Fatalis

Chapter Thirty-Six

"Professor, you didn't know who or what was in that camper," Gearhart snapped. "You could have caused that girl's death and your own by going inside." The sheriff glanced at Hannah Hughes. "This is why I take control of a site when I get there."

"He helped you," Hannah said.

"He slowed me down," Gearhart said.

Grand and Gearhart were standing beside Grand's SUV, at the foot of a high slope. Hannah and the Wall were standing behind Grand. A helicopter hovered over the light, illuminating the grounds. In front of them, newly arrived deputies sealed off the campgrounds and examined the blood-covered tops of several of the vans. As in the truck crash, blood was all that remained of the victims. To the north, in the picnic area, an emergency medical team and trauma counselor examined Eugenie at a park table.

"I want the three of you out of here, now," Gearhart said.

"She said she saw a lion," Grand said quietly.

Gearhart looked at him. "Man, you know how to push but not to listen. She thinks she saw a lion."

"Sheriff," Grand replied evenly, "something scared that little girl enough to cause her to hide in the smallest place in the smallest room of that camper and to stay there."

"She also thinks her stuffed rabbit is alive," Gearhart said. "She has an imagination."

"Having an imagination doesn't mean the girl was using it," Hannah pointed out.

"She was eating dinner when this happened," Gearhart said sharply. "The drapes are neatly drawn. She wasn't looking outside."

"But she could hear. Maybe she heard something near the door and went to check it out. The door closes by itself. She could have opened it, seen something, and run."

"It was dark," Gearhart said. "And there are no footprints."

"The cat could have been on the tops of the campers," Grand said.

"If there was a cat."

"There was definitely something there," Grand said. "That's where the blood is. The scratch on the wall of the fifth wheeler is pretty high-it could have happened when a big cat reached down."

"Could have," Gearhart said. "That scratch could also be an old one. And there are at least eight people missing. Why would a lion take them all? No, Professor Grand. Only the girl knows what she really saw, if anything, and my people will find out what that was. Even then, until the evidence- evidence-tells us otherwise, there is no lion."

"Barring a lion then," Hannah said, "what do you make of this?"

"It's under investigation," he replied and walked away.

Grand, Hannah, and the Wall stood there silently under the clear, cool sky. A brisk wind was blowing from the southwest and riding up the hill. Grand looked to the north, along the steep slope. He still had a feeling that something was out here, beyond the reach of the lights. Something- the only word that came to mind was unhealthy.

"Do you guys really think there's a lion running around up here?" the Wall asked.

"It's possible," Hannah said.

"You know, I'm wondering," Grand said.

"About what?" Hannah asked.

"The killer apparently fed at the beach. There was no reason to attack the campsite."

"There's an 'unless' in your voice."

Grand nodded. "Unless the gunshots came first. Maybe the cat was walking past here after leaving the beach. It could have been carrying a body. Maybe someone saw it and opened fire."

"I like that," Hannah said. "It could have been headed to another cave."

Grand nodded. "Let's move the cars and do a little climbing."

"Where?" Hannah asked.

Grand pointed to where the edge of the spotlight from the helicopter barely illuminated a section of the slope.

"See the boulders up there?" Grand said. "About a hundred feet up, just past the light?"

"Yeah-"

"Look right above them," Grand said.

"I see what looks like a shallow ditch there," Hannah said.

"It's not a ditch," Grand said. "It's a slide path. When large rocks become dislodged from higher elevations they slip down the mountainside leaving gouges or ruts."

"And?" Hannah asked.

Grand said, "That's how I've found most of the new caves up here."

Hannah looked at him. "Let's go," she said as she climbed into the SUV.