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“I don’t like it. I’m calling the bar. Maybe someone there knows where they are,” Brodie said and took out his phone, hit a couple of buttons, and said, “Hey, Derrick…yeah, it’s a hell of a storm. Have you seen Gabrielle or Lena…or Melody?” He shook his head at us. “Okay. If they come in there, call Jack or me...Don’t know yet...Yeah, yeah, I’ll keep you posted.” He hung up.
“Nothing?” Jack asked.
“Nope.”
“I hate to be a pessimist here, but what if something happened to them. This storm is fucking nuts,” I said.
“Let’s go,” Jackson said.
“Where?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Come on Rufus. Let’s go find Lena.”
Rufus barked again and jumped to his feet.
“Man, I didn’t think that dog could move that fast,” I said.
Jackson grabbed Lena’s scarf off the hall tree. “Rufus is a hound dog, one of the greatest trackers this side of the Turtle Lake. If they’re in trouble, he’ll find them.”
“He’s done it before. Hopefully, he’ll do it again,” Brodie said and slapped me on the back. “Come on, little brother. Let’s go find our women.”
I smiled at the little brother comment, though the sentiment didn’t last long with me as my mind reeled with all sorts of possible catastrophes involving Mel and the other two women, who were my sisters-in-law.
We drove down a dark, narrow street a short distance from the house. The road soon turned to dirt. The headlights beamed, and up ahead a short distance stood what looked like a car.
“That’s Lena’s car,” Jackson said, pointing up ahead.
Brodie pulled up beside the empty vehicle and cut the engine.
“Thank God,” I muttered. “But where are they? I’m assuming they are all together.”
“They have to be,” Brodie said. “Gabrielle’s car and your truck are still at my house.”
“Right,” I agreed, though my stomach knotted and I wanted to hurl. The burrito I’d had earlier wasn’t mixing well with the angst of Melody missing. Possibly hurt. Seeing Lena’s vacant SUV didn’t help. But maybe we were close.
“Come on, Rufus.” Jackson held Lena’s scarf out for Rufus to sniff. “Go find Lena.”
Rufus took off running, and we ran after him.
“Why the hell are they out in this storm?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Brodie said.
Rufus ran to the grassy area by the lake, stopped, and howled. “He found something!” Jackson yelled. We ran toward the dog. Rufus stood on top of a blanket and a paper bag full of soaked cheese and salami. “It looks like they had a picnic.” He glanced over to his left. “Oh, no.”
“What?”
“The boat is gone.”
“You have a boat?”
“It’s just a small fishing boat with an outboard motor.”
“An old fishing boat with an even older motor,” Brodie supplied.
“They must be out on the lake. I forgot to tell Lena that the motor was acting up. I noticed it a few days ago when I came out to fish.”
“Woof, woof, woof.” Rufus took off down the beach, barking. We followed him. About a mile down, Rufus stopped and pointed his face toward the water. He barked some more, and when we reached him, we heard screams and shouts coming from the middle of the lake, but we couldn’t see anything. The rain was coming down in buckets, and visibility was almost nothing.
