Feather From a Stranger

by Marianne Schlegelmilch

  “I'm going to need you to get the horses saddled and ready while I make sure we have enough supplies in our packs.”

  Uncharacteristically subdued, Sassy reached to open the door handle before climbing down from the truck. “Okay.”

  “Steve said we can board the horses in his barn when we get back and he's rented us a room at the motel back at the cutoff.”

  Doug paused before continuing, “He knows you're with me.”

  Sassy smiled faintly, pulling her mittens on as she walked back to open the trailer doors.

  “It's gonna be plenty cold out there, so dress warm,” Doug told her in words meant to convey concern more than knowledge.

  “I will,” she answered without turning around.

  Steve had told Doug that the State Troopers would be working out of their post just south of the Talkeetna cutoff. Pilots from around the area would be assisting in the air search and a group of locals had already begun fanning out on the ground towards the crash site, in spite of the nearly three feet of new snow on the ground. Now that the snow had stopped falling, it was getting colder. Clear blue skies and a rising full moon would help the rescuers. If Dan had managed to find shelter, the intense sunlight would add some warmth to the ambient temperature wherever it was he was holed up—as long as it was in a place that the winter sun could reach from its place low on the horizon.

  Sassy walked with Doug, taking the horses across the airstrip. Doug stopped every time he saw a state trooper, to remind each individual that Dan was a skilled outdoorsman and certified in advanced survival techniques. He would not allow himself to think what he already knew; that lack of essential gear did not bode well for Dan's survival. Already it had been close to twenty-four hours since the estimated time of the crash. The rescuers were determined to push on, holding out hope that Dan had somehow made it to one of the numerous cabins scattered throughout the area.

  “I don't want to put it too harshly,” one of them told Doug, “but the fact that we haven't found Dan dead means that he could be still alive.”

  “He is alive,” Doug shot back, taking an aggressive step towards the poker-faced trooper who had made the statement, before feeling the gentle hand of another hold him back. “All we gotta do is find out where he's at.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Family and Friends

  MARA FINISHED THE EVENING DISHES AFTER HAVING COOKED A HOT MEAL for Ellie and Anna. She had picked up a prescription in town to help Ellie rest and as soon as she was done, she would try to get her to take it. She had also contacted the research field office in Soldotna where she was supposed to start work in two weeks. The supervisor, Donna, had told her to take as much time as was necessary, reassuring her that they would hold the position indefinitely for someone as well qualified as Mara. At least her new job was secure. If something like this had to happen, now was a good time, according to Donna, since no organized research effort was scheduled to begin until mid-May anyway.

  Mara unpacked enough things to tide her over for an extended stay with Ellie. There wasn't much she could do except to comfort her new friend. She would do what she could to help her through the type of crisis she knew all too well. Besides, the troopers had asked her not to leave town, stating that she might need to be interviewed since she had been one of the last people to see Dan. They also stated that her out-of-state license raised some questions and they needed time to verify her ID and run a background check. Her name, they told her, was on an international watch list as the wife of Brad Edwards, now deceased, and that Canadian Customs had already alerted them about her presence in Alaska. She didn't know what that even meant, but figured it must be some kind of routine for these types of situations.

  “Sarah,” Thank God you are coming up, “she said in hushed tones into the phone, trying not to let Ellie or Anna hear.

  “Ellie's doing alright; I guess…I mean, what can I say? No one should have to go through something like this. Can you believe they even want to do a background check on me and Ellie?”

  Mara shifted to her other foot as she listened to Sarah reply before continuing herself.

  “I'm not worried about it, it just feels kind of weird, that's all. I guess it's just routine. I don't know… I'll be at the airport when your flight gets in tomorrow morning. No…don't worry, it's not that far…no, I won't get lost. I'll find you. You've got my cell number just in case, right? Yes, I promise I'll start listening to my messages and returning your calls. Bye.”

