Escape to Morning Read Free

thought roughened her throat as she steadied herself on a skinny poplar and climbed over a downed, softened birch.
    Without family . No, Dannette had a family—her dogs, Sherlock and Missy. Probably the only real family she’d ever had, except perhaps for Jim Micah and the other members of Team Hope. Yeah, they felt like family. At least as far as she’d let them inside her heart.
    It simply wasn’t wise to let people that close. Because getting close also meant allowing them a glimpse of the nightmares she still hadn’t shaken.
    This is not about Ashley . Dannette told herself that twice more as she watched Missy run back to her, the hair on her neck bristled. Her breathing turned rapid as she sat, a passive alert to the target scent.
    â€œGood dog,” Dannette said. “Refind.”
    The dog bounded off, far enough ahead to keep the scent but not so far that Dannette couldn’t see her in the growing darkness. Please, Lord, have her on the trail of something real and alive . She could still hear little Robby, June’s grandson, pleading in the back of her mind.
    Please find her , moaned another voice, one buried in her heart.
    She pushed through a netting of branches and flinched for only a second when one backhanded her. The smells of decay and loam stirred up from the ground, and foraging animals clung to the night air. Darkness drifted like fine particles through the forest, so gradual as to nearly not recognize its accumulation. A cool breeze carried the echo of barking, a faint tugging on Dannette’s ears as she pushed aside tree limbs and stomped through bramble. Hopefully Kirby and Kelly weren’t far behind.
    Missy waited at the base of a large rooted trio of birches. She looked at Dannette, her ears pricked forward. Dannette put a hand on her back. “Find.”
    Dannette fought to keep Missy in the beam of her flashlight. They’d have to quit soon, and that thought made her want to weep.
    Please, Lord, let us find Mrs. Hanson. Alive.
    Missy barked, an active alert that she’d uncovered something. Dannette marked a tree with a reflector, then trudged through the brush after the dog. Missy stood, outlined in a hover of pine.
    â€œSearch Two to Search One.” Kelly’s voice broke over the radio.
    Dannette keyed her radio while she tried to get a fix on her canine. “Search One here.” The deepening darkness turned the forest into a black-and-white, B-version horror flick, complete with escaping birds and the rustle of ominous wind.
    Dannette aimed her flashlight on the ground in front of her.
    She froze.
    Missy stood over a form, a body for sure, dressed in dark pants and a blue Windbreaker, crumpled in the fetal position, its back to her.
    Mrs. Hanson?
    Her heart banging against her ribs, Dannette held her breath and approached. Missy danced around the form, animated, her breaths fast.
    Dannette’s chest clogged, and a tiny, panicked voice inside told her to turn and run . Dark memories lurked on the fringes of this moment to snare her and suck her down, to drown her.
    Dannette held back a gasp and reached for her dog.
    The form wore a black bag over its head. The smell of death didn’t permeate the air, but the fine hairs prickled on Dannette’s neck as she inched away. “Good dog,” she whispered.
    Static proceeded Kelly’s voice, punctuating the moment and frazzling Dannette’s tightly strung nerves. “I found her! Mrs. Hanson is alive!”
    Dannette’s knees gave out, a weakness borne from part relief, part horror. And maybe a little from the ringing in her ears.
    Whom exactly had she found?

Chapter 2
    WILL PULLED INTO the Howlin’ Wolf, and his chest tightened.
    No Simon. At least his silver birch half-ton Chevy Silverado wasn’t in the lot. Maybe that was good news. Like he’d already been here and gone.
    Will shoved his truck into park, dug an old rag out of the glove box, and cleaned the