Page 63 of Not This Soon

This couldn’t be happening now.

She stared, bug eyed. Murphy’s law. If something could go wrong… it would.

The phone indicated activity at her aunt's place.

With a few quick taps, she pulled up the video feed from the trail cam. The grainy image revealed two figures approaching the house.

She stared.

She couldn't quite determine the features of the two silhouettes. But one was tall, a man. The other is a shorter woman in a shawl.

Aunt Sarah and Sheriff Dawes?

She cursed. They were returning…nowof all times.

Rachel's mind raced, the weight of her choices bearing down on her. The person who had murdered her parents was so close, just within reach. The temptation to turn back, to confront them and demand answers, was almost overwhelming.

But Ethan...

She couldn't abandon him, not when he needed her most. Her priority had to be saving her partner, no matter how much it tore at her to let her parents’ killer slip away.

The decision ate at her, but her resolve hardened as she found herself turning to doubt.

Rachel's grip tightened on the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white. She forced herself to take a deep breath, pushing down the rising tide of emotions that threatened to consume her.

"Focus, Rae," she muttered to herself, her voice rough with determination. "Ethan first."

With a final glance at her phone, Rachel set it aside, her attention returning to the desert before her. She scanned the horizon, her eyes narrowed against the glare of the moon, searching for any sign of the ATV tracks.

She refused to let herself be overwhelmed, to let the conflicting demands of her past and present tear her apart.

The ATV tracks had all but vanished, swallowed up by the shifting sands of the desert. Rachel kept the car at a crawl, her eyes scanning the ground for any hint of the trail.

Seconds ticked by, each one feeling like an eternity. Every moment wasted was another moment Ethan was in danger, another chance for the killer to slip away.

Rachel's heart pounded in her chest, a mixture of fear and frustration coursing through her veins. She couldn't lose the trail, not now, not when she was so close.

"Come on, come on," she growled, her voice barely above a whisper. "Where are you?"

There had to be something, some clue, some sign that could lead her back to the trail. She refused to believe that it had simply disappeared, that all her efforts had been for nothing.

Rachel's gaze darted back and forth, her mind racing as she tried to think like the killer. Where would they have gone? What would their next move be?

And then, just as despair began to creep in, she saw it.

A faint impression in the sand, barely visible against the endless expanse of the desert. But it was there, a single ATV track, heading off into the distance.

Rachel's breath caught in her throat, a surge of adrenaline rushing through her.

The car roared to life, kicking up a cloud of sand as Rachel spun the wheel, following the trail deeper into the desert. Her eyes narrowed, her jaw set with determination.

She had found the trail, and she would not lose it again.

There. A glint of metal caught her eye, half-hidden in the shadow of the butte. She slowed the car to a crawl, squinting to make out the shape.

It was an abandoned mine shaft, the entrance partially collapsed and overgrown with brittle weeds. The ATV tracks led straight to it.

Rachel braked hard, the car skidding to a stop in a cloud of dust. She was out of the vehicle in seconds, gun drawn and heart pounding.

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