“Okay everyone, keep in touch via the radios. Any signs or sightings, let everyone know. Let’s get going.” Alex called out, completely different when in work mode from the quiet mannered little brother that Scott had grown up with.
Scott followed Alex, along with Zack, Rayah and Jake, plus another police officer who was on duty and another member of the rescue team. They were heading for the peaks, unless Alex picked up a scent. The last sighting of Sadie had been at the side of the common where the sweet stall had been – no surprises there. She’d been seen with other children, organising a game of something that she would probably win. It was also the part of the field near to the path up towards Bleak Low.
They were about a minute from separating into smaller teams to start to comb the peak when Gretel started to bark excitedly.
“What does that mean?” Jake asked. He looked worried, and given that this wasn’t the time to continue any grudges Scott was speaking to him for the first time in months.
“I think she’s picked up Sadie’s scent.”
Jake pushed his hair back. “Is that good? What does it mean?”
“We’re on the right track. Hopefully.” Scott started to walk after Alex, Rayah at the rear with Jonny. They’d tried to persuade him not to come, to wait in the village, but he’d wanted to hit the peaks.
Scott figured it was because they calmed him, being out in the open expanse away from people gave thinking space and the room to breathe. Although he wasn’t sure how Jonny was breathing right now, because all Scott could think about was what if this happened to his child. It was a gutting thought, one that stabbed and tore at his heart.
Both dogs were sniffing busily at the ground, their tails alert. “They’ve got her scent and it’s fresh,” Alex shouted back. “She’s come up this way and more than likely, she was on foot.”
The dogs veered right towards the trees. They’d been close to bushes and thickets all the way up the path, as if Sadie Grace had been trying to take shelter.
Jonny’s face was like stone as he watched the dogs. Scott had only ever seen him look like this once before; the night his wife, Grace, had died in a car accident, just weeks after Sadie had been born.
“She’s probably been on foot. No one has carried her,” Scott muttered.
“I know. If she has gone up here on her own chasing a fucking unicorn, I swear she will not be walking back down.” Jonny’s words were adamant; Scott found them odd.
“You think she’s come up here of her own volition?” Scott followed the party in to the trees. They were scanning the ground as they walked.
“I know my daughter. She’s too canny for her own good. If someone tried to snatch her, she’d bite the fuck out of them, kick them in the balls and make herself be sick on them.” Jonny gave a wry smile. “Grace’s brother came to see her once about six months ago. He’d been living in Australia and Sadie had no idea who he was when he picked her up. He soon dropped her.”
“She’s five. Five year olds shouldn’t know how to do that.”
Jonny looked at him, eyes flaring. “Most five year olds don’t have Rayah Maynard as a mentor.”
“Shit.” Scott didn’t know whether to lecture his cousin or buy her a drink.
There was a hard, loud bark, just two noises and then silence. The dogs had stopped. Alex dropped down, his phone in his hand, taking a photo.
“Red trainer. Over here.”
Jonny sprinted over. “That’s hers.”
Jake lurked up to him. “This isn’t good, is it? Finding her shoe.”
Scott shrugged. “Sadie hates wearing things on her feet. That shoe wasn’t tossed. It’s been placed.”
“Go, go, go!” Scott heard Alex shout and the two dogs took off, quicker this time, both in tandem. They were about to leave the last set of trees before the steep climb up to Harold’s Cairn started. From there they were out in the open on the pass across the tops of several peaks that led to the summit of Bleak Low.
A roll of thunder broke, cracking the quiet that Scott hadn’t noticed falling. This wasn’t good. Sudden rain would wash away the scent of Sadie, making it harder for the dogs to carry on their trail.
Five minutes turned into ten, the thunder still circling, flashes of lightning breaking over the peaks away from Severton. Another crash was followed by a bark, then several more barks and the dogs started to run, tails wagging.
Alex followed, Jonny behind him, Rayah following. Scott caught Jake’s eye and they started too.
An incline stopped their sight of what was directly ahead, large boulders from some ice age in the way. But the roar of the dogs could be heard over another roll of thunder.
When they reached the top, they saw Jonny, a little brown haired girl wrapped around him, one trainer in her hand, her feet bare and wrapped around her daddy’s waist.
She was safe. Found.
