Free Hard Evidence by Roxanne Rustand Page A

more opportunity for trying to bond with Ian. The evening meals had been exceptional. And Janna…
    She truly was a lovely woman; caring and so determined to succeed, with a refreshing sense of humor and a calm, down-to-earth approach despite what must have been a difficult life.
    He found himself looking forward to the end of each day, so he could seek her out for conversation. He felt an inexplicable level of disappointment if he ended up working late and missed those visits. She was—
    Running straight for him, her face pale.
    He stepped out of the patrol car and caught her gently by the upper arms a split second before she would’ve barreled right into his chest.
    “She’s gone—Rylie’s gone!”
    “Since when?” He held her at arm’s length. “What happened?”
    “I—was just finishing up your cabin and talking to Ian. He got a little emotional—I’m not sure why—and he stormed out. I think he went off on a hike for a while to cool off. Rylie was playing with Maggie in the yard.” Janna drew in a shuddering breath. “But after I went up to the lodge to make a late lunch, I called and called and looked everywhere. Rylie left Maggie behind, and now it’s been several hours. She’s never stayed away this long. And why would she leave her dog?”
    “Did you ask Ian if he’d seen her?”
    “He showed up maybe a half hour after I started looking, but said he didn’t have any idea where she was. He and I have been searching for her ever since.”
    “Where is he now?”
    “I…I don’t know. He…he came back to me and asked if she’d turned up, then disappeared. I was just going to call you.”
    “So we might have two kids lost.”
    She blanched.
    “Tell me exactly where you’ve looked for her.”
    Janna raised a trembling hand and pointed toward the long lane to the highway. “I went down there, calling her name, though she knows she’d not supposed to leave the resort area. I’ve been up the trails to east and south, and I’ve checked all the cabins. Now all I can think about is the night I saw someone out in the woods with a flashlight. He seemed to realize that he’d been spotted, because he hurried away. What if he grabbed my daughter?”
    “Has she ever gone off by herself before? Does she have any secret forts? Places she loves to hide?”
    “I know she likes following Ian when he goes for his little hikes, but he said she wasn’t with him today. He…seemed pretty upset about it.”
    Upset…or guilty? Michael set his jaw. “Did he say which way he went?”
    “The trails past Cabin Ten. But I’ve already been up there, too. She wasn’t at the waterfall, and that’s the only place she’s ever been in that direction.” Janna’s voice caught, and she trembled within Michael’s gentle grasp. “Unless…the water could be so deep there. What if she went wading and hit a drop off?”
    The thought had crossed his mind, too, though there’d be no hope of rescue by now if that were the case. “I doubt she’d put more than a toe in that water—those mountain streams are ice cold this time of year.”
    Some of the tension in Janna’s body seemed to ease. “You’re right. Of course you are.”
    “What about your mother?”
    “I told her to stay in the house and call my cell phone if Rylie showed up.” Janna gave him a wobbly smile. “For once, I think she actually listened to me.”
    Michael released her, pivoted toward his car and reached inside to grab the mike.
    He turned back to her a minute later. “The other two officers are at least an hour away, and dispatch is calling in the county search-and-rescue team. They’ve got a dog handler who’s had a lot of success with lost hikers in the mountains, so I’d guess we’ll have your daughter and Ian back in no time flat.” He scanned the lodge grounds slowly, considering the possibilities. Please, Lord, send me in the right direction—and please, please keep both children safe from harm.
    There were still three hours