Queen, page 28
J.J. lifted his head and smiled. As far as smiles went, it wasn’t much, but it was a start.
Allen felt sick. Every bad thing that had happened to this family since Claire died could be linked directly to him and Lenore. He looked at the broken, aging woman standing alone in the doorway and, for the first time in years, actually felt sorry for her. He got up from his chair and walked toward her. And instead of walking past her, he stopped and pulled her into his arms. She leaned against him and hid her face in her hands.
“So, J.J., when did you see Will last?” Queen asked.
He shrugged. Too much had happened for him to be pinned down to details.
“Was it…maybe…when you went to get the broom?”
J.J. thought. “No,” he finally answered.
“Did you see him when Donny went to get a cold cloth for Queen?” Cody asked.
He wanted to shout, to shake J.J. into remembering, and knew that were it not for Queen, he would be doing just that right now and probably ruining whatever chance they had of finding out what had happened.
“Think, honey,” Queen urged him. “What was the last thing you remember seeing Will do?”
J.J.’s face lit up. Put like that, the memory came flooding back. “Getting his coat from the closet,” he said.
“Oh, God!”
Cody’s cry was nothing more than what Queen thought. It was getting late…and the snow was still falling.
Cody ran to the front door and looked out. There was nothing in sight except for his Blazer and Allen’s rental car, a late-model gray Chevrolet.
He stepped outside, shivering in reflex as a burst of wind came around the edge of the house and whistled through his clothes, chilling him instantly as if he had nothing on.
He began to walk around the deck that surrounded the house, searching the landscape for a sign…anything. Maybe he was hiding in one of the outbuildings, Cody thought. But there was no sign of footprints that would have been easily visible in the light ground covering of snow. He looked up into the gray, overcast sky and noticed that, for the moment, it had nearly quit snowing.
Cody rounded the back of the house and then stopped. His heart slammed against his rib cage, and he felt his legs go weak.
“No! Dammit, Will, no!”
But Cody was too late to stop what had already happened. He started to run. In seconds he was off the deck and in the backyard, staring with increasing panic at the single pair of small footsteps leading into the thick wooded area beyond the house. He started to follow without thinking, and the wind sliced through his sweater, reminding him that he was not dressed for the weather.
He turned and ran back up the steps, burst through the back door of the house, and ran through it, passing the others who had assembled in the kitchen.
Queen quickly handed J.J. to Donny and ran after Cody.
“What?” she asked as she watched him shrugging into his heaviest coat and stuffing a flashlight into his pocket. “Dear God, Cody…what?”
“He’s run away for sure,” Cody said. “His footprints lead into the woods in the backyard.”
Queen turned pale, remembering the dense underbrush that Virgil Stratton had dragged her through and how fast she’d lost sight of the house. Will would be lost in minutes if he hadn’t stopped.
“Maybe he’s just hiding,” she said, hoping that Cody would confirm her supposition.
“And what if he’s not?” Cody reached high on the shelf, pulled down a box, and handed it to Queen to hold while he took out the contents.
“Two-ways,” he said, handing her a twin to the radio he stuffed in an inner pocket of his coat. “If I find him, I’ll let you know.”
“And if you don’t…”
Cody couldn’t say it. All he could do was grab on to Queen and hold her tight. “I’ll stay in touch.”
“Dad! Let me go with you!” Donny said as he ran into the hall and overheard the last of the conversation.
Cody shook his head. “Remember what I’m leaving Queen here to face. She doesn’t need to be alone.”
Donny paused and then stepped aside. A strange, adultlike expression crossed his face as he said, “Don’t worry, Dad. You can count on me.”
Queen bit back her tears. “Hurry! It’ll be dark soon.”
In seconds Cody was gone.
Chapter 19
Cody ran, trying not to think of how long Will had been missing before they’d noticed. Trying not to remember that the last time he’d followed footsteps in the snow, someone had died.
“Will!…Will!”
He shouted his son’s name and then stopped and listened as he had off and on since he’d started the search. To his dismay, the answer was always the same: nothing but the echo of his own voice and the sound of ice cracking on trees as the wind whipped through.
“Will!”
He shouted again and then started to run, his eyesight trained on the faint trail of footprints. Because of the heavy growth of trees, there was little to no snow on the ground. Often Cody found himself following a trail on instinct rather than sight because the tracks were nonexistent. Just when he thought he would have to stop and backtrack, he’d see them again, his hope would renew, and he’d be off with a spurt of energy.
He burst through a thicket and out onto a ledge, catching himself just before he fell, stopping in midstep and flailing his arms, trying to regain his balance enough to get back to solid ground. The sole of his boot was straddling air as he stared in horror at the sudden drop below and tried to remember if he’d been following footprints or just running. He looked behind him, and the only tracks he saw were his own.
“Oh, God…at least I don’t think he fell.”
He lay down on his stomach and leaned over, staring intently downward, praying he wouldn’t see any signs of a bright red coat or of a dark-headed child lying bleeding and broken below. Nothing caught his eye, but the serenity of the surroundings seemed obscene in the face of his own fears.
