Gabe
Dinner was getting cold. Okay, “dinner” might be a bit of a stretch. I’d thrown together sandwiches and assembled a salad kit, but compared to my usual dinner of Pop Tarts, beef jerky, and protein bars, this felt downright gourmet.
But Sabrina still wasn’t here.
And she hadn’t called.
The snow was really coming down now, which always made me nervous. As mayor, I saw each flake as danger, cleanup, and yet another crisis to manage. And this late in the season, when our salt reserves and plow budgets had already been maxed out, it became a financial concern as well.
So I picked up the phone and did something a little ridiculous.
Nolan grunted in greeting when he answered.
“You still at the station?” I asked, also forgoing formalities.
“When am I not?”
Fair.
“Can you look out your window and see if Sabrina’s car is still in the library parking lot? Black G-Wagon. Can’t miss it.”
“I know her car.” His chair squeaked, and then a door opened. “No,” he said a moment later. “Parking lot’s empty. She probably went home; snow’s picking up.”
“She was supposed to be here a while ago,” I said, pacing the kitchen. “And she’s not answering her phone.”
My hand shook as I held my own phone to my ear. Why was I getting so worked up? She was a grown woman.
Yet I had this strange feeling that something was wrong, and it grew stronger by the minute.
Nolan sighed. “Don’t panic. I’m heading out. I’ll do a loop around town and report back.”
“Thanks. I don’t know how to describe it, but I have this feeling…”
He inhaled sharply. “I’ll radio the patrols. See if anyone has seen her car. That stupid expensive thing sticks out around here.”
“Thanks.”
Sabrina was an excellent communicator. And after she ghosted me the other day and we’d talked things out, she wouldn’t just blow me off without contacting me.
I held my phone in front of me, considering whether I should call her mother.
She would hate it if I did, but maybe she’d gone home instead.
Or maybe she’d gone to Nina’s or stopped to run an errand.
Dead phone battery? Flat tire? Grocery store? Chatting with someone in the parking lot? Sitting in her car listening to a sad song? My brain searched for any plausible, safe scenario. But none made me feel better.
Fuck it. I was allowed to be worried. I loved this woman and she was carrying our child. Maybe my behavior was unhinged, but I didn’t think I cared. If anyone would know where she was, it was the TAP team. So I pulled up a group text thread.
Gabe:
Did the TAP meeting go long? Sabrina was supposed to be here an hour ago.
Harper:
No. We wrapped around 4.
Laurie:
I sent her over to visit Marigold. She could be there.
Marigold:
Nah, I kicked her out before Wheel. She should be home by now.
Nina:
Her phone may have died. She’s always on it.
Harper:
This isn’t like her. I gave her a battery bank so she could keep her phone charged.
Laurie:
I just called her and it goes straight to voicemail. I’m worried.
My throat was painfully tight. Where could she have gone? Maplewood was a small town, and most stores were already closed because of the snow.
Maybe she was avoiding me. But even that didn’t fit. Not after our talk. She was far more likely to show up here and yell at me. I’d walked around for a full week with a shiner from the last time.
My phone dinged again, and I unlocked it with a shaky finger.
Meg:
Fuck.
I think I might know.
As the dots on the screen appeared and disappeared, I held my breath. Then my phone rang.
“She’s doing something stupid,” Meg blurted as I brought the device to my ear. “Don’t freak out.”
“It’s way too late for that,” I yelled.
“It’s a long story, but we’ve been looking into the Will McManus murder and putting together some pieces. I found some things in corporate files after a very light and totally ethical email hack. I may have also gotten my hands on some metadata from municipal records and GPS fleet logs—”
“Meg,” I growled. “Get to the point, please. Where is she?”
“Right, sorry.” She blew out a breath. “I’ll spare you the corporate espionage backstory.
” She typed quickly, then said, “She’s probably headed up to McManus Ridge.
The property where the maple co-op storage facility used to be located.
We discovered pings in that area from vehicles and recent electrical use.
The new working theory is that Will McManus was murdered there. ”
My muscles froze as my stomach dropped. Shit. She was in danger. Alarm bells went off in my head.
“She thinks Will may have hid evidence there.”
“Evidence?” I croaked. “Evidence of what? You sent her to an abandoned property off an unpaved road to look for evidence in a snowstorm?”
