The Ravine

Martin continued on along the old logging road, which eventually leveled out at the bottom of the tree line, emerging from the wilderness to acres and acres of tree stumps opening up into Avery. From the point where the road narrowed onward, Martin took his time, looking to see if anything about the passage was unusual. However, he saw nothing that caught his eye.

Soon thereafter Martin rolled into town. It was afternoon now and, finding no evidence of the sedan, Martin was getting more worried by the hour. Up along a stretch of road and to its left end was the Avery Police Department. Martin pulled up into the parking lot and walked up to the APD’s reception desk.

“May I help you, sir?” A stout woman greeted him as she typed away.

“Uh, yeah.” Martin swallowed hard. “I’d like to file a missing person’s report.”

“Oh?” The woman looked up from her paperwork. “Is this the first time you’re doing this?”

Martin nodded.

“I understand,” the woman sympathized. “Let me get an officer to assist you.” She picked up the phone and gestured with her free hand for Martin to take a seat along an adjacent wall. A few minutes later an officer emerged through a distant door and came up to Martin, arm extended.

“You here to file a missing person’s report?”

“Yes,” Martin replied. “Yes, I am.” He took the officers hand and shook.

“Who’s missing,” he asked.

“My wife and son.”

“How long?”

“Uh, around a day.”

“Well,” the officer informed Martin. “That’s a bit too short amount of time to be filing a missing person’s report. It’s usually a day or so longer that people tend to come in requesting those kinds of things, uh—”

“Martin. Martin Clark.” The officer nodded and then let Martin continue.

“Well, normally I wouldn’t be worried but I know my wife, officer, and when she says she’ll call, she’ll call.” Martin paused for a moment.

“And she hasn’t called.”

“How old’s the son,” the officer asked.

“Fourteen months.”

“Okay,” the officer responded. “You seem pretty shaken up and you know your wife better than me.” The officer gestured for Martin to follow him to the file cabinet behind the receptionist. He opened it and pulled out a piece of paper.

“Here’s what you’ll need.” The officer handed it out to Martin and pointed to his badge. “The name’s Matson. Fill that out and we’ll do our best to find your family.” A half-smile crept across Martin’s face.

“Have the receptionist call me in when you’ve finished. Based on what you put down, we may have further questions for you.”

“I understand officer,” Martin replied as he grabbed the pen and clipboard the receptionist handed him. Martin found a chair nearby and settled in.

After a short while, Martin returned the clipboard to the receptionist. She looked it over briefly and picked up the phone and, after a few moments, Officer Matson reemerged and Martin followed him, at his request, down a hall and into a room settled at the its far end.

“The old logging road, you say,” Matson exhaled a flourish of smoke as he stamped out the cherry of his cigarette.

“Yes. Well, I actually took that way coming into town. The main road was blocked with debris form the hill.”

“Heard someone coming up on a bike. That was you,” Matson inquired. “Uh, yes. That was me.”

“So, I assume you have another vehicle that your wife took. Say, something more fitting for transporting a toddler, correct?”

“Correct,” Martin replied.

“That’s an awful long and windy stretch of road, that old logging trail is. Not a lot of activity on it anymore.” Matson studied Martin’s answers again.

“So, you went around the debris or—?”

“No,” Martin replied. “I mean, I could have. But I turned back from the landslide and decided to try my luck coming across my wife and son going the way of the logging road.”

“And you didn’t find anything,” Matson asked.

“No. No I didn’t. I guess a part of me just wanted to see if it was a way to get into town. You know, past the landslide.”

“Yeah,” Matson said, sipping from his mug. “I get your concern. Got a missus myself.”

Matson thought for moment and then looked up at Martin.

“Look, I’m gonna be square with ya, okay?”

“Okay.” A lump formed in Martin’s throat and he swallowed hard to put his heart back in place.

“There are miles. And I mean miles of turns and hills up along that road. Hell, you know, you got through them all.”

Martin nodded in agreement.

“On top of that, most of the miles of hills and twists are above dense forest.” Matson took another sip of coffee.

“What I’m saying is that this search won’t be no small feat. Lots and lots of places a car can hide and the heat wave comin’ in won’t help, either.”

Martin swallowed hard.

“Look, I don’t want to scare you, but I want you to understand what we’re up against.”

Matson reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out two cigarettes, extending one to Martin. He took it.

“I know you’re shaken by this whole thing.” Matson extended his lighter and held the open flame under Martin’s cigarette. He sucked in. “But let’s be optimistic, okay?” Matson smiled as he lit his.

“Okay.” Martin exhaled.