Page 89 of Vacation Friends

“It’s extremely treacherous.” Nighty rubbed his jaw as if he were carefully considering what to say. “We can’t send people down there unless we know for sure that’s where he is. It’s too risky.”

“I’ll go check then. I need to see if he’s there.” Bree started to rush forward, but Maddie and Adrienne grabbed her arms to hold her back.

The woman was stronger than Maddie assumed, and she had to lock her legs to keep Bree from doing anything stupid.

“I know you want to do everything you can to help him.” Nighty held a hand up to stop Bree from going farther. “But the best thing we can do is to leave this to the professionals.”

“Then I’ll wait here in case he comes back.” Bree’s voice quivered.

“Then what if something happens to you?” Nighty sounded dead serious. “We don’t want another mishap to slow us down and hinder our efforts to find Fowler. Understand?”

Bree slowly nodded as his words seemed to settle on her. If she did something stupid, then it would take even more time to locate Fowler.

The grim reality seemed to set in with the entire group.

“Good. Everyone start back to the kayaks.” Nighty pointed to the trail. “Please, be careful and stay together. No more surprises, okay?”

Maddie’s own thoughts echoed his.

The trip of a lifetime had turned out to be a total nightmare . . . for more than one person. And it was a nightmare she’d yet to wake up from . . . which could mean there was more to come.

Everyone was notably more somber as they headed back toward the dock.

Especially Bree.

Brody had let her and Adrienne ride in his kayak. He’d towed Bree’s now-empty kayak behind them.

Maddie couldn’t stop thinking about what Bree must be going through. She wished she could do something to help. But there was nothing she could do but pray, which was definitely important. She kept reminding herself of that fact.

Josh was quiet as they paddled, other than yelling out paddling instructions to Maddie on occasion.

When everyone got back to the dock, they pulled the kayaks ashore and stashed their lifejackets and dry bags.

Two police officers waited for Bree, along with the owner of the tour company.

Bree insisted she could talk to them by herself.

Maddie waited for a signal as to what to do next. She thought Josh might try to talk to her again as they stood there. Instead, he talked to one of his colleagues near the water.

She did a double take as she glanced over at him.

The conversation appeared serious—Josh’s eyes were dark and his motions tense.

Based on the dirty look Josh threw Maddie over his shoulder, their talk wasn’t about Fowler. Was the conversation about her?

A few minutes later, Josh walked away from the group. His gaze still looked dark—almost angry.

He didn’t join her. Instead, he took another phone call.

“I feel so bad for Bree.” Adrienne appeared beside her, pulling Maddie from her thoughts.

“Me too.” She glanced at Bree again. She was still talking to the police.

“What a nightmare, right?”

“It almost seems like an understatement at this point.”

“You can say that again.”

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