Big Story

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The threesome headed to the outskirts of the burg and went to the pack mule stable. They chose the most rugged animals which they thought were capable of taking on the gear. As they headed down the trail, about two miles walking distance from the foothills of the mountain, the air became thick and extremely chilly and blustery. Erika could feel the icy cold air run up the nape of her neck. This was just the beginning of a very long journey, she thought to herself.

“Cold ain't it, Mrs.?” Eldy popped out.

“I am quite fine, Eldy!” Erika retorted.

As they prodded along, the ground became hard and ruddy. The ice had frozen indentations of animal hooves, making it difficult to walk. Erika lost her footing and slipped on the ice. Jon grabbed the tail of her jacket, preventing her from falling to the ground. She fell into his arms. “I am fine, as I have told you before!” Erika reminded Jon as her face became flushed. The two caught each other's gaze and held it for a brief moment. Erika quickly looked away and proceeded to walk straight ahead.

As nightfall approached, the three found a spot to make camp. Jon proceeded to set up a campfire and unpack the items they would need for the night. The stars were out and shined like pewter dollars into the red-tinted sky. The night was a clear one without a cloud in sight.

“We have already wasted an entire day and have gotten nowhere in regards to locating my husband! We have not even started up the mountain, Mr. Vanblise!” Erika scolded Jon in a brusque tone.

“Please call me Jon! You must be patient, Mrs. Freese! As I have told you before, this is not going to be an easy trek! Nor will it be a quick one!” Jon reminded her.

“OK, Jon. I guess I don't understand why you are working as a guide when I know that you are a very well-respected journalist and writer! Why would you take on this type of work?” Erika questioned his motives.

“I enjoy this type of work! I moved up here to get away from the exhausting tumult of city life1. I couldn't take it any longer! I needed some peace and quiet! I have that here. I can still use my skills in a slower-paced environment. I still cover stories for the paper, but I am free to pick and choose now!” Jon made his intent clear.

Erika's leg muscles were the consistency of jelly. She was totally fatigued from trudging along the narrow paths. Her body was shaking. She gave in to the exhaustion and dozed off to sleep.

“Good morning, Erika!” Jon greeted her cheerfully. She could not keep her eyes off of Jon as his strong arms meticulously folded up the tent and packed the gear in preparation for the day ahead. She took note of his manliness. Erika could sense the attraction between her and Jon. She felt drawn to him. There was definitely chemistry at work. But Erika must forget these feelings. After all, she was a married woman in search of her missing husband. She tried to shake off her thoughts as she stood up and took a deep breath of the cool mountain air.

Off again, Erika, Jon, and Eldy started on their way around the mountain. The terrain became even more difficult to navigate and the air more fridge as they progressed. A hazy fog eventually settled around them. Cliffs lay in from of them covered with passionless ice ridges.

As they reached the high altitude, deep snow began to emerge. The cliffs of the mountainside became dangerous due to heavy-laden precipitation. The animals breathed hard with each step, and they were slowing down. Eldy got a rope out from the backpack and slid it through the bags of gear. He secured the bags of gear and the animals together.

“Stay close and hold onto the rope tight, Erika! This is where a man can get lost and never be found! These blizzards can be blinding!” Jon cautioned her.

They took the mountain pass toward the ranger station. The road had cleared but was still impassable. Erika covered her face with her wool muffler and shielded it from the razor-sharp freezing air currents.

They arrived at one of the park ranger stations after approximately forty-five minutes of hiking. The rangers informed them that a search party had been sent out, and this was too dangerous for pedestrianism, even with the pack mules.

Avalanches were a strong potential, as the weather had changed and some of the ice was melting at the higher altitudes. But Erika, intent on persevering, begged Jon to ignore the warning and forge ahead. They left the ranger station and continued on up the mountain pass. The snow started coming down heavily, and visibility was at a minimum. The pack mules were barely able to trod along the muddy paths. Erika again slipped and fell. Hanging onto the guide rope, she managed to keep from sliding down the steep embankment. But she had twisted her ankle badly. She could not feel her extremities. Her body was frozen and numb. The arctic winds wailed and moaned. Up ahead, in the distance, there was an old abandoned cabin. Jon swept Erika up in his arms and the three-headed for the old, broken-down cabin.

Eldy gathered up some of the firewood stacked outside the cabin and started a fire. Jon placed Erika's rigid body beside the warm fire.

“Looks like we're gonna be here for a while, chief!” Eldy cautioned.

“Mrs. Freese will be highly disappointed, Eldy. But I believe this is the only alternative we have now. We cannot go any further, especially while she is in this condition!” Jon replied to Eldy.

