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"Safe?"
"Guess that depends on who's asking."
"Someone who needs to know." Rachel pocketed the list. "Any of the rest of these around town?"
"No... most of those were last month. Not exactly tourist season."
"And what about the one near the mineshaft?"
"That's actually tonight."
"Oh?"
"Yeah... it's... not sancitoned, per se.... but..." the woman shrugged. "People say it's a good time. But..." she hesitated, and glanced at Rachel with a worried look. "Be careful, Ranger," the guide said, her voice softer now, almost a whisper lost to the night. "These parts can be unpredictable after dark."
"Unpredictable is what I'm counting on." Rachel tipped her hat, a gesture of thanks.
She turned to walk away again, but as she moved, the sharp trill of her phone cut through the silence. She answered, approaching her stalled vehicle.
"Blackwood."
"Ranger Blackwood, it's Officer Daniels. We've had an incident at the old mining tunnels."
Rachel's pulse quickened, the rodeo momentarily forgotten. "What sort?"
"Tourist says she was chased in the dark."
"A tourist?"
"Scared half to death, but unharmed. Can't make much sense of what she's saying," Daniels replied, the static of radio chatter slicing through the line.
She slipped into her vehicle, frowning. "Did she say what happened, exactly?"
"Says she was haunted by a ghost."
"Was she hurt?"
"No..."
"Okay..." Rachel trailed off, shutting the door to her car.
The call crackled with the static of urgency, a disembodied voice painting a scene in stark tones. Rachel's fingers tightened on the wheel, knuckles whitening.
"Officer, I need you to take her full statement," Rachel's words cut through the silence, each one deliberate. "Every detail matters, no matter how trivial it seems. Did she see anyone?"
"No. She says it was a ghost. No one was there."
"I see... Well, get that statement, and call me if she remembers anything concrete." Rachel hesitated, then channeling her inner Ethan, she added, "And make sure she feels comfortable. Get her something hot to drink. Blanket or something. Make sure the paramedics look at her."
The officer on the other end acknowledged with a terse, "Understood, Ranger Blackwood."
As she ended the call, her thumb hovered above the screen, lingering as if to draw strength from its cold, glass surface. She could picture the woman, eyes wide with the rawness of fear, the images of her ordeal etched behind her eyelids.
Rachel peered through the windshield as she began backing out of the dusty parking spot.
Her gaze fell to the horizon where darkness battled with the faintest promise of night. In that liminal space, Rachel's thoughts raced. The killer was a shadow among shadows, a whisper in the wind. But she would find him. She had to.
She placed a call. "Ethan?"
