Missing Maggie

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 


 








        As luck would have it, I found something very interesting before I even reached the tree. Ground into the earth, about ten feet from the maple, were the shattered remains of Kaylee’s cell red cell phone.


         “Hey, Brian!” I yelled to my brother, who was finishing the remains of his snack on the back steps of the house. I reached down and picked up the largest pieces of the phone and held them up for him to see. “It’s Kaylee’s.”


         Brian shoved the plastic wrapper into his pocket and sprinted out to where I stood.


         “Damn.” Brian bent down and picked at the remaining pieces on the ground. “Did you find anything else?” he asked.


         “Not yet. I’m headed up the tree. You start down the path towards the brook. I’ll call up to you if I see anything.


         Brian walked down the path towards the water, scanning each side as he went along. I managed to get about halfway up the tree before I stopped to take a first look.


         The woods had become overgrown, leggy bushes and saplings encroached upon the worn paths we had created as children. I let my eyes follow the winding paths as I would have wandered them as a child, stopping at the crumbling forts and decaying tree houses for any sign of activity. I craned my neck to get a view of the log cabin my brothers had built two decades ago, but I just wasn’t high enough.


         I climbed up a few more branches and took another look towards the cabin. The wind made the branches’ sway more pronounced at this height, and it was making me nervous. A side effect of growing older, I chuckled to myself. Brian was walking towards the cabin and stole a look at me. I waved and watched as he approached the building.


         He walked around the house and stopped at the chimney, looking up at the top of it. Then, he went around the back of the house and was out of my sight. While I was waiting to catch sight of him again, I caught a movement from the corner of my eye. It was coming from the direction of the swamp on the other side of the path. I sat perfectly still as I watched two men emerge from a patch of fir trees and head towards Brian.


         On a more typical day, there would be nothing unusual about two people walking through the woods. The town had made a walking trail through there a few years back, and it had become a favorite place for hikers and cross-country runners. But, today was not a typical day and the two men wore camouflage khakis, white t-shirts and black boots instead of running shoes and shorts.


I looked back over to Brian, but he still wasn’t in sight yet. He was probably reminiscing in that damn place. The men were moving at a steady clip towards Brian, discussing something I could not hear. If Brian waited any longer, he would have to bump right into them in order to get back to the path he was on.


Brian finally came into sight, but he was not alone. There, walking out behind him, was Kaylee. I nearly fell out of the tree when I saw her, and waited to see Maggs come out next, but she did not.


Brian looked up at me and put his finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet. I signaled back at him by pointing out the men with my finger, then making a waving gesture to get him to come in the back way, so they wouldn’t run into each other.


I scurried out of the tree and ran out the back way to meet them. It’s great to see Kaylee, but had we been too late for Maggs?


Just as we met up, I said, “There are two men walking towards the cabin. Hurry, this way. We can crouch in the fire pit behind the garden.“ We dove across the path and into the pit and snuggled against the wall of the trench. I gave Kaylee a big bear hug and asked her if she knew where we could find Maggie.


“I don’t know, I haven’t seen her.” She had started to weep and fell into my brother’s arms.


“They had her tied up and gagge,” Brian told me. “My guess is that they are holding Maggie somewhere else. They are not going to be happy to see Kaylee gone, that’s for sure. We need to find Maggs now before they have a chance to get back to wherever she is and interrogate her.” He made a sideways glance at Kaylee and shook his head. We had to get moving right away.


Maggs was still missing and time was running out.