Wrong Number (19 page)

Later that night, Aubree snuggled with Scarlett in the old trailer. She held her baby under the safe canopy of forest pine trees where there was no cell phone service and where there was no chance of getting a wrong number.

S
EVENTEEN

W
E NEED TO FIND
her undercover and watch her undercover,” Jason said. “Find someone who can go on a road trip.” He gripped his cell phone, and his fingers strayed to the gun in his holster. “Keep her mom on the radar. I think Aubree’s too smart to go there, but we can’t be sure.” He pushed the end key on the call and blew out a breath of frustration. The FBI couldn’t employ its usual tactics to find a missing person in the hunt for Aubree. If they put her picture on the news, then the assassins would know what she looked like now and that she wasn’t in hiding.

As if the search wasn’t complicated enough, only a select team of agents was able to take part in the hunt for Aubree because of the compromised security at the FBI. Until the Bureau could find the source of the leak, Jason’s team was communicating on a need-to-know basis.

His supervisor, Agent Napierski, had reassured him that they’d find her. “A fifteen-foot trailer can’t travel incognito,” he’d said, and Jason agreed, but Aubree had the advantage of a great head start, and there were thousands of campgrounds between Colorado and Idaho—if that was even where she was headed. He slammed his hand on the bedside table of the hotel. What if she’d headed east instead of west? He had to find her before it was too late.

The next few days were uneventful, yet peaceful, as Aubree and Scarlett roamed the campground. She finally found a camp chief who
did the scheduling for several campgrounds and reserved her spot for the next sixteen days, which was the limit. Then, just to be on the safe side, she reserved another spot for a full sixteen days more.

He filled out her reservation slips and handed them to her. “Quite the camper, eh?”

“Just making up for lost time. I’ve been working too hard,” Aubree said.

“Well, you’ll have a good stretch here.” He spat on the ground. “There’s a park ranger that comes through about once a day. He can show you what wood you can use for fires. Sometimes he collects the deadfall and distributes it.”

“That’d be great. Can you tell me about the trailhead I saw?”

“Paris Springs? It’s our namesake here, and it’s a beauty.” He pointed to the far end of the campground. “It’s about a half-mile walk to see the natural spring coming out of the mountains.”

“Is it very steep?” Aubree glanced at Scarlett and smiled.

“Nah, you should be able to tote her along. You should give it a try.”

“I think I will. Thanks for your help.” Aubree held onto the slips of paper and shifted Scarlett to her hip.

“Enjoy your stay.” The camp chief waved, and Aubree watched him amble down the road.

The Paris Springs Campground was quiet, and even though it was mid-July, temperatures dropped at night. There wasn’t much for Aubree to do besides keep the trailer tidy and care for Scarlett. At first, she tried to forget about the wrong number and the murders connected to it, but Jason’s insistence that she must know more than she realized kept tugging at the strings of her memory. She began jotting down notes about all the people she had worked with during the investigation, and she wondered who she could trust. Was Jason leak proof?

And then she thought about Devin. Aubree had been angry with Devin for a long time after she moved to Nebraska. It was still hard to think about her misplaced trust in him and the problems he had with Internet gambling. Sometimes she questioned how much he had really loved her. Gradually, her feelings of anger had dissipated, and Scarlett had become a concrete reminder of the good things she’d shared with Devin. Aubree often felt alone and scared, but she wouldn’t allow herself to wallow in regret.

When she’d unpacked her emergency bag, she’d found the notebook from her mother sealed in a manila envelope to hide her identity. Aubree was grateful she had kept the notebook in a safe spot.

Now, as she read from the pages, a soothing feeling warmed her heart, and she knew it was time to forgive Devin and let him go. Madeline had encouraged her to cherish her memories of her husband. Aubree’s heart had been through more emotional trauma in the last year than in the whole rest of her life. Aubree felt determined that she wouldn’t let her circumstances affect Scarlett. It would be up to her to give her baby a good life—one that was happy and, hopefully, safe.

After spending just over a week in the campground, Aubree began to feel the tightness and tension around her heart dissolve. She still didn’t let her guard down—she checked each new arrival at the campground for signs of suspicious behavior—but she couldn’t help enjoying the knowledge that no one knew where she was.

Darkness fell around the campsite, and Scarlett slept peacefully on the sofa bed as Aubree consulted her notebook of case details. The crickets chirped in rhythm, and she listened to the beat, letting it permeate the fog of information running through her mind. Aubree rested her face in her hands but tensed when she heard a strange noise. A scratching sound just outside her trailer sent her pulse into a staccato dance.

Holding her breath, she glanced out the tiny windows into the darkness. She heard a slight rustle and another scratching noise. Aubree felt like a cornered rabbit inside the dimply lit trailer surrounded by the dark forest. Scrambling for a flashlight, she moved closer to the door and listened. The movement outside and the strange scratching sounds continued. Aubree gripped the flashlight so tightly her fingers hurt.

Someone was out there in the dark wandering around her campsite. She didn’t know if she should scream for help, but surely whoever it was had already seen her sitting at the table under the dim trailer light. Glancing at the sleeping form of her baby, she clicked on the flashlight and pointed it toward the screen door.

