Page 37 of Fifty First Times (Sharing You 0.40)
The police chief’s hand slid from my shoulder and he nodded. “Yes. One of the searchers found the Olivia’s stuffed pony in the woods so we can narrow down her possible location. At this time we have no reason to believe there’s been an abduction. Hopefully we can locate the girl and get her reunited with her family.”
A knot inside my gut loosened. Still, I knew the girl wasn’t out of danger until she was found. “Can I see the stuffed animal?”
“Sure. Be right back.” The chief turned and marched down the line of cars. As I waited for him to return, I stared into the gaps of the trees where I could spot the occasional flash of orange from a searcher’s vest.
Shawnee strained against the leash in my hand, prancing eagerly from foot to foot as if to say, Let’s get a move on!
Tanner, on the other hand, remained silent—a good thing because I needed to focus all of my attention on finding the missing girl.
/> A minute later the chief came back with a stuffed black horse clutched in his hand. The yarn mane stuck out at odd angles and only a tuft remained where his tail appeared to have been severed crudely with scissors. He held the toy out to me. “Take care of it. I practically had to pry it out of the mother’s hands.”
I nodded as I accepted the toy. “I promise.” I held it out to Shawnee. He buried his nose in the animal, snorting as he inhaled. “Find her,” I whispered.
Shawnee leaned back and looked at me. Gone was the good humor almost always present in his eyes, replaced instead with the seriousness of the task at hand. He lifted his black snout in the air, closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply several times before his eyes opened and he dropped his nose to the ground.
“We’re off,” I told the chief as Shawnee lunged for the trees. I stuffed the horse into my backpack as I trailed after him.
“Good luck!” He called after me. “We’re short radios, so Officer Wade will go with you so we can keep in contact.”
“Wait. What?” I turned to look at him and nearly stumbled over a branch in the process.
Tanner grinned as he jogged over to me. “Orders are orders. Besides, nobody goes out alone.”
“I know that. But—” Shawnee yanked me forward, killing the words on my tongue. We were lucky Shawnee had a good hit on her scent so early on. With each passing minute, the girl’s scent would fade. As much as I didn’t want to spend any more time with Tanner than I absolutely had to, I wasn’t about to pull Shawnee off a solid scent trail just because I was uncomfortable.
I sucked in a deep breath, mentally scolding myself for my own selfishness. For Olivia’s sake, I’d get over it. And later, when this was all over, we’d go our separate ways. I’d go back to my life and Tanner would go back to his, and that would be that.
Until the next missing person case, a voice inside my head whispered. I shrugged the warning away. I would tell the police chief I didn’t want to work with Tanner anymore. But I wouldn’t worry about that now—I needed to focus, for Olivia.
Shawnee charged ahead and I slowly unraveled my twenty-foot leash, making sure he had enough room to work.
“Is his running ahead like that a good thing?”
I jerked back, surprised by Tanner’s nearness. After four years of wondering what had happened to him, I still couldn’t believe he was close enough to touch. I forced my attention back to the Labrador in front of me. “A very good thing. As long as his nose is to the ground, we know he’s got her trail.” I pulled an electronic GPS from my utility vest and pinned our start location.
Tanner quirked an eyebrow. “You come prepared.”
I fought the urge to tell him he was the one who taught me to prepare for the worst. Instead, I quickened my step, moving in front of Tanner so I wouldn’t have to catch glimpses of him out of the corner of my eye. Each time I did, memories of how it had been between us before he left crashed into me like waves. “Better safe than sorry.”
Much to my annoyance, Tanner jogged ahead and lifted a branch for me to duck under. I frowned as I passed. “You don’t have to do that, you know. I’m perfectly capable of navigating through the woods without a chauffeur.”
To the left of us, three weary men in orange vests emerged from behind a cluster of trees. They met our eyes and shook their heads, indicating their lack of luck before they continued on.
Tanner nodded at them before answering me. “I never thought you needed help. I was being nice.”
“Please.” I rolled my eyes and stepped over a fallen log.
Lines of confusion creased his forehead. “What?”
I sighed. I knew I was about to open a can of worms, but I couldn’t help it. Four years was a long time to wonder what happened. “Why bother being nice, Officer Wade? When you left without so much as a good-bye, it was pretty apparent you could care less about my feelings.”
He jerked back as if I’d struck him. “Crick—”
I glared at him.
“Avery,” he finished. “You have no idea how much I cared . . . how much I still do.”
“What?” How stupid did he think I was? I turned to look at him, only to be whacked in the face by a branch. My cheeks flushed hot and I batted the branch over my shoulder. “How can you stand there and lie to my face? You care about me?” My voice wavered and I grabbed the leash so tightly my knuckles turned white. I felt as if the forest floor had been yanked out from under my feet and the only thing holding me in place was the thin piece of nylon and the dog at the other end.
