Page 32 of Too Late

“Josh?”

He was sitting against a tree and tied to it.

She sprang out from behind the oak and ran.

Josh’s eyes widened.

She hurdled a fallen tree. When she reached him, she dropped to her knees and tried to untie his right hand.

He grunted.

“Sorry.” She removed the gag. So many emotions ran through her as she stared into his face.

He gave her the strangest smile. She couldn’t identify the emotion behind it.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“At the moment. What happened?” She started working at the knot again.

“I have a knife in my left pocket. At least I did.”

She reached across him. His nearness unsettled her heart and lungs. But it was the opposite reason than of thirty minutes ago.

The knife was still in his pocket. She flipped it open and worked at the rope.

“Good thing you keep your knife sharp.” She bit her lip.

The knife sliced through the last of the rope.

As soon as she closed the knife, Josh’s arms encircled her.

She wrapped her arms around him and fought to hold back unexpected emotion. But she didn’t hold back her embrace. In his arms, she felt safe and comforted.Thank You, Jesus.

God was the one who provided for all her needs, even out here lost in the woods. He provided her with a companion, one who had the skill to survive too. She needed to trust God.

Josh’s arms loosened around her, so she sat back.

He moved his hands to cradle her face and met her eyes with his. His gaze dropped slightly before meeting hers again.

Gabe jumped out of the back seat of Buck’s unmarked police sedan, Poirot right behind him. Josh’s SUV sat in the parking lot of a medical office building. They hadn’t had to drive around much before they found the vehicle.

“Where’s Josh, Poirot?”

The dog sniffed around and trotted to the vehicle then to the closest door of the building. He barked.

“Inside?”

Gabe opened the door, and Poirot led the way inside but didn’t go far. He barked again.

From what Chloe had told Gabe during her time training—first Miss Marple and then Poirot—when a person stopped and stayed in place for even a few minutes, a dog would indicate that before moving on.

But why would Josh stop here?

Poirot was on the move again. Gabe followed him down a hallway that looked as if it was currently unused. If Josh was here for an appointment, wouldn’t he have gone the other way to the occupied offices?

At the end of the hall, there was another outside door. As Gabe anticipated, Poirot barked, so Gabe opened the door.

Once outside, Poirot ran down the sidewalk and into the parking lot, but just as he had at the park, he stopped and sat. He then let out a howl-like bark.

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