Chapter 12
Twelve
Fueled by the thought that it might be Dylan lying bleeding on the ground, Jackson took off, running like he was on a mission, fighting through his own pain to get to whoever had been shot.
Mia ran at his side. Fleetingly, he noted she hadn’t argued, asked questions, or complained, but instead had accepted the change of plans and joined him.
Jackson stopped briefly, holding his hand up. Mia stumbled and halted beside him. She bent, hands on her knees, and breathed in deep.
He listened for a cry. A moan. Sounds of movement. Anything that would lead them to the person. Nothing.
“We should split up,” Mia whispered. “Not too much. Near enough that we can call out to each other but do a search pattern.”
It made sense. They separated and moved in a straight pattern. It would have helped if they had more than some vague noises to go on. Or if they had more people to widen the search. As it was, they were pretty blind.
Jackson’s gaze swept the ground and the surrounding foliage, searching for clues. This pattern repeated multiple times before he finally caught a glimpse of something. “Hey! Footprints. They look fresh.”
Mia returned to his side and examined them. “They do. The ground is still damp from the storm. Any footprints from before the storm would probably be washed away.”
“We should follow back to their origin, and not where they’re leading.”
She nodded. Together, they followed the path.
Jackson’s heart dropped when he saw a pair of feet sticking out from behind a tree.
Mia gasped. They approached the body, tension simmering in the air.
When they finally had a view of the individual, lying on his side, facing the other direction, Jackson sighed, the tension leaking out of him like air from a balloon.
He hated that anyone had been murdered, but from the height and bulk of the man, it definitely wasn’t one of the boys. In fact, he rather suspected it was the man who’d been shooting at them the night before.
They walked around to the front of the body.
Jackson noted the bullet hole in the center of the forehead and the wide staring eyes.
“He’s definitely dead. And look at the tear in his hoodie, near his shoulder?
I see a bandage under it. I’ll bet that’s where you shot him.
They must have been into something really bad if he didn’t go to the hospital for that.
” Plus, he knew the man was willing to kill.
“Let’s not touch anything. This is a crime scene. ”
Mia hissed. “I know him.”
Jackson’s head whipped around. He stared at her. “What?”
She looked a little dazed. “He was at the camp this summer. The one that I worked at.”
“The one that didn’t pay you?”
She blinked. “They finally did the other day. But I still haven’t heard back from them. When we get back to civilization, I’ll look up the website again. Maybe whatever was wrong with it has been fixed.”
Questions began popping up in his mind.
“Let’s take pictures of the body and the scene.” He pulled out his phone. “If his buddy comes back for him or tries to clean up, or if an animal comes through, we want the police to have a clear view of what it looked like.”
She firmed her mouth, her complexion greenish, but held it together. Again, she was proving she had more to her than he’d ever thought.
It took them another ten minutes to get enough pictures to satisfy him. He didn’t want to miss a thing. They even got the footprints leading to the scene.
“We can go now.” Jackson slipped his phone back into his side pocket. “I want to get to our vehicles. We’ll have better service there. I need to call this in and get someone to help search for my brother and Reggie.”
A thick silence fell as they trekked back to her car and his truck.
Jackson’s thoughts stayed locked on Dylan.
The violence they had witnessed in the past day convinced him that Dylan was in serious trouble.
He’d never believed his brother had run away, and now he was one hundred percent certain of it.
What had Dylan gotten himself into?
Desperate to find his brother, Jackson kept a punishing pace. Mia didn’t complain; she kept up with him. When he finally noticed her long legs were moving almost at a run, he slowed.
“Sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t mean to make you run all that way.”
She shrugged. “I’m okay. I know this is important, so I’m not about to slow you down. We have to find Dylan, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah.” He pulled out his phone. “Great, I have full service here. I can call some friends.”
Jackson called the police first. He put the phone on speaker, and he and Mia spoke with the 911 dispatcher.
She promised to send a couple of squad cars plus the coroner.
He wanted to get a search and rescue team together, but first, he needed to convince the police that his brother was truly in danger and not just a runaway.
Jackson had never been one to wait patiently. As soon as he hung up with the 911 operator, he dialed Swanny.
“Doc, what’s up?”
