A/N Here's the next chapter as promised. Thank you for all your lovely reviews.

Chapter 14

The call came as they were almost to the scene of their next case. It was Jane's cell phone that rang.

"Hello?"

"Oh thank heavens, Patrick this is Abigail. Emma's gone missing."

"What? When?"

Lisbon turned questioningly at Jane's change of tone.

"Nearly an hour ago. Something happened at school this morning. We dropped her off and the students said she was there but her teacher never saw her. They've searched the entire school. Oh Patrick, what do we do?"

Lisbon had pulled over at this point. She sent a quick message to Cho who was driving the other vehicle, telling them to continue to the scene.

"Emma's missing." Jane offered. "I have to get there."

Lisbon just nodded and turned the SUV around.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." He told Emma's grandmother. "The best thing you can do is wait at home. It's the most likely place she'll go. While you're there, scrounge up some recent photographs of Emma for the police. They'll be asking for them soon enough."

Lisbon made a few phone calls by the time she pulled up to the unloading area of Sacramento airport. "I have you booked on the ten o'clock flight. I have to handle this case but I'll join you as soon as I can."

Jane barely registered her words. Lisbon noted Jane's wild expression, usually only reserved for cases involving Red John. When he moved to exit the vehicle, Lisbon grabbed his left arm.

"Jane."

He turned around.

"She'll be okay." Lisbon squeezed his hand when she couldn't think of anything else to say.

Jane nodded but she could tell he didn't share her confidence. He closed the door and disappeared through the sliding glass doors.

His plane touched down early in the afternoon. The snow blowing around outside turned Jane's fears into a solid heap of lead inside of his stomach. At the gate, he found Abigail waiting for him. No doubt Lisbon called her.

"George is at home. I couldn't just sit around and do nothing."

Jane noticed the tremble in the woman's hands and in a swift unfamiliar gesture, he enveloped her in a hug, for her benefit or his he wasn't entirely sure.

He had no luggage so they went to Mrs. Brooks car.

"I'll drive." Jane said, remembering Abigail's slight quiver. "Do they know anything yet?" He asked, turning the ignition.

"Not much. A couple of kids admitted to teasing Emma about something. It seems as if she got upset and just ran out of the room. I don't understand why no one saw her leaving."

"Where was the teacher?"

"Apparently she had morning bus duty. The teacher from the neighboring classroom was supposed to keep an eye on the students."

"They checked the barn right?" Jane figured that would be the first place Emma would go since the barn was across the street from the school.

"Yeah, no sign of Emma there though they're keeping an officer there in case she shows up."

"What about the horses?"

Abigail looked confused.

"Did they check to see if all the horses were there?"

"I… Emma wouldn't…" Abigail stopped, realizing they hadn't checked on Mystic. She pulled out her phone and dialed her husband. There was an officer posted at the house, Abigail knew.

It took another ten minutes for the officer to contact the man stationed at the barn. A quick look inside of the barn confirmed that Mystic was indeed missing.

Jane turned on to the highway south but got off two exits before the school. Mrs. Brooks began to protest when he pulled into their driveway.

"I'm coming to the barn with you." She insisted.

"You'll be no good to Emma there. Do you even know how to ride a horse?"

"Well, no but I should be there if…"

Jane interrupted her. "We will find her and as soon as we do, you'll be the first to hear about it but if she's not at the barn and they find her somewhere else, this is the best place for them to find you."

Abigail nodded reluctantly.

"Have them call in Emma's riding instructor." Jane told her as she slid out of the passenger seat. "We could probably use the other horses to search for Emma and she may have an idea what direction a rider might go."

Mrs. Brooks agreed to make the call as soon as she was inside.

"Please, find her Patrick. You two seem to have some strange connection. If anyone can find her, you can."

Jane nodded. "I'll do my best." He backed the car out of the driveway as soon as Abigail had shut the passenger door.

Ms. Sara Casey, Emma's riding instructor and the stable's owner arrived just as Jane was pulling into the gravel lot. News had spread that the horse was gone so a search team was being assembled. Ms. Casey saddled the remaining horses. There were five in all with Sara taking one since she knew the trails better than all of them and Jane insisting on riding along as well. Two officers and a paramedic took the remaining three horses. They were the first team to set up but there were two more being gathered as soon as the two dogs from the local k-9 unit arrived.

"Do you have a jacket or something Mr. Jane?" The instructor asked. If it weren't for the dire circumstances, she would have laughed at the man perched upon the horse dressed in a crisp 3-piece suit.

"I'm fine." He said. "Let's go."

Sara suggested they take the path that ran along the river for it was the longest and they could travel further distances with the horses. They all started calling Emma's name, pausing every quarter mile or so to listen.

