Page 58 of Luke

"Kaitlyn has gone missing," she replied. "I think she's on her way up to Last Chance Rock. The flyer was on her bed next to photos of her mom and dad."

"Oh, no." Shari frowned. "What about John? Can he go with you?" she asked, referring to their other rock-climbing guide.

"He took a group up to Paradise Peak this morning," Brad answered. "He won't be back for hours."

"I'll go look for Kaitlyn," Luke interrupted. "I can make it up any mountain, no sweat."

"Of course you can," Brad said with relief. "Sorry, I wasn't even thinking. I have a pack that's ready to go. It's in the closet down the hall. It should have what you need."

"We'll find it," she said. "You and Shari need to go to the hospital and have your beautiful baby."

"I'm so sorry, Liz," Shari said. "I should have made sure Val was ready to go before now. I think she'll be okay today, but I don't know. I'm leaving you in a bad spot."

She was so worried about Kaitlyn, the fact that she had only a substitute cook at the moment was the least of her problems. "It will be fine. We will manage. You don't worry about anything."

She helped Shari outside while Brad brought the car around.

Once they were headed down the road, Luke appeared at her side with Brad's pack of climbing gear.

"We're good to go," he said. "You need to come with me, Lizzie, at least part of the way. Kaitlyn may need you to talk her down from something."

"I doubt she'd listen to me, but of course I'm going with you. I'll put on my boots. Can you tell Tom and whoever else you can find on the staff to keep an eye out for Kaitlyn?"

"I will." He caught her by the arm as she moved toward the door and gave her a determined look. "It's going to be all right."

She really wanted to believe him. "I hope so. I can't lose Kaitlyn, too."

"I'm not going to let that happen."

She had never appreciated his confidence more than she did at this moment.

* * *

They reached lower Wolmer Falls at half-past three. Lizzie's hope that she'd find Kaitlyn sunning on a rock or swimming in one of the pools was dashed. There was no sign of her niece.

She asked several families in the area if they'd seen Kaitlyn, pulling out her phone to show them a photo, but she struck out until she got to a young guy who said he'd seen her heading for the upper trail an hour earlier. He thought he'd seen an older guy a dozen feet ahead of her; he'd assumed the man was her father.

She didn't like that Kaitlyn had gone past the falls or that there was some unknown random man ahead of her on the trail.

Luke must have seen the panic in her eyes, because he put both hands on her shoulders. "Don't get ahead of yourself. One step at a time. That's how we do this."

"I can't help it. She might act like she's twenty, but she's only thirteen, Luke. She has no common sense, and she's being incredibly reckless."

"We'll find her. And I don't think she has no common sense. There's a good chance when things get too tricky that she'll turn around."

Liz wasn't sure of that at all, not the way Kaitlyn was feeling these days, but they were wasting time talking. "Let's go."

"Okay, I'll lead the way. If you need to rest, let me know. I've got extra waters in my pack."

She nodded, sticking close to Luke as they started up the trail. The first twenty minutes weren't too bad, but just as she was starting to relax, the trail took a turn and the incline in front of her was steep and narrow. On one side was the mountain. On the other was a drop of at least thirty to forty feet and, judging by where they were going, that distance to fall was only going to get greater.

"Don't look down," Luke called back to her, as if he were reading her mind.

"Easy for you to say," she muttered.

"Just focus on your next step."

It was all she could do, or terror would take over. Luke obviously had no concerns at all. He moved with confident agility, occasionally pausing to help her navigate a slippery part of the trail.

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