Page 24 of Shadow of Death
“I—uh, okay! Can I get you anything?”
“Me. Just a good, normal coffee, black,” Carey told her.
“We’re fine, we grab things on the go all the time,” Hunter said.
“Okay, then. Decent black coffee for Carey,” Hayden said. “I will be right back.”
She left the room, and Amy took Carey’s hand. “Seriously, how are you doing?” she asked gently.
“I’m okay. I think they’re going to let me go tomorrow. They’re just watching and counting electrolyte levels or something today. Physically, I’m... My numbers are a little bit up, but fine.”
“That’s great. But you will see a therapist, right?” Hunter asked.
“Everyone says I should,” Carey said with a sigh. “So, I guess I should. Mr. Barrington highly recommends it. And he’s the boss, so...”
“Hey, is he really as great a boss as he appears to be?” Amy asked.
“Sure. He owns the company and he treats us all great. We go through all kinds of interviews before we’re hired. He wants loyalty, but he gives it in return. The same with respect. My job is great. I love it.”
“That’s nice. Super,” Amy murmured. “So. How did you wind up getting Don to go with you to the caves? We heard he...”
“That he’s a player,” Hunter said flatly.
Carey grinned. “I found out he’s an outdoors man. Oh! If you open that side drawer, I did a really—really—bad map. It has some of the hiking trails we talked about—and some of the more adventurous climbs. I’m a hiker, not a climber, but we talked about intimate places people go with picnic lunches, where camping is nice and allowed, and... I talked him into the caves.” She frowned. “I was bored, playing around, but take that picture. I don’t know how or why he would have wandered off, but I kept thinking about places we’d talked about and maybe...” She shook her head, looking sad and worried again.
“Carey, like we told you before, any little thing may help. We’ll take your drawing, and it just might help us. At the least, we’ll check out the places you have marked,” Hunter said, opening the little bedside cabinet drawer and seeing the drawing Carey had created.
She wasn’t that bad. The drawing was crude, yes, but surprisingly clear as it marked out water, land, cliffs, valleys, camping sites, and ranger stations.
“This is great, thank you,” Amy said, looking over Hunter’s shoulder.
“Well, I’ll be sending you on a beautiful trip, anyway,” Carey said dryly. She shook her head. “I should just be grateful, and believe me, I am! I am so grateful to be alive, and I could never thank you enough. But I can’t help but be so worried!”
“And that’s understandable,” Amy said. “But we won’t stop. We will do everything in our power to find him, I promise you.”
“Thank you,” Carey whispered.
The door to her room opened; Hayden was back. Hunter looked at Amy and inclined his head. She nodded.
“Coffee for my sister from another mister!” Hayden announced.
“Perfect. We’ll get back to work,” Hunter said.
“And we will talk to you tomorrow,” Amy assured her.
“We’ve been watching reruns ofThe Golden Girls,” Hayden said. “So sad, they’re all gone now, but that Betty White, she was so amazing! And it’s still so fun to watch.”
“Great show,” Amy agreed. “So, we’re gone!”
She waved and walked out the door. Hunter followed her. She had paused to speak to Officer Bentley who had made good use of his break and also held a cup of coffee.
“Call on me for anything, day or night, on duty or off!” Bentley said.
They thanked him and headed out. Hunter had folded Carey’s drawing and stuffed it in his jacket pocket; he withdrew it and handed it to Amy.
“Who knows?” he asked.
“I’m all into hiking and the wilderness,” she said. “But are we—”
