The kids ran ahead through the fall foliage, somehow running full speed and still managing to kick every pile of leaves in their path. Days like this were the reason they had bought the house. Their real estate agent knew how to do her job. She’d asked them to postpone their house hunting trip by two weeks so they would hit the peak fall foliage. They hadn’t stood a chance. Autumn in western Maryland, as far as Jack and Lauren were concerned, was one of the miracles of nature.
The first time they drove down the long, winding driveway through the property’s fifteen wooded acres, a family of deer wandered into the road in front of them. Unafraid, the deer took their time to move to the other side, even waiting at the edge of the woods as the car passed to check out the passengers inside the car. By that time the house on the property could have been a two bedroom shack instead of the five thousand square foot custom home listed in the ad and they wouldn’t have cared. It was a perfect place to start their new life. A perfect place to heal. They made an offer that day.
A few of their Orange County friends had come to visit, each one commenting on the beauty of the place and how much they envied them for having the luxury to move somewhere so secluded. Jack took it all in with a smile. His friends all had money to move out of Orange County but they never would. He knew full well they thought he and Lauren were crazy living out in the sticks and that it would only be a matter of time before they would be tired of it all. His old business partner Jason Reid had said, “Jack, it’s like going camping. All the back to nature crap is fun for a while, but pretty soon you need a rubdown at the Pacific Club and a nice restaurant where the menus aren’t made out of plastic.”
But the move was good for them. He and Lauren needed time to work things out, time to take care of old wounds inflicted during years when professional pursuits were put above family needs. And it was working. Jack had never felt more connected to his family than he did now. And Lauren admitted it was the same or her. Thanks to technology, she was able to stay involved with her research life and run a small practice in town, mostly doing pro bono work for the area’s poorer families. It’d been just over a year since they’d moved, and he and Lauren were better than ever. Taking long walks through the forest around their property was one of their favorite things to do and it had never felt more needed than the morning after returning from the hospital.
“Becky. Sarah. Don’t get too far ahead,” Lauren called out.
“They’re getting so big,” Jack said.
“Before we know it there’ll be boys over here. Can you imagine them dating?”
“Sure. I won’t have a problem with that.”
“Really?”
“Sure. I figure when they’re twenty-five, they’ll have the right to do whatever they want.”
“Twenty-five!” Lauren laughed. “In your dreams.”
“It’d be nice thought, wouldn’t it? Be nice to keep them this age for a while.”
“This is a great age. It’s funny but—”
“Shhh. Did you hear that?” Jack cocked his head to the right side of the path. The rustling of leaves. A sharp crunch. Then sticks breaking.
“What is it?” Lauren whispered.
The noise stopped for a few seconds, then started again, louder this time. It sounded like a rock rolling through the trees. The thick undergrowth slowed down whatever was coming toward them, but it didn’t stop it. The bushes and small trees nearest to them shook. Jack felt Lauren’s hand tighten around his. The noise stopped and the forest was an eerie quiet. Jack felt as if something was staring him down, something hidden by the mesh of vines and bushes.
Jack put his fingers to his mouth and let out a loud whistle. Lauren jumped. The thrashing in the woods started again with even more energy than before. With a final lunge, a yellow beast cleared the tree line and ran at Jack and Lauren, its tail wagging.
“Buddy, what are you doing? Did you get stuck?” Jack bent down and picked off the leaves and thorny twigs snagged in the yellow Lab’s thick coat. Buddy seemed to smile as he panted with his mouth open and sat patiently while they cleaned him off. He licked their hands whenever they came close enough to his face.
“You’re supposed to be watching the girls,” Lauren chided him as she rubbed his ears. “Go get ‘em. Go on.”
Buddy remained sitting and looked over to Jack for permission. Jack waited to make sure Buddy stayed until he gave the signal. Then with a slight nod up the trail he whispered, “Go.” Buddy tore off up the path, his wagging tail raised in the air like a periscope on a cartoon submarine.
Lauren and Jack laughed at the dog. Of all of them, Buddy enjoyed the change from the concrete and asphalt of California to the forests and streams of Maryland the most. Jack had always believed dogs were meant to be in the outdoors, chasing squirrels and digging holes, not confined to living rooms and small patches of grass. The move had been good for all the Tremont’s, both two legged and four.
“Did you ever get a hold of Stanley?” Jack asked after they walked for a while.
“Yeah, finally.”
“How’s the girl doing?” Jack knew his wife was worried about this new patient of hers, Felicia Rodriguez. Spending the morning at home with him and the kids had been hard for her to do. If anyone other than Dr. Stanley Mansfield were watching over her, he guessed she would have been tempted to drive to Midland hospital to check on her patient.
“Fine. Stanley sent blood down to the CDC. They told him it could be a week, maybe even longer, before they get back.”
“So long?”
“They’re overloaded. Felicia’s stable and there’s no sign that whatever she has is infectious so…”
“For once, you’re low man on the totem pole.”
“Pretty much.”
They walked along in silence. Ahead, they heard Buddy bark. The girls screamed and then laughed as the big dog raced through the leaves.
“How are you doing?” Lauren asked. Her tone made Jack understand it wasn’t a casual question. A simple ‘fine’ wasn’t going to cut it. As if by some unspoken rule, neither of them had discussed Nate Huckley since they’d been home.
“The way he came after us, it was crazy. Like he hated us or something. But what’s bothering me is how fast it all happened. I mean, one minute everything is great, the next there’s a maniac trying to kill the kids. I guess stuff like this happens, it’s just…”
“It’s not supposed to happen to us.”
“Something like that.”
“No one ever thinks things will happen to them. I’ve been around enough trauma rooms to know that. I’ve seen the look on people’s faces when they come in. It’s not pain or fear. Usually it’s disbelief. Shock that something that bad could actually happen to them.”
They crunched through the pile of leaves in their path. Lauren leaned into him and took his arm. “Is there any way you could have misinterpreted what happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, maybe Huckley was trying to help. He got offended when you told him to get away. Maybe he was drunk, I don’t know.”
Jack stopped walking. “Lauren, the man tried to break into the car while I was in it. He tried to run down our kids.” His voice was rising. “There was a kidnapped woman in the trunk of his car for Christ’s sake. What else do you need?”
“Don’t get mad at me. I’m just trying to figure this all out. I believe you, Jack. I do. But I just don’t understand how the girl’s body could disappear.”
Jack turned away and laced his fingers together behind his neck. He took a few deep breaths to calm down.
“Could it have been the shadows?” Lauren asked carefully. “Something that looked like a face?”