I tore my eyes away and shoved a big bite in my mouth. “Mm-hmm. Really good.”
“I’m glad you’re home. And not just because of these.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I think I found the creek.”
“Thecreek? As in the one in the painting?”
She nodded with excitement and shifted her laptop so I could see the screen. “First, I found this. It’s from a hiking website. Don’t you think that picture looks like the place?”
Tilting my head, I scrutinized the photo. She was right. It did look like the place Morris had painted, from the curve of the creek bed to the big rock formation looming above.
“Here’s another one from a different angle.” She clicked to another tab. “This one is from a hiking blog.”
There was no doubt. It had to be the location in Morris’s painting. The rock formation was especially distinctive.
“Where is it?”
“Not far outside town. According to the blog post, it’s a pretty flat out-and-back hike.”
The corner of my mouth lifted in a grin. “Do you have anything going on today?”
“I do,” she said decisively.
“You do?” I twisted toward her. “What?”
She pointed at the screen. “Hiking out there to see if we can find anything.”
“Let’s do it, Penlicious.” Damn it, I’d basically just called her delicious. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to notice, her focus remaining on the laptop. “We should get a dog.”
That did get her attention. She knitted her eyebrows together. “We should what?”
“For the day,” I said. “Not like, get a dog together. I mean borrow one. You know, for the nose.”
“Oh. That makes much more sense. But how does one borrow a dog for the day?”
“Easy, when your brother and sister-in-law have two. I’m sure Josiah and Audrey won’t mind if we take Max and Maggie for a hike.”
“Great idea.” She pulled off another piece of cinnamon roll and popped it into her mouth.
I broke off a chunk of cinnamon roll and got up. Although I wanted to stay close to her, I was feeling too many things. I needed to keep my distance. “I’ll go call Josiah. Let me know when you’re ready. No rush.”
“Sure. Let me just finish this. Or maybe half of it. If I eat the whole thing, I’ll be in a carb coma in an hour.”
“No kidding.”
Forcing myself to leave the temptation of Pen as she tantalizingly licked cinnamon off her fingers, I went to my room to call my brother.
The early November air was cold, but at least it was dry. I was wearing one of my THS hoodies and a pair of joggers with my hiking boots. Pen had put on my hoodie again, along with black leggings and hiking boots.
Josiah and Audrey were happy to let us borrow their dogs for a while. Max and Maggie were mixed-breed rescues and both had the excited, happy energy of dogs who get to go on an unexpected adventure.
We parked at the trailhead and got out. The dogs zigzagged around Penelope, getting her legs tangled in their leashes. Once we figured out how to make them sit, we were able to unravel her.
We set out on the trail, letting the dogs sniff as they went. They seemed to understand the concept of hiking and kept their noses to the ground but moved forward at a good clip. We’d come equipped with treats from Audrey and strict instructions not to let them off leash. If Max found something stinky, he’d roll in it.
Our conversation as we hiked centered around the cabin painting, particularly where it might be. There were literally hundreds of lakes in the Cascades. Although we’d narrowed it down somewhat—many were too remote for a cabin—we hadn’t run across anything that matched the painting.
But maybe we wouldn’t need to. If there was evidence at the creek, it might not matter.
“You know the woman who was found in Raven Falls?” Pen asked. “Did the news ever report how her body was discovered?”
