Firewatch Ch 13

“I have some questions,” Wilde says as Hailee puts her sticks down by the fire.

“Shouldn’t I have a lawyer for that?” Hailee asks. “Am I under arrest?”

“No, you’re not. You’re not a suspect,” Wilde tells her without hesitation. That’s a lie, which Flores doesn’t like, but working in federal law enforcement demands certain moral compromises. Hailee Siegel is absolutely a suspect in those cattle mutilations, although, in fairness, the FBI did not come to Oregon seeking a prosecution for those crimes. This is about making sure that Hailee Siegel is safe. She appears to be, but Flores knows enough about domestic violence and cults that she appreciates that things aren’t always what they look like.

She still has rights, though.

“Are you out here with friends?” Wilde asks.

“Yup.”

“Where are they?”

“Hiking.”

“Is that what you guys are out here to do?”

Hailee smiles. “Getting away from the noise.”

“I can respect that. Are your parents noisy?”

“Not really.”

“Isn’t it hard out here without any WiFi?” Alice asks the question casually, but the change in Hailee’s body language is obvious. She’s suddenly defensive.

“If you aren’t arresting me, you should probably go.”

Wilde isn’t speaking rudely, but there’s more authority in her voice. “Where is Aria Durano?”

“Why?”

“Because we need to speak to her.”

“She’s not here right now.”

Flores is about to tell her that they’ll wait, but Wilde speaks first. “I guess we’ll have to come back later.”

Flores raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t contradict her.

“You understand we’ll need to tell your parents that you’re here. They’ll be relieved to hear that you’re in one piece,” Wilde says.

Hailee doesn’t seem to like that. “I’ll call them,” she says, scuffing the ground with her foot.

“With what phone?” Wilde replies immediately.

“Excuse me?”

“Your phone. You ditched it when you left Ontario with Aria,” Wilde reminds her. “The first thing your parents tried to do was go through the phone company. Whose phone are you going to use?”

Hailee hesitates. “Aria’s.”

“You don’t have your own?”

“I don’t need it out here. You really need to go.”

“OK. Glad you’re safe.” Wilde waves, then turns and heads for the path. Flores hurries after her. “Weird enough for you?” Wilde mutters once they’re safely away.

“I don’t like the phone thing. Away from home with no phone and no money? This is a recipe for disaster,” Flores says.

“You have no idea. She will call her parents. She won’t tell them where she is.”

“We’ll tell them,” Flores says firmly.

“Not yet.” They reach the car. Wilde leans on it and looks over the roof at Flores. “What do you think they’ll do if we tell them?”

“Come straight here. It’s what I’d do.”

“Exactly. But Hailee doesn’t want them here, and I don’t either. I’m not sure it’s safe.”

“Look, apart from suspected cattle mutilation, we don’t have any reason to believe that Aria Durano is violent or dangerous. Same for Ro Nielsen. She has no criminal history. I don’t think we can substantiate an argument that there’s some kind of threat to safety here. And we don’t have enough for a warrant. I know you want to search that car and that tent, but you can’t, Wilde.”

“I know. You’re still game?”

“What do you mean?”

“We found her, didn’t we?”

“I want to know what she’s doing out here, if that’s what you’re asking. What do you want to do?”

Wilde drums her fingertips on the roof of the car. “We come back after dark.”

“Think they’ll still be here?”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“Call it a hunch.”