“‘I looked you up on the Internet and read your paper. “The Weird Man’s Hideout.” Was that the title?’”
“‘More or less,’” Beatrice said. “‘Let me take the kids back to safety, then I’ll go with you.’”
“‘Naw. They’re fine here,’” Bertie said, waving his finger around like Ariel had seen Lassiter do. “‘Somebody’ll find them.’”
“‘You can’t leave them here! They’ll die of exposure.’”
“‘They’re tough little brats. They’re used to hiding to get away from their mother. Ain’t you, kids?’”
The twins stopped talking and looked at Ariel.
“Where did they go?” Ariel asked.
The children shrugged. How could they know when they’d been tied up?
Ariel had an idea. “Do you know where the hot springs are?”
“Sure,” Bertie said. “We go there with Gideon all the time. It’s how he gives us a bath.”
Ariel smiled. “Can you lead me there?”
“Sure.”
She turned to look at Beatrice and saw that in her hand was the head of her doll. Ariel reached into her pocket and pulled out doll pieces and clothes. “As we walk, I bet I can put her back together.”
For the first time, she saw tears in the child’s eyes. No child should be this tough, she thought.
“Can you?” Beatrice asked.
“I’m sure of it,” Ariel said.
Chapter Twenty-one
ARIEL DIDN’T WANT THE CHILDREN WITH her when she found David. If that horrible man Lassiter had a gun, the last thing she wanted was children around. She knew that if she took them back to Gideon’s cabin they’d not stay there. Besides, that would take too long.
When they got to an area she recognized, she knew that the cave where Sara was was close. When she got to it, she called down to her cousin and said she was going to lower the kids down to her. Ariel wasn’t strong enough to bring Sara up, but she could use the rope to get the children down. The hole was cover, protection. They’d be safe there until help arrived. She looked up at the sky, but saw no rescuing helicopter. Did Phyllis call?
When Ariel told the children what she wanted to do, they were excited. She tied a loop in the end of the rope and Bertie put his foot in it. She put her pack on his back, then fastened the straps around the rope.
“Ready?” Ariel asked Sara. Ariel was standing on the tree that a short time before had taken Gideon’s teasing to get her to walk out on. Below her was Sara, standing on one leg, leaning on what looked to be a makeshift crutch cut from a tree branch.
“I’m ready,” Sara said.
Ariel had to walk back down the tree to the ground, loop the rope around her waist, then slowly lower the child to the floor below. Sara steadied him, unfastened the pack straps, then sent it back up to Ariel.
Beatrice went down faster. As she went down, Ariel waved to her, her reassembled doll sticking out of the front of her pack.
After the children were down, Ariel ran along the tree to hang over the side and look at Sara. “Water and sandwiches are in the pack. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Keep them quiet if you can. There are telephones on the island and a helicopter may come for us.”
“You’re an angel!” Sara called up to her.
Smiling, Ariel went back to the ground. She’d been called an angel twice in one day.
The children had pointed the way to the old hot springs, but Ariel didn’t follow the path. If anyone was watching, she’d be seen. She stayed close to the rocks and twice she saw what looked like newly made scuff marks. Had R.J. and Gideon gone this way?
She had gone about a mile and was wishing she’d kept a bottle of water when a hand came out of the bush and seized her ankle. If Ariel hadn’t been so frightened, she would have screamed. In the next second, a hand went over her mouth and pulled her to the ground. She couldn’t scream but she wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Ariel! Ariel!” came an urgent voice in her ear. “If you don’t stop fighting me they’re going to hear us.”