Page 14 of Critical Doubt

"I miss a lot of things. The army is only one of them." He paused, glancing over at her. "I can't believe you were a soldier when I met you."

"I was actually deciding what I wanted to do that night—stay in or get out. The next morning, I knew the answer."

"It came to you while we were having sex? And here I thought I had all your attention."

"You did have my attention," she admitted, giving him a quick look. "The answer didn't come during the night. It was the next morning. When I left your room and went down to the lobby, I ran into the dance troupe, and I was thinking about how you'd thought I was one of them. I realized that I'd once again tried to be the person that someone else wanted me to be. I couldn't do it anymore. So, I quit."

"Who wanted you to be a soldier? Or can I guess? It was your father—Colonel Kane."

"I did become a soldier for him. I thought it would help us connect, but it didn't."

He wanted to keep talking to her about her past, but they were nearing the site where Todd's car had plunged into the river. There was yellow caution tape across the gap in the rail now, and a police officer was talking to an older couple on the side of the road.

"Can you pull over?" he asked. "I want to take another look."

"Sure." She pulled into a turnout near the driveway leading up to the church. Then they got out of the car and walked down the road. Not a single car passed them coming in either direction. It definitely wasn't a busy traffic area.

When they reached the spot where Todd's car had gone over the side, he looked for clues, but as Savannah had said earlier, there wasn't much to see. There were no skid marks near the crash site, and beyond the church on the hill, there was nothing on the two-lane road in either direction for at least a mile or two. Which meant there were no traffic cameras or security cameras of any kind that might have been able to capture the accident.

The police officer came over to speak to them. He was a young, dark-haired guy, who didn't appear to be more than twenty-five, if that. "Hey, Savannah, you need to get back in your car," he told them. "The chief wants me to keep this area clear until we can complete our investigation. I know you're a big-time federal agent now, but Chief Tanner told me specifically not to let anyone hang out here, including you."

"I understand that, Ben," Savannah said. "This is Ryker Stone. He's a friend of Todd's—the man whose car went into the river. We're not going to touch anything. You don't mind if we just look, do you?"

"Well, I guess not," the officer said.

"What's the latest on the search efforts?" he asked.

"They'll look as long as they can, but rain is supposed to start within the half hour. The helicopter will probably have to land soon if the wind picks up."

Every word that came out of Ben's mouth made Ryker's stomach turn. "You can't call off the search," he protested, knowing that they could do just that and probably would.

"It's not my call. Chief Tanner will decide when to bring everyone in, but they'll go as long as they can. We all want to find Todd. I actually played a pickup basketball game with Todd and Paul a few weeks ago." Ben's lips drew into a tight line. "I can't believe Paul is dead, and now this…"

As Ben finished speaking, another police car pulled up, and an older, stocky man exited the vehicle, not looking at all happy.

"What's going on here?" he demanded. "Savannah, I told you to stay out of this. Dobbs is my town, and I run the investigation."

"Yes, you made that clear, Chief Tanner," she said evenly.

Ryker wasn't sure why the chief was so angry with Savannah, but his focus was on getting information, so he stepped in front of her and said, "I'm Ryker Stone. I went into the river after Todd. I found the car, but there was no one inside."

"Yes, yes, I saw you in the water. My officers yelled at you to get out, but you went right past them."

"I didn't hear them, and I got out as soon as I could. Has there been any sighting of Todd?"

"No. But we're doing everything we can. I'm Chief Ed Tanner. I'll do everything I can to bring this soldier home. However, the weather is turning, and with the winds picking up, we'll have to bring the chopper down. My office is setting up a volunteer search party for first light. We'll get as many bodies out as we can. You're welcome to join."

"Of course." He was just afraid that the morning would be too late.

"If there was another vehicle involved, one of the cameras in town might have picked it up coming down the road around the time of the accident," Savannah interjected. "I know you have a small department. I'd like to offer my resources."

"There's nothing to indicate there was another vehicle involved. It looks like Mr. Davis lost control of his vehicle on the hill and crashed into the river. Might have been faulty brakes or human error. Several witnesses told me he was extremely agitated at the funeral. We'll know more when we pull the car out, but that probably won't be until tomorrow. I told Abby I'd update her with any news. If you want to wait somewhere, wait there. I'm sure she could use your support."

"We're heading there now," Savannah said.

The chief tipped his head and then he and Officer Wickham stepped away to have a private conversation.

They walked back to Savannah's car in silence.

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