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  Even worse, what if he had been close to the water at the time? He might even have fallen into the lake. It could be days before they found him, and if the current of the lake carried his body elsewhere…

  But she didn’t want to think about the possibility that Red was dead. The nights were warm enough now that even if he was lost or hurt somewhere, an extended time of exposure shouldn’t cause him too much harm, if he didn’t have other, more serious problems. It wasn’t as if he was missing any doses of medication, because he refused to take any medication on a regular basis.

  In spite of Cheyenne’s efforts to reassure Bertie, they eventually lapsed into uneasy silence. Between each milking, Bertie poured her bucket of milk into the stainless-steel drum and rushed to the door to look toward the house.

  The tension continued to mount, and Bertie’s movements faltered when the last goat stepped up onto the stand. Cheyenne grew more concerned when she actually finished with her last goat ahead of Bertie.

  They put the milk into the cooler and cleaned up quickly, eager to go to the house in case someone returned with news.

  Dane and Blaze arrived first, expressions grim as Bertie questioned them eagerly.

  “No news,” he said. “We took the boat along the shore in both directions, then went into town. I asked everyone who knows Red. No one seems to know what happened to him after he left the ranch today.”

  The boys returned soon after, two at a time, worn-out and dejected after the long hours of working all day and searching through the woods tonight.

  “That does it,” Bertie said firmly. “You’re all going to bed. You’re welcome to stay here if you want to keep searching in the morning, but you’re all tuckered out, and you won’t do no good getting sick.”

  “Bertie, we can’t leave Red out there all night,” Dane said. “I’ll keep looking for a while. Several of the men from town volunteered to help search if we haven’t found him by morning.”

  “A lot of good that’ll do him tonight,” Blaze muttered.

  “And you, young man,” Bertie said, taking Blaze’s arm. “You need to rest up. You just got out of the hospital. And don’t you worry, Red’s a tough one. He’ll wander up to somebody’s house afore long, and they’ll call us. You’ll see.” She sounded as if she were trying to convince herself as well as Blaze, and the boys all looked at each other.

  “Dane, I’ll go with you,” Jason said, stepping forward. “I slept late this morning, and I’m not tired.”

  Dane finally decided to continue the search in shifts, making Bertie’s house headquarters, and allowing some to sleep while the others searched. To Blaze’s frustration, Dane decided he should stay and sleep before he went out again.

  “It’s not fair,” Blaze fumed as Cheyenne rushed around to help Bertie unfold blankets to make pallets on the floor. “I should go with them. Red was my fishing buddy.”

  “Now, now,” Bertie clucked. “Sounds to me like you need some sleep, grumpy. Wash off and hop in bed.”

  Feeling sorry for Blaze, Cheyenne said, “I’ll go with you when Dane comes back. I haven’t had a chance to search yet, and who knows better where to search on my land than you and me?”

  Reluctantly, Blaze agreed. “We’ll find him in the morning, though, Cheyenne,” he said softly. “We’ve got to.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  It seemed to Cheyenne that she had just placed her head on the pillow in the guest room when the front door squeaked open and Dane and Jason, Willy and Cook trooped in.

  She climbed out of bed and pulled on her shoes.

  She stumbled into Dane, tired and disheveled, in the dimly lit hallway.

  “Hey,” he said, placing his hands on her shoulders, “where do you think you’re going?”

  “With Blaze.”

  He shook his head slowly. “Half the town is out looking for him now. Why don’t you stay here and sleep the rest of the night. Bertie might need you.”

  She heard the fatigue in his voice, and she reached up and touched his cheek again, tenderly, once more feeling the thick growth of beard beneath her fingertips.

  “Get some sleep, Dane, I’ve had mine.”

  He held her gaze for a moment. Then, as if it were the most natural thing to do, he pulled her into his arms. She rested her forehead against his shoulder, allowing herself a moment to appreciate the comfort of his embrace. It felt right.

