A/N: Thanks again for supporting me this work and forgive all my mistakes...I don't own anything but them...Yes, Sam is in this chapter at the end and more so in the next chapter. I think the reason why no notifications are being sent out is because it's a crossover story. Crossover stories are displayed in a separate crossover section of the site. So, unless you are following me as an author or following the story, I don't know if Fanfictiondotnet will update you. Plus, I was reading and left a review for another story, and the site did not post my review. It's frustrating, but it's free, so I can't complain.

Sixteen

A helicopter flew over the search area as Cedes finally was able to find the incident commander. She heard dogs barking in the distance, the searchers below already hard at work.

The snow wasn't much deeper than it had been, which was a small blessing. Though the windchill was still frigid, apparently a hot meteorologist on channel ten had promised sun and lots of it. Hopefully, it would warm up as the day wore on.

"Commander," she said as she stepped up to a very tall and very busy state officer holding a radio and clipboard. Commander Ken Tanaka stood as tall as his position would imply.

He glanced down and took her hand. "It's good to see you out here, Sheriff."

"Thank you for coming out and getting this SAR going so quickly."

He surveyed the surroundings. "Yesterday would have been better while the trail was fresh before last night's blizzard. I just wished we'd known earlier in the day."

"How much time do I get to keep you before you have to pack up and leave?"

He dropped his gaze as though afraid to give her the bad news. "I can't imagine we'll find this kid alive, Cedes. Two nights in these conditions? If he weren't disabled, maybe, but . . ."

"I know," she said, turning away so he couldn't see her tears. "But he's really smart, Ken."

"I'm going to give you two days, and then we'll have to pack it in."

She nodded but decided to press her luck with every ounce of strength she had. She knew how much these search and recoveries cost. Budget was always a concern in California, and when weighing the cost against the odds, the cost usually won because of the state's wildfires and other natural disasters.

"I'll tell you what. If you can add two more days, I'll give you a home-cooked meal."

"You can cook?"

"Some things when I have the time which is not a lot lately, but my mom is the best cook around this area."

His laughter was promising. Cedes held her breath as he thought about it. "Three. It's the best I can do, but you have to keep a woman named April Rhodes far away from me."

Cedes chuckled. "It's a deal. Thanks, Ken."

"My team doesn't need to worry about that fugitive, does it?"

"Not even a little. I'm going to head back to town, but I'll join the search in a couple of hours."

He nodded. "I am going to need you to stay safe while you are searching. I'm going to be hungry later."

Apparently, Sam had already talked with the field coordinator and the incident commander, letting them know which areas he'd already covered. She looked up just as a search team took off on horses, their breaths fogging in the air.

Mercedes walked into the station just as Agent Campion was finishing up his interview with Mr. and Mrs. Caswell.

He motioned for her to join them. "Sheriff."

"Agent Campion. Debbie." She held out her hand to Debbie's husband. "Mr. Caswell. I am so sorry to be meeting you under these circumstances."

"Call me Dennis, please."

They took seats in the conference room, so she could go over what they'd discussed and ask any questions of her own that Agent Campion hadn't asked.

Dennis Caswell was younger than she'd expected, especially since he was so successful running a vineyard and winery. The only clue to his age was lines on his forehead and around his mouth, which placed him in his forties, but he looked more like late thirties when she focused on his overall appearance. In fact, he looked younger than his wife.

"Do you have any more information about our daughter?" he asked her, and she couldn't miss the pain etched on his face.

"I'm so sorry, we don't have any new leads at this time."

"What about that Menkins kid? Stevie? Do you think he has her?"

"We aren't ruling anything out at this moment. There is a search party out looking for him at this very moment."

"Do you think . . . do you think she's up on that mountain with him?"

"No, Denny she can't be. She'll freeze to death," Debbie said from behind closed eyes.

"We are not sure. But if she is, we'll find her." Her words did absolutely nothing to ease the couple's distress. She looked at the agent beside her, then back to the man on the verge of tears. "Did you guys come up with anything else that could help us bring your daughter home?"

Debbie was no help. She was crying and in obvious pain like any other mother would be in her situation. Her husband was also too distraught to comfort his wife as he tried to answer Cedes' question.

"Like I already told Agent Campion," he said, "I can't think of anyone who would do this. Or why would anyone want to do this because we don't have any enemies or are wealthy enough for anyone to hold our daughter for ransom." He pressed a hand to his head in frustration.

