Will turned off to the left when he came to the graveled drive that led to Anahera’s home. The others continued on straight, but he knew they’d be stopping within thirty seconds. That was as far as you could go in a vehicle; after that, the volunteers would have to search on foot, careful not to get too close to the cliff edge unless they wanted to use one of the narrow paths to scramble down to the beach.
That, too, would be a dangerous trip, but all these people had done it several times at least, probably in the last month. Dark and untamed and merciless though it was, this was their home.
His headlights spotlighted Anahera halfway up the drive. She was carrying an unlit flashlight, her body clad in jeans, boots, and a heavy outdoor jacket. Stopping his vehicle, he got out. She was the one who spoke first. “What’s happened? I figured something must have when I heard all the activity on the road. And don’t say you told me so about the phone. I’ve already put in a request for a transfer.”
Will didn’t waste either of their time. “Miriama’s missing. Last seen going for a run, and probably heading in this direction. Did you see any sign of her?”
Skin going tight over the fine bones of her face, Anahera shook her head. “I spent most of the afternoon inside, cleaning out the place. What time would she have passed by?” When he told her the estimated period, she shook her head. “I went for a walk to clear my head around then. I must’ve just missed her.”
“Is it possible she might’ve run along the front of your property, along the cliffs?” It was technically private land, but no one in Golden Cove much bothered about things like that—the only people who seemed to were Daniel and Keira May with their mansion on the hill. Vincent Baker owned an equally large chunk of land, but he usually had no problem with hikers utilizing the walking trails that ran through his property.
“I noticed a strip of slow grass growth along the edge where I think people run,” Anahera said. “Let’s go have a look.”
She jumped into his vehicle for the short drive back to her cabin. Getting out afterward, flashlights in hand and the lights of his running vehicle illuminating the darkness, they began to examine the area around the cabin. While he could see the path Anahera had mentioned, there was too little grass to tell if it had been recently crushed. He and Anahera checked regardless, all the way along, until they got to the point where a steep climb snaked down to the beach.
Farther on was a more dangerous stretch of clifftop they simply could not search in the darkness. The risk was too high. He and Anahera ran their flashlight beams over the area as well as they could regardless, but the grass was taller and hardier there and the lights not enough to penetrate the blackness. “We have to wait for dawn.”
Anahera pressed her lips together but nodded.
Contacting the people who’d