First Night of Summer (20 page)

Down below, the ground looked like it could use a drink. Moisture from the early summer rains was gone. Here and there, small clouds of dirt drifted off rural roads leading across ranches and National Forestry lands. Powdery logging roads plunged into the alpine-covered slopes of hardened granite and winding streams.

Josie noticed the change. “Are we there yet?”

“Almost. Are you ready?”

She leaned forward, riding in the front seat since leaving Sarah behind, and made a look of exasperation. “I’ve been ready since forever.”

Isaac laughed at her small display of drama.
Me, too, kiddo
.

Summer was at its end, and he couldn’t say he was sorry. But despite the change of seasons, desperation continued to stalk him, desperation like he had never known.

Chapter Forty-Three

R
icky sat in the reclined front seat of his pickup and waited for Josie and Isaac to arrive. He had backed into a parking spot at the Taos Regional Airport with his windows rolled down. Warm, high desert air filtered through the cab while he dozed and listened for the buzz of an inbound aircraft. He had waited since early morning and didn’t know what time to expect them, but by the conversation he overheard a couple of days prior at Jack’s Café, today was the day. He ran his tongue between his top teeth and inside of his upper lip. Josie played in his head. A quiver crawled up his body with the incredibly detailed fantasy.

The remote landing strip stretched across the sage-littered valley floor. On that late Thursday afternoon, the airport was virtually uninhabited. The only other forms of life were an older gentleman tinkering on a fuel truck in front of a closed hangar and a person inside an office attached to the same building. The tiny, uncontrolled field had no need for security measures as the only flights in and out had nothing to do with commercial air travel. This, like so much of rural New Mexico, Ricky liked very much.

On the drive up from Ruidoso, he had nothing but his thoughts and an infinite expanse of scenery to keep him company. The landscape stretched out forever, an inland ocean of sand, rocks, grasses, and cedar trees. Combinations of browns and greens monopolized his eyes. The only splash of color came at a railroad crossing. A pair of candy cane gates dropped in front of him to make way for a passing train. A mile-long string of cars went by in smooth, thunkedy-thunk motion. Vivid splashes of graffiti adorned the sides. He couldn’t make out many of the signs or words, but all had taken talent to achieve desired looks. He knew the culprits, misguided teens or youngsters with a real gift for art.

At the airfield, and for the first time in more than three hours, someone in a vehicle drove onto the grounds. He looked toward the entrance and watched a late-model, charcoal gray GMC pickup come his way. Instead of lying back in the seat or exposing his whole face to the newcomers, he lifted a newspaper and used it to block the lower portion of his face while peering over the top. But as the vehicle passed in front of him, the older couple inside didn’t look his way. They drove on until stopping in front of the administrative office.

Ricky wondered if the new arrivals were Isaac’s parents. He had a pretty good idea they were. Neither of them got out of the truck after backing between two white stripes. They just sat there and looked out the windshield to the south, like they were there to meet someone.

As he pondered the situation, his attention was drawn to an approaching drone. He set the newspaper aside and grabbed his high-dollar binoculars off the dash. It didn’t take but a second to find a glimmer in the distance, the setting sun reflecting off a shiny surface. He used his right pointer finger to adjust the focus dial in between the lenses and clear the visual until a crisp image of an airplane appeared. It circled to the north and lined up for a southwesterly landing, directly into the light breeze.

His heart quickened.
It’s them. It has to be
. What were the odds of someone else flying into the tiny airport, in a single-engine aircraft, to be picked up by a retirement age couple? He intently held the binoculars to his eyes and watched the little Cessna come closer.

Some jobs required more planning than others did. Kidnapping Josie was not going to be easy. And although Ricky wondered what type of scheme he would have to hash out to do it, he felt quite pleased with how the current events were unfolding. Just like in Ruidoso at the beginning of summer, when he had hidden in the woods and posed as a jogger, there was nothing suspicious about his current disguise. He was there to airplane watch.

