“The driver would have been hanging by the seat belt. The belt wasn’t cut. It wouldn’t have been easy to get out of it and the vehicle.”

“No.” Sharp paused. “We’ve already decided Olivia was kidnapped from her house.”

“We could have been wrong about her being put in the cargo area. Maybe he sat in the back and forced her to drive at gunpoint.” Lance scanned the car. “Or she somehow caused the driver to crash the car.”

Sharp scanned the inside of the vehicle. “I really think there should be blood.”

“Maybe no one was inside the vehicle.” As Lance considered the interior, this seemed the most likely scenario. “The car could have been pushed off the road to dispose of it.”

Sharp dropped a few feet. “I’m going to the bottom.”

Lance followed him to the ground and unclipped his carabiner, letting the rope dangle. At his feet was a side mirror ripped from the Prius. Pieces of broken red plastic, possibly from the brake light cover, were scattered on the ground. He looked up at the car precariously perched in the trees above them. The wall of the ravine was nearly vertical at the bottom, but there were some thin trees and brush protruding from the earth. But would they hold an adult’s weight?

Lance took out his cell phone and sent Morgan a text: No Olivia. Checking ravine.

“I’ll go this way.” Sharp headed south.

Lance went in the opposite direction. He kept his eyes on the ground, looking for broken underbrush, footprints, drops of blood, scraps of fabric, anything that would suggest a wounded person walked that way. But he saw nothing. He traveled about a hundred feet and turned back.

Lance returned to the vehicle. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, “Sharp!”

“I’m coming,” Sharp called and appeared two minutes later.

“The sooner we climb back up, the sooner the troopers can organize a search. I didn’t see any tracks, but it’s still possible.”

Sharp nodded. “I didn’t see anything either. I don’t know whether to be relieved or not.”

“I know.” Lance started climbing. The trip to the top took longer than the descent had. By the time they reached the road, an ambulance, fire truck, and tow truck had arrived.

They relayed their findings to the responders and stepped aside while the firemen and tow truck driver discussed extracting the Prius from the ravine. Lance stepped out of his Swiss Seat. Sharp did the same. They stood on the side of the road.

Sharp gestured to the ribbon of blacktop. “There aren’t any skid marks. If I were driving toward the edge of the road, I’d lay on the brakes.”

“Me too,” Lance agreed.

“I think you’re right. No one was in the car, and whoever took Olivia pushed it off the road.”

Morgan brought Lance and Sharp bottles of water from the Jeep. Sweat coated Lance’s chest after the climb. The exertion had put some color into Sharp’s cheeks, but his eyes were lost.

Morgan’s phone rang. She stepped away to answer the call.

“What did you find out in the city?” Sharp asked.

Lance summed up their interviews with Olivia’s agent and editor. “The editor was the man who visited Olivia Thursday night. But even if we could weaken his alibi, Morgan couldn’t locate a property owned by him or his father. Olivia wasn’t at the bar, and it seems unlikely he could hold a woman captive in a fourth-floor walk-up.”

“What is our most likely lead?” Sharp asked. “Joe Franklin is the only person we haven’t been able to question.”

Morgan hurried across the pavement, her mouth set in a grim line. “Gianna is really sick. Grandpa was worried enough to call Mac and have him take her to the ER.”

Stella approached, took one look at her sister’s face, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Morgan explained.

Stella had known Gianna before Morgan. More than two years before, Gianna had overdosed. Stella had saved her with a dose of Narcan. But the young woman’s kidneys had suffered irreversible damage.

“I’m going to the hospital now.” Morgan turned to Lance, her brows raised in question. “You can stay with Sharp.”

“Go, take care of Gianna.” Stella waved them away. “I’ll take Sharp back to the office later. I’m sure he wants to stay here until we pull the car out of the ravine.”

“I do.” Sharp’s eyes were dark. Was he thinking of Lance’s father, whose car had spent twenty-three years on the bottom of a lake? When it was finally discovered and pulled out, they’d found a skeleton in the trunk. Sharp would want to examine the vehicle more closely. Sharp turned to Lance and said, “You go with Morgan. Gianna is part of your new family. They need you.”

Morgan was already striding toward the Jeep.

“I’ll drive Morgan to the hospital and come back for you.” Lance fished his keys from his pocket and pointed at Sharp. “Promise me you won’t go to Joe Franklin’s place without calling me.”

“OK.” Sharp held up both hands in surrender. “I promise. Recovering the Prius isn’t going to be quick or easy. We’ll be tied up here for hours anyway.”

Lance turned and jogged away.

“Call me when you have news about Gianna!” Stella called after him.

Lance waved over one shoulder. He ran to the Jeep and climbed behind the wheel.

Morgan fastened her seat belt and white-knuckled the armrests. “I should have insisted she go to the doctor yesterday.”

“People get sick. It’s not always serious. I’m sure your grandfather was just being cautious. She could have a simple virus. As soon as school starts, one of the kids always seems to have a runny nose.” Lance pressed the gas pedal and hoped he was right.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Morgan jumped out of the Jeep in the ER parking lot. Not waiting for Lance, she hurried across the pavement. Lance caught up before she reached the entrance.

“Hold up.” He grabbed her arm.

Distressed, she whirled and shook off his hand. “What?”

“Take a deep breath. You will scare Gianna if she sees you like this.”

“Grandpa doesn’t panic. If he sent Gianna to the ER, it’s serious.” Morgan brushed her hair out of her eyes. Her stomach was clenched into a tight fist. Emotions swirled inside her, fear and guilt tumbling over and over until she couldn’t tell them apart.

She should have been paying better attention. Dialysis put Gianna at risk for complications from illnesses that were mild for most people. But Gianna’s overall health had improved so much since she’d come to live with Morgan that they’d all become complacent.

Lance put his hands on her biceps. “Just take three deep breaths, and then we’ll go inside.”

She inhaled. The chilly air cooled her.

“Better.” He squeezed her arms, then dropped his hands.

Morgan faced the doors. She reached for Lance’s hand and held it. The automatic doors swished open, and they walked into the waiting room side by side. She scanned the room. No Mac or Gianna. They walked up to the registration desk and gave the nurse Gianna’s name.

The nurse checked her computer. “She’s in bed number seven. You can go on through.”