Strange to feel her presence now, so close that he could almost smell her jasmine lotion. The crazy corkscrews of her hair were in the breeze that touched his face as he ran.

But he was not in danger. Bree was. Bree, alone with Coral Lee Pine. That was probably what was bothering him.

He glanced at his phone. Bree and Trey had both lost signal, but his shittier carrier somehow still had a faint connection. He was navigating with the map on his phone and some still shots he’d taken off Google Earth. All aerial views, looking down on his location from space. It had been fall the last time the satellite passed over. The pictures made this place look lonely and cold, with brownish red clay the only warmth threading through dark granite and the thick cover of the turning leaves.

Today, though, was all sunlight filtered through the vivid green. There was birdsong, and to his left something small, a squirrel or a rabbit, dashed away. Down here it was a beautiful spring day, and he had missed something. He knew it. He’d made a mistake. But what?

He ran as lightly as he could, avoiding twigs that might snap and the low, leafy branches that might rustle. If Coral Lee heard him, if she realized what they were doing, she might decide it was better to take Trey’s wife away from him than take nothing. That must be why he felt Betsy brushing through him as he hurried up and up, the hill so steep that he was already a little winded. But they’d known this risk going in. Bree believed that Coral would not hurt her, and if she was wrong, she didn’t care. All she wanted was for him to find the baby. Get Robert out safe. That was his only job.

He was skirting close to Funtime, but the woods were thick and well shaded, widespread branches reaching for the sun in competition with one another. That would make him harder to see, plus it meant that there was not a lot of ground cover. The time he was saving felt worth the risk.

He caught a flash of electric blue through the trees far off to his right. Funtime Jack’s hat. He was already flanking the entrance. The carousel was just beyond. Was he too close? He had on his good hiking boots and dark jeans with a green-patterned shirt he hoped might blend with the woods. Now he must stay fast and yet be so quiet. He said it over and over to himself, like a mantra. Fast and quiet, fast and quiet.