Erika fell into a deep sleep. Her body was in a state of shock from the blow to her ankle. Hours passed, and night befell upon them as the strong winds persisted. Eldy tightened up some of the loose boardings to keep the snow out of the cabin and put more kindling on the fire.

The snow had now eased up a bit the next day. Eldy decided to head back to the ranger station to summon help for Erika and let the rangers know of their whereabouts. Jon remained behind with Erika.

When Erika awoke, she found Jon sitting at the split log table gazing at her.

“What?” Erika asked as she gazed at Jon. She noticed the worried look on Jon's face.

“Erika, you have injured your ankle badly! Eldy went to the ranger station. Someone should be here in due time to help!” Jon replied.

“You should not have done that! I told you that I could take care of myself! It's just a sprain! At this rate we will never find Lance!” Erika snapped at Jon. She was quite irritated and disappointed with him.

Several hours passed. When Eldy arrived at the ranger station, he was surprised to hear that a few men had stopped at the station and checked in prior to leaving the area. One of the men fit Lance's description. The ranger stated that the men had decided that they were leaving the park but did not elaborate as to where they were going.

“They stopped off here a couple of hours after you left the station. They wanted to get going before the heavy winds set in,” the ranger indicated to Eldy.

Eldy had a very strange feeling about this, but he wasn't certain why. The rangers summoned an ambulance via the two-way radio. Eldy and the rangers jumped into the green jeep and headed towards the mountain. They arrived at the cabin and assisted Erika into the ambulance upon its arrival.

“Well, I guess our journey has ended at this point, Jon,” Erika quipped.

Jon and Erika exchanged glances. Jon felt a sort of melancholy sadness come over him as the ambulance pulled away. He couldn't put his finger on it. The ambulance carefully maneuvered around the steep winding curves taking Erika to the county hospital. Eldy and Jon headed back with the pack mules towards the burg.

“Jon, there is something very odd about this whole thing! I don't quite know what it is. Whey wouldn't this fellow have left word with the rangers if he thought his wife was looking for him?” Eldy quizzed Jon.

“My dear Eldy, I don't know. But right now, I don't think that concerns us!” Jon scolded him. Erika awoke around ten o'clock the next morning. She was very hazy-eyed, and her head was in a fog from the dose of strong pain medication that had been administered the previous night. The hospital room was sterile and smelled of strong disinfectant. As the nurse entered, Erika asked if there had been any word from her husband.

“No, Mrs. Freese, but a Mr. Vanblise left this number for you,” the nurse stated as she handed Erika the paper. Erika took the number as she asked the nurse when she was due to be released from the hospital.

“The doctor will be in shortly. But I think he may want to keep you a few more hours for observation,” the nurse stated as she was exiting the room.

Erika dialed her home phone number. There was a chance that Lance might have arrived home and was unaware of what had happened to her. As the phone rang, Erika felt queasy with butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Must just be nerves from her recent ordeal, she thought. A strange woman answered the telephone. When Erika asked the woman what number she had reached, the woman abruptly hung up the phone. “I must have misdialed,” Erika muttered out loud to herself. When she attempted to ring the number again, the line was busy. Erika wondered who the woman could be. And why was the line now busy? Had Lance arrived back home so quickly? And if he did, why didn't he try calling her on her cell?

“I'll call the Colonel! He would know if there was any news!” she stated under her breath to herself.

“Kensington residence,” the elderly female politely answered.

“Yes, Mrs. Kensington, is the Colonel there? I really need to speak with him. This is Mrs. Freese,” Erika stated in a frantic tone.

“Just a minute, Mrs. Freese,” replied Mrs. Kensington.

“Ah, Mrs. Freese. Glad to hear from you! Where are you?” the Colonel questioned her.

“I had a slight mishap with my ankle, and I am at the county hospital. But that's not why I called. Just before I was taken to the hospital, the ranger station at Winterton informed us that a group of men checked in, and one of the men fit Lance's description. I tried to phone home, and the line was busy. I wondered if you had heard anything. I can't seem to get through on Lance's cell phone either!” Erika stated inquisitively.

“No, I have not heard a thing, Mrs. Freese! But I drove out by your place yesterday and eyed a lady entering your house. I thought it was a little odd. But then I thought perhaps maybe you had someone looking after the place while you were gone. In fact, I tried to call there myself, and the line was busy then, too!” the Colonel remarked.

Now Erika was very concerned. She wondered what on earth could be happening. She decided to give Mr. Vanblise a call.

“No, Colonel, I am not sure what is going on myself! Listen, I am going to see if Mr. Vanblise has any update on Lance. Please let me know if you hear anything! Thanks!” Erika stated in a firm voice and hung up.

