Chapter 55
Caleb
Santana and I got tothe part of the road behind my property where there was a straight shot through the trees to my house. I jumped out of my truck and picked up Duke to set him on the ground so he could help. I left the truck engine running with the headlights shining on the road in front of us. The only sounds out here, other than the truck, were coming from birds and crickets.
I walked to the opposite side of the road, shining my flashlight into the trees, and Duke followed close behind me. I had hoped I would catch them hiding in the trees but saw nothing.
Santana jumped out of her car and began walking around the opposite side of the road, shining her flashlight into the trees.
“See anything?” I asked with an urgent tone. She looked at me and just shook her head.
I walked farther away from our vehicles, Duke on my heels. I’d trained him to stay right by my side, or just very close to me, but I wished right now he would run somewhere with a possible direction for us. It would take too long for us to get one of our K9s out here.
Duke had his nose to the ground and kept looking at me as he sniffed, every muscle tuned in on whatever he’d found. I’d not trained him to search for anything other than a treat, but I also knew that if Rae had been out here, he’d know it.
“I think we found something!” I rasped as Duke led me along the side of the road we’d parked on. Santana ran over to where we were, and I showed her where Duke led me to. “There's what looks to be a set of footprints here. They’re bigger shoes, so not Rae’s.” I angled my flashlight at the spot in the road where the gravel had been disturbed. They were not obvious, but they were definitely footprints. I walked the way they were angled and saw the next worst thing in this nightmare: tire tracks. Duke wouldn’t be able to smell her if she’d gotten into a vehicle. My heart sank and I forced myself to not panic.
I walked in silence with Santana as we walked around the area the tire tracks were in. “Walker, what type of shoes was she wearing?” Santana asked me with more hope in her voice than I felt.
“I'm not sure.” I spat out, sounding more frustrated than I meant to.Crap. “Sorry...” I would have to apologize properly later, but right now, we needed to hurry.
She waved off the apology with a small smile, and I was thankful she was the one that was out here with me. We’d seen a bunch of ugly things in this world together, and she’d seen me at my worst. I took a deep breath. “I went outside to put the horses back in the barn, so I’m not sure what she’d changed into. When I was searching the house for her, I noticed her shirt hanging out of the hamper, and the shower water had been turned on recently. So, maybe she was barefoot or wearing her slippers?”
“Come look at this.” She shined her flashlight on the ground near where she stood.
I looked down at prints that resembled slippers. There were no deep treads in the prints. Next to one of the shoeprints was a footprint. “This has to be her. She could have been wearing her slippers and her foot got stuck in the mud, here”—she pointed her flashlight at a deeper divot in the mud—“and then it got stuck in the mud here, too.”
I heard Duke sniffing something, and Santana and I looked at what he’d focused on. “Is that puke?” Santana confirmed it and my world started spinning again. “Santana, she threw up. He could have hurt her, she could have a head injury...”
“Caleb Walker, snap out of it!” Santana hissed as she smacked me upside the head. “Rae needs you right now and you need to be in cop mode. I like her and I need you to focus right now. Do not make me call Sarge and have you benched.”
She was right. Rae needed me, and I had to focus. I nodded to let Santana know I was good.
She pointed her flashlight at the ground behind me and walked towards where it shined, patting me on the shoulder as she passed by. “The tire marks are over here, too, possibly leading away from town.
I followed her without a word.
We ran along the roaduntil the tire tracks turned.
“What's back in this direction, Walker? Isn't it just a couple of houses?”
I stood still. Thinking. The sudden realization hit me. It had been so obvious but I had been too close to see it.
“Santana, we need to go back to the cars.Now. I know where they are.”
I ran back to my truck with Duke, and Santana to her car. “Where? One of the houses?”
“Not just any house. Jenny's.”
