“We’ll start again at first light,” Nash told them with a shake of his head as he watched Robyn and Ahmed. “I’ll take the first watch. We’ll find them in the morning.”
Cy closed his eyes, knowing rest was what he needed, but it was hard to come by. Slowly the sounds of the snoring dog lulled him to sleep. Tomorrow. Tomorrow he’d find his daughter and never let her out of his sight again.
* * *
Gemma looked at the text her husband had sent and frowned.
“Is it Dad?” Porter asked.
The landing strip was lit up by portable generators and lights strong enough to be on stadiums. The NTSB and FBI were combing over every inch of the plane. The black box had been retrieved and things appeared to be moving quickly. Except they couldn’t declare either Suzanne or Diego’s death a homicide until they gathered further evidence and talked to all parties involved. They also sent their own team of agents and dogs into the woods, against Ryan, Gemma, and Kenna’s protests.
The families had been moved into a tent the government had put up to shield them from cameras after Gemma and Kenna had refused to leave. The agents in charge had wanted them to wait at a hotel in Chattanooga, but Ryan had used his sway to let them stay. That and a talking to by the Rose sisters got them their own tent.
Gemma clutched Riley’s hand as her sons looked over her shoulder at the text. “They’ve stopped for the night,” Gemma told the crowd. “They found a scent and followed it, but it became too dark to continue. They’ll start again at first light.”
Riley’s head cocked as she looked at the text. “Does anyone have a map of the area? I know Reagan and how she thinks. If I can see where everyone is, I bet I can tell you where she’s going.”
“And then we can come from the opposite direction and rescue them,” Parker said as he quickly understood where his older sister was headed.
“I have a map in my cruiser,” Deputy Luke Tanner told them a moment before he strode from the tent. As a deputy not in this jurisdiction, Luke had been pawned off onto babysitting duty even though he’d been the one who gathered most of the evidence. Gemma had liked him immediately, as did the rest of the Keeneston crew.
“Here it is,” Luke said, laying out a map on the table Riley had cleared off. “Let me see the GPS coordinates.”
Gemma rattled off the coordinates Cy had texted her along the way as Luke marked them on the map. Riley suddenly pulled out her phone and began to work on it. “Here’s where Matt has been,” she said, showing the GPS map to Luke.
“I know where they’re all going,” Luke said, standing up and looking at the map.
“So do I,” Riley said.
“Moonshine Hollow,” they both said at the same time.
Gemma looked at the map, and sure enough, the trail Cy had been following was near a stream heading straight for Moonshine Hollow. The scary part was the path Matt was following as he tried to track Mick. He was headed to the same place.
“We have to warn them,” Gemma said, gripping Luke’s arm.
“I’m ready to go. I will shoot that man dead if he hurts my friends,” Aniyah said, standing to join them at the table.
“I believe we all would,” Piper said, standing next to Ava, the newly minted doctor fresh from medical school two months ago.
“What kind of town is Keeneston?” Luke asked, looking at the roomful of people ready to go into battle.
“The best,” Aniyah answered immediately.
“And we have certain levels of skills useful in situations like this,” Riley said with a smirk.
“You know, that Bridget woman said the same thing. I’m starting to believe your town has a skill set similar to that of a mercenary army,” Luke said as he folded the map. If only he knew how close he was to the truth.
“I have my wooden spoon,” Miss Daisy said, as she pulled a spoon from the arm of her long-sleeved dress.
“I packed my crepe pan in the trunk, just in case,” Miss Violet said as she put her hands on her ample hips.
“Well, fiddlesticks. I need my broom. No one told me we’d be back in the game,” Miss Lily complained.
Luke shook his head. “And I thought Moonshine Hollow was quirky,” he muttered as he walked out of the tent. A moment later he came back in with a picket sign telling people to keep back. “It’s not a broom, but will this work?” Luke asked Miss Lily. Her eyes lit up as she grabbed the sign that still had dirt on the sharply pointed end.
“Oh, this is perfect,” she grinned. “Let’s go.”
Hope roared through Gemma’s body. They knew where Reagan and Carter were headed, and she’d do anything to get to them first. “I’m coming, baby, hold on,” she whispered as the group marched out of the tent.
“Where are all y’all going?”
Gemma turned to see the head investigator, Martin Spizer, standing with his hands on his hips as he stared at them. Gemma smiled sweetly, but it was Porter who spoke first.
“My sister is pregnant and needs to lie down. For the sake of the baby.”
Riley put her hand on her flat belly and sighed. “The stress of knowing my twin is out there in danger is too much for me to handle in my delicate state.”
Piper snorted but hid it under a cough drawing the inspector’s attention. “And our dear great-grandmothers are very feeble in their old age. Great-grandma Lily thinks that sign is a broom. It’s the exhaustion of the day. We really need to get them to bed.”
“So I am taking them to Moonshine Hollow for the night,” Luke interjected.
“There’s not a hotel in Moonshine Hollow,” Spizer pointed out.
“No, but there’s Southern hospitality. I have places for them to stay. Unless you need my help?” Luke asked, but just like they knew would happen, the investigator shook his head.
“No, get them out of here. We’ll call you when we’ve found your son and daughter,” he said to Gemma and Kenna. Gemma saw Kenna’s lips snarl in what was probably supposed to be a smile.
“I hate that man,” she whispered to Gemma as they filed off and crammed into various cars. “He reminds me of the people back in New York.”
“That’s because he is,” DeAndre told her as they climbed into Luke’s cruiser. “Spizer was a big shot investigator and then messed up a case because he slept with a suspect. Luckily she didn’t do it, but it was enough to get him booted down from the big city and into the Chattanooga office for a probationary period.”
“How do you know that?” Luke asked.
DeAndre shrugged. “I pay attention. Now tell us about Moonshine.”
Deputy Tanner explained. “Right now I don’t have any place for you all to stay except for the jail. I’ll call around, though, and will have some place for you to sleep by the time we get there. It’s a small town, probably smaller than Keeneston, and our livelihood rests on the town’s moonshine distillery.”
“Have you spent your whole life there?” Gemma asked, trying to relax as her body demanded she do something, anything to find her daughter.
“No. I spent some time with the Knoxville PD and moved back to Moonshine a month ago,” Luke told her before pulling out his phone and making a few calls. As he found them places to stay, Gemma wondered about Reagan and Carter. Were they hurt? Were they safe? Were they scared? What she’d give to be there with them to protect them.
Before she knew it, they came to a sleepy little town. Luke pulled over in front of the only place lit up on Main Street. Light splashed out of a large window with the words Mountaineers painted on it. Inside, young men and women were drinking, playing pool, and watching television. A young couple rushed outside as Luke got out of the car.
“Oh, you poor souls,” the woman cried, wrapping her arms around Ryan, DeAndre, Kenna, and finally Gemma as she got out of the car. “My name is Maribelle, and some of y’all are going to be staying with me tonight.”