Page 48 of One Last Promise

“Moose, you have to come home. Hazel’s missing.”

CHAPTER 5

As if even the weather judged him for his empty assurance to Tillie that Hazel would be safe at his parents’ home, of course Hazel had to go missing under a looming Alaskan storm.

Overhead, the clouds that had parked over the Alaska Range for most of the morning had trucked east on a chilly wind and now took up position over the Mulligan homestead. The wipers on his truck barely kept up with the deluge, the wind casting leaves onto the dirt road.

Beside him, Tillie gripped the door handle as if she might leap from the truck. She’d gone painfully, heart-wrenchingly quiet at the phone call, looking at him with wide eyes when he told his mother they’d be right home.

ASAP.

Which meant that most of the groceries were probably destroyed in the back of the truck, given the way he’d peeled out of town.

The last thing he cared about right now was his mother’s roast.

His pickup spat mud as he turned onto thedirt road to the house. He glanced at Tillie, her whitened hand, her even whiter countenance. “We’ll find her.”

She gave him a tight-lipped nod, and it just about speared him through. Why, again, had he thought it a good idea to leave a seven-year-old alone with his mom while a stalker was on the loose? He wanted to slam his hand on the steering wheel, but that might only jar Tillie.

Tuck it in, bro. Keep it together. Words he’d said to Axel plenty of times.

He blew out a breath and managed not to skid as he stopped in front of the house. The rain pelleted down, soaking him through as he got out and headed through the sopping yard.

His mother stood on the deck, dressed in a raincoat, holding two flashlights and a whistle.

He took a flashlight and the whistle. “What happened?”

Poor woman looked stricken. “We made cookies. I knew it was about to storm, so when she asked to take Kip out, I told her to let him do his business and come right back. I took a load of laundry out, then the cookies from the oven, and ten minutes passed before I realized she hadn’t returned. I went outside and called for her. Nothing.” Her eyes reddened. “I’m sorry, Tillie. I think Kip ran off—and she went after him.”

Tillie had taken the other flashlight. Water plastered her hair to her face.

“She loves dogs.”

Right. Not what either of them was thinking, but maybe she didn’t want to panic his mother. He seemed to be managing that for the both of them. His hand settled on his mom’s shoulder. “You stay here in case she comes back.”

Tillie had already scrambled down the stairs into the yard, calling for Hazel.

“I’m so sorry, Moose?—”

“Mom. I’m sure she’s close. Could be hiding under a tree until the storm passes.”

His mother swallowed, nodded, but when she cast her gaze to the river and back, he felt it too.

His chest tight, he went down the stairs and into the massive yard. Most of it had been cleared, scrub grass and a few weeds making up the greenery, the space edged on both sides by thick forest. Deer paths ran into the woods in both directions, and Tillie headed down one, her light on, no care for the storm.

He headed to the river.

The storm turned the water a deep bullet gray, frothy and violent as it rushed over boulders, rocks, and debris, a churning, roiling mess. The storm pounded against it, raking up a haze, the waves pummeling the shoreline.

Hazel, where are you?

As he stood, a branch cracked upriver, probably torn by the pull of the water, and tumbled into the turbulent water. It bobbed, hitting rocks, its leaves shredding off in the boil, turning it bare. It hung up on a cluster of boulders just beyond the shoreline, the river rising over it, forcing it down. And for a second, it disappeared under the water.

He was turning away when he spotted it bouncing back to the surface farther downstream in the frothy wash, then vanishing as it rode the clutter of waves.Resilient.

“I took the deer path all the way to the neighbors’ house.” Tillie, breathing hard, her voice shaking. “I didn’t see her.”

He glanced past her, downriver to the Shulls’ house. With their eleven children, it seemed possible that Hazel could have found a friend there.

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