“Not especially helpful to avoid getting sucked into one,” I said sourly. “But okay, how do you tell one was there?”
“By looking for distortions in the area’s electromagnetic field,” Grayson said. “When a bend in time and space occurs, it leaves a distortion in the EMF—that’s the electromagnetic fingerprint I mentioned earlier.”
I chewed my bottom lip. “So, how do we find these EMF wormhole fingerprints?”
Grayson grinned. “With an electromagnetic field detector. I just happen to have one handy.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a rectangular, black device that looked a lot like the bug sweeper I’d found under the floorboard.
“You guys ready for the check?” the waitress called out from across the restaurant.
“Uh ... sure,” I called back.
“Pay the woman,” Grayson said, patting his pockets. “I don’t have any cash on me.”
“What?” I grumbled. “You forget your wallet, but you remember to bring that stupid gizmo. Unbelievable!”
Grayson shrugged. “Consider it more proof that coming to this restaurant wasn’t part of a premeditated plan.”
“Yeah, right.” I reached for my purse. “The theory’s still out on that one, mister.”
I pulled out a couple of twenties while Grayson fiddled with the knobs on his shiny EMF-detector toy.
“How’s that thing work?” I asked.
Grayson’s green eyes lit up like a kid’s at Christmas. “See this needle gauge? It moves if it detects changes in either the electric or magnetic fields. It also lets out an alarm tone.”
“Huh.” I glanced up and spotted Earl heading our way from the men’s restroom. “It doesn’t happen to detect deadly gas, too, does it?”
Chapter Fifteen
By the time our waitress Thelma came back with my change, the sun was breaking through the clouds, shining beams of golden light on the greasy front window of Juanita’s Casa del Tacos.
“Sun’s out. Y’all heading over to the park?” Thelma asked, pocketing the eight dollars I’d left her for a tip.
Earl snorted. “Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it’s off to work we go!”
I groaned and shot Thelma an apologetic grimace. “I’m sure you haven’t heard that one before.”
“Oh, come on,” Earl said. “You were thinkin’ it.”
“Maybe,” I said, shoving Earl toward the edge of the bench. “But at least I had the decency not to say it.”
Thelma shot us a pained smile. “No harm done. Y’all come back now, you hear?”
“We will,” I said absently.
I stood and followed Earl and Grayson toward the door. Thelma grabbed my arm.
“Wait,” she said, her face marred with concern. “I meant that literally. Y’all come back.”
I blanched. “What do you mean?”
Thelma glanced around nervously, then spoke in a whisper.
“Like I tried to tell you before. It could be dangerous. This past Saturday, my cousin Wade left his truck here in the parking lot and walked over to the Hi-Ho for a stroll, like he always did after lunch on the weekends. But this time, he never came back. I haven’t heard from him since.” Thelma shook her head. “It’s been four days, now. Wade hasn’t been home. He hasn’t picked up his phone. Something’s wrong. It’s just not like him to do that.”
“Did you contact the police?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Thelma said. “Lot of good it did. They said there was no evidence of foul play, so they couldn’t do anything. They told me to mind my own business—that a grown man can do what he wants.”
“Thanks for the warning,” I said. “I promise we’ll be careful.”
“Could you keep an eye out for Wade while you’re over there?” Thelma asked, following me out the door. “That’s his Dodge over there. The blue one by that big old monster truck.”
“Sure,” I said, the tears in Thelma’s eyes playing my heartstrings. “What’s he look like?”
“Kind of like him,” she said, pointing over at Earl. “Tall, dark and—”
“Hairy?” I quipped, trying to lighten the mood.
Thelma smiled weakly. “Yeah. If it helps, Wade was partial to walking the Whirlwind Trail.”
“Okay. How can we find it?”
“There’s a small sign for the trailhead off the main road,” Thelma said. “Keep an eye out. It’s easy to miss if you don’t know it’s there.”
“I know what you mean,” I said, watching Earl kick a pinecone across the shell parking lot. “Kind of like my cousin’s charm.”
EARL MANEUVERED BESSIE back and forth down Turkey Creek Road twice, but we couldn’t spot the place where the RV had gotten stuck in the muck last night. Heavy rain had washed away all traces.
There were also no GPS signals pinging from the cellphone Garth had stuffed in Jimmy’s gym bag. That meant either Garth’s phone battery had died, or Jimmy had moved out of wifi range.
I looked up from the phone app. “Nothing pinging on the radar, either. What do we do now?”
“Well, we’re here,” Grayson said. “We might as well take a look around for Jimmy and Wade. We have a known route for Wade. Whirlwind Trail. Let’s start there. His disappearance is too close geographically and time wise not to be related somehow to whatever’s going on with Jimmy.”
“Agreed,” I said.
Earl shrugged. “Works for me.”
We spotted the sign for the trailhead on the second pass. Earl pulled off onto the gravel shoulder and up to the marker for Whirlwind Trail.
“I’ll lead the way,” Grayson said. You two keep close. Don’t get separated, whatever you do.”
“Why not?” I asked, annoyed that I’d have to stay within earshot of Earl.
“I forgot to mention it,” Grayson said, climbing down out of the monster truck. “But that was one of the things all of Paulides’ missing person cases have in common.”
My nose crinkled. “What is?”
“Each person who vanished had either been hiking alone, or they’d gotten separated from their group. Some disappeared without a trace just a couple hundred yards down the trail from their companions.”
I gulped. “Seriously?”
“Yes. Seriously.”
As I climbed down out of the truck, Grayson clicked a button on the EMF detector. It whirred to life.
“In fact, Drex,” Grayson said, “some vanished
