Page 119 of Torin

Torin’s bedroom is on my way to the front door. I stop outside it and take out the note.

He’ll come back expecting to find me here.

For a moment, I picture him walking through the door, tired and muddy after hours in the forest. If I wait long enough, I could put my arms around him and forget this whole plan.

I push the note beneath his door before I can change my mind.

The lodge is silent. I listen as I pass Alexandria’s room, but there’s no movement inside.

At the front door, I hesitate with my hand on the handle.

I love Torin.

Leaving him is the last thing I want to do.

But Bennett is sitting in a cell, and every hour I stay here makes things worse.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

Then I ease the door open and slip out into the cool mountain night.

23

Torin

Before dawn, we make one final circuit between the lodge and Bennett’s cabin. It’s the third time we’ve covered the same ground since midnight. I don’t complain. If Hayes somehow learns the cabin exists, he’ll come here right away. Until then, it’s hidden well enough that he could search these mountains for a month without stumbling across it by accident.

Gunnar shifts beside an old forestry track and crouches to study the ground. I join him. The tire marks are the same ones we found yesterday. No fresh tracks or footprints. No sign anyone’s been through here since the last time we checked.

He grunts, straightening. “Looks clear.”

Orson has been deep in the trees all night long, circling wider than either of us. He’s happiest out here, moving through the forest on four legs with his nose to the wind. Every so often, I would catch a glimpse of his dark shape between the trunks before he disappeared back into the undergrowth.

A few minutes later he rejoins us and shifts. “No sign of anyone.”

The sky is beginning to lighten between the trees. This is when we agreed to split up. Gunnar will take the northern side of the mountain, Orson will circle back towards the lake, and I’ll head home for a few hours before taking over from Gunnar.

“See you later,” I say.

Gunnar nods. “Get some sleep.”

Orson is already shifting again.

“Try not to wander into Canada,” I tell him.

He gives me a look that’s pure Orson even with a bear’s face, then disappears between the trees.

I turn towards home. We haven’t found any sign that the search has reached this far, and the tension that’s been sitting between my shoulders all night begins to ease. It’s only temporary. Sooner or later Hayes will find another lead. He’ll keep digging until he uncovers something. But for now, the cabin is still a secret, the lodge is still hidden, and Hannah is safe.

I smile to myself.

She’s probably still asleep.

Yesterday exhausted her, and after everything she’s been through over the past week, I doubt she’ll wake before Alexandria puts a mug of coffee under her nose.

I smile at the thought. Hannah will insist she isn’t tired, then probably yawn halfway through the sentence.

I’m looking forward to seeing her. Kissing her. Telling her we made it through the night without finding any sign that the search has reached this far. Maybe then we can both relax for a while.