Hunter felt strangely alive standing beside Jamie at the top of Lookout Point. The view was incredible with mountains to the north and rolling hills to the south. The town center was nestled in the distance, all the little shops clumped tightly along Main Street.
He inhaled deeply as a gust of cool wind breezed through, rustling treetops and drying the sweat on his brow.
Glancing over his shoulder at Greer who was seated beside Tasha and Jennifer on a cluster of rocks, he finally felt like things would be all right. Jamie was in his care, and though it would only amount to a few hours, the anxiety that had been rumbling in his bones was gone.
“See that right there?” he said, pointing to the town center. “See that reddish building?”
Jamie squinted in the direction he was indicating.
“That’s JT’s Roadhouse and behind it,” he explained, “is the Meadow View B&B. That’s where I’m staying.” He watched Jamie drink in the sight then asked, “Can you see your house from here?”
Scanning the horizon and slowly pivoting, Jamie searched for the shack that Hunter imagined he'd rather not return to. “Well, there’s the pond,” he said, pointing at King’s Pond, which peeked through pine trees in the distance. “I’m somewhere over there. I don’t think you can see it.”
“Do you get up here much?” he asked, checking the ground beneath his feet. There were pinecones and chunks of dirt scattered across the flat rock they were standing on so he kicked the debris aside and sat.
Jamie followed suit, crossing his legs, and began breaking off the ridges of a pinecone he’d found. “Hiking? Never,” he said without returning Hunter’s gaze. “Went mini-golfing once, but Austin pissed on the windmill and we got banned for life, all us Sand boys.”
Hunter didn’t have to ask if Austin had been drinking that day. From what he’d observed over at the house, it was a fair assumption.
“What do you think of Chief Maguire?” he asked, leaning back on his palms.
Jamie shrugged and said, “Dad don’t like him much.”
“Do you like him?”
Again, he shrugged and squinted up at Hunter. “I guess.”
“Jamie, it’s really important that you tell the chief what it’s like for you at home.” The kid just stared at him, but Hunter leaned in and kept his tone sympathetic. “I’ve been in your shoes,” he went on. “But I made a mistake. I lied. I told the police things were fine at home, because I didn’t want to make things worse. I didn’t want my dad getting angrier. I didn’t understand that if the cops knew the whole story, they could’ve protected me. But I didn’t give them the whole story so things just kept getting worse all on their own.” Hunter studied the kid for a long moment then added, “When a person’s raised like how I was raised, like how you’re being raised, they can’t see that what’s happening behind closed doors is wrong. I thought it was normal, that it’s just how things were, because it was all I knew. I knew I hated it. I knew I was scared, but I didn’t know it was wrong. Do you see what I’m saying here?”
“We move a lot,” he said, chucking the pinecone away. “Only thing I can figure is that Dad don’t get along with the police. They come around, Dad gets pissed, and then we move.”
“It doesn’t have to be like that,” he said, but in the back of his mind he worried that the alternative could be just as traumatic. He’d never been taken out of his own abusive household. He’d never been placed in foster care. He couldn’t assure Jamie that this kind of upheaval would result in a better life. He only knew what might happen if the authorities didn’t intervene, which was why he lifted the hem of his shirt, angling his lower back to Jamie. “See this?” he asked, tracing his finger along a four-inch scar that spanned his right kidney.
Jamie touched the scar and said, “What’s that from?”
Speaking in terms he hoped the kid would understand, he explained, “I used to get in trouble a lot with my dad. He’d punish me for it. My mom would be screaming at him to stop, but he’d keep beating me. I’d have bruises, but they always faded. I could keep them covered up with long sleeves and pants until they did. But one night my dad got really angry. He broke a wooden chair and he grabbed the loose leg. It was like a spear.”
“He stabbed you?”
Hunter let his shirt fall and hooked his elbows around his knees, gazing out at the lush landscape. “He did. It struck a vital organ, my kidney. They had to rush me off to the hospital. I almost died. I was seventeen at the time and when I made it out of the hospital, facing the rest of my life with only one kidney, which is no fun by the way, I left home. Now I try to hide the scar. When I’m with a girl, I try not to turn my back. I’m self-conscious about it, but that’s not the point. The point is, my dad wouldn’t have been able to take it that far, get that out of control if I’d told the police what was going on the first time they'd asked me.”
