Page 28 of Shadow of Death
“I am, too. Brenda is devastated. And it’s so tragic. Estelle sounds as if she was an incredible person and would have done wonderful things in the future.”
“I agree.”
“You’re not going to say Estelle sounds so good that we should worry?”
“I’m not always cynical,” Hunter said. “There was something about Brenda’s words that rang true. She didn’t gush. She never searched for words. Of course, as much as she impressed me, I could be wrong. I just doubt it in this case. Also, Estelle was a victim. And I sure as hell don’t see Brenda as someone who would be mixed up in whatever this is. Then again, though this is just about the longest damn day ever, we’ve only just begun. So. Now we should—”
“Head out and start searching the areas Carey drew up for us. Call Andy, get the reports to him on what little we’ve discovered and find out what he might have found out—or if anyone else working on this has reported in.”
He arched a brow to her and looked at his watch.
“So far we’ve been to the morgue, to Barrington Advertising, to see the loved ones of two victims, and now—”
“You know you’re ready to keep going,” she said. “I know you. You’re trying to be reasonable, but you want to keep going as much as I do.”
“Yeah, well, yeah. I guess we can eat one meal a day. If we stop for food, we’ll lose a ton of daylight.”
“Loretta Peterson really did brew great coffee. I drank a lot of it. I’m fine. But we can do drive-through burgers.”
“Drive-through burgers it is. I’ll find something quickly. Once we head out to some of these areas Carey put down for us, there’s not much food to be found.”
“We’re heading almost an hour out of the city—and to the best of my knowledge, some areas close at dusk.”
Hunter glanced her way quickly, his expression dry.
“I don’t think Don Blake cares about the rules if he is hiding there. And there’s so much wilderness, all the forested area is not under any kind of park control,” Hunter said. “Study the map. And once we hit the area, give me an idea of the closest road to complete nothing. There are still some old shacks around. If Blake is alive and hiding, that might be just what he’d see as a perfect place. And call Andy, please. Tell him what we’re doing. We’ll see if we can get some help, though most likely others would want to start first thing in the morning.”
“I will call Andy. I don’t know why, Hunter, but I feel it’s incredibly important we move as quickly as possible on this. And whatever we cover with the daylight we have left, we won’t have to cover tomorrow.”
“Wow. Good point,” Hunter murmured dryly. “Call Andy. And after that—”
“I’m bringing up a map on Google,” Amy quickly assured him.
“I have been here before,” Hunter murmured.
“What?”
“I have been in this exact area before. I can’t believe I didn’t realize—or remember—that until now.”
“You were here when you worked with Andy before?”
He nodded. “We prowled the area where we’re headed looking for a kidnap victim.”
“And?”
“We were lucky. We found him.”
“You still want a map? Or you have an idea.”
“A few. There’s an old cabin up one of the trails, and it leads to a wide, level area—a plateau. There’s an old tower there, too. I believe hunters once used it. And the land isn’t part of any federal program.”
“Is the cabin on any map?”
“Maybe not. Okay, google old cabins in this area. I’m pretty sure ownership is outlawed now, but the structures were never torn down. They were just left to decay and fall to ruin.”
“Okay...”
She called Andy first; he would send reinforcements immediately—even if they’d only have an hour or so of light left by the time they got there.