She gave him a moment to vent. She didn't need to ask his whereabouts. She could read Campion's report. His people had probably already checked his alibi. Cedes was more interested in the man's thoughts on Ashlyn's prediction.

As though he read her mind, he said, "I guess you know about Ash's premonition of her abduction and death?"

"I do. What do you think about it?"

He scoffed, the sound bitter and resentful. "I think I was wrong and that makes me an awful father."

She was totally surprised that he would admit this. "Why would you say that?"

He drew in a couple of deep breaths then explained, "All those years, all those times she tried to talk to us about it, and we just didn't believe her or really listen to her. Like her fears meant nothing. Like we didn't trust her. We accused her of being melodramatic even lying basically treating her like she meant nothing to us at all."

"I'm sure she didn't see it that way. She is very intelligent and knew that her premonitions were hard to believe."

"It didn't matter what we believed as long as she believed it was the truth."

"But do you really believe her now?"

A small cry escaped his mouth, one he was trying to hold in. "How can I not believe her when everything she saw since she was a little child is now coming true?"

His phone rang, and he checked it. When he didn't recognize the number, he looked between her and Campion. The agent pressed a button on the digital recorder and nodded to him.

The man quickly swallowed, then answered on the fourth ring with a shaky, "Hello?" He frowned at them when no one spoke. "Hello? Do you have my daughter? Where's Ashlyn?"

Cedes leaned over to the agent's laptop as he tried to locate where the call originated from. Because the number had come up on the caller ID, he was able to put it in the program and track it with GPS.

"Who is this?"

Debbie pressed her hands over her mouth to hide her crying.

"Mr. Caswell," Campion said softly, the lines on his face hardening. "The phone call is coming from inside of your house."

Without even a hint of hesitation, Campion took the phone, and the two officers scrambled out of the conference room.

"Hunter—Deputy Clarington," she corrected, "follow us, we are going to the Caswell's residence."

"You got it, boss." He grabbed his jacket as she and Campion ran for her SUV.

Cedes had the lights and sirens on as she made it in record time to the Caswell's drive, careful not to disturb any fresh tire tracks. Snowy footprints on the walkway led to the front door, but the Caswells always entered and exited through their garage. The tracks were definitely not theirs, though there were any number of law enforcement agents they could have belonged to.

With her gun drawn, she walked through the yard alongside the pathway while Campion flanked her, and Hunter went around to the back of the mansion.

She gestured toward the front door with a nod. "There's something on the porch."

Campion stopped her, wanting to take the lead. He was more old-school than she'd thought But she didn't have time for this. She knew how to do her job. The item didn't look like an explosive device from the size of it. It was way too small and way too pink.

They took up positions beside the front steps and waited for Hunter to come around the other side of the house.

He jogged up behind her. "The back door is secure and locked. Doesn't look like anyone has tampered with it."

"Is that a phone?" Campion asked.

"It is." Cedes took the steps, checking the windows as she went. A burner phone sat on a small child's jewelry box in the snow. The kind that played music when opened.

Hunter checked the front door looking for signs of breaking and entering while Cedes put on a pair of gloves.

She opened the box once her gloves were in place, and a little ballerina started spinning to a chimed version of "Für Elise."

Dennis and Debbie Caswell walked up to the sound of it, following Cedes' footprints to avoid contaminating the scene.

"Did this belong to your daughter?" she asked Debbie.

The woman's eyes widened like saucers and her face looked shocked. "Yes, it is! My husband bought that for her on the day she was born."

"We lost that years ago when we moved into our house from our apartment" he said, his voice cracking. "That was like almost seven years ago?"

"No, it happened six years ago ," Debbie said. "When we moved into the house, Ashlyn was almost nine."

"She's right. Why is it here now and what's inside of it?"

Cedes pulled out a long lock of red hair, and Debbie broke down in fresh tears.

"We'll process everything for evidence." Campion said to Hunter and Cedes. "You two can get back out to the search."

"Thank you Agent Campion. Call me if you find anything." Cedes told him. Her mind trying to put the these new clues together but it didn't make sense. Unless Ashlyn's abductor had followed them from Utah. He would have had to have been planning this for at least six years.

"I will."

Hunter followed her back to the station in his deputy vehicle. As soon as he parked the vehicle, he got inside the SUV with Cedes, and they headed back to the search-and-rescue effort that were already under way. They did not talk for most of the trip to the site. Hunter as normal broke the silence.

