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Glancing around, I didn’t see Lulee, but that didn’t stop me from calling out to her. “Lulee!”
With no answer, I turned my attention back to the car. The hood looked like it’d been opened, a tiny crack peeping up at me. Trying the driver’s side door, it was unlocked and that gave me pause. Unless Cree or Lulee had come back to the car at some point while we’d been here, I could remember Cree clicking the key fob to lock it when we’d gotten here.
Letting out a deep breath, I pushed the release button for the hood, and when I didn’t hear that familiar popping sound, my stomach felt like it was weighted with dread. I walked over to the front of the car, then lifted the hood with ease. Now, while I didn’t know enough about cars to rebuild an engine if needed, I knew enough about cars to know when one had been tampered with.
Pulling my phone out, I tried calling Saint this time. When the phone cut off without really even ringing, I had to stop myself from going into a full-blown panic. I was almost flabbergasted at how I had joked about this vacation having all the makings of a horror film, and here I was, finding out that I’d been right. Instead of this being a fabricated Hollywood setting, we had a person missing, hidden cameras inside the cabins, and someone had tampered with our car.
Oh, God.
It also explained why Marilyn, Donovan, or the cops still hadn’t made it up here. Had Richard even called them? Who was doing this? Him? His wife? His son? All of them?
I had to swallow the bile threatening to come up.
Looking up, I saw the sun setting, and while it shouldn’t get dark until later in April, we weren’t in town. We were out in the wilderness, the height and thickness of the trees shrouding us in early darkness.
“Lulee!” I cried out, my voice almost breaking. I had no idea if she was also missing or if she’d run off to help search for Sarah, but what I did know was that I knew fucking nothing.
Doing my best to collect myself, I raced back towards the cabin. The kitchenette had come stocked with utensils, and you could stab someone with a fork just as well as you could with a knife. Right now, all I could think about was getting my hands on any kind of weapon, even if I didn’t know what all I was dealing with. While the cameras were bad enough, they weren’t as bad as sabotaging our vehicle. Messing with our car hinted to something a lot more sinister going on here.
Then that got me to thinking about Trevor. Had he really left? Did we actually have three people missing right now? Only I refuse to accept that Lulee was missing. I couldn’t let myself believe that just yet. I needed to arm myself, then find Saint.
I also needed cell phone fucking reception!
Chapter 23
Saint~
While it wasn’t actually dark yet, the laws of relativity had us feeling like the sun was setting a lot faster than normal. Cree and I had searched a good chunk of area but had found nothing. A few squirrels and other little critters had been the extent of it, and my gut was telling me that Kevin and Richard probably weren’t faring any better.
“Cree!” I called out.
“Yeah, man!”
I waited until I heard the crunching sounds of his footsteps making their way towards me. When I finally saw him through the thick of trees, I said, “I’m going to go back and check on the girls. The police have to be here by now.”
“Yeah, it’s been over an hour for sure,” he agreed.
“Plus, even though Donovan’s done this before, it’d help to direct him towards the areas that we haven’t canvassed yet,” I added.
“No, yeah, that’s not a bad idea.”
“You want to head back with me?”
He shook his head. “I’ll follow you back to the trail, but then I’ll move up a few more feet, then start again.” Cree let out a troubled sigh. “It’s going to get dark soon, Saint.”
“I know,” I replied worriedly. “I can’t imagine what Kevin’s going through.”
Cree nodded solemnly. “Yeah, so…go back and lead the others this way.”
I couldn’t help myself. I threw one arm around him, and we guy-hugged. “Be careful, man.”
“Always,” he promised. “Besides, I got a pissed off girl that I need to make things right with. No way am I not doing that.”
We headed back to the trail, and when I didn’t see Kevin or Richard anywhere, I gave Cree a quick nod before we headed in opposite directions. As I passed the cases of water, I quickly grabbed one, then downed it in one swallow.
After dumping the empty bottle in the nearest trashcan, I made my way down the walkway, and I couldn’t help but notice how quiet it was. There wasn’t a person in sight, and that automatically had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.
Pulling out my phone, I didn’t see any texts or missed calls from anyone, so I headed straight to mine and Verity’s cabin, hoping to find her there. It was possible that everyone had gathered in the dining room, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something felt off. Something apart from a missing woman.
