kids’ clothes wadded up and thrown in a corner.”
He stopped. The line of his mouth went taut. He looked pale.
“The minute you go down there you can feel it. It’s like the walls are soaked full of all that horror. It’s quiet as a tomb, but Christ, I swear you can hear the screams. I’ve never felt anything like it.”
“What about Isaac Stokely?” Hodder asked. “Was he involved?”
Olafsson shook his head. “Claims he knows nothing about it. He’s cooperating. We’ll have to wait and see, but I get the feeling he really didn’t know anything. He seems just as horrified as the rest of us. He’s definitely not protecting his brother.”
“It’s isolated here,” Cork said, indicating the clearing with a wave of his hand. “Controlled access. The security patrols skirt this area. Bringing in a drugged child in a car trunk-”
“Calvin Stokely drives a Dodge Ram with a camper shell,” Hodder put in.
“There you go. A perfect setup until one of the children, a kid with a strong will to survive somehow gets herself free and runs. Gets lost maybe or is being chased and stumbles into the river.”
“I can’t sit here anymore,” Dina said. “I’ve got to do something.”
“What?” Hodder asked.
“Find Charlie.”
“How?”
“I don’t know yet. You coming?” she said to Cork.
“On the ATV?” He winced. “I don’t think so.”
Hodder moved toward the driver’s seat. “I’ll give you both a ride. They don’t need me here. You can make arrangements to pick up the ATV later.”
Olafsson put his hand on the door before Hodder closed it. “It would be a good idea to be available at your office, Ned, in case they decide they want some more information on the locals.”
“Will do.”
Cork and Dina settled in, slammed doors.
“A BOLO’s been issued for Calvin Stokely,” Olafsson said through Hodder’s open window. “There aren’t a lot of roads in this part of the U.P. We’ll get him.”
He stepped back and Hodder swung the Cherokee around and headed out of the clearing toward the road that would take them to the gate a couple of miles away.
“So Stokely left the Copper River Club yesterday and never came back,” Cork said.
“That’s how the log at the gate reads,” Hodder confirmed. “His dog was hungry, too, which would tend to verify that he didn’t return.”
“Why stay away?” Cork said. “Nothing had been discovered yet that would incriminate him.”
“Probably he killed Bell and panicked.”
“And he killed Bell because…?”
Hodder shrugged. “Maybe he thought Bell was ready to break, spill the beans. Maybe they argued. Who knows?”
Dina was quiet in back, staring out the window at the trees that lined the road like a wall of flame.
They stopped at the gate. Hodder spoke to the guard.
“Still pretty quiet, Wes,” he observed of the empty road beyond the gate.
“Until the media gets hold of this, then all hell’ll break loose,” the guard replied.
“What do you think?” Hodder jabbed a thumb back in the direction of all the activity.
Wes leaned against the Cherokee and spoke through the window. “Nobody’s asked me yet, but I always got the willies around Calvin. Hell, he wouldn’t have the job if it weren’t for his brother and we all knew that. We all knew better than to go near his place, too. I mean, the guy freaked. Big duh, huh? Heads are going to roll up here. You want a job as chief of security, there’s sure to be an opening, Ned.”
“Say, Wes,” Cork said. “Mind if I ask you a question?”
“Who’s he?” the guard asked Hodder.
“Somebody whose question you should answer,” Hodder replied.
The guard said, “Shoot.”
“Does it say on your log when Calvin Stokely left yesterday?”
“I’d have to check.”
“Check,” Hodder said.
Wes went into the guardhouse and came out half a minute later. “He got off duty at three, split from the Club at three-thirty.”
“Thanks. One more question,” Cork said. “Anybody visit Calvin Stokely on a regular basis?”
“Only one I can think of. A drinking buddy from Marquette. Guy name of Delmar Bell.”
“That’s it?”
“Believe me, Stokely wasn’t the kind who’d have a lot of friends. And anybody who visited would have to come through here, so I’d know.”
“Thanks, Wes,” Cork said.
The guard stepped back to the box and lifted the gate.
“What was that all about?” Ned asked.
“Just fishing,” Cork said. “You never know.”
Heading back to the resort, they were quiet. Jewell’s Blazer was parked in front of Thor’s Lodge, and she came out as Hodder pulled up.
“I thought they needed you at the clinic,” Cork said.
“I couldn’t concentrate. They called in someone to cover. What’s going on?”
“Let’s go inside,” Cork said.
She sat stunned, her hand over her mouth as if stifling a scream. Except for “Oh dear God,” she’d said nothing as Cork explained what they’d found.
“Charlie,” she gasped at last. “Was there any sign of Charlie?”
“No.”
“But they still don’t know where Stokely is?”
“That’s right. They’ve issued a BOLO.”
She stared at him without understanding.
“Be on the lookout.”
Ned, who stood awkwardly near the front door, hat in hand, said, “They’ll get him, Jewell. As for Charlie, she’s a smart kid. I’m sure she’s just hunkered down somewhere, waiting this out.”
Jewell eyed him hopefully. “You think so? Where?”
He returned her gaze for a moment, then had to look away.
“If Stokely has her,” Jewell said, “will he hurt her?”
It was the question they’d probably all been asking themselves, but only Jewell had spoken it. She grabbed for her purse and pulled out her cigarettes. “Damn!” She crumpled the empty pack, stood up, and began pacing. “We have to find her.”
“We don’t know where to look, Jewell,” Hodder said gently. “She could be anywhere.”
“The first time she vanished, she was hiding in an old mine she and Ren knew about. But I checked it this morning on the way to Stokely’s cabin,” Dina told them. “She wasn’t there.”
Hodder settled his hat on his head. “Look, I need to get back to my office in case the state investigators want to talk to me. On the way, I’ll swing by Max’s trailer and then I’ll check the old lumberyard next to it. I’ve been thinking it might be a place Charlie would hide. Bunch of abandoned buildings and all.”
Jewell nodded. “You’ll let us know what you find?”
“I will.” He offered a comforting smile before he left.
Jewell stood at the window watching him drive away. “I should have done more,” she said to herself.
“You’ve done everything you could, Jewell,” Cork assured her. “What those men did at the Copper River Club nobody could predict.”
“The signs must have been there. We just didn’t see them. Maybe we didn’t want to see them.”
Cork hobbled to her and put his arm around her. “Ren will be home from school in a little while. You need to
