Chapter 22
Wyatt waited until Daisy had her coat on and her bag over her shoulder before he stood and asked, “Where are you going?”
“To a friend’s place in Waynesboro.” She glanced between them. “I know it probably seems like I’m overreacting. I just want to be safe. I’m not going to feel that way staying here alone.”
“Go,” Wyatt said. “Don’t stop on the way, and call us when you arrive. Please.”
Daisy nodded once and looked at Kori. “I hope you find Mackenzie. I mean that. And I’m sorry I stood you up earlier. I couldn’t help but think that man might follow me. And if he caught me alone . . . I wasn’t sure what he’d do.”
Kori nodded. “It was probably a smart choice. Thank you for talking to us.”
Wyatt held the door and followed Daisy outside. He walked her to her car, a small red hatchback. Then he stood on the sidewalk while she loaded her bag into the back and started the engine.
She pulled away without looking back.
He watched her taillights until they turned the corner and disappeared.
Then he looked up and down the street for any signs of danger.
Nothing moved. No figures waited in doorways. No cars sat too long at the curb.
“Let’s get you back to Hollow House,” he told Kori. “I’ll follow you there.”
She didn’t argue.
They climbed into their vehicles and pulled away.
Three blocks passed, then four. As they did, worry sloshed inside him—as well as something else he couldn’t identify.
He’d worked plenty of search and rescue cases. But this one hit him differently.
He was almost at Hollow House when he registered what he was feeling.
It wasn’t the professional concern a park ranger should have for a civilian involved in a dangerous situation. He felt something less defined and entirely more inconvenient.
He didn’t examine the feeling further. There was no reason to.
He had professional boundaries to keep in place. Even if he didn’t, Kori would eventually leave Blue Ridge Hollow. He would stay.
Their lives weren’t compatible.
Just like he and Brynn weren’t compatible.
He pulled to a stop and put his window down.
After Kori parked, she walked toward him and leaned inside. “I’ll see you in the morning?”
“I’ll pick you up at 6:30.”
Her gaze lingered on him a moment before she murmured, “Thanks.”
“Get some rest, Kori.”
She nodded and stepped away.
Wyatt searched for a reason to keep talking to her. An excuse to go inside. To continue their conversation.
But there were none.
The smartest thing he could do right now was to leave.
Kori punched in the code and pushed through the front door of Hollow House.
Inside was quiet. No television murmured in the distance or footsteps sounded overhead.
A note had been taped to the front desk:
At book club. Will return at ten. Call me if you need anything.
Kori headed down the hall to her room.
She was thinking about the look in Wyatt’s eyes when he’d said goodbye. There was something about it that stayed in her mind long after he’d departed.
She wasn’t sure what.
She barely knew the man. Yet circumstances had made her feel a quick attachment. If she was smart, she’d forget the feeling. Forget the look in his eyes.
Once she found Mackenzie, she was leaving. The last place she wanted to be was here in Blue Ridge Hollow with her memories of Flint and the betrayal that followed.
No, she had a nice life in DC. She needed to go back to that.
However . . . even though she’d taken personal leave and had asked for privacy, she was still fielding calls from her office and from clients. Apparently, privacy wasn’t a thing when you were a defense lawyer.
Was this really what she wanted for her future?
She’d been so certain it was. But now she wasn’t sure.
She didn’t know what had changed. Had Mackenzie’s disappearance put her life in perspective? Had it shown her what was important?
But hadn’t that happened when her parents died? It was when she’d thrown herself into her job. But was there more to life than just work?
Before she could think about it anymore, she reached the door to her room and saw it was slightly ajar.
She stopped.
She was certain she’d pulled it shut earlier. Had Maggie come inside to clean and forgotten to close it? It was a possibility.
Kori slowly pushed it open.
The air left her lungs.
Her drawers had been pulled from the dresser and upended on the floor. The sheets had been ripped from her bed. The closet doors were open.
Everything had been searched.
Her pulse pounded harder.
Had the person who’d done this found what they were looking for? Or were they just trying to send a message?
She wasn’t sure.
As she took another step into the room, the mirror near the door caught her eye.
Something had been drawn on it using what looked like a black marker.
A circle with a flaming tree inside it.