Free Stolen in the Night by Patricia MacDonald Page A

impatient with the erratic pace of
     Leo’s explorations. But today the constant stopping and starting was good in that
     it kept her from following any train of thought too far.
    As Leo stopped to mark yet another shrub, Tess pulled the hat off and stuffed it into
     her jacket pocket as she shook out her hair. No need for a disguise, she thought,
     on this lonely trail. She held the leash lightly and looked ahead at the jagged, granite-colored
     horizon. As they approached the entrance to the wooded campground, Tess felt her heart
     beating faster with anxiety. Sometimes she wondered how Dawn could even bear to live
     so close to the spot where all their lives had been upended forever.
    Just before she entered the campground, she turned and looked back in the direction
     of the inn. The well-kept, clapboard-sided building looked charming and peaceful with
     smoke curling out of the chimney. Somehow, Tess thought, her mother had come to terms
     with living here, at the edge of their personal disaster area. It was almost as if
     it comforted her to be near the place where she lost Phoebe, as one might move to
     a place where a beloved child had disappeared, so as to be there if that child ever
     returned. But Phoebe had not disappeared and she would never return.
    Drawing in a deep breath, Tess followed the dog into the dark woods. She was amazed
     to see that nothing seemed to have changed in those twenty years. She passed by the
     latrine, where she never dared to go without Phoebe, and wound through the trails
     and up to the campsite, where they had set up their two tents that long-ago summer’s
     day. She had thought that perhaps she would not know the exact site if she saw it,
     but in fact, she recognized it instantly. It looked remarkably the same. She could
     picture their Volvo parked there, the doors and trunk open, their gear spilling out.
     She could almost hear their voices, calling to one another. Teasing. Her legs felt
     weak and she sat down at the pitted picnic table, Leo’s leash held loosely in her
     hand. The dog sniffed eagerly at the campsite’s unfamiliar smells, investigating a
     wide circle. Tess looked behind her and could see down the hill to the surface of
     the lake glinting through the empty branches of the trees. She gazed at the patch
     of dirt with its ring of rocks placed there to encircle a campfire. The ashes in the
     center of it were cold. Songs came to her mind, and ghost stories. Her heart was thudding
     madly, seeing it all again. Phoebe in the lantern light, and a ripping sound that
     woke her, and the man’s face…
    Leo’s sharp bark startled Tess and she felt the dog straining at the leash. Tess looked
     up in the direction the dog was pulling and saw a man walking toward them from the
     direction of the trail. He was wearing a navy blue sweatshirt, sweatpants, and watch
     cap. Tess scrambled to her feet, her heart hammering. She thought of the man watching
     her from the field this morning, and though she wanted to cry out, fear caught the
     words in her throat.
    Leo barked again. The man slowed down slightly as he approached. “Take it easy, boy,”
     he called out in a friendly voice.
    Tess did not try to restrain the dog but let him bark. She glared at the man who raised
     his hands in surrender.
    “Sorry,” he said. “I was jogging on the bridle path. I rarely run into anybody up
     here since it started getting cold.”
    “Leo, sit,” Tess commanded. The dog obeyed and became quiet. Tess glanced warily at
     the man who’d stopped at the edge of the campsite. “You startled us,” she said accusingly.
    “I can see that. I didn’t mean to.” He leaned over and reached out a hand for Leo
     to sniff. Leo approached him, pulling the leash taut, and examined the proffered hand
     warily. “You’re a good boy,” said the intruder in a gentle voice that thrummed through
     Tess, unnerving her. He looked up at Tess, smiling. “He means to protect you.”
    “Yes, he