  She wrapped her arms around him, hoping her closeness would offer him some comfort, as well. Red had been a good friend to him for many years, and the possibility of losing Red, along with the loss of the barn and Blaze’s injury, must be weighing heavily on him.

  “Would you two do that somewhere else?” came a familiar grumble from behind. Blaze. “You’re blocking the bathroom door.”

  When Cheyenne and Blaze were ready to step outside, Dane followed them to the porch.

  “Hold it, you two,” he said softly. “I sent Cook home with Willy, James and Jason to get some sleep and then do the milking in a few hours. The only place we haven’t covered thoroughly is the western perimeter of your acreage, Cheyenne. Keep a close eye on Blaze, and don’t let him overdo it or injure himself.”

  “Would you stop it?” Blaze said. “I’m fine, okay? Besides, it’ll be light soon. You don’t have to mother—”

  “The sheriff has called for search-and-rescue to come in at first light. The church in town has a prayer chain going.” Dane put one hand on Blaze’s shoulder and the other on Cheyenne’s, and bowed his head. “Lord, please go with these two and protect them, give them sharp sight. And please, Lord, be with Red as You comfort Bertie. We need your continual touch.”

  It wasn’t until he had ended the prayer and stepped back that Cheyenne had time to feel uncomfortable. It had seemed such an automatic gesture for him, not awkward or self-conscious.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to stay here until it gets light?” he asked her softly, his voice hoarse from overuse.

  “I’m sure. Take the guest bed—it’s still warm, and you need the sleep.”

  “You talked me into it.” Once more, he put an arm around her. “Remember, as soon as you find Red, come and get me.”

  “We promise, Dane,” Blaze answered for her. “Come on, Cheyenne. Can I drive the car to your place?”

  “I thought we’d start searching from here.”

  “Dane said the west section of land. Besides, you need a jacket.” He yawned. “It’s colder than you think.”

  “I’ll get one at the house. Fine, you drive.”

  Blaze reasoned logically that since Red was probably disoriented, he could be anywhere in the fields or woods, so after they reached her place and found her jacket, they walked down to the dock, then split up and went separate directions along the shore.

  When they met back an hour later, Blaze slumped onto the dock. “Chey?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I think…I think Red is dead.” His voice held a catch of grief.

  She gently prodded a nearby bush. “Don’t talk that way.”

  “It’s too cold out here, especially for Red. You know how easily he got cold.”

  She shivered in spite of the warmth of her jacket. “I know.”

  “Then you think he’s—”

  “No.” She sighed and reached for the rope that anchored the rowboat to the dock. “I’m a doctor, Blaze. I’ve learned not to think that way. Until the patient is pronounced, that patient is alive as far as we’re concerned. I may not have Dane’s faith. I don’t have that confidence he seems to have that everything will turn out right in the end. But I’m not ready to give up on Red.”

  “I didn’t mean that.”

  “I know,” she said softly, trying to see Blaze’s face through the darkness. “I just don’t want to start grieving unless we know something for sure.”

  She moved her light in a circle around the dock. The movement had become automatic in the past hour. “Let’s row along the shore.”

  “Fine, but I’
m rowing. You’ll take us right under the trees.”

  As they got into the boat, Blaze unlooped the rope from the post and pushed them off, then grabbed the paddles as if afraid she would try to take them.

  “Hold both our lights,” he said. “It’ll give you a wider area. Yeah, like that. Cheyenne, I can’t believe you’re going out on a date with Austin Barlow.”

  “It isn’t a date, and you had no right to be eavesdropping when I told Dane.”

  “The mayor’s taking you to a show in Branson, and you don’t call that a date? I bet it’ll sound like a date to the rest of the town.”

  “I’m buying my own ticket.”

  “What? He’s making you buy your own—”

  “He isn’t making me do anything, Blaze, I insisted. It isn’t a date, I just wanted to see a Branson show before I went back to Columbia, and it isn’t as if men are knocking the door down to invite me.”

