Page 53 of The Ruse

“Okay.” She nodded but didn’t say anything else. And so we trekked through the trees toward a place where I hoped we’d find the cabin.

“Is that it?”Elyse asked after a while. “That looks like it might be part of the roof. It was red, right?”

I looked at where she was pointing, and my heart did a little thud in my chest because it really did look like it could be the cabin’s roof.

“I think it might be,” I said.

We walked a little faster, and the closer we got to the patch of red in the distance, the more it started to resemble the features of a cabin.

I wasn’t sure if it was Miss Crawley’s family cabin, but at least it was something. Some form of shelter where we could stay in for the night.

We walked another twenty yards or so, and the trees finally cleared to reveal that it was indeed the right cabin.

“We found it!” Elyse said, relief filling her voice as she took in the two-story cabin with huge windows and a wrap-around porch. “We found the cabin.”

And with a sudden burst of adrenaline, we both ran the rest of the way. We hurried up the porch steps, barely stomping the snow from our boots, and then I turned the door handle.

It was locked.

I frowned. That was weird.

I knocked on the door for someone to let us in, but no one answered. After waiting for a while, I turned to Elyse and asked, “Do you think this is the wrong cabin?”

We searched around the area until I realized the bus wasn’t here. There were dozens of footprints in the snow that led from the cabin to the driveway. And yep, on the driveway were fresh tire tracks.

“Did they leave us?” Elyse asked, seeming to be on the same wavelength as me.

“I hope not.” I jiggled the doorknob again then gestured for her to follow me. “Let’s check the other doors.”

We checked the back door and the one on the other side of the house, but they were both locked.

“Is there a door in the basement?” Elyse asked, shivering. We each wore our warm coats, gloves and boots, but the sun was basically gone from the sky now and the cold was setting in fast.

“I think I saw one down there last night.”

We hurried back down the porch steps and around the side where there was a garage. And sure enough, next to the garage was another door.

But it was also locked.

“There has to be a spare key here somewhere, right?” Elyse asked, looking around. “People with cabins always leave one close by in case they forget theirs.”

“Probably,” I said, liking the idea of something helping us to get inside that wouldn’t involve me having to break a window.

“How about you check here, and I’ll go look at the back door,” Elyse suggested.

“Sounds good.”

While she walked away, I started rooting around for anywhere that might look like a good place to hide a key.

I was just about to dig through a pile of wood when Elyse’s voice yelled, “Found it!”

By the time I made it to the back door, Elyse was already inside and turning on the lights.

The cabin was a mess. Looking like there had been a big rush to get out of there.

I didn’t understand why they would leave when we were scheduled to be here until tomorrow morning, but they must have had some reason to go.

And quickly.

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