Gone: An Emma Caldridge Novella: Part Two of Three Read Online Free

Calvin clattered down the porch stairs. He handed her the CamelBak and nudged Brink. “You going to warn her about the mountain man?”
    Oh great, more craziness, Emma thought.
    “Yeah, well, for the past couple of months,” Brink said, “there’s been some man up there breaking into houses and eating the food, sleeping in the beds, and then leaving. He doesn’t take anything of value, but the last cabin had a picture of Shaw on the wall and it was shredded with a knife.”
    “Kinda creepy, huh?” Calvin seemed excited at the thought. Emma swung into the saddle. She thought that the mountain man was probably a cast-off; young, unable to work, and finding any way to survive. She held out some cash for the horse. “Do I pay you or Cowboy Leon?”
    Brink took the proffered money. “Leon’s out on the trail for the next couple of days.”
    Emma shrugged into the CamelBak straps. “It’s all right if I leave my Jeep in your lean-to?”
    Brink nodded. “Sure. Can I ask where you’re going?”
    She shook her head. “Safer if you don’t know, but if I’m gone longer than a week, please call this man and let him know.” She handed Brink Sumner’s card.
    “Will do. Good luck finding your friend.”
    Emma walked Lily out of the corral and, using her compass, turned her in the direction of the mountain. At lower elevation the terrain consisted of red rock buttes in a stunning and stark desert display. Once on the trail she’d be approaching the boundaries of a national forest, and the terrain would turn from stunning and stark to stunning and forested. Under any other circumstances, she would have been thrilled to ride the trail. Now she brooded as Lily picked her way upward.
    Two hours later Emma was lying in the dirt on her stomach behind a teddy bear cactus holding binoculars and watching the back lawn of the Shaw compound. Lily was tied to a tree about five hundred feet above.
    Shaw’s house and outbuildings were three times as large as Brink’s and ten times newer. The sprawling ranch was made of brick and wood, and a large deck off the back of the house opened onto a terrace and beyond that a swimming pool. A structure at the end of the pool looked to be a cabana. A stand of trees separated the house and pool from the stables. Two different corrals were both empty. Farther back from the stables there was another building, which might have been a storage shed or extra garage.
    Emma was positioned to face the yard, as she thought it most likely that if Ryan was held there, he wouldn’t be found in the main house, but in an outbuilding. A ten-foot-high stone wall encircled the entire compound, and cameras were positioned to cover the interior. A man walking toward the stables was the only sign of life, though she could see the reflection of a light shining through a window in the far corner.
    She remained in position for an hour, keeping the binoculars pinned on the house and sipping water through the CamelBak tube that she held in her mouth. During that time, the only activity was at the stables, where the lone man lunged a horse, putting it through its paces. Something about the quiet disturbed Emma. She’d been told that Shaw had four wives and twelve children. Surely there would be more activity around the house? But there was none. No children playing, no dogs wandering in the yard; there was a clothesline, but no clothes hung on it. The lack of activity was eerie. After another hour of watching, where she saw the same man switch it up and work another horse in the ring, she packed it in. It was close to three and the sun was hammering down on her, dust filled her mouth, and sweat dripped into her eyes.
    She steered Lily up the side of the mountain using her map and GPS watch to guide her. She’d arranged to rent a two room cabin, and when she emerged from the rubble-strewn path through an arched rock formation, she spied it nestled in a clearing. It was a log cabin, probably a prefabricated design, with