Page 62 of Glimmer in the Darkness

Perhaps he only liked to kill little girls. Perhaps he had no stomach for murdering adults. Did that make sense?

Not really.

More likely, he figured two more missing people would raise suspicion, pull more people onto the mountain. But… he’d stolen their food, which also raised suspicion.

James didn’t understand, and the gnawing in his stomach wasn’t helping matters.

Cassidy was seated against the cave wall, arms around her bent legs, head on her knees. She was silent, but her heaving back told him enough.

He sat beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay.” He pulled her close, and she shifted, pressing her cheek against his chest.

Both arms around her, he said, “You were right about this place.”

“She’s not here, so it doesn’t matter.”

It mattered to him. Though back in high school, Cassidy had learned to love the outdoors as much as he, she’d been a city kid before foster care, never one for hiking or backpacking. She’d never have come this far from town on her own.

Somebody had brought her here. Of that, he was certain.

A monster. A killer.

A man who’d ruined his parents’ lives. James’s life.

Cassidy’s life.

All because some man, some nameless, faceless man, liked to steal little girls.

Hallie and Mom and Dad were gone now, but Cassidy was here. Alive and brokenhearted.

He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “It’s okay.”

“She’s not here.”

“But maybe she was.”

Cassidy looked up, eyes wide. “You think so? Did you see something?”

“Nothing specific, but somebody was here. The kidnapper could have moved her.”

“If she was ever here at all.” The despair in Cassidy’s voice frightened him, especially after her remarks on the hike up about how nobody would grieve her.

He would grieve her. If something happened to Cassidy… He couldn’t even finish the thought.

“If we were on the wrong track,” he said, “then why did someone steal our food?”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

He ignored the hopeless words. “When they figure out who did it—”

“They never will.” She straightened, staring at the cave wall not five feet across from them. “They’ll never find out the truth because they think it was me.”

She made a good point.

They sat in the cool air. What was she thinking? Would she turn herself in now? He could vouch for the existence of this place, but would that deter Vince and Detective Cote, who were sure she was guilty?

One thing was certain. He couldn’t quit looking for the kidnapper. He wouldn’t. Now that he was convinced Cassidy was innocent, he had to keep searching—for Ella’s sake, Reid’s sake, and Cassidy’s sake.

And Hallie’s and Addison’s as well. They deserved justice.