I ran next door to see if she’d gone in to get a sneak peek of the kitchen cabinets, but the house was dark and quiet.
I took a deep breath. I didn’t need to lose my shit. I just needed to call her. I got out my phone and called, but it went straight to voicemail.
Damn it. Either her phone was off or she was in a dead spot. I swiped to my messages to make sure I hadn’t missed a text from her, telling me where she was. Nothing.
She had plans with Marigold. That meant they’d probably gone out to get food somewhere and she’d simply forgotten to lock the door behind her. Surprising that she’d forget something like that with everything that had happened, but it was possible.
I didn’t have Marigold’s number. I was about to call my sister to ask for it when I realized I was being an idiot.
The cameras.
There wasn’t an inch of ground around her house that wasn’t being recorded. I’d turned off the notifications because the damn squirrels kept setting them off, but it kept a recording of every incident of movement. However she’d left, she’d have been on camera. If Marigold had picked her up, there’d be footage of her leaving.
I flipped through the footage. Squirrel. Another squirrel. More fucking squirrels.
Then Max. One of the front cameras had recorded him going out to pee. Normal enough. Audrey was outside with him. She got on her phone and I could see her talking to someone. She wandered a little, pausing to toss the ball for Max a couple of times while she talked.
Then she stopped. The footage was grainy and there was no way to see her face, but I would have bet anything she’d just heard something that startled or surprised her. She seemed frozen in place for a long moment. It almost looked like the video itself had paused.
Except for Max. He not only kept moving, he took off around the side of the house.
And she hadn’t seen him.
Audrey didn’t react to Max’s sudden disappearance. If she’d seen him go, she would have moved in the same direction, calling him back as she went.
I fast forwarded through the next couple of minutes, although I had a feeling I already knew what had happened. One of the back cameras had caught Max’s flight up the hill. And a short time later, Audrey went after him.
I didn’t think. Just sprang into action, barreling up the hill.
She was probably fine. Just chasing her damn dog and hoping to get to him before he rolled in something disgusting again.
That’s what I wanted to believe.
But the feeling in my gut told me I was wrong and Audrey was in danger.
CHAPTER 37
Audrey
Flip flops were not good hiking shoes, but at least I wasn’t in heels this time. My legs burned with the effort of rushing up the hill and I was glad I wasn’t completely out of shape or I’d have been on the ground gasping for air.
I pushed on, hoping to see or hear some sign of Max. I had no idea if I was on the right path or if he’d veered off in one direction or another. Or trotted back home, happily covered in dead animal stench. There was no way I could cover every possibility, so I kept climbing, hoping he’d hear me and come running.
That yelp had me worried. Especially because I didn’t hear anything now.
“Max!”
The ground was littered with dry pine needles. They kept getting caught in my shoes, poking and scratching my feet.
With all the squirrels in Tilikum, I really needed a yard with a fence. They were just too tempting for Max.
“Max! Where are you?”
I came to the top of the rise where the land leveled out. I slowed, pausing to catch my breath and get my bearings. If I remembered correctly, Josiah had found Max not too far from here the last time he’d run off.
“Max, come!”
I waited, hoping to hear the sound of him running through the pine needles.
Nothing.
Sweat dripped down my back and I swiped the moisture off my forehead. It was hot, even in the shade of the pine trees.
I pulled out my phone, wondering if Josiah was back yet. I could have used his help. No signal. Because of course there was no signal.
Stupid phone.
I slid it back in my pocket and kept going.
Instead of running headlong through the trees, I slowed my pace, listening for any hint of my dog. What I wouldn’t have given to have his sense of smell so I could follow his trail. I called for him every so often, pausing to see if he came running.
Still nothing.
The hill descended, then leveled out again. This was probably farther than I’d gone last time, but it was hard to be sure. I didn’t want to get myself lost in the process, but I couldn’t just turn around and go back without Max.
Not yet, at least. I’d go a little farther. He had to be around there somewhere.
“Max!”
This was the worst. I’d probably passed him already. Or he’d gone home and he was sitting at the front door, wondering where I was. Indecision gnawed at me as I made my way deeper into the woods, up another small rise. The trees were thicker, the shade darker.
I probably needed to go home before I got completely lost. I’d find Josiah and we’d go back out and search for Max together.
Another hill rose in front of me and it seemed like there might be a clearing at the top. I decided to forge ahead a little farther and if I didn’t see or hear anything, I’d turn back.
My stomach knotted with worry for my dog. He had a great nose but he was kind of derpy. What if he chased a squirrel in so many circles, he couldn’t find his way home? Or that yelp meant he was injured and couldn’t walk? People hunted around here, could there be traps or snares? What if he was caught in something, miserably hurt and wondering why his people weren’t rescuing him?
The trees opened at the top of the hill but there wasn’t much to see. It wasn’t high enough to get the lay of the land, just an unshaded spot, baking in the summer sun. My mouth was dry with thirst, I was drenched with sweat, and if the rest of me was even a fraction as dirty as my feet, I probably looked like a forest creature.
“Max?”
I shook my head, fairly certain that I’d gone too far and missed him.
As I turned around to go back, I slammed my toe on a rock, hidden beneath the bed of pine needles.
“Ow!” I shifted my weight to my other foot and sucked in a gasping breath. Why did something as small as a toe have to hurt so much?
The pain throbbed in time with my heartbeat. Blood mingled with the dirt. No wonder it hurt so much. I hadn’t just stubbed my toe; I was bleeding.
A dog’s bark in the distance carried through the trees.
“Max?”
The sound had come from deeper in the woods. I waited, hoping he’d bark again. Birds chirped and danced through the sky above me, but I didn’t hear my dog.
With my bloody foot still throbbing, I followed what I hoped was the direction of his bark. It definitely hadn’t been the way I’d come. I had to keep going.
“Max, where are you?”
I couldn’t keep from limping and I vaguely wondered if I’d broken a toe. Another bark came from up ahead and it was definitely Max. What was he barking at? If I could hear him, he could certainly hear me. Was he barking to get my attention? Another image of him caught in some sort of trap came to mind, although I didn’t hear yelps of pain.
“Max!”
With every step, I thought he’d come running out of the woods ahead of me. But he didn’t. Was he so preoccupied with whatever he’d chased? I had a sinking feeling that he’d actually caught a squirrel and was currently dismantling its poor little body the way he tore open stuffed toys and pulled out their squeakers and stuffing.
This could be very messy.
He barked again and this time, it was close. Another noise grew and I realized I was hearing the rush of water.
Was it the river? Or the waterfall?
Josiah had said you could hike to the waterfall from the other side of the hill behind my house. Had I really gone that far? I didn’t know the area well enough to be sure, but I could definitely hear water.
That was good. The river would mean trails and I could find my way back to civilization, or at least to a spot where my phone would get a signal.