Alex Heard Three Whistle Blasts Below the Mountain Overlook — Then a Ranger Discovered Someone Had Deliberately Opened the Safety Gate
Chapter 2 — The Man With the Muddy Gloves
The man’s name was Dean Foster.
He was fifty-eight.
A former volunteer with the county mountain-rescue team.
Cole knew him.
“Dean?”
Dean looked embarrassed.
“I heard the first whistles before everyone else.”
“Then why didn’t you call it in?”
“I thought I could see where they were coming from.”
Dean admitted entering through the open gate.
That explained the mud.
He descended approximately fifty yards along the closed trail.
Then reached an unstable section where rain had washed away part of the path.
“I couldn’t safely go farther without rope.”
“So you came back?” Cole asked.
Dean nodded.
“I was going to my truck for climbing gear.”
Alex frowned.
“Then why hide the gloves?”
Dean looked around at everyone staring.
“Because I knew exactly what it looked like.”
“Did you open the gate?”
“No.”
Cole studied him.
“It was already open?”
“Wide open.”
Dean claimed he did not even touch the latch.
He simply passed through.
Cole wasn’t ready to believe him.
But rescue came first.
Another ranger arrived.
Ropes were prepared.
Cole looked toward the red jacket.
Then a woman came running from the parking area.
“Oliver!”
She pushed through the crowd.
“Has anyone seen my son?”
Her name was Sarah Bennett.
Her nine-year-old son, Oliver, had disappeared less than twenty minutes earlier.
He had been walking with his family near the overlook.
Sarah turned toward the jacket below.
Her face collapsed.
“That’s his.”
Cole grabbed her before she could move toward the edge.
“Stay here.”
“He’s down there!”
“We’re going to get to him.”
Sarah began crying.
Then she said something that caught Cole’s attention.
“Oliver wouldn’t cross a closed gate.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Sarah pointed toward the warning sign.
“He’s terrified of breaking park rules.”
Alex looked toward the open gate again.
If Oliver hadn’t opened it…
someone else had.