  Sometime around midnight she fell asleep in the chair by the woodstove, too tired to even bother walking to the bed that Anna had once again donated to her guest. The next morning the phone began ringing before she could even shower. The first call was from the rescue center in Talkeetna reporting that the search was continuing and that there had been no sign of Dan. The second call was from the troopers in Palmer telling her that she and Ellie's background checks had come up clean, and that she was free to go whenever she chose.

  Ellie was still asleep in her room and Anna asleep on the cot in the hallway. When she got back, she would move the cot to Anna's room for Sarah to sleep on. As Ellie had suggested, they would move Anna in to sleep with her mother.

  Both Mara and Ellie had done their best to protect young Anna, telling her that her Daddy was going to be gone for a few days. Anna was a smart child and Mara was not at all sure that they had done a very convincing job of hiding the truth from the youngster. Anna stayed calm, though, even providing a source of strength for her mother, who was finding the whole experience almost unbearable.

  Mara jotted down a short note telling Ellie that there was no news about Dan and that she was out running errands and would be back later that afternoon. There was no sense making her feel that she needed to go pick up her sister. Sarah's arrival would be a comforting surprise for her when they got back.

  When Sarah stepped out onto the concourse at Terminal C of Anchorage International Airport, Mara was there waiting. Sarah was as beautiful as ever—tall, thin, and perfectly coiffed, with her long, blond hair pulled into a stylish upsweep and her skin tawny from a recent trip to Belize. She wore a long, classic white wool coat over charcoal-colored slacks and her boots were Italian-cut black leather. An orchid-colored silk scarf complimented her coat and highlighted the pearl studs she wore in her ears. Over one shoulder, she carried a tapestry bag in colors that complemented her outfit, as well as a smaller leather bag that held her laptop and cell phone.

  “Sarah!” Mara called out as the two rushed to embrace. “I can't believe you're here…I'm here…we're both here. Who ever dreamed something like this would ever happen. You look wonderful. How was the flight?”

  Arm in arm, the two walked across the concourse toward the escalator that would take them down to the baggage collection area and the exit to Mara's vehicle.

  “Look at you, Mara!” Sarah exclaimed. “If I didn't know you so well, I would barely recognize you.”

  It was true. Mara had lost about twenty-five pounds since Sarah had last seen her and was now quite thin, which gave her face a sculpted quality. Dressed casually, she wore jeans and a turtleneck pullover shirt over which she had pulled a thick llama wool sweater. Her long, curly hair was tied in the back with a scarf that held it loosely back, leaving wisps of curls falling around her face.

  “You look good, Mara,” Sarah told her. “It's so great to see you again.”

  On the drive to Palmer, Mara updated Sarah on the latest details surrounding Dan's disappearance. It had now been forty-eight hours since Dan's plane had been found and there was still no sign of him.

  “Poor Ellie,” Sarah sighed. “Why do things like this have to happen? Dan is such a wonderful man and they are so happy…well, you know, Mara…you know more than anybody. And, Anna—I don't even want to think about what things will be like if they don't find Dan soon.”

  “Ellie's not doing so well, Sarah. I didn't tell her you were coming, but I know it's going to mean everything to her that you did.�
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  “She and Dan are inseparable,” Sarah said, “Dan's just got to be okay…he just has to.”

  “His brother's out helping and a lot of others are, too,” Mara replied. “There's a massive ground and air search under way.”

  “I can't bear to think of what will happen to Ellie if…” Sarah's words went unfinished.

  “Stop it, Sarah. Don't even think it,” Mara admonished her. “It's too early to give up. We have to keep positive energy flowing to help Dan and the rescuers.”

  Mara started to cry. Soon all the tears that she had held back came flooding out as she and Sarah sat in Ellie's driveway.

  “I'm glad you came, Sarah,” We both need you now.

