“Okay.”
She would. But the taillights grew farther and farther away. And then disappeared.
She couldn’t lose Charlotte. Not if there was a way to save her.
She pressed the gas.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The dashboard clock ticked past nine p.m. as Noah snaked toward the area where Delaney said Violet had turned. He was getting closer.
Delaney’s location dot on his phone had stopped moving five minutes before, frozen in the tangle of unmarked roads between the Norfolk airport and a neighborhood off this busy road.
Norton had hung up, but he and Delaney had remained talking, her voice tight with determination as she inched forward—headlights off, she’d said—when suddenly the line had gone dead. No goodbye, no warning. Just silence.
He’d been calling regularly since then, but his calls went straight to voicemail.
“Come on, Delaney.” Noah slowed as he approached the road he’d been looking for. “Pick up.”
“This is Delaney. Leave a message and I’ll call you back.”
Her voice, so calm and steady on the recording, made his heart constrict. “It’s me again.” He turned. On this end, the road was lined with homes and businesses on both sides. “I’m getting close to you. Call me the second you get this.”
Not even a mile later, he was leaving the lights behind. Ahead, it was all forest, dark and foreboding, like something out of Grimm’s fairytales.
Charlotte was in here somewhere.
His phone rang, and his heart lurched. Delaney?
But it was Detective Norton. Noah tapped the button to answer.
“Where are you right now?” Norton’s voice carried the stern authority of a man accustomed to being obeyed.
“About a quarter mile from where Delaney’s signal stopped.”
“Pull over. Let us handle this.”
“Are you close?”
“The police are setting up roadblocks at the major outlets.”
“Then she’ll take a minor one,” Noah snapped. “And then she’ll be gone.”
“I understand your concern. We’re going to find her. At this point, all you can do is get in the way.”
Noah took a breath and let the detective’s words sink in. The last thing he wanted was to cause the police to lose his niece. Or to put Delaney in danger.
“Noah,” Norton said. “I know it’s torture, but please, trust us.”
He pulled over and killed his lights. “Fine. I’ll stay here. Call me when they’re safe.”
“Will do.”
Norton ended the call, and Noah sat in the darkness. Everything in him wanted to barrel into the forest and save his family. That was his job, to protect them. To keep them safe.
He’d failed. Both Charlotte and Delaney were in danger. But if he just trusted Norton…
No. It was God he needed to trust. If he did, maybe this time, God would save what Noah couldn’t.
