Would things have been different for her if he’d pushed Sheriff Trey Walker in the investigation of Shelly’s murder? If the case had been closed and the killer was behind bars, would that have given Savannah the closure she needed to move forward in a meaningful way?
The problem was, she had nobody to offer her support and encouragement. Her parents had left town, and she apparently wasn’t close to her brother. Whatever friends she’d possessed had either drifted away or been shoved away by her, leaving her alone to cope...and she hadn’t coped.
Every muscle in his body stiffened as he thought he heard a faint cry coming from the hole in the ground. He turned on his flashlight and shone it down, seeing nothing but earth.
Had he heard her crying? Weeping because she knew this was the end of her walks? Should he go down and console her? Or let her cry in private? He had a feeling that if she was crying, she wouldn’t welcome his presence.
He heard her again, only this time instead of weeping, it sounded like a scream of terror. With his gun in one hand, his flashlight in the other and adrenaline pumping through his body, he dropped down into the hole.
The first thing he saw was the penlight beam, shining at him from the floor in the distance. What he didn’t see was any sign of Savannah.
“Savannah!” He yelled her name and it echoed in the air.
He quickly walked forward, his gun leading the way and his heart pounding a million beats a minute. Where was Savannah? Why was her flashlight on the ground? What in the hell was happening?
“Josh, help!” Her cry seemed to come from all sides of him. He moved faster, and when he came to the first entrance of an offshoot tunnel, he spun to shine his flashlight and gun down into the darkness.
“Savannah,” he shouted again.
“I’m here.” Her voice came again. He shone his light back up the main tunnel and saw her crawling out of one of the offshoot passageways ahead of him.
He ran toward her, his heart still beating at a dizzying speed. She crawled toward him and began to cry. Before he reached her, she got to her feet and raced toward him, slamming into his chest and holding tightly to him. “Somebody grabbed me,” she managed to gasp between sobs. “He tried to drag me down the tunnel.”
Josh peeled her away from him. “Get out of here and get into your house. I need to check it out.”
She grabbed his arm. “Be careful.” She quickly turned and hurried toward the exit. Josh shone his light on her until he saw her leave the tunnel. Then he turned around and headed forward.
Every nerve, every sense he possessed tingled with hyperawareness as he approached the passageway where, according to Savannah, somebody had jumped out and grabbed her.
He didn’t even want to think about how frightened she’d been, how filthy she’d looked and how helpless she’d appeared crawling along the floor out of the unexplored tunnel.
When he reached the place she’d crawled out of, he shone his light to illuminate the utter blackness of the underground. Nothing. He couldn’t see anything as far as his flashlight beam could reach.
Tightening his grip on his gun, he walked down the unfamiliar tunnel. There was nothing to distinguish it from the one he’d just left. He followed it until he came to a fork and didn’t know which way to go. Uncertain whether he could find his way back if he ventured too far, he gave up the hunt. Besides, he imagined Savannah’s attacker was long gone by now.
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