The Challenge(30)

Beth was doing the same thing, thinking about her daughter. They all were. There was no way any of them could sleep that night, waiting for the rescue operations to begin again at dawn.





Chapter 8


Tom only dozed for an hour or so before the increased rescue operation began. He lay awake thinking about Juliet, praying for her safety, and worried about the day ahead. He finally got up to make himself a cup of coffee, and was startled when he looked out the window. There were four TV news vans outside and a sea of reporters. Harvey had predicted it in the beginning, and it had taken the press two days to catch on. Calling in the National Guard had obviously done it, although it was surprising they hadn’t picked up the story before, with ordinary rescue procedures in place. But now, as Harvey said, it had become the biggest rescue operation in the history of the area, even in snow season, which was theoretically more dangerous. But there were plenty of potential dangers now too, everything from bears and all the other wildlife on the mountain, ravines and gullies, the fires burning an ever-larger area on the back of the mountain, possible injuries, to Noel’s health issues. There was plenty to worry about. Tom had no desire to talk to the press. He just wanted to get the kids home.

He waited until eight in the morning, and then called Pitt and Anne. They had been up since five and already seen news trucks and reporters at their house too.

“I don’t see what it adds to the story,” Tom said, annoyed, “to stalk us, when we’re already so worried.”

“It’s the nature of media,” Anne said. Pitt was upset about them too. And they felt sorry for Marlene, who had enough happening with Bob, and now worrying about both her sons. They wondered if the press knew Noel was diabetic and would use that to add more color to their story. “We’re staying out of sight today. Apparently, they’ve already been over to the stables. The stable hands told them it was private property and chased them off. They were taking videos of everything in sight, and tried to get into the barns to photograph the horses.”

“They’re so intrusive,” Tom complained. “They should leave us all alone, and the kids, when they get home.”

He called Beth shortly after and warned her. She peeked out her window, and saw two TV trucks parked outside, and half a dozen reporters. It was apparently a national story. They were swarming all over the Pollock and Brown ranches, which made for better visuals, and trying to interview whoever they could for their reactions. He told Beth to stay inside and avoid them.

He called Marlene to make sure she was okay, just to be friendly, and she said reporters were grilling the hospice nurses when they arrived, about Bob’s condition, and had asked how much longer they thought he would live. Tom thought that was disgusting and Marlene agreed.

“Do you want me to come over and run interference for you?” he asked, and she hesitated.

“You have your own problems. You have your ex-wife to deal with. She seems like a handful,” she said with a smile.

“That would be correct. I was mortified when she went after Harvey last night.”

“He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. He defanged her right away. I heard her apologize to him later.”

“He handled her masterfully. I never did. I had to run all the way to Montana to get her teeth out of my neck,” he said, and she laughed. It was a relief talking to him. He had a light touch, and she thought he was a good father. She couldn’t imagine him married to a woman like Beth, who seemed very hard.

“Keep your doors locked,” he advised her, “and warn the hospice people not to give them information.” It was so wrong of them to stalk the home of a dying man.

“I already locked them,” she said. He forgot sometimes that she was a capable woman, an attorney, who ran her own business. She seemed so vulnerable as the wife of a man so desperately ill, and now with two missing boys on top of it. It was a lot for anyone to handle. She seemed fragile to him.

He went out to pick up Beth later, so she wouldn’t have to stay trapped at the hotel. As soon as he left his house, a young woman wearing too much makeup with a mass of blond hair, an impressive bust, and a low-cut sweater made a beeline for him. She trapped him just as he was getting into his truck.

“Tom Marshall?” she asked, but he could tell that she knew who he was.

“No,” he denied it, but she pressed herself between him and the truck door so he couldn’t get in.

“How do you feel about how the rescue mission for your daughter is being handled?” she asked him, looking for dirt or criticism of the rescue operation.

“It’s been beautifully handled,” he said, outraged on behalf of Harvey.

“Then why do you think the children haven’t been recovered yet?” she pressed him, and he wanted to shove her away to get into his truck, but he knew better and wouldn’t have dared. “They’ve been up there for three days now, this is the third day. Don’t you think that’s a long time to leave seven young people up on the mountain? Do you think they were slow getting started?”

“No, I don’t. I think it must be damn hard to find anyone up there. They’ve been doing everything they can, right from the beginning.”

“Do you think there were drugs or alcohol involved on the kids’ part?” she asked, her face almost pressed against his. He thought the question outrageous. They might even be dead, but she was trying to make the kids and everyone involved look bad.