Mystery at Devil's Elbow

Roughly two years later, Amy Hansen was pacing back and forth in her living room. She had looked in every corner of their house for her mother. She looked in the backyard and forest near the house.

As her heart pounded in her ears, she called her husband at work. “Can I speak to Richard Hansen, please? This is an emergency.”

“Hello, this is Richard. Can I help you?”

“It’s me. I hate to bother you at work, but Moms missing.”

“What do you mean she’s missing?”

“I don’t know. She’s gone!”

“It’s only 26 degrees out there.”

“That’s why I called. Can you leave work and come help find her?”

“Sure, I can be home in 10 minutes. Call the Sheriff’s office, though.”

“I just hate to bother them with a missing person again. I think together we can find her.”

“If it wasn’t so cold out, I’d agree. But she can really get hurt in this weather.”

As soon as they hung up, Amy dialed the Sheriff’s office.

“Sheriff’s Office, what’s your emergency?” asked the operator.

“My name is Amy Hansen, and I’d like to report that my mother, Susan Whitaker, is missing. She has dementia and doesn’t know where she is most of the time.”

“How long has she been missing?”

“I think about 15 minutes.”

“Can I have your address?”

“We live at 1165 Highway Z.”

“We’ll send a deputy right out.”

Five minutes later, a deputy’s car pulled into the driveway. It was Deputy Rodney Bishop.

“Hey, Amy. Your mother missing again?” he asked.

“I’m afraid so, Rodney. She’s been gone about 20 minutes.”

“What was she wearing?”

“Just a house dress with slippers as far as I know.”

“Oh, that’s not good. Let me drive around. She couldn’t have walked very far.”

Just after the deputy left, Richard drove up. He spoke with Amy briefly and immediately left the house to drive around searching for his mother-in-law.

As he was driving, he got an idea. He drove to his sister’s house and pulled into the driveway. His brother-in-law Lewis Fisher met him at the door.

“Hey Richard, come on in,” said Lewis.

“Got a problem I was hoping Lisa could help me with.”

“She just got home from school and is upstairs changing her clothes. I’ll call her.”

“Lisa, come down here. Uncle Richard needs to talk to you.”

Lisa and Mary both came downstairs in their school clothes to see their uncle.

“Hey Uncle Richard,” said Mary.

“Hey, Mary.”

“Lisa, Amy’s mother walked away from home again in this cold weather. I need to find her really quick.”

Lewis was used to people asking for her help and saw how she was getting better at it. “Lisa, go with Uncle Richard and help him find Mrs. Whitaker.”

“Can I go too, Daddy?” asked Mary.

“Sure, honey, you can go too.”

Mary was in her teens and as close to Lisa as she’d always been. The girls grabbed their coats and followed their mom’s brother to his car. The car was already warm when the girls got in.

“Where do you think she could be, Lisa?”

“Let’s start back at your house, Uncle Richard.”

Richard drove back to his house and stopped in the driveway.

“Turn around, Uncle Richard, and drive back the other way.”

Richard backed out of the driveway onto the highway and turned left.

He drove less than a mile before Lisa pointed to a patch of thick forest. “Turn right here, Uncle Richard,” said Lisa. She could contact the Watchers easily now and could clearly understand their responses to her.

“This isn’t even a road, Lisa.”

“I know, but see those tracks there, Uncle Richard?”

Squinting, Richard saw footsteps in the snow. “My gosh, you’re right. I see them now.”

Richard pulled off the road onto what looked like little more than a path. He put his vehicle in four-wheel-drive and drove forward slowly.

Lisa pointed to a group of trees just ahead. “Turn to your right here, Uncle Richard.”

They arrived at a house with vines and trees hiding it from view. No one seemed to be around. There were no cars, and the house was in a sorry state of disrepair.

“You girls wait here while I follow the tracks.”

Both girls waited in the warm car patiently while their uncle got out. Susan Whitaker had been missing for nearly 30 minutes now in the 26-degree weather. Richard disappeared behind the back of the house. He returned a few minutes later with his mother-in-law.

“Can you girls loan Susan your coats?”

Both girls got into the back seat of the car and wrapped the woman in their coats and hugged her for warmth. Richard drove back to his house and picked up his wife, Amy.

“Lisa, can you stay here and call the Sheriff’s Department? Tell them we found Susan and we’re taking her to the hospital.”

“I sure can, Uncle Richard.”

Lisa went into the house and made the call while Richard, Amy, Susan, and Mary sped off to the hospital.

After Lisa gave them the update, the dispatcher called Deputy Bishop on the radio.

