Doing It Over (Most Likely To #1)(57)

“Okay.” Not okay . . . none of this is okay. The desperation of the day started to weigh in as Bella sniffed around the places Hope usually played. It seemed the dog chased her tail and spun in circles.

Melanie clenched her hands into tight fists and tried to wait.

Bella, and her counterpart, Fisher, both headed off in the same direction at nearly the same time.

The direction they headed was entirely opposite of what Melanie expected.

The dogs went north, leaving behind the south woods they had been searching.

“Where are they going?”

“Following a scent, ma’am.”

It was time for Melanie to turn a full circle. “We never walk this way.”

Bella ran and Maaco followed. “She did today, Miss Bartlett.”

Melanie and Wyatt jogged to keep up.

Maaco called into his radio, “The dogs found a scent, northwest.”

Jo’s voice screeched over the line. “Damn, all right . . . moving reinforcements your direction.”

“Copy.”

Wyatt kept pace beside her. His eyes scanned the landscape in silence, his jaw tight.

They had to be a half a mile from the inn when the dogs split in two directions.

“What the—?”

“They might double back.”

Melanie stared into Wyatt’s understanding eyes. “I’ll go with him,” he said, nodding toward the second K-9.

She bit her lip, nodded, and followed Bella.

Fifteen minutes later, a call came in to the radio.

“We have something.”

Maaco stopped midstride and Melanie held her handset tight. “What?”

“Her sweater. We found Hope’s sweater.”

“Is she in it?” There was a pause. Pain gripped her heart. “Is she in it?”

Wyatt’s voice replied. “No, baby . . . she’s not. We’re still looking.”





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN




It was an hour until dusk. The media had shown up once the Amber Alert had been issued, and according to Jo, Nathan had been notified of Hope’s disappearance.

Melanie never felt so hopeless in all her life.

The search concentrated on the area where they’d found Hope’s sweater. Faces she hadn’t seen in years popped in front of her, encouraging her . . . then took their posts to search.

Even Zane showed up with Zoe’s mom to help. Zanya stayed behind at the inn preparing food for the volunteers who checked in every couple of hours for food and water.

The FBI was en route, which made Melanie feel equal parts crazed and hopeful. Much as she loved and trusted Jo, her exposure to missing persons wasn’t vast.

Still the search was impressive.

Wyatt never left her side. Never suggested she slow down or stop. He’d hand her water, shove something in her hands to eat during the search . . . but he didn’t falter one step.

Once it was apparent that Hope’s sweater wasn’t anywhere near her daughter, Melanie started back in the direction she’d been searching with Bella before they’d been called away. Search parties tightened up to look for any signs of Hope’s recent presence, and not just the girl.

It never occurred to Melanie that they’d find a piece of her. Even a sweater. Now the possibilities of finding something other than her entire daughter threatened her sanity.

She was cold, shivering under the oversize coat Wyatt had placed over her shoulders at some point in the cool day. Every muscle in her body ached, and her head felt as if it were splitting in two under the weight of it all.

Melanie did what any mother would . . . she pushed on.

The sun kept a steady pace toward the horizon no matter how much Melanie willed it to stay high.

“This is about where we were when they found the sweater.”

Maaco agreed with a nod.

The handler knelt next to Bella for the hundredth time that day, said a few things to his dog while holding Hope’s baby blanket.

“C’mon, Bella,” Melanie heard Wyatt say at her side.

A half a dozen volunteers stood beside them, all focused on the K-9.

Bella ran in a couple of circles before heading in a western direction.

“Isn’t that the way we came the first time?” Melanie asked.

Wyatt was the only one listening to her. “Maybe Hope turned around.”

By now, Jo was beside them, no longer able to stay behind and direct traffic. “Spread out,” she told those around her. “Same procedure. Anything, no matter how small.”

A mumbling of voices agreed and the group took spaces beside each other, some twenty to thirty feet apart, all of them headed in the same general direction of Bella’s lead.

It wasn’t until the hillside started a steep descent that the team slowed its pace.

Melanie knew the hill would eventually find its way to a cliff, which was why this route was off-limits for Hope to explore. At the bottom of the cliff was a ravine, but it was far too dangerous for those with only two legs to traverse. Hope, being the rule follower that she was, would never have ventured here on her own.

And that scared Melanie even more.

While the others held back, she followed Bella, Maaco, and Jo down the hill. Wyatt held her hand to keep her from falling. At some point, Bella disappeared and Melanie panicked.