Stranded at Romson's Lodge
Page 5
“I was particularly unhappy with the way the sergeant treated Charles dismissively when he called, saying they were eighteen, and the police basically weren’t concerned about their whereabouts.”
Detective Summers broke in, “Well, yes and no. We are, of course, interested in their whereabouts if foul play is involved. But without any sign of foul play, there isn’t much we can do since they are adults, even though they are still in high school and live in your home.”
“Okay, detective, I can understand to a degree, but it seems to me there should be a bit more interest in their well-being. Anyway, neither Mary nor I got any sleep last night, and I don’t believe Charles did either.
“We invited him over for breakfast to discuss what could be done to find the kids. It was by calling the kids in the class that we found out from Teddy Baldwin about the guy with the broken-down car.”
“You said Teddy Baldwin? Do you have a number for him?”
“I’m sorry, not with me. I can get it for you, though.”
“Not a problem. I’ll be talking with the school and can get it from them. We’ll want to talk with everyone involved with the trip anyway, but this sounds most promising.”
James continued, “We then came to the PD and talked with the chief and found out the car parked on the wrong side of the road belongs to Pete Richardson, my company pilot. We went to the hangar, where we found the doorknob tampered with to keep us from opening the door. We called for assistance, and Officer Donovan here showed up. You know what happened from that point.”
“And why do you suspect Mr. Richardson would have any interest in your children?” asked the detective.
“Actually, he has no interest in them directly. He came to me Thursday morning asking to speak with me privately. He then asked for a loan of twenty-five thousand dollars. I can’t imagine Pete doing anything to the kids. It doesn’t make sense, but perhaps I should not have been so hard-hearted.”
“Tell me about Mr. Richardson. Does he have family?”
“Divorced. His ex-wife moved out of state and took their two children two years ago. He has been estranged from them since.”
“Tell me about Mr. Sitton and Elizabeth. Do they get along? Was there any reason she would have not wanted to return home?”
Mary spoke up. “Absolutely not! They are very close!”
“How about the relationship between Jed and Elizabeth? Is there any romantic interest or anything going on that would cause them to go off together?”
Again Mary answered. “No, not at all. They are friendly, but they don’t run in the same circles, even within such a small school.”
“Would it be because of the stigma of her father working for Jed’s father?”
“Not at all,” James replied. “Charles and I are very good friends, and we don’t have a boss-employee relationship. Charles and I served in Vietnam together, and he saved my life. There is no one I hold in higher esteem, and I would be thrilled if my son was worthy of his daughter. In fact, Charles owns a stake in Romson Industries. The kids just have different interests.”
Mary tried to stifle—but could not hold back—a large yawn. Everything was catching up to her, and the adrenaline rush of finding the Bronco in the hangar and the plane missing was rapidly dissipating.
Bernie Watson noticed Mary’s yawn and had also noticed James’s speech dragging. He interrupted, “May I suggest we put a hold on this for the time being? As you can see, James and Mary are both dead on their feet. Perhaps we could schedule a time tomorrow to continue?”
Detective Summers was not happy with the interruption. She had noted the exhaustion and had planned to use it to her advantage. In her experience, those who were sleep deprived were not very good at covering lies, and it made interrogations much easier to have suspects at such a disadvantage. She knew, though, that Bernie could just tell them not to cooperate and she would get nothing at all. She really didn’t think the Romsons were suspects, but one never ruled out anyone until one knew for sure. “All right. Shall we say eight o’clock Monday morning?”
“Noon would be better. I’m sorry,” said James. “I still have a business to run. I’m not saying my business is more important than my son, but I also have a responsibility to my employees. I’ll need to make some arrangements in the morning, and then I’ll be able to give you whatever time you need. I just have to set things up with my management team and with Charles’s assistant. How about twelve? Will twelve work okay for you? Bernie?”
“All right, I guess,” said Detective Summers. “I will need your plane’s N-number, plus a description of the kids and the pilot. Pictures would be very helpful also. I’ll call the FBI and get them involved. With a plane involved, I’m sure state lines have been crossed.”
