I shook my head, not wanting to tell him.
“Goldie…”
“It’s not much.”
“Not muchis better than thenothingwe currently have.”
He had a point.
I dragged in a harsh breath. “It was dark. He was riding after Declan and his friends, keeping off the path so they wouldn’t see him. His bike hit a hole here, and he flipped over. His candy bucket spilled. He scraped his palms to hell when he landed. If you find traces of blood, they’re probably his.” I stared at the oily black bike chain, hanging limply off its track. “The chain fell off. He didn’t know how to get it back on, so he left the bike behind.”
Cade waited. He was still holding me, his arms warm and strong, his firm chest supporting my limp frame. This many visions in one day was taking a heavy toll on both my body and my mind. I could barely hold my head up. It would take a while before I was ready to attempt something as vigorous as standing.
“He continued into the woods on foot,” I said, still seeing Rory’s image in my head. “After the older kids. He wanted to sneak up on them. Scare them, while they were telling ghost stories. To prove he wasn’t a baby.”
I looked into the tree line. The woods were thick at the perimeter, and only got thicker as you moved deeper toward the clearing where Declan and his friends had gathered that night. Cade had told me on the drive here that the tracking dogs were already being deployed throughout the area, but it could take days to cover it all.
It was more than just a matter of searching the hundreds of acres of trees, ferns, and foliage. One side of those woods backed up to a sheer rock face which dropped several hundred feet down into a century-old stone quarry; the other side eroded into a thick wetland of tidal marshes. In between, there were streams and ponds, creeks and rivers — the biggest of which flowed straight out into the Atlantic.
A large area of difficult terrain. Not ideal to begin with; even less ideal when factoring in that it was already twilight.
They’d be searching in the dark.
My thoughts moved to little Annie Thurman. Lost out there for nearly a week. She’d come back alive, but forever changed. I didn’t want that fate for Rory. For Declan. For Georgia. I didn’t want to live in a world without Rory O’Banion’s happy giggle, his mile-a-minute chatter, his quick-fired questions. I wanted him back at The Sea Witch with me, complaining about the broken waffle machine and debating whether or not Pluto should be reinstated as a planet.
Cade’s mouth brushed my temple. “We’re going to find him, Imogen.”
“Alive?” I couldn’t help asking, my voice shattered by exhaustion and grief. “Unharmed?”
Cade didn’t answer.
And that, in its terrible way, was answer enough.
* * *
Cade brought me back to his house, kissed me hard beneath the porch light, then turned right back around to join the search in the woods. Socks and I stood in the doorway, watching him leave. The set of his shoulders was determined as he strode to his SUV, climbed inside, and roared away.
He did not look back. He didn’t even flash his headlights. He was in detective mode, laser-focused now that they had an actual lead to follow and a proper lock on the location.
He hadn’t had a full night of rest in days, but he wasn’t about to take a break. Time was of the essence. And, given the chance, Cade Hightower would put others’ needs before his own every time.
“Your Dad is pretty awesome,” I told Socks. “Did you know that?”
His tongue lolled happily out one side of his mouth. I took this as confirmation.
“Yeah, I guess you do.” I rubbed his floppy ears. “Come on, we have laundry to do and dinner to eat. I’m going to order a pizza. I’m guessing you’re going with kibble again?”
He whined softly.
I took that as ayes.
“How about a walk around the block before dinner?”
He barked and jumped up, recognizing the wordwalk. I grinned at him as I retrieved his leash.
“Inquiring minds want to know: what are your thoughts on cuddling? You’ve been sleeping on my feet the past few nights, which is nice, but I think we’re ready to take it to the next level…”
He barked again as I clipped on his leash and led him to the back door.