Henry blanched. “No, man, just...no.”
Noelle dropped her hold on him. She wanted to get outside and take a look around that parking lot. “If you think of anything else, let us know.”
“I’ll get the shovel.”
“I’ll get it,” Thomas said. “We don’t want to destroy any evidence that might be left on it.”
“I used it all day,” Henry said as he hurried down the narrow aisle that led to the kitchen. “I didn’t think... I used it all damn day.”
Noelle turned away from the men. Her gaze fixed on the diner’s windows. If Henry had been working in the kitchen when Jenny was taken, no, he wouldn’t have been able to see anything at all out there.
She headed for the front door. The bell jingled again. Noelle shoved her hands into the jacket pockets and glanced around the diner.
Noelle tried to picture Jenny in her mind. Jenny’s mother had brought a photograph of the girl to the station, and Jenny had certainly looked a lot like the images of the other girls they’d found.
A lot like me.
Jenny would’ve been working on that little sidewalk area. Excited and nervous because it was her first day. If someone had approached her, she would’ve just thought it was a customer, coming in early.
So you would’ve talked with him. Let him get close.
Close enough for him to attack her.
One set of footprints...
Her gaze slid to the right, toward the parking lot. The perp would’ve needed to be strong enough to carry Jenny away. And skilled enough to make sure Jenny never had the chance to cry out for help.
Noelle headed toward that parking lot. It was empty now, and the trees that surrounded the area swooped forward, arching in close.
It was a bitterly cold night, and the wilderness stretched as far as Noelle’s eyes could see. If Jenny was out there, she could freeze to death during the night.
Provided the man who took her didn’t kill her first.
Before she’d left the station, Noelle had heard the weather report come in—a bad winter storm was expected. Heavy snowfall. No one should be out on a night like this one, not with the storm coming. It was supposed to hit strongly just after midnight.
I don’t want to find Jenny’s frozen body tomorrow. I don’t want to be the one who has to look into her mother’s tear-filled eyes and tell her that her daughter isn’t coming home again.
A twig snapped, the sound coming from the darkness about twenty feet in front of Noelle. She tensed as adrenaline flooded through her body. That sound could’ve been caused by an animal. It could’ve been caused by anything.
Even a perp who’d come back to the scene of his crime.
Noelle raced forward. Animal or man, she was about to find out exactly who she was dealing with out there. Her hands flew up, and she shoved aside the bushes in her path. She yanked out the flashlight she’d pushed into her coat earlier, and she whipped it up, shining the light.
No one was there.
At least, no one she saw.
But Noelle heard the rush of thudding footsteps, fleeing to the right.
She lunged that direction, but her feet got caught in something, and she twisted, falling down hard. Her left hand shoved into the snow and touched rough, frozen fabric. She yanked it up.
A scarf?
“Noelle!” Thomas’s shout seemed to shake the trees.
She could still hear footfalls. She shined her light down. The snow was falling once more, but...
I see them.
She could see the outline left by a pair of boots. It wasn’t an animal who’d been watching her in the darkness.
Was the scarf Jenny’s? Maybe the perp hadn’t taken Jenny away in a car. Maybe he’d just carried her off. Maybe Jenny was closer than they realized.
“Thomas, follow me!” Noelle called, and she didn’t pause any longer. She raced right after that trail of footprints. The snow would just keep falling as the storm swept in and, soon, would obliterate the tracks. She couldn’t let that watcher get away—not until she found out who the individual was and why that person was in the woods.
The innocent don’t run.
But this guy was sure fleeing fast.
So she just had to be faster.
Chapter Five
Noelle had vanished into the woods. Thomas swore as he gave chase, shining his flashlight on the ground so he could follow her footprints.
He didn’t know why she was running off, but he sure wasn’t about to let her head out alone. Whatever she’d seen, Noelle was desperate to follow that lead.
And he was desperate to follow her.
His feet pounded into the snow. His boots were sinking into the soft fall, and the suction made every step that much harder.
He threw a fast glance over his shoulder. He couldn’t see the lights from the diner, not anymore. There was darkness all around him and—
He glanced forward and his light hit Noelle. She stood in the middle of a clearing, with one of her hands locked around a flashlight and the other hand around her gun. Since she’d lost her own weapon in the icy water, she’d gotten that gun from the sheriff.
“There are two sets of tracks here,” she said, voice tense.
His light flashed to the ground. “Who are we following? Did you get an ID on—”
“I didn’t see him. I heard him, and I followed his footprints, but there are two sets now.”
Two sets, which appeared to be the same size and shape.
“We have to split up,” Noelle said, her words tumbling out. “I think the perp took Jenny into the woods. He didn’t drive away with her. He carried her off. He’s out here now, watching us.”
Leaving a trail for them to follow?
Thomas’s light fell over those prints again. The snowfall was getting harder.
“They’ll be covered soon.” She surged to the right. “You go left. I’ll—”
He grabbed her arm, stopping her. “This is a trap.” He knew it with certainty because he’d laid similar traps before.
Two sets of footprints to throw off those who pursued. To divide them up.
To make the attack easier.
“No, no, he’s here. I heard him.” She twisted her hand, trying to break loose from his hold and the light from her flashlight bobbed. But he didn’t let her go. He couldn’t. “Jenny won’t survive if she’s out in the open! We have to follow him, now!” She tugged again. “You go left. I’ll go right.”
He didn’t let her go anywhere. “There’s more snow to the left.” The tracks were covered just a bit more. Because those tracks had been placed earlier? “We both go right.”