Go back to the truck and trailer and I’ll meet you there when this is through.”
Mitchell rode along.
“I’m not kidding. It’s not a negotiation. I’ll pay you what I promised because you delivered. You got me here and pointed me where I need to go. Like I said, any idiot could follow their trail now that we’re on it.”
“And you’re the idiot?”
Cody said, “Pretty much, goddamn it. I’ve got it covered. Go back to the truck, relax, and I’ll see you tomorrow or whenever.”
“You’re sure?”
He said it in a way that led Cody to believe he might have been thinking the same thing.
“I’m absolutely sure.”
Mitchell conceded, “There is a pretty obvious trail.”
“Yes, there is.”
“An idiot could follow it.”
“Yes.”
“If I get back to the truck, you want me to call the Park Service? Tell them about the dead man?”
Cody hesitated a moment, thinking about the ramifications. He knew the Park Service would respond but probably not quickly. The logistics of ordering up rangers or a helicopter would take hours, and maybe more time than that. He should be on Justin by then. He said, “Yes, call ’em.”
Mitchell seemed to be thinking about it. He said, “You think I’m too old and feeble to finish this job?”
Cody said, “Jesus, no. But I made a promise to your daughter. I want to keep it.”
“Damn her.”
“She’s just looking out for her dad. I’d like to think Justin would someday do the same for me,” he said, wondering if that would ever happen.
Mitchell clicked his tongue and turned his horse around. Cody saw disappointment in his face. As he rode by headed the opposite direction he handed Cody the reins to the packhorse.
“Dally the rope around your saddle horn once and keep it loose,” Mitchell said. “That way, if she gets spooked she won’t take you with her or take you down. But don’t forget she’s there.”