“I did not send her,” she said, her tone annoyingly calm. “You know Sabrina.”
“You know Sabrina,” I growled, “and you know that’s exactly what she would do.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, fuck.”
The typing ramped up. It sounded like she was punching the keyboard. “I can pull telemetry.”
“What?”
“Her car,” she hissed.
“You can track her car?”
“I can track anything if I care enough. And I’m pulling it up right—” She gasped. “Oh no.”
“What?” I could barely breathe.
“The GPS signal dropped. Shit.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means she’s out of service range or…” She sighed. “Or the vehicle stopped transmitting data. But don’t worry. I’ll check road cameras.”
“There are no cameras up there.”
“Shit. We’ve got to mobilize search and rescue support, then,” she said, still typing. “I’ve got a last ping here nineteen minutes ago.”
Nineteen minutes. Jesus, she could be dead by now.
“Where?” I asked as I stepped into my shoes.
“Route 411 access road.”
The snow was falling heavily, making it nearly impossible to even see the road from my living room windows.
“The National Weather Service is reporting poor visibility, wind gusts over forty, and icy conditions.”
“I live here. I know,” I snapped. “Call the police; notify EMS. I’m going out there.”
“On it. Don’t do anything reckless.”
Not possible. I’d do what I had to do, no matter the danger, to find Sabrina. I’d fight Betsy Ross if needed. But I wasn’t even two feet outside my door when Nolan pulled up.
“Anything?” I shouted, stomping toward him.
“No,” he said. “But one of my deputies said he saw her car heading north on 63 a while ago.”
“Meg is tracking her. She was on 411 twenty minutes ago, but the signal’s lost.”
Nolan froze. “Uh, 411?”
I didn’t have time to explain, so I shook my head and yanked open his door. “I’ll drive; you call the fire department. We’ll probably need the snowmobiles.”
“Head to the station first,” he instructed as he rounded the hood. “We’ve got to go in prepared.”
“No,” I said, shifting into drive. “I’m not leaving her out there alone any longer than I have to.”
The snow clung to the windshield as we crawled out of town.
I wanted to floor it, to fly there, but the tires were barely gripping the road as it was.
I hated every single person who questioned why last year’s snow budget was so high.
Every person who needled me into scaling back this year.
I would personally slap each and every one who whined about the extra seven dollars on their tax bill.
Beside me, Nolan barked orders into his phone, mobilizing the entire town.
“Mark Fitzgerald is on his way,” he said.
“They’re the closest farm and he’s the best snowmobile racer we’ve got.
Chief Ashburn has an engine heading that way with rescue sleds, and she sent Jasper ahead with the ambulance.
Josh is coming with one of his big UTVs, so he can probably move faster than we can. ”
I nodded. Thank fuck for my cousins and my friends and the people of this town. Maybe I wouldn’t slap them all. Because if we were going to find Sabrina in this weather, it would be with the combined power of Maplewood.
As I approached the turn onto old Route 411, I hit the brakes a little too hard and skidded a bit before straightening out.
“Shit, man, don’t kill us.” Nolan clutched the oh-shit handle. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you drive.”
Ignoring him, I followed the somewhat fresh tracks in the snow.
She was up here. I knew it. We ascended the curving road slowly, watching for any activity or signs of distress.
But all we found was dark forest in every direction.
Eventually, after going around a sharp bend, we came upon snowmobiles and a UTV.
Josh waved at us as we inched closer, flashlight in hand. I stopped in the middle of the road and jumped out, then darted for where he stood, scanning the snowbank.
I squinted, my eyes stinging as icy blasts of wind pummeled us. Josh elbowed me and pointed. I was met with endless snow and tree trunks, but then, below the drop-off, was a faint glow of a taillight.
I took off, ignoring Josh and Nolan as they shouted at me.
The snow was waist deep by the time I got down over the shoulder, but the roof of the car was visible. Around it, broken branches and bits of cracked black plastic and metal were scattered everywhere. Fuck, she was here, and she needed me.
The farther I got, the deeper the snow was. Behind me, the sound of engines and sirens were barely audible over the howling wind.
“Sabrina,” I screamed, my voice cracking against the bitter wind. “Sabrina.”
I didn’t know if I’d even hear her if she called. Not over the sound of my breath sawing in and out of my lungs.