Cody got to his knees, letting the sudden surge of adrenaline that had rocketed through his system settle, and looked at his watch. In less than three hours it would be dark. He wiped his face with his hands and was surprised when they came away wet. He hadn’t realized he’d been crying.
He dropped backward, ignoring the feel of cold ground beneath him, and braced himself by bending his knees and using a small rock at his back for a rest. When his hands stopped shaking, he unzipped the top portion of his coat, pulled the two-way from inside, and pressed down on the send button.
“Cody to Queen…Cody to Queen…do you read me? Over.”
Static popped and fried in his ear, and then her voice came through. He leaned his forehead on his knee and absorbed the strength he got just from knowing that she was with him, in spirit if not in body.
“This is Queen. We read you loud and clear. Over.”
“We can’t wait any longer. Call Abel Miller. I’m going to need help. Over.”
Queen took a deep breath and tried not to lose control when all she wanted to do was crawl away and hide from the awful truth. This was worse than she’d feared. Cody had been gone for an hour and a half. He should have found Will by now. And if he was asking for help, it must mean he was getting desperate. “I’ll do it immediately. Is there anything special I need to relate? Over.”
“Just tell him to hurry. I’ll lead him to my location by radio later. Over.”
“Cody…I love you. Over.”
His silence haunted her. Queen couldn’t look at the people sitting around the living room, staring at the pain on her face. And then the radio squawked just before Cody’s voice came in loud and clear.
“I love you, too, lady. Say a prayer for us all. Over and out.”
Queen dropped the two-way onto the chair beside her and jumped up, running toward the phone in the hall, fear lending speed to her retreat. She dialed, then held her breath and squeezed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, praying that she wouldn’t start crying in the middle of what she had to say. Sheriff Miller needed information to help save Will, not the sobs of a hysterical female.
Within minutes she was off the phone. She walked back into the room, saw the panicked stares of the people waiting for word, and announced, “They’re on their way.”
“I’m sorry…so sorry. It’s all my fault…my fault.”
Lenore’s broken sobs tore the silence of the room. And the sad thing was, no one could deny the truth of her words.
“When Will comes back, you can tell him you’re sorry, Lenore,” Queen said.
“What if he…?”
“Don’t!” Queen’s sharp, angry shout startled them all. “Don’t say it. Don’t even think it.”
Allen nodded. “I think I’ll take Lenore to our room. Maybe if she lies down…”
“You may as well use Cody’s room,” Queen said. “He won’t be back. Not without Will.”
Allen led his stricken wife away, wishing that she’d come to her senses before this tragedy had happened. If she had, it might have been prevented altogether.
“I’m scared,” J.J. said, and wrapped his arms around Queen’s legs.
She bent down and lifted him into her arms, then carried him to the couch to sit beside Donny. “I am, too,” she said. “But your daddy is looking hard…and Sheriff Miller is coming with all kinds of help. They’ll find Will. You’ll see.”
Donny blinked back tears, trying not to cry. And then he looked at Queen, saw the shimmer across her eyes, and knew that he wasn’t alone.
Weary beyond belief, Queen leaned against Donny and then smiled to herself as he slid an arm around her shoulders and hugged. When the time came, he was going to be quite a man.
J.J. slid lower in her lap and closed his eyes. He was at the point of exhaustion, also. In no time he was fast asleep, and Queen sat, cradled against the comfort of one son while cradling another, waiting for Cody to put their world back together again.
Will ran, certain that he could hear footsteps pounding the ground behind him, afraid that when they caught him they’d take him away and he’d never see his father again. He sobbed, trying not to remember how still Queenie had been when his father had leaned over her. What if she was dead, too, just like his mother?
Tree limbs reached out and snagged at his clothing, pulling and tearing. Will imagined them as wicked, skeleton claws, trying to hold on to him…or tear him apart. Panic made him strong, the limbs released their grasp, and he continued to run as he broke free.
Once he stopped in a clearing and looked behind him, still imagining that he heard the sounds of close pursuit. Had he known it was only the wind, he might not have run so far or so fast.
He ran until his legs were shaking and the cold air he’d inhaled burned his lungs so much that he had to stop. Then he leaned over, gasping for much needed breaths as he grabbed hold of his knees and braced himself to keep from falling.
As the first spurt of panic subsided, he began to look around, and another sort of panic set in. He had no idea where he was. This was a part of the mountain that he’d never seen. Tears shot into his eyes, but he bit his lip to keep from crying. He was lost!
At this point it would have been hard for Will to express what he was feeling. He needed to cry…bad. Tears burned the back of his nose and thickened in his throat. But that would not help him out of this situation. There was only one thing he knew to do. With that in mind, he straightened, took a deep breath, and started walking back the way he’d come. At least he wouldn’t be lost so far from home.
One minute he was on firm ground, and the next thing he knew, it gave way beneath his feet. He felt himself falling. For a moment he had the impression that the mountain had simply opened its mouth and was now swallowing him whole. He reached up and grabbed at grass and earth as he passed through the hole, but there was nothing to hold on to. The sky receded as he fell into a darkness that engulfed him. He screamed as a burning pain jolted his body. A patch of blue sky, the same color as his daddy’s eyes, was the last thing he remembered seeing.
