Page 24

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S adie was off the path, her map spread out on a flat rock and illuminated by a flashlight. Aaron and Evan had reported that the barn was a bust—no sign of Rory. So she carefully drew an x over that spot and studied the containment area. Where would Rory go?

Diana would have some ideas. She wouldn’t be able make out the details on the map, not in this light, not with her eyesight. But she knew these woods as well as anyone and had rescued dozens of lost hikers over the years.

Sadie began to fold up her map, planning to consult Diana when she overheard Aaron talking to the former police chief just feet away, down on the trail.

“You know,” Aaron was saying, “despite the circumstances, it’s nice to be outside after being cooped up inside all day.”

“So you were at the shop all day?”

Diana asked the question casually. Maybe too casually. One of Diana’s strengths when she’d been the police chief was making suspects so comfortable that they forgot who they were talking to.

Sadie brushed the thought aside. Diana wasn’t interrogating Aaron. She was just making conversation.

“Yep. We’ve been swamped. I didn’t even take a real lunch break. I ran out and grabbed a sandwich to eat in the back while I checked in a big order.”

Sadie froze.

He was lying. Why was he lying?

She’d skipped lunch to take care of the order, not him. Not only had he taken his break, he’d come back late—and empty-handed, after promising to pick something up for her to eat. He told her he’d lost track of time because he’d detoured from the deli to check out the excitement outside Rory’s apartment.

She’d blown up at him because he was already on a performance improvement plan. He’d come in late twice last week despite her waking him up and handing him a mug of coffee before she left their place to open the store. Taking a ninety-minute lunch when he already had two strikes was beyond irresponsible. It was almost like he was daring her to fire him. When she pointed this out, he’d begged her to doctor his time record, but she hadn’t. So not only was his lie stupid, it was provably false.

Diana and Aaron’s voices faded as they walked away. But Sadie leaned back against the rock and worked through her racing thoughts.

What had Aaron being doing for an hour and a half? Had he gone to Rory’s place hoping to run into her?

She knew in her heart that he wasn’t over Rory. Their relationship, if you could even call it that, had been brief. More like a fling. But when Rory walked into a room, Aaron lit up. Sometimes she caught him watching Rory with longing in his eyes.

Big deal, he had a crush. That didn’t mean he had anything to do with her disappearance.

Her attempt to convince herself fell flat. If that was true, why had he just lied to Diana?

Maybe he was embarrassed about slacking off. Especially after she’d read him the riot act.

But what if there was more to it than that? Ninety minutes was just about enough to time to bike the twelve miles to the cave and back. It would be tight, but for a cyclist as fit and experienced as Aaron, it was doable. He probably hadn’t. Almost certainly hadn’t. But he could have.

She should tell Diana. As soon as she had the thought, she dismissed it.

No, she shouldn’t. Raising the issue would distract from the search effort. And she didn’t really believe Aaron had done anything wrong.

Diana’s warning about her relationship had her rattled. That was all.

But the twist in her stomach told her she had to say something. She muscled down the whisper of guilt that said she was a disloyal girlfriend. Then she pushed off from the boulder and went down to the trail to find Diana and set the record straight.

But Diana had her head bent down listening to something Evan was saying, so Sadie called the search party together and told them they had one more mile to go. She could talk to Diana when they reached the cave.