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“Come on. Just a little further.”
Shawna felt dizzy with exhaustion and fear. Her legs felt as if they were made of jelly and she kept stumbling. And he was still leading her. She felt trapped. Helpless. She couldn’t run and he’d tired her out and now she was his. She’d disappear without a trace, like Emily had.
Shawna feared, with a deep, terrible certainty and despite his breathless, coaxing words, that he was going to kill her.
CHAPTER ONE
Deputy May Moore sat alone in the back office at the Fairshore police department. Working late, she was rereading the missing persons file, frowning down at the information, wishing she could do more to find Emily Hobbs, who had disappeared without a trace two weeks ago.
What had happened to her? Had she run away?
But why would she vanish without a word to her parents? Nothing had been going wrong in her life. She’d been a top student, doing well in sports, and definitely one of the ‘in’ crowd at school.
The other alternative was that she had been abducted. If so, by whom? It was a difficult possibility to consider seriously in their quiet and safe small-town community, but May knew from personal experience that people could just disappear without a trace. Even in small, and supposedly safe, towns.
May’s sister Lauren had disappeared ten years ago. She’d stormed out of the house after a fight with May, and had been seen on the trail going down to Eagle Lake, where some of her possessions had later been discovered. Lauren herself had never been found. She had been eighteen at the time of her disappearance. So was Emily.
May feared that Emily’s case might also grow cold.
“Please find her! Find her!” Emily’s mother’s words resounded in her ears from the tearful phone call earlier today, one of the many that May had fielded over the past fortnight.
“I’ll do my best, ma’am,” May had promised, just as she’d promised yesterday and last week. She’d found out everything she could, but the truth was, she’d hit a dead end. She was at the end of her resources.
Sighing in frustration that she couldn’t do more, she pushed back the strands of blond hair that had escaped from her ponytail, and got up from the desk. It was after seven p.m. and she was the only person left here, apart from the constable manning the front desk.
She was aware of the evening silence, the darkening night, the emptiness of the building that was home to the Fairshore police department, which was always abuzz with activity during office hours.
But working late, and taking on as much as she could manage, was all part of her new responsibility as Tamarack County’s deputy. The fact that she was the youngest county deputy, and the first female in this role, made May even more motivated to prove herself.
Having done all she could do about Emily’s troubling case, May placed the file back in the locker and took a last look around the back office, making sure everything was neat and tidy and ready for the morning. She felt proud of how well organized the office was, and that they were keeping firm control over their current cases, with every step correctly managed and recorded.
Feeling satisfied that the office was neat and ready for the morning, she switched off the lights and walked out, feeling thoughtful
May knew that part of the reason she put so much into her job was out of a deep desire to prove herself. She knew she would never be able to reach the same heights as her sister, Kerry, who was a super-successful FBI agent. May had flunked out and lost her chance. She’d frozen up in the entrance exam, anxiety crippling her, and had missed the cut by a couple of points.
She’d never forgiven herself for that. She’d had all the knowledge and ability, and had known she was capable and competent enough. But with so many expectations weighing on her shoulders, she hadn’t been able to work fast enough through the test at that crucial moment when it counted.
She knew that in her parents’ eyes, she would always be second-rate. Kerry was always the highest flyer, the one with the career to be proud of.
As she walked thoughtfully out to her car, May wondered if Kerry was going to be able to help her with Lauren’s cold case. May had asked her boss recently if she could reopen the case and Sheriff Jack had agreed. As the county deputy, she wanted to bring her skills and experience to relooking at it, and see if there was anything new to find.
And there was something new. She had found a key in the evidence box that had not been mentioned in the report or listed in the log. May was determined to find out what the key unlocked, or at least try to figure out the wording on the smudged, almost illegible, plastic label. So she’d asked Kerry to work on it with her. She’d sent photos to Kerry to see if she had any ideas, or if there was any software at the FBI that might be able to decipher that blurred, unreadable text.
That had been a month ago. Her sister had said she’d try to help her but that there was a backlog for using the software, and she’d have to wait until it was cleared.
As May walked out of the back office, her phone beeped. She felt excited when she saw her sister had messaged her. Perhaps she’d come up with a solution, and the text could be deciphered. May hoped so, because if the key revealed nothing, she knew she had nowhere else to turn.
“Kerry, please let this be good news,” she muttered, as she grabbed the phone eagerly.
Then she let out a disappointed sigh.
The text was about a different topic. It wasn’t related to Lauren at all. It was yet another message about Kerry’s upcoming wedding.
“Hey, sis, when you get a minute, could you send the number of that guy who does the table decorations? You know, the one who lives up in Pine Hills? Or if you have a chance, perhaps you could get pricing from him and just send that through? Thanks!”
May shook her head.
Nothing on Lauren yet. Just more wedding stuff. Exciting as it was, she had to admit that helping Kerry with her thousands of demands and ideas was pretty exhausting. But she’d promised to help, so she’d do her best.