The plane glided lower until it touched down. A slight screech sounded as rubber tires met pavement and began to roll. He could discern a man in the captain’s seat and a shorter person, small enough to be a child, in the passenger seat.
This has to be them
.

The pilot slowed to taxi speed and made his way to a tie-down area on the tarmac. Metal rings were bolted into the pavement with lengths of rope coiled neatly on the ground. The airplane came to rest in the middle of a three-ringed triangle and the propeller blades fell silent.

Ricky had to control himself from bobbing up and down in his seat at the near unbearable anxiety of who could be inside. Really, he already knew, but he wanted to see her so badly and refused to let the binoculars leave his eyes.

As if a dream come true, the passenger door opened, and out she came. In his mind, Josie shined brighter than the sunset painted across the wild background behind her. She was there, ripe and ready to be plucked by his hungry hand.

Chapter Forty-Four

“Y
oung lady,” Isaac instructed over the mike, “do not open that door until the propeller stops spinning.”

“I won’t,” Josie agreed without looking at him. She focused out her window, enthusiastically waving at her grandparents.

Isaac used the foot pedals to maneuver the Cessna into a tie-down space. As he idled the throttle, Josie’s hand already rested on the door latch. When the engine turned completely off, she sprang from the cockpit and ran the ten yards to Tom and Helen. Tom bent down, gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek, and left her with Helen.

Isaac took a moment to stuff their headsets and flight plan into his bag. Removing the key from the ignition, he stepped out into the final minutes of daylight and found Tom waiting under the wing.

“Y’all are early.” His father grinned.

Isaac set his flight bag on the ground. “Albuquerque was a quick stop, and we had a nice tailwind to push us.”

They wrapped each other in a tight embrace.

“Sarah’s all squared away?”

“Yeah, she’s ready to go.”

“We’re glad she’s excited about it, but we sure wish she could have made it up here, too.”

Isaac walked out to the end of the wing and lifted a coil of rope attached to a tie-down ring. He fed it through a brace and tied it off. Tom went to the other side and did the same while Isaac secured a third rope to the tail. With all three ropes pulled snug, it would keep for the weekend.

“How was your flight?” Helen greeted him at the pickup. She wrapped both arms around his neck, and he pulled her into a tight hug.

“Good. Fast.” He looked down at his mom, a head shorter. “How are you?”

“Excited that you’re here. Let’s head to the house, and we can talk on the way. Supper’s almost ready.” She turned and started to get in the backseat with Josie.

Isaac slung the bags into the bed. “I’ll ride in the back, Mom.”

“Nonsense,” she said with a flick of her hand. “I’m getting back here with Josie. You ride in front with Dad.”

As the door closed, he heard Josie ask if she could help cook.

“I hoped you might,” Helen assured her. They settled into girl chat, Josie happily answering all the questions her grandmother asked.

He looked out the window, out across the expansive valley floor to the western horizon. The change in scenery worked its magic, slowly leeching into his system. At home, he felt vulnerable, exposed to the predator who threatened to come back and visit his mayhem on them. But away from Ruidoso, he had no worries, no anxiety over a bogeyman hiding in the shadows. A casual smile parted his lips.

The sunset cast the village in radiant light, a glow that happened for only a few minutes each day. Headed up the mountain, he took in the whole picture—the desert valley, all the Pueblo-style houses scattered across the landscape, and, in the distance, the Rio Grande Gorge running south with its white water churning in the depths. He absorbed it all, all except the vehicle that followed at a discreet distance. That, he thought nothing of.

Chapter Forty-Five

E
very few minutes, a hiker or biker went by on the nature trail’s dirt path. It led to a clear water streambed where giant cottonwoods and poplars rose from the wet soil. Not only did Ricky find the location ideal for observation, he also appreciated the serenity and ease with which he blended into a steady flow of outdoor lovers.

One meandering road accessed Tom and Helen’s house where Josie stayed. From his vantage point at the bottom of a hill and seated on a split-log bench, if she or Isaac left, he would see it. All he had to do was jump in his truck and follow.

