Red by Kait Nolan

were unstable and were just going to pick back
up where I’d stopped you. I wanted to make sure you got home
okay.”
    Well didn’t that sound reasonable? It was
exactly the kind of logical explanation a stalker would come up
with.
    “ And disappearing like some
kind of ghost and playing the creepy stalker was a preferable
alternative to actually walking me home?”
    “ Would you have let me?” he
countered.
    Okay, no, I wouldn’t, because I’d thought
him every bit as unstable as he’d thought me. “That’s not the
point.”
    “ What is the point, Elodie? I screwed up.
I admit it. I freaked you out and followed you home all while
trying to do the right thing. End of story.”
    My head hurt from trying to analyze his
scent and tone and words. He was angry, but not enraged. Defensive,
but who wouldn’t be against such charges? Sitting next to him in
silence, the whole thing felt stupid. He probably was telling the
truth. A nice person probably would have followed a presumably
unstable person home just to make sure they got there without
killing themselves. Right?
    Before I could make any kind of reply—as if
there was an appropriate reply for this situation, we turned into
the parking area beside the trailhead, suddenly confronted by
dozens of cars and milling people.
    “ Something’s up,” said
Sawyer.
    In a glance I took in the half dozen dogs
and the deputies from the Sheriff’s Department. “That’s the K-9
Search and Rescue Unit. Somebody’s missing.”
    He wheeled into a space beside a park
ranger’s truck and I leapt out, striding over to where a series of
tables had been set up with radio equipment, coffee, and snacks. I
recognized Eileen Nichols manning the home base and organizing the
tracking log. A dispatcher for the county, I’d known Eileen for
years because of Dad’s job with the fire department. As she
finished giving orders to the assembled K-9 unit, I looked around
to see if Dad was here. He was still on duty at the fire station,
but that didn’t necessarily mean he hadn’t been called in for this.
Eileen dismissed the assorted dogs and their handlers. I waited
until she’d finished making notations in the log before I stepped
up.
    “ Oh good. Somebody on the
phone tree got you.” Eileen glanced over my shoulder, raised a
brow. “And you brought reinforcements. Even better.”
    I didn’t bother to look as Sawyer stepped up
behind me.
    “ I didn’t get the call,” I
told her. “What’s going on?”
    “ Missing kids. One your
age. You probably know him. Rich Phillips and his little sister
Molly.”
    My mouth dropped open. “What happened?”
    “ His truck was found at the
trailhead by patrol at dawn, and his parents say he didn’t come
home last night. Last anybody saw him was when he picked Molly up
from her Junior Explorers hike yesterday around 4:30.”
    “ His truck was at Hansen’s
when I passed by a bit after 5 yesterday. There might be something
on the security cameras,” I told her.
    “ We’ll get somebody to
check, see if we can verify when he left and if anybody else was
with him. Your dad’s already out in the field with Eddie
Richenbach, but I can radio to find out their position if you’d
like to join in,” said Eileen.
    “ No!” I said. God, the last
thing I needed to do was run into my dad right now. “There’s no
need to pull him from the search or hold him up waiting for me.
Where is he?”
    She tapped a finger on his last reported
location and showed me his assigned sector.
    “ And what’s not currently
being covered?”
    She pointed to a couple of other areas. “Can
you search?”
    I hesitated, spotting Dr. McGrath and the
rest of the team on the far side of the parking lot, talking to a
couple of park rangers. “Not sure yet. I’m technically working
right now.”
    “ That’s right. Your dad
said you were working as a guide this summer. Well, I know you
won’t steer anybody wrong. You keep your eyes peeled out there
today for that