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No wind.
No sound except boots pressing into dry leaves.
Then I saw it.
A cabin.
Half hidden behind the trees.
Old.
Gray.
Windows covered with dirt.
An old truck sat behind it.
Gerald’s truck.
My pulse slowed.
The dangerous calm settled in.
Sheriff Cooper lifted one hand.
Everybody stopped.
“Gerald!” he called.
Nothing.
“Gerald, this is Sheriff Cooper. Come out with your hands where we can see them.”
Silence.
Wolf moved closer to me.
“He’s in there.”
Maybe.
But something felt wrong.
The cabin looked empty.
Too empty.
No smoke from the chimney.
No movement behind the glass.
No sound.
Gerald hadbeen watching.
He had known we were coming.
Sheriff Cooper nodded toward the deputies.
