Page 15 of Still Afraid

With a little wiggling and a bit of push and pull, they were able to lift the canoe.

Something hit the ground with a thud.

Chloe looked beneath the canoe.

Glassy eyes stared back at her.

She screamed, tossed her end of the canoe, and jumped backward.

The body of a woman lay awkwardly sprawled on the ground.

Chloe backed into a tree, unable to peel her eyes off the woman’s lifeless form. Her dark brown hair was matted around her face, her tank top and shorts clung to her bluish body.

Bile rose in Chloe’s throat, and she had to consciously tell herself to swallow it back down.

Josh appeared beside her and embraced her, forcing her to look away.

She buried her face against his chest. Death was not unfamiliar to her. She’d seen enough of it, though, for a lifetime. The worst part of their job as SAR volunteers was locating people too late to help them beyond bringing answers home to their loved ones. Though nothing was as terrible as finding someone who’d been murdered. Thankfully, that didn’t seem the case here.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Chloe took a deep breath and forced herself to step back from Josh and face it all head-on. She could hold it together … with God’s help.

Help me, Lord. “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.”

She rested her palms on Josh’s chest. “I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” His hazel eyes searched hers.

She nodded. Turning her emotions to standby, she jumped back into the job. They would need to wait with the body until a recovery team arrived and took charge. In the meantime, they could look for more clues.

Lance called it in while Josh searched the area around where the canoe had been. Chloe went over the items they had collected to see if anything could be connected to the deceased woman.

Nothing stood out as relevant. She took out her phone and opened the details about the missing people given to the search teams.

The search teams were looking for only three women among the missing. Chloe studied the pictures they had. Not the first, or the second. The image they had of the third was not great, but it could be her. Chloe searched the woman’s name on the internet. Several social media accounts came up with it, but after a few clicks, she found the right one. Chloe had no doubt.

She walked over to Josh. “I think I’ve identified her.” She turned her phone so he could see the woman’s profile photo.

His face dropped from curious to resignation. “Looks like her.”

Chloe reported the possible identity in.

After a few more minutes, their boat arrived at the shore. Poirot ran to the red zodiac and jumped on board. Chloe went to talk to the driver and explain the situation. Once he cut the engine, she helped him haul the boat ashore enough so it wouldn’t go anywhere while they waited.

The recovery team arrived and took charge of the scene. Chloe, Josh, and Lance each gave their account to the officer on the team, then set off to the opposite bank to continue following Poirot’s nose.

Chloe gave Poirot a fresh sniff of the scent item when they were in the boat. He barked and indicated straight across the river. Before the boat even stopped when they reached the other side, Poirot jumped out, splashed through the water, and barked for them to follow. They could not move fast enough to satisfy that tenacious lab.

Once they had exited the boat, Poirot led them into the woods. This area of the forest had been hit way worse than Chloe had expected. Trees were down, some stripped of their bark, and others twisted in strange angles. Debris, probably from the campground, hung from branches.

The terrain on this side was rough. With no given path to follow, they moved slowly across a steep embankment with deep undergrowth. Where had this man gone? Had he been flung by the tornado or had he ventured across the river on his own?

They were still headed in a straight line up the embankment, so that indicated to Chloe he probably had been on foot. Almost at the top of the ridge, Poirot barked and changed direction. Now heading down the path of the tornado, the dog kept his nose high.

Chloe’s stomach soured at the thought this meant the man could have been picked up by the twister and tossed through the air.

Poirot’s path was not straight, but his four paws made climbing through the underbrush much easier than for his human counterparts. While he zig-zagged, they were able to go in a straighter line between his widest points, allowing their progress to be quicker than if they followed his path.

Twenty minutes of hard hiking passed before Poirot darted forward out of their line of sight, then ran straight back toward Chloe. He yanked the Kong from her side and ran away again. The team picked up their pace and followed to where Poirot had disappeared. A series of barks most likely indicated the man was not able to respond to Poirot’s presence. Increasing their speed to the max their feet would allow through the forest floor, they rushed forward.