“This is private property, ladies. You may have noticed the No Trespassing signs everywhere?”
Jan stood in front of Catherine and shielded her eyes from the beam of light. “It seems we missed seeing those,” she said. “But I’d appreciate it if you’d lower your flashlight. And your gun, while you’re at it.”
The man did neither. “I’m afraid all I’ll be doing is escorting you to our commanding officer. He was especially interested to see if there were ladies snooping in our woods. Damn if he wasn’t right.”
He moved to within three feet of them, holstering his flashlight, but keeping the gun aimed at chest level. Catherine moved to Jan’s side as he pulled two plastic handcuffs out of his back pocket, but before he’d even moved his hand past his hip, she had him on the ground, with her knee to the back of his head and his arm twisted up behind him.
“Jesus,” said Jan. She picked up the gun that had been knocked from his hand. “Do you need any help there?”
The man started to struggle and Catherine wrenched his arm higher up. He howled.
“Yes, if you could put one of these cuffs on him I’d be ever so grateful.”
They both sat on him and wrestled his hands together, cuffing them with the plastic strip. Then they stood and rolled him over. His face was scrunched up with fury.
“You bitches will pay for this. My sergeant will be out here any minute looking for me.”
Jan looked down at him and shook her head. “That’s going to be awfully embarrassing for you, isn’t it? I mean here we are, a couple of ladies, as you put it, and there you are, trussed up like a pig. I wonder what he’ll think about that?”
The radio on the man’s belt crackled and a voice came through asking him to report in.
“Just turn it off,” Jan said. Catherine grabbed the radio and hit the power button. “Now, you’re probably right that he’ll be coming along soon to find you. My question to you is whether you want to have us wait for him with you, which we’re just fine with. Or would you like to help us out and we’ll let you go before he sees us? Which will it be?”
“Or we could just knock him out or shoot him or something. That way we can have his sergeant find him and we could ambush them.” Catherine leaned down and looked at the man’s shirt pocket label. “Does that sound like it would be less embarrassing for you, Private Lawson?”
“He’s kind of old for a private, isn’t he?” Jan asked Catherine.
“A little. It’s probably been hard for him to advance.”
“Fuck you!” Lawson said. He tried to spit at them, but the glob landed back on his head.
“That’s the spirit!” Jan said. “It’s thinking like that that’s probably gotten you where you are today, Lawson. But listen, we’re running out of time here. All I want is to show you a photo and you tell me whether you’ve seen the person before.”
She grabbed his flashlight and pointed it at the photo of Maddy, holding it in front of his face. He turned his head away.
“Does that mean you haven’t seen this girl, Private? Or that you have.”
“I ain’t seen her.”
“May I?” Catherine asked Jan, as she took the flashlight from her. Then she jammed the flashlight up against Lawson’s scrotum and pushed. He tried to scramble up on his feet, but Jan held him down.
“I’m afraid you’re not being entirely honest with us, Private Lawson. Now, you can tell us what you know, or I can push harder.”
His eyes were wild as he stared at Catherine. Jan saw him look up at her for salvation.
“Just tell us. It will go a lot better for you.”
Lawson was breathing heavily and looked ready to fall apart. “All I know is that half an hour ago they ordered us to break camp, all of a sudden like, and then sent me and some of the others out in the woods to look for intruders. That’s all I know, I swear.”
Catherine got up. “What do you think?” she asked Jan.
“I think that’s about all he knows.” She took a card and put it in Lawson’s shirt pocket. “But if you think of anything else, you give me a call. If we find out you knew more and didn’t tell us, we’ll pay you another visit.”
He nodded and lay still, staring up at them. “Don’t let them find me like this,” he said.
Catherine looked at Jan and she shrugged. Catherine pulled the knife out of Lawson’s belt and cut the plastic tie binding his hands.
“Now get out of here,” Jan said.
“But what about my gun?”
“We’re not giving you the gun back.”
