Pain in her face almost blinded Elsie, causing her to squint as she was pulled through the woods, barely keeping her feet underneath her. She’d fought her attacker at first, refused to go with him. But the man in the ski mask had slapped her full across her face. The throbbing pain made her realize it was better to go along with him than continue to be hurt.
Willow. Where was Willow? She’d heard her growling earlier but hadn’t heard her recently.
“Quit that.” The roughened voice, muffled by the fabric of the ski mask, was indistinct and full of hatred. “You’ve caused me enough trouble. Didn’t I tell you to stop running?”
She started fighting again out of instinct, arms flailing, hoping she connected with the man in some way. He grabbed a handful of hair, and Elsie cried out in pain. Would Wyatt hear? How far could he have possibly gotten? She hadn’t yelled up until now, didn’t want to remind the attacker that she could call for help, lest he gag her. It seemed wiser to wait and only yell for help if she knew someone was actually close enough to hear.
But pain had made holding back nearly impossible. Would it help? She didn’t know.
“Shut. Up,” the man growled in her direction, yanking again at her hair, and this time Elsie kept her mouth shut. Barely.
It was hard to guess at the distance they’d gone, figuring in being dragged, but it hadn’t been many minutes after Wyatt had left that the man had opened the door of her cabin.
She forced her eyes open a little and tried to get her bearings.
“Elsie!”
Her heart flooded with relief and she closed her eyes and almost involuntarily whispered “thank you,” though she didn’t know if she was trying to talk to God or just speaking her thoughts aloud.
Before she could think anything else, the pressure on her hair was released. She stumbled back in time to see Wyatt’s fist connecting with her attacker’s jaw.
A growl and a flash of white and she saw Willow out of the corner of her eye launch herself toward the man. Her good dog had been trailing them all this time, waiting for the right moment to save her.
“Willow, come.” Elsie said the words firmly, not wanting her to be in Wyatt’s way and accidentally get one of them hurt.
Willow seemed indignant to have been taken out of the fight, but she obeyed and ran to Elsie’s side. Elsie watched as the two men continued to fight. She was fairly certain Wyatt was winning.
Finally there was no doubt. Wyatt had the other man pinned to the ground.
“Call the Troopers,” he said to her, panting from exertion.
“I don’t have my cell phone. It’s in the cabin.”
He nodded, pulled his out and tossed it in her direction. She scooped it up and made the call, quickly relaying their situation and location.
“Someone is on the way,” the dispatcher said.
Elsie hung up, then wondered briefly if she should have stayed on the line. Her gaze fell back on the man Wyatt had pinned.
“Who are you?” Elsie asked. Seeing him like this, she realized he wasn’t a mysterious voice in the woods anymore. He was a real human, just as defeatable as anyone.
Still, he must have wanted to maintain some level of power, because he wouldn’t answer her. Even after Wyatt yanked off the ski mask, he said nothing. She didn’t see anything remarkable about his features that would help her to identify him.
Worse yet, he didn’t look much older than she was. Which meant that he would have been too young to have been involved in what had happened to her all those years ago.
“You’re working for someone, right?” Wyatt asked, and Elsie waited to hear if the guy said anything.
Still, he stubbornly refused to talk.
Frustration rose within her, pressing on her temples. She wanted to make him answer but knew there was nothing she could do. She hated being powerless.
The troopers appeared faster than she’d hoped, breaking the strange tableau of Wyatt holding down the masked man, Elsie and Willow watching in silence.
They hauled the man away, and Elsie and Wyatt were alone.
“You’re okay?” she asked him, her voice quiet.
“Yeah. He doesn’t punch that hard.”
“Still.” There was so much she could say. He was still very possibly a murderer, if he’d been the one responsible for Rebecca Reyes’s death.
“I can’t believe I left you alone.” His voice was anguished. There was no other way to describe it.
“I’m okay.”
“I should never have left you. What if...?”
“Nothing happened,” Elsie insisted, then hesitated and reached up to rub her head, which still burned. “I mean, he hurt my head when he yanked my hair. And my arm is pretty bruised, but I think it’s all right. I’m fine overall.”
