Her eyes filled again, and she turned to snatch another tissue from the box, using it to wipe her eyes and dab at her nose. He strained to hear when she spoke. “Sometimes I don’t understand it myself. I want to see the kids, I do.” Her eyes were earnest when they met his. “But then I just can’t seem to dredge up the energy for it.”
“Are you ill? I mean physically ill? I haven’t heard from you since last summer.”
She shook her head, eyes downcast. “I’m still working through the depression. It takes time, you know.”
She sounded defensive, and he didn’t want this attempt at conversation to dissolve into mutual frustration. He tried to remember techniques for communicating with the kids that he’d learned from their family counselor, but he was so stressed that he pretty much had to fall back on just being himself. “I’m not implying it doesn’t take time. I’m just trying to understand why you feel like you don’t have the energy for seeing your kids.”
“It saps your energy, trying to find the right medicine, the right dose, working in counseling.”
“It’s been a year.”
“I know that.” Anger flared, giving her voice some oomph. “For what it’s worth, I’ve been making progress. I was making plans to contact you to try to arrange a visit with them. And then this.”
And then this.
This was the unspeakable, the unthinkable—the police called it a stranger abduction. Their child, their Sophie. He couldn’t let his mind explore it, much less put it into words. He felt his own rage against Olivia build. She was the one person Sophie longed to see, to be with, to touch; and yet as a mother, she’d let the time slip away. Because she didn’t have the energy for it?
He fought to control his temper. “You’re right, we shouldn’t talk about this now.”
She studied his face.
He figured she knew him well enough to read his feelings, and he’d had enough. “I need to go out again and join the search.”
“Cole, what do you know about this Mrs. Gibbs? Could she have anything to do with Sophie’s disappearance?”
He stiffened. “Trust me. Mrs. Gibbs has nothing to do with it.”
He turned to head upstairs to check in with Jessie and Angela before he left.
“You’re leaving now?”
He paused and turned back to her. “I’ll be in town. You can reach me on my cell phone.”
“Oh, yes. Nothing ever changes.”
He turned and left her, not wanting to say something he’d regret.
Chapter 23
Friday Morning, 3:00 AM
When Mattie had left the briefing room, Brody told her that a volunteer had spotted the Heath Nissan Pathfinder near Reynolds Pass, on a jeep trail west of town, high up in the national forest.
She drove her Explorer while Brody rode shotgun, following the volunteer’s directions, counting miles and turnoffs after leaving the highway. The dirt roads climbed ever upward and finally, they’d reached the rough, two-track trail that should lead them to their destination.
Mattie slowed to a crawl, and her SUV jolted over stones and potholes. She focused on the precarious trail in the headlights, gripping the steering wheel as she angled between low-hanging pine boughs that scraped the sides of her car. Old snowdrifts, dirty and half melted from spring runoff, spattered the trail, creating slick spots.
She was amazed that anyone had located the Heath vehicle way back in here. It spoke to the dedication of the volunteers.
Brody had been an easy companion, quiet except to give navigational input and directions. Thank goodness for that—she was about tapped out and needed time to pull herself together so that she could focus on the task at hand. She didn’t know why the news that Cole’s ex-wife was in town had stunned her. It wasn’t like she’d planned a future with Cole and his family. Nothing like that. In fact, she’d worked hard to keep dreams like that out of her mind.
She thought what bothered her most was Angie’s aversion to going home because her mother was there. It shouldn’t be like that. Families should cling together and support each other in times like these.
Then she thought of the way she avoided her brother, Willie. But that was different. The Cobb family didn’t know the meaning of family support. She couldn’t dwell on that now, so she switched her thoughts to the road and how to keep from damaging a tire on the sharp edges of half-buried rocks.
After what seemed like forever, the red reflection of taillights winked in the beam of her headlights. Soon she caught sight of the silver Pathfinder she’d seen in town, bearing the license plate she now had memorized, parked by the side of the trail. She pulled in behind it. Robo popped up in back, yawning, having awoken when the movement ceased.
“Let’s take a look,” Brody said, opening his door.
The volunteer had reported that no one appeared to be in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle, and she and Brody didn’t know how far away the men might be. Maybe they hiked from the vehicle to camp somewhere.
“Is a permit needed to camp here?” she asked.
“Nah. It’s legal to camp in this area.”
Cold air washed over her as she left the warmth of the Explorer. She thought the temperature must be in the midthirties at this altitude, and it seemed an unlikely time for camping up this high.
She and Brody walked around the vehicle, noting the B. F. Goodrich stamp on the tires. TKO. Using their flashlights, they squatted behind the rear tires to inspect the tread. Mattie pulled out her cell phone to compare the photo she’d taken of the tire tracks. “Looks like a match to me.”
“Close enough. Gives us a reason to question ’em.”
“When we find them.” Her breath lingered in the air as she spoke.
She shone her flashlight around the area, taking in the dense forest of pine and spruce that surrounded them, along with boulders and half-melted snowdrifts. They’d parked on a ridge, and there was a sheer drop-off to her left where she could see the tops of aspen and spindly pine.
She strode to the back of the Explorer and opened the door to Robo’s compartment. She took a few minutes to prepare him and then asked him to search for Sophie.
He swept the area, alternating nose to the ground and to the air. She directed him to focus on the exterior of the Pathfinder, and he sniffed everything she asked, but not once did he indicate a find. Her hopes plummeted.
Brody straightened, scanning the ground with his flashlight. “We’ll never be able to track them in the dark. Let’s hunker down inside your car while we wait for sunrise. They won’t come back here tonight, but we’ll keep an eye open just in case. I can take first watch.”
“Robo can track them in the dark.”
“Maybe so, but this terrain is rugged, and there’s no trail. I’m not excited about breaking an ankle out here while we stumble around.”
“What if they took Sophie Walker? We’ve got to find her!”
“Use common sense. We can’t help her if one of us gets hurt. And Robo didn’t find her scent anywhere.”
“What if they carried her?” Mattie checked her service weapon, making sure it was loaded and ready. “I’m going.”
She turned and led Robo back toward the driver’s side of the Pathfinder, where he could pick up the driver’s scent on the ground. As she started the chatter to rev up her dog, she could hear Brody cursing behind her.
“Here, Robo. Scent this,” she said, combined with a gesture toward the ground by the Pathfinder.