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“I didn’t tell him anything about the park. He knows nothing except that we’re looking for you.”

She seemed to relax a little. “Good. Maybe that’ll buy me a little bit more time.”

“You’re going to be safe now. I’m going to see to it.”

She let out a sarcastic little chuckle. “Oh? And how the hell do you intend to do that?”

“You’re going home with me.”

“I can’t go home with you! You might be an ax murderer or something.”

Shaw snickered. “Here. Take my phone. Look up the Whitley County Sheriff Department and ask for Deputy AaronFriedman. When he answers, tell him your name is Cherilyn and you want to know if I’m safe to be around.” And he handed her his phone.

She sat there, staring at it, before she poked the screen. “It’s locked.”

“Sorry. Let me unlock it.” She handed it back, and when he’d unlocked it, he returned it to her. “Go on. Call him.”

He watched as she doodled around on the screen, looked and scrolled, and finally touched something before putting the phone up to her ear. “Um, yes. Could I, um, speak to Deputy Aaron… Friedman?” There was a moment of silence.

“Ask them to patch you in,” he whispered.

“Uh, okay. Can you patch me in? I really need to talk to him.” More silence before she said, “Okay. I’ll wait.” Thirty seconds passed, and then she said, “Oh. Um, hi. Um, my name is Cherilyn. Um-hmm. Uh-huh. Yeah, I’m here with him. He told me to call you because I don’t know him. Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Uh-huh.” She held the phone out. “He wants to talk to you.”

He took the phone and put it on speaker. “Hey, dude, what’s up? I’ve got you on speaker.”

“Good. Everybody okay?”

“Yeah. We’re all okay. Got a little tense for a minute there, but it’s all under control.” Then he winked at Cherilyn and watched as a little smile tugged the corners of her lips upward.

“Good. What’s next?”

“She told me what’s going on. Aaron, I can’t leave them here. I’m taking them to the house with me and we’ll figure something out.”

“Like what?”

He thought for a few seconds, and then he had an idea. “Hey, can you go talk to SheriffMcEvers? See if she’s got any ideas? Or maybe I could come talk to her?”

“Yeah. I’ll tell her what’s going on and see what she wants to do. She’s pretty good about meeting everybody right where they are and not asking too much. I think she’d welcome a chance to sit down with you.”

“Good deal. Now I’ve got to get them rounded up and see if we can get something going for them. I’ll keep you in the loop.”

“Please do. And Cherilyn?”

She perked up. “Yeah?”

“That man standing there with you is a good guy. He’s not going to hurt you, and he’ll do whatever he can to help you. We’ve both been worried about you and your girls. I’ve got a wife and a little girl, and it scares me to know you and your kids have been out in the woods all this time. Let Shaw help you and we’ll be in touch, okay?”

To Shaw’s surprise, big tears rolled down Cherilyn’s face. “Thank you. I don’t know what to say. I mean, really… Thank you. Nobody gives a damn about us.”

“That’s not true, and we’ll prove it. Shaw, we’ll talk soon.”

“Yep. Thanks, Aaron. Later.” He touched END on the phone’s screen and looked at the crying woman. “Let’s get you guys gathered up and get in the truck.”

“My car…”

“No. We need to leave it. If they show up looking for you, it could keep them guessing, and that’s what we want. You don’t need to be driving anyway. If you’re out, somebody might see you, and then you’d definitely be in danger.”

“That’s true. What am I gonna do, sir? I really don’t know what to do.”