“What if the captors know about Doriann’s ties to River Dance?” Renee asked. “This could be an intentional plan then, not just an escape from the interstate.”

“You’re jumping to conclusions again.” Tyrell circled the house to meet the delivery vehicle, where he found Daniel and the hired crew already unloading the wood.

“Okay, you agree with me, then,” Renee said. “They’re probably headed toward River Dance.”

“I didn’t say that. Don’t put words in-”

“I need to have another talk with the agent at Mark and Heather’s place. Maybe he’ll listen this time.”

“Does he have an alpha-male complex?”

“That could be a problem.”

“Then have Mark mention it to him.”

“Okay,” Renee said, “here’s another concern. After the initial calls about the truck, there have been no reports of a sighting for a few hours.”

“Have any other cars been reported stolen in this area?”

“You’re suggesting the kidnappers might have ditched the truck?”

Tyrell closed his eyes as the scent of freshly plowed earth settled over him. “I can’t say what I think right now. I can’t predict what killers will do. I do know you need to keep Heather from panicking. And don’t panic, yourself. Keep your wild ideas to yourself or talk to me, not Heather.”

“You think my ideas are wild, you try coming up with some, yourself. And how am I supposed to keep Heather from freaking? She’s teetering on the edge already.”

“How’s that?”

“She expects to hear at any time that her daughter is dead.”

Tyrell sank down on the top step of the back porch. “She can’t lose hope.”

“Convince her of that. I’ve told her Daniel says everything is okay.”

“Daniel didn’t say that,” Tyrell reminded his sister. “All he said was that he knew Doriann was still alive at the time we spoke.”

“See what I mean? How am I supposed to encourage Heather when even Daniel can’t give us complete reassurance?”

“You could remind her that God is in control no matter what, and that God does hear our prayers.”

There was a soft sigh over the line. “I want to get out there and do something to help bring her back.”

“I understand, Renee. It’s cruel to expect Doriann’s family to sit by and do nothing, and yet I know there’s little else that can be done right now.”

She was silent, and Tyrell recognized a frustration in her that matched his own.

“How can I have hope that Doriann will be safe through this when God hasn’t made that promise?” Renee asked. “We can’t expect our loved one to come through this alive, when the loved ones of millions around the world are lost every day, believers and unbelievers alike. We can have faith in God, but we can’t have faith in our own personal safety, or in the safety of our children.”

Tyrell could empathize with her. He remembered a scene in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where Mr. Beaver emphasized that God was not safe, but He was always good.

What good could come of Doriann’s capture?

Tyrell wanted to jump into his car and drive to the last place the stolen pickup had been seen, then track it from there. But he couldn’t do it. He wanted to rescue Doriann. As Renee had said, they had received no promises that the situation would end as the family desperately prayed it would.

“We can’t see the big picture from where we stand,” he told her.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that this life isn’t the big picture. Eternity is.”

“Okay, I want you to stop talking like that right now. You’re as bad as Heather. You’re implying Doriann could die.”

“Haven’t you said the same thing in so many words?”

“But I didn’t want you to agree with me, Tyrell.” There were tears in her voice now.

“I’ve simply said that if her life does end on this earth, the time we’ll be separated from her will seem like a blip in the screen compared to the eternity we’ll spend with her.”

This observation silenced Renee for a long moment, except for sniffing. Then she said, “I’ve got a call coming in. It’s probably Mom.”

“Keep me posted.”

“I’ll let you know if I hear more, but, Tyrell, please don’t say anything to Mom about-”

“It’s what she told me after Amy’s death. Think about it, Renee. Our faith lies in God’s ability to guide us into eternity.”

He said goodbye and disconnected, praying he’d said the right thing.

Doriann plunged into the shadowed safety of a hollow in the rocks above the dry creek bed. If she used her imagination, she might believe it was a cave. She and Uncle Tyrell had gone spelunking in a wild cave two years ago, and Doriann had loved it, even when she almost sat on a bat. Caves were places to hide, and she needed to hide.

She wished now that she had not received her earlier wish-that Clancy would shut up and stop calling to her through the woods. His voice had creeped her out, but at least she’d known where he was.

Now he said nothing, and the only way she knew he was still searching for her was when she caught sight of his shadow in the woods, or heard the rustle of leaves, or the sound of footsteps on rocks.

But she knew something he didn’t know. These rocky creeks, where boulders sometimes split the streams in half, could be wild when storms flooded the area. And then they would carve out very handy overhangs in the rock cliffs above the water. Great places to hide.

So far, she had found a couple of places that might work for a hiding place in a pinch. But she was afraid that a pinch might become more dangerous. She didn’t like what she’d seen so far. Downstream a little farther, maybe she would find what she needed.

Doriann scuttled along the solid rock bank of the creek, glad for the silence of her jogging shoes on the smooth surface. She came to a notch high in the bank, peered over it and saw a path. Judging by the dark, flat splotches on the ground, she knew cattle had made this trail, and had used it recently.

After listening again for any sound from Clancy, and hearing nothing, she climbed the bank, followed the trail through a thicket of raspberry briars, and her jacket caught on one of the sharp thorns. She ripped it loose and stumbled backward. She fell hard on her rear.

In that instant, two things happened. She realized she was warm from the exertion of walking-exertion?-yes, dummy, of course that’s the word. And she realized, as she looked around and discovered she was in a clearing, she knew where she was for the first time in hours.

It was a bad place to be. The gray-red barn huddled in the middle of the field, and now that she knew where the cracks were in the walls, she could feel those cracks turning into eyes and watching her from inside.

Who watched her from the barn? Deb? Has Clancy followed me through these woods and driven me back to this place the way Grandpa drives his cattle into a pen for shipment to be butchered?

She looked behind her, stopped moving. Stopped breathing. No sound. Not even a bird sang, and no leaves rustled. She studied the clearing for a moment. Someone could jump on her from any direction. She looked up into the trees. No one.

Okay, then. What next?

Even though she didn’t know how she’d gotten here this time, she could remember how she’d gotten here the first time, when she was following Clancy and Deb, because they’d followed an old, overgrown tractor path.

She recognized the cracks and holes in the side of the barn. It was where she had fallen asleep waiting for Clancy and Deb to crash. This meant the entrance they had taken to this clearing was on the other side of the field. All she had to do was cross the field and go south-she knew which direction she was facing now, because they’d come straight north from the river.

At least, she thought that was right. It was the way the sun had looked when she followed them, before the clouds covered up everything.