“Sorry I’m late to the party.” Xavier raked a hand through his tousled hair. Nate wasn’t used to seeing the guy so unkempt and frazzled. “Getting away from two hysterical women and a delusional father was harder than I thought it would be.”

“What can you tell us?” Nate kicked out a nearby chair and pointed to it.

Xavier took a seat. “Look, I don’t know if I’ll have anything enlightening to share. I just want to help. I can’t stand the thought of that fucker hurting Sally. I believe you, 100 percent. Tell me what you need from me.”

Nate’s chest nearly caved with relief. A small part of him wanted to wrap Xavier in a hug, but he quickly resisted the urge.

Slumping into the seat opposite him, he said, “Anything you can tell us. You worked with the guy. Did you notice any red flags at all?”

“I got a hit!” Jessica raced into the office, waving a sheet of paper. “August Cotton. Oscar is August Cotton from Fountain Hills, Arizona. He was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for armed robbery.”

“When?” Nate snatched the information sheet.

“Fourteen years ago.” Jessica’s face was alight with triumph. “He was twenty years old and got out early for good behavior at the age of twenty-four.”

“Then what?”

Jessica deflated a little. “After his parole he left the state. Higgs is running a license search for us, and I’ve left a message with the Fountain Hills PD. The officer I spoke to thinks their captain might remember the guy. He’s going to call us as soon as he gets in.”

“Okay.” Nate started pacing, energized by the information. “So he was in prison twelve years ago, which means that he couldn’t have been in Aspen Falls trying to convince Mila to run away.”

“Which means he has a brother who looks a lot like him,” Cam stated.

“Is it safe enough to assume that his brother might be his accomplice on this one?”

“It’s worth following.” Cam nodded, then turned to Jessica. “Get back on the phone or internet, whatever you have to. We need anything you can find us on the Cotton family from Fountain Hills, Arizona.”

“Got it.” Jessica rushed out of the room, and Nate stopped pacing to stare down at August’s rap sheet.

“This still doesn’t tell us where they have her.”

Xavier’s face scrunched and he let out a frustrated sigh. “They wouldn’t have made it to Arizona. They must be close by. Maybe this brother is…” Xavier clicked his finger and pointed at Nate. “The old lady. From the other day. Ms. Parker. She thought she recognized Oscar, remember?”

“Holy shit.” Nate raked a hand through his hair. “I even went and questioned him about it, but he looked so damn innocent. Like he seriously knew nothing about it!”

“I don’t think he did.” Xavier stood with him. “I caught him that afternoon on the phone. He was shouting at someone, and it was so unlike him. He was saying something about honesty and that the person he was speaking to should’ve told him.”

Nate’s eyebrows dipped together. “What else did he say?”

“Not much.” Xavier sighed. “He turned around and saw me watching him. He ended the call pretty quick and then distracted me with work stuff.”

“Okay.” Nate swallowed. “Okay, so we need to talk to Ms. Parker again.”

“Are you sure?” Blaine cringed. “Rita’s not the most reliable source in town. I mean, she’s sweet and everything, but…her stories can change.”

“When I interviewed her last time, her story was exactly the same. I just didn’t think to probe any deeper because I thought it was a dead lead.” Throwing his jacket on, he spotted the bullet hole and felt his chest constrict. He shouldn’t have been so careless. Every lead was important. Every clue. Every detail.

His voice shook as he glanced at Cam. “Vern Schnyder mentioned catching his daughter with Jamie in an old mill or something. Can you go see him, find out exactly which mill it was? Maybe that’s where they met up in secret.”

Cam frowned. “Sure thing, but I doubt they’d be stupid enough to take her there. They’re probably not even in Aspen Falls.”

Nate closed his eyes, feeling sick. “Just…can you do it, please?”

“Of course.” Cam nodded. “I’ll contact you as soon as I’m done.”

He turned and pointed at Xavier. “Let’s go.”

“Me?”

“You were there when she recognized Oscar. Let’s give her memory as many triggers as we can.” Nate turned to Blaine, who was already looking her up on the computer.

“119 Hickory Crescent.”

Cam threw him the keys before he had to ask for them. Grabbing the edge of Xavier’s jacket, he hauled the guy out of his office and headed for the parking lot.

