She remembered the rocky bluff Panda had made his brooding place. It was more open than the woods, and the rocks offered some shelter. While Panda headed toward the highway, she climbed the slope.

The air was still at the top, and she could hear the lap of waves below. She swept the beam over the rocks, praying for a glimpse of him. Nothing.

In a few hours, it would be dawn. Increasingly worried, she returned to the house. Panda was coming down the drive with Toby’s bike. She ran toward him. “Did you find him?”

“Only the bike. It was hidden in the trees about thirty yards up the road.”

She thought of the bikers, along with the other lowlifes who came to the island to get drunk and make trouble. “What if he left it there and hitched a ride?”

“I don’t think so. I found some footprints. It’s too dark to follow them, but my guess is that he was coming here.”

“We’ve looked everywhere.”

He gazed toward the woods. “Maybe he waited until after we’d searched before he settled in.”

Safe. Sheltered.

She and Panda moved together.

Chapter Twenty-four

LUCY FOLLOWED HIM DOWN THE steps to the dock and into the boathouse. The creaks of the boat at its mooring had been the sound track of their lovemaking, but unlike her, Panda didn’t seem to be plagued by painful memories. He directed his flashlight toward the cabin door. She was almost certain she’d latched it after she’d searched here earlier, but now it was slightly ajar. He eased it open and shone his flashlight inside. She peered around him.

Toby lay curled in the front berth, the one in the bow, sound asleep.

Her relief left her momentarily light-headed. Panda passed her cell phone back. She retreated to the stern and called Bree. “We found him in the boathouse,” she said breathlessly. “He’s asleep.”

“Asleep?” Bree sounded more furious than relieved. “Don’t let him get away! I’m coming.”

Lucy didn’t like what she was hearing, but Bree hung up before Lucy could advise her to calm down first.

Panda emerged with a very groggy, very dirty Toby. The boy’s clothes were filthy. Dried blood crusted his arm and smeared his cheek. His legs were covered with honey-saturated grime, and patches of hair were glued to his head. “I didn’t hurt anything on the boat,” he muttered, looking frightened.

“I know you didn’t,” Panda said gently.

Toby tripped on the steps up to the house and would have fallen if Panda hadn’t steadied him. Just as they reached the top, Mike came running around the side of the house. When Toby saw him, he began to stumble toward him.

“Toby!” Mike exclaimed. “What were you thinking? You should never have—”

Their reunion was interrupted by a banshee’s scream as Bree shot out of the woods. “Toby!”