Nathan had the feeling the guy was in love with Celia. At the very least, he cared deeply for her. “After meeting here, was the plan that you would drive her somewhere? Escape with her?”
“That wasn’t her plan, but it was mine. I was going to take her far from here. She hadn’t told me where. I had planned to disappear with her, though.”
Could Celia have figured that out and simply lured him here so he wouldn’t follow her? Nathan paced the old train tunnel. He noticed a duffel. “What’s that?”
“Her bag, I assume.”
“I’m going to search your backpack and make sure you don’t have a weapon. Then I’ll look inside the duffel to see if it’ll give us any clues.”
Wilson shrugged. “I’m good with that, man. I just want them to be safe. I don’t have to find her, but if she’s in trouble, I want to help if I can.”
Good enough. Using his flashlight, he gave Wilson’s backpack a quick look to make sure he wouldn’t get any surprises from the man, like a knife to the back, then tossed it to him. Wilson hefted it onto his back.
Nathan checked inside the duffel to confirm there wasn’t a bomb, then he carried it outside and back up to his vehicle. At his vehicle, he plopped the duffel in the back and got a better look inside. Clothing and toiletries. Everything one might need for a few days away from home. But what was the bigger plan? Where had she intended to end up?
Nathan tossed it all back in and growled. He looked up to the sky—at the stars. Lord, where are they?
“I think they’re just gone,” Wilson said in a breathy exhale. “They got out of here. Didn’t wait for me and left. They’re miles away by now.”
“As long as they’re safe, that’s all that matters, Mr. Wilson.”
Not again, Lord. I’ve lost her again.
His cell rang. His heart jumped. Erin! But it was his mother. Nathan couldn’t talk to her now.
“Just call me Delmar. What now?” Delmar asked.
Nathan considered his next move. “You need to come back with me to talk to the police.”
Delmar’s shoulders sagged. “Am I under arrest?”
“No. But you want to help us find them, don’t you?”
“I want them to be safe.”
Nathan understood where the man was coming from. “Agreed. But we also need to make sure they haven’t been abducted—or worse.”
He and Delmar climbed into Nathan’s vehicle. “I’ll take you downtown so you can tell your story—the full story. Someone will bring you back to your car, okay?”
“Fine.” Delmar stared into the woods swallowed up by darkness, shaking his head and mumbling to himself. “I should have known this would happen. She was under so much pressure, she couldn’t keep it all bottled up. The signs were there all along.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t think I meant anything to her.”
“Listen, since the bag was in the tunnel, that means Celia made it to the tunnel like she planned, but she left without it. We have to assume she and Erin were taken. Let’s get her back, and you can ask her how she feels. Or tell her how you feel. Get it out in the open.”
And take your own advice, dude.
His cell buzzed again, and he glanced at it to make sure it wasn’t from Erin. Pain ignited in his chest at the thought that she hadn’t contacted him. Did he mean so little to her? Now he truly sounded like Delmar. But he knew that he meant something to Erin. He knew it in his heart of hearts. And that was another big reason why he knew that Erin and Celia hadn’t escaped and were not well on their way to safety. He knew they were in danger.
Erin wouldn’t have abandoned her friends so easily without at least telling them goodbye.
The text was from his mother. Your father is trying to communicate. Repeating one word. “Rare.”
Nathan scraped his hand down his face. He didn’t know what that meant. He should be there now with his father, but Dad would want him to find Erin if he could. He would reply to his mother on the other side of this. Nathan steered back toward town and thought back to something Delmar had said earlier. Something about those words gnawed at the back of his mind. Think, Nathan. What was it?
“She was under so much pressure.”