Page 79 of Forever Never
“Oh my God. If he went out there without a coat…”
She didn’t have to finish the sentence. It was a warm day by Mackinac standards, but for a man without proper gear who might be wandering in confusion…Well, Remi didn’t want to dwell on the possibilities.
She opened the back door and stared at the fresh tracks in the snow that led up the hill toward the woods in a meandering path.
Lois made a move for her coat. “I have to get out there and find him.” Her voice shook.
The woman was unflappable. Permanently prepared for whatever chaos life had thrown at her. But Remi could only imagine the toll that watching her life partner slowly disappear behind the fog of disease had taken.
“How long was he napping, Lois?”
“I don’t know. An hour, I guess?”
“Were you inside the whole time?”
She pushed a hand through her hair. “I went out to shovel the walk. Maybe a half hour ago? I didn’t want to start too early in case the snow started again.”
“Do you still have your old snowmobile?” Remi asked.
“Yeah. It’s next to the lean-to in the back,” Lois said. “I need to get out there and start looking.”
“You need to stay here and call the police,” Remi insisted.
“I can’t just leave him out there. We walk in the woods every morning together. What if he went there and wandered off the trail?”
Remi took both of Lois’s hands in hers. “You’re going to call the station and tell them everything you just told me. In the meantime, I’m going to go look for him.” When Lois started to argue, she held up a hand. “You have to stay here in case he comes back. My mom will want to get all the details from you. You need to be here.”
The woman let out a shaky breath. “I can’t believe I let this happen.”
“You didn’t let anything happen. You are doing a damn good job given the shitty circumstances,” Remi insisted. “This is not your fault. We’re going to find him and bring him home and have coffee cake and cookies. Okay?”
Lois was wide-eyed but nodding. “Okay,” she repeated. “Okay.”
Remi ran for the front of the house and pulled on her gear. She spotted Lois’s phone sitting on the counter and grabbed it. “Here,” she said when she returned to the mud room. “Call dispatch. They’ll be here in five minutes, and with any luck, I’ll have already found him. I have my phone on me, and you have my number.”
Lois nodded again, looking numb and terrified.
Remi grabbed the blue parka and a fleece blanket that had been folded neatly on top of the dryer. She snatched the keys that said Arctic Cat off the hook by the back door.
Lois’s hands shook as she dialed her phone. “Thank you, Remi. Be safe, and you call me the second you find him.”
Remi nodded grimly and bolted through the back door. Her adrenaline surged as she trudged through knee-deep snow, making the air seem warmer than it actually was. She pulled out her phone and, after a hesitation, dialed.
Voicemail.
Shit.
“Hey, Mom. It’s Remi. I’m at the Kleckners. Ben wandered off about half an hour ago without a coat. Lois is calling dispatch. I’m taking their snowmobile and following his tracks. It looks like he might have headed toward the woods.”
There. See? She didn’t need to call Brick for every little thing. In fact,shewas going to be the hero this time. Ben Kleckner was not going to stay missing. She’d find him and deliver him back to Lois before the cops had even assembled.
Remi found the ancient snowmobile under a tarp next to a garden shed.
She stuffed the coat and blanket into the bin on the back and climbed astride. Even the keys looked rusty.
It coughed to life on the third try. The vibrations from the engine shook her bones, but the gas tank was full.
She managed to shift the machine into drive and, after a few necessary seconds getting a feel for the accelerator and suspension, she gunned it.
