Ellie stared at him in stunned silence. Someone else was watching Ava?
“Who are you talking about?” she asked in a raw voice.
He coughed, his body jerking as he slipped into unconsciousness.
Derrick knelt to check for a pulse. “He’s still alive. Call an ambulance.”
Ellie lowered her gun while Derrick grabbed rags from the kitchen and pressed them to Nolan’s chest. “I’ll apply pressure. You search the place.”
Ellie called for help and told the 911 operator to have the medics come the direct route as she opened the door to the cabin’s only other room, which obviously served as the bedroom. It was bare apart from an old sleeping bag.
She shined her light into the closet but found nothing, so returned to the small living room and kitchen. Quickly checking the pantry, she saw an old bag of flour ripped open by critters, along with a metal tin of oil, bugs crawling along the empty shelves.
A small old-fashioned refrigerator sat in the corner, rusted and stained on the outside. A stench filled the space, mingling with the metallic tang of Nolan’s blood pooling on the floor.
Holding her breath, she maneuvered around him and Derrick to the refrigerator. Shoulders tense, she pulled the door open, and was nearly knocked over by a fishy stench. She slammed it closed in a hurry.
“No sign of Ava,” Ellie said. “I’ll call an Evidence Response Team. Cord can lead the medics here. Then I’ll check Grueler’s vehicle.”
“How did he drive up here if we couldn’t make it?” Derrick asked.
“Like I said, there’s an alternate route from the other side of the mountain,” Cord said. “We took the short cut. But he might have come in that way so the caretaker of the cabins wouldn’t see him.”
Which meant he was hiding something. Ellie hurried outside. Maybe she’d find something inside his car to lead them to Ava.