“See anything? Any movement at all in the woods?”
“Only birds and squirrels, Jesse, but it’s getting hard to see. I think we need to park and search the woods on foot.”
“It’ll be dark in a half hour. Is there a flashlight in the glove box?”
Hanna sighed. “No. I took it into the tent so we’d have it at night.”
“Call my cell phone.”
“Why?”
“I want to know if the cops picked up Leon and if his wife is safe. I gave her my phone to call 911.”
Hanna lifted her hip and reached into her back pocket. “What the—” She lifted her other hip and patted that pocket. “Damn it. My phone must be in the tent.”
The night was getting worse by the minute. I pumped the brakes and made a U-turn in the road.
“What are you doing?”
“Bandit ran into the woods from their campsite, so maybe he backtracked, plus I need to get my phone and make sure Lila is okay. The sun is already below the horizon, so we don’t have a lot of time.” I pulled into their campsite and left the headlights on. “Damn it, the truck is gone.” I opened the driver’s-side door.
“Why are you getting out?”
I shrugged. “Maybe she left my phone inside. I never told her which campsite was ours.”
“But why would she leave the trailer unlocked?”
“I don’t know—wishful thinking on my part. I’ll be right back.”
Cautiously approaching the trailer, I called out Lila’s name, but nobody answered. I stepped up to the door and turned the handle—it opened to a darkened room. I called out to her again and got silence in return. Swatting the wall, I connected with the switch, and the small living and kitchen space lit up. It was tough to see anything beyond the mess in front of me. I turned to the bunk area and saw a heap of blankets but no sleeping bag. I searched the counter and table for my phone, but it wasn’t there. Curiosity forced me to open the refrigerator to see if our food was inside. I was shocked when I saw that it wasn’t, and from the empty shelves I stared at, I would have happily given them food under different circumstances. Unless all of our things were inside the Ram, my gut said Leon wasn’t the culprit.
“Damn it.”
When I heard a sound behind me, I spun. The blankets on the bunk began to move, and under normal circumstances, I would have approached with a drawn gun—but I was barehanded. Either an animal or a person was beneath that bedding, but I had no idea which one I’d find.
“Who’s there?”
Moaning sounded—and it was human. I grabbed the edge of the blanket and yanked it off the bunk. A badly beaten Lila lay beneath.
“Jesus! Lila, what happened? How—Where is Leon?”
She couldn’t speak, and my question went unanswered, but I could put two and two together. Leon must have regained consciousness before she called 911. Maybe she had been too afraid of retaliation to make the call at all, but there she was, beaten within an inch of her life, and Leon, the truck, and my phone were gone—not to mention Bandit. I pounded the wall and cursed. We had to get help, and the only way to do that was by getting Hanna’s phone from the tent and making an urgent 911 call.
I turned to the door and yelled out to Hanna. “I need you inside—hurry.”
She bolted to the trailer. “What’s wrong?”
“Lila’s on the bunk and in bad shape. I know you’re a vet, but you’re still a doctor. Is there anything you can do for her injuries right now?”
“Let me get a closer look.” Hanna moved the remaining blankets to the side. “Jesse, she’s lost a lot of blood.”
“Can you stop it? I need to get back to our campsite and find your phone. Mine isn’t here. It’s obvious that Leon beat the crap out of her before she got through to 911. Maybe seeing the phone set him off. Who knows? But he either destroyed it or took it with him. I’ll call 911 and then drive to the main building. I have to let them know what’s going on.”
The look on Hanna’s face was pure fear. “What if—”
“He won’t come back. I’m sure he thinks Lila is dead. I promise I won’t be long. I’ll grab the flashlight too.”
“Can’t you just get my phone and the flashlight and come back? We can call the main building from here.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll be back in ten minutes. Lock the door, and when I come back, I’ll yell out that it’s me.”
“All right, but hurry. I’ll do what I can for her wounds.”
Once I got to the SUV, adrenaline kicked in, and I pressed the gas pedal to the floor. I took off down the road and wished more than anything that I would see my pup in the headlights and have him jump into the Explorer next to me. As much as I needed to find Bandit, I had to help Lila first. From the way she looked and the amount of blood around her, she could be knocking on death’s door. When I turned in to our campsite, the SUV skidded in the loose dirt. After shifting into Park, I jumped out and left the headlights on to help me see into the tent better. I thought it odd that the zipper was open but didn’t have time to worry about it. I crawled in and felt for the flashlight in the pocket.
What the hell! Where is it? Hanna said she brought it inside.
I patted the floor, tossed my sleeping bag to the side, and patted the spot where it had been—no cell phone.
“Come on. This can’t be happening, damn it!” A twig snapped behind me. “Bandit?” I spun, hoping to see my pup, but instead, a man’s silhouette broke the headlight’s beam. “Thank God. I need help!”
He came closer. “Yes you do, Detective McCord.”
That was when I felt the thud against my skull.