“They won’t come alone. They’ll come with help. We just need to leave them clues.”
Carter shook his head. “But any clues we leave, Mick will be able to track.”
“There’s one he won’t be able to.”
“What’s that?”
Reagan grinned as she scooted over toward the shore. “What do police do when someone goes missing in the woods?”
“They search for them with dogs. Dogs!”
Reagan reached out and rubbed her hand along the grass. She made sure she didn’t leave an impression, but she rubbed hard enough to leave a scent. “We’ll leave our scent.”
Carter stood and leaned as far over the bank as possible and rubbed his hand against the small trunk of a sapling. “We’ll do this every so often. They’ll follow our scent to the stream, and surely your father will understand what losing the scent means. He’ll walk with them downstream and pick up our scent again.” Carter leaned down and kissed her. “You’re brilliant.”
Reagan felt hope fuel her aching body. They may not be able to make it to safety today, but they could hide from Mick long enough to make it to the town or for help to arrive. “I’m going to go down on my stomach. My ankle needs a rest.”
Carter looked up at the sky. “It’s after noon already. I wonder how far we’ve gone.”
“I would guess five miles or so. And we need to make it another five miles before nightfall if we want to make it to the town tomorrow.”
“Then let’s go. If you get too tired, let me know. I’ll carry you.” Carter stopped her from lying in the water. “I haven’t had time to tell you, but I’m so proud of you. I can’t believe you landed that plane. I love you, my soon-to-be wifey.”
Carter kissed her again, only this time it was slow, gentle, and full of emotion. Reagan looked down at her left hand and the ring sparkling like the clear water of the creek. “It seems like a lifetime ago you asked me to marry you.”
“As long as we have a lifetime ahead of us, then that’s all that matters. Come on. Let’s celebrate our engagement by outrunning a madman.”
Reagan laughed as she lay on her stomach. With the water closer to two feet deep now, she was able to mostly float down. Rocks would hit her chest and stomach, but she used her hands to help her crawl when she needed to. Every so often she or Carter would reach out of the stream and leave their scent on a tree in hopes someone would enlist a search-and-rescue dog.
Reagan wished they could spend the time talking, but they were both worried about Mick finding them. So they kept quiet, kept their ears open, and kept making their way downstream as quickly as possible.
18
Somewhere near the Kentucky and Tennessee state line . . .
* * *
“Are we there yet?”
“How much longer?”
“Stop touching me. You have your own seat.”
Aniyah leaned forward and turned up Holt Everett’s first country music album. Holt’s parents, Trey and Taylor, had invited everyone in Keeneston over to their house for a listening party, and while country music wasn’t her particular go-to music, sexy Holt Everett’s deep voice did something to her that was downright sinful. Maybe if she did some of the things she was thinking about to DeAndre when she arrived at the airstrip in Tennessee with a carload of Rose sisters, he wouldn’t be so mad at her.
Aniyah rolled her eyes behind her pink sunglasses. Sure, DeAndre had told her to stay home, but who was he fooling? He knew she wasn’t going to listen to that. Not after Riley, Piper, and Dr. Ava, the daughter of Dr. Emma and former deputy Noodle, had headed for Tennessee before the helicopter had even taken off from the airport.
“Lily Rae, I will steal that candy bar from you if you don’t share.”
“Pffft.” Aniyah looked into the rearview mirror at Miss Lily sticking her tongue out at Miss Daisy. “You should have come prepared.”
“That seems unhygienic to do that on a kitchen table,” Miss Violet said absently as she looked through a woman’s magazine.
“Do what on a kitchen table?” Miss Daisy asked, distracted from the candy bar. “Oh! The key is putting down a placemat or a tablecloth. Then you can just wash it afterward.”
“Good idea, Daisy,” Miss Lily agreed. “Too bad John’s knees aren’t what they used to be, or I’d give that a try when we get home.”
“I have these oils you could use,” Aniyah said, turning down the radio now that the trio of elderly sisters were no longer complaining. “Is that the Serving Up Sex in the Kitchen issue?”
“Anton will love this,” Violet pointed out about her husband, a former chef, as they sailed past the Tennessee state line. Riley wouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes ahead of them. It would have been less, but the Rose sisters had made Aniyah pack the trunk full of things they might need and enough food to feed the army of police and search-and-rescue they expected to find there.
Aniyah had a lot to learn, and apparently she was going to learn more than how to prepare to feed and manage a crisis from the three elderly sisters.
* * *
Cy looked at the one police cruiser, a national park service SUV, and a fire truck below them on the airstrip as the helicopter came in for a landing. His wife gasped and Cy turned to look out her window. There was the wreckage of his daughter’s plane, tilted with one wing near the ground and the other wing at a forty-five degree angle into the sky. The back of the plane was open, a wing was damaged, a wheel was broken, and the front was completely smashed. All he could see was where the plane became an extension of the trees.
Nash lowered the helicopter. Cy had opened the door the second it was on the ground. A young man with light brown hair in his late twenties or early thirties stood waiting for him in jeans and a black polo with a sheriff’s star embroidered in gold on his chest.
“You must be Cy Davies. I’m Luke Tanner, Moonshine Hollow Deputy Sheriff. I’ve been talking to a Bridget Mueez all morning.” Deputy Tanner paused, his deep gray eyes taking in the clown-car like exit of what seemed like half the town of Keeneston from the helicopter. “I was told you are not only the father, but you and your friends have a certain level of skills that can assist us in the search.”
“That’s right. Bridget’s husband is here with a search-and-rescue dog.” Cy introduced Robyn as she shoved her nose into Deputy Tanner’s crotch before wiggling through his legs, leaving her tail-wagging butt sticking out to be scratched. Ahmed came as close to blushing as he ever had when Deputy Tanner raised an eye in clear challenge to the idea the wiggling dog in the pink glitter collar and leash was a tracker.
“My son-in-law, Matt Walz, is the sheriff of Keeneston. My nephew, Ryan Parker, is head of the Lexington FBI office. And this is Kentucky State Trooper DeAndre Drews,” Cy continued as if having a dog halfway through your legs wiggling her butt at you was an everyday occurrence.
“Nice to meet y’all,” Deputy Tanner said, shaking everyone’s hands as Gemma came to stand with them along with Miles, Cade, Annie, Marshall, Will, Kenna, and Nash.
Luke Tanner introduced himself to the newcomers and placed his hands on his hips as Robyn wiggled her butt between his legs. “Here’s what we know. The pilot called in a mayday when she ran out of fuel—”
“That’s not possible,” Cy said instantly.
“Mistakes happen,” Deputy Tanner said as gently as he could.