“That’s fine. Cell reception is often spotty up here anyway. Is she on social media?”
A brief look of horror crossed her face. “I…don’t know. That’s a thing a parent should know.” Her voice shot up half an octave.
“Kacy would probably know if she were,” Flynn said.
“I’ll call and get up with her mom,” Kennedy said. She gave Pru’s arm a squeeze before walking out of the room.
“Okay. It’s okay. Now I’ve got to make some more phone calls, get some things organized. You’re gonna sit right down here and drink your tea.” Xander brought a mug over to the table.
“I don’t want tea,” she snapped. “I want my daughter!”
“I know it. But you’re gonna need your voice to call for her when we get out searching here in a little bit. So drink your tea and soothe your throat.”
She looked so brittle, Flynn was afraid to touch her, even in comfort. But she sat and began to sip at the tea. He parked himself at the kitchen window, watching the yard so he didn’t say something to make the whole situation worse. Within half an hour, the drive was as full of vehicles as it normally was for one of their Friday night j
am sessions. But there was no celebratory air here. Flynn’s heart squeezed as he recognized Porter and Logan; Kennedy’s boss, Denver; Ford McIntosh, and half a dozen other friends he’d made through his time here. Some kind of command center was being set up on the porch.
“Glad you could make it.” Xander’s voice brought Flynn around to see a woman and a dog standing in the kitchen doorway.
The woman crossed to him, offering her hand. “Of course. I’m just relieved I was in town.”
“Chris, this is my sister-in-law, Pru and her fiancé, Flynn Bohannon.”
Chris nodded and shook Pru’s hand, as Xander continued introductions. “This is Chris Sargent and Dash, from the Stone County Search and Rescue team. They’re going to help us figure out which way to look.”
“Search and rescue?” Pru’s face went impossibly paler. “I thought they only came out for extreme circumstances.”
“Normally yes, but I happened to be in town, and I’m happy to help,” Chris said easily. “I’ll need you to find something Ari has worn recently that hasn’t been washed. Dirty socks or pajamas. Something she’d have worn close to the skin.”
This Flynn could handle. “She brought laundry down this morning. I don’t think it got started yet.” He bolted for the laundry room and dug through her hamper. Thank God, they’d started on guest sheets first. Back in the kitchen he held out the white, pink, and gold fabric with Princess of Sassytown printed on the side. “They’re the socks she wore horseback riding the other day.”
“Good. That’s great. It’ll be exactly what we need.” The dog sitting beside her practically vibrated with bright-eyed excitement, but he didn’t move other than to look to Chris for orders. “Dash will use this to catch Ari’s scent and will figure out which way she went. As she lives here and has spent a lot of time around the yard, he may criss-cross a bit, but we’ll find her trail. Just be patient.”
“Go do your thing. Thanks for coming, Chris,” Xander said.
The woman nodded, then she and Dash headed outside.
“What do we do in the meantime?” Flynn demanded.
“You get prepped for a hike. Proper boots and packs. We don’t know how long we’ll be out.”
But Flynn knew. He’d stay out as long as it took.
Chapter Fourteen
THE SUN SLID BEHIND the ridge that gave the town its name, and Pru knew full dark wasn’t far behind. “Ari!”
She heard the faint echo of the call from half a dozen other voices spread out across their sector. Her feet ached and exhaustion dragged at her frame, but she kept going. She’d keep going until she held Ari in her arms again. An hour before, Dash had found the peel from a clementine—the first and only proof Ari had actually headed out cross country instead of going for the road. The only comfort there was that they didn’t have the danger of some human predator picking her up trying to hitchhike. One thirteen-year-old girl couldn’t cover that much territory in six hours, so she had to be in the geographic area. But on foot, with night falling, the mountains Pru had run tame in as a child felt like a whole other country.
Was Ari scared? Her trail had led them in a southerly direction, skirting town. Where was she going? Did she even have a plan? How much of one could she really have come up with in the half hour she had to slip out of the house? She was resourceful, but she hadn’t had the same kind of hard life before coming to Joan that many fosters had. She hadn’t had to learn to survive. Certainly not any kind of wilderness survival.
“Ari!” Flynn’s voice carried from somewhere up ahead. She could barely see him in the dimming light.
“He’s not handling this well,” Kennedy murmured.
“No.” Pru had watched him retreat over the course of the day, and she hadn’t been able to do anything about it. No amount of comforting was going to help him until they had Ari back. And then there’d be a showdown with a judge. “He blames himself.”
“Do you?”