"Someone is playing us with leaving the receipt, calling from a burner phone in front of the Caswell's home, and now the reappearance of a music box with a lock of red hair," he said.

"I know this Hunt."

"It could still be Ashlyn."

"I doubt it, but I know you are right."

"We can't rule her out."

"You are not telling me anything that I don't already know, Hunt."

Even Cedes, with that gut of hers that was never wrong, the one she had to dismiss and follow the evidence no matter how it conflicted with her instincts, had to admit the bizarre set of coincidences surrounding Ashlyn's disappearance were hard to ignore.

Two items from Ashlyn's past showing up? This guy had to have stalked her for years. Stalked the family for years. That kind of patience took incredible dedication and discipline. Talk about a psycho who was smart enough to plan an almost perfect crime.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hunter asked.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

"Do you want me to kiss you?"

"Hell to the no. Eww gross." When he didn't ask again, she gave in. "Okay, fine. Let's say Ashlyn at age nine saved all this stuff from her past, made up a story about a premonition when she was younger than that and then planned this elaborate scheme to make it look like she was taken. Why? Why would she go to such lengths for that many years?"

"Attention. What else? Her father travels all over the world. Her mother probably watches soaps all day and reality shows at night. She probably feels abandoned."

"If that were true, if she were really just in it for the attention, why stick to her premonition story when nobody believed her? Her story never changed. Not once in almost a decade in her details."

"She's smart," he said. "Smart kids can do anything. You of all people should know that."

She ignored the compliment. "And if it were her, the abduction would've been more obvious. More staged. There would have been signs of a struggle in her room. Not the laundry room. And then she what? She planted that receipt to frame poor Mr. Bamboo for buying an energy drink?"

Hunter held up his hands. "I'm not going to argue with you. The evidence appears too conveniently."

"Yeah, well, so are a lot of things in life. We can't just assume anything until we have evidence that suggests Ashlyn is a part of this or is this victim of all of this."

She parked on the side of the road closest to the search site, and then walked to the command tent finished with this discussion.

Hunter not willing to let the puzzling case go, shakes his head and says, "Crazy."

"Who? You, me, or the both of us?"

"This whole situation."

Cedes could see that there were a lot of vehicles belonging to civilians and emergency workers. Over a hundred people were out scouring the mountain looking for Stevie Menkins.

Her mom greeted her with a cup of coffee while Hunter did his best to avoid April Rhodes as they headed to the folding table and looked at the maps that were laid out on the table inside of the tent.

Cedes put down her coffee while Hunter put on a pair of official coveralls over his uniform, then accessorized with matching boots and gloves, ready to do his part. "This is the first time I have ever taken a part of a SAR of this magnitude." He admitted.

"Yeah, I've only been directly involved in one myself. I got to know the incident commander then." She pointed at him. "See? Networking. It's important to get to know your fellow law enforcement officers."

"What if I don't like them once I know them?" he asked as he put on a ski cap.

She didn't bother answering him as she fully prepared herself for going up the mountain in the frigid air. She put on her best spiked boots, thick coveralls with Sheriff written on them, and a knit cap over her braids that helped keep her head warm and gloves when they finally emerged from the tent, ready to search the mountain.

"I got us an ATV," Hunt said. "The incident commander is sending us in that direction over the hill."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." She greeted her deputies that were on-site, and the marshals before getting onto the ATV with Hunter.

"What did Harmony want with you earlier?" Hunter asked, shouting over the sound of the engine.

Cedes explained about the possibility that Harmony had seen the escaped fugitive, Ramon Martinez, and that he may have saved her daughter's life. Not just saved it, but risked his own life, his legs, and his freedom to do so.

They went over the hard-packed snow, grateful for the snow tires someone had thoughtfully provided, and searched as deep into the forest as they could before they had to get off and walk. She could hear other searchers, including many of the townsfolk, calling out Stevie's and Ashlyn's names, and she wondered where Sam was. She'd heard he'd closed the distillery and now had several of his cousins and employees searching for Stevie as well.

One would think with that much manpower they'd find Stevie quickly, and hopefully Ashlyn, too, if she was with or near him. But there was just too much land for it to be that easy. Hundreds of square miles, and much of it rough terrain. The Santa Cruz Mountains were as vast as they were hazardous and beautiful.

Thank the Lord, the meteorologist had been right about today's forecast. The woman was not only beautiful but she had brains as well. The sun as promised came out and warmed the place to a comfortable thirty three degrees. Just enough to keep their cheeks cold but not frozen solid just like a vegetable crisper with the temp set a little too low in the refrigerator.