  “Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!” Ellie screamed when they walked through the door.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  The Search

  HALFWAY THROUGH THE THIRD DAY OF THE SEARCH FOR DAN, ONE OF the troopers returned to Steve's cabin with a small piece of flannel he had found on a piece of brush about six miles from the plane wreckage.

  “They're both inside,” Sassy directed him from the yard where she was busy cleaning out the horses hooves.

  Steve and Doug looked up from the table where they were having a cup of coffee and discussing the next over-flight.

  “Whatcha got, Ken?” Steve asked the man wearing the light blue shirt and dark blue pants that was the uniform of an Alaska State Trooper.

  “This look familiar to either of you?” Sgt. Ken Tandry asked, holding up a torn piece of flannel.

  “It looks like the same material as the shirt I saw sticking out of Dan's bag he had packed for the trip,” Doug answered. “I noticed it because it was the shirt I gave him for his birthday two years ago and one I almost kept for myself because I liked it so much.”

  Ken wrote the information down in his notebook before looking up at the two men.

  “It's only a gut feeling, but there was a slight indentation in the snow around one of the cabins that looked out of place with the rest of the snow-pack. It was covered in the several inches of fresh snow that fell yesterday, but the shape of it was about right to suggest it could have come from either a large animal or maybe even a human laying there for a while.”

  Both Doug and Steve were all ears. They sat their cups down and leaning forward to listen intently as Ken Tandry continued.

  “It's hard to tell how old the indentation was what with all the snowfall, but the lack of wind helped preserve the imprint in the snow.”

  “Did you see anything else?’ Doug spoke hesitantly. “Anything…”.

  “Nothing, Doug,” Ken replied. “The cabin was boarded up and looks like it has been that way for quite a while. I'm talking enough years that it was sinking into the ground on one side with the lower part of the door sunk a good two feet into the ground—sort of like some of those old homesteads in Portage along Turnagain Arm that fell into the land during the ‘64 earthquake. “ Steve poured each of the men a fresh cup of coffee as Ken Tandry continued:

  “One of the rescuers and I tried to get the door open, but couldn't budge it. The windows were boarded up with screws, if you can believe that. We dug the dirt and moss out from over a couple of ‘em and they were rusted and the heads pretty much flattened out and sunk way deep into the wood. At least in the couple we looked at, the wood was rotting right around them. Probably wouldn't o’ taken much to bust a few boards out, but with no disturbance evident, what would the point o’ been anyway?”

  Doug and Steve leaned back in their chairs, brows furrowed, and barely able to hide their disappointment. Something about the story, though, held their interest and they encouraged Ken Tandry to continue.

  “The other thing—and I don't want to give you no false hope here, Doug—the other thing is that there were some smaller depressions in the snow that looked like they could have been footprints leading away from the cabin. They, too, were covered in the recent snowfall. They faded out about twenty feet from the cabin where a bunch of fallen trees were piled right alongside the trail that several of the search teams on snowshoes and horses have been using. Don't get your hopes up,” he said looking straight at Doug, “If anything, they were probably from one of the rescuers that have been scouring the area. Anyhow, they were too small to be Dan's. Looked more like a woman or small man made ‘em—that is, if they were even footprints. None-the-less, I got some photos of all of it, just because… well, ya know what I mean?”

  Doug put his head in his hands and let out a long breath before looking up at Ken. His eyes were wide and blank, befitting the combination of fatigue, desperation, and pure adrenalin that had become his new norm. Ken Tandry could feel Doug's pain. He had lost his own brother to a freak accident five years ago. Although nothing could bring his brother back, if he could spare Doug Williams the same pain, he would do everything he could to do so. Besides, he had heard of Dan Williams and knew of his reputation as a person well respected in Alaska.

  “Somehow I can't shake this feeling I have about that cabin,” Tandry said to Doug and Steve. “I think we ought to take another look at it.”

  “It'd be dangerous to try to get back out to it now that the sun has set,” Steve said quietly. “Still, if anyone wants to try, I say let's do it.”

