Page 65 of The Sweet Spot
“Thank you,” I say. “I need to be out there looking, but Dawn shouldn’t be here alone. She’s distraught.”
“Where is she?” Maggie asks, glancing around the crowded kitchen.
“She’s in the living room.”
“Jennie, I need a piece of clothing Granny wore recently,” Hannah says. “Maybe her pajamas from last night? Something that would have her scent on it.”
I run to Granny’s room and grab the nightgown she wore to bed last night and hand it over to Hannah.
“Do you mind if I take this with me?” she asks.
“Go right ahead.”
“All right, everybody, listen up.” Hannah announces the team assignments. “We need to find Mrs. Johnson soon. Thetemperature tonight is going to drop, and we’re expecting rain.” As Killian hands out radios, she adds, “Keep in touch. Report anything you see that might be relevant.”
While I grab my jacket and put on my hiking boots, Chris grabs a backpack from the coat closet and stuffs it with Granny’s sneakers and a jacket.
Soon, we’re all out the door. I’m shocked to find nearly two dozen people loitering in my driveway—the search and rescue team members, deputies from Chris’s department, and quite a number of neighborhood volunteers.
Hannah hands out grid assignments to the leader of each group. The teams will spread out and search as much of that section of the woods as possible.
Chris takes our instructions. We’re teamed up with Micah and Robyn. “Let’s go,” he says.
Hannah, Killian, and Scout are already heading toward the path where the slipper was discovered.
“Let’s go find her,” Chris says to me, taking my hand.
For the first time since I heard Granny was missing, I finally have hope we’re going to find her safe and sound. We have to. The alternative is something I can’t even bear to contemplate.
Chapter 23 – Chris
The members of the search and rescue team converge at the spot where Jack found Granny’s slipper. Hannah presents the nightgown to Scout, who sniffs it thoroughly. “Go find!” she tells the dog. “Go find!”
Scout takes off down the path, stopping every few feet to smell the ground and sniff the shrubs lining the path. The dog moves at a good clip, Hannah and Killian easily keeping pace with him. Soon, they’re so far ahead on the meandering path we lose sight of them.
Jennie and I, along with Micah and Robyn, follow the same path as the dog. The others have branched out from the path and are cutting through the trees in different directions.
I really wish Jennie had stayed at home. It’s getting close to dark now, and the temperature has dropped quite a bit. Even though she’s wearing a jacket, I still catch her shivering.
But I understand Jennie’s need to be here. Rosie is the only family she has. Rosie is family to me, too, as far as I’m concerned. She took care of all of us when we were kids, not just Jennie but her two wayward friends as well—me and Micah. If it weren’t for Rosie, I never would’ve had a birthday cake when I was a kid.
High-powered flashlights are shining in all directions. Here in the woods, with the thick canopy overhead, it’s pretty dark.
Micah and Robyn are behind us on the trail, about ten feet back. Like us, they shine their flashlights into the trees and the undergrowth on both sides of the path. It’s not exactly a trail we’re following—it’s nothing official, nothing marked. It’s just a well-worn dirt path made from years of kids and adults traipsing through these woods.
“Granny!” Jennie calls loudly. “Granny, can you hear me? It’s Jennie.”
“Ms. Rosie!” Robyn calls.
As we move deeper into the trees, we can hear voices echoing throughout the woods as they call her name.Granny! Rosie! Mrs. Johnson!
The entire SAR team is in these woods. The deputies and neighborhood volunteers continue to canvass the houses in this area in hopes of meeting someone who has seen her.
“Granny!” Jennie trips on a root sticking out of the packed dirt and nearly falls forward.
I manage to catch her and steady her. Her hands are like ice. “The temperature is dropping fast, Jennie. Let me take you home. I’ll come back to rejoin the search.”
“Thanks, but no. I’m staying until we find her.”
