Max glanced back toward the house. Everyone inside thought this place was safe. It was supposed to be a refuge.
He was committed to making sure that remained true.
Caleb stepped closer, his attention still on the woods. “We’ll check again in the morning when it will be easier to see what we’re dealing with.”
Just then, a crack split through the trees. Wood breaking. A branch snapping.
Like a footstep.
Max snapped his gaze toward the sound.
The noise had come from deeper in the woods, off to the right.
“Someone’s out there,” Sheriff Sutherland muttered.
They all pushed forward, crossing the edge of the yard and into the trees.
The ground shifted beneath Max’s boots, and branches brushed against his shoulders. He angled to the right, trying to cut off the path.
As he did, he scanned for any sign of a figure between the trees.
For a second, he thought he saw a shape slipping past a trunk.
But whatever it was disappeared before he could be sure.
“Spread out,” Sheriff Sutherland said behind him.
Max adjusted his direction. The woods swallowed sounds, making it hard to track. Every step felt like it came too late.
He slowed after a few more yards, straining to hear something—footsteps, breathing, anything. But the noise had stopped as suddenly as it had started.
Nothing moved.
Nothing followed.
Max straightened, his breath heavier now. He scanned the area one more time.
Whoever had been out there knew these woods. Knew how to disappear before they could close the distance.
Caleb stepped up beside him, his gaze moving across the trees. “You see anything?”
Max shook his head. “No.”
Sheriff Sutherland joined them a second later, his expression set. “Same here.”
Max dragged a hand over the back of his neck, his jaw tightening as he looked back toward the direction they’d come from.
Had that been Kenny? Travis?
Either way, someone had been out there . . . someone who didn’t want to be seen.
CHAPTER 22
Hadley sat quietlyin the passenger seat as Max drove her home that evening.
He’d already told her what happened outside—the loud noise, the movement in the woods, the sound of someone running, how they’d followed and come up empty.
The words hadn’t eased the feeling in her chest.
