The med techs had commended him. Everyone around him had been in shock; they’d watched helplessly, holding one another while he brought Aaron out of the cold water. Olivia had run back for blankets, and the others had followed her to the stream. They’d carried him back to the campsite, where Drew had gotten the fire going again.
But Frank Vine... He and Callahan had arrived on the medevac helicopter, then stayed behind at the campsite.
Now Vine stared at him as if he were the Antichrist.
Dustin had watched as Frank tried to find out what had happened. The group had mostly talked at once, trying to explain where they’d been, how no one had any idea that Aaron was down at the stream. Mariah was nearly hysterical, certain that it all was her fault. If she hadn’t been startled and screamed, they might have found Aaron earlier.
No one could say just how long he’d been in the water. The med techs didn’t know if he’d live. If he did, they didn’t know if he’d suffer brain damage. He was breathing; he was alive. That was all anyone knew. He might walk out of the hospital, perfectly fine, the next morning.
Or he might live for years in a vegetative state.
They’d find out when they got him to a hospital.
“So, no one saw Aaron get out of the tent and walk to the stream?” Frank demanded.
Sandra was sobbing. “No. We heard Mariah scream from the other direction. Some of us stayed right here...some of us went to look for her.”
“It’s all my fault!” Mariah said again and again. “All my fault. If I didn’t want to see the general so much...”
“That’s right. You were chasing a ghost,” Vine said sarcastically.
That made Mariah cry harder. Olivia went to slip an arm around her. So did Deputy Callahan.
Olivia looked at Deputy Sheriff Frank Vine and spoke evenly and clearly. “None of us was anywhere near the stream. The fact that Mariah was in the bushes had nothing to do with Aaron. Even if we hadn’t run after her and she hadn’t screamed, Aaron was still at the stream. He probably thought nothing of being down there. We’ve all been camping here dozens of times.” She turned to her friend and coworker and said, “Mariah, there’s no reason you should feel guilty. What happened was not because of you. Aaron was already there when you screamed. And think of it this way—we were all up, and Dustin found him at the stream because of you. If it hadn’t been for you, we might not have known he was missing. We might not have searched for him until it was too late.”
“Really, Liv?” Mariah whispered. “You think so?”
“Definitely,” Olivia said.
Frank Vine looked at them and shook his head. “There’s something not right with you people. How can so many bad things happen in one group? Pretty careless if you ask me. First Danby and now this... How could Aaron have such a ridiculous accident?”
“Accident?” Dustin asked, entering the fray despite the look Vine had given him. “A grown man, Aaron’s size, accidentally falls face-first into a stream, knocks himself out and nearly drowns?”
“If it wasn’t an accident, what did happen, Agent Man?”
“I don’t know. That’s why law enforcement investigates such situations,” Dustin said flatly.
Frank Vine scowled at him. Everyone was quiet. Dustin almost felt as if they were on some dusty street in the Old West—about to have a shoot-out.
“And you’re going to investigate and figure out what happened, is that it? When you’re under suspicion?”
“Of causing an accident?” Dustin raised his eyebrows.
“You found him, didn’t you?”
“And saved his life. Before that, I was the first one to dash into the forest when I heard Mariah scream,” Dustin told him.
Mason cleared his throat and said, “Hell, Dustin wasn’t even around when Marcus Danby died.”
Callahan stepped into their group, looking shy and young—and yet speaking with a soft calm that belied his years.
“We need to get these kids out of here.”
Vine spun on him but held his temper. He let out a long breath and Dustin realized the man was frustrated.
“Fine. We’ll get the kids out of here,” Vine said. He looked at the boys again, his eyes narrowing. “And not one of you saw anything?”
Joey spoke up. “I saw Aaron get out of his bedroll, but I was still half-asleep. I didn’t jump out myself until I heard Mariah scream. Then...we stood around with Mama Cheever—Sandra—waiting.... Drew, Olivia, Dustin and Mariah came back from the woods and that’s when we noticed Aaron wasn’t with us.”
Frank Vine studied him suspiciously. “So everyone knew where everyone else was—except for Aaron?”
“Yeah,” Drew said, gesturing around at all of them. “Sandra’s not here now because she went in the helicopter with Aaron, but I was with her, so I know exactly where she was. I mean, all of us were here, except for Mason, who was searching in the bushes, and Dustin and Liv—who rescued Aaron.”
“I’m not sure where everyone was when Mariah first screamed,” Dustin explained. “But when we found Mariah and returned to camp with her, we did know. That’s when we discovered that Aaron was missing. None of us necessarily knew where everyone else was before that,” Dustin said.