“Bishop, Lisa Fisher just reported that Susan Whitaker has been found and is on her way to the hospital.”

“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll follow up with them there,” said Rodney.

“This is dispatch, out.”

After calling the Sheriff’s Office, Lisa called her father.

“Hey, Daddy. We found Susan Whitaker and Uncle Richard took her to the hospital. They dropped me off at Uncle Richard’s house to call the Sheriff’s Office and tell them where Mrs. Whitaker was.”

“I’ll be right there to pick you up, honey, and we’ll go to the hospital, too.”

Meanwhile, Richard pulled up to the ER entrance. As he parked the car, Amy and Mary helped Susan Whitaker into the hospital. A nurse greeted them at the ER desk.

“This is my mother, Susan Whitaker, and she was out in the cold for over thirty minutes with no coat, gloves or hat,” said Amy.

“Let’s get her in this room to your right,” said the nurse.

In the room, the nurse covered Susan Whitaker with blankets and took her body temperature rectally. Her temperature was low, the nurse called for a doctor. The doctor arrived within minutes and ordered some hot water bottles to be placed under the blanket.

Later, Susan’s temperature returned to normal. The doctor noticed she had the initial signs of frostbite on her nose, fingers, and toes, so he ordered salve.

Meanwhile, Lewis had picked up Lisa and arrived at the hospital ER. He met with Mary and let his wife know what had happened. A half-hour later, Martha stopped by the ER on her lunch break.

“I heard you helped Uncle Richard, Lisa?” asked Martha.

“She sure did,” said Lewis.

“Well, I’m so proud of you. I need to go see Richard.”

Martha went into the treatment room. She spoke briefly with her brother and the nurse treating Susan Whitaker.

As she returned to the waiting room where Lewis, Lisa, and Mary were, Martha said. “Well, the nurse said she should be okay. The doctor is treating her for hypothermia and initial stages of frostbite on her nose, fingers, and toes. It’s a good thing Lisa found her.”

“What if I take the girls out for dinner?” Lewis asked.

“I think that’s a good idea,” said Mary.

“Can we go to the diner in St. Robert?” asked Lisa.

“We sure can.”

“I better get back to work. See you all later,” said Martha.

“We’ll bring you home a piece of the pie,” said Lewis.

Later that year, Tammy Jenkins book The History of Bigfoot in the Show-Me State was published. She included everything that Lisa had told her, phrasing it not as witness testimony, but what she thought happened.

The book sold very well in the Bigfoot community, but she was laughed at by her colleagues. Tammy didn’t care. She knew the truth. She gave the profits to the three Bigfoot hunters with the hope that they could use the money to protect Bigfoot.

Tammy also stayed in touch with Lisa. Martha and Lewis didn’t care for Tammy too much, but she’d never done anything to hurt them. Lisa called Tammy after the book was published.

“Hey, Tammy, this is Lisa.”

“Good to hear from you, Lisa. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Now that I’ve graduated high school, I’m working at the hospital full-time as a nurse’s assistant.”

“Well, that must be wonderful working with your mom?”

“It is, but we usually work different shifts.”

“Still, it must be nice.”

“I enjoy it. The reason I called was to thank you for the autographed book. I just got it in the mail today.”

“Let me know what you think after you read it. I’d really like your opinion.”

“I sure will. I really liked the cover. And I really liked that you dedicated it to Casey, Gunner, Sonny, and an anonymous young woman.”

“It was the least I could do. I got most of the material, the good stuff anyway, from you and the guys.”

“You’re too kind, Tammy.”

“Have you had any more psychic action lately?”

“I have had a few situations. Did I tell you I helped locate a missing boy?”

“Oh, Yeah, I remember that.”

“It was pretty exciting. It did leave me with some bad memories.”

“I don’t pretend to know what kind of memories you have. But I have some bad memories from stories I’ve done on child molesters and murderers. I don’t know how you can deal with it, except just to learn to live with it.”

“I think you’re right.”

“After that, I helped my uncle find his mother in law. She’s old and got lost in cold weather.”

“I bet your family appreciated that.”

“They did, but it wasn’t as exciting as the lost boy.”

“Well, it was good talking to you, Lisa. I have to get back to work now.”

“Thanks again for the book, Tammy. I’ll let you know what I think of it.”

Over the next year, Lisa attended night school and worked to earn her certification as a nurse’s aide.

I’m really looking forward to the extra money I’ll get. I’m also glad I finally have my own car. I’m done driving my grandpa’s truck. I often wonder if the Watchers will be in my future?