The Dead Season by Donna Ball

a—” The way he cut himself off made me think he had already learned that the penalty for swearing was even worse than going to bed without supper.
    Pete said miserably, “We might as well give up on getting anything hot to eat, then. By the time she gets here we’ll all be asleep—or frozen. I’m too tired to eat anyway.”
    Jess said angrily, “I’m sick of you people and your stupid games.”
    I held his gaze and said softly, “Wouldn’t you like to win one for a change?”
    Jess glared at me, then at Paul. Without another word, he swung away from us both and started back down the trail.
    “Where are you going?” Pete demanded.
    “Where do you think?” he tossed back. “To find Lourdes!”
    ~
     
    Cisco and I went with him, of course, and, after a moment’s discussion with Rachel, Paul caught up with us. What bothered me was the suspicion that, if I had not decided to follow Jess, Paul would have let him go alone.
    No wonder they needed a survival expert on this expedition.
    The shadows grew deeper and the wind grew colder the farther down the trail we went. Lourdes was only a fifteen minute walk down the trail, but for someone who was cold, tired and hungry, it was fifteen minutes too long. She was little more than a shadow among shadows, sitting beside her discarded pack with her head resting on her up-drawn knees. Cisco and I were in the lead, with Jess walking in silent anger beside me, and Paul only a few feet behind. When he saw her, Jess pushed ahead of me. Paul caught my arm before I could go with him.
    I pulled my arm away. “Don’t worry,” I said, watching Jess, “I won’t interfere with your precious treatment program.”
    “We’ve been doing this a long time. We know what works.”
    I turned to look at him. “You’ve been doing this,” I replied distinctly, “precisely eight months. Why did you tell me you’d been in Hanover County three years?”
    In the dim and fading light, his expression was difficult to read. But his tone did not change as he assured me easily, “I told you we had been in business for three years. We’ve been at our present location since May of last year.”
    I was almost certain he had not said that at all. But I was tired and cold and most of my attention was on Jess and Lourdes, and there was just enough doubt to prevent me from arguing about it. Besides, this was not the time or the place.
    Lourdes looked up as Jess approached and scrubbed at her face with both hands. Jess strode up to her, grabbed her pack from the ground, and began searching the pockets.
    “What are you doing?” she demanded. But her voice lacked both the force and the petulance it had held earlier in the day. In fact, it sounded wet and weak and all but defeated.
    Jess dropped her pack and turned triumphantly with a plastic baggie of matches in his hand. “Got it!” he declared. He started to walk away.
    There was a note of panic in Lourdes’ voice as she said, “Where are you going?” She pushed herself to her feet. “Are you leaving?”
    Jess kept walking.
    I bent down and unclipped Cisco’s leash, whispering a command into his ear.
    Cisco trotted down the trail past Jess, and Jess turned to watch as the golden retriever walked right up to Lourdes and took her sleeve in his mouth. Gently he began to tug, urging her forward.
    It was a trick we performed to entertain school children when we did programs for libraries and classrooms on pet care and education. It always made the kids laugh. But Lourdes wasn’t laughing. After an astonished moment she took one step forward, and then another. I could hear a quavering in her voice as she said, “Good dog.” She awkwardly reached down to pet Cisco’s neck. “Good dog.”
    Jess scowled at me and then at the matches in his hand. I returned a calm and steady gaze because I knew that, somewhere deep inside, he wasn’t as bad as he pretended to be. He pushed past me angrily, pretending not to notice. Cisco and I walked silently