Ethan’s gaze ran over the tablet screen, joystick in hand as he searched the live thermal feed. The drone circled high above the forest.
Come on, where are you?
Two sixteen-year-old hikers had been out in the mountains all morning, a male and a female. They’d left before the sun rose, and now it was almost lunchtime. They were supposed to be back by now. It was their parents who’d called.
The morning sun beat down on his shoulders. He was strategically sticking close to base so he didn’t lose signal.
“There,” Jay said over Ethan’s shoulder, pointing at the screen. She lifted her radio. “We have heat signatures about two hundred yards east of the last marker. Could be the kids.”
Ryan’s voice crackled through the radio. “Copy that. Moving there now.”
“There’s no movement,” Ethan added.
“So they could be injured,” Joel said through the radio. “Got it.”
Ethan studied the screen. “There’s a drop-off between you and them. You won’t be able to go straight to them. I’ll find you anew path.” He studied the topographical overlay, fingers moving over the tablet to mark a safer route. “Go south twenty yards and loop around. It’s flatter that way.”
“Got it,” Ryan said.
Ethan and Jay waited, both their gazes on the screen, watching the new heat signatures of Ryan and Joel pop up. Finally, they heard Ryan again.
“We see them.”
“How are they?” Jay asked.
“Checking now.” A couple minutes of silence passed before Joel spoke. “The girl has a rolled ankle. Boy tried to carry her out but got tired. We’re getting them out now.”
“Need us to call an ambulance?” Ethan asked.
“No, it’s not that urgent.”
“Thank God,” Ethan muttered.
Jay gave his shoulder a shove. “You worry too much, Squid.”
“Not wanting any more dead people in our river, especially kids, isnotworrying too much.”
Once they had the drone back, they stepped inside base and Ethan dropped his gear to the desk.
“That was not your fault,” Jay said, sitting beside him. “That was a murder and falls under the sheriff’s jurisdiction.”
Yeah, still felt like his fault. When he’d taken this job, it was with the intention of keeping the people of this town safe from everything—that included falling into the riverandbeing pushed.
Jay watched him for a moment. “You really love this town, huh?”
“I do. My parents couldn’t have cared less and started jet-setting off around the world the second I moved out. Even Troy was excited to leave.”
Troy was his brother and worked as an engineer in Singapore. They texted and emailed every so often, but they’d never been close.
“This is my home,” he finished. “It’s Maggie’s home.”
Jay leaned back, crossing her arms. “You’re worried about her?”
“How can I not be? It’swomenwho are going missing. And finding Priya Tan’s body… Fuck, it hit me. Maggie was out there that night.”
“Yeah. I get it.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face. No matter how much he wanted to not think about that—to not even consider it—it wasallhe’d been thinking about.
