She did a quick search on her laptop, piggybacking onto the Wi-Fi from the small cyber-café and sandwich shop across the way. Locating the BenReifelVisitorCenter, she studied the map, then shut it down without bothering with the nav system.
As Max had told her, getting to the park headquarters and visitor center was pretty much a no-brainer. There were signs everywhere and not much in between. Less than an hour later, she was pulling into the parking lot. There were no other cars, just a couple of official pickup trucks. Despite the cool weather, it seemed this wasn’t the park’s busy season. Most people tended to take their vacations in summer, when the kids were out of school. Even the people who didn’t have any kids in school. It made more sense to her to travel when places were less crowded, but maybe that was because she’d never taken a summer vacation as a child, and so had no preconceived notion of what a vacation was supposed to be. The closest she and her brother had come to a vacation were the summers spent on their maternal grandparents’ farm. But then their grandparents had died within a year of each other when she was only twelve, and that ended that. Nonetheless, her time with them made up some of her fondest childhood memories.
Kathryn shook herself back to the present. She had no time for memory lane. The visitor center was a typical national park building, a plain single story structure with a concrete walk out front. The interior had the usual displays and dioramas of the park’s history, with racks of brochures for free, and a few glossy books and touristy souvenirs for sale. Kathryn looked them over, thinking about what Daniel had told her in explaining why he’d chosen the Badlands for his next project. He’d said he’d seen a brochure at a friend’s party and had known he could do better. She picked up the free visitor’s brochure which was identical to the one Max Sutcliffe had given her. She wondered if it was also the one that had brought her brother all this way from San Francisco.
“Can I help you?”
Kathryn turned to find a young woman with long, brown hair pulled back into a neat ponytail and brown eyes with just a touch of mascara. Her face was makeup free, clean and pink-cheeked, as if she spent a lot of time outdoors. The name Belinda was stitched over the pocket of a neatly pressed U.S. Park Service uniform.
“Special Agent Kathryn Hunter, FBI,” she said, flashing her credentials and hoping none of this ever came back to bite her in the ass.
“Oh!” the young woman said, frowning a little. “Sheriff Sutcliffe said you’d be coming. You’re Daniel’s sister.”
Kathryn blinked. “I am, yes. You remember my brother?”
“He went backcountry twice, and I spoke with him before and after the second trip,” Belinda said, but her already pink cheeks had gone even redder.
Kathryn smiled at the woman’s reaction. Her brother was charming and charismatic, and had a way of making people believe he really cared. And sometimes he did, even if it was only for the ten minutes he was talking to you.
“So, how does that work exactly?” Kathryn asked.
“Everyone’s supposed to check in with us before they head into the backcountry, although, of course, not everyone does. We try to make sure people know what they’re doing. It’s very rough out there in any weather, and hikers are completely on their own. I was a little concerned when I saw Dan was going solo, but after talking with him . . . well, it was obvious that he was an experienced hiker, and he was well-supplied.”
“But he’d already been out and back once by the time you talked to him, right?”
Belinda nodded. “He went out twice for ten days each time. That’s a long while to be out there alone, but the time I saw him come back through, he seemed fine. Better than fine, actually. Exhilarated. A little tired maybe, and ready for a shower, but when he left, he said he just wanted a few days of hot running water and good food, and he’d be coming back again.”
“He was healthy? I mean, no obvious injuries, limping, bandages, that sort of thing.”
“No,” Belinda said, frowning and shaking her head. “Like I said, a little tired, but other than that, he actually seemed happier than when he went out.”
“You only saw him come back the once?”
She nodded again. “The last time he was here. That’s why Sheriff Sutcliffe said you’d want to interview me, because I was the last person he talked to here.”
“Did Dan check in with you guys the first time he went out, too?”
“Yes, but I wasn’t here. That’d be Cody Pilarski. We rotate shifts so there’s always someone here.”“But you’re sure it was Dan’s last trip when you talked to him.”
“Definitely. And I sure hope nothing’s happened to him. He was a really nice guy.”
“He is a really nice guy,” she corrected, emphasizing the verb. Her brother might be missing, but he was still alive. She knew it in her gut. Something terrible had happened, but not the worst. Not yet. And not ever if she had anything to say about it.
