Reinhold nods without conviction.
“I know.”
“Do you? Twenty-four hours ago, you talked me off the ledge. Allow me to return the favor.”
Reinhold shakes the cobwebs out of her head and climbs to her feet. Her color looks better, and she doesn’t wobble.
“I need to go back inside and help Deputy Filmore. What are you going to do?”
“Find my daughter,” Darcy says.
She climbs into Hensel’s SUV and fires the engine. A quick check of her phone shows no calls or messages from the search team. Speeding toward the other end of town, Darcy reminds herself wireless coverage is nonexistent beyond the state park and she shouldn’t expect Hensel to pick up. But that doesn’t stop the doubt from creeping up on her.
Stetson hid in plain sight for ten years. He’s resourceful. While the rigged shotgun suggests organizational skills, it screams paranoia. Stetson has an escape route ready should the authorities converge on him. But no roads exist in the wilderness. He’ll use the river. Stepping on the accelerator, Darcy steers the SUV toward Cass Park.
The park is pitch black when Darcy turns into the lot. Rocks ping the undercarriage, loud amid so much quiet. She finds a parking space beneath a tree at the back of the lot, reducing the chance Stetson will see the vehicle. The trail winds into the great unknown. As she touches the door handle, her phone rings. But it’s not Hensel calling with an update. It’s Laurie.
“Hunter’s gone. I can’t find him anywhere.”
At the sound of Laurie’s voice, the air rushes from Darcy’s lungs. No, this can’t happen. Not now.
“What do you mean he’s gone? Weren’t you with him?”
“Yes, I stayed in your room with Hunter. I had to use the bathroom, and when I came out, I couldn’t find Hunter, and my keys are missing.”
Darcy grips her hair in her fists and pulls, teeth gritted as she fights to keep control. Yes, she left Laurie in charge of Hunter, but she can’t blame her cousin. This isn’t Laurie’s fault anymore than it’s Reinhold’s fault Tipton walked into a trap. Hunter planned this. He’s on his way to North Carolina now.
“Okay, slow down,” Darcy says as Laurie goes breathless. “This is on me. I should have seen this coming.”
“Darcy, he was so quiet. I knew he worried about Jennifer, but he seemed to have it together.”
“All right. Think, Laurie. Did Hunter act differently before you left the room? Maybe he received a text and looked upset.”
“No, nothing stands out. Should I call the sheriff?”
Darcy pictures Tipton on the operating table, the doctors fishing a slug out of the open wound in his belly.
“No, let me call Hunter and talk some sense into him.”
“I let you down, Darcy.”
“You didn’t. This is Hunter’s doing.”
She ends the call and leans her head back, eyes clenched shut. After she vets the furious responses firing through her head, she takes a breath and calls Hunter’s phone. But her son doesn’t answer. She should call the Genoa Cove PD. Give them fair warning and an opportunity to diffuse the situation. How does she tell Detective Ames her son intends to murder Aaron Torres without guaranteeing the police open fire the first time Hunter slips a hand into his pocket? It will take Hunter eight hours to drive to Genoa Cove. That buys her time to free Jennifer and get through to Hunter.
Darcy hops down from the SUV and locks the door, cringing at the loud beeps. After she scans the park for movement, she steps across the lot, her sneakers making scuffing noises on the stones. Chin up, Darcy blocks out the darkness. The night seems to slither around her, spinning around the playground equipment and dropping off the trees like an unspeakable evil. She’s halfway across the grass when her limbs lock and her spine turns to ice. Darcy realizes she can’t venture forth into the dark. Not alone. Willing herself to outrun her fears, Darcy struggles past the swings and toward the trail. She can see the path now, a silvery ribbon cutting through the heart of the copse.
It isn’t until she’s beside the towering slide that Darcy realizes she’s stopped moving. It’s the worst thing she could have done. Like standing on quicksand. Her legs freeze in place as her heart races at a dangerous speed. Her head spins, but she refuses to turn back. She can’t let Jennifer down. Cursing, Darcy tries to step forward, but an invisible wall stands between her and the trail. Her legs give out.
“Please, not now,” she mutters with her elbows on her splayed knees, fingernails digging into her scalp.
When a pair of headlights sweep across the playground, Darcy ducks her head and slides the gun from its holster. Ducking behind a tree, she watches the lights grow brighter as the vehicle turns into the parking lot. The lights are too high to be from Reinhold’s SUV, and the unknown vehicle isn’t a sheriff’s department cruiser. It’s a pickup truck. The killer?
The truck idles in the lot with the high beams flaring into the park. Then the engine cuts off. Darcy rubs the red imprints off her eyes as the dark becomes absolute again. A door opens. Footsteps track toward Hensel’s SUV and stop as the unknown person examines the rental. It’s quiet, the figure lost in the shadows. The footsteps angle across the lot, and Darcy glimpses the man’s silhouette as he stops at the gate and searches the park.
“Mom?”
Darcy sobs with relief. It’s Hunter. He’s not driving to Genoa Cove, thank God. He’s halfway across the park when Darcy crawls out of hiding and runs to meet her son.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to find you.”
Darcy wraps Hunter in her arms, relief pouring out of her that at least one of her children is safe. Holding her son against her, Darcy realizes her paralysis vanished the moment her son’s presence distracted her from her fears. She hates herself for being too weak to rescue her daughter.
“You shouldn’t have run off like that. Do you realize how much you frightened Laurie?”
“Tell her not to worry. I’ll bring the truck back in one piece.”
“But you should have checked with her first.”
“Really, Mom? It’s not like she would have given me the keys if I asked.”
“That doesn’t justify stealing the truck.” Darcy peers over Hunter’s shoulder. The park is empty except for them. “How did you know I’d be here?”
Hunter shows Darcy his phone. The Nina Steyer story headlines the Millport Times website.
“There’s an update at the end of the story that the sheriff’s department learned the kidnapper’s name, and I knew Agent Hensel wouldn’t allow you to join the rescue team.”
Darcy remembers telling Hunter the kidnapper abducted Sandy Young at Cass Park. He put the clues together on his own.
“Listen, Hunter. It’s a long shot the kidnapper will flee through the park.”
Hunter raises an eyebrow.
“Then why did you come here?”
He’s too smart for his own good, she thinks. It’s dangerous for Hunter to be in the park, and she worries how he’ll react if her theory comes to fruition and the killer arrives with Jennifer. The risk is worth it. Better to keep her eyes on Hunter than let him run off to North Carolina. And perhaps Darcy will better cope with her phobia now that she isn’t alone.
“Fine, but stay behind me if the kidnapper shows up.”
Hunter drops his hands on Darcy’s shoulders.
“Mom, he’s not leaving the park with Jennifer. She’d risk everything for us, so we’ll do the same for her. I won’t let her down.”
Darcy’s eyes glaze with tears. Her children are inseparable, and they’ll defend each other against any odds.
“Then don’t let me or Jennifer down by doing something stupid. I’m taking both of my children back to the hotel tonight, and I’m never letting either of you out of my sight again.”