Erin marched ahead of him, limping a little, but not much, determination in her stride.
Despite the odd circumstances, he felt a smile coming on. He caught up to her. “Okay. I hear you. You’re in this with me now. Thank you. I just don’t want you to get hurt. Someone tried to kill him. I don’t know why I would invite you into that.”
“Because you need help, Nathan. You can’t do this alone. Now that it’s decided, let’s talk about what happened.” She blew out a breath. “Someone tried to kill him because they knew he was looking into something and had possibly learned something. But no one has to know that we’re looking into it.”
He scratched his scruffy jaw. “Just help me with the cold case, and then maybe I can offer it up to Henry, from a different angle.” Or he would tell Henry everything, despite what Dad had said. God, what do I do?
“The big question—what cold case was he looking into?” she asked.
Light drew his attention, and he almost stumbled. “See that?”
Erin looked forward. “Yeah, I see lights at the dam.”
Nathan and Erin rushed toward the light, weaving around trees, fallen branches, and underbrush until they finally reached the dam. Nathan paused to catch his breath. Solar-powered floodlights were set up on the other side of the dam, but whoever had set them up was gone.
“We missed them!” Erin groaned.
“But they know about the dam. This is great news.”
The familiar sound of a helicopter resounded, and Nathan spotted a searchlight. The copter swooped low along the river, shining the searchlight everywhere—the riverbanks, the water, the forest. It continued on a path that took it away from the dam and downriver.
Nathan waved his arms. “No, wait! We’re here.”
That’s where they would focus the search. Understandable. Since the lights had been set up, he held on to hope that someone would be back to the dam soon.
Erin sagged, then dropped to the ground on her rear. “Well, that’s just great. We were late to our own rescue party.”