🗝️Detective Ryker Viltarin must uncover dark secrets before he loses not only his heart but also his life.🗝️
You're on your own, far from home
The wind is blowing in the top of the pines
A gloomy sky where the sun never shines
Deep...
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Ryker sighed heavily and grimaced at his aching muscles. Beads of sweat trickled down his skin, and he tasted the salt on his tongue. Even though Liam didn't weigh as much as the equipment he'd lugged across the desert all those years ago, he was still no lightweight, and it was pressing down on his back as the rucksack pulled him forward.
Meanwhile, the giggling on Ray's back had stopped and given way to quiet, even breaths. The little mop of hair rested soundly on his shoulder, swaying barely noticeably with every step. His arms hung limply around his neck, forcing him to clasp his hands behind his back and under Liam's bum to prevent the exhausted whirlwind from slipping off his back.
Eve, at his side, also stumbled time and again over the angular stones protruding from the path or the roots growing like steps through the hard-packed earth. After the excitement, her reserves of strength seemed exhausted. And time and again, he gave her words of encouragement or a gentle smile when they stopped to catch their breath.
"What do you want to do now?" he finally said during one of her pauses, suppressing the urge to stand up and stretch. What he was alluding to was clear, but Eve looked at him for a longer heartbeat. He could literally see the cogs of her mind turning slower than usual.
"You mean Hawkins and the incident..." It was a statement, not a question that slipped over his red lips, yet he nodded slowly to give her confirmation. Eve groaned and wiped her eyes. "Hawkins has always helped us so far ... Liam was distraught; maybe he just wanted to talk his way out of it..." she said quietly, her face screwed up in pain. "I'll speak to him again when he's had a shower and some sleep. If he's sure, then we'll have to report it."
Ryker grumbled to himself, and they both had the same thought: neither of them believed the sheriff's office in the next town would be interested in such a vague incident if they didn't even feel the need to investigate missing person cases in the area.
If Ryker had his way, he'd want to grab Hawkins and punch him in the gut as revenge. Just the thought that the madman could have beaten Liam made his blood boil in his veins. But on the other side was the calculation, the razor-sharp mind of the detective, who wondered whether it was even possible or just a childish fantasy. Hawkins' reaction when Liam accused him of pushing him. His posture, crouching at the hole's edge, trying to reach the depths... There were too many unexplained, dodgy factors in this case.
