‘It doesn’t make sense for you to join the search, Becca, because you can’t drag Nora around. Why don’t you stay here, in case Theo comes home or tries to get in touch?’ Lyndsey suggested. ‘We’ll start looking for him.’
‘Shouldn’t we call the police?’ Becca’s voice trembled.
‘I’m not sure. What do you think?’ Lyndsey looked up to meet Griff’s eyes.
‘I’m inclined to say wait a while. Maybe an hour or so? He’s not a vulnerable small child.’ If that piece of advice caused any harm to the boy, he’d never forgive himself, but he’d said it now.
‘Oh God, we’re doing a Zoom chat with Deke later. What am I going to say if Theo isn’t back?’ Becca’s big blue eyes widened.
‘Don’t worry about that for now. One problem at a time,’ Lyndsey said briskly. ‘We’ve both got our phones, so we’ll ring you with any updates and you can do the same.’ She tilted Griff a nod. ‘Come on.’
Before he had a chance to agree or disagree, she took off running and he caught up with her by the front porch.
‘So howarewe going to do this?’ she said quietly. The certainty she’d impressed him with in the kitchen was nowhere in sight now.
‘I know the wider area better, so why don’t I hop in my truck and drive around? How about you thoroughly check out our two properties first? Mine goes quite a long way back behind my workshop, and it’s pretty overgrown where I haven’t cleared it yet.’
‘Of course.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘In case you weren’t sure, I couldn’t handle this without you.’
‘You don’t have to,’ Griff promised. He sprinted off down the drive and raced around to his own house. After picking up his keys and wallet, it made sense to take a few minutes for a quick sweep of all the rooms, in case Theo had sneaked in. He’d leave everything unlocked so if the boy came here seeking refuge, he’d find it. Griff jumped in the truck, but made no move to drive off.
He needed to put himself in the mind of an upset twelve-year-old with few friends, no means of transport and a simple desire to get away from a place where he felt unwanted. Griff doubted Theo would venture deeper into Paradise Valley, because he wasn’t familiar with the area. It struck him as far more likely that he’d walk the few hundred yards to the main road to hitch a lift. Out here people still offered rides to strangers, a thought that cheered and worried him in equal measure. Most were decent enough and would take Theo somewhere safe, but there were bad people everywhere. Griff shuddered, then mentally gave himself a stern talking to. Panicking wouldn’t help.
The truck protested when he put his foot down and jolted out of the drive. An hour later, when he’d driven a ten-mile radius around Paradise Valley without any sign of Theo, frustration set in.
* * *
Lyndsey tugged a bramble out of her hair and sighed at her grubby T-shirt. Pristine white a mere hour ago, it was sweat-stained and dirty now, with a hole in the back where it’d hitched on a tree branch. She’d started by checking every inch of her sister’s property, and had just finished doing the same at Griff’s. Back at the entrance to his drive, she hesitated a moment and debated which direction to try next.
‘Are you okay?’ A tall, statuesque woman wearing blue medical scrubs strode towards her, black and purple dreadlocks swinging in the air, her round purple-lensed glasses glinting in the hot sun.
‘Yes, I’m fine, thank you.’ Lyndsey hesitated. This wasn’t the time to be politely, privately British. ‘I’m not really, to be honest.’ She introduced herself. ‘My nephew Theo’s gone missing. Do you know the Warners?’ She pointed to Grey House. ‘Becca’s my sister.’
‘Oh, right. Yeah, I know them. Well, I sort of do, I . . . sorry, let’s try again. I’m Tiffany Hunt and I live over there.’ She pointed to the gray brick house on the opposite side of the road. ‘I’ve said hi to Deke a few times when we’ve bumped into each other, but I’ve never spoken to your sister.’ A pop of heat flared on her ebony skin. ‘I guess she’s busy with the new baby and not outside much.’
‘Settling in hasn’t been easy for her.’
Tiffany rolled her dark eyes. ‘Tell me about it! It’s been a hard adjustment for me, too. Harold and William are awesome neighbors and always super helpful. Griff’s great, too. But Miss Grey would happily kick my sorry ass back to Minnesota if she could.’ She mused. ‘Listen to me, rambling on. Tell me about Theo.’
Lyndsey trotted out a pared-down version of the story, skimming over the details of why he ran off in the first place. ‘He’s probably hiding somewhere to give us a scare, but we can’t be certain.’
‘Would you like a hand searching for him?’
‘Thanks, that’d be awesome. Griff’s out driving around in his truck.’
‘How about I take my side of the road and have a good look around? I’ll rope in the guys in the white house as well. They’re always so generous when it comes to helping out.’ Tiffany gave the dilapidated cabin at the end a wary look. ‘Are you brave enough to venture on Miss Grey’s land? I’m guessin’ there’s a whole lot of hiding places in there.’
‘I’ve spoken to her a few times. I don’t think she’ll mind.’
‘You have? Seriously? She came out on the porch the day my moving truck arrived, took a long, hard look at me and went back inside. If I walk by her house and she’s in the garden, she pointedly turns away.’
‘I’m sorry. She has a hard time accepting the Grey family isn’t everything around here anymore. I’ll tell you more about it later.’ When they were the other side of this mess, and Lyndsey had to believe they would be soon, she’d work on getting this woman to help with the mission to charm Miss Grey with neighborly kindness. ‘Should we swap numbers, so we can get in touch if we need to?’ She pulled out her phone.
‘Sure.’
After sorting that, Lyndsey marched towards Ruth Mae Grey’s cabin with a renewed sense of determination. She stepped through the gap in the fence where there probably used to be a gate and picked her way gingerly through the long grass up to the sagging porch. It wouldn’t do to start searching without asking permission, so she pushed away a flutter of nerves and knocked on the weather-beaten door. Griff told her when they had dinner at the Adamsville Grocery that the owner made a delivery here every couple of weeks, the only person known to see Miss Grey on a regular basis.
‘Clear off or I’ll get my shotgun. I won’t stand no truck with trespassers.’ Ruth’s quavering voice drifted out.
