Kissing her sweetly, Booker wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her close.
As the silence wrapped around them like a blanket, Caitlin rested her head on his shoulder, listening to the soft in and out of air from his lungs.
“Cae, did you…” He cleared his throat.
She nodded. “The revolver’s with Nathaniel.”
Tension ebbed from his arms. “And…”
“Yep,” she assured. “I hid my knife.” Glancing up at his profile, she added, “We’re safe. I promise.”
Rolling them onto their sides, Booker kissed the top of her head before tucking her under his chin.
“Thank you, songbird.”
It was the first night in a week Booker slept through without incident, or even stirring awake to change positions.
And when he didn’t wake up with the sun, like Caitlin always did, she let him rest.
Chapter Eleven
“That can’t be possible,” Luna said, folding her arms. “Someone must be mistaken.”
Slowing their gait, Caitlin and Booker approached the cluster of officials cautiously.
“We’ve looked everywhere,” Steve said, gesturing to Nathaniel. “Even checked the vehicles and the playing field past the fence.”
“Hey y’all,” Booker greeted. “Everythin’ alright?”
Nathaniel’s expression was grim. “Donna’s missing.”
Caitlin’s heart rate doubled.
“You’re sure?” She asked.
“No,” Luna countered. “Someone said they saw her yesterday at dinner.”
“Someone thought they saw her,” Steve said. “No one has actually had a conversation with her since yesterday morning when she brought the suspicious knife and boots to Nate and Mark.”
“Y’think she left?” Booker asked, glancing around at the group.
“Donna cared about everyone in this camp,” Luna said. “I can’t imagine she’d just pick up and leave without saying anything. She must be around here somewhere, and we need to find her in case she’s hurt or having a medical emergency.”
Caitlin frowned. “Was she sick?”
“No, but she has chronic asthma,” Nathaniel said. “Said she kept it under control for the most part but if she had an acute attack without access to her inhaler…”
Shifting his weight, Booker planted his hands on his hips. “Y’all, maybe we oughta let the others know. ‘Bout everythin’.”
Luna gaped at him. “We can’t.”
“People should know, Luna,” Steve interjected.
“It would start a panic,” she said. “First telling them we might have a violent sociopath in our midst, then announcing Donna is missing? We’d have a terrified mob in less than thirty seconds.”
“But we need an organized search for Donna,” Nathaniel said. “And we can’t do that without informing people of what we’re dealing with.”
“And we need everyone to stay sharp,” Caitlin added. “We still don’t know who this person is, or what their next move might be. We need all eyes and ears on the lookout.”
“That would just tip them off,” Luna said, pushing her hair out of her face. “If we announce it to the group, then we’d be announcing it to the person we’re searching for too.”
“Deadly rock, deadly hard place,” Booker said.
“Exactly,” Luna agreed with a nod. “Either way, we’re screwed.”
Waving his hand in a placating motion, Steve said, “Okay, maybe we should call in the other officials. Maybe even Max and Sister Agnes for added perspective. This isn’t a decision we can make on the fly.”
“And what about Donna?” Caitlin asked. “The longer we wait, the more trouble she could be in.”
Turning to Nathaniel, Booker jerked his chin at him. “You ever a part of search ‘n’ rescues in the fire department?”
“Yeah.” Nathaniel nodded. “All the time.”
“Could put together a small search party, lay out a grid, really check this place top to bottom,” Booker offered. “That way we ain’t gotta waste anymore time lookin’ for her but it won’t be as obvious somethin’s wrong.”
Nathaniel and Steve looked to Luna expectantly.
“Okay,” she relented. “But please try to keep the suspicions to a minimum. We already have the rumor mill pumping out enough worried gossip as it is.”
Nodding, Nathaniel faced Booker. “I’ll grab my stuff and pull Alonzo and Edward off their work details. Meet you in the teacher’s lounge twenty minutes?”
“You got it.”
As Nathaniel took off, Luna and Steve dispersed to find the other officials, leaving Booker and Caitlin alone in the hallway.
Crossing her arms, Caitlin looked up at Booker. “I’m trying not to be offended by how obviously I wasn’t included in this boy’s club search party.”
Running a soothing hand down her bicep, he said, “I think Nate just ain’t used t’workin’ with you on a team.”
“Yeah, well…” She refused to sulk. She was better than that.
Leaning down, Booker pressed a kiss to her hairline. “You’re on my team,” he murmured. “So I’m includin’ you.”
Smiling despite herself, Caitlin said, “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
After a moment of thought, she added, “I’m going to let Nicole and Scott know. Maybe they’ll be able to help too.”
Booker nodded. “I’ll meet ya in the lounge.”
With their small group gathered, Nathaniel doled out assignments—explaining how to mark each place they’d searched and how they were to check in every hour.
Everything was done by the book.
Methodically and patiently, each team of two combed their sections of the school and the surrounding land.
It took them the rest of the afternoon, sniffing out clues or signs of life like blood hounds.
By dusk, they were all exhausted and even more concerned than they had been before.
Nothing. Donna was nowhere to be seen.
Seemingly vanished off the face of the earth.
Her small collection of belongings kept in a backpack at the foot of her sleeping bag was a haunting signal fire that she hadn’t run away, hadn’t simply left.
At dinner the elected officials made the announcement.
Donna was missing and they had reason to believe something malicious happened to her.
* * * * * * *
Caitlin couldn’t breathe.
She was drowning, struggling for a single gulp of air, surrounded by darkness.
“Cae!”
Through the
