Malachi draped an arm around her shoulders. “Hey, you know better than most how twisted and corrupt people can be, cousin.”
Olivia sighed. “So, we’re more or less nowhere.”
“No,” Dustin said. “We have more clues to follow now. Tomorrow we’ll search this area again. And as soon as we get back, we’ll find out what went on with the horses. And, with Jane’s help, we’ll track down that image of the general Frank found in the trees.”
“I still think we should reenact what happened that morning,” Abby suggested. “Try to understand the timing of what went on better.”
“I agree. But for now, let’s get some sleep,” Dustin said.
“Yep, my turn to take over,” Malachi announced. He sat back down by the fire.
“I’ll never sleep now,” Olivia muttered.
“I will,” Dustin said. “Come on. Give it a try.”
He set his hand on her back, pressing her toward the tent. To her surprise, once she’d climbed into her sleeping bag, with him beside her and Abby just feet away—and Malachi on guard duty by the fire—she did begin to drift off.
If it wasn’t so serious, it would be amusing. It was the most asexual situation ever despite the fact that they were crammed together in such intimate quarters. And yet she was comfortable because she could feel his warmth.
The packaged muffins weren’t very good, but they were edible and Dustin had to admit that the coffee they brewed with stream water was excellent. When they’d eaten, Abby did the directing.
“She used to play a pirate wench at her grandfather’s tavern,” Malachi told Dustin with a grin.
Abby pointedly ignored that. “Malachi, you’ll be Aaron. I’ll be Mariah, and Olivia and Dustin, you two will be yourselves. So...”
“Okay, I’m Aaron. I’ve woken up, stretched and I’m going to the stream.”
He walked away.
“Okay, what next?” Abby asked.
“I hear the scream—I bolt up and run into the woods,” Dustin answered.
“Go!” Abby said.
Dustin shook his head.
“What?” she asked.
“You’re Mariah, so you’re supposed to be in the woods already.”
“All right, I’m going. How far?”
“Just past the ‘powder room’ bushes over there, past the first trees, and into the first clearing,” Dustin told her.
“Okay, wait until I get there and scream.”
Abby ran ahead. A few seconds later, she screamed. Dustin went flying after her; he heard Olivia coming after him. They met up with Abby in the woods.
“That was only about ten seconds,” Dustin said.
Abby nodded. “What next?”
“We were here with Mariah for maybe two minutes and then we all went back to the site. Drew was with me,” Olivia said.
“All right. We head back now.” Abby led the way. When they returned to the campsite, she asked, “And everyone was here then, at the campsite. Everyone except Aaron.”
“Everyone except Aaron,” Dustin confirmed.
“How long until you realized he wasn’t here?” she asked.
“Almost immediately.”
“Okay, so now we go to the stream,” Abby directed.
This time Dustin ran ahead of the others, just as he had that morning. Malachi, who was waiting by the water, looked at his watch. “The entire thing took place in under five minutes,” he said.
Olivia gazed around her and then back at the campsite.
“What is it?” Dustin asked.
“This just keeps getting worse.”
“Why? How?”
“Well, it really could have been anyone. Even Mariah,” Olivia said. “Although that would never have occurred to me if we hadn’t done our reenactment.... She could’ve been at the stream—and then looped around the campsite to get to the woods. And since we don’t know if anyone else was out before Dustin went racing off, one of the others could’ve gone to the stream and come back.” She paused. “I’m positive we can rule out the boys, but...”
“Don’t worry. There are more of us working on this now,” Malachi told her, slipping an arm around her shoulders.
“Let’s finish searching through the trees again, see if we can find anything else,” Abby said.
They returned to the woods; Dustin described what it had looked like where he’d found Mariah. “The, uh, cow pieces are gone now. I guess the coyotes came back and finished them off.”
“Probably,” Malachi agreed. “Let’s split the area into quadrants, start in the middle and we’ll each work outward.”
“What exactly are we searching for?” Olivia asked.
“Anything that doesn’t belong here,” Malachi said.
They explored in silence for a while, combing through the bushes, trying to identify anything out of place on the forest floor.
Suddenly Olivia let out a little cry.
“What is it?” Dustin asked, hurrying over to her.
“Maybe nothing, but...” She opened her hand. She was holding something red with a tiny needlelike point. The small object was in the shape of a horse. “This is one of the tacks we use to put notices up on the office bulletin board,” she said. “Someone might just have had one in a pocket.”
Dustin shook his head. “No, it wasn’t a random find, Olivia. This is where Frank Vine discovered the image of the general. I’d say that means someone—most likely from the Horse Farm—hung it here.”
“To lure Mariah out,” Malachi said, approaching them from the other side.
“So Mariah is innocent. One down.” Olivia raised a finger as though counting.
“Not necessarily.” Dustin shook his head again. “What if she put it here herself to make us believe her story?”
Olivia groaned in frustration. “How will we
“Well, Sydney was at the Horse Farm, watching over the place, right?” Malachi said. “Or...”
“Or was he?” Olivia finished for him.
“Maybe that’s something we can prove one way or the other,” Dustin suggested.
“We reach the solution by following every direction,” Malachi told her. “It was a good find, cousin. Now we know it wasn’t just left here by some college kid. That’s important—and it narrows down the possibilities.” They searched a while longer, with no further results, and started back.
En route, Dustin used his radio to call in; Frank Vine told him the night had been uneventful.
When they reached the Horse Farm, Drew and Sydney came out, hearing their arrival. Sammy came out, too, barking excitedly. Olivia immediately dismounted and captured the big dog in a hug, sternly ordering him not to jump.
“Anything?” Drew asked anxiously.
“Nope,” Dustin said. “Anything here?”
“Quiet as a tomb all night.”
“Drew, I heard people say that Aaron always rode Gargantua,” Dustin continued. “Is that right? The day Marcus died, was Aaron riding him?”
Drew raised his eyebrows in evident surprise. “Yeah, it’s true. Aaron—when he went riding, which wasn’t