“I still shouldn’t have left.”
“Did your walk...” She trailed off. “...help at all?”
“I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“I told you I’m fine—”
“I don’t want to see you hurt by me.”
She stared. “Why would you hurt me?”
“I...I think I’m falling in love with you, Elsie.” His voice was steady, his face serious.
Elsie’s heart fluttered.
“I think it might be mutual,” she whispered back, leaning a little closer to him before stopping.
This time, Wyatt was the one who initiated the kiss, and it was gentle, slow and curious, his lips moving against hers carefully. Cherished. That was the word for how she felt right now.
When he broke away, Elsie wasn’t ready for it to end.
“We have to get back inside. Just in case that’s not the only guy after you.”
The worry in his tone was very real, but somehow his concern made her smile. “I’m okay. You don’t have to be so worried about me.” She meant it in multiple ways but he shrugged it off.
“Please? For me?”
If it was that important to him, she would go inside. There was no reason to make him worry unnecessarily.
At least, not yet. Because Elsie still needed to pack. The clouds were breaking up overhead, glimpses of blue showing in the sky.
This might be her chance to get back to the island and find Noelle Mason. Hopefully still alive.
And with the way things had changed over the course of this day, she might let Wyatt come with her. He’d probably worry less that way.
As they made their way through the woods back to the cabin, Elsie tried to write his concern off as paranoia. But no matter how much she tried, she knew that she’d come close to being killed several times. And one detail was still bothering her about this last attack.
The man hadn’t killed her in her cabin. He’d been hired to take her...somewhere.
But where? Why?
And who was behind it all, pulling the strings?
Chills chased down Elsie’s spine and her earlier confidence was replaced by a sense of deep foreboding and pressing anxiety. Somehow, she felt like she was close to finding out the answers to her questions. But how would they be answered? And what would happen to her if they ever were? Those were questions that haunted her.
Wyatt was right to be worried.
Because no matter how much she might want to pretend otherwise, Elsie was still not safe.
Elsie had immediately started repacking her gear when they’d arrived at her cabin, and given the fact that the weather looked like it was clearing, Wyatt had stopped trying to argue with her about her desire to go back to the island to search.
He hoped she found Noelle alive. Hoped she got her answers about her own past, and that she could live with them. The stories she’d told him were difficult to process even for him, who hadn’t been there. He couldn’t imagine how she would deal with any truths her past might hold for her.
Especially when she didn’t know God, didn’t have faith in Him to help carry her through. God, help her to know You. He hesitated over the second part of the prayer. Whatever it takes. As much as he wanted her safe, well and happy, Wyatt knew that she was none of those things if she didn’t know Jesus.
He thought about what he wanted, for everything to work out. Bad guys? Gone. Elsie? Safe. The two of them...dating? Dating Elsie in the traditional sense of how people usually dated would seem weird somehow. She was too special for something like that. No, if they ever made the world safe for her again, he’d pursue her heart, be her friend, fall in love with her a little more every day and then for the rest of his life if she’d let him. He prayed.
Within the hour they were back in the air.
“You wish you were flying, huh?” Elsie sent him a sympathetic smile and Wyatt shrugged.
“At least my head injury wasn’t worse. And I appreciate that you waited until I thought it was safe.”
“You know a lot more about flying than I do.”
She wasn’t wrong. Wyatt just grinned, shrugged a little. Elsie smiled back.
So much had changed in the last few hours. Despite the danger and the fear, having Wyatt with her was like a dream come true. A dream she hadn’t even known she’d harbored. She’d always assumed that she would be alone. It had been how she’d lived most of her life and she’d never let herself wonder what it would be like to depend on someone else.
Wyatt himself was unexpected, but incredible. He’d grown so much from the handsome, unattainable boy of her teenage crush.
Wyatt reached for her hand, and she enjoyed the feeling of his warm fingers wrapped around hers. Now it was time to focus on finding Noelle.
