Page 16 of Chasing Creed

She glanced back at the path, watching for Ryder.

“You think he’s going to yell at that sheriff for lying to us?” she asked Jason.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ryder yell at anyone.”

“Ever?”

She watched as Jason seemed to give this some thought.

“I’ve seen him punch a guy once. Happened so fast none of us saw it coming. But yell? No, I don’t think so.”

“Isn’t it totally weird that he doesn't have other law enforcement officers out here?”

“There are a whole lot of totally weird things about this.”

“You think Kyle Lawrence is dead?”

He stopped and looked at her over his sandwich. “Ryder would say that’s not for us to decide.”

“From his social media accounts, he doesn’t look like a guy who’d just up and leave his life.”

“Maybe he didn’t leave it. Maybe he just wandered away.”

“Wandered away?”

“I’m just saying, not all who wander are lost.”

She stared at him. Just when she thought she was getting the hang of sarcasm or irony, something threw her off.

“Obviously, he wandered into something he wasn’t supposed to. Didn’t Norwich say he lives in Navarre?”

“Navarre Beach. His mom owns the house. He’s a student at the University of West Florida and a part-time bartender at Margaritaville Hotel on Pensacola Beach.”

“Wow! You really do your research.”

She shrugged and started on her own sandwich.

“Did Hannah include any extra pickles?”

“I don’t think so.”

He looked genuinely disappointed. She offered him the one that was tucked into the wax paper of her sandwich, but he waved her off.

“No, you enjoy it.”

“All that blood has to mean foul play, right?” she asked.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned about these searches is that nothing is as it seems. For all we know, Kyle may have driven someone out here. He could have killed that person in the back seat of his car. Maybe it wasn't premeditated. A fight got out of hand. A crime of passion.”

She hadn’t thought of that.

He shrugged. "Real life is messy."

Brodie’s eyes darted around the property again. Sitting on the blanket gave a whole new perspective from ground level. The fog floated a foot or two above. It was like sitting at the bottom of the ocean and watching the waves wash over them. She sucked in a deep breath as if to remind herself that she could, in fact, breathe.

With the fog hanging above the ground, she could see better. Farther. She was looking for Ryder through the trees when movement caught her attention. About a half dozen chickens quietly roamed back behind one of the outbuildings. They were the first and only living things she’d seen since arriving.

That’s if she didn’t count the ghosts she’d seen earlier hiding in the woods.