A chattering erupted, and eyes glowed white in the darkness. Aubree lunged forward and opened the door as recognition flashed through her brain. She pointed the flashlight at the source of the noise—a striped tail swished in and out of the beam of light. The raccoon chattered again, and he and his comrades scampered away into the darkness.

Aubree sank onto the threshold of the trailer and laughed. Her body trembled with the adrenaline that had rushed through her and now dissipated. She rubbed her hands on her arms. A few twinkling stars blinked through the canopy of trees overhead, and the moon illuminated bits of scattered trash from the raccoons in her campsite. She climbed back into the trailer and shoved her notebook in a corner before preparing for bed. If her only fear were raccoons in the night, she might be able to sleep soundly for once.

“I think it’s time for us to check out that trail,” Aubree said to Scarlett the next day after the baby had eaten her mid-morning snack. Scarlett waved her arms and smiled. They had been cooped up in her trailer hiding from unknown enemies for long enough. Aubree hoped that enough time had passed that she could venture farther from her trailer and still be safe.

Aubree rubbed bug spray and sunscreen on herself and Scarlett and slung the diaper bag over her shoulder. She wondered if the umbrella stroller could make the trail but decided she would just have to carry her plump baby. Now nearly nine months old, Scarlett was already starting to pull herself up to things, and Aubree guessed it wouldn’t be much longer before she attempted to walk.

“Pretty soon you’ll weigh as much as a bag of sugar.” Aubree kissed Scarlett’s cheek. “Good thing you’re just as sweet.” She ran her fingers through the dark curls and smiled into Scarlett’s blue eyes. “Your hair is perfect. Let’s fix mine.” Aubree pinned the hair back away from her face. The dark auburn waves still surprised her, but the short style was growing out a little, and maybe eventually she could go back to her natural color. She checked that everything was secure in the trailer and locked the door. Then, with baby in tow, she headed for the Paris Springs Trailhead.

The summer sun was warm upon Aubree’s back, and Scarlett tried to grab onto the leaves of overhanging branches as they started up the trail. The path sloped gently through the trees, barely clear of the encroaching bushes and wildflowers. The trail rose higher at one point, and when Aubree reached the peak of the hill, she found a rock to sit on to rest for a minute.

Her arms tingled from the pressure of holding Scarlett, and she rolled her shoulders back and glanced at the downhill slope ahead.

She heard a friendly whistle coming along the trail and looked up just as a park ranger crested the hill. He didn’t see her until he was almost passing her, and he choked on the tune coming from his throat.

“Oh, hello there,” he said. His cheeks were pink, either from hiking or being surprised.

“Good morning,” Aubree said.

“You must be headed up to the springs.” He pointed his thumb behind him and leaned his arm against a tree. He was quite tall, and because she was sitting, he seemed even taller.

“Yes, is it much further?”

“Nope, and it’s pretty much downhill from here. You’re over half-way there.” He smiled, and Aubree noticed how his hazel eyes twinkled. “There’s not as much water coming down this time of year, but it’s still quite a sight.”

Aubree stood and hefted Scarlett onto her hip. “Thanks. I’ve been wanting to check it out.”

“Enjoy yourself.” He reached out and patted Scarlett’s cheek. “She sure is a cutie. I guess your arms will be tired, but there are plenty of places to sit up there and not too many people right now either.”

Aubree gave him a stiff smile. It was difficult for her to act normal around people, and she’d had to concentrate to keep from flinching when he’d reached for Scarlett. It would take some time to undo the programmed anxiety she’d developed toward every person she’d met over the last year.

“That’s good to know,” Aubree responded. She stepped forward on the trail and clutched her baby closer. “See ya.”

“Yep, have a good one,” he said and continued down the trail.

Aubree walked a few more paces and then heard the cheerful whistle start up again. She turned and watched the retreating figure of the park ranger with the wavy brown hair.

The rushing sounds of water grew louder with every step she took along the trail. She was closer to the small creek now, and up ahead, large boulders surrounded the water. Soon she heard the cascading gurgles of the spring rise up to meet them as they reached the end of the dirt path.

“Scarlett, it’s beautiful. Look at the water.” Aubree pointed to a series of small waterfalls gushing over the rocks. Her voice was swallowed up in the roar of the spring, and her skin tingled as the air dropped in temperature near the icy water.

She picked her way carefully through the rocky path and found a large boulder to sit on. Then she pulled Scarlett’s silky blanket out of the diaper bag and tucked it around her. Leaning back on the rock, she inhaled the crisp, clean air deeply. Scarlett was fascinated by the noisy water, and she squealed.

There wasn’t another person in sight, and as Aubree glanced up the trailhead, she noted that she probably wouldn’t hear anyone this close to the spring anyway. The water cascading down the mountain was almost musical, and she closed her eyes for a few moments, basking in the peacefulness of the area. When Scarlett started to fidget, Aubree slid off the rock and helped her wiggle her fingers in the icy cold water.