The Colonel, being of suspicious nature, decided he would take another drive out to the Freese residence. As he prepared to leave, the telephone rang again. It was Jon Vanblise on the line. Jon apprised the Colonel of the news that the ranger station had reported to him.

“I'll meet you out there, Colonel. I am curious myself!” Jon hung up and headed out the door.

The physician entered the room. “Mrs. Freese, I am Doctor Overstreet. I have ordered an X-ray of your ankle. It looks like you took a nasty fall! You may have fractured your ankle. I would like to take a look at the X-ray. We may have to set the bone,” the physician informed Erika.

“Look, Doctor, I need to get home as soon as possible. I would have thought all this would have already been done!” Erika snapped at the physician.

“I will be back to see you this afternoon after I look at the X-ray,” Doctor Overstreet calmly stated. Erika's impatience did not affect his demeanor in the least. He turned around and exited the room.

“Oh, great!” Erika whispered sarcastically to herself. She once again picked up the phone and attempted to dial her home number. The line remained busy. She pulled out the paper that the nurse had provided to her with Jon Vanblise's number. She was nervous and fumbled with the antiquated hospital phone on the overbed table. She dialed Jon's number and he did not answer.

As Jon drove up the driveway of the grand old oak framed ornate mansion, he spotted a light on in the large picture window. The Colonel's sedan was parked in the driveway. Jon made his way up the winding cement walkway, speckled and cracked from the brutal weather changes that it had endured over the years, and noticed crimson red splotches at the foot of the large step leading to the massive entrance door. The door was ajar and there was a trail of what appeared to be bloodstains leading through the hall entrance and into the living room. Jon cautiously followed the trail against his better judgment. There lay the Colonel's lifeless body covered with blood. Apparently, the perpetrator had fled the scene. Jon immediately pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the police station located in the burg.

“This is Jon Vanblise. I need someone out here right away! I...I was supposed to meet someone out here and well he's...there's been some sort of accident! He's dead! Please send someone right away!” Jon stated as he gave the individual on the other line the address.

Jon felt an eery feeling of terror! As he looked around the house, he noticed that someone had apparently exited the residence through the back door. The police arrived shortly. Although it seemed as though it took them an hour to arrive. The police questioned Jon.

“I am sorry, Mr. Vanblise, but it looks as though we will have to take you into the station for further questioning since you are the only one here! This situation does not look good!” Sergeant Downs stated adamantly.

Erika attempted to dial her home telephone number once again. This time the phone rang, but there was no answer. She tried to contact Jon and he did not answer. She then dialed the Colonel's home and his wife informed her that he had left to go to Erika's home, but she had not heard anything back from her husband. Erika became wild with panic! She didn't know what to do. Being that she had no friends locally, she couldn't think of anyone else that she could call that might have information in regards to Lance. “I cannot stay in this place much longer!” she stated aloud to herself. She frantically made a decision to contact the Peaksboro police. Erika explained the situation to the police and gave them a brief description of Lance. The Chief agreed to post a missing person bulletin and informed Erika that she would be notified of any news that they received in regards to Lance's whereabouts.

Sergeant Downs arrived at the station with Jon Vanblise in tow. Chief Towson overheard Downs questioning Jon. The Chief explained that a lady named Erika Freese had called earlier, and coincidentally, her address was the same as the crime scene.

“None of this makes sense, Towson! Where is this woman? I would like to call her in for questioning also! Get me her number!” Seargent Downs demanded.

Bulletins emerged via the fax machine, from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, into the small dingy Peaksboro police station. This was the usual weekly regime. Interestingly, a group of three men was wanted for their involvement in several banking thefts. One of the men distinctly fit Lance's description.

As Erika continued to lay in her hospital bed, awaiting the results of her X-ray, her mind drifted back to Winterton mountain. She recanted the look shared between her and Jon Vanblise. His brown eyes were staring passionately into hers as he caught her in his arms on the mountain. Would she ever see him again? The abrupt ring of the telephone, sitting by her bed, startled her out of her daydream.

“Hello,” Erika answered with anticipation.

“Mrs. Freese, this is Chief Towson. I am afraid there has been an incident at your home, and we need to speak with you as soon as possible. I understand that you are in the hospital. When will you be discharged? We really need for you to come down to the station so we can get this thing straightened out!” Towson questioned.

“I am supposed to be released this afternoon, hopefully! What happened? What's going on? Have you heard from Lance?” Erika asked with fervor.

“Mrs. Freese, I am not authorized at this time to disclose any information. Please come down to the station as soon as you are released!” the officer demanded and hung up.