Connor climbed behind the wheel and dropped his cell into the middle console. “I just notified the team of the location.”
“Good.” Joel put the location into his GPS. “Five minutes.”
“It could be nothing,” Connor said quietly.
“You’re right. It could be nothing. I’d rather check out nothing, though, than sit on my ass and skip searching for a missing woman.”
They didn’t have to say it out loud to know they were both feeling it. This wasn’tnothing. And every second she was missing was a second that put her life in more danger.
Ryan was already at the Subaru, pack on, when they arrived. Connor pulled up at the same time as Ethan and Zac. The guys handed them each a pack.
“I see the patrol car isn’t here,” Joel growled.
So not only was Ward not doing anything himself, he was actively calling his guys off, even though they’d had two missing women and one dead in the last year.
Connor scowled. “Piece of shit.”
“No sign of the owner,” Ryan said to the team. “Ethan and Zac, you sweep west, adjacent the road. Watch for footprints and discarded items. Joel and Connor, you take the north slope, 300 meters out, focus on the river line and any trails. I’ll move south.”
The second Ryan finished, they were moving. Joel took the lead and Connor remained close behind. Their steps were fast and silent, and the closer they drew to the river, the louder the water became.
This was near where they’d discovered Priya Tan. She’d been lifeless in the water.
His gut swirled, but he forced himself to focus and move faster, the river coming into view. He scanned the bank, lookingfor footprints or disturbed earth, anything to indicate that someone had been here. That thewomanhad been here.
He felt like he was flying blind. He didn’t have a name or a physical description. But when push came to shove, they didn’t need any of that. Someone was missing, and if that someone was here, in this forest, they’d find them.
He’d been searching for about twenty minutes when he saw it.
Joel’s skin went cold.
A body. It was floating down the stream, face down.
Connor cursed and pulled out his radio.
As Connor alerted the team, Joel kicked off his shoes and dove into the water. The chill tightened his muscles, but he didn’t let it slow him. He kept his body beneath the surface as he swam, strong, determined strokes toward the woman.
He reached her in half the time it should have taken. Immediately, he slipped an arm under the woman’s and across her chest, her back pressed to his front. Then he used his free arm and legs to push back to the bank, a strong sidestroke.
The second he reached the shore, Connor took the woman and lay her on the ground. He touched her pulse.
Be alive. Please be alive,Joel whispered in his head.
Joel scanned her body. That’s when he saw it—a bullet wound to her chest. “She was shot.”
Connor looked up. And Joel knew, before a single word was spoken, exactly what was coming.
“She’s gone.”
5
Polly popped a piece of popcorn into her mouth. She’d barely eaten all day. And yes, some of that was because Bloom had been so busy. Basil’s coffee machine had stopped working, which meant she got her own coffee businessandhis. He certainly hadn’t been pleased about that.
But she also hadn’t eaten because after hearing the whole “Joel’s a playboy” thing, she’d just kind of lost her appetite.
Maybe she was being dramatic. So he’d dated a lot of women?Shedidn’t plan to date him, so it shouldn’t bother her.
Right? Right.
