2:42 A.M.
WYATT TOOK A STEP as if to run after Jason.
Natalia grabbed his arm. “Just let him go.”
“Oh, snap!” Zion looked delighted as he put it all together. “So that thing was real?”
Marco shook his head in disbelief. “Where would somebody get something like that?”
“What was it that he was holding?” Darryl asked. “I couldn’t really see it.”
“It was like this big pin covered with diamonds and rubies,” Beatriz explained. “And it looked old. Like something from another century.”
“Maybe it wasn’t real,” AJ suggested.
Natalia remembered Jason’s desperate expression. “Only why would anyone take fake ornate jewelry on a hike? Plus if it was fake, Jason would have said something right away.”
“We know one thing for sure.” Ryan made a scoffing noise. “It can’t have belonged to him. So he must have stolen it.”
Lisa was still jigging Trask up and down, even though he had stopped crying. “Maybe he robbed a jewelry store.”
Ryan nodded. “You could be right.”
Wyatt frowned. “But what kind of store would sell something like that? It looked like it belonged in a museum.”
“Hey,” Darryl said. “There is a small museum not far from here, out in the middle of nowhere, on the other side of the Columbia. It used to be an estate, and as a museum it’s kind of a hodgepodge. It’s been years since I was there, but I remember they had all these things that used to belong to some queen.”
“What kind of things?” Beatriz asked.
“Icons. Paintings. Gowns. This elaborately carved furniture. And the queen’s jewels.”
“Well, whatever that was,” Natalia said, “Jason’s still got it, plus the bear spray.”
“Bear spray would really reach out and touch someone,” Marco said. “I’m glad you didn’t go after him, Wyatt.”
Wyatt shrugged. “I might have been okay. It’s kind of counterintuitive, but pepper spray for people is actually way stronger than the pepper spray for bears.”
“I wish he hadn’t taken that food,” Zion said. “I’m really hungry.”
Natalia looked down at the diminished pile of provisions. The red road flare caught her eye again, only this time she knew where she had seen it. Or part of it. Her stomach somersaulting, she leaned down and grabbed it up.
“Look at this!” Her voice was shaking as she held it up. “Look at the cap on it! It has a big red dot on the top.”
“That’s the striking surface,” Wyatt said. “A flare is basically like a giant match.”
Normally just the thought of a match would make her flinch, but not now. “Remember?” She pointed it at him. “The cap on this flare looks exactly like that plastic cap Jason was carrying while he passed us on his way in!”
Wyatt lifted one shoulder. “I didn’t notice his hands.”
More images crowded into her head. “When you were climbing up to get cell service, I saw Jason throwing the cap into the water. I was glaring at him because I thought he was littering, and he was glaring right back.” Natalia exhaled sharply as it all came into focus. “But he was really getting rid of the evidence.”
“Evidence of what?” Marco asked.
AJ’s voice cracked with excitement as he said what Natalia was thinking. “Wyatt said people use road flares to start fires. Jason must have started the fire.”
Ryan sounded skeptical. “And then he went hiking?”
But Natalia knew in her bones that was what had happened. She looked around the ring of faces. “I’m guessing something happened that Jason didn’t expect. He was probably in a car accident, put out a flare, and then it accidentally caught the grass on fire.” No wonder he had been in such a hurry when he passed her and Wyatt. He had been running away from the fire. The fire he had accidentally caused. “And then he kept quiet and hoped that nobody noticed.”
“But you did notice,” Wyatt said. “You said you glared at him when he tossed the cap into the water. So he knows you saw it.”
“Oh my God, Natalia.” Beatriz put her hand over her mouth. “And then he tried to push you off at Sky Bridge.”
It all made sense now. “And when I was looking for Susan, I kept feeling like someone was following me. I didn’t say anything because I thought I was imagining it.”
Wyatt didn’t say anything, just put his arms around Natalia and pulled her close.
Blue whined and nosed Darryl, who stumbled backward a half step.
Zion threw his arms around the dog’s neck. “It’s okay, Blue,” he said, but his voice shook.
“What’s he going to do?” Lisa clutched Trask tighter. “What’s Jason going to do now that all of us know?”