“The guy who started the fire! He locked me in the cabin. I saw him running away while I was trapped inside. Before you arrived, I saw him watching me from across the river. He was wearing a gray hoodie.”

Jack instructed the pilot to return and swoop as low as possible so they could search as long as it remained safe.

He hesitated before radioing the sheriff. “But you didn’t actually see him start the fire, though.”

“No. But who else could it have been? No one else was out there. He could have been the guy we chased. The man who killed Neva. I don’t know, but he jammed the lock somehow, then started a fire to destroy the cabin. I don’t know if I was a bonus for him or his target.”

Jack radioed the sheriff what Terra had seen, and that she was safe, but to be on the lookout for anyone fleeing the forest wearing a gray hoodie. He squeezed her shoulder, but like Terra had done, Jack now concentrated on the dense woods below them and searched for the man who could be behind everything, including the murders.

Finding anyone in the thickly forested area was like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, but there were clearings now and then. And the arsonist was sure to hide while the chopper was above him. After a half an hour, the smoke grew even thicker, and visibility decreased to near zero. They couldn’t see a thing. Jack called the search.

Terra closed her eyes and rested her head against the seat back. She shoved her still-damp hair behind her ears. “I can’t stand that he’s out there. That he’s free to commit more crimes.”

Jack took in her appearance. Her hair a tangled mess, smudges along her temple and cheeks. Her clothes, dirty and torn. That she was sitting here with him now seemed nothing short of a miracle.

He thought he’d lost her.

Jack wanted to do so much more than sit next to her. He wanted to hold her tight and never let her go, as if that could take all their troubles away. Maybe human touch would comfort them both and help them power through. Jack could use the reassurance.

Terra opened her eyes and held his gaze. She must have sensed him watching. Sorrow, regret, and anger twisted her features.

He couldn’t stand to see her this way, so he lifted a hand to wipe the smudges from her face but thought better of it and quickly dropped his hand.

Terra propped her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her palms.

“What do Jim and Neva and this guy who killed them have in common?” She pushed up to sit straight again. “Jim and Neva potentially have the artifacts in common.”