A Few Days in a Canyon Chapter 6
In the distance, Sara heard a whistle, several short bursts followed by a long one. It was a code, Sara was certain. She looked at Grissom who was listening to the radio. He made eye contact and gave a slight nod followed by a slow grin.
The girl had been found. Alive, unharmed. Following a ringtail cat she saw when she left the bathroom. She had gone to sleep until the scent dogs found her. Sara heard a collective breath released by adults and as quickly as a search had begun, people were back doing what they wanted to do. Campers and hikers disappeared; local men and women returned to homes, fields, and loading pack animals.
Smiles were on faces of people they met on the trail. It was a beautiful place—more like Hawaii, Sara said. She had never been to Hawaii but imagined it looked like this verdant green and blue paradise. They circled one of the high falls, higher than Niagara Falls, Grissom said. He pointed to warning signs and narrow trails going to the bottom of one waterfall.
"I'm game if you are," he said.
The route was one of narrow caves and slippery ladders, wet rocks, rusted chains for handholds going almost straight down a two hundred foot sandstone cliff.
"It's an obstacle course," Sara called down as she maneuvered one of the ladders. "Is there an elevator up?" She heard Grissom laugh from below.
They spent hours exploring small dead-end caves and false trails that went deeper into the canyon, never venturing far away from the water. They ate their trail food, found a sunny place to rest and began the climb back to the lodge.
"It's easier going down," Sara yelled back to Grissom. She was in the lead only because he insisted she go first. By the time she crawled to the trail, her energy spent, she stretched out, exhausted from the climb. Grissom joined her, laughing and providing a hand, his obvious enjoyment evident.
"How often do you get out here?" She asked.
"Not enough. Once a year, if I'm lucky." He passed her a water bottle. "I've never brought anyone with me."
"Thanks."
They followed the trail along the unseen river back to the campground where everything looked normal. The tent of the missing girl looked much the same, her red shirt on top of the picnic table.
"Amazing, isn't it." Grissom said as he head-pointed in the direction of the tent. "How quickly everything falls back into calm living."
"They were lucky," Sara said. "It could have been a kidnapping—it could have been a death by accident or stranger or a parent."
Grissom glanced at her. "People intent on doing harm rarely possess the ability to come to a place like this. But this day was a good one—for everyone."
It was good until they got to the lodge and saw three men waiting; one raised his arm at their approach.
"We were ready to go searching for you, Mr. Grissom." The man speaking wore a uniform of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Sara recognized the other two men from the early morning search party.
The three introduced themselves, already knowing who Grissom was and where he worked. They also knew Sara worked for law enforcement. She thought they might know more than they said.
"The little girl has been abandoned—she's in the tribal clinic." The officer said. "A couple of hours ago, one of the campers brought her to the clinic saying the girl was wandering around the campground, confused, couldn't find her parents."
The group found a table in front of the lodge and the three men pieced together the events leading up to locating Grissom. But it was Sara they wanted.