Page 23 of Save Me

“The papers, Brenda. Remember all those ugly stories after her wreck? That shit’s on the internet forever now, isn’t it?”

“He’ll go there, won’t he? If she’s lost, he’ll want to be part of the search,” she said. “We need to go now. It may be our only chance to ever see him again.”

“I’m not going to drive all the way Denver just to get spit on by my own son,” Chuck muttered.

“Fine. I’ll go by myself,” Brenda said, and left the room.

Chuck followed her to their bedroom. “What are you doing?”

“Packing,” she snapped.

He rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine! I’ll take you, but I’m telling you now, it’s going to be a huge waste of time. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

“If you’re going with me, you’re leaving tonight,” Brenda said.

JUSTIN RANDALL WAS in lockup, still sticking to his story until they gave him reason not to. He sold the same story to his court-appointed lawyer, and wasn’t budging. This wasn’t his first rodeo, and he’d gotten away with rape accusations before. Granted, none of the other women had gone missing afterward. Whatever happened to Lainie Mayes after she clocked him with that rock was a mystery to him, too. Last time he’d seen her, she was running full tilt down a hiking path.

CHAPTER FOUR

Lainie was lost and didn’t know it.

It was nearing the end of her second day on the mountain, and she’d stumbled into enough creeks to get water, but her fever was still rising. She had long since lost sight of hiking trails, and while she thought she was traveling long distances, she was actually walking in circles and passing out. She’d forgotten about Justin Randall.

Her focus was on the bear she was convinced was hunting her, and the higher her fever went, the more vivid her hallucinations became. She kept running and hiding, and falling and praying, and when she’d sleep, Hunt was always in the dream.

The bottoms of her socks were beginning to wear. They kept getting caught in rocks and rough ground, and when she sat down, she saw bloody spots seeping through.

Her feet hurt. Her body ached. And the world kept spinning. She’d pass out and wake up on her back, staring up through a maze of green, leafy spires to the clear, cloudless sky above and cry, and then pray.

“Please, God, after all you’ve taken from me, don’t let this place take my life.”

GREG AND TINA MAYES reached the Beaver Brook trailhead early, and went straight to the communications station where the searchers were regathering. They’d taken a hiatus after it got dark last night, and this morning, they were going over the maps to the new search grids.

“Excuse me, who’s in charge?” Greg asked.

A man in uniform turned around. “That would be me, Scott Christopher. I’m a ranger with the Denver Park Service.”

“I’m Greg Mayes, and this is my wife, Tina. We’re Lainie’s parents, from Baton Rouge. Do you have any news?”

“Beyond finding some of her gear and shoes yesterday, we do not. If you’ll give me your contact information and where you’re staying, then I can let you know if we have anything new to report.”

Greg quickly wrote it all down on a pad the ranger handed him.

“Thank you both. You can wait beyond the roped-off perimeter,” he said, and turned his back.

“That was rude,” Tina muttered, as they shuffled back to their rental. “Do they expect us to wait out here in the sun all day?”

Greg gave her a look. “We came uninvited. They’re searching for our daughter, not asking you to tea. If this is all you can think about, then why the hell did you want to come?”

Tina flushed beneath the sting of his words. Truth hurt. They went back to the SUV in silence, raised the back hatch and crawled inside, then sat down to wait.

Less than an hour later, a dusty black Jeep with Arizona license plates came flying into lot, wheeled into an empty space beyond the perimeter and parked.

“Someone’s in a hurry,” Greg mumbled.

Tina watched as a tall, dark-haired man unfolded himself from inside the vehicle. He grabbed a hiking pack from the back of the Jeep, then headed toward the communications van at a run.

“Oh, Lord! That’s Hunter Gray,” Tina said.

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