“Bernie, can you help the detective with these things? You have all the airplane info, I know. The pictures I have on my desk and Charles has on his office wall will probably be the easiest to use. They both are their senior pictures, so they are current. Of course, I have no idea what they were wearing, but when you call the other students and the trip sponsors, you may get some info from them.” James’s words were slurring from exhaustion as he asked Detective Summers, “Would you be so good as to give us a ride home? We took Charles’s car to the hangar.”
“Officer Donovan will be happy to give you a ride home. I’m sure Charles will be staying overnight at the hospital. I would suggest you take your phone off the hook when you get home. I would also suggest you put a note on your door asking people not to disturb. Most will be meaning the best, but you need rest, not people, at this time.”
CHAPTER 17
Why don’t we see if we can catch our dinner?” asked Jed as he pulled a canoe from the storage area. “This time of day is usually a good time to catch some fish.”
Lizzie looked at the ground and kicked at it softly. Her shoulders were slumped, and tears pooled in her eyes. “I’ve never been fishing. I don’t know what to do.” Jed was a little concerned about Lizzie’s attitude. Her demeanor was listless and lethargic, and everything about her spelled defeat.
“Hey, Lizzie, listen to me for a minute.” Jed turned the canoe upside down on the ground and, taking Lizzie’s hand, pulled her over to the canoe and sat her on it. He sat down next to her, still holding her hand. “I know things don’t look good right now, and we both want to go home, but we can’t.” He looked her in the eyes, making certain he had her attention. “We could have it so much worse! At least Pete left us somewhere that I know, and we have supplies and equipment to keep us going for a long time. We can fish; there is plenty of game. We could live here even if we never were found, but we will be found! This place is too important to the company. Someone will come eventually. In the meantime, we can make the most of it, or we can feel sorry for ourselves and mope. I’m just as homesick as you are, but I need your help if we are going to do this.”
Lizzie squeezed his hand and whispered back, “I’m sorry for being a baby. I’m just overwhelmed, and I want so badly to see Daddy.”
“That’s okay. You’ll have to help me when I’m feeling down, too.” Jed gave her a hopeful smile. “We’ll make it.”
“All right. Let’s go fishing, but you have to be patient with me and teach me how.” Together they picked up the canoe and carried it to the dock. Jed went back to the storage area and selected a tackle box and two life jackets.
“I can swim. I don’t need a jacket,” Lizzie protested.
“Wrong! I don’t care how well you swim. No one goes out in a boat of any kind without some kind of floatation device. If you fall in fully clothed, no matter how well you swim, you will have trouble surviving for long without one. Besides, this lake had ice on it just a couple of weeks ago. You would not last long in the water right now before hypothermia took over, and you would drown. You never take the canoe out by yourself, and you never go without a life jacket. Clear?”
“All right. I get it.”
Lizzie nearly pouted but no
dded her assent. Lizzie climbed into the front of the canoe; Jed stepped into the back, pushed them away from the dock, and started paddling. Lizzie picked up her paddle and tried to help but succeeded only in splashing water.
Jed chuckled. “Here, watch how I hold the paddle and what I do.” He dipped his paddle deep into the water and then slowly stroked from front to back. “See, you dip the paddle, and then pull it through, kind of like stirring cookie dough. You dip it down and then pull, instead of slapping the paddle at the water.” Lizzie tried again and did better, but she had trouble keeping the paddle straight so it actually pulled rather than sliced through the water.
“That’s the idea. Now you just need to get the knack of using your paddle to direct where you want to go. If you allow it to rotate in your hand, you will direct the canoe one way or the other instead of straight ahead. Some people alternate sides, stroking once on the right and then on the left to direct where they go, but the turn of your paddle blade will direct you just as easily. Let’s head for the point over yonder.” Jed pointed with his paddle toward a spit of land that stuck out into the lake.
Lizzie continued to try to help paddle, and she was starting to get the hang of it; but it was Jed’s hard work that got them to the area he wanted.
“Paddling’s a lot harder work than it looks like. I’m pooped!”
