Page 70 of 15 Summers Later

Fifteen minutes later, they crested the final hill to find the beautiful waters of Ghost Lake glimmering through the pines.

Hard to believe something so pristine could once have been home to so much evil.

“From the way Cullen described it, his dig isn’t quite to the lake. You need to turn off before we get there on a side trail.”

“Can you be more specific? We’ve seen several side trails.”

“No. But I would guess there will be some kind of marker.”

She frowned. She had assumed Ava knew right where she was going, not that they were going to have to search out Cullen.

She drove more slowly, keeping an eye out for anything that might indicate a camp.

“There!” Ava said suddenly.

Madi’s gaze followed the direction she pointed and she saw a cairn of stacked rocks with a small pink plastic stegosaurus toy on the top.

Apparently paleontologists had a sense of humor, she thought as she turned onto what could barely be called a trail. Who knew?

The trail led them through thick forest that finally opened out into a clearing where she saw two wall tents and a cluster of smaller ones, some camp chairs and a couple of ATVs.

At first, Madi didn’t see any sign of life, then a large black Lab came trotting around the side of one tent, barking loudly as he hurried toward them.

Beside her, Ava stiffened, her knuckles white on the grab bar in front of her.

“Relax. He’s not going to hurt us,” Madi said.

“How do you know?”

“Because I know dogs and this one is friendly.”

She turned to the Lab as he approached their vehicle. “Hi there,” she said in calm voice. “We don’t mean any harm.”

Tongue lolling, the dog came closer. He was almost to the side-by-side when a man walked around the tent after him and came to an abrupt stop, looking as if someone had clobbered him with a tree trunk.

“Madi. Ava. What...what are you doing here?”

At the sight of Cullen, Ava had gone even more pale and pressed her hand to her stomach like she was about to hurl all over the place. She opened her mouth but no words came out, and for a weird moment, the three of them—and the dog—remained in a weird tableau.

Madi finally felt as if she had to speak. “Ava needs to talk to you. Don’t you?”

Her sister nodded mutely, that hand still curled over her abdomen. The raw emotion in her eyes as she looked at her husband was almost painful to see—especially when he looked more stunned than happy to see his wife.

“Yes,” Ava finally said, her voice ragged. She opened the door and slid out to stand beside the vehicle. The dog moved to greet her, but Madi headed him off by opening her own door and reaching out a hand.

She told herself she wasn’t protecting Ava, she just liked dogs.

“I’m sorry to...to bother you,” Ava went on. “I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t important.”

He finally nodded, moving closer to them.

“Okay.”

The coolness in his voice raised Madi’s hackles. She had never heard her loving brother-in-law speak in that tone of voice.

With more solicitousness than she might have felt if Cullen had been more welcoming, Madi turned toward her sister, who seemed a ghost herself.

“Do you need to sit down? Are you feeling sick again?”

---