But as I approached, I heard her voice.
My legs propelled me through the last of the snow and I used my hands to dig out the driver’s side door. She sat on the other side, her face covered in blood, looking terrified.
Eventually I wrenched the door open and lunged for her.
“Sabrina,” I said, holding her to my chest.
“You came,” she said softly.
“Don’t ever do this to me again.”
My hands shook furiously as I tried to unbuckle her seat belt.
“I’m fine,” she insisted weakly.
“The blood on your head says otherwise. The entire Maplewood first response team is up there waiting for you. Oh my God. I’m so happy you’re okay.”
“I think I almost solved a murder,” she said, her speech a little slurred. “But then I crashed. No, wait. Someone hit me.”
My heart plummeted to the snowy ground. “Someone hit you?”
Before she could respond, a blinding light shone over us.
Jasper was coming down the hill with a rescue sled with a harness. At the top of the road, several large lights had been set up.
“Don’t move,” he instructed. “I need to assess you for injuries.”
“I’m fine,” Sabrina called.
“Don’t fucking move, Monroe,” I growled.
She stared up at me, her eyes watery. Fuck, I wanted to grab her and kiss her until she promised to never leave my sight again.
Jasper shooed me away and checked her pupils and used the flashlight to give her a cursory inspection, asking about abdominal pain and movement and instructing her to wiggle her fingers and toes.
“Patient alert,” he said into his radio. “Going to get her onto the sled. Full range of motion, but a minor head injury. Need to review concussion protocol.”
The radio crackled. “Understood. Ready to pull her up when you are.”
He pushed the seat back and gently lifted her, then secured her to the rescue sled.
“You,” he said, pointing at me. “Need to be assessed for frostbite.”
“What?”
“Man, you aren’t even wearing a coat and you’ve been digging in the snow with bare hands.”
I looked down at my hands, discovering they were red and cracked, and for the first time, I started to feel cold. “You’ll ride up with me. Just let me get my patient up first.”
I nodded and let him work. He and his team were careful and efficient and got her up to the ambulance relatively quickly.
Then we ascended the slope, me hanging on to his back like we were kids again and were out riding through the forest together. The wind hit me, and I realized I was indeed wearing a T-shirt in a snowstorm.
I was not prepared for the commotion on the road. Half a dozen vehicles had shown up, along with several snowmobiles and what looked like half the town. Someone was passing around a thermos of coffee and Mrs. Fitzgerald rushed toward me and wrapped a rescue blanket around my shoulders.
“Where is she?” I whipped my head one way, then the other.
Jasper took my elbow. “In the rig. We’ve called it in. The hospital will have a fetal monitor waiting. They just have to take her vitals before we go.”
I jogged through the snow toward the ambulance, thanking and acknowledging the folks I passed. Walt and Harry were plowing the road back to Route 63 to make it easier for the ambulance, and several others were clearing the tree branches out of the roadway.
My heart swelled. This was my town. These were my people. And they were out here in the dark, braving the frigid temps in the middle of a snowstorm.
Sabrina was already giving the paramedics attitude.
“I’m fine,” she said as one strapped a blood pressure cuff onto her while another cleaned the cut on her forehead.
“She’s not.” I jumped into the ambulance and leaned down to kiss her. “You are in trouble,” I said, putting my hand on her stomach. “You drove into a damn blizzard.”
“To get evidence,” she argued weakly.
I kissed her again. “You could have died.”
“Says the man who jumped into a snowbank wearing a T-shirt.”
“To rescue my woman and my unborn baby,” I growled.
A feral grin spread across her face.
“Guys. Keep it PG, for Christ’s sake,” Jasper shouted. “Sit down, Gabe. If you damage my ambulance, I’ll make sure Ashburn bills you.”
I sat in the seat across from the paramedic and buckled the seat belt, and once Jasper confirmed the gurney was locked in, I clutched Sabrina’s hand and kissed her knuckles.
As we drove along the dark, bumpy roads, exhaustion hit me like a logging truck. Tears welled in my eyes as I examined the woman I loved, bloody and wrapped in blankets and strapped onto a gurney.
I pressed my lips to her knuckles again, unable to stop the tears.
“I thought I lost you,” I croaked.
“You found me.” She stroked my face with her free hand. “I was so scared, but I knew you would come.”