“Or the torch,” Catherine said.
They turned and marched back the way they came, using the flashlight in the dark woods and keeping quiet. Neither turned back to see what Lawson was doing.
They avoided the parking lot and made their way out to the county road, where they’d stashed the Jeep.
“Let’s drive by the lot to see what’s there,” Jan said.
“Excellent idea,” Catherine said.
Jan drove slowly up the road to the parking lot with her lights off, but when they came around the curve by the pond they saw that the cars and the RVs were all gone.
“Blimey,” Catherine said.
Jan laughed. “Wow. I didn’t know you guys actually said ‘blimey.’”
“We do. I can throw a ‘crikey’ into the conversation if it will get another smile out of you.”
Jan stopped smiling. She had to remind herself to resist Catherine, but it was so hard. She kept forgetting.
“I’d say they’re a pretty well organized group to get out of here so quickly,” she said.
“Except for the look of panic their bugout creates. It can’t be a coincidence that we ask about the girl and they are gone within minutes,” Catherine said.
“Time to find the sheriff, but I have a feeling we’re not going to get much help there.”
Jan looked up the contact information on the county’s website and placed the call to the sheriff’s office. Within five minutes, she’d hung up.
“No joy, I take it?” Catherine said.
“The deputy I spoke to claims there’s nothing they can do based on so little information. I’ll e-mail the photo to him so they have something on file there. He didn’t sound too eager to help out.”
“You sound like there’s something behind that.”
“When I was reading up on the militias and all the citizen patriot groups, I came across an organization of law enforcement officers called Oath Keepers who pledge to not do things like disarm the people or conduct warrantless searches on citizens. When you read their website it’s pretty clear they’re in support of an anti-government, pro-citizen group philosophy.”
“And you’re thinking that this sheriff’s department might be one of these Oath Keepers?”
“I don’t know,” Jan said. “Nothing would surprise me. But now we have to figure out a way to track this Drecker guy, and we’re not going to get any help at this point from the sheriff.”
“Good thing I took a photo of Drecker while we were talking to him,” Catherine said. “Maybe we can show it around and get a handle on him.”
Jan stared at her and found herself smiling, despite her best efforts to remain stern. “Okay. Now I’m impressed.”
“You’re impressed that I pushed a button on my phone, but not that I just took down a rather large man pointing a gun at us?”
“That? Child’s play. But thanks for getting to him before I did.”
Catherine laughed with that throaty tone that drove Jan wild. They sat in the car, both gazing out on the pond. The silence lengthened, but it didn’t grow uncomfortable. Finally, Jan started the car and pulled out of the lot.
“Let’s head into the town near here and show people the photos. Maybe we’ll get lucky,” she said.
Five minutes later, they pulled into the Country Corner store in the town nearest the camp. It was more hamlet than town, but with none of the charm that word conjures. The Country Corner was mor
e party store than general store, its dominant display was the largest selection of scratch off lottery tickets Jan had ever seen. There were mini bottles of Thunderbird at the checkout counter, live bait next to a donut rack, and a small magazine display with the newest edition of Soldier of Fortune front and center. The young man at the cash register was very much like the clerk at the store she’d visited earlier in the day, only surlier.
Jan pushed the photo of Maddy across the counter. “I’m wondering if you’ve seen this girl around here?”
He peered down at the photo and looked back up at her. “Why?”
“Because I’m looking for her, that’s why. Have you seen her?”
He turned back to the video game in his hands. “Maybe.”
“Is this the point where I’m supposed to slip a bill your way to get you to answer my question?” Jan asked.
He looked back at her. “That’s an idea.”
“Because I’ve got to say that having to pay for information about a missing girl, a minor let me add, seems kind of, I don’t know, insensitive?”
He shrugged. “I’m not a touchy-feely kind of guy.”
“Are you the kind of guy that kidnaps teenage girls?”
