Page 81 of Forever Never
A few seconds later, she spotted an opening in the trees and an indentation in the snow. More footprints. She was on the right track.
“Halle-freaking-lujah,” she whispered. When she coasted out of the tree line, she spotted something bright red against the snow across the clearing.
“Ben!” she shouted over the engine.
There, tucked between a boulder and the trunk of a huge pine, Ben Kleckner raised an arm in the air, and she gunned the accelerator and flew toward him. The machine zipped across the snow, rattling hard. And for a second, she thought everything was going to end just fine. But the rattling got worse, and just as she eased back on the accelerator, the suspension disengaged from the right ski.
“What the f—”
She didn’t get to finish her thought before the ski wrenched off in the absolute worst position, tipping the snowmobile and Remi over. It threw her, sending her skidding across the snow a good ten feet over sharp, hidden rocks and very not soft tree roots before she finally came to rest on her back.
Surprise. Shock. Pain.They all coursed through her. Her breath came in short pants, and she realized it was too late to prevent the attack. She was already in it.
“Damn it,” she wheezed. This is how people got hurt. Her luck with snowmobiles was 0 for 2 this winter.
She heard muffled applause and, after making sure she wasn’t actually dead, lifted her head.
“Sure know how to make an entrance,” Ben said through blue lips.
She really needed a cookie now. And that coffee.
Patting her pockets, she dug for her phone only to come up empty.Damn it.Her mom was going to murder her. And when Chief Ford was done murdering her, Brick was going to get in line.
23
Cleetus trotted out of the stables, and Brick steered him toward the center of the island. A missing person report was never fun. In the summer, at least they had the weather on their side. Today, the snow was just beginning again, and the wind had a mean bite to it.
When the call had come in, he’d headed off to the stables to saddle up Cleetus. They’d attack the search coordinates on foot, snowmobile, and horseback to cover the most ground.
He nudged his mount into a lumbering trot up the road.
The department SUV and ambulance were parked in front of the Kleckner house when he got there as well as a half dozen snowmobiles.
There was a buzz on the scene. Emergencies always had a kind of frenetic energy to them. But it was worse when it was one of their own.
He urged Cleetus around the side of the house to the backyard, where he found Chief Ford and the rest of the crew hunched over a table with a map of the island. Volunteers were arriving on foot and joining the planning session.
Lois Kleckner, cheeks and nose bright red, huddled to the side in a parka. She spotted him and came running.
“Awful glad to have you here, Brick,” she said, wringing her hands.
“We’ll bring him back, Lois. We’ll find him,” he promised.
“Listen. Remi Ford was visiting when I realized Ben wasn’t in the bedroom. She went after him.”
His fingers tightened on the reins. “How long ago?” he demanded.
“Maybe ten minutes?”
The trouble that woman could get into in ten minutes was immeasurable.
“She took the snowmobile out before everyone else got here. I tried to get her to stay put until everyone else got here, but you know Remi.”
“I know Remi,” he agreed through the tightness in his throat. “What was she wearing?” He hoped to God the woman had at least remembered to put on fucking pants before charging out into a snowstorm.
“Bright yellow coat. Sweatpants. Fuzzy hat,” Lois said, waving a hand around her own head. “One of the skis on the Cat is a little loose. I haven’t had time to get it into the shop. I’m worried it might give her some trouble—”
“We’ll find them both,” he promised her.
