Chapter 56
56
ASHER
“It was probably just an animal.” Despite the snow, there must still be some roaming around. Deer, perhaps. Although, surely, most would be safe in their den.
“It sounded like a twig breaking under someone’s foot.” Summer sounded nervous, and I didn’t blame her. We were so isolated out here that our imaginations could easily run wild.
“It would be difficult for anyone to hide out here,” I pointed out. Perhaps in warmer months, but for now, it would be almost impossible for someone to sneak up on us. The trees were bare, and any shrubs had already been covered with snow. A person moving between them would stand out against the barren landscape.
She cocked her head, listening for something. “But not impossible.”
I jammed my hands into my pockets and wrapped one around the radio. “Whoever took Marcy is surely too busy to be running around out here with us.”
Unless they left her alone somewhere. We couldn’t rule that out. Anyone willing to kidnap a baby clearly didn’t care much about their wellbeing.
“The sooner we get to the cabin, the faster we can go back to the car,” I reminded her, taking a few more steps along the trail, grateful when she followed my lead.
We rounded a corner, and the cabin appeared before us. My immediate thought was that it looked abandoned, but some of the snow had been disturbed. I held out my hand to stop Summer.
“Remember what Connor said about not approaching if anything looks out of place. No one should have been here, but it looks like a snowmobile or an ATV was parked out front until recently. Let’s radio it in.”
She nodded.
We ducked back around the corner. Anyone inside may still be able to see us, but we’d be partially hidden by the trees. I raised the radio to my lips and reported our findings to Connor.
“I’ll touch base with Nate.” His electronic voice was startlingly loud in the silent forest. “He’ll send someone out.”
“We need to go,” Summer murmured. “This doesn’t feel right.”
I ended the conversation with Connor, and we hurried up the trail together to the Ute. She unlocked it with trembling hands and climbed in.
“Are you all right to drive?” I asked.
“Yeah.” A breath rattled between her lips. “Just give me a minute.”
I rounded the hood and got in. She hadn’t started the engine yet, so it was almost as cold in the car as it had been outside. Summer slotted the key into the ignition and turned it.
Nothing happened.
She tried again. The engine turned over once and then died.
Nerves gathered in the pit of my gut. As she tried a third time, her hands were shaking.
“It’s probably just the cold,” I said, despite my misgivings.
She huffed. “I’ve never had trouble getting it to start in the cold before.”
I pulled the radio back out of my pocket. “Connor,” I said into the device.
“Report,” he barked back.
“Summer’s Ute isn’t working. We’ll need a lift out of here.”
“The police will bring you back when they come around to check the building.”
“Thanks.”
I dropped the radio onto my lap and turned to Summer with a reassurance on the tip of my tongue. Unfortunately, at that moment, a gust of wind buffeted the Ute, throwing us both forward. I caught myself on the dashboard, wincing as a pain shot through one of my wrists.
“Are you okay?” I asked Summer, who’d hit her face against the steering wheel. Blood flowed over her lips and dripped off her chin. “Fuck.”
I searched the glove compartment for tissues but found only a wad of unused napkins. I passed them to her, and she balled them up and held them against her nostrils.
“Can I?” I asked, reaching for her.
“Yeah.”
I felt along the length of her nose with my thumb and forefinger as gently as I could. “I don’t think it’s broken. Hopefully the bleeding won’t last long.”
“I really don’t—” Another gust of wind tossed us forward, cutting her off mid-sentence. I clutched the seat and Summer braced herself, taking most of the impact with her shoulder.
“Buckle up,” I called over the shrieking wind. “This could get dangerous.”
Snow pelted the window, falling so thickly, I couldn’t even see the gap through the trees anymore. The world was a wall of white.
She struggled to pull the belt on while keeping the napkins in place, so I helped, looping the belt over her shoulder and beneath her arm. I clicked my own into place just in time for the Ute to rock forward again.
An ear-splitting crack almost stopped my heart. I met Summer’s eyes and together, we looked over our shoulders just as a massive tree thumped against the earth only a few feet behind the Ute.
