There were so many voices and scents in the air that it was hard to distinguish anything, but Daniel knew that his quarry had at least been here, and hoped he still was.
He’s gone,his cougar growled.You should have let me out.
Daniel ignore the beast and closed his eyes. There was something under everything else that was familiar and his cougar was too angry to help him. He took a deep breath and then he realized what it was. The same scent that weakly hung on all of River’s clothes, on her panniers, on her phone, everything he had ever touched.
It was the scent of cheap cigarettes, cheap body spray, and dime store cologne. Everything about the man’s scent told Daniel everything he needed to know about him—he was cheap, grasping, and knew how to make everyone around him miserable.
“Shit. He’s not here,” Daniel swore quietly enough that only Grant could hear him.
“Where did he go?” Grant frowned.
“It’s hard to tell.” A horrible thought struck him. “You don’t think he saw Alice and River, do you?”
“No, they wouldn’t have come this way,” Grant assured him. But the words didn’t comfort him, because they left him with one ice cold realization. He forced himself to say the words.
“But Betty did.”
Chapter Nine
River
Alice drove them out of town, and River couldn’t help but notice she was careful to avoid the main roads and the town square.
The Christmas Tree farm was on the edge of town. It was a hard place to miss, but for ex to find her there, he would first need to know that was where she’d gone. Alice explained that as Christmas was over and the trees would all soon be returning to the lot to be cared for until the next year, there was almost no reason for anyone to visit there, unless they were coming to see Grant.
Alice pulled her car around the side of a beautiful wood cabin, keeping the vehicle carefully hidden from the road.
“Come on,” she said. “We’ll come back for your panniers in a minute. Let’s get some coffee on and get warmed through.”
River took a moment to breathe in the scent of the trees and peace on the farm before she followed Alice inside. It wasn’t even lunch time, but she felt completely drained from the few hours she had been awake.
Alice handed her a cup of coffee as she walked through the door, and River gratefully accepted it. She sat on the couch, and despite the effects of the coffee, she still felt her eyelids drooping.
“Lie down on the couch and take a nap if you need to. I’ve got some work I can do at the kitchen table,” Alice said kindly and River nodded gratefully. Alice found her a blanket and a spare pillow and she laid her head down to rest.
River rarely dreamed, or if she did, she never remembered what she’d dreamed when she woke. But this time, when she closed her eyes, she found herself running through a forest, being chased by a large cat of some kind, a cougar maybe. It felt familiar to her, like she had known it all her life and it was important to her. Something else was ahead of her, something dark and dangerous. It was drawing closer to her, sucking her in, and she knew, somehow, that if the cat didn’t catch up to her before the darkness sucked her in, she was going to be lost forever.
She sat bolt upright on the sofa, there was sweat on her face, and Alice was kneeling next to her, her hand on River’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, you were having a nightmare,” Alice said and offered River a glass of water.
“Thanks. I’m sorry. I don’t really remember what it was, but I was in danger,” River said groggily, her hand of her forehead as she tried to remember the details of it.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s probably just the reality of all this making you have bad dreams. It’s not surprising, after everything you’ve been through.”
The sound of a car engine outside made Alice get up from the floor and move to the window.
“Oh, it’s Betty. She’s got a lot of bags with her,” Alice laughed.
“A lot of bags?” River asked. That was odd. It couldn’t be her luggage—pretty much everything she owned was in the panniers in Alice’s trunk.
“Yes, looks like she’s been shopping. Maybe late Christmas presents?” Alice replied as she went to let Betty in.
“Now, dear, before you say no, I can’t take any of it back soyou are just going to have to accept it all,” Betty said as she put sixteen bags down on the floor in front of River. Yes, sixteen. She’d counted.
“What is all this?” River asked, shaking her head in confusion.
“Clothes, shoes, jewelry, anything I could think of that every woman needs,” Betty shrugged. “Now, come on, try it on.”