  Blaze turned the bow of the boat toward the shore. “Is that just a clump of leaves?”

  She shined the light on the form as he rowed them closer, and saw branches sticking out of the leaves. “Yes. Keep going.”

  “So if you wanted to go to a show, why didn’t you ask Dane instead of Barlow?”

  “I didn’t ask Barlow, he asked me.”

  “So it’s a date.”

  She gritted her teeth. “Is it my imagination, or are you a little more belligerent after your stay in the hospital?”

  “I’m not belligerent, Barlow is, and you know it. He hates me—”

  “It didn’t look that way the night of the fire, when he called for a chopper and then prepared the field so they could land.”

  “He wouldn’t’ve been a very popular mayor if he’d stood there and laughed while I died.”

  “You know better than—”

  “You haven’t taken a good look at the color of my skin lately, have you?”

  “I know what color your skin is, Blaze. It’s a rich, deep ebony, but that isn’t the first thing I notice when I meet somebody.”

  “It is for some people, especially around here where they don’t see a lot of black people. We stand out, and that isn’t a good thing. There’s still prejudice in the world, Cheyenne, and a lot of it. This isn’t paradise.”

  “I know. It isn’t fair of me to ask you to give people more time to adjust to you, just because of your skin color. It shouldn’t be that way.”

  “But it is. And Austin suspected me when I first came here, just because I was black.”

  “I don’t know Austin well enough to know that for sure, but I’d bet your nickname didn’t help things. And you aren’t the only one Austin picks on. You know how he is with Dane most of the time. And Dane sure isn’t black.”

  Blaze was quiet for a moment. “Yeah. Austin was belligerent to Red yesterday, too. You should’ve heard them shouting at each other down at the dock.”

  Instinctively, Cheyenne shone one of her lights at Blaze, who squinted and glared at her in the circle of brightness. “Get that out of my face. I’m not lying.”

  She returned her attention to the shoreline. “What were they shouting about?”

  “Austin was mad at Red about the goats in your yard, and warning Red how dangerous that buck was.”

  “How did he know about that?”

  “Oh, come on, Cheyenne, you know this place. All it takes is one stray word, and folks around here can hang a whole story on it. Anyway, Red told Austin he got rid of the goat, and Austin said they should get rid of all the goats.”

  “And Austin was shouting at Red?”

  “I heard Austin say later he wasn’t shouting, he was just talking to Red loudly enough so the deaf old coot could hear him.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “There you go, taking his side again.”

  “I’m not taking—”

  “So now what happens but I see you hanging on Dane tonight like a lovesick—”

  “Just row the boat,” she snapped.

  She heard him chuckle behind her, and she ignored it.

  They fell silent as they searched.

  “You’re right about Dane,” Blaze said after a few moments. “He has a lot of faith in God.”

  She remained silent. This was an area she knew nothing about, and she didn’t want her own doubts to affect Blaze adversely.

  “I used to think this Christianity thing was just an act with him, like it is with so many other people,” he said.

  “I don’t think so. Dane never seems to be putting on an act.”

  “What do you think about God, Chey?”

  She glanced around at Blaze in surprise at his use—the second time that night—of the nickname Susan had given her and that was used by her closest friends. “I don’t think I’m the person to talk to about Him.”

  “I thought you had all the answers. You’re the doctor.”

  “I don’t have a degree in theology. Why the sudden interest in God?”

  Blaze paused thoughtfully. “Because of Red. He didn’t go around talking God stuff all the time, but it didn’t take too long to figure out what he believed just because of the way he lived his life.”

  Once again, Cheyenne noticed Blaze spoke as if Red were already dead. “What about his superstitions? He cut that little cedar tree out of my front yard because he believed it would curse me.”

  “Yeah, I know, but everybody’s got their weirdness. Yours is going out on a date with Austin Barlow.”

  “Blaze—”

  “Do you believe the soul lives forever?”

