“I mean, sort of.Honestly, Rufus would be a better help than me.”
“He can come too.”Rafe turned to his deputies.“Grab a couple shovels, and we’ll head out back and see what we can find.”
TWENTY-FOUR
T
ripp stayed close to her as she and Rufus led the way through the woods behind her house.The beams of their high-powered flashlights cut through the darkness, but the going was slow once the trail ended and they were left moving through the undergrowth.
“We went over this way,” she murmured, trying to retrace her steps.Rufus was on a mission.Nose down, tail up, eagerly sniffing his way along the forest floor.
Maybe he would make a good search dog after all.
“Okay, from here I honestly have no idea, except that we went in that general direction,” she said, pointing right.
Rufus sniffed around a bit more where they were standing.Paused.Sniffed at something else and then moved off to the right.
“Let’s hope he knows where he’s going and not just taking us to a raccoon den or something,” Willow muttered, hurrying to keep up with him.
They walked another ten minutes deeper into the woods.Owls hooted from high overhead.Small animals scurried through the underbrush.
Rufus paused as something darted across their path, body stiffening.The fur across his shoulders rose.
Tripp stilled and looked around, praying it wasn’t a damned cougar or bear.
But seconds later Rufus lowered his nose to the ground and resumed his route, taking them farther and farther away from the main trail they’d left behind them a while ago.
“It was buried right next to a big fallen tree,” Willow said.“An old one, covered in thick moss.”
Rufus suddenly veered left, and the beam of Tripp’s flashlight fell on a big log lying on the ground.
“That might be it.”Willow hurried after Rufus, the rest of them right behind her.
She stepped over the fallen tree, aimed her flashlight on the ground on the other side.“What...”
“Something wrong?”Tripp stepped up beside her, tensing.
