Chapter 244: Find Julie

I was in the process of negotiating the details of my seduction by Eddie, when my pocket started to vibrate. It was after midnight, so it was either a wrong number or something important. I could tell from the phone view screen that it was Helen on the line. Since I had just seen the rebellious Julie, it was not a good sign.

"What's the problem Helen?" I asked urgently.

"Julie came home looking like a hooker a white ago. She and her dad had words, then she ran off into the woods. She hasn't come home yet. I don't know what to do. Should I call the police?" she asked.

"Call the police, I am going home to change then I will be out to your place. Call me, if she shows up in the meantime. Oh yeah, put lots of coffee on just in case." I suggested. Then as an after thought, "Call Jennifer."

"What can she do?" Helen asked.

"I don't know. What I know is that it can't hurt anything to call her. If we don't call her, there will be hell to pay when she finds out." If I wasn't getting laid, I didn't care if Jennifer got inconvenienced.

"I got to go look for a lost little girl," I said to Eddie.

"Do you need some bodies for the search party," he asked looking around the bar. "Some of us are more or less sober."

"Nice of you to offer and maybe later, but for now they just need me. I don't know what else they need till I get there." I said it getting the hell out of he bar. When I got home, I quickly changed into my light weight thermal underwear and then into a heavy pair of jeans and a couple of layers of tee shirts and finally a blaze orange thermal vest. It was going to be impossible to hide a firearm, so I didn't even try. I just put the light weight .22mag with the 6" barrel onto my hip and headed out. I chose the Ruger because it was in a tied down jungle holster. If I had to hump through the woods, it was less likely to get hung on a vine or sapling, than something in a quick draw holster.

I drove the old maroon colored cruiser, why I chose it I have any idea. I got to Helen's, before anyone else. Since I broke every speed limit on the way, I was a little surprised that I didn't have at least one sheriff car following me. I went to the front door of her house. "Helen," I shouted from the porch.

"Maxine, thank you for coming, we don't know what to do." Helen said. Jack was no where to be found.

"Where is Jack," I asked.

"He has gone looking for Julie," Helen was in tears.

"Now you have to hold it together Helen. Where did they go into the woods?" I asked.

"Over there," she said pointing to the closest point to the woods from where we stood.

"Okay, let's see if we can get organized, while we wait for Jack to come back. Does he have his cell phone with him?" I asked.

"I don't know," Helen said. I handed her my phone.

"Call him now, lets see where it rings," I suggested.

"What," he answered all out of breath. I motioned to her, so Helen handed me the phone.

"Jack it's Maxine, how far are you from home?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. He might have been desperate sounding, if he weren't so worn out.

"Are you on her trail or just looking?" I asked.

"I'm looking for her," he said.

"Jack come on back let's get a tracker dog out there. You have likely done all that you can to find her in the dark. If she is lost, then we need to get the trackers on her trail." I didn't say it but he knew the less disturbed the woods were the better chance the dogs would have. After all he was a dog trainer. Not that kind of dog, but still he knew how it worked, I was sure of that.

"Alright," he said simply. He was probably glad I had given him permission to stop looking. He sounded all in.

The Sheriff's deputies showed up just after I broke the connection. They interviewed Helen, while I stood in the yard waiting for Jack to return. I was thankful that one of them recognized me from the TV. If not, I would have wasted valuable time explaining the pistol on my hip.

I watched Jack emerge from the woods about a hundred yards from where Helen had pointed. When he got to me Jack burst into tears. "God Maxine, what have I done," he said between sobs.

"I don't know Jack, but go in and talk to the Sheriff's deputies now. Let's get her home then worry about how to deal with her."

It wasn't long after when Jennifer's car pulled up with Ruth and James inside as well. I had no idea what, if anything, they could do. It was like I said about Jennifer, it couldn't hurt to have them at the scene.

"We are going to call a couple of more deputies and the state police tracker dogs in," the deputy who recognized me explained.

"How long has she been in the woods?" I asked.

"About an hour, they think," the deputy said.

"I want to go with you," I said. "Don't let the cane fool you, I can keep up."

"Alright," he said. "If you fall behind we leave you."

"I think I'll tag along as well," James said. "I can hold my own in the woods as well."

"Who are you?" the deputy asked.

"He is just a friend of mine. I'll vouch for him." I explained. James looked over at me and smiled.

"It's going to be a few minutes. In the meantime lets try not to disturb the scene," the deputy suggested.

"James, how about you and I take a ride while we wait," I said.

"Sure," he said. "You drive, I'll scout."

"Deputy we won't get out of the car, so we won't mess up the track."

"Okay," he said.

The cruiser worked it's way out of the yard rapidly filling with cars. "Where are we going?" James asked.