"Nothing like a brisk stroll through the redwood forest," Hunter said.

Every few feet, they stopped, yelled for Stevie and Ashlyn, and then waited for a response before continuing. Hunter checked in with their location every half hour.

After a couple of hours of trudging through the snow, Cedes began to worry that three days would not be enough time to search the entire area.

Then, she heard a radio squawked, but a helicopter went over them at the same time, and they didn't catch what was said.

Hunter pressed the Talk button on the radio. "Repeat that again, command."

His voice came back over the speaker. It was not a jubilant tone, and Cedes' heart stopped beating to better hear his message.

He said quietly, "We have located a body."

"When did you write that poem that Ms. Holiday read to us today?" Gina asked Ricky as they left their English class.

He took his time and finally answered. "I wrote it last night."

"At what time? Was it after I left?"

Another shrug. "Ms. Holiday called and told me she wanted me to enter one more poem in some contest she helps coordinate, so I told her I'd write her one. I do it all the time." He offered her an equally energy-efficient grin where only one side of his mouth tilted up. "She eats it up."

"I don't blame her response. That poem was so good. It was like it could actually be a song."

He didn't boast like a lot of guys she knew would. He just accepted her words as if he would rather not have any attention brought to his talent at all.

"How are you able to do it? How do you create such beautiful and vivid imagery with words?"

"My imagery is rarely called beautiful. Did you miss the part about the flesh being taken away along with a soul."

She laughed. "Of course not, but the poem was still beautiful. So, are you gonna tell me? How you are able to come up with words like that?"

"I don't know." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I don't really think in English. I am really ESOL. ASL is my first language if that makes any sense. I have always thought in pictures. In hand movements. I used sign language way before I could talk, and I've thought in signs ever since."

She could only look at him in wonder. "Okay, I take back what I said last night. What you just said is officially the coolest thing I've ever heard."

He flashed a set of white teeth in the first full smile he had given her. "I'll see ya later."

Before she could say anything else, he was gone.

Gina watched him walk away, then she looked around, astonished that the students had pretty much accepted her. She wasn't getting nearly the number of glares as she was yesterday, and nobody had spray painted her locker or tried to frame her for stealing anything. The day was definitely better than yesterday.

She turned a corner to get to her next class and saw the kids she didn't want to see, Lily and Bastian with Jet Huang, the kid she'd questioned earlier. Bastian had Jet Huang by the collar while Lily read him the riot act, poking his chest.

Jet appeared more annoyed than scared at first, but then Lily said something, and his brown skin turned gray before her eyes.

He held up a hand in surrender and took the USB she handed him.

She fired off one more threat before Bastian shoved him away, and they walked off together.

It was a classic story. One that would be retold for generations to come.

Girl asks first boy for a favor. First boy refuses. Second boy grabs first boy by the collar. Girl threatens first boy while second boy shakes him like a rag doll. First boy finally agrees to said favor, and girl and second boy fall in love.

A tad dysfunctional? Of course.

Would it last? Not unless they found themselves riddled with bullets like Bonnie and Clyde did before they could realize they weren't as compatible as they'd originally assumed and spent the next ten years breaking up and getting back together and breaking up again, bringing strife and misery to everyone they came into contact with.

Fingers crossed.

Gina sat down in her second-period class, Lily and Bastian completely forgotten as her thoughts traveled once again to Stevie Menkins and Ashlyn Caswell.

Her mom had a good point. They both went missing around the same time. It would be a hard stretch to convince anyone it was a coincidence, but it had to be. Or at the very least, there had to be a good a reason for it.

First, Ashlyn and Stevie didn't know each other. Gina spoke to Stevie often. They hung out. They'd been close for years. The fact that she'd had to keep it a secret from her mom was ridiculous on several levels, but her grandparents knew and supported their friendship. They had a special place in their hearts for Stevie.

But what they didn't know was that Stevie had saved her life when they were kids. Stevie and one other member of the Menkins family. No way would she abandon him just because her overprotective mother said that every single Menkins were more trouble than they were worth.

She couldn't help but wonder if that logic applied to the Menkins her mom was in love with.

The tardy bell rang, and a few seconds later, a television came on in class. A weekly student news program popped on. One she was unfamiliar with but everyone else seemed to expect it.