Jed grinned at Lizzie as he broke out the rods and tackle, prepared what he thought was the best lure for the time of day, and handed the rod to Lizzie. Lizzie listened carefully and watched as Jed demonstrated the proper way to cast and then retrieve the lure.
“Don’t be disappointed if you don’t catch anything the first few times you try,” he told her. “I remember I went with Dad several times before I ever caught anything. It takes a little time to figure it out sometimes.”
Lizzie made her first cast, which didn’t go where she wanted it to go, so she started to real the lure back in to try again. All of a sudden there was a splash of water at the end of her line, and her rod tip bent. “Quick, reel it in! Looks like you got a good one on there!” exclaimed Jed. He grabbed the hand net as Lizzie excitedly reeled in the fish, which fought hard, but to no avail, and Jed dipped out the exhausted fish with the net. “You got a lake trout! It looks like about sixteen inches. Great job!”
Lizzie was almost bouncing in her seat with excitement. She had never tried fishing before, and now to catch a nice fish on her first cast was intoxicating. Fishing was a lot more fun than she had thought it would be.
“This one is your supper,” Jed said. “You always get to eat your own first fish. I promise you’ll love it.” The canoe had a live well under the center seat—a Romson Industries specialty—built into all their canoes. This special feature meant any fish they caught would still be alive and fresh when they returned to land. They fished for another hour, long enough for Jed to catch two slightly smaller lake trout and for Lizzie to catch one more. “We have more than we can eat for tonight, and the smoker isn’t ready yet. Why don’t we head back to the lodge and have an early dinner?”
Lizzie was more than ready to head back in. Fishing was more fun than she thought it would be, but the stress of the abduction, of seeing the plane crash, and of sleeping in a strange place was catching up to her. She was very tired. Once they returned to the dock, Lizzie stood in the canoe to climb onto the dock, but in her weariness over-balanced and fell backwards into the water. It was shallow enough for her to stand, but the cold took her breath away, leaving her gasping. Jed jumped onto the dock. He dropped to his belly and extended a paddle to help her out of the water. When he drew her close enough to reach her, he extended his hand and pulled her to safety.
“Brrr!” she said, wrapping both arms around herself, shivering, and her teeth chattering.
Jed dove to the end of the dock and reached out, barely catching the canoe with the end of his paddle before it drifted out of reach. “Go to the cabin right now, and get those clothes off. Crawl into a sleeping bag! Don’t waste any time. I’ll be up in a couple of minutes. Be in the sleeping bag by the time I get there. We don’t need to deal with hypothermia along with everything else.”
Lizzie stumbled toward the lodge as Jed unloaded the fishing gear. He dragged the canoe onto the dock and carried it onto land where he overturned it to protect it from weather. Carrying the fish and tackle, Jed sprinted to the lodge. Tossing the fish and gear on an old table to clean later, he quickly entered the cabin to check on Lizzie. Somewhat frightened for her, he called out, “Hey there, Lizzie. You in the sleeping bag yet?”
“Yes, but I can’t seem to get warm!”
“Okay, it will take a little time. Do you have your hair wrapped in a towel or anything?”
“No. I didn’t take the time. I just wanted to get warm.”
“I’ll bring you one in just a minute. I’m going to start a fire in the stove and get some hot tea going. Be there in a minute.” Jed shoved some tinder in the firebox of the wood cookstove and lit it. He slowly added small kindling and then larger pieces. While he waited for the fire to catch, he filled an old iron kettle with water and set it atop the stove. By now the fire was going nicely, so Jed added a couple small pieces of wood topped by a small log to hold the fire and closed the door. He adjusted the damper to get a good draw up the chimney. When he was satisfied the fire was burning well, he left it and, grabbing a towel on the way, walked to Lizzie’s sleeping area. “Can I bring the towel in now?”
“Come ahead. I’m decent.” Jed opened the curtain and stepped through. Lizzie popped her head out of the sleeping bag where she huddled, shivering.
“Stay wrapped up. I’ll dry your hair for you and wrap it. We need to get you warmed up. I wasn’t kidding about the water temperature.”
