Page 76 of The Chaperones

Chapter Fourteen

Saturday morning, 4:44 a.m., two and three-quarters hours later

Emmy, the park ranger

Through the thick fog that’s rolled in, my floodlight catches on oblong shapes in the distance. As I approach Scorp Beach, those shapes lighten to royal blue, the jackets of the Chester School coming into focus. The parents have left camp. They’ve disobeyed my orders. Again.

I scan the beach with my light until it lands on a few parents huddled around one of the mothers, seated on a log at the edge of the beach. She has a pant leg rolled up, and someone is inspecting her knee.

When they notice me, a gaggle charges.

“Did you see a man?”

“He came out of nowhere.”

“He pushed my wife.”

“You have to get him.”

And then someone remembers. “Did you find someone? On the beach? Were they okay?”

I’m not prepared to give them any information, so I ask, “Did you see where the man went?”

Several of the parents point up the service road toward Smuggler’s.

“He was like a bull, came out of nowhere.”

“Did he hurt the person on the beach?”

“Did he kill them?”

“It’s Travis,” someone says from behind the crowd. Collectively, our attention shifts to the woman seated on the log, holding a cloth to her knee. “Cassie’s brother.”

Their voices become a wall of sound.

“What do you mean, Cassie’s brother?”

“He’s on the island?”

“How could he be here?”

“He’s getting away.”

I don’t have time to focus on any of their questions, on that harrowing name that wasn’t on the visitor’s list. I would have remembered.

I run back to my UTV and spin the wheel toward the service road that will take me up to the bluffs. My headlights produce enough light to follow the curves of the narrow dirt road. I stop occasionally and use my night vision binoculars to search the grassland. I don’t see anyone running. I continue up the path before turning onto Smuggler’s Road. It’s only been a few minutes, and I’m surprised he could have made it this far. I hope I haven’t missed him in the darkness.

When I pull out my binoculars again, my lenses spot something in the distance. I adjust the focus to get a crisper image. It isn’t the man but two women, hobbling down the hill. One has her arm thrown over the other’s shoulders. Her face is bloody, and she limps, clearly injured. I don’t recognize her, although she wears that blue fleece coat all the parents wear. Beside her, in another blue coat, is Cassie. Cassie? So she’s alive. And if she’s here, who was the woman on the rocks? I can’t consider that now because they’re headed in the direction of Delphine’s Grove, a small stand of Torrey pines. I don’t have time to reach them before they enter the trees and disappear from my view completely.

I slam on the gas pedal and steer the UTV, hoping to get to the grove before they do. I have a sinking suspicion that Travis is in there too. That he’s hiding in the only concealed area along this section of the island, somewhere I won’t be able to help them if he gets to them first. If he’s as dangerous as he seems.