  She believed she might dump this kid in the lake if he didn’t drop the subject of her non-date with Austin. “I try not to think about it.” But lately, she’d been thinking about it a lot.

  “Dane believes in Eternal Life.”

  “I’m sure he does. Look, can we please change the subject?”

  “What’s making you nervous, talking about death or about God?”

  “Both. Now, pick up the pace. At this rate, we’ll never get anywhere.”

  They circled the cove twice with no success. When they returned to the dock, Blaze stopped and stretched wearily, then pointed toward the eastern sky. “Getting lighter all the time.”

  In a few moments the birds started singing.

  “Where do we go from here?” Cheyenne asked. “Any ideas?”

  Blaze stared across the misty lake. “I remember, lots of times, getting up before dawn to go fishing with Red. He always brought fresh fried pies and goat cheese he’d made himself, and we’d feast while we paddled to our favorite fishing spots.”

  She continued to scan the shoreline as the morning swept over them. “Where were some of Red’s favorite fishing places?”

  “Well, he especially likes the island, because of those cliffs that catch the afternoon sun. It’s one of his favorites.”

  “I don’t suppose there was any way he could have gotten over there, was there?”

  “No, but we still haven’t found out who brought him home from the ranch yesterday, either. Lots of people came and went, and everybody knows Red, even the people from our church in Blue Eye. Doug and Brenda Minton could’ve driven him, but it would’ve been pretty silly to drive all the way around to the bridge and back into Hideaway just to take Red home when there were boats coming and going all day.”

  “Okay, but we’re sure he did get a lift across? If nobody remembers taking him, and he tends to get lost easily, couldn’t he be wandering around on the other shore?”

  “Dane and I looked over there, too.”

  “Fine, but just to satisfy my curiosity, why don’t we check again, and then I can leave you at the ranch so you can get some more rest.”

  He hesitated. “You trying to get rid of me?”

  “No. If you don’t want to do the rowing, I’ll do it.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  She studied the island, with its thick growth of trees, steep, rocky cliffs and sandy beach on the east side. Though she had often gazed acros
s at it, she’d never been there.

  “Did you talk to him yesterday?” she asked.

  “A couple of times. Guess he was worried about me. He told me shooting the sow was the right thing to do, and he even offered to help take care of the piglet orphans. He was always doing something like that.”

  Cheyenne sighed.

  “I mean, he is always doing something like that.”

  The sun peeped over the eastern horizon, surrounded by soft, pink sky and gray clouds, and once it began its ascent, it rose swiftly. If not for the circumstances, Cheyenne would have reveled in the beauty of the morning, the songs of the birds, the fresh feel of the breeze lifting her hair.

  Blaze directed the boat to a level section of the island, and they slid almost without noise to the edge of the grass.

  As they stepped ashore, Blaze nudged her arm and pointed to the sky, where two vultures circled. “See them?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “It wouldn’t be Red, don’t worry. Probably a dead animal around somewhere close, but the vultures wouldn’t start circling until something was dead for a while.” He gestured along the shore, where the cliffs rose sharply from the surface of the lake. “You know those people who kept finding dead cattle out in the field, with their eyes and udders and…other parts of their anatomy cut out like a surgeon had been ahold of them with a scalpel?”

  “Barely, but you’re not even old enough to remember that.”

  “Dad did. He said vultures did that.”

  They climbed to the highest point of the tiny island, then descended down the other side. Blaze fell silent, and Cheyenne became increasingly aware of the birds circling above them, even though she knew they wouldn’t be circling for Red.

  A shadow passed over them, and Cheyenne looked up to see more birds. Above them, a cloud bank drifted across the sky from the west.

  “Looks like we’re in for a storm,” she said.

  Blaze looked up. “Come on, let’s hurry.”

  Cheyenne stumbled over a rock, and Blaze reached out to steady her. She felt him trembling.

  It was a long way down to the water from where they stood, and Cheyenne was surprised to realize how high they had climbed.