“Have you talked with Anya Yamamoto yet?” Mattie asked.
“Yes. She confirmed Miss Howard was missing this morning,” McCoy said. “She believes that Adrienne went hiking yesterday afternoon, which is also Deputy Brody’s opinion.”
Rainbow’s too, Mattie thought.
Brody pointed to the next item: Massage Therapy Clients—Cole Walker. This point surprised Mattie. She didn’t know Cole was involved at the hot springs.
“Adrienne has been working with Walker at his clinic, doing massage on horses,” Brody said. “She was scheduled to be there at three o’clock this afternoon, and he called in after she didn’t show. We don’t know for sure yet, but this means she might’ve gone on a stable or farm call yesterday afternoon instead of a hike. Adrienne keeps her own horse client schedule, and no one else seems to be privy to it. Walker is putting together a list of clients for us to contact. We’ll follow up to see if she had an appointment with any of them or if she mentioned where she might be yesterday afternoon to anyone.”
“When will we have that list?” Mattie asked.
“Any time now. He planned to call each one to skirt around confidentiality issues.”
Mattie nodded. “Maybe we can get someone at the hot springs to do the same. We should interview all of Adrienne’s clients. Who knows what they discuss during a session? Maybe one of them will have a lead.”
“I’ll call Anya Yamamoto and suggest it,” McCoy said.
Brody added Massage Therapy Clients—Hot Springs to the board.
Mattie thought of something else. “What about her cell phone, Brody?”
“I’m not sure where it is. She always keeps it with her.”
“I’ll see if Ms. Yamamoto can find it at the hot springs,” McCoy said. “Any other ideas for next steps?”
“I have a few more trailheads to check for her car,” Brody said.
“Have you alerted the forest rangers on that BOLO? Sandy Benson and her crew were the ones who found Grace Hartman’s car for us,” Mattie said.
“Yes, I spoke with Ranger Benson,” McCoy said. “They’re on it.”
Mattie looked at Brody, taking in his haggard appearance. “With all due respect, it’s important for you to get some sleep tonight, Brody. Tell Benson where you want the rangers to search and then go home. Once we find that car, we’re going to need you on the ground. Not everyone can take on those hiking trails, you know. You and Johnson are the only ones who can keep up with Robo and me.”
Brody straightened and stared at her hard. She stared right back at him.
“Deputy Cobb’s right,” McCoy said. “We need to employ all the help we’ve got, and the rangers can take over searching the trailheads into the wilderness area. Now, is there anything else we should discuss?”
The thought crossed Mattie’s mind that there was still a possibility that the woman had decided to rabbit on her own, but she kept it to herself. It appeared she was the only one in the room who had doubts. Sheriff McCoy took the utilization of resources seriously, and his commitment appeared to be 100 percent. She remained silent.
“Deputy Cobb, call Dr. Walker and see if he has some people you can interview,” McCoy said. “Let’s get started on that list.”
“I’ll call Benson,” Brody said.
“You need to go home, Deputy Brody,” McCoy said. “We’ll notify you if we get a serious lead.”
Brody didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to write Cell Phone on the dry-erase board.
“Tomorrow I’m going to establish a tip line and run it through the front desk. The weekly paper will run the ad in the morning,” McCoy said.
Mattie nodded and prepared to leave, looking down at her partner. During the discussion, Robo had lain near her feet and followed their conversation with pricked ears.
“You ready to roll, Robo?” she asked.
He scrambled to his feet and followed her out to the lobby where Rainbow still sat at the dispatcher’s desk, her reddened eyes dark with fatigue.
“Why are you working the night shift?” Mattie asked her.
“Sam Corns couldn’t come in tonight.”
“You can turn it over to the answering service, can’t you?”
Rainbow shook her head. “I can’t take that chance. Someone might call in about Adrienne. Unless it’s an emergency, we wouldn’t get the message until morning.”
Mattie paused and took a long look at her friend. Usually perky and dressed in flowing garments, today she wore a T-shirt and khakis, her blonde hair scraped back in a ponytail with wispy strands falling down. Rainbow had brought Mattie soups and casseroles while she was recuperating from an injury she’d sustained when making a dangerous arrest last August. If there was any woman in this town she could call a friend, Rainbow would be the one.
Until recently, Mattie had believed friendships were like baggage, and she’d preferred to travel light through life. Lately, though, she’d allowed a few people to breach the walls she’d put up around herself. She cared about Rainbow and hated to see her so distressed.
“Notify the answering service to call me if anything comes in,” Mattie said. “Then go home and get some sleep. We need you on the day shift. Sheriff McCoy says a tip line will be advertised in tomorrow’s paper.”
A tear slipped down Rainbow’s cheek. She blotted it with a tissue she held ready and looked away. “I just can’t keep myself from imagining her out there in the forest somewhere, hurt and suffering. I’m so afraid for her.”
Mattie reached out and put her hand on Rainbow’s arm. “Worrying like that isn’t going to help. Being here to answer the phone tomorrow will.”
Rainbow dabbed her eyes, looking down at her lap. “You’re right. I’ll make sure the answering service knows to call you on your cell phone.”
“Perfect.” Mattie withdrew her hand.
“I promise I’ll stay on this until we find her, Rainbow. Robo and I will do everything we can to bring Adrienne home.”
Rainbow gave her a thin smile. “I can’t tell you how much better I feel, just knowing you’re back home. If anyone can find her out there, you two can.”
The K-9 unit’s reputation for tracking had been elevated last summer. Mattie hoped that under these new circumstances, Rainbow’s confidence in them wouldn’t be misplaced.
After saying good-night, she went to the staff office to call Cole. She swiped to her contacts list and tapped on his number.
“Hello, Mattie,” he answered. “I heard you were coming back tonight.”
He sounded happy to hear from her, and something gave her heart a squeeze. “And I heard you’re helping us get leads on people who might know something about Adrienne Howard.”
“Angie and I are working on that right now. Almost done.”
“Good. I want to get some names and numbers from you so I can get started.”
“All right. Here goes.” Cole dictated the first part of his list while Mattie recorded the information.
“I didn’t know that Adrienne was working with you,” she said when they finished.
“She’s working with some of my clients’ horses. Volunteering for now, but I think she plans to expand her career in that direction eventually.”
“Do you think she was seeing a client yesterday afternoon?” Mattie asked.
“So far every client I’ve called has told me ‘no’ to that question. I don’t track her schedule, though, so I don’t know.”
“Her friends think she might have gone hiking.” Mattie wondered how well Cole knew Adrienne. “Do you know anything about where she might have gone?”