Time urged him into a run. Xavier kept pace and they were soon heading for Hickory Crescent, the hope of answers burning bright. Nate had everyone he trusted working on different angles. Surely one of them would yield something useful.

Ms. Parker answered the door after the second round of knocking. Nate felt close to blowing a gasket as he impatiently paced the porch.

“Here she comes.” Xavier pointed at the door when a shadowy shape appeared behind the frosted glass.

The door cracked open and a moment later, Ms. Parker stood there smiling at them. Her smile was sweet and her eyes were a vibrant blue to match the color of her bathrobe.

“Hello.” Her voice was high and a little shaky.

“Good morning, Ms. Parker. I’m Detective Nathan Hartford.” He flashed his ID, figuring she might not remember him. “This is my…associate, Xavier Richmond.”

“Oh, hello.” She smiled at Xavier, her eyes narrowing as she obviously tried to work out where she knew him from.

Xavier glanced at Nate, his expression hopeful. “I saw you just the other day at Lulu’s Coffee Shop. You were talking to a colleague of mine. An Englishman named Oscar. You thought you recognized him.”

She frowned and shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“He had a pale blue pickup truck.”

“Oh.” She grinned. “The young man. I will never forget him. He and his lady love. They ran away together.”

Nate quelled his frustration at hearing the same story yet again. The fact that she repeated it word for word made him wonder if it was true, but he had to try. “Ms. Parker, would it be okay if we came in and asked you a few questions about what you saw?”

“Well, of course.” She pulled the door open wider. “I may be losing my mind, but some things stick, and a love story like that will last me a lifetime. At least I hope it will.” Her expression flicked with sadness as she shakily sat in her seat. Her toes turned in as she rested her hands in her lap, making her look like a little girl with an old wrinkled face. “He would wait outside my house. He didn’t know I was watching. I didn’t want to pry, but he intrigued me. He always looked so sad and restless, and then he’d check his watch and smile, excited, and race up the hill.”

“Where did you used to live, Ms. Parker?” Nate started with the same question he did last time, hoping to trigger something new.

“Richard and I owned a small farm about ten minutes out of town. The road leading north. It borders Finch’s Forest. Do you know it?”

Nate nodded and forced a smile.

She smiled back and dipped her head. “We lived there for many years. So happy together. So happy.” This was where he’d lost her last time. She’d started rattling on about marriage and happiness and Richard. He’d managed to steer her back to Jamie one more time but as she’d tired, her chatter become harder to understand and she ended up talking in repetitive circles.

Nate had to control the interview more tightly this time around. “So, Ms. Parker,” he cut her off. “The blue pickup truck. The man. He’d check his watch and run up the hill?”

“Oh, yes. I could see him quite clearly through my binoculars. He didn’t know I was watching. He always looked so sad.”

Nate gritted his teeth as the old lady repeated herself, going over the same details in exactly the same order.

His phone vibrated and he jerked to pull it out of his back pocket. “Excuse me for a moment.” He raised his finger and read Cam’s text.

Got directions to the old mill. Checking it out now.

Nate’s heart hitched, his stomach clenching as he suddenly wished he were with her. What if Sally was there?

Keep me posted.

He sent back the quick response and resisted the urge to get up and leave. Cam was probably right. Oscar…August…wouldn’t be stupid enough to keep Sally in Aspen Falls. His best bet was probably what Jessica could find out back at the station.

So why was he wasting his time with a lady who was losing her mind?

“Are you okay, Detective?” Ms. Parker leaned forward in her seat. “You look worried, dear.”

Nate swallowed and gave her a closed-mouth smile, then got hit with inspiration. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but desperation was leading him on this one.

Forcing his posture to relax, he rested his elbows on his knees and played to Ms. Parker’s romantic tendencies. “The woman I love is missing.”

“Oh, dear.” Ms. Parker touched her chest.

“I need to find her. I’d do anything to find her and bring her home safely.”

“Well, of course you would.” The woman’s eyes glistened and she started blinking. “That’s true love. Putting your woman and family before anything else.” She bobbed her head. “True love.”

Her soft words hurt as regrets tried to seize him. It took him a moment to find his voice again. His eyes were burning as he croaked, “Like the true love this man had.”

