Luke walked out onto the dock, his boots hardly making a sound on the hard surface. “Could she have gone canoeing alone or with a friend?” he asked, glancing back at Ellen.
“I don’t know. What friend? For that matter, what canoe?”
He gave a curt nod. “You’re right. Resist speculating.”
“I wish we knew where that SOB Hugh Parker is. You haven’t heard back yet, have you?”
“Not on his whereabouts. I have his photo.” He jumped back onto the lawn. “Let’s have a look inside the cabin.”
“She can’t have gone far if she left the door wide open.”
Luke said nothing. Ellen realized she’d made her comment because she wanted reassurance. She wanted him to tell her there was no reason to worry about her sister, but an open cabin door meant little without further evidence.
They mounted the steps to the deck. Ellen stood aside, knowing Luke would want to go in first. She attempted a smile at him as he stepped past her but knew it didn’t happen. Her heart was beating fast, and her head spun with possibilities. What if Maggie had hurt herself? What if she had fallen in the cold water?
Stop. Just stop.
As much as Ellen didn’t want to admit it, she recognized that being here—being back in the Adirondacks for the first time since she was eighteen—was affecting her, undoubtedly contributing to her sense of foreboding, even to her physical reaction. Racing heart, clammy palms, shallow breathing.
Luke eyed her a moment. “You can wait out here if you want.”
“I’m fine. Let’s do this.”
He pulled open the screen door, then tested the main door. “It’s unlocked,” he said, pushing it open. “Maggie, it’s Luke and your sister.”
Ellen followed him inside. Maggie wasn’t in the cozy main room. Her suitcase looked as if she’d plopped it on the floor, deciding to take a walk before she unpacked.
Luke checked the two first-floor bedrooms and the bathroom.
He shook his head as he returned to the main living area. “No sign of her.”
“Luke…”
He walked to a large window overlooking the quiet lake.
Ellen stood next to him. “If Maggie went for a walk, she’ll be heading back soon. It’s getting dark, and I bet there are mosquitoes. She hates mosquitoes.”
Luke gave a curt nod. “Let’s check outside, see if we can pick up any footprints.”
“Luke, are you worried about her?”
“Getting there.”
***
They circled around the opposite side of the cabin to the driveway, then walked back out to the road, making sure to avoid trampling anything that could be of use in finding Maggie. Ellen stopped abruptly at the end of the driveway, grabbing Luke by the arm. “That’s fresh,” she said, pointing to a distinct footprint in a soft, wet spot on the edge of the road, leading away from the cabin.
Luke nodded. “It looks like a woman’s print.”
Ellen gulped in a breath. About three feet up the road was a second print. “Luke.”
“I see it,” he said.
“That wasn’t made by the same foot as this first one.”
“Give another shout for your sister,” Luke said. “Keep any worry out of your voice.”
“Maggie! Where are you?” Ellen added a frustrated laugh and kept her voice raised as she continued. “I’m ready for some New York style barbecue. What a gorgeous place.”
Luke stayed quiet and still next to her, but there was no response to Ellen’s call to her sister. He shook his head. “Let’s go up the road a little ways. It’ll be dark in another hour. Ellen…” He paused. “If we don’t find her in the next five minutes or so—”
“We’ll need to launch a formal search. I know.”
He touched her elbow. “We have no evidence of foul play. Keep that in mind.”
“I will. I am.”
Chapter 6
Luke batted a mosquito away from his head. He didn’t think it had bitten him. Hadn’t occurred to him to pack bug spray when he’d headed north. He and Ellen were about a quarter-mile past Maggie’s borrowed cabin. The road was narrower and rougher, with more embedded rocks and deeper ruts and pits. To their left, the land descended sharply to the lake, water visible here and there through tall trees. To their right were more dense woods. He figured there had to be a cabin or some kind of dwelling up ahead, or why bother with a road?
Cell phone service was marginal to nonexistent now, but Luke knew Ellen wouldn’t want to turn back and call a search party until the road ended or they could see where it did end—or, better yet, they found her sister. But he couldn’t wait much longer. He had to get a search party out here. Better to call one in too soon than too late.
And he had to call Ellen and Maggie’s father. Jack Galway needed to know he had a daughter in trouble.
Potentially.
Hair-splitting as far as Luke was concerned at this point, but he reminded himself that eccentric Maggie Galway could be off chasing butterflies. Literally, even, although Luke didn’t know if upstate New York had butterflies this time of year. For that matter, he didn’t know if Texas did.