retrieve it, and good work, Mr. Dodge. Are there any signs of the boy?” she asked.
“No, ma’am, and there are no signs to indicate he fell from above. There’s no blood or signs of a body being dragged off by predators. I don’t think he was here, but I can’t explain the hidden backpack. I’m going to continue searching down here in the canyon.”
“I’ll make note of that for the rangers,” she said.
“Oh, one other thing,” Charlie said. “Yesterday I met an old man on the trail. He was meditating, and when he saw me, he asked me if I’d heard the ghost. He said he hikes the trails up here a lot, so I walked off and left him meditating. Is he okay? I mean, is he competent to be out on his own?”
“That sounds like Leroy. Really dark skin, long white hair and a face full of wrinkles?”
“Yes, ma’am. Was it okay to leave him on the trail like that?”
“I don’t know anything about a ghost, but he’s a savvy hiker, and while he’s a bit eccentric, he’s sharp as a tack. Don’t worry about him.”
“Okay, then,” Charlie said. “If I find anything else, I’ll let you know.” Then he hung up and called Wyrick, hoping she would have worked her magic and learned something that would help him find the kid.
* * *
Wyrick’s appearance at the Wells home resulted in a cool reception.
Nita Wells answered the door, looked somewhat horrified, then almost shut it in Wyrick’s face.
“I’m Wyrick. You are expecting me.”
“Oh! Well, I wasn’t expecting all this,” Nita said.
Wyrick stared the woman down without comment, forcing her to break the silence.
“We’re in the living room,” Nita said. “Follow me.”
Wyrick entered with her head up, her stride long and purposeful. The look on the teenage boy’s face was both fascinated and shocked.
“Do we need a lawyer?” Nita asked.
Wyrick turned, fixing her with a cool, studied stare. “I don’t know. Do you?”
Nita blushed.
Randall frowned. “Mom. Chill.”
“This is Wyrick,” Nita said.
Wyrick sat down without an invitation, choosing the sofa so she could use the end table to set up the video.
“You’re recording this?” Randall asked.
“For my boss,” Wyrick said. “He’s already in the mountains searching, so he sent me.”
Randall nodded, but he couldn’t quit staring at the dragon tattoo where her breasts should have been. It was obvious there was much more to the dragon than what the eye could see, and that fascinated him.
“I’m ready,” Wyrick said, and hit Start on the video. “Okay, Randall, whose idea was it to go camping in the Chisos?”
Nita leaned forward. “I think it was—”
“I asked Randall, so I want Randall’s answer,” Wyrick said.
Nita flushed. She didn’t like this wild woman, and she resented any implication that her son might be at fault.
“Me and my friend Justin went last year. We made friends with Tony after he moved here, and when he mentioned he used to backpack and hike back in California, we invited him to go with us,” Randall said.
“Why didn’t all three of you drive down together?” Wyrick asked.
Randall shifted in his seat. “Tony had a truck. He offered to bring all the gear, and so we drove down in our car. He followed us.”
“Not a very fun trip for Tony...driving all that way for hours and hours alone,” Wyrick said.
Randall shrugged.
“Did you meet Tony before he started dating Trish Caldwell or afterward?” Wyrick asked.
Nita gasped. “What does that have to—?”
Randall flushed. “I don’t remember. Besides, what does that have to do with—?”
Wyrick went straight to the point. “Trish never told Tony that she had once dated you. Is that what your fight was about?”
Nita gasped. “She didn’t? I mean...are you sure she—?”
Wyrick kept looking at Randall. “Trish said she never told him. So when we find him, is he going to tell us that’s what the fight was about, or would you rather come clean and tell me now?”
Randall was wild-eyed and looking from his mother to Wyrick and back again.
“Randall?” Nita said.
“We drank some beers,” Randall said.
“Too many, I assume,” Wyrick said. “Three drunk teenagers on a mountain, and two with a secret the other doesn’t know. Who told?”
Randall looked down at the floor. “He kept talking about his girl this and his girl that, and I blurted out...‘I know all about her, because she was my girl first, before you ever moved here.’ Then Justin laughed and said she’d been with a lot of guys before Tony.”
Nita groaned. “Randall, that’s not true. Trish is a good girl