But they didn’t have time to talk. After speaking with Kat, Gavin headed straight for Officer Haldon. He demanded updates, along with asking how many people they had organized to go search for Emma.
Kat interjected when needed, but she mostly just watched Gavin with a sense of awe and pride, while at the same time still hurting from his rejection. It was a strange mixture of emotions that she couldn’t begin to unravel right then.
Rain began to patter down onto the pavement, and Kat lifted a hand to cover her hair. Gavin’s expression turned grim.
“We have people looking in town, and down roads and streets, in case she’s walking somewhere, along with the entire school grounds,” said Officer Haldon to Gavin. “But we haven’t found a trace of her.”
“We need to search in the woods. Where’s the search party for that?” said Gavin.
“I’m heading that one up myself.” The young officer handed Gavin and then Kat a flashlight for the two of them, along with ponchos. “We need to move quickly. This storm is going to break, and it’ll be dark soon.”
Gavin didn’t have to be told twice. Within moments, he and Kat were walking into the wooded area. Kat said a silent prayer of thanks that she’d worn her boots today. She put on the poncho and motioned to Gavin’s.
“You’re going to get wet,” she said.
He gave her a strange look. “I guess.” He put it on, but she had a feeling he didn’t give a damn if he got soaking wet. And then got pneumonia for the trouble.
The search party fanned out, Gavin and Kat sticking together. Officer Haldon was the main point of contact, and if anyone found anything, they were to contact him immediately. Kat couldn’t help but admire the young man’s calm and efficiency in this situation. He’d managed to keep dozens of people from panicking and had put them to work.
The woods would’ve been pretty, if it weren’t for the circumstances they found themselves in. The trees were bright with autumn colors, leaves crunching under their feet. The trees were big enough that although it was raining, it fell mostly on the treetops. The patter of rainfall soothed Kat’s nerves.
“Emma! Emma!” Kat and Gavin shouted at the same time. Kat shivered as a cold wind blew through her sweater, and she looked up to see tiny snowflakes starting to fall. It was only supposed to rain, she thought in despair. What bad luck had brought them snow this early in the season?
At the moment, Gavin seemed mostly calm, but she knew it was just a façade. She could see how drawn his face was, how his voice broke whenever he called Emma’s name. When they hadn’t found her on the school grounds, he’d looked as if someone had shot him. Kat had almost expected him to slump to the ground, but he’d clenched his jaw and continued on. She knew he’d look for Emma for hours, days, weeks, if that was what it took. He’d never give up searching.
She could only pray they found her before the snow really started, and before it got dark, too.
Making him look into her eyes, she said with as much conviction as she could muster, “We’re going to find her.”
“She hates the dark,” he whispered. “What if she had an episode and now she’s trapped somewhere? She’s only eight years old, Kat. She doesn’t have her winter coat with her. She’ll freeze to death.”
“No, she won’t, because we’re going to find her. She’s a smart girl. She could have already made it home, too. Maybe she was walking there all along.” Kat tried to keep her tone hopeful, even though she couldn’t believe her own words.
Joy had been appointed to stay at the apartment to make sure Emma didn’t show up there, while Julia had returned to the Danvers house to watch for her there. Kat had a feeling that Emma was hiding somewhere and hadn’t just walked out of school to go home early, but she still hoped she was wrong. If they got a call from Joy saying the girl was safe and sound, that was all that mattered.
She could hear other people calling and walking through the woods. The constant sound of the name Emma created an eerie kind of echo, like the forest itself were calling Emma’s name. Gavin flashed his flashlight at shadowy recesses and under bushes. The further they walked into the woods, the more Kat’s worry grew. They didn’t have much time before it became dark.
“You were right,” said Gavin suddenly. He stepped over a log before helping Kat over it.
Kat stared at him. “What?”
Gavin sighed, rubbing his forehead. “You were right. About everything. I knew Emma had some kind of illness, but I wanted to believe she wouldn’t turn into her mother. Now she’s run off because I’m such a stupid fool. If I hadn’t been in denial, if I’d listened to you—“
She could hear in his tone that he was starting to panic. She couldn’t let him fall into that pit, because she wasn’t sure she could get him out of it again.
Grabbing his hand, she gripped his fingers. “You’ve done your best, Gavin. You’ve always done your best. But right now, we have to focus on finding your daughter. You can talk about what you did or didn’t know until you’re blue in the face, but not right now. Okay?” She spoke to him almost like she did her students, and to her immense relief, he seemed to respond to her no-nonsense tone. He took in a deep breath, nodding.
“You’re right.” He laughed a little. “Of course you’re right. I just said you were.”
“I called Teagan, before I got here. She said that it wasn’t my fault that she OD’d.” Gavin pushed his fingers through his hair. “All this time, I’d blamed myself, and I was so afraid that Emma would end up sick like her mother.”
His voice was