  “If somehow Dan's in there, I doubt a few more hours will make much difference after this amount of time, “Ken said, stopping short of adding that any chance of Dan being found alive was shrinking by the minute.

  “We can't afford to endanger anyone in the rescue,” he added. “It's a long shot anyway. Let's say we check it out again in the morning along with a couple of other places I'd like to take a second look at.”

  Tandry paused for a few minutes as if in thought before taking a sip from his coffee and speaking directly to Doug,” I'm not trying to be a pessimist or give you false hope, just thinking out loud, that's all. No one on this team wants to find your brother more than I do.”

  “Do all you can,” Doug said, standing to lean across the table to shake Ken's hand. “Just do all you can.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Two Bags

  AFTER YESTERDAY'S FOURTEEN-HOUR SEARCH ON HORSEBACK AND ANOTHER six hours this morning, both Doug and Sassy were exhausted. A couple of volunteers had taken the horses to Steve's barn and cared for them so the two could rest. When Doug went to check on them later he found them in the warm barn, fed, watered and reluctant to be disturbed from their comfortable sleep.

  He was grateful that in spite of the failed business partnership between Steve and Dan, and Steve's erstwhile relationship with Sassy, that he, Dan, and Steve had remained on good terms. He gave both Steve and Dan a lot of credit for that. Although he knew it wasn't necessary, before driving back to the motel for the night, Doug left some money on the workbench in the barn with a short note stating his thanks and his wish that the ranch hands have a beer on him.

  The next morning at breakfast, he handed Sassy his truck keys across the table.

  “You take the horses and go back,” he told her. “There's no sense in running them out in this deep snow anymore and a couple of guys are going to take me and some others out on snow machines today.”

  “Okay, Dougy if that's what you want,” Sassy answered almost too eagerly.

  The truth was that Doug knew the snow depth was too hard on the horses. Along with that, he knew that Sassy had felt uncomfortable around him and Steve working so closely together. It was becoming too distracting to try to keep an eye out for her and give her the extra attention she seemed to crave. It would be better for everyone if she just took the horses back with his truck and waited for him at home. Besides, he found it hurtful, if not irritating, that she had not asked, even once, about Dan, or expressed any concern for his welfare.

  “Just keep my truck at your place and someone will give me a ride back,” Doug told Sassy as he ushered her out of the restaurant and back to their room, stopping to pay the cashier on the way out.

  He left her to pack her thi
ngs while he went over to retrieve the horses at Steve's place. An hour later, he said goodbye as Sassy got in his truck to head back to Palmer.

  “Call me when you're on your way back, Dougy,” she leaned out the window and called back to him.

  She didn't wait for him to answer, not that she would have heard him anyway with the horse trailer bouncing on potholes in the snow as she sped away.

  Doug met Steve on the way to the airstrip across the road from the motel. The two men walked together as Steve outlined the day's plan. He, Doug, and a medic would head out in Steve's plane as soon as it was done being refueled. They would meet up out near the cabin with the others who had already left by snow machine. From there they would initiate an intense ground and air search of the area where Trooper Ken Tandry had sensed there could be a lead.

  “Steve, I know that something happened between you and Dan, and I appreciate that you have been right here working non-stop to find him in spite of whatever it was that came between you. It takes a real man to do that,” Doug said, pausing to look down at his feet, “and a real friend.”

  Steve put his hand on top of Doug's shoulder in a silent show of brotherhood and the two men walked toward the plane.

  “Doug, I know this route as well as, if not better than, your brother. If he's out there, we'll find him.”

  Steve walked without speaking for several more feet before continuing,

  “there's no one better equipped than Dan to survive in a situation like this.

  We gotta face the fact, though, that it's been four days now. As tough as Dan is, even he's no match for these conditions—especially if he's injured—and there's no evidence that he even has food or any gear with him.”

  “You're not giving up on me are ya, buddy?” Doug said in a weak attempt to joke.