The snow was lighter under the tree cover though it didn't lesson Jane's anxiety in the least. All he kept thinking was Emma was supposed to be safe. She had moved to the other side of the country, away from him and his demons. This wasn't supposed to happen, not again.

Jane's cell rang. It was Lisbon.

"Any word?" She asked.

"No, we haven't found her yet but Mystic is gone."

"Who?"

"The horse Emma rides. We think she took him out on one of the trails. It's where we're looking at the moment."

"How's the weather?"

"Cold, and it's snowing." Jane swallowed. "Emma lived in California most of her life. She doesn't know how to handle this kind of climate."

"She's also strong Jane, we both know that."

He didn't reply.

"I've handed off the case to another team so I'll be out there as soon as I can."

"Okay."

He hung up the phone as his small group called to listen for any sign of Emma. The only thing Jane could hear was the eerie silence that came with snowfall and the faint sound of running water in the distance. He shivered in the frigid air, only then realizing how cold it really was with only a thin suit jacket separating him from the elements.

The trail met the river a little less than five miles in and then followed it along for another eight or so miles. Jane and one of the officers remained on the trail. The other officer and the paramedic took the far side of the river. Sara, having the most experience, led her own horse into the frigid water. In a line, they walked the twists and turns of the river at a slow pace, calling out to Emma as they went.

Jane was worried they wouldn't be able to hear the child's cries above the rush of the water but he buried his fears and continued on. The group was creeping along a particularly large bend in the river when they heard it; Not a child's cry but the distant whinny of a horse. Mystic.

When Jane spotted the brown mare, standing on the bank of the river on his side, he dismounted his horse and sprinted over to it. His breaths were coming out in frequent bursts of visible vapor by the time he reached the animal. Grabbing the reigns of the lone horse, Jane turned in a full circle, looking for any signs of the child.

"Emma!" He cried, peering into the woods beyond and then back at the swirling water.

"Anything?" The officer across the bank asked.

Jane spun again in another frantic 360-degree turn, willing his mind to hone in on anything that would give him a clue of Emma's whereabouts.

"Here!" Sara called from somewhere past where Jane was standing.

Jane ran to where Sara had called, with the officer trailing at his heels.

"What did you find?" The officer asked but Jane could see what Sara had found before she even replied.

Blood. Just on the shore, and less than a foot from the water. It wasn't a significant amount but any amount was enough to send Jane's mind into a tailspin. He pushed away the ebbing hysteria that threatened to surface. He looked at Sara.

"She get thrown from the horse?" He hated to ask but that's where the clues seemed to be headed.

"That would be my guess." She confirmed. "Mystic is a little spooked around running water. I never would have let someone with Emma's experience ride him out here knowing that. "

Jane didn't have enough will to reassure Sara of her own innocence in the matter. "So what now? There's no way to know if she climbed out here and went into the woods or…" He couldn't make himself voice the alternative.

"We should split up." The officer who had been traveling with Jane suggested. Ms. Casey and Officer Gleason, check the surrounding woods while you, the paramedic and I take the river." The reasoning behind the suggested split was obvious and everyone silently agreed.

Before the groups split, they coordinated their radio channels and agreed to check in with one another in ten minute intervals.

Jane was anxious to get moving. "Call us if you find anything." He knew he didn't have to speak the obvious but he did anyway.

Sara nodded as she fastened Mystic's reigns to her own horse's saddle. Then, she and Officer Gleason disappeared into the trees.

Jane remounted his own horse and moved closer to the river.

The other two riders moved across the shallowest part of the river. "We'll take the other side."

Ten minutes in exactly, Jane pressed the button on his radio. "This is Jane checking in. Anything?"

"Nothing from our end," came Sara's reply. "I don't even see any signs of movement up here at all. You?"

"Nothing yet." Jane gave his horse a light tap to get it moving faster. "I'll check back in, in ten."

Another mile down river, Jane noticed something blocking the entire stretch of the river.

"What's that?" He asked pointing.

"Beaver dam," The officer supplied. "They clog up the river. Rangers have to come down and take them apart to keep the river flowing. It's a real pain."

Jane didn't think anything of significant size could possibly make it past the massive beaver dam. He pulled on his horse's reigns to signal the animal to stop. The river was wider before the dam. Clearly, the beavers were experts at halting the flow of water so it piled up behind the wall of logs and branches. Jane had to blink twice when he spotted something pink, on or near one of the particularly large logs.

The small jacket was mostly submerged in the water but one sleeve wad caught around the branch of a particularly large log near the middle of the beaver dam.

Please no, Jane thought as he sat frozen momentarily in his seat.

TBC

I'm back and I've brought with me wonderful cliffies! Haha. Next chapter coming up...eventually ;o)