Chapter 2 - The Missing GirlThe forest was already getting dark.
Alex moved his flashlight across the ground while Jet sniffed around the base of the wooden post.
The little red mitten hung motionless in the cold air.
“Stay back,” Alex told Daniel.
Daniel stopped.
Megan remained near the road, clutching her daughter.
A state trooper cruiser arrived six minutes later.
Trooper Lena Ortiz stepped out.
“What've we got?”
Alex held up the mitten.
“Possible missing child.”
Lena's expression changed immediately.
“Any reports?”
“Not yet.”
“Then how do you know?”
Alex looked at Jet.
“Because he does.”
Lena stared at the dog.
Jet scratched at the dirt.
Once.
Twice.
Then he began digging.
Alex crouched beside him.
“Come on, buddy.”
Jet dug faster.
After several seconds, his paw struck something metallic.
Alex brushed away the dirt.
A key.
Old brass.
Attached to a plastic tag.
17.
Lena picked it up.
“Room seventeen?”
“Could be.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“My dog found that?”
Alex didn't answer.
Because Jet was staring into the trees again.
The dog moved suddenly.
Alex followed.
The trail climbed toward an abandoned maintenance road.
At the end stood an old railway shed.
Its windows were broken.
The door hung slightly open.
Lena drew her flashlight.
“Don't go in alone.”
Alex nodded.
They approached.
Jet growled.
Inside, the air smelled like wet wood and rust.
There was an old folding chair.
A small table.
A blanket.
And a child's drawing taped to the wall.
A house.
Three stick figures.
A woman.
A little girl.
And someone drawn entirely in black.
Alex stepped closer.
On the bottom, written in childish handwriting:
DON'T LET HIM TAKE ME AGAIN.
Lena took a photograph.
“That's enough.”
Alex turned.
“Look.”
On the table was a disposable camera.
Beside it sat a photograph.
A little girl standing beside a black Lab.
Jet.
Alex's stomach tightened.
“That's impossible.”
Daniel entered the doorway.
He saw the photograph.
His face went pale.
“That's…”
He couldn't finish.
Alex turned toward him.
“You know her.”
Daniel looked at the floor.
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“I said no.”
Jet suddenly barked.
He jumped toward a corner.
Alex pulled aside a torn tarp.
There was a small backpack underneath.
Pink.
With a cartoon moon on it.
Inside were children's clothes, a water bottle, and a folded sheet of paper.
Alex opened it.
There were names.
Three of them crossed out.
One remained.
Megan Hale.
Megan.
Alex felt every muscle in his body tighten.
He ran outside.
Megan was standing beside her stroller.
She looked up.
“What happened?”
Alex walked toward her slowly.
“Megan, what's your last name?”
She hesitated.
“Hale.”
Lena came out behind him.
Alex looked at the backpack.
Then at Megan.
“Did you know a little girl named Eva?”
Megan's face emptied of color.
The baby in her arms kept crying.
“No.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then why was your name in a missing child's bag?”
Megan didn't answer.
Daniel suddenly turned and walked toward his truck.
Alex shouted.
“Daniel!”
Daniel stopped.
Alex approached.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Not yet.”
Daniel clenched his jaw.
“You think I'm involved?”
“I don't know what you’re involved in.”
Daniel looked past Alex.
At Jet.
“Neither do I.”
Then Jet began barking.
Not at Daniel.
At Megan.
The dog ran toward her.
He sniffed the baby's blanket again.
Then he stared directly at Megan's face.
His body trembled.
Megan stepped backward.
“Why is he doing that?”
Alex didn't know.
Then he noticed something.
A thin scar on Megan's wrist.
Three small vertical lines.
The exact same shape was drawn on the child's picture inside the shed.
Alex's radio suddenly crackled.
“Trooper Warren, dispatch here.”
Alex lifted it.
“Go ahead.”
“We just received a missing child report.”
Alex looked toward Lena.
“Name?”
“Eva Cross.”
Daniel froze.
Alex slowly turned.
Daniel was staring at the photograph.
The little girl.
The black Lab.
Jet.
Lena spoke softly.
“Daniel…”
Daniel whispered:
“She disappeared two years ago.”
The forest seemed to go silent.
Alex looked at him.
“You said you didn't know her.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I lied.”
May you like
And before Alex could say another word, Jet bolted deeper into the woods.
Straight toward the old railway tunnel.
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