Part Thirteen

"She's ok, Jeff. She sounded like she was ok," Matt said to his brother, laying down the phone. He wasn't sure if he was telling Jeff or just reassuring himself, but it felt good.

"I know. I could tell just from the little bit I heard," his brother answered.

"She gave us some clues. We've got to try to figure them out." Matt looked at the tracking device. The display read "Processing – please wait".

"I wonder what the reference to Dad meant?"

"She said she knew he loved that place. What place in North Carolina does Dad love?"

"Well, home of course. But I don't think that was it. He also loves to fish. He's down at the lake at least three days a week. Maybe he's holding her near a lake somewhere?"

"But then she went on to say he's usually there at Thanksgiving."

"No," Jeff corrected. "She said he's usually there around Thanksgiving. Dad wouldn't be fishing then….

"He'd be deer hunting!" Matt finished. "So, that means she's probably in the woods somewhere. That would make sense."

At the table, the tracking unit continued to flash, not ready yet to give up any information. Jeff stared at the unit, as if his intense gaze would make it work faster.

"Well," Jeff said thoughtfully, "she totally got my age wrong. Lita knows I'm not 22. I'm 24."

"So something has to do with 22 then. 22 miles from something?"

"Possibly. She said she'd hate to see my career ended at age 22 because I have a whole road of achievements ahead of me."

"So, she's in North Carolina, in the woods, 22 miles from something. Twenty-two miles from what?" Matt was perplexed, then he remembered the last clue she gave them. "The kicker has to be the bit about the cat. She asked me to check on her cat and not let her out behind her house. Jeff, you know as well as I do, Lita doesn't have a cat."

"She has a dog. That's pretty smart. There's no way Raven would know she didn't have a cat. What did she say the cat's name was again?"

"Louisa. And she was afraid she'd be out of water. Oh my god, Jeff…."

"What?"

"Lake Louisienne. She had to be referring to Lake Louisienne. And there are woods behind her house. She was saying don't let her wander into the woods. It makes perfect sense!" Matt was getting excited.

"Then that means he's hiding in…"

Just then the tracking device beeped three times and the little red light began flashing. Both brothers leaned over to view the display. "Results returned. Received call from mobile phone – Origination: Cameron, North Carolina."

"Cameron!" Matt exclaimed. "Dammit Jeff! He's been right here the entire time! C'mon, let's go get the s.o.b." Matt turned to run out the door, when his brother stopped him, reaching out with a hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on. Let's be smart about this. What are you going to do? Turn over every rock in Cameron?"

"If I have to," he said simply, hands on his hips.

"Look, first we need to call Detective Atkins. We need backup. And second,…"

"… we don't know yet exactly where in Cameron she is. I could get her hurt running off half-cocked. I know that."

"Exactly. Detective Atkins has access to helicopters and stuff. They could use their infrared cameras to search the woods a lot quicker than we could on foot."

"So, she's in the woods, close to Lake Louisienne, 22 miles from something. 22 miles from what?"

"No, no, no" Matt continued, deep in thought. "It's not 22 miles from something. She'd have no way of knowing that, given she most likely rode there in her trunk. Jeff, Lake Louisienne is on Highway 22."

"That's it!" Jeff bounced around a little bit. He was getting happier by the minute to be so close to figuring it out and getting his friend back.

"Make that call little brother. And you be sure to tell Detective Atkins that I will be a part of the ground team that goes in to get them. There's no way I won't."

"We both will," Jeff said, smiling back at his brother. "We both will."