“Hey, Swanny. I’ve got a request to make.” As quickly as he could, he described the situation and asked if Swanny and a couple of the guys would come to the woods and help search.
Swanny’s response came instantly. “We’ll be there. You can count on us.”
“I know I can. Thanks, buddy.”
He hung up the phone. Now they had to wait.
Mia was on the phone next to him. She was talking with someone named Kay.
Of course! How could he be so selfish? She had to be frantic about her aunt. From her expression, the conversation wasn’t going the way she wanted.
“Of course I understand why you can’t stay,” Mia reassured Kay.
When the older woman had answered the phone, Mia had heard the panic in her voice.
She explained part of what had happened.
She didn’t tell her they’d been shot at, but she did tell her that Jackson had been injured and they’d needed to find shelter.
She also explained that they’d found where the boys had camped and were gathering a search team.
Kay had been very understanding, but she had relatives arriving and couldn’t stay.
Mia didn’t want to leave Jackson at this moment.
She had the feeling he’d been left to handle things on his own way too often.
She knew the feeling. But even if she were a cold-hearted woman who didn’t feel any sympathy, she was a witness to the crime scene and had to remain here, at least until the police told her she could go.
None of which she wanted Gus to hear about.
She disconnected the call and held her phone in her hand, knowing what she had to do but reluctant to do it. Finally, she gave in and dialed Jane’s number.
“What do you want?” Jane snarled in her ear. “Don’t you know civilized people don’t get up this early? I wasn’t scheduled to come over today.”
Really? Sure, she knew it was early-ish, but it was after nine. She ground her teeth. Jane always got her back up, but Mia had to be nice. She needed her. Even if Jane liked sensationalizing things.
“I need your help. I was hiking in the woods with a friend, and we found a body.”
Jackson’s head shot up. He sent her a glare hot enough to melt iron. She shook her head. I’ll explain in a minute, she mouthed.
He grunted. His gaze cooled, but he maintained a fierce frown. She was going to have to do some quick talking. She didn’t want him to think she was making light of his brother’s absence.
“Oooh, tell me more.”
Mia had known that would get Jane’s attention. Her gut twisted, and she tasted bile. It was really sick how much her cousin enjoyed other people’s pain and suffering.
“I can’t. We’re waiting for the police to show up. Listen. I know it’s early, but I need you to go and sit with Gus for a few. I’ll pay you.”
Recognition flashed across Jackson’s face so quick she doubted she’d seen it. Heat crawled up her neck. Her cheeks tingled. She turned away from him. After all they’d shared, she didn’t want to see his pity.
Jane grumbled, like Mia knew she would, but then she named her price. Mia winced. But what choice did she have?
She agreed, and Jane said she’d be at the house by ten. The phone went dead. No goodbye or closing comment. What kind of family did she have?
She turned and nearly bumped into Jackson. She jumped. “I didn’t hear you come over here.”
He ignored her comment. “What was that about? Finding a body is not a fun fact. I know you were trying to convince her, but why did you use that particular tactic?”
Sighing, she brushed her tangled hair away from her face.
“Because my family is really dysfunctional. The only way I could get Jane to watch our aunt was to bribe her. Money wasn’t enough.
But now she’ll be salivating to hear all the news.
I won’t tell her about you or Dylan.” She held a hand out in supplication.
“Nor will I tell her that we were shot at. Just what she might read in the newspaper tomorrow morning. I promise.”
For a moment, he looked like he didn’t buy her story. He might not. After all, when she’d lost their baby, or rather, when he’d thought she’d terminated the pregnancy, he hadn’t held back in sharing about it with his friends.
The anger she’d felt then reignited. How dare he?
But that had been more than ten years ago, so maybe he’d changed.
Could someone change that much? She didn’t know. Surely, most of the key players in her life had remained as cold and selfish as they’d always been. But Jackson did appear different. He still had that aura of exuberance, but the restless energy was missing.
Before she could think about it anymore, two vehicles pulled up, one after the other. The doors opened, and eight men and women spilled out. In an instant, Jackson left her side and was soon swallowed up in the group. There was some back-slapping, but mostly quiet conversation.
Mia shifted, an outsider observing Jackson with his peers.