He gave her a bored looked and went back to his game. Jan was reaching into her pocket just as Catherine put a twenty on the counter and kept her hand on it. “To earn this, we want answers. Have you seen the girl or not?”
He looked at the bill. “I saw her this weekend. Yesterday morning, I think. She was in here early with another chick. Not a chick, really. A dyke.”
“Did you hear them say anything? Do you know what they were up to?”
Another shrug. “They bought some stuff and they left. That’s all I know.” He reached for the bill.
“Hold on.” Catherine showed him the photo on her phone. “Have you seen this guy?”
Jan could see his face freeze with the effort of not giving away anything, which gave away everything.
“Nope, never seen him before.”
“Are you sure about that? I think he lives around here,” Jan said.
“Never seen him.”
Catherine released the bill and he scooped it up, turning away from them immediately. Jan left a card on the counter and spoke to his back. “We’ll expect to hear from you should your memory clear up on any of this.”
Jan and Catherine got back in the car.
“He knows Drecker,” Jan said.
“Definitely,” Catherine said.
“But short of torture, I’m not sure what we can get from him. I think he’s scared of Drecker, or maybe of the whole group of them.”
“He may be one of them.”
“True. And maybe he didn’t know Maddy was heading to the training camp, or he wouldn’t have even admitted that he’d seen her. At least we know that Maddy was here. That’s something,” Jan said.
A hundred yards away was the flashing Vacancy sign of a roadside motel. Next to it was the local tavern. They were both called the Pinehurst Inn.
“Why don’t we go pick up my car and then have a drink over there?” Catherine said. “Maybe we’ll learn something new. And maybe we can just kip at the inn there.”
“Kip?”
“Sleep, I mean. Sorry.” Catherine smiled again, and it was killing Jan.
“Sure. I can’t think what else we can do now, and I’m starving. I’m hoping they have something more than beer nuts to eat.”
They went back to the campground for Catherine’s rental and met at the tavern parking lot. The bar had a smattering of people inside, mostly men sitting alone or in pairs at the bar, heads craned up to stare at Wheel of Fortune on the television. Jan wondered how many times they guessed the puzzle before the contestant did. Their heads swung around as she and Catherine entered to see who was walking through the door. Some eyes stayed on them as they climbed onto barstools. She imagined there weren’t that many strangers coming through the door at the Pinehurst Inn, even in hunting season.
The bartender was a skinny woman who looked to be in a long-term relationship with crystal meth. Her teeth were mostly gone and her eyes were sunken and had deep, dark circles. She was probably thirty, but looked like an unhealthy fifty.
“What d’ya have?” she said, taking a swipe at the bar in front of them with a filthy rag.
“Good evening,” Catherine said brightly. “I’d love a beer. What sort do you have?”
The bartender looked at Catherine as if she’d just spoken in Esperanto. Apparently, not many Brits made it down to this part of Michigan.
“Old Style, Bud, Miller. That’s it. Oh, yeah, Heineken.”
“Two Heinekens,” Jan said. “With glasses.”
The bartender cracked them open and put them on the bar with the glasses, waiting for her money.
“I was wondering whether you’d seen this girl at all around here,” Jan said, handing the photo of Maddy over.
The woman flicked her eyes on the photo and handed it back. “Nope.”
“You’re sure? Because the fellow at the Country Corner said he’d seen her around.”
“She looks a little young to be in a bar. I ain’t seen her.”
Jan looked at Catherine, who held her phone up to show the photo of Drecker.
“How about this guy?” Jan asked.
The bartender’s eyes shifted for a second before she shrugged. “Haven’t seen him, either. You two cops or something?”
“No, not cops. We’re looking for the girl. She’s missing and we want to find her before anything bad happens to her. Are you sure you can’t help us with that?”
“Like I said, I haven’t seen either of them.”
She moved away from them to the far end of the bar, where several of the men leaned toward her and they started whispering to each other.