“That’s for sure! I’ve never been so cold in my life! That’s the softest ice I’ve ever fallen on.” Jed was pleased to see a glimmer of a smile.
“Yeah, the water is probably about thirty-five degrees right now. Just a few more minutes in the water and you could have died. Then where would I be? The ice hasn’t been off of it more than a couple of weeks. You also learned a good lesson, I hope. Never stand up in a canoe.” Jed was almost scolding. “You scared me.”
“I’m sorry, Jed. I knew better, but I didn’t think. It isn’t quite the same as Daddy’s ski-boat.”
Jed finished blotting as much water from her hair as he could, then he wrapped the towel around her head. “I’ll check the water and see if it’s hot enough for tea. How do you drink it?”
“A little sugar, please. I’m not much of a tea drinker.” “You need something hot in you right now, and it’s the best I’ve got.”
CHAPTER 18
Charles Sitton awoke not knowing where he was. The light was bright and hurt his eyes, and he felt tubes taped to his arms. His first thought went back to when he was wounded in Vietnam and had woken up in Japan in the hospital. Something was different now, though. He felt in a haze and wasn’t thinking straight.
A face appeared over his, and a voice said, “Hello, Mr. Sitton. I’m Judy, your nurse. You are at Memorial Hospital. Do you remember why you are here?”
“No.” The response was more of a croak than speech.
“Let me give you a sip of water, and then I’ll get the doctor in here to speak with you. Just lie back and rest. We’ll be right back.” She whisked out of the room and returned five minutes later with a young doctor in tow.
“Hello, Mr. Sitton. I’m Dr. Shapiro.”
“Please, call me Charles.”
“Okay, Charles. You were brought in by ambulance a couple of hours ago. Do you remember anything about it?”
“No. All I remember is getting to the hangar and cutting the door open, and they were gone.”
“I’m sorry. Who was gone?”
“Elizabeth and Jed. Pete took them. It’s all my fault. If I’d been there for her like I should have been, Pete wouldn’t have gotten her.”
“Who is Elizabeth? Who is Jed?”
r /> “Elizabeth is my daughter, and Jed is my boss’s son. Jed was giving Elizabeth a ride home from school.”
“I see,” said a puzzled Dr. Shapiro. He didn’t really see, but he knew better than to pursue it any further as the police officer standing guard in the corridor made very clear to him earlier. “Well, let me settle your mind about one thing. Your heart is fine. We at first thought you had a heart attack, but it looks more like a combination of stress and exhaustion. We want to keep you here overnight for observation and to pump some fluids in you. You were also a bit dehydrated. Is there anyone you would like us to notify?”
“No. I don’t have anybody but Elizabeth, and she’s gone.”
“Um-hmm. We’ll be moving you to a room in the Cardiac Care Unit, just to be safe, in a few minutes. You are in the emergency area now. We were just waiting for you to wake up before moving you. Dr. Lambert will be in to see you first thing tomorrow morning.” With that, he hustled out the door, leaving Judy to prepare Charles for moving.
CHAPTER 19
Jed stopped by Lizzie’s curtain and called, “I have your tea. May I come in?”
“Sure, come ahead.”
Jed parted the curtain and entered Lizzie’s room. He held out a large mug of tea. “It’s very hot. Drink it down as quickly as you can. Don’t burn yourself, though. It will help warm you up.”
A shiver shook Lizzie as she reached for the mug. “Thanks, I appreciate the way you are taking care of me.”
Jed shook his head. “It’s nothing. We have to take care of each other if we are going to make it up here. We don’t have the luxury of being selfish. You would do the same for me anyway.”
“I might, if I knew what to do. I really don’t know anything about living like this. I’m afraid I won’t be much help.”
“You’ll learn. Mostly, it’s attitude. If you have the right attitude, you will adapt to any situation. You just have to be willing to adapt. We have two choices as I see it. Either we complain and moan about being stuck here, or we decide to enjoy ourselves and make the most of it. Personally, I love it up here in the wild, and I’d spend all of my time here if I could, but it isn’t for everybody.”