All the way to the airport, they’d worked out a plan. There was another beach on the island, more remote, on the other side. They’d always landed at the main beach, where most hikers had boats or planes drop them off, so this time they’d start at the other.
There were two reasons for this. First, Elsie wanted the element of surprise. Whoever was after her might expect them to continue using the main beach, so there was a chance they’d arrive undetected.
Second, they’d come up empty too many times. Willow would find a trail and then it would go cold. She wasn’t sure if it would do any good, but Elsie hoped that changing the location where they started their search would help.
“You ready?” Wyatt looked at her and Elsie felt her confidence grow. All of the stress of the last few days had focused within her, giving her the drive to finish this search.
She could feel it. They were going to find this woman. Today.
“I’m ready.” Beside her, Willow’s eyes flashed. Today, they were both as ready as they could be.
Still, Wyatt looked uneasy. She laid a hand over his. “Don’t worry.”
Wyatt’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, but he was trying. She’d give him that.
The plane descended toward the island, the ocean seeming to rise to meet them. Her heart skipped a beat or two. It was time. No more planning. No more wondering if her new approach to the search would be successful.
As the plane touched down on the ocean waves, Elsie took a deep breath. The start of a search was sometimes chaos. Coordinates. Points last seen. Victim profile. The noise could get overwhelming, but then when the work started for the day, when it was her and her dog in the woods, everything was quiet. Fully focused.
It was time.
They grabbed their packs and climbed out of the small plane. As they organized their gear, the pilot took off again. He would be back for them in six hours, if all went according to plan.
“All right, boss. What do you want me to do?” he asked.
She took a deep breath, put her shoulders back. “Much will be the same as last time. Keep an eye out, have my back. We are looking for areas where a person with only casual wilderness skills would go.” She’d finally made more of a profile and thought that Noelle would likely have taken more established trails. They’d spent time the last few days walking through thicker woods, and while Willow had been able to catch the scent several times, she’d lost it also.
This new approach was going to help. Elsie was sure of it. She felt bolder, too, with the knowledge that whoever had been after her was possibly out of the picture. Even if, as they suspected, the man had been hired muscle, hopefully whoever was actually after her would not have had time to regroup. Everything was lining up for them this time. “Let’s go,” she said to Wyatt, taking a deep breath and heading to the woods in front of them.
Where the other side of the island boasted a trail that gradually led up, this one began with an immediate, drastic climb. It was steep enough in places that Elsie started to second-guess herself and wonder if Willow was going to be hindered in her movement, but her dog exceeded her expectations once again. Elsie reached up to get a grip on the rocky edge of the steep face they were climbing, needing three points of contact here where the rock was slick and wet.
“You okay?” Wyatt called from behind her.
“I’m good.” This was far from the most difficult terrain she’d covered.
Following Willow, they made their way upward until they’d reached the top of a ridgeline. The island below unfolded before them, woods thicker in some places than others, so many variations of green almost overwhelming Elsie’s eyes in their vibrancy. This spot provided a lookout of the entire island.
One of the most common decisions people made was to get to a good vantage point where they could see. Up here, Elsie felt organized, committed to her plan.
Had Noelle then gotten lost after she’d been here, or had someone intercepted her?
“Where would she be now?” she whispered aloud.
“What was that?” Wyatt asked.
Elsie shook her head. “If someone took her, where would they have gone? Are they even still on the island?”
Thinking like a lost person was one thing; it was an integral part of her job. But thinking like a criminal... She wasn’t used to that.
“It would depend on why she was taken,” Wyatt pointed out.
“All right, Willow. I’m flying blind here.” She bent down to her dog, who came forward to meet her. Rubbing the soft fur of her face, Elsie leaned forward until her forehead was resting on her dog’s head, both of them sitting in stillness. Refocusing.
“You’ve got this, right?” she whispered.
Willow seemed to nudge her, that deep, inexplicable understanding that some dogs had with their owners.
“What’s the plan?” Wyatt asked her as she stood.
She shook her head slowly, took a deep breath. “This is Willow’s time to shine. She’s got it, I’m sure she does.”