Page 21 of Haunted Horror on Halloween

Valiente nodded in turn and started to head to his patrol car; Jackson glanced at her.

And started into the forest.

Trent Fielding followed them in his spirit form, telling them, “I’m going to go back and see if . . . well, if I can find anyone out there who might be one of my own kind to help, and see what else I can see.”

Jackson nodded to him. “We’re looking for a needle in a haystack. No, the proverbial piece of hay in the haystack! See what you can find out—we’ll be forever grateful!”

“I know you guys,” Trent said, smiling. “And I’m just as grateful when we can get something right together.”

He headed off along the road.

Angela looked into the dark woods, shaking her head.

“Not sure we’re the best for this—maybe we need to call one of the K-9 pups and his officer,” Angela murmured.

Jackson laughed. “Hey, we wind up running around in the dark all the time—dark woods, dark swamps, you name it. And we’re good at what we do.” he reminded her softly.

“But dogs have a great ability when it comes to smelling creepy people.” she reminded him.

“Well, they’re out here—they were right behind us. And because of that I think our man had yet another car. He isn’t traveling far, I don’t believe, just moving and moving to keep us all going in circles,” Jackson said. He had moved through a very narrow pathway through the trees.

A branch slapped back, catching Angela on the side of the head.

“Ouch!”

“Oh, man, I’m sorry—”

She laughed. “No biggie. I like the taste of leaf at night,” she teased. “What matters is that I believe you’re going the right way—there’s a fall of leaves just ahead that makes me think that a person dragged someone in that direction, see . . . there’s a bend in the branch and the leaves are all over the ground.”

“So, you think you’re as good as a K-9, eh?” he teased.

“No, I think it’s so obvious a five-year-old might have figured it out,” Angela assured him.

“Hey, we’ve followed trails before and been through worse,” he murmured, stepping ahead and surveying the area. “That way,” he said pointing. “Another little footpath—with footprints.”

“And drag marks, it appears.” Angela agreed.

They headed deeper into the woods.

And then, as they had somewhat expected, the path took a turn.

“He headed into the woods to head back out of the woods. How the hell did the man pull this all off? Getting out of prison—he had help. And then, of course, being him, he killed his helper. But he carried off a robbery, carried off two kidnappings—that we know about—and somehow stole and abandoned several cars—”

“And turned someone’s yard or the forest itself into a Halloween Hell,” Jackson said. “So, through the woods and back to the road. And Valiente’s men are checking the houses, our Krewe guys are starting at the other end, but we need to get to those closest to where we come out of the woods now.”

“If we come out of the woods.” Angela said.

She’d had to crawl around in nature many times in the past; she was accustomed to looking out for snakes or other dangerous creatures; she knew to listen for every rustle in the trees and the grass—and, unlike some of the ridiculous actions she’d read about—she knew better than to want her picture with a bear, a wolf, or an alligator.

But when darkness fell as it had done now.

It made it all a great deal harder. Not to mention she’d heard that coyotes were more prevalent in the area than ever.

She wished all wildlife well.

She just hoped she didn’t run into any of it!

And, despite herself, she jerked slightly as an owl let out its call in the night.