Harley and Jericho exchanged glances. Miller’s Creek was in the opposite direction.
“Maybe someone picked them up,” Jericho said.
She nodded. “Orlando’s onto something.”
“He’s not infallible.”
She picked up an edge to his voice. “Jericho—”
“Just saying that he’s got ... he’s got a little PTSD from the avalanche, so...” His mouth tightened around the edges as he said it.
“Team Two to Base,” Sully’s voice crackled. “We’re closest. Moving to investigate.”
And it hit her then. “What didn’t you tell me about the avalanche, JB?” She kept her voice soft.
He shook his head. “Leave it.”
Orlando stopped suddenly, head up, testing the air. The wind had died, leaving the forest preternaturally still. Even the ravens had gone quiet.
“What is it, boy?” Jericho moved closer, watching his dog. “What do you smell?”
Orlando whined, then moved forward more slowly, deliberate.
And that’s when the hair rose on the back of Harley’s neck. Hello, she’d been a PI and a cop long enough to listen to her gut. “Jericho—”
“He’s caught something,” he murmured. “But it’s not what we’re—”
A branch snapped somewhere ahead of them.
Orlando froze and a low growl rumbled in his chest.
And right then ...Why,oh why didn’t she bring hergun? Even her pellet gun.“Maybe it’s a moose.”
“That’s not funny.”
She wasn’t kidding, actually.
“Orlando, heel,” Jericho said in a low voice. The dog backed up slowly, still growling. Another branch snapped, closer this time.
“Base”—Harley keyed her radio, keeping her voice low—“we’ve got something up here. Orlando’s alerting, but not for our missing persons.”
Static crackled.
“What’s your position?” Deke.
She checked the GPS. “About a mile northeast of the ditch site, through the woods—”
Orlando’s growl deepened into a bark. Sharp. Warning.
Through the trees ahead, something moved.
A form detached itself from the deeper shadows of the spruce—too fluid for a moose, too deliberate for a bear. A human shape, bulky, in winter gear.
“Harley, get behind—”
“Sheriff’s department!” she called out, her voice carrying in the crystalline air. “Identify yourself!”
The figure stopped. Then, slowly, a man stepped out of the shadows.