Chapter Thirty-Six
Several hours had passed since Bonnie had gone missing and they had been searching the whole time. No one could find her. The dogs were searching but then they lost her tracks.
Rogan was currently in the house, pulling out maps of the surrounding areas so they could mark off where they had been. They needed to find her and fast. The night had already come and it was cold outside.
He knew from the little clothing she wore in the video she had to be cold. Was she all right? Was she continuing to move or had she stopped? Everything in Rogan hoped she hadn’t stopped. She needed to continue to move to keep warm, no matter how much she wanted to give up. But he didn”t know if she knew those things.
Had she hurt herself? Was she bleeding and in pain? Rogan knew she didn”t handle pain well and he was worried. What if she was attracting animals with the scent of her blood?
“Why the fuck haven”t we found her yet?” Rogan yelled as Lucius and Angelo walked in.
“We”re going to find her,” Lucius said. “Do you have anything else we could use with her scent on it?”
Rogan nodded his head. There was her pillowcase she snuggled up to all the time at night. Call him a creep for watching her sleep through the cameras. He wanted to make sure she was safe and he only did it briefly. She always looked so peaceful.
“Raynar, can you go get her pillowcase?” he asked with a sigh. They needed to find her and soon. “She couldn”t have gotten far,” Rogan said. “She isn”t a fast walker and it”s dark outside.”
“We”ll find her soon,” Lucius promised.
“Nothing can happen to her,” Rogan whispered. “She”s my life. Raynar and Bonnie are my life and I can”t lose her now.”
Lucius and Angelo stared at him in shock, which only annoyed him. Now was not the time to be shocked about what he was saying. Bonnie was out in the forest somewhere, scared out of her mind.
“Not the fucking time!” he growled.
“We”ll find her. Why don”t we look to see where we”ve searched. Then we can have the majority of the people looking at the new areas and a couple people looking through what we”ve already looked at,” Angelo said.
“Did she message you at all after you left?” Lucius asked.
“She did, but I was talking to you and had my phone on silent. I quickly sent her a message, but it wasn’t great. I needed to think things through. It was dumb of me, and something I wish I could take back but I can”t,” Rogan said. “But none of the texts were about her leaving or where she was going.”
“Okay,” Lucius said. “That”s alright. You”ll have plenty of time to make it up to her when we find her.”
“I would”ve stopped and texted her,” Angelo muttered.
“If you have something to fucking say, then say it to my face. Don”t mutter it under your breath,” Rogan barked at him. “I know I made a fucking mistake. We”re all human here and we all make mistakes. Some we regret more than others and me not replying is one that will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
“Sorry.” Angelo looked down at the map.
Rogan took a deep breath. He needed to calm down and start to think clearly. She was still out there and nowhere to be found. Had someone helped her? Who would even be on his property?
“I”ve got the pillowcase,” Raynar said as he walked into the living room.
“Thank you.” Rogan took it from him, and held it to his face, breathing in her sweet scent. “Before I give these to the dogs, we need to figure out where we”ve already searched and where we haven”t.”
“That should be easy,” Lucius said. “We”ve been all over these areas surrounding the house and this area here.” He was pointing to the map as he talked.
“We”ll need to look there again,” Angelo said. “Like you said earlier, she could have moved and we don”t want to miss her.”
“Once we give the dogs the stronger scent to follow, it should be easier to find her,” Rogan agreed.
Rogan looked at the whole forest they hadn”t looked through yet. He hoped she wasn”t there at all. He didn”t know how she would have gotten there so fast, but maybe she did.
“Ready?” Rogan looked up at Angelo. “We”ll stick together with one of the dogs.”
“Ready.”
All three of them got up and walked toward the front door. Rogan turned back at the last second, making eye contact with Raynar.
“We”ll be back soon with her. Have everything ready,” he gently said. “And don”t worry. We”ll get her.”
Rogan could see the worry and tears in Raynar”s eyes. He’d been an emotional wreck since he found out Bonnie had disappeared. They all had, but Raynar especially. That was one of the reasons why Rogan had asked him to stay back at the house. He wasn”t thinking straight and Rogan knew he didn”t want other people to see him cry.
He walked out of the house and back toward the lead dog.
“I”ve got a pillowcase with a stronger scent,” Rogan said to its handler. “We”ll follow you.”
“Yes, Boss,” the man replied.
Rogan handed over the pillowcase and let the dog sniff it several times. The dog started to sniff the ground, following her scent. All three of them followed as he walked into the forest. They had flashlights turned on so they could see where they were going.
Please find her.
All Rogan wanted was to find her.
After several minutes of the dog sniffing and walking around, he started to bark and took off running. Rogan shined his light in the distance and his heart sank at what he saw where the animal stopped. Someone was laying on the cold hard ground of the forest.
Shit.