Kade turned away from them, grabbed his oiled-canvas duster, and walked back out to the barn, hoping the icy chill would clear his head. The temperature had dropped into the twenties, and the light was almost gone.

Soon they would have to call off the search until morning. If he believed for a moment that Ellie and Billy were anywhere near, he would be out there with the search teams. Instead he was here, trying to piece things together, make the information fit and tell him what he needed to know.

Kade walked through the barn to the door at the back. Smoke was lying there, his head on his paws. Worried brown eyes stared forlornly at the door. The dog struggled dejectedly to his feet.

“We’ll find them,” Kade said, running a hand over the dog’s thick, damp fur. “We’ll bring them home.”

The dog’s ears twitched, then went up. He lunged toward the back door and started barking. Kade’s heart jerked. Striding over to Smoke, he opened the door to see Billy stumbling down the path toward the ranch. Blood covered the side of his head and the front of his shirt.

Kade ran toward him. “Billy!”

The boy looked up and took a couple more staggering steps. “Kade . . .” Billy collapsed in his arms.

“You’re okay, son.” Kade’s throat tightened. “You’re home. I’ve got you. Everything’s going to be okay.”

The blood on Billy’s face was beginning to congeal, and his icy body trembled with cold. Kade lifted the boy over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry and strode back through the barn, across the yard, and into the kitchen.

“Billy!” Maria rushed toward him. Carver shoved up from the dining table, took out his phone, and dialed 911.

“Let’s put him in Ellie’s room,” Kade said; it was downstairs and the closest. “Get a heating pad and some blankets. He’s hypothermic. We need to warm him up.” Maria and Dolores both went into action.

The boy remained unconscious. As Kade got him undressed and under the covers, put the heating pad on his feet, and heaped more covers on top of him, Billy stirred but didn’t wake up.

“Get the medical kit,” he said, and Maria raced off once more. Kade headed for the bathroom, grabbed a couple of towels, and returned to Billy’s bedside as Maria ran back into the room with the medical supplies.

Working together, they cleansed the wound and wrapped a white cotton bandage around Billy’s head, but the boy didn’t stir. The cut wasn’t as bad as it looked, but it would still need stitches. It wasn’t the blood Kade was worried about. It was the concussion.

“I’ll take care of him,” Maria said. “You go find Ellie.”

Kade nodded, his jaw tight. “Let me know the minute he wakes up.”

“Sí, I will.”