Page 86 of Midnight Creed

“And the footprints are fresh,” Ryder pointed out. “At least since this morning’s rain.”

“So maybe he skipped school and hid up in the cab. But where did he go from here?” Norwich looked at Ryder.

He jerked upright. Her question reminded him of something he’d forgotten. Then he grabbed the radio attached to his shoulder.

“Jason, sorry. Hang on a couple more minutes.”

To Norwich, he said, “Scout found fresh footprints on the other side of the highway.”

“That’s where the kids wait for the bus.”

“The prints are back in the trees. And Scout wants to go into that neighborhood.”

“I have deputies and state troopers canvassing over there, too. So far, no one noticed a boy wandering around after the bus picked up the kids.”

“If he skipped school,” Brodie said, “he wouldn’t want to be seen.”

“Let’s see what Scout can find,” Norwich said. “I’m going to go update a very frantic mother. Deputy Trevor, collect those items as you would evidence.”

“Jason,” Ryder called into his radio, “I’m sending Brodie and Hank to assist you and Scout.” He checked Brodie’s eyes to make sure that was okay with her.

“Roger that,” Jason told him. “Sheriff, do we know yet if he’s on a bicycle? I’m not seeing any tire marks here, but there are a whole lot of pine needles and fallen leaves that could be hiding them.”

“The bicycle is gone. I just found out. Mrs. Ramsey let us check the garage. She’s giving us access to their home security cameras, too, while she waits for Agent Perry. I’ll let Brodie know as soon as I know anything else.”

Then Norwich caught Brodie’s eyes and asked, “Do you have your cell phone on you?”

“Yes, ma’am.” She pushed back the shirt tails and showed her the holstered phone on her belt. It was next to the bear spray.

“I want you to have direct access to me.” They exchanged phone numbers and tapped them into their contacts. “And don’t hesitate to ask me anything. You need something. Let me know. Right now, these dogs and handlers are my number one tool. So anything they need, you just holler. And if I learn a piece of information, you all need to know, I’ll dial you directly. Are you okay with that?”

She said this last part with a smile, and Brodie nodded. As the sheriff left them, Brodie checked her radio and tried to ignore the weight of that responsibility. When she realized Will might not be lost—that something awful may have happened to him—something had shifted inside her.

She should have been the first to know what kinds of things may have happened. Except she couldn’t relate to that little girl anymore, the one taken from a rest stop. She had willingly gotten into a stranger’s RV. Followed another little girl up the steps just to see a new puppy. Could something like that have happened to Will?

“I’ll be joining you and Jason on the other side,” Ryder was telling her, bringing her attention back to the present. “Say in thirty minutes. I want Grace to check if there’s any other paths Will took around here.”

She looked up to see him glance back toward the woods. Already the sun had sunk behind the treeline. At the mention of Will’s name, Grace came back to Ryder’s side and surrendered her squeaky toy. She was ready to get back to work.

Brodie took a deep breath, and Ryder noticed. Trevor had disappeared inside the bulldozer’s cab, but Ryder stepped to the side, blocking the deputy’s view.

His eyes latched onto hers, then he said, “No worries. You’ve got this.”

56

“He’s always been fascinated by those machines,” Taylor told Sheriff Norwich as she looked at the photos of the trash left inside the bulldozer’s cab. “Can I look at the drawings?”

“In a little bit. My deputy’s bagging them. Can you tell if any of this might have been Will’s?”

“Juice pouch, yes. I sent him back with some. He loves the Kool-Aid grape flavored, but his nana only gets him cherry Gatorade. And Sour Patch Kids,” she pointed out the wrapper, “they’re his favorite. He doesn’t usually throw away his drawings, though.”

Norwich raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips like she hadn’t realized that Will may have left them on purpose. “We better take a look at those.”

The sheriff’s phone interrupted. She held up a finger to Taylor as she fished it out of her pocket. “Excuse me just a minute. This is Norwich.” She listened, then turned her back and took a few steps away. “Yes, that’s exactly what I asked. No garbage collection, at least for the next two days.”

Taylor swallowed hard, trying to keep the acid in her stomach from coming up. She could not—would not—think about why the sheriff wanted to delay the garbage collection.

Norwich finished on the phone and stood in front of her again. “Why do you think Will skipped school today?”