"Good morning, Wildcats!" a pretty brunette said from behind an anchor desk. A desk that looked like it had been made from cardboard, but that fact only added to the charm. "Welcome back! This week, we have a special investigative report brought to you by the Journalism Club. Roll it, Jet!"

The screen went black, then Lily Lynn popped into the frame holding a microphone and standing in front of the sheriff's office.

Gina's palms sweated instantly, and she fought the urge to reach for her inhaler.

Lily wore a psychotic smile as she took over the spotlight. "Thanks, Nini. We have a special story for all of you wildcats out there. If you didn't already know, we have a new sheriff." She gestured to the sign with her mother's name on the building.

Gina glanced around, becoming a little concerned. What was Lily up to?

"So, we decided to investigate her—to dig into her past—and see what we had to look forward to for the next four years of her tenure. After all, we got a brand-new wildcat in the deal. Regina Grace Porter? Welcome to Lima Springs High!"

Gina froze. This was not happening. Dig into her mother's past? There was no way they could've found out the truth. It was buried along with the Ark of the Covenant, Jimmy Hoffa, and her pent-up emotions.

"Bastian?"

The camera cut to Bastian Blythe in front of the monument the town put up in Gina's pretend dad's honor, and the edges of her vision grew dark.

"Stevie's uncle has found him!"

Cedes practically jerked the radio out of Hunter's hands, because whomever shouted that Stevie had been found didn't seem distressed.

"Did you really find Stevie?" she asked. "Or a body?"

She recognized Deputy McCarthy's voice saying, "Um, both?"

"No," Cedes whispered. Hunter put a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

"We found Stevie, but I guess they found a body, too?"

She slammed her eyes shut and braced herself. "Ashlyn?"

"Not a girl," he said.

Cedes almost dropped the radio. "Where are you? I need your location."

"Okay, we are by the command center. Sam Menkins just brought Stevie down from the mountain. He's half-frozen, so the EMTs are taking him to the hospital now."

Closing a hand over her mouth, Cedes looked heavenward and let the light soak into her.

A male voice came over the radio then. Cedes could hear dogs barking in the background. Cadaver dogs. "We have a body about half a mile from Blackguards Pass. Male. Decomposition would suggest the body has been here a long time. Possibly years."

"What the hell?"

Cedes woke up and nodded to Hunter. They sprinted back to the ATV, which, in the snow, was so much harder than it sounded. She had no signal, or she would have texted Gina that they'd found Stevie. Then again, if he didn't make it . . .

She decided to wait.

"Where to first?" Hunter asked.

"Let's check on Stevie first." She gave orders to cordon off the area where the body was found, and they made it back to base camp in record time.

Cedes spotted Sam accepting a blanket around his shoulders as an EMT checked him over. Or tried to check his vitals. He was not being a very cooperative patient. But he looked so tired. His handsome face was now swollen and red and raw from the frigid wind. His lips were cracked and bleeding because he'd been searching nonstop for almost forty-eight hours.

His cousin limped down the mountain, gasping for air. Apparently, Sam had carried Stevie down and left his cousin behind.

When Sam spotted her, he frowned, but that could have been because the EMT was trying to put an oxygen mask over his face. He looked like he'd lost ten pounds. He must didn't have any brown fat at all. In all honesty, he'd probably lost more weight than that.

Cedes took a step toward him, but Hunter stopped her.

Outside of a second ambulance, Stacey had thrown her body over her son as emergency personnel tried to load him into the vehicle. She wailed and kissed and was hugging the boy so tight that the EMT didn't even try to stop her. Stevie smiled back at her and tried to pat her face.

Cedes almost cried. She walked over to them, very aware of the need to keep up appearances, but she had to question Stevie. Time was running out.

She cleared her throat, then asked, "I'm so glad you're okay, Stevie."

Stacey looked up at her wearing the face of a mama bear ready to attack.

Cedes held up her hands. "I just have a couple of questions."

"He almost died," she said, her voice a hiss of raw emotion, and Cedes knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was not acting this time. She was a pissed-off, but Cedes had no choice.

Making sure no one could see her face but Stacey, Cedes offered the woman the best apologetic expression she should give, infusing her face with sympathy and remorse.

Stacey seemed to snap out of it. She turned away, but kept herself wrapped over him while the EMT got an IV started.

Cedes stepped closer, gaining the interest of Stevie's uncle Sam, and not in a good way. "You are the bravest boy I've ever met," she said to the boy.

