Page 69 of Smokescreen

Reid stilled. “Yes.”

Olive didn’t always pray. She wasn’t sure if prayer worked or not.

But right now, she found herself lifting a prayer to a God she wasn’t sure even existed. None of the possibilities going through her mind were good. Something had happened to Tevin, and she needed to figure out what.

Reid and Olive walked through the dark forest for the next hour. Sticks cracked, a stream babbled, and the wind brushed the evergreen needles above them.

Every sound had Olive on edge.

She had to listen for Tevin, for any signs he was out here.

Reid had been in contact with Cooper, and none of the search parties he’d sent out had come upon anything either.

Once they reached the stream, she and Reid didn’t cross it. Instead, they followed it downriver.

Then Olive stopped.

“What is it?” Reid asked.

“I just don’t see Tevin wandering this far for no reason.”

“What if his drone went down? Maybe he went to retrieve it. Can you track it?”

“Tevin could track it.” She frowned.

“I’m sure we can figure it out, but it will take some time.”

Olive had to give Reid credit for that rationale. “You’re right. But I’m not sure Tevin has ever had a drone go down. He’s really good at what he does.”

“We get hunters around here sometimes. Someone could have shot it. For all we know, the device could have even collided with a bird. We have lots of those out here as well. I heard that happens sometimes, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Those are possibilities. But I just have this bad feeling in my gut.” Olive wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t. Besides, denial would do no good right now.

“You didn’t see any other footprints out here though, right?”

“I didn’t. But it’s still a possibility Tevin stumbled upon someone while he was out here. That would explain why his cell phone was on the ground. Maybe someone caught him by surprise.”

“What do you want to do?”

Olive glanced around her. The cool night air surrounded them, dark with the unknown. The stream covered the sounds of anyone who might be approaching—or anything. Standing here for too long wasn’t a good idea.

“If we keep going down the stream this way, where would it lead?” she finally asked.

“I mean, if you walk far enough, you’ll get back to the Homestead. But we’re talking at least five miles, and some parts would be treacherous.”

“What about in the opposite direction? If we’d gone upstream instead?”

“It’s lots of forested area there. Again, not really much but nature. Except . . .”

Olive straightened, sensing Reid had a thought. “Except what?”

Reid turned toward her. “Remember, I mentioned we had a few random cabins here on my property?”

“Is one of them up that way?”

Reid nodded. “If Tevin got lost or something happened, there’s a chance he could have taken shelter there.”

Olive swallowed hard as she braced herself for what she might find inside. “We should check it out, just to be certain.”