Summer screamed.
My heart raced and I grabbed her hand. I stared in disbelief at the massive trunk. It was half the height of the vehicle and spanned the full width of the road.
Another crack, and I flinched, my gut clenching at the realization it had started a chain reaction. The tree had fallen onto another, which slowly fell sideways into another.
How were we supposed to get out of here now?
Even if the Ute did work, the road was blocked, and the trees, while bare, were too dense to drive between. Assuming we somehow managed to get back out to the road, driving in this wind could be catastrophic.
We couldn’t stay here though. Not when there was every chance the next tree might land on us.
“We need to move,” I told Summer, thinking quickly. “Somewhere the trees won’t hit us.”
“There weren’t any directly around the cabin,” she said, staring rigidly through the windshield, obviously terrified.
“Were the lights on?” I asked.
“Not that I noticed.”
“I didn’t see any transportation either, and there’s no garage. If someone was here, they’re probably gone. Let’s see if we can shelter on the porch.”
I released her hand, and she grabbed her purse. We both unbuckled the seat belts, and I picked up the radio and slid a first aid kit from beneath the front seat.
We glanced at each other, as if silently asking whether we were really going to do this, and then by unspoken agreement, opened the doors and pushed our way out. As soon as I shut the door, the wind whipped at my clothing and nearly took my feet out from under me.
I pocketed the radio and tucked the first aid kit under one arm. Summer met me at the front of the Ute, and we linked arms and lowered our heads, squinting through the snow as we made our way toward the trail. My foot connected with a root or rock, and I stumbled, but she righted me. My eyes stung.
It seemed to take forever for the cabin to come into view. The disturbance in the snow we’d noted earlier was almost invisible now.
“We need to check no one is there first,” I shouted, hoping she could hear me.
She allowed me to lead her around the side of the building. There was no sign of a snowmobile, motorcycle, or anything else someone could have used to get here. I exhaled sharply, relief loosening the knots in my back. Since we hadn’t come across any vehicles on the way here, we had to assume the place was empty.
Moving carefully, we climbed a small slope to the rear of the cabin and looked in through the window. It was difficult to see much inside, but it certainly appeared to be unoccupied.
We continued around the cabin to the front and huddled beneath the roof that jutted out above the entrance. I fumbled with the radio.
“Connor? A tree has come down behind the Ute,” I told him, my fingers frozen where they gripped the handheld device.
“Damn.” The transmission cut out for a minute, and then Connor said, “When they get to you, you’ll have to leave it there and come back for it when the weather clears. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. I have good news.”
“What?” Unless someone was already waiting on the other side of that tree with their heater blasting and a thermos full of coffee waiting for us, I wasn’t sure I cared.
“The police found Marcy.”
My jaw dropped. “Could you repeat that?”
Summer leaned closer to the radio as if she, too, needed confirmation of what he’d said.
“We have Marcy.” Connor’s words came through loud and clear. “We found her abandoned behind the information center. She’s on the way to Frannie right now, and Max is going to check her over.”
I slumped against the door. “Thank God.”
“Is the cabin unlocked?” Connor asked, moving on to more practical matters.
I looked at Summer, who shrugged. She disentangled herself from me and turned the handle. The door opened.
“Yes, it is,” I confirmed.
“Good. Go inside. Someone will come to get you, but it won’t be the police since Marcy has already been found. They’re diverting all their resources to investigating the area where she was discovered.”
“Thanks, Connor.”
He signed out.
“Are you sure we should go in?” Summer asked.
I pushed the door open wider. “If we stay out here, we risk getting hypothermia. We need to get warm.”
I walked inside, and to my surprise, the cabin didn’t smell musty. A bench ran along two walls, with a table in the corner and a fireplace in the center of the space. A kitchen counter took up the third wall. A chill skated down my spine at the sight of several rows of cans and dehydrated meals arranged on top.
They weren’t dusty. Someone had been here recently.
I rounded the corner and held up my hand to stop Summer. There, in front of a bunk bed, stood a crib with a familiar, blue plush bear inside.