“Mrs. Roberson,” Bennett said, “we did find your daughter’s car at the state park entrance. We found her purse and keys, but there was no sign of her. What would she have been doing there?”

“Hiking. She loves those woods. She likes being outside. Is it good or bad that you found her car?”

“It’s a starting point,” Bennett said. “She was last seen at the convenience store, and now we have her car.”

Martha took Bennett’s hand in hers. “Find my daughter. I know Ronnie and I weren’t kind to you when you pulled him over a few years ago. I know we even made it worse for you when we filed a complaint, but please help us.”

“I swore to do my job, Mrs. Roberson, and that is exactly what I’m going to do,” Bennett said.

Tears glistened in the woman’s eyes as she nodded and released the deputy’s hand.

As Bennett stepped outside, Macy handed her business card to Martha. “If you think of anything, no matter how small, call me.”

“What if I can’t?”

“Don’t give up,” Macy said.

Macy followed Bennett outside and toward their cars. “What happened with Mr. Roberson?”

“I arrested him for drunk driving four years ago. He became belligerent and tried to hit me. I defended myself and he filed charges. Dashcam footage backed up my story. The judge sentenced him to thirty days in jail.”

“Does he have a history of violence?”

“He’d never been arrested before.”

“What did he do before he got sick?”

“He taught history at Valley High School for twenty-five years.”

“While Tobi Turner was there?”

“Yes.”

The mask rubbed against the stubble on his face as he caressed the soft skin of her neck. He loved the way her bruises matured from faint red marks to deep purple. Soon they would grow angrier and band around her slender neck like a collar.

Now that he was alone with her, a sense of power raced through his body, and the pressures of the world didn’t feel so overwhelming.

Her eyes fluttered open. It took several moments for her gaze to focus on him and register where she was. When she did, she flinched and tried to scurry away. A swift knee placed adeptly on her abdomen stopped her retreat and held her firmly in place.

She knew she was trapped. She knew she was going to die, and she was terrified.

“You shouldn’t be afraid now,” he said. “You know what’s coming next. This is our special time together.”

“Please.” Her voice was raspy, like rough sandpaper.

He’d done his share of begging, pleading, and borrowing from those who mattered most of his life, and it felt so damn good to be on the receiving end. “Please what?” he asked.

“Please, let me go. I won’t tell. Please.”

He rubbed his index finger over her lips. “I love it when you beg.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Tuesday, November 19, 6:00 p.m.

The sun had just set and the temperature was dropping on the trail, but Nevada and Ellis were moving at a good clip. They’d discovered signs of bears and deer but nothing suggesting that Debbie Roberson had hiked this way. Nevada was an expert at tracking people, and he could tell this trail had been well traveled in the last few days. If Debbie Roberson or anyone else had trekked this path coerced, there was no way of knowing if any of the shoe depressions in the moist soil, bent leaves, possible signs of a struggle, or other clues had been left by Debbie.

With each passing minute, Nevada believed more strongly that she had never entered the park. “A shelter is up ahead. Let’s take a break and regroup.”

“The trail is wet and the climbing is harder. Do you really think she made it this far?” Ellis asked.

“No. I don’t.” He glanced up through the thinning canopy of brown, yellow, and red leaves toward the bright light of the half moon. “But let’s finish it.”

“Will do.”

As they approached the open shelter, he shrugged his backpack off and set it down. Without a word, he and Ellis sat, both glad to be off their feet, if only for a few minutes. He reached in the side pocket of his pack and pulled out a water bottle and a PowerBar. Ellis did the same, and for several minutes they ate in silence.

Finally, he pulled out the map of the park and a flashlight and studied the primary trail snaking up and around the mountain. If Debbie had stayed the course, she could conceivably have looped around to the other side and tried to reach her car a different way. There was still a slim chance she’d fallen or was injured. “If we keep going, we could finish the trail in an hour.”

“If Ms. Roberson is truly lost, she could’ve taken any number of the side trails and followed them.”

“Or she could be moving between the trails and going in circles.”

Nevada drained his water bottle and closed his eyes, trying to picture where she could have gone. He did the same when he tracked fugitives. Mentally, he ran pathways, escape routes, and the proverbial trapdoors that his prey might use. Debbie wasn’t his prey, of course, but he hunted her just the same.

“I still can’t believe you gave up the bureau for this kind of work. It’s important, but, Nevada, you were making a difference.”

“It was time for a change. And I’m still making a difference.”

“I’ll grant that you’re good for Deep Run. But what prompted this?”

“I like the solitude.”

“You can take the boy out of the country, but not the country out of the boy? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Something like that.”

“That’s bullshit.” She rubbed a callus on her palm. “And please tell me you didn’t give it all up for me.”

“Sorry, it’s not about you, Ellis.”

“Are you sure? I’ll never forget the look in your eyes last summer when I told you about what happened to me.” They’d gone out for dinner and drinks, and she’d had too much wine. If she hadn’t been more than a little drunk, he doubted she’d ever have told him. “I’ve never seen such anger.”

He cracked the knuckles on his right hand. “I’m going to find this guy, Ellie.”

“And then what? You’re going to strap on that starched uniform for the next twenty years?”

“One hurdle at a time, Ellie.”

“Is this about Macy Crow?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Please. When she’s close, you all but vibrate with energy. Are you two an item?”

“No.”

She laughed, wagging her finger at him. She knew instantly she’d caught him in a lie. “You were and still want to be. Is this case your way of sending her flowers?”

The truth irritated him. “You’re being a pain in my ass, Ellie.”

She punched him in the shoulder just like she had when she was a kid. “For what it’s worth, I like her. And I hope it works out.”

He didn’t respond, unwilling to acknowledge a hope that was more a pipe dream than a possibility.

“I guess if you and Macy do hook up, you’ll definitely leave Deep Run.”

He appreciated the peace of this place. It was far from the chaos of Washington, DC, which never stopped moving. Out here he had no immediate neighbors and could take a piss off his back porch anytime he liked. And at night the sky was full of breathtaking stars that couldn’t be seen from a city filled with lights. But Ellie was right. Once he caught this guy and Macy left, it would be hard to stay put.

“I’m committed to a two-year term,” he said.

“Okay, and then you’ll leave.” She shook her head. “I’d like to see Macy stay. Maybe when she’s done proving to herself whatever it is she needs to prove, she might settle down. That girl is carrying a wagonload of baggage.”

Again, the assessment was dead on. Nevada was beginning to believe his cousin would have made a better detective than he ever could be.

The crunch of footsteps on the trail had them both standing. Nevada unholstered his Glock. As isolated as the woods appeared, it was more crowded than most realized.

He stepped out of the shelter to see a young couple making their way down the trail. They both wore mud-splattered clothes and boots. When they spotted him, they stopped, and the female took a step back behind the male.

“We’re search and rescue,” Nevada said. He removed Debbie’s picture from his pocket. “Have you seen her?”

The male approached slowly and studied the image. “We haven’t seen anyone on the trail.”

The female approached, looked at the picture, and shook her head. “No, sorry.”

“How long have you been on the trail?”

“Since early yesterday,” the woman said. “We camped out on the top of the mountain and are making our way down the front side.”

“How did you enter the trail?” Nevada asked.

“The north side. We wanted to hike the entire loop.”

They had entered the park from the opposite direction. “And no signs of anyone?” he asked.

“Not in the last couple of hours. It’s been real quiet, which is unusual. It’s busy up here in the fall.”

“What about earlier? Did you see anything in the woods that caught your attention? Clothing? A discarded shoe? Trash that didn’t look right?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” the man said.

“What about sounds? Anything that seemed off?”