Page 6 of Shadowed Rubies
I couldn’t resist doing a mock bow behind her back and saying, “As you wish, my queen,” but I said it under my breath, so I could be certain she wouldn’t hear me.
7
Max
Meg made her way through the gathered crowd, ordering everyone to meet us at the trailhead on the outskirts of town. No one dared to object to her demands, so I decided that if I ever went missing, I wanted Meg to be in charge of securing the search team.
Both wanting to do my part and needing to give my sister a hard time for not inviting me to her Halloween party, I called Molly. It was obvious by her groggy “Hello” that she had been asleep and was most likely hungover.
“Morning, Sunshine!” I yelled into the phone, smiling as I pictured her wincing and holding the phone away from her ear. “Or should I say afternoon?”
“You don’t need to say anything so loudly, we aren’t communicating via tin cans and string.” Molly grouched.
Ignoring her grumbling, I continued speaking in my over-enthusiastic tone. “It’s a beautiful, crisp, autumn day, and it’s time for you to be up and at ’em. Besides, you can do your good deed for the day and help search for a lost hiker.”
“Who is lost?” Molly croaked.
I furrowed my brows together at her brash question. “Does it matter? Someone is lost and needs our help.”
“Yes, it matters. Who is lost?” My sister asked.
Knowing she had inherited the overly-stubborn gene that ran in our family and could really dig her heels in when pushed, I decided to answer. “It’s Dr. Waters.”
“Dean’s mom?” Molly sounded perplexed.
“No, his sister.”
“Oh, well she is young and able-bodied. I’m sure she can take care of herself until she finds her own way home.” Molly’s tone was prim and self-righteous.
I couldn’t quite believe that she hated Dean so much over his unceremonious dumping of her that she would risk his sister’s safety. Molly was normally a big believer in fairness and this simply wasn’t right. Dean’s sister hadn’t done anything wrong. It wasn’t like Molly to behave in such a petty, uncaring manner, and I wouldn’t stand for it.
“Molly Marie Malone, you get your skinny butt down here and help us look for this missing woman.” I used my firm, no-nonsense older brother voice, but I wasn’t sure if it worked––especially when I heard the click of her hanging up on me.
Once the search party assembled at the trail head, I did a quick search inside Dani’s unlocked car, but didn’t find anything that would give us any clues about which way she had headed.
I tried not to show my significant surprise when Molly’s Jeep crackled the rocks under her oversized tires as she pulled into the lot and parked. Perhaps I still had a bit of big brother pull with her after all.
Obviously intent on proving that I wasn’t the boss of her, she joined the gathered group as far from me as possible, refused to make eye contact with me, and stubbornly crossed her arms. She was here, though, and that was really all that mattered.
Since the two police officers seemed to be dithering, Meg efficiently took charge of the operation. She spoke in a loud, clear voice and gave everyone instructions on how to properly do a grid search pattern. She appointed herself the official map holder and began breaking us into 5-person search groups.
I tried to move closer to Molly, so we would be in the same group, but she glared vicious eye darts in my direction, so I took the hint to keep my distance.
After warning us not to touch anything that might be evidence, Meg sent each group to their designated search area to begin looking for Dani.
8
Dani
My eyes slowly opened, despite feeling like they had tiny barbell weights attached to my lashes. My head lolled to the side as I began to become aware of my surroundings.
My mind was fuzzy and didn’t want to focus. The aching throb over my right eyebrow had me trying to lift my hand to it, only to find that my wrists were zip tied together. A quick body inventory told me my ankles were also bound.
As I began to become more aware of my surroundings, I realized I was leaning against the wall of a cave. It was very dark, but a tiny bit of light was streaming in through the brush pile that must be covering the opening. The cool temperature of the enclosure gave me the distinct impression of the type of hideaway a bear might use to hibernate in for the winter. I just hoped there weren’t any in here with me.
Suddenly, my sluggish brain remembered this morning’s events. I’d had a run-in with Kevin Durley. He was the reason I was hogtied here, like a side of beef.
My eyes scanned the dark enclosure, trying to see if he was in the cave with me. Unless he was hiding in a dark corner, I was alone. I held my breath for a long moment and was greeted with utter silence, so I had to assume he was not there with me, since he was most likely a loud mouth-breather.
