out. If you have a pair of Alisondra’s shoes, a picture of her, and a sample of her tracks it would help.”
I began walking around the campsite. I’d already noted the kind of shoes Peter wore so I could distinguish Alisondra’s tracks from his. Peter ducked into the tent and came out with a pair of canvas tennis shoes.
“She wears these around camp. She wears sturdier shoes for hiking.”
I took the shoes from him and noted the wear patterns. She must wear these shoes around the house too. The insides of both soles were worn smooth. The inside of the right shoe had a hole worn through it. The laces were ready to break. This lady wasn’t into the latest styles either. She was all business, but a pleasant, comfortable business. I thought she must have a lot of fun with her grandkids. I put the shoes down and walked around camp trying to pick up the tracks of Alisondra’s sturdier hiking shoes. I located a good track and squatted down to study the tread pattern. The wear marks that I had seen on her canvas shoes didn’t show up on the hiking shoes. Perhaps the hiking shoes were newer. It helped that the tread was crisp and recognizable. The tracks would show up easier in the rougher terrain of the mountains.
“Are you ready?” I asked Landon.
He walked to the car and shrugged into his pack in response. I took out my own pack and shouldered the rifle. Peter looked alarmed. I looked to Strict and he was just as curious. I’d never taken a rifle with me before.
“Rusty got it for me for Christmas. I’m just seeing if it packs well on the trail. You wanted me to have one for scouting. Well, now I’ve got one.”
“I’d like to take a look at it when you get back.”
“Okay, show me what we’re up against. Peter, you and Alisondra hiked out of here and she headed back early. You can save me some tracking time if you can show me on the map where it was that Alisondra turned back. Do you know where it was?”
He bent over the map and pointed to the meadows. “The campground is here,” he said, pointing. “We crossed the meadows in this direction and followed the side of the hill around until the little valley split. Then we continued down the left fork. When the valley ended we began following the terrain up into a saddle and came down the other side. That’s when Ally wanted to head back. I was sure she could find the way since all she had to do was go over the saddle and follow the valleys back to the meadow. It seemed very straightforward to me. But when I got here there was no sign of her.”
“So the last time you saw her was just south of the saddle? Can you give me a landmark where I can pick up the trail? The more specific the better.”
“Yeah, Ally took my picture standing next to a tree that was growing in a corkscrew. If you can find it, it’ll make a good starting point. There should be plenty of tracks in the vicinity too.”
I asked Landon, “Got your hikin’ boots on? We’re taking a fast hike to the saddle with minor information gathering on the way.”
I circled the campsite finding the trail leading out and through the meadow. I walked quickly, keeping an eye on Peter and Ally’s tracks. I noticed they stayed close. Occasionally Ally’s footprints would stray to the side and Peter’s would stop as Ally stopped to investigate something. She would kneel in the grass and look closely at small things, sometimes getting down on hands and knees. I thought I might like this lady when I finally caught up to her. I imagined a woman with dirt smudged jeans and a curiosity about the world that matched her grandkids’.
Landon followed me quickly across the meadow. My pack was heavy. It always took me a half mile or so to get used to the weight. After that, the pack seemed to settle and I could move as if it were a part of me.
“Since we’re just hiking and we know where we’re going, tell me about your latest adventures,” Landon said.
My heart sunk. I should have seen it coming but it hit me like a ton of bricks.
“Landon, you’ve heard all about it. It’s been in the news and I’m sure Jacobsen has made sure the station has heard his version. Isn’t that enough?”
“Jacobsen?”
“Yeah, he…you’re sure you haven’t heard about this?”
“Considering you haven’t told me anything yet, yeah.”
“I don’t know if I can talk about it. I thought you’d heard. You watch the news, don’t you?”
“If I’m not on duty, or out.”
“Shoot. I don’t think I can do it yet. Get it from Jacobsen.”
I could feel the look he gave me burrowing through my back. It was a mixture of irritation and concern. He knew the things that set me off.
“If Jacobsen was involved it means he was senior officer.”
“Not necessarily.”
I doubled my pace trying to out hike my brain. Maybe if I hiked fast enough we’d leave the topic far behind. When Landon got tired of trying to keep up he huffed impatiently, “Cassidy, you can run but you cannot hide. I won’t push you to talk about it but eventually you’ve got to come to grips with it or it’s going to eat you up.”
“Not if Tom can put the guy away. If we can just get him before he hurts someone I’ll be okay. I keep running the pieces of what I know through my mind and it’s taking shape but it still doesn’t make sense. Like, why is Kima Tumibay worried about gunmen? She’s just a teacher. What could a teacher possibly have done to cause two armed men to go looking for her? I saw her at the school. She loves the kids in her class. The kids all think she’s great. She’s personable and friendly and kind. It doesn’t make sense.”
“For not wanting to talk about it you’re doing a pretty good job, although I don’t have answers to any of your questions.”
“Rusty and I saw her at a restaurant last night. She didn’t know who I was. It was odd seeing her there too. Again, she was personable and friendly. She was with a foreign woman who spoke very little English and she was helping her learn English, not unusual for a teacher, but something seemed odd about it anyway. Her friend appeared to be worried about something and one sentence that I overheard was out of place and it kind of tied in with why the woman might be worried or why the gunmen were at the school. She said a certain man was ‘an activist but usually not dangerous.’ And yet these two gunmen turn up at the school. I think it must tie in somewhere. And I worry about exactly where. I’ve had enough gunmen after me to learn it doesn’t take much to set some people off. I’ve had guys try and kill me for the oddest reasons.”
“It’s because you’re a trouble magnet. You attract people like that.”
“Gee, thanks. Even if that’s the reason why I get into trouble it doesn’t explain why it would happen to her. I wish I could talk to her but she doesn’t even know who I am or how I know about her link to all this. And I’m not sure she should know.”
“Cassidy, you’re not making any sense unless I have some background to go by.”
“It doesn’t help.”
“Why can’t you just start at the beginning?”
“I
