“You met in a halfway house and you’re still friends?” she asked Frank, thinking this had to be a violation if any of them were still on parole.
“We belong to the same support group. We’re trying to put our lives back together.”
The need to continue to search for Sophie pressed at her, but the thought that one of these men could have killed Candace made her cautious. She couldn’t take Robo into the forest and leave Brody outnumbered four to one. “I still need to search outside the camp perimeter,” she told him.
He nodded. “All right, gentlemen. Deputy Cobb and I need to put you in cuffs for the time being. Hands behind your back.”
Despite their protests, Mattie helped cuff the men while Brody patted them down. At last she was free to leave, with the four campers sitting on a log by the fire and Brody standing guard.
She took Robo into the forest at the edge of camp, gave him a sniff of the scent article, and told him to search for Sophie. He trotted out front while she trained the flashlight on him, struggling to keep up in the dark. Pine needles poked her face and a tree root snagged her shoe. Falling to one knee, her palms scraped against deadfall as she went down. The looming forest triggered her claustrophobia, and she froze, her heart racing.
Robo came back to her. She clasped his solid body close and took in huge gulps of air. Calm gradually seeped into her, allowing her brain to take over.
I’m safe. Now get back to work.
Murmuring praise to Robo, she gave him a squeeze. She clipped a leash onto his harness, wanting to keep him close, but then decided against it. She needed to cast him out away from her, let him search for Sophie freely so he could cover more ground.
She followed at a slower pace, fighting the rugged terrain while Robo worked in huge sweeps. Finally they came full circle, and still no sign of Sophie.
Fighting tears, she paused on top of a ridge for a moment to regain self-control before going down into the campsite. Sunlight touched off a fiery glow on the jagged horizon, and birds chirped as the forest awakened.
She still needed to search the Pathfinder’s interior, but now that it was light, she and Brody would be able to see tracks if it had left the road between here and Timber Creek.
And Robo would be able to smell Sophie’s scent if . . . if she’d been left someplace on the way up. She swallowed her tears and forced herself to move again, unable to bear thinking beyond that.
Chapter 24
Cole sat in his truck at a pullout alongside the highway, Bruno curled up beside him on the passenger seat, sleeping. He’d watched the sunrise with an ache that filled his chest and spilled into his throat, his palm resting on the Doberman’s warm shoulder, occasionally stroking the top of his head. They’d searched everywhere he could think of to no avail.
Some monster had snatched the very essence of Sophie from him, including her scent, while his back was turned. What else could he do to find her? He’d never felt this powerless before in his life.
He’d spent the rest of the night searching the town with Sergeant Madsen. Right before dawn, they’d gone to the station to debrief before Madsen left to go back home. “It’s not that we’re giving up,” Madsen said, “but Banjo and I have finished the part of the job that we came here to do. If any new leads come in, it’ll be up to Deputy Cobb and Robo to follow up. They’re more than capable.”
Cole knew that, and he nodded. “It seems like the more dogs we have, the better off we’ll be.”
“Yes and no. Yes, if we have a definite area to search. No, if we’ve covered the ground we need to and have found nothing. If you’ve got a fresh track, one good dog is all you need.”
He knew that Madsen had come to do a specific search, along the highway, and that he’d stayed longer than he’d planned to hunt through Timber Creek. Besides, he had his own job to get back to. Recognizing there was nothing more either of them could do for now, Cole extended his hand in gratitude. “I appreciate you coming to help.”
Madsen gripped his hand hard. He was a big guy, and he’d covered a lot of territory working behind Banjo during the night. Face drawn and shiny with the oily residue from dried sweat, Madsen looked exhausted; yet he planned to drive the hours required to get back to his home. “No one’s giving up,” he repeated. “Chances are still good your daughter will be found.”
The constant ache in Cole’s chest had started then, at first just a twinge, now full blown. He leaned forward to turn the key in the ignition, and his truck’s engine roared to life. Bruno raised his head before struggling up to sit and look out the window.
“We might as well go home, fella, and check in there. You’ll have to make yourself scarce. Maybe you can sack out in Angie’s room with her.”
Dealing with Olivia seemed like a bizarre twist in this nightmare he was living. His breath hitched, and he realized it seemed more and more difficult to expand his lungs. Tension. He rolled his head on his neck while he drove down the deserted highway, keeping one eye on the road.
Olivia’s presence made it harder on Angie—hell, it made it harder on him. He wondered how Mrs. Gibbs was holding up, having to deal with his ex-wife. And Jessie. Cole felt it was his duty to make sure everyone in his household was comfortable, well fed, and secure.
Well, I’m a failure at that, aren’t I?
He parked his truck in the garage and paused at the door that led into the kitchen, smelling the scent of bacon. When he opened the door, he spotted Mrs. Gibbs standing by the stove. Bruno came in behind him, so Cole stopped to fill the dogs’ bowls with kibble.
Mrs. Gibbs turned from her cooking as he entered the room. He could tell that she’d spent a long sleepless night, her face rather gray, the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth etched a bit deeper, her eyelids heavy and reddened. He answered the question he saw in her eyes with a slight shake of his head. Her eyes filled, and she swiped at them as she turned toward the coffeepot.
“Can I get you a cup of coffee, Dr. Walker?” she asked, her voice quivering.
The small kindness created a thickening in his throat that drove the ache deeper into his chest, and he bent over Bruno for a few seconds, stroking the dog’s long body as he cracked a bite of kibble between his sharp teeth and smacked his lips. Cole blinked to clear his vision. “Yes, please.”
He took the steaming cup she offered him, carried it to the table, and sat. “Where is everybody?”
Mrs. Gibbs adjusted the heat under the pan on the stove and brought her own cup over to join him at the table. “Your sister is in Angela’s room. They might have fallen asleep up there, or at least I hope so. Jessie came and went for a while, but the last time she went, she stayed. She’s been up there a few hours now.”
Cole sipped, swallowing the hot black coffee without tasting it. “And Olivia?”
“After she and I had a long talk, I sent her up to my room to rest.”
“What did you talk about?”
Mrs. Gibbs studied her coffee mug. “This and that. My job here. The children. Her treatment with her doctors.”
Cole was surprised. “That’s more than I’ve been able to discuss with her this past year.”
“Ach, I suppose I seem like a mother figure to her. She wanted to talk, and there wasn’t much else to do while we waited.”
Their eyes met, and Cole found himself soothed by the staunch look on her face and the sturdiness of her manner. “You’re a good person, Mrs. Gibbs. A kind lady. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”