Voracious - Alice Henderson [61]
But now it was gone, and she turned and hurried toward the ranger’s house.
MOST of the windows in Steve’s cabin were dark. Though she knocked quietly on the door, the sound thundered in the otherwise hushed night. She waited on the doorstep, watching a haze of blue smoke drift through the forest, remnants of the many campfires still smoldering, even at this late hour.
No one came to the door. She peered in a window. A light was on in the back of the cabin. She knocked again. Waited. Knocked harder.
Finally she heard someone stirring on the other side of the door. “Listen, buddy,” Steve called through the wood. “There’s nothing I can do about your damned beer. You’re just going to have to drive to town tomorrow and get more.”
She stood silently on the other side, confused.
“Besides,” he went on, “if it was that important to you, you should have known they didn’t sell it at the camp store and brought more.”
Madeline said, “Um … Steve? It’s me, Madeline, the person who reported the murder tonight?”
“Oh,” came the reply. A lock disengaged, and the door swung open. Steve’s sleepy face came into view, his eyelids drooping as he focused on her. “Sorry about that. Some drunk guy keeps coming by, asking me if I have beer. He’s been driving me crazy all night.” He rubbed some sleep out of his eye. “This park’s not nearly as bad as the state park I used to work at. But, man, do I get the unpleasant ones.” He leaned against the door. “So what’s up?”
“Well, actually, I was hoping …” Her voice trailed off. It was the middle of the night, and he didn’t even know her. But she had to get away. Her life might depend on it. “I was hoping you could drive me to my car.”
“What, now?” He squinted at his watch.
“Yes.”
He looked back up. “What’s the hurry?”
“I’m just … freaked out, I guess. I just want to go home.”
He scratched his head, his already mussed hair now standing up where he’d ruffled it. “Well, where is it?”
“It’s at the Loop trailhead.” The Loop was a section of the Going-to-the-Sun Road east of there that made a sharp, hairpin turn. A small parking area lay up there, along with a trailhead that started off some fantastic hikes, including the Granite Park Chalet and Swiftcurrent Pass trails.
He scratched his head again, then ran a hand over his whiskers. “You’re freaked?”
She nodded emphatically.
“What, you think the murderer is going to come after you? We did talk to Mike up there, you know. There was no murder.”
She looked down, feeling awkward. They already thought she was crazy for what she had seen and didn’t believe her at all. “I just feel unsafe,” she said finally. “I know you don’t think that thing was real.” She gently felt the bandage on her head. “But regardless, I just want to go home.”
Steve studied her face for a long time. “I don’t know if you should drive with that head wound.”
Madeline looked at him pleadingly.
His face remained concerned. Finally he exhaled. “What the hell. I’m not getting any sleep here anyway. Besides, I have to see about my winter job in Missoula tomorrow, so I do have to head out of the park. Driving up to the Loop first won’t take me too far out of the way.”
Madeline felt a little guilty. If she waited until morning, she could get Noah to drive her or take one of the red historic touring cars that had been recommissioned to take tourists from location to location inside the park.
Steve looked at his watch. “I guess if I left now, I would just get there super early. Could even squeeze in a visit with my sister.” He dropped his hand to his side, then pushed the door open wider. “Sure. C’mon in. I’ll just get changed. Then we can be off.”
“Really?”
“Sure.” He gestured for her to come inside.
As she entered she said, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” he said, still groggy. He closed the door behind her and turned on a table lamp next to the door. “Make yourself at home. I’ll just be a minute.”
Sighing with relief, she watched as he walked off toward the back bedroom. Hope simmered within her at the thought of going home. She felt almost