Page 43 of Fighting for Tawny

“Don’t know!” Precious wailed. “He ditched us! Just disappeared like a ghost or somethin’!”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Tawny set down her coffee mug. Her heart rate kicked up a notch. She draped a blanket around Precious’ shoulders and handed her a cup of coffee. Forgetting that she was an inmate, she asked, “Precious, what happened after you and Joy left with Colfer?”

“At first, everything was okay, right, Joy?”

Joy nodded and gripped the edges of a blanket tighter around her. “Right. We headed north like we planned, and then?—”

“Then the path got narrower, so we walked single file?—”

“Colfer said for us to walk ahead of him, so we did. We couldn’t see much, and we got tired and thirsty, so?—”

“So, we said we wanted to head back to camp. We figured he’d throw a fit, but?—”

“But nothin’. We looked behind us, and he was gone. Just gone.” Precious shuddered. “Gave me the heebie-jeebies because we didn’t hear a thing.”

“Not a thing,” Joy echoed.

“He vanished like a ghost. Like he wasn’t even real.”

“Did you look for him?” Tawny asked.

“Hell, yeah,” Precious answered. “Joy and me, we were scared out there by ourselves.”

“We thought he fell off a ledge or somethin’ like that,” Joy picked up the story. “We looked everywhere for him. Screamed his name. Nothin’.”

“Not a sign of him. So, we decided to head back here. Barely found our way. Hell, we’re lucky nothin’ happened to us.”

There had to be a clue to Colfer’s disappearance that Joy and Precious missed. Tawny turned to the others. “We need to organize a search party. Colfer might be seriously injured and unable to call for help.”

Everyone stared at her, some with their mouths agape at her audacity.

“Tawny’s right.” Moira’s voice rang with authority. “Captain Ward will take his men, and I’ll take any of you Titans willing to go back out and search for Colfer.”

“Not me.” Precious shook her head. “I ain’t goin’ back out there. It’s too spooky.”

“Me either,” Joy added. “My legs feel like jelly.”

“I’ll go,” Yolanda volunteered.

“So will I.” Terrin stared straight at Tawny. She nodded her approval.

Captain Ward, Moira, and Tawny gathered around the map. Tawny pinpointed the spot where Colfer, Joy, and Precious headed north.

“There’s rough terrain in that area,” Captain Ward noted. He looked at Joy and Precious. “How far north do you think you traveled?”

“Don’t know. We walked and walked. Seemed like forever,” Precious replied.

“Probably two or three miles,” Joy suggested.

“It’s going to take too long to hike up there,” Moira commented. “We need to use our vehicles to get as close as possible to Colfer’s last known location.”

“He had his cell phone with him,” Tawny interjected.

Captain Ward continued Tawny’s train of thought. “I’ll notify Sheriff O’Grady and explain we have a missing guard. He’ll be able to ping his phone. I’ll ask for air support, too. In the meantime, we need to get back out there.”

Tawny knew Hutch could ping Colfer’s phone in seconds, bypassing the bureaucratic red tape that would take the sheriff’s department too long. She chafed at this backseat role she had to play. As she, Moira, Terrin, and Yolanda climbed into their rescue truck, Tawny hoped Colfer had suffered an unfortunate accident and nothing more sinister.

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