When he looked at Jamie, he could tell he’d gotten through to the kid.
“What’s going to happen?”
“I’m really not sure,” he said honestly. “But it’ll stop if you tell the truth.”
“Last town we were in, my mom made me tell the police that Dickie had done it.”
“Dickie’s the heavier one?”
“Who was out with Austin when you came? Yeah. But he didn’t do none of it. We ended up moving anyway.”
“Probably because the police weren’t buying that a fourteen year old would hold a lit cigarette to your arm so your folks chose to leave instead of facing charges.”
“What about my brothers?”
“They’ll be safe, too,” he assured him. “Your dad will get help. I don’t want you to have to go through what I went through,” he explained. “I wish I’d met someone who’d pulled me aside like I’m doing for you right now. Things might’ve been different.”
Behind them, Greer broke free from her friends and walked over, saying, “We’re thinking of heading back down the mountain.”
“Ready to go?” he asked Jamie, as he got to his feet and brushed pine needles from the seat of his jeans.
Reluctantly, the kid stood and when he took hold of Hunter’s hand, he squeezed so tightly that Hunter could feel the fear of returning home pour out of him.
They started down the mountain, following the same trail they’d hiked, but soon Hunter and Jamie fell behind. Though they walked hand-in-hand in silence, crisp wind breezing through, the kid loosened his grip and seemed more relaxed than he’d been at Lookout Point.
When they reached the bottom of the mountain, coming to the rear side of Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures, Chief Maguire was waiting beside Officer Geffen.
Amanda, who was leading the way with Justin, smiled at the chief and said, “A little late for a hike, don’t you think?”
“If only that were the reason we're here,” said the chief in a regretful tone. He shifted his eyes to Hunter and sighed, saying, “A word?”
Greer glanced nervously at Hunter, but he offered her an easy smile. “It’s fine,” he said, bringing Jamie over to the cops, who were walking into the shade for privacy.
“I’m sorry to have to do this,” said Maguire as he drew a pair of handcuffs from his belt.
“Do what?” he asked, wildly confused.
Officer Geffen stated, “Please turn around.”
“Why?” he objected.
Geffen helped him to turn and as he jerked his arms, resisting arrest, Chief Maguire explained, “The Sands reported Jamie missing.”
“What?”
“I have to arrest you for kidnapping,” he stated, as Geffen locked the cuffs around Hunter’s wrists, turned him, and grabbed his arms.
In an instant, he knew why Chester Sand had been so laid back about allowing Jamie to leave.
Greer rushed over in a panic, having witnessed the arrest. “Oh my God,” she blurted out. “What are you doing? Why is he in handcuffs.”
“He’ll be at the Civic Plaza,” said Maguire, indicating to Geffen that he could take Hunter out front. “There’ll be an arraignment tomorrow morning. I don’t see why the judge won’t grant him bail.”
Tasha and Jennifer looked on in horror, and Amanda and Justin were equally dumbfounded.
As Chief Maguire and Officer Geffen walked Hunter through Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures for all the customers to see, Greer kept at their heels, arguing, “We had permission. We didn’t do anything but hike. You can’t be serious about this.”
“It’s not up to me,” said Maguire regretfully, as they passed through the front door. Two police cruisers were parked along the curb and Geffen wasted no time opening one of the vehicle’s rear doors and helping Hunter into the backseat.
Though Geffen had slammed the door, Hunter could hear his girlfriend arguing with the chief.
But Maguire cut her off, asserting, “I’m going to do what I can for him when I can, but for now I have to take him into the station and bring Jamie home.”
“You know what they’re doing to him over there,” she insisted. “You know that home is the last place he should be.”
“The wheels are in motion,” he assured her.
“And in the meantime Hunter has to sit in a jail cell?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” he asserted. “The Sands made a report that Hunter abducted their son and-”
“The older brother… Chester!” she blurted out, drumming up the kids name on the spot. “Chester told us we could take Jamie.”
“That’s not what Chester told his folks. Listen, I have no choice but to do things by the book. I’m sorry,” he said again. “Now please step away from the vehicle.”
As the cruiser drove off, Hunter watched Greer through the rear windshield and thought to himself, so much for trying to help.