She wanted my help?
I blinked, stupefied.
She was from a family of trackers. There were at least four more of them who had not only the most extensive training in tracking and locating anything from humans to animals, but also certainly more experience than me.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to—” I stopped and stared, my jaw falling as quickly as my eyes snapped up. “He left you clues inLatin?”
Primum. Ostium silvae.
“Did no one tell you? Creighton is the Stone everyone should leave unturned,” she grumbled, folding her arms. “But I worry about what would happen if he never got unturned.” She bit into her bottom lip, and right then, I saw the woman who’d rescued every weak and wounded animal on that wall. The one who had no fear for how they’d lash out because of their injuries. The one who was determined to love them until they were healed. “Anyway, do you know what it says?”
I almost blurted out to just check Google Translate, but then I remembered that my cell phone lived in a metal box on the front porch. Even if it didn’t, I severely doubted Wi-Fi or cellular data existed in this house.
“Callum refuses to get involved, and I can’t find Calder.” I winced when she mentionedthatbrother. It was probably my fault she couldn’t find him. “I thought maybe, because you’re a doctor ...”
I gulped. “Well,primummeansfirst.Ostium ...isan opening. The Latin word formouthisos. So it could meanentranceoropening, andsilvae, if it’s a derivative ofsilva, well,silvameansforest.”
Her squeal barely forewarned of the arms that wrapped around my neck in the tightest of hugs. “Thank you so much.” Her relief waseffusive ... and contagious. “I know you were thinking of going back to your B and B, but would you mind coming with me? I know where the mouth of the forest is, but I also know there’s only going to be another clue waiting for me.”
I paused but really had no reason to say no. I had nothing to do back at the B and B except worry about Rachel and ruminate over my last conversation with Calder, who was apparently MIA, so even attempting to apologize right now was out of the question.
“Sure,” I said with a small smile. “I’m happy to help.”
At least one Stone wanted me involved in a search and rescue mission.
Sure enough, the first clue had taken us to the edge of the forest where there was a half-moon glen. Colby had said all their hide-and-seek games as kids always started from here. In the center, pinned to a stake in the ground, was the second clue.
Secundo. Viscera lacus.
Second. The bowels of the lake.
At one time, there’d been a river that cut through Stonewall Ranch, gouging a trench in the mountains and leaving behind, as its only remnant, an oblong lake I matched to the map in Calder’s RV: Lima Bean Lake. Underneath a small shelter was a rack of canoes and paddleboards, and for a second, it struck me how many thousands upon thousands of visitors came to the Tetons every year and filled up Jenny Lake, paying for the exact same activities that the Stone family had grown up enjoying in privacy.
Colby scanned the perimeter with binoculars and pointed to the far side, the third clue tethered to a fishing hook on the farthest pebbled shore.
The lake led to a stretch of boulders, the boulders led into the fields, and the field turned us back into the forest.
For two hours, we followed Creighton’s clues, searching for Colby’s missing pet. Along the way, I was introduced to some of the celebrities framed in her room. Boris, the one-eared bunny; Minx, the three-leggedcat; and Cy, short for Cyclops, Minx’s brother.You could guess how his name came about.
The search took us to what felt like the far ends of the ranch property, though realistically, we couldn’t have walked more than a few miles. She pointed out Callum’s house, not realizing I’d already been there, and a rock wall she told me they called Free Fall, which led into a rambling story about how they’d all trained to climb it, as reaching the top was a rite of passage in the Stone family. Then there was a tree house she’d built with Cassius, and an old barn that housed a few horses and, apparently, her brother Colton when he didn’t want to be found.
“It had to be the Doritos,” Colby muttered, stomping through the brush toward some tree the final clue referred to.
“Doritos?”
“Donnie’s weakness is Doritos, and I’ve tried to hide that from Creighton, but he must’ve figured it out, because he’s tried to catch Donnie before. Many times. But Donnie knows Creighton is enemy number one.” She sighed, stepping over a fallen tree trunk. “The only way he would’ve been caught is Doritos.”
“A duck that likes Doritos?”
“We all have our weaknesses.” She winked at me, and my throat felt strangled shut.
I wished my weakness was Doritos and not her oldest brother.
“Aha!” She jogged over to some brush and pulled off the next clue, tacked to a tree trunk.
“Is this the tree?”
“No, but we’re close ...” She trailed off, and when she held the paper to me, I saw the fumes coming from her ears.