“Yes.” Ms. Parker let out a dreamy giggle. “She was beautiful. Blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. So pretty.”

Nate’s stomach pinched. Mila Schnyder had blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was pretty. She was in love. She was the girl this nervous man ran up the hill to see. That man was Jamie, and he was linked to Oscar. And somehow that connection had to help. Somehow that had to lead to Sally—to his love with blonde hair and sparkling eyes.

Oh God, please help us find a link, Nate silently begged.

And the second the prayer left his mind, a thought hit him like a lightning bolt.

“Wait. How do you know she had blonde hair? I thought you only saw him.” Nate rushed out the words. “Did she come down the hill one day? Did you see them together?”

“Well…” The lady blushed and tipped her head. “I really shouldn’t say.”

“Please, Ms. Parker, it could be very important.” Nate strained to keep his tone calm and in check.

“I was with Nelly, and I shouldn’t pry, but he intrigued me.”

“Who’s Nelly?” Xavier frowned.

“My horse.” She grinned. “So I decided to follow him one day. He trekked for about twenty minutes, up the hill to an old cabin that had been abandoned. I didn’t even know it was there.”

Nate licked his lips, hungry for more of the story. “Go on.”

“Well, I left Nelly by the tree, worried she’d make too much noise. I crept very quietly up to the house, and that’s when I heard them speaking. He was saying how much he loved her and nothing could keep them apart. She had a sweet voice. She loved him too, but was crying. When I got to the window, I heard him say they should run away together. She agreed and then…” Ms. Parker’s cheeks flushed pink. “Well, they…”

Nate’s eyebrows rose. “They…?”

“They made love.” She giggled and leaned forward to whisper. “They didn’t know I was watching.”

Xavier cleared his throat and shared a quick look with Nate.

Pressing his lips together, Nate blinked a couple of times and then asked, “Ms. Parker, do you know which direction the cabin was from your farm? Do you think you could tell us exactly where it is?”

“Oh.” She gave him a pained frown and scratched the side of her head. “Well, I… Richard and I owned a small farm near Finch’s Forest. Do you know it?”

Nate held in his sigh and quietly asked, “Was the cabin north? South? East? West of your house?”

“The cabin up the hill?” She blinked. “I went there one day. I didn’t even know it was there. I was with Nelly.”

Xavier shuffled on the seat beside him, and Nate could feel his mounting frustration.

“Up the hill,” he said softly. “From your house.”

“Yes. They were going to run away together, and they did because he stopped coming back.”

“So the cabin is quite isolated, then?”

“I didn’t even know it was there. Very old and creaky. Hadn’t been lived in for years. A good place for secret lovers to meet.” She smiled at both of them and giggled again. “They didn’t know I was watching.”

Nate looked to Xavier, swallowing thickly before wrapping up the conversation.

At least he’d learned something new. There was an isolated cabin in Finch’s Forest, up the hill from Ms. Parker’s old farm. No doubt another dead end.

As they walked back to the car, Nate got another text.

The old mill is clear. Sorry.

Nate cursed and smashed his fist on the roof of the car.

“What do you want to do now?” Xavier asked.

Sharp breaths spurted from Nate’s nose before he roughly grumbled, “Head back to the station. See what Jess has found for us.”

“You don’t think it’s worth checking out that cabin?” Xavier asked.

Nate paused and looked across the roof of the car, skeptical. “You do?”

“Well, maybe. I mean, it’s worth a shot, isn’t it? If this Jamie guy thought it was completely hidden, then he might still think it is.” Xavier ran a hand through his hair and huffed. “Look, I know it’s a long shot, but she’s my sister. I’ll follow any lead I have to, no matter how small.”

Nate studied his expression, understanding exactly how he felt. With a heavy sigh, he pulled out his phone and called Cam.

“Yeah, hi,” he replied to her greeting. “We might have a lead. You got Ollie and Blaine with you?”

“They’re in the cruiser behind me. Where are we going?”

“We’re looking for a cabin in Finch’s Forest. I need to check satellite images to try and find it, but it could be a go.”

“We’ll head toward Finch’s Forest and wait for you there.”