Forgotten Secrets Read Online Free PDF Page A

toward Fremont Lake not long after Cheyenne disappeared.”

CHAPTER THREE
    North of Singing River, Wyoming, in the middle of nowhere, only the moon and dozens of stars offered any disruption from the utter blackness surrounding the vehicle. The bright headlight beams illuminated the dirt road in front of Thayne’s SUV.
    His gaze swept to and fro, searching for anything out of place, out of the ordinary, a glimpse of the plum dress Cheyenne had been wearing when she disappeared. He glanced over at his father, his dad’s face even more drawn than two and a half hours ago when they’d left one of the deputies managing command central.
    “We’re going to find her,” Thayne said, needing to hear the words as much for himself as to comfort his father.
    “Of course we are. Good idea to search these dirt roads off the main route between town and the lake.” He snagged the radio.
    “Dad, you contacted the office less than fifteen minutes ago.”
    “Damn it, you think I don’t realize that?” He closed his eyes. “We both know what could be happening to her, what they could be doing to her. If . . . if she’s still . . .”
    Still alive.
    His father couldn’t say the words aloud.
    Neither could Thayne. “They didn’t kill Gram. Hopefully that means something.”
    “Maybe.” The sheriff of Singing River let out a sharp curse and tossed his badge on the dash. “The case is different when it’s personal. A hell of a lot different.”
    “Yeah.” Thayne recognized the expression. Anger, frustration, and desperation lying in wait just beneath the surface, clawing to escape. “My mind’s going places it shouldn’t,” he admitted.
    “Did I tell you I’m glad you’re home and not on an op?” His father stared out the side window. “Your mother hated not knowing where you were for weeks or months at a time, if you were alive or dead.”
    “ Mom always worried.” Thayne understood the message. He could play along with the distraction—and with their standard worry game. Even though his mom had passed away five years ago, his dad still invoked the old standby excuse.
    “Makes this damn heart infection worth it.” The tough, no-nonsense sheriff cleared his throat and blinked. “Where’s my little girl?” His dad leaned forward in his seat. “Where is Cheyenne?”
    “We’ll find her. We have to.”
    The SUV rounded a curve, its headlights forming a bright tunnel revealing a line of Douglas firs on one side of the road and a creek lining the other. They topped a small hill, and Thayne stepped on the brakes. A gate and barbed-wire fence blocked the road.
    “Let me take a look.” Thayne left the vehicle and studied the padlock, tugging at the rusted metal before slipping back behind the wheel. “No one’s opened that gate for months.” He turned to his father. “Cheyenne’s smart and resourceful. She’ll get word to us. We just have to keep looking.”
    He made a U-turn off-road and headed the way they’d come.
    “I wish she’d call. She must have her phone. Pendergrass didn’t find it at her office.”
    “Try the locator app again, Dad. We could get lucky.”
    “Apps,” his dad huffed, tapping the screen. “When Jackson fought that fire in Arizona, his phone hardly worked at all. Today your brother is searching the mountains that back up to our ranch, but he could be on Mars and I couldn’t tell. The terrain around here makes for one big dead zone. Hudson’s on the south end leading a team. No reception there, either.” With a frustrated hand, his father tossed the phone next to the badge. “I don’t know why you kids gave me this damn phone anyway. I was perfectly happy with my old flip phone. This monstrosity doesn’t tell me squat. Except that you’re sitting right next to me. Sure as hell doesn’t tell me if you’re in Afghanistan or Pakistan or wherever you were last.”
    Thayne frowned at his father’s outburst. “There’s always a chance.”
    “We need satellite