He smiled from behind the mask and gave her a thumbs-up. The sixteen-year-old had blond hair like his mother, but darker. It was wet and plastered to his head, and his cheeks were bright red. That, along with the glassy eyes, had Cedes worried he had a fever.

She could hardly blame Stacey. She wanted to throw herself over him, too. But for now, she needed to know what he knew in a hurry.

"Stevie, how on earth did you survive?"

With that, he flashed her a beautiful smile, and she finally saw a little of Sam in him. He pulled down the oxygen mask and said, "I made a snow cave. Like the rabbits do."

"Oh, my lord, aren't you the intelligent one? Can I ask you how you wandered so far out?"

"A deer," Stacey said, shaking her head.

"A doe was hurt. I was trying to help her."

"You were following an injured deer?"

Pride practically burst out of him when he nodded, but then he caught sight of the needle headed his way.

She could tell it scared him, and she almost laughed. "Let me get this straight," she said, eyeing him with disbelief, "you just survived two days alone in the mountains with snow and blizzards and wild animals, and you're scared of a needle?"

He nodded.

She leaned down. "I am, too. You want to know what helps?"

He nodded his head.

"Panting." When his expression turned dubious, she demonstrated. "Like a thirsty puppy." She showed her tongue and breathed in and out in rapid successions. In other words, she panted.

He laughed softly.

"Don't knock it until you try it, Daniel Boone. Come on. Stick out your tongue."

He stuck it out but kept smiling.

"And now pant. Breathe in and out really fast."

Stacey laughed as her son panted like a dog, but the needle had gone in before he'd even started. He never felt a thing.

"Guess what?" she said, leaning closer. "It's done."

He looked down wide-eyed at the IV in his hand and then back at her.

"I told you panting works," she said, blowing on her nails and polishing them on her coveralls.

When he smiled at her like she'd single-handedly rescued him and not his uncle, she took his other hand in hers. He was burning up. She needed to conclude her interrogation.

"Stevie, can I ask you another question?"

"I am sorry, Sheriff Porter, we need to take him to the hospital ASAP," the EMT said.

"Give me one more minute. Stevie, do you know Ashlyn? A girl a little younger than you with red hair about this tall?" She used her hands to show Ashlyn's as well as Gina's height. "Did you . . . did you see her while you were on the mountain?"

He frowned. "No, didn't see Ashlyn. She's not my friend. She's Gina's friend because everyone likes Gina, so it just makes good sense."

"But wait, you know her?"

"No. Gina told me she's her friend. I'm Gina's friend, too, but mostly Ashlyn is her friend because she's a girl and Gina's a girl and they talk about gross girl stuff."

Cedes and Stacey both burst out in laughter.

The driver climbed into the ambulance and started it up.

"We're leaving," the EMT said.

Stacey followed the stretcher in and sat beside her son as the EMT shut the doors, and Cedes prayed that he would be okay. She turned to Sam, worried for him, too.

"How is he?" she asked his EMT. She would've done it when Sam wasn't looking, but he hadn't stopped. He was annoyed with her, probably for questioning Stevie.

"Dehydrated." After another minute, he added, "And surly."

Sam leveled a scowl on the guy that could remove the toughest and resistant skin.

"Does he have a fever?" she asked as Sam shifted the scowl to her. That was okay, though. She didn't use her sugar scrub on her skin that morning.

"No, he doesn't have a fever or anything broken or bruised. He is suffering from exhaustion and needs rest, fluid, and food, but he should be fully recovered in a couple of days."

"Yeah. I'm sure he's going to do that immediately."

"I'm right here and can hear you two," Sam said.

"I'm very aware of your presence and your ability to hear," Cedes answered. She took out a notebook and started writing.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving you a ticket for littering. I saw what you did to the note."

"The wind got it."

"Sure, Sam, tell it to the judge."

Hunter walked up, rubbing his hands together. "Okay, we should go and investigate the body. They've cordoned off the area, and we should be able to take the ATV all the way out to the site."

"Great," she said, folding her notebook without actually giving Sam a ticket. Mostly because it was the wrong book. "I take it, you know where we're going?"

Hunter winced. "I was hoping you'd know the way out there. I haven't been there since I was a kid.

"Me neither."

"Why go there when there's enough scenery in the city limits like the lake?"

"Exactly. So . . ."

They turned in unison to Sam.

Sam paused before saying, "Em, I can take the both of you out there."

When people said he was known for his skills in tracking, they weren't talking about a musical track for a recording. So, she was happy that he would join them.