He hadn’t lied. They weren’t on his list.
What he was looking for was anyone close to them that might take their friendship for granted. Half the time, a perpetrator was someone that victims knew. In this instance, he was betting it was someone with ties to the resort. Either by means of employment or friendship.
The Oswalds had more than two dozen friends that frequented the resort more than once each year. He had files on each and every one of them. Including Jade’s best friend Josie.
Josie’s parents were much like Jade’s—wealthy. Where Jade’s folks had come from money, and loads of it, Josie’s parents had stumbled into it by way of Josie’s paternal grandmother passing away suddenly. The settlement her father had gotten, due to negligence by the state police, had been enough to bump the family into an entirely new income bracket. One in which they never had to worry or work again.
By the time he went to bed, he’d managed to push Jade and that kiss to the back of his mind. Unfortunately, their conversation earlier allowed the old nightmares about Kaley to surface.
He’d been eight. Kaley, his younger sister, had just celebrated her fifth birthday. They’d gone on a camping trip. The whole family. Wyatt had been so excited that he was finally old enough to ride Billy, one of their horses, the entire way up to the camping spot. Normally, he’d had to ride behind or in front of his dad, like Kaley had to do on their step-mother’s horse.
His father had talked a lot about building a cabin up there so that they didn’t have to pitch a tent each time. But that day, since the weather was nice, no one seemed to mind.
They had enjoyed a nice dinner around the campfire when Kaley had claimed she needed to go to the bathroom.
Wyatt’s step-mother had asked him if he’d take her into the bushes since she was too tired from the long ride. Within the year, the hidden cancer that had caused her weakness would take her from them as well. He’d already lost his birth mother to a sniper the year after he was born.
Wyatt had been slightly annoyed, but he walked his little sister into the brush and waited with his back to her while she tinkled. But Kaley complained that he could still hear her and wanted to go deeper into the brush.
He told her no at first, but she continued to complain, and he started to get annoyed, so he told her, “Fine, do what you want. If you get lost, I’m not comin’ lookin’ for ya.” He had crossed his arms over his chest in frustration.
The dreamed turned. Lightning flashed. Rain poured into his eyes, soaking his clothing as he and everyone that knew the family searched the trees. Calling out for Kaley. Day after day, night after night they searched for her. Over time, fewer and fewer of them made the trip into the hills.
Until it was just the three of them again. They’d ride the horses up the well-worn trail, searching day and night. Calling out to Kaley until their voices were hoarse.
It had been dumb luck, really, that Wyatt had stumbled on the old campsite. His father had warned him not to head into the national park so many times in his youth. But that day he hadn’t even thought about getting in trouble if he crossed the fence line.
The camp was less than a quarter of a mile inside the park’s property. His first thought was that he’d get yelled at by some campers. Then he’d seen Kaley’s shoe. It was stuck in the mud, like maybe the ground had swallowed her up whole.
He’d raced to it and pulled, hoping, praying, that she’d be attached to it and thank him for saving her. Instead, what had been attached would give him nightmares for the rest of his life.
The charred remains of his five-year-old sister had been unrecognizable. If not for the single shoe sticking out of the mud, which somehow hadn’t been burned, they would have never found her.
Thankfully, he had. And thanks to DNA, park ranger Roman Gruber was now serving life in jail.
It was because of Kaley, because he’d turned his back on his sister, that he’d dedicated his life to stopping others like Roman. To protect kids where he had failed years before.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Jade woke late the following morning. Her first thought was that she was late for work. Then she realized that she was the boss and could be late and rolled back over.
Half an hour later, her phone buzzed, and she reached over and read Diane’s message. Groaning, she climbed out of bed and quickly showered and dressed. She sipped on a cup of coffee as she made her way to the office area.
When she stepped inside the small waiting room outside her office, Shannon was screaming at the top of her lungs at Wyatt, who was standing stone still, looking extremely calm, while Diane looked on panicked and stressed.
“You have no right,” Shannon said, waving her hands in front of Wyatt. “Who do you think you are?”
“Someone who has every right to fire you,” he said calmly.
“Why don’t the two of you come into my office?” Jade said, getting their attention. “So we can discuss things.”
“There is no discussion. Shannon left the bar area half an hour early without closing down the registers last night. Anyone could have slipped behind the bar and wiped out yesterday’s funds and receipts,” Wyatt said.
Jade turned to Shannon. “Is this true?”
“Do you doubt me?” Wyatt asked.
“No,” Jade said firmly. “What I’m asking, I suppose, is why?” She turned to Shannon.