“Ev. She’s gone.”
“Where?”
I spent the next seconds relaying all the information I had. Each breath I took seemed to claw at my insides, begging me to move, to get to the cabin, to find Everly. “That’s all I know. I have to go.”
Ruiz reached out a hand, resting it on my shoulder. “You can’t work this case, Hayes.”
I shook off his hold. “I’m not working it as the sheriff. But you know damn well you can’t stop me from looking for her.”
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to find her. Don’t think I won’t.”
I turned on my heel and headed for the lot. Vehicles were already taking off, lights flashing, headed for Everly’s property. I jogged to my SUV and climbed in. I wasn’t above using my lights, too. I didn’t give a crap if it was an abuse of department resources since I wasn’t on this case.
By the time I pulled up into Ev’s drive, I’d gone completely numb. It was necessary. If I didn’t, I’d lose it and would never be able to get it back. I pulled to a stop in a spot I knew I could get out of quickly. Switching off my engine, I hopped out of the SUV and jogged towards my sister and dad.
Shy had her arms wrapped around herself. “I’m so sorry, Hayes. I should’ve gone with her. I never should’ve left her alone.”
“Hey.” I grabbed her shoulders, and Shy jerked back. I let my hands fall but bent to meet her gaze. “This isn’t your fault. But I need you to tell me everything.”
Shy and my dad walked me through their afternoon with Ev as officers pored over the area. Dad’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t hear anything. No scream. Nothing.”
“Think. Did you hear an engine?”
His eyes widened. “No. And we would’ve. We were done using any tools. We were just placing the feeder.”
“He’s on horseback.” I scanned the surrounding forests. There were endless places for him to go. Up into the wilderness, out into national forest land, to a farm we had no idea about.
“I’m getting Trick tacked up.” Shiloh started towards her horse.
“Shy, stop. I have to call in Forest Service and our search and rescue teams.”
Her hands clenched and flexed as she seemed to struggle to keep her breaths even. “And how long will it take them to assemble? I’ve got my rifle. I’ve got the sat phone and supplies.”
“And I’ll go with her,” my father offered.
A muscle in my cheek ticked. I was so damn torn. I wanted to go with them. But I also wanted to make a trip out to the Kemper ranch.
Dad’s hand came down on my shoulder. “We’ll start the search here. When you’re ready, get Calder or someone to have your back and take another direction. We’ll cover more ground that way.”
I knew he was right. But as I watched Shiloh put on Trick’s saddle, I couldn’t make myself move. I’d failed my sister once. Turned my back and almost lost her. How could I let her go now?
My father squeezed my shoulder, bringing my attention back to him. “I’ve got her. I’ll keep her safe.”
“Okay.” The single word was ripped from my throat.
“You find Everly. Love that girl like she’s my own. And love her even more for what she’s brought out in you.”
My eyes burned. “She’s everything to me.”
“I know. So, you’re going to get her back.”
“I will.” I clapped him on the shoulder and turned to head back to my SUV, but Ruiz stepped into my path.
“What the hell is going on? And where do you think you’re going?”
I ground my teeth together in an effort to keep my voice calm. “Dad and Shy are taking the horses to search. I’m going to talk to some people who might have seen her.”
Ruiz’s eyes hardened. “Don’t fuck up this case. We need to do everything by the book.”
“By the book doesn’t matter if we don’t get to her in time.”
“It will if we can’t charge the asshole.”
I knew he was thinking like law enforcement. The way I should be thinking. Only I couldn’t. Because Ev’s life was at stake. I’d never risk that for a conviction. “Do whatever you have to, and I’ll do the same.”
“You can’t say you’re there as the sheriff,” he warned.
“I know that.” I didn’t need the letters of the department behind me. I just needed a clue. A direction. Anything that would help me bring Everly home.
42
Everly
The pain woke me. The battering against my skull. As if a hardcore metal band were practicing in my brain.
My eyes fluttered the barest amount. Even the brief flashes of light those flutters let through hurt. I let out a low moan, rolling onto my back.
Something clanged, the sound ricocheting around in my head, picking up speed with the beat in my brain. God, everything hurt. Slowly, my brain started functioning again. Where was I? Had I been in an accident? Taken a fall?
I knew I needed to open my eyes. That was the only way for me to find answers. I tried again. The fluttering lasted for longer this time, but it still hurt like hell.
I got flashes of a room. Similar to my cabin but different. Rougher around the edges.
Finally, my eyes adjusted to the light. I had to squint, but I could see. It was a log cabin. Only one room, with a small kitchen that had a woodstove as a cooktop. There wasn’t an oven or a dishwasher, just the bare bones. Another woodstove stood in the opposite corner, with two wooden chairs in front of it. And beneath me was a bed.
My stomach cramped at that knowledge and what it could mean. I frantically searched to see what I was wearing, but all of my clothes were in place. Only on top of my jeans, on my left ankle, was a chain. And that chain was locked with a padlock. My gaze followed the length of metal to a bolt in the wall.
The meager food in my stomach roiled and pitched, but I swallowed the urge to lose my lunch on the floor. I needed whatever energy I had.
I pushed to a sitting position. The room around me wavered as if I were seeing it through water. I stayed still until everything righted itself.
Flipping through my memories, I tried to come up with an order of things. What had happened? I’d worked at the vet’s this morning. Built feeders with Gabe and Shiloh. I stiffened as I pictured driving to get the hay, launching it onto the four-wheeler…and then the flash of pain.
My breaths came quicker but I forced myself to slow them again. To count in and out. To make them even and normal. Passing out would only get me hurt—or worse.
“Think, Ev.” Tears sprang to my eyes as Hayes’ nickname came to my lips. I let my eyes close for the briefest moment, picturing his face in my mind in all of its many incarnations. Pissed off and angry. Free and loose in laughter. The tender way he looked at me when he told me he loved me.
Tears slipped down my cheeks and off my chin. Why hadn’t I said the damn words? Why hadn’t I told him that he was everything to me, too? That for the first time, I had a place to truly rest—in him. It was the greatest gift I’d ever been given, and I hadn’t told him.