She nestled against his chest, resting her palm where she could feel his heart beating. Frankie licked her hand. They were quite a team, these two.
“You don’t find all the children, do you? You said there have been times when there wasn’t a happy ending.”
He pressed his warm hands against her cheeks and looked her in the eyes. “Lydia, you can’t let your mind go there.”
The tears flowed down her cheeks and over his fingers. “I just have to face reality. There are times when the search doesn’t end well, aren’t there?”
He pulled away. “Yes, there are bad outcomes sometimes.” His voice was thick with emotion.
“What happened, River?”
He rose to his feet. He stared at the framed photo of Elsie then covered his mouth with his hand, shaking his head. “A five-year-old boy died on my watch. I didn’t make the right choices.” His voice faltered. “I should have asked more questions about the family situation.” He turned his back to her, resting his head in his palm.
This had to be what he’d been keeping from her. The thing that tore him up inside. She stood and touched his back. He turned to face her. “No child will die on my watch ever again.”
Even as she acknowledged the intense resolve in his eyes, she had to accept that regardless of River’s vow, the outcome for a missing child could not be controlled. Lydia detected deep sorrow in River. It hadn’t been easy for him to share. She gave him a sideways hug. “Oh, River, I’m so sorry. You didn’t have to carry that alone.”
He turned to face her. “You can’t give up hope. Stay strong for Elsie and I’ll stay strong for you. Deal?”
He was right. She couldn’t give up hope. She had to believe that Elsie was alive and that she would be found. She tilted her head to look at him. “Deal.” It would be so easy to fall for him. She took a step back. That look in his eyes made her fear he would kiss her again. This time on the lips. The pain of her marriage to Sloane flooded back over her. There was a reason she’d vowed to stay single.
She needed to keep her perspective. Maybe the strong feelings for River were just because of the way he’d risen to the occasion in the worst crisis of her life.
His phone rang. He looked at it. “Ah, Eva. She always comes through.”
Lydia was grateful that the phone call broke the intensity of the moment. Was she just attracted to him because of the nightmare she was living through? She only heard one side of the phone conversation. “Gregory Larson, huh? What do you know about him and that land?”
River listened for a moment. “Yeah, give me the address. Let me get a piece of paper.”
Lydia handed him a piece of paper and a pen from the sofa side table. River nodded while Eva talked. “Okay, still, it might be good to talk to him.” He said goodbye and pressed the disconnect button.
Lydia took a step toward him. “What did you find out?” Again, she felt her hope rising. She didn’t know how much more of this emotional roller-coaster ride she could take.
“Gregory Larson owns about forty acres next to the hiking trail,” said River.
“I don’t know why, but his name sounds familiar.”
“He’s made a lot of money in real estate and owns many properties around Ridge and sells all over the state.”
“Maybe that’s it.” She’d probably seen one of his real estate ads.
“His house is on a different piece of property outside of town, but there’s a private skeet shooting range and a structure that functions as a clubhouse on his land that’s next to the hiking trail.”
“We didn’t see anything like that,” said Lydia.
He looked again at his phone. “Eva’s supposed to send me a map to show where the clubhouse is.” He studied his phone for a long moment. “Looks like it’s a couple of hills over. The boundary between the properties is right at that creek where Frankie and the other dogs lost the scent.”
“So, it’s not likely even if Mr. Larson was on that property that he saw anything.”
“It might be worth it to talk to him. Maybe see if he would give us permission to search that clubhouse. It’s probably only used when people are up there shooting.”
Straws, thought Lydia. “In case Elsie was taken there and hidden? So, whoever took her hiked over two hills instead of taking her in the car that was seen at the time she disappeared?”
“I know it seems like Frankie would have followed the scent if she was taken that way. So much of this doesn’t make sense. If I could just connect the dots.” He threw up his hands. “With the rain and the creek, maybe it just distorted the scent too much.” He wandered over to the window by the front door, gazing at the street with his arms crossed over his chest. “I just don’t understand it.”
She moved toward the stove. “I’m going to heat up some water for tea.” She filled the teakettle and placed it on the burner before turning it on. Frankie let out low growl.
“What is it, girl?”