“Thanks,” she said to Belinda. She turned over one of her official business cards and wrote her personal cell number on it. “If you hear anything, or if anyone mentions seeing Daniel, please give me a call.”
Belinda took the card, glanced down at it briefly, then tucked it into her breast pocket right under her name. “I’ll do that, Agent Hunter. I sure hope nothing’s happened to him,” she repeated, half to herself.
Kathryn nodded absently as she turned away, her mind already on her next task, the next item she had to check off her list. Everything Belinda had told her coincided with what she knew. Dan had actually called her when he emerged from the backcountry. He’d left a message on her voicemail, telling her he was all right, that he was going to enjoy a few days of civilization and head back.
When Penny had first called her, saying Dan had missed his regular check-in, the first thing she’d done was access his phone records. Since he traveled to a lot of places where cell service was spotty, he always carried a satellite phone with him, which enabled him to make calls without being within range of the town’s cell tower. She found only one other call after the one Dan had made to her, and that was to Penelope in San Francisco. Unfortunately, Dan also had a tendency to pick up a disposable phone whenever he was in range of a cell signal, using that and then throwing it away, instead of carrying around the more expensive, and heavier, satellite phone. So while Kathryn knew when he’d called her and Penny, she had no way of knowing whom else he might have called locally.
On the one hand, it was good to know that her brother had been well and happy when he’d left the park two weeks ago. But on the other hand, so far she hadn’t learned anything she didn’t already know.
She beeped the locks on her rental SUV, opened the door, and then just stood there for a moment, leaning her forehead on the warm metal of the door frame. Her chest ached, and tears threatened as she fought off a wave of despair. If she could find even one clue, a single hint that would tell her what had happened . . . she needed a direction, and she didn’t have it.
The slam of a truck door behind her had her straightening, blinking away the tears. She turned quickly, afraid someone might have seen her. But there was only a flash of khaki as one of the rangers disappeared through the side door of the visitor center.
Kathryn drew a deep breath and slid into the driver’s seat, surreptitiously wiping away the few tears. She pulled over her laptop and checked the list she’d already memorized. Next stop was the motel where Dan had stayed. His room was still there, still racking up nightly charges. She’d assured the motel manager on the phone that she would pay for it, although she suspected the motel was pretty empty this time of year anyway. But she didn’t care about the money. She’d just wanted to be sure Dan’s things were left untouched. Maybe that was where she’d find that one clue she was looking for.
The motel was the only one in town—flat-roofed, one story, and without a single identifying characteristic. Even its color was a boring beige that blended so well into the desert one could probably miss the building entirely on a hot day, with the heat rippling the air. It was a long step down from the type of hotel her brother usually stayed in, although, as with the backcountry camping, Daniel was more than willing to rough it to get the shot he wanted.
Kathryn parked in front of the office and went inside. The day manager’s name was Jason Kenton.
“Mister Kenton,” she said, “I’m Kathryn Hunter. We spoke on the phone.” She didn’t use her FBI ID for this one. She was already feeling guilty about that, and it wasn’t necessary in this case since she was paying the bill.
“Daniel’s sister,” Kenton said, looking up from a cluttered desk behind the check-in counter. He looked groggy, as if she’d woken him from a nap. He stood slowly, stretching out his muscles and yawning without any attempt to conceal it. Kathryn waited impatiently until he finally strolled across the six feet separating them and reached for a key hanging on a numbered board.
“His things are all in there, just like you asked. I haven’t even let the maid clean. Didn’t see much point, and I didn’t want to mess anything up, just in case.”
“Thanks,” Kathryn said, smiling as she took the key. “I’ll be staying a few days, so I might as well use the room, if that’s all right with you.”
Kenton shrugged. “You’re paying the bill. Don’t matter to me who sleeps there, as long as there’s nothing funny goin’ on.”
Kathryn blinked, trying to imagine what sort of funny he had in mind. But her brain was too tired. “Nothing funny,” she assured him. “You ran my card?”
“Yes, ma’am. No problem.”
“Okay. Thanks again.” She backed out of the door, feeling suddenly awkward, as if he expected her to stay and talk a while. Or maybe he’d expected her to question him like they did in all the television shows. Whatever it was, she didn’t have the energy.