***
Brandon checked his watch. Amy should have been here by now. The airport was only ten minutes down the road and even if she’d walked Sam in, she’d had plenty of time to get back. Lara’s race was about to start. He rang Amy’s mobile, but it went to voice mail. His gut churned a warning. Something wasn’t right.
Lara had already gone to join the line of riders waiting for their turn and Darcy was with her, chatting to the cute pony club organiser Faith Arnold.
“Did I miss it?” Sam’s question made him jump. His friend stood behind him puffing.
“What are you doing here?”
“Flight was delayed two hours. The baggage handlers are having another go slow day, so I figured I’d take my chances and try to catch Lara’s race. I bummed a lift from the airport.”
“Where’s Amy?” He glanced behind Sam.
Sam frowned. “Isn’t she here yet? She left as soon as she dropped me off.”
“No.” The churning became alarm. He scanned the crowd. Ed and Georgie had nabbed front row seats by the arena and there were other familiar faces in the crowd, including Dot, but no Amy. Georgie spotted him and waved. He held up his phone and then messaged her to see if she’d seen Amy.
No.
Damn it. Don’t panic. She couldn’t have crashed, because Sam would have seen it on his way here. So what else? Darcy joined them. “Sam, aren’t you going to miss your flight?”
“Was delayed. Have you seen Amy?”
“No.” He frowned at Brandon. “Something wrong?”
“I don’t know. She should be here by now. I need to ask Dot if they let the intruder out on bail.” He dialled her number and a few seconds later he had his answer. “Prisoner is still in gaol.”
“Hey, Darcy. Would you like me to take some photos of Lara racing?”
They all turned to the speaker. He was the Ridge’s campground guest travelling alone—the photographer.
“That would be great, Lee. Have you seen Amy?”
“No. Did she show you the photos I sent her of the Ridge?” His hopeful expression spoke of an artist needing praise.
“When did you send them?” Brandon asked.
“About an hour ago.”
The timing lined up. “Can you show them to me now?”
“They’re on my laptop back at camp,” he said. “Oh, hang on. I might be able to access them in the cloud.”
Brandon waited impatiently as the man flicked through his phone.
“What’s happening?” Dot asked. She was dressed in jeans, her black hair tucked under a baseball cap.
“Amy’s not here. She wouldn’t miss Lara’s race.”
The crowd cheered as another child raced the clock.
“I just ran into Lindsay,” Dot said. “She mentioned Amy had been looking for me earlier.”
Not good. Something must have happened to her.
“Here they are.” Lee handed over the phone. Brandon snatched it, flicking past gorgeous landscapes of his land and ending on the shed. He zoomed in and swore, handing the phone to Dot. “Why did you send her this one?”
Lee blinked and stepped back. “I didn’t know I had it until I went through my photos yesterday. The sergeant had asked questions about Taylor and whether I’d seen strange people around so I sent it to Amy in case it meant something. I was going to talk to her at the gymkhana.”
