Page 49 of One Last Promise

Or . . .

He glanced upriver. “Let’s go.” He held out his hand.

Tillie took it and gripped it hard before she letgo and followed him into the woods. He took off at a jog through the hazy forest. “Hazel!”

The deer path wasn’t wide, and he held out his arm, pushing away tree limbs and brush. The river roared to his left, the rain a barrage of pellets on the leaves. “Hazel!”

“Where is the next homestead?” Tillie asked, breathing hard behind him.

“Ten miles north we’ll hit the Starr family lodge. But nothing between here and there except . . .”Oops.

Silence.

“Except?”

He slowed, his strides long. “Except a gorge where a tributary cuts down from the mountain into the river.”

“Certainly she wouldn’t try to cross that.”

Certainly. But he heard the tremor in her voice.

Thunder rolled above, and he hunched his shoulders, the rain spurring a chill through him. They walked on spongy loam, the forest so thick he could barely see the river now. But a little girl chasing a puppy could have easily run under the canopy of branches.

And then there were the other dangers, things he didn’t want to say out loud.

Like the moose Deke had seen. Or bears. Or wolves.

He probably shouldn’t think about them either. “Hazel!” He shone his light into the woods. Tille, too, called out, her light bright.

And then they reached the gorge. Twenty feet down, it dropped into the tributary, which was nothing more than a stream at the height of summer, but the rain had filled it, turned it into a fast-rushing creek.

She searched it, breathing hard.

“I should have brought my walkie. Maybe she came home.”

Tillie looked at him, hereyes wide, stricken.

“We’ll find her,” he said, turning to her, and then he couldn’t stop from pulling her to himself.

She wrapped her arms around him, and her entire body trembled. If he wasn’t careful, they’d both get too cold, and this search party would become an advanced rescue op.

“I have an idea.” He held her away from him. “C’mon. We need to get back to the house.”

“I’m not going back without Hazel!” She backed away from him and nearly stepped off the cliff. He grabbed her arm, yanked her back.

She righted herself, her eyes fierce.

“You need a change of clothes, decent footwear, a terrain map, and a walkie. Even some overnight gear.”

“Overnight gear?”

He met her eyes. “We will find her, Tillie. But the fact that she’s not on either trail says we need to regroup, think through our strategy. Time is fading, and we only have eight hours of daylight left, so we need to use it well. Do you trust me?”

He realized he was repeating the words he’d said to her before, in the yard, and grimaced.

But she nodded, quickly, as if committing before she could change her mind.

“Okay, one more shout, then we’re heading back to the house.”

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