Dennis Macon pulled over to let the patrol car pass, its flashing red and blue lights a signal that urgency was needed, and then frowned as he saw three more just like it close behind.
“What in the world?” he muttered, and looked over his shoulder, just to make sure they all had passed before he pulled back onto the road and continued his trip with increasing dread. Something told him that all was not going to be well when he got to Cody’s.
He rounded the last curve in the road that led up the hill toward the Bonner home. Fear squeezed the breath from his lungs as he realized he’d been right. When he saw the flashing red and blue lights, he accelerated, making the last hundred yards in a flurry of snow and leaves.
He stopped in a skid, jumped out of the car, and burst through the door without bothering to knock.
Queen looked up. The concern on his face was enough to send her into his arms.
A silent groan was all Dennis could manage as he caught her in midflight. He pressed a quick, reassuring kiss at the corner of her temple and then pushed her back enough to see her face.
“Angel…what in hell’s going on here?” He watched her lips tremble as she struggled to maintain control.
“Oh, Dennis…Will is lost on the mountain. Cody’s been looking for over two hours. He had me call in Sheriff Miller. I was just filling him in on the situation.”
“Hell,” Dennis said. “How did this happen?”
“It’s a long story. Cody can tell you later…when he and Will get back.”
Dennis heard the panic in her voice as he listened with half an ear to the sheriff and the quick decisions being made regarding the intent of search. Then he caught Abel Miller on the exit.
“Sheriff! I have an entire team of men at a survival training camp. By air it’s less than thirty minutes from here. The air force is at your disposal if you want it.”
Abel Miller nodded. “I’ll take all the help I can get. It’s going to be dark before long. That boy and his father are going to play hell not freezing to death.” Too late he realized what he’d just said and tried not to look at the stricken expression on Queen’s face. “Sorry, honey,” he said. “Me and my big mouth.”
“Just find them, Abel,” she said. “Just find them.”
Dennis didn’t waste time. He headed for the phone.
Queen listened to him giving directions and orders and knew that she was seeing Lt. Colonel Macon in action, not Dennis, the family friend and best friend to Cody.
“I need to borrow some clothes,” Dennis said. “I didn’t come dressed for hiking.”
Queen waved him upstairs. “Take anything of Cody’s you want. You two are close enough in size that everything should fit. Donny, go with him. Help him find what he needs.”
Lenore and Allen slipped downstairs and retreated into the den after being ousted from Cody’s room. Allen knew that the only way he could help was to keep Lenore under control.
“Queenie, I’m cold,” J.J. said, and started to cry.
Queen knew he wasn’t crying from the cold. He was crying from the fear.
“Come on, honey,” she said. “Let’s build a fire. That way Daddy and Will can smell home before they reach it. Okay?”
He nodded. The idea of smoke drifting into the air as a signal was intriguing enough to make him stop crying.
Queen gave Abel Miller a look he couldn’t miss and then walked away. He was trying to decide whether it had been an order or a plea and then realized that either way the results needed to be the same. They had a little boy to find and not much time in which to do it.
“Let’s get moving, men. Bonner’s got a radio. Check your frequencies. Make sure you’re all on the same one. He’ll guide us in.”
They left, taking hope with them, leaving Queen with nothing except a heart full of prayers and faith that they would be heard.
Minutes later Dennis came downstairs dressed in Cody’s clothes. For a moment Queen imagined that Cody had come back, and Dennis knew it. The look on her face made him sick. When she realized that it was him and not Cody, the life had completely gone out of her eyes. He tried to give her a comforting smile.
“Hear that?” he asked, pointing to the ceiling.
Queen cocked her head and listened. “Helicopters…They’re already here, aren’t they, Dennis?”
“The flyboys have landed, angel. As John Wayne would say, ‘Hold down the fort, pilgrim…I’ll be right back.’” He grinned. “Or words to that effect.”
She smiled. It was the first time she’d felt like it all day. Surely this was a good omen.
The euphoria that Cody had felt when the first of the searchers arrived, and then the added hope that came with Dennis and the survival team, set with the sun. They’d found no sign of the child and were now hampered by the darkness.
The moonless night was an impossible scenario for a search. Cody kept remembering his own near miss in going off the side of the mountain, and that had been in broad daylight.
Camp had been set up in a clearing halfway between the top of the mountain and Cody’s home. Cody was certain that Will was somewhere in between, and that the reason he hadn’t found him was that he was either unconscious or hurt. He couldn’t think past those options. Imagining life without all of his children was impossible.
He paced the interior of the tent, hunching within the confines because of his height, unwilling to look at Dennis and see the concern on his face. Unable to talk about his own fears, he could only wait for daylight and pray that when it came, Will would be found. A child…unskilled in survival techniques…would not live more than one night in this weather. With Cody’s background, he knew that better than most.
“Did you eat?” Dennis asked.
Cody shook his head. “How can I eat knowing my son didn’t?”
The question was heartbreaking, as was the tone of Cody’s voice. Dennis sat cross-legged on his sleeping bag and stared at his own hands, helpless to make things better.