“Either everyone has reason to fear Drecker or they have reason to protect him from something. No question she knew him,” Catherine said.
“Give me your phone. I’m going to ask these gentlemen what they know.”
“Do you want me with you?”
“No. I want you to watch them while I’m working the crowd.”
Jan stopped at each occupied barstool and chair, showing the photo, moving on to the next with each shake of the head. Five minutes later, she was back on her own barstool.
“One of the men placed a call while you were talking to some of the others,” Catherine said. “I wonder if he called Drecker himself.”
“Probably. But we’re not going to get anything from these guys. They’re all reading from the same script.”
“Well, we just have to regroup. I’ve ordered two lovely frozen pizzas, which Annabeth, that’s our bartender, is now cooking up in the oven. Let’s take them to the inn and check in.”
“You want to stay at the Pinehurst?”
“Where else? It’ll be fine. Besides, I’m knackered,” Catherine said.
“Knackered?”
Catherine laughed again. “Tired, I mean.”
Jan knew what knackered meant, but she wanted to hear Catherine’s laugh. She felt like a junkie who kept picking up a needle and flipping it around and around in her hands, telling herself she wasn’t going to use. It was just a matter of time before she plunged it into her veins.
Annabeth put the hot pizzas and a six-pack of beer into a bag and shoved them over the counter, evidently glad to see the back of them. When they walked the few feet over to the office of the Pinehurst Inn, they were greeted by a woman who looked like a healthier version of Annabeth, maybe fifty years old and looking like fifty years old. Her name was Anna, and Jan understood why Annabeth still had a job in the tavern.
Jan asked for two rooms and she could feel Catherine shift behind her, as if she were about to step forward to say something and then thought better of it. The office was tiny and now filled with the smell of pizza mingling with Anna’s cigarette.
“Where you girls from?” Anna asked. She ran Jan’s credit card as she talked
and seemed to have the sunny side to her daughter’s surly. “You don’t look much like you’re here for hunting. And you can take that as a compliment.”
“We came up from Chicago,” Jan said. “And we’re here looking for a missing teen. Have you seen this girl around here?”
Anna studied the photo. “I haven’t, but I’ll sure keep my eyes open for her. Is she a runaway?”
“We don’t know. A runaway, or kidnapped.”
“Oh, dear.”
Catherine stepped forward. “We’re also looking for this gentleman. Do you know him?”
Anna stared at the phone, trying to get a bead on it through her trifocals. “Hank Drecker? Sure, I know him. He lives just up the road. What’s he got to do with this girl?”
“We don’t know yet,” Jan said. “But there may be some connection. Do you know how we can get hold of him?”
“Hank Drecker can’t have anything untoward to do with that girl, if that’s what you’re thinking. He’s got a wife and two kids and I think he’s a church deacon or something.”
“Well, we’d like to talk to him, anyway. Do you know where up the road he lives?”
Anna looked worried. “I don’t. There’s a bunch of little houses up about a mile from here. I just know he lives around there because I’ve heard him talking enough in the bar. Not that he drinks much. He just comes in mostly for their meetings.”
“Whose meetings?”
“That army group they all have. You know, they call themselves a militia. But they’re not dangerous or anything. And the last thing they’d do is have anything to do with a young girl like that.”
“Why do you say that?” Catherine asked.
“Well, they’re all very straight-laced, really. God-fearing. They rent the back room at the bar for their meetings, but you don’t even hear a peep from them while they’re in there. All they drink is iced tea and Cokes.”
By the time they’d finished checking in and pulled their cars in front of their rooms, Jan was wondering why Catherine hadn’t said anything about booking two rooms instead of one. Didn’t she want to sleep with her? Maybe she’d been attacked by her conscience and decided to start acting like she was committed elsewhere. Which she was, Jan reminded herself. She kept swinging wildly back and forth between being furious with Catherine and wanting her desperately. Her head was a very noisy place.
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