Page 74 of Final Escape
Move,an inner voice whispered.Hurry.
She edged forward, prickly wild raspberry vines tearing at her ankles; her feet bumping up against unseen rocks strewn in the path. Biting her lower lip, she picked up a faster pace, swinging her flashlight wide to avoid the larger boulders and downed trees. How far had she gone now? A quarter mile? A third?
What if Noah and his captor were off to the side somewhere, down another path, and she missed them completely?
The fact that she had no weapon hit her a moment later.
If somebody was on the verge of harming Noah, how could she possibly stop him?
* * *
LOGAN DROVE SLOWLYthrough town, searching for Carrie’s Tahoe. Shehadto be here somewhere, trying to talk that student and his mother into coming forward.
But now Logan had been up and down every single street and avenue twice—not a time-intensive feat in Granite Falls—without a sign of her. Could she have doubled back, and then gone home?
An ambulance screamed through town, heading up into the hills. Another hurt climber maybe...or some three-hundred-pound old fogey with high blood pressure on vacation.
Still, an uneasy premonition worked its way through his midsection.
He’d asked Carrie to check with the mother of the anonymous student who had drawn the picture. But she’d hedged her reply, answering obliquely to maintain the privacy of the student. Now he realized why. She’d had to sidestep with her answer, because the child didn’thavea mother any longer.
Noah.
The answer made perfect sense. If the killer had forced Sheryl up to the falls and then pushed her to her death, her son could have followed, frightened for her.
A nightmare, from beginning to end.
And now an ambulance was wailing up into the mountains in that general direction.
Logan thought for a second, then did a U-turn in the middle of the street and pulled to a stop in front of the Daisy Diner’s drive-up window and peered inside. “Hey, Marge. Do you have your scanner on?”
She bustled up to the window. “Sure enough. What’s up?”
“That ambulance. Where’s it heading?”
“One of those cabins just south of Granite Falls.” She pursed her lips, thinking. “The Colwell place, I believe.”
If the killer had discovered that he’d had a witness, then Noah’s life was in danger...if it wasn’t already too late. And now there was a very good chance that Carrie was up in the woods somewhere—maybe in danger, too.
He floored the accelerator, his tires squealing as he took the corner back onto Main Street and rocketed toward the road leading to Granite Falls.
He wanted to prove his innocence.
He wanted to see justice served, and a killer taken off the streets.
But right now, all he could think about was the pretty little teacher who had captured his heart, even if he didn’t deserve her. And for the first time in years, he started to pray.