A fueling station with two gas pumps and a convenience store sat just across the road from the trailhead. He could buy snacks when hungry and keep watch through the front glass. Instead of going into the public restroom to take a leak, he ducked behind trees for relief. Taking his eyes off the road, a potential window to miss Josie leaving the house, was unacceptable.

Friday rolled by with no activity from his target. He spent the better part of Saturday bored and perplexed. Like all creative thought, a plan had to sprout from an idea. As of yet, he had none. Plenty of made-up scenarios tumbled through his mind, but nothing realistic. Another break-in—a strategy he used the first time to go after Josie—made no sense, especially with Tom and Isaac inside the house. He had no wish to relive an event similar to the one in Ruidoso ever again.

He viewed Josie and the rest of her family like a herd of cattle. If he could somehow corral them, steer her to a destination, and hem her in, he might have a chance. The problem of how and, more importantly, where could not be solved without movement. They had to leave the house at some point. But until they did, he had only one option, sit and wait.

As the sun sank in the sky and approached the end of another day, it finally happened, and his boredom turned to anxious hope. He looked at his watch. It was almost six o’clock.

Tom’s pickup, the same one from the airport, wound its way down the twisted blacktop and headed for town. Ricky’s lip curled into a lopsided, menacing grin. When it passed the trailhead, he saw Isaac and Josie inside.
Where are you two going?

He sprang into his newly acquired work truck and followed. They drove into the village, passed through several traffic lights, and pulled into an adobe façade shopping center. Isaac parked in the scarcely occupied lot and walked into a small grocery market. Josie skipped in pace, holding her father’s hand.

At the far end of the center, Ricky found a row of empty spaces along the outer wall of the grocery store. He couldn’t see the front of the shops, but kept their vehicle in his line of sight. The alley was mere steps away.

Josie was so close yet so far away. He fidgeted restlessly. His normally calm demeanor betrayed his desire as he evaluated the situation. He had already made his move by coming to Taos. Now Josie was on the move. The ball was back in his hands.
Do something or keep waiting
. He felt the short weekend slipping away.

Chapter Forty-Six

I
saac stood in a grocery store aisle with an array of brown sugar options before him. Josie waited in silence as her father debated over which kind he should get, dark or light. He held the dark bag in his left hand and the light in his right, eyes roaming back and forth.

“Is there anything I can help you with, sir?” a voice came from behind.

Isaac looked over his shoulder and found a youngish guy in a green store apron. “I’m not sure.” He held up the two bags of sugar for the clerk to see. Strong fingers gripped around the soft granules of sweetness. “Which kind do most women buy?”

The clerk tilted his head and was about to say something when Isaac looked down to a tapping on his leg.

Josie politely poked him on the thigh with her finger. She looked up with her bright eyes. “Mom gets the dark.”

“She does?” He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought to ask her before. She loved to go shopping with her mom, and Sarah had taught her to cook for a couple years now. “Is this what MaMaw likes?”

Josie shrugged her little shoulders. “I don’t know. Mom says the dark has more flavor and keeps the food moist.”

“There you have it,” the clerk said, somewhat surprised.

Isaac, also surprised at how much Josie knew, raised his eyebrows and confirmed, “And there you have it.”

Sometimes he forgot how smart she was, how many things she knew despite her stature. It was one of those moments as a parent that reminded him how quickly children change. Sometimes he had to be taken off guard to realize it.

Isaac put the light sugar back and turned to leave when the store employee asked, “You guys aren’t from here, are you?” He made a gesture toward them with his hand. “I don’t recall seeing you before.”

Isaac looked the guy over. He had a five o’clock shadow, slightly greasy brown hair tussled in a million directions, and a laid-back demeanor. Isaac guessed him to be around the same age as himself.

He stuck out his hand. “I’m Derek.”

Isaac returned the gesture, and they shook with firm grips. He smiled at the situation. Only in small towns did store employees formally introduce themselves to customers. It felt a lot like life in Ruidoso, wholesome, minus the bad memories that haunted them there.
Derek the tree hugger, ski bum, raft guide … grocery store worker to help pay the bills
.