It took twenty minutes. Finally, her phone sprang to life. “We’ve got bars.”
Ben was driving on a two-lane highway and it took a little maneuvering to pull the car over onto a slender gravel shoulder and completely off the blacktop. He pulled out his phone and punched in his dad’s cell. When it clicked in, he said, “Hi, it’s me. I got a problem.”
“What’s wrong?” Panic in his father’s voice.
“I’m fine, Dad. I was hiking in the woods. I think I might have found a body.”
“At Mount Baldy?”
“No, I’m down in the Sandias—”
“You went looking for Katie Doogan! Again!”
“Dad, I’ve got to call the police. I need you to come to Albuquerque like right away.”
“God, when are you going to stop?”
“You need to come to Albuquer—”
“I hear you, dammit.” Dad was beyond aggravated. “I’ll come as quick as I can. I don’t have a car.”
“I left the car with Mom.”
“I know. But she’s not here and I’m with a business associate. I’ve got to get a ride home and get the car and explain everything to Mom and get her all upset. Ben, you have to stop with this nonsense!”
“Dad, right now I have to call the police. Come down as quick as you can.”
“Call up Grandpa Ed. He can get to you in twenty minutes.”
“He’s a patent lawyer, Dad.”
“Just shut up and do what I say.”
“I’m not going to bother Grandpa, okay. He’s an elderly man. Whenever you get here, you get here. I won’t talk until you’re with me.”
“Fine.” A pause. “I am so damn frustrated with you.”
“I know you are. I’m sorry. I’ve got to hang up. Ro has to call her parents.”
“Ro?” A gasp. “Ro Majors is with you? Are you out of your mind, taking her down to search for bodies?”
“She needs to call her father, Dad.”
“Tell her not to say anything either until her father gets there.”
“We’ve been over it. I’ll talk to you late—”
“Where should I meet you?”
“Uh, I have to wait for the police at the trailhead. Then I have to lead them down to where we saw the grave—”
“You didn’t find a body.”
“We found what might be a grave.”
“So you don’t know if it’s a grave or not.” When Ben didn’t answer, his father said, “Where should I meet you?”
“Just go directly to the Albuquerque PD main headquarters, okay. I’m going to try to find Milton Ortiz. At least he knows who I am. Oh, and maybe you should call Shanks.”
“Sure. Ruin someone else’s day.”
“Dad, if it’s Katie, do you realize what this will mean for the Doogans?”
“Don’t you lecture me—”
“I’m sorry. I really have to go now.”
“Ben, don’t say a word, okay?”
“I get it.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” He hung up the phone. “Call your dad. He’s going to be furious with me. He may even forbid you to see me again.”
“I can handle my dad.” But the minute he came on the line, Ro burst into tears. She handed Ben the phone. There was no getting around the truth, so he didn’t even try. Ben explained as concisely as he could why he was needed in Albuquerque.
Andrew Majors, Esq., was shouting into the phone. “You went with my daughter to search for a body? How could you do that to her, Ben? What is wrong with you?”
“Sir, I’m very sorry—”
“So damn irresponsible as well as creepy!”
Ro pulled her cell from his hand. “He didn’t want me to come. I insisted.”
“Stop defending him!”
“I’m telling you the truth. Ask his mom. He didn’t even know I was showing up this morning. He told me not to come. It was totally my idea, okay, so stop screaming at him.”
A long pause. Then Ben heard her father say, “Why did you do this?”
“Because I like being with Ben. He lost a sister and I lost a sister, and for the first time since it happened, I could talk to someone about Gretchen without feeling like I was revealing something shameful. God, do you know how horrible it is keeping her death bottled up inside? Like her dying was a criminal act?”
Another pause. Her father shouted, “What in the hell does that have to do with looking for a body?”
“He knows the family of this missing girl, Daddy. This was important to him. And he’s important to me.”
“He’s not even your boyfriend!”
“He’s better than my boyfriend. He’s a friend. And if you don’t want to help me, I’ll find someone who will.”
“Dorothy, will you please stop being so dramatic?” A pause. “I know lots of people in Albuquerque. I’ll make some calls. Don’t talk to the police until I get there. Understand?”
“We’ve been over this before. I get it.”
“How can you get it if I just told you what to do?”
“Ben told me the same thing. Not to talk to anyone until you get here.”
“Wait. Just hold on, okay? Does Ben need any help?”
Her eyes started watering. “No, he’s already called up his dad.” A pause. “Thank you, Daddy. I’ll see you later.” She hung up. “Okay. Call the police.”
“You know, this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
“I’m not made of spun sugar. I won’t melt. Call the police.”
This was a call he truly didn’t want to make. To stall, he gave her a black-humor grin. “Now this would make a great college essay.”
She hit him.
“You have some time before January applications are due.”
She hit him again.
“I guarantee you, you have undergone a unique experience. No one else will be writing about it. It’s even better than a dead sister.”
She hit him a third time . . . hard. “Only you can say that without my hating you.”
“Don’t lose a golden opportunity, Ro. It’ll get you in anywhere you want to go.”
“Maybe.” A pause. “As long as I can leave out the part about peeing myself.”
Chapter 17
Ben hid the gun and ammo under the backseat. He said, “Unless they take apart the car, they won’t find it. If they do, I’ll tell them I hid it so you won’t get into trouble. Originally, I was going to drive my mom’s car. The gun wouldn’t be a problem. It’s registered and my parents have a concealed weapons permit.”
“So why are you hiding it now?”
“Because the law says I need to be nineteen to use it without an adult present except in certain circumstances. Since I was using it for protection on a hike, I think I’d be okay. But right now, I don’t want to explain away another issue. Do you mind?”
“Whatever you need.”
When that was done, he started scanning his contact numbers. “Here we go . . . Milton Ortiz.”