The Great Escape (Wynette, Texas #7)(113)

She emerged from the woods. It was one in the morning, and the sky had cleared. With no light pollution, the stars shone brightly overhead. Until she’d come to the island, she’d forgotten what a real star-spangled sky looked like.

The house was dark, and she prayed it would stay that way. As she moved deeper into the yard, she shined her flashlight around. Her hands were still tacky even though she’d washed them, and her clothes stuck to her skin. She even had honey in her eyebrows.

A shadow moved on the porch. A shadow too large to belong to Toby. Her heart sank. She couldn’t go through this again. Except she had no choice. She stiffened her spine and directed the beam toward the screen. “Toby’s disappeared,” she said brusquely. “Have you seen him?”

The shadow stood. “No. How long has he been gone?”

“Since around nine.” She briefly explained what had happened, glad she couldn’t see him clearly.

“Let me get my shoes on.” A few moments later, he emerged with a flashlight of his own. Its beam swept over her. “You’re a mess.”

“Really? I wasn’t aware.”

He ignored her sarcasm. “The front door’s locked. I don’t think he could have gotten in the house.”

“He has a talent for breaking and entering. Check while I look in the garage.” No way was she going in the house with him. She made her way to the garage, but as she stepped inside, she was flooded with memories of the afternoon they’d made such kinky love here. She couldn’t imagine ever being so uninhibited again.

She searched the interior of the garage, then went outside to check the area around the woodpile. The longer Toby went missing, the more anxious she became. In so many ways, Toby was her doppelg?nger. She knew what it was like to be a kid who felt alone in the world, and she knew how dangerous that kind of desperation could be.

Panda emerged from the house. “It’s clear inside.”

“Maybe the boathouse.”

But that, too, proved fruitless. They split up to circle the yard and the woods nearby. Lucy had tucked her cell in her pocket, and she called Bree, but the agitation in her friend’s voice told her nothing had changed.

“What if he went to the beach?” Bree said. “Anything could have happened. The thugs who vandalized the farm stand—Maybe he ran into them. I called the police back, but they won’t do anything till morning. Why did he have to make things worse? That’s all he’s done, right from the beginning, is make things worse.”

Panda came up behind Lucy. “Ask her if his bike is still there.”

Lucy did.

“Hold on,” Bree said. “Mike’s beeping in. I’ll call you right back.”

Lucy’s phone rang again within minutes. “Toby’s bike is gone. Mike’s out on the highway, but so far he hasn’t seen anything.”

Lucy relayed the information.

Panda took the phone from her, every inch the cop. “Bree, it’s Patrick Shade. Can I have Mike’s cell number?”

Lucy looked frantically around for something to write with, but Panda didn’t seem to need pen or paper. “Got it. Is there any particular place Toby tends to go when he’s upset?”

He listened and nodded. “Okay. What was he wearing?” He listened again. “Go to his room and look around. See if he took anything with him. A backpack? Clothes? Anything at all. Call me back when you’re done.”

“He’s going to be fine,” Lucy said to herself as he disconnected. “I know he’s fine.”

Panda was already talking to Mike. “Toby has his bike. Where are you now? All right … Check the south beach, and then stop here and we’ll work out what to do next.”

Lucy tried to imagine where she’d have gone if she were Toby. Even though he’d grown up on the island, she couldn’t imagine him huddling in the woods all night. He’d look for someplace where he’d be alone but where he’d also feel safe.

She remembered the rocky bluff Panda had made his brooding place. It was more open than the woods, and the rocks offered some shelter. While Panda headed toward the highway, she climbed the slope.

The air was still at the top, and she could hear the lap of waves below. She swept the beam over the rocks, praying for a glimpse of him. Nothing.

In a few hours, it would be dawn. Increasingly worried, she returned to the house. Panda was coming down the drive with Toby’s bike. She ran toward him. “Did you find him?”

“Only the bike. It was hidden in the trees about thirty yards up the road.”

She thought of the bikers, along with the other lowlifes who came to the island to get drunk and make trouble. “What if he left it there and hitched a ride?”

“I don’t think so. I found some footprints. It’s too dark to follow them, but my guess is that he was coming here.”

“We’ve looked everywhere.”

He gazed toward the woods. “Maybe he waited until after we’d searched before he settled in.”

Safe. Sheltered.

She and Panda moved together.





Chapter Twenty-four




LUCY FOLLOWED HIM DOWN THE steps to the dock and into the boathouse. The creaks of the boat at its mooring had been the sound track of their lovemaking, but unlike her, Panda didn’t seem to be plagued by painful memories. He directed his flashlight toward the cabin door. She was almost certain she’d latched it after she’d searched here earlier, but now it was slightly ajar. He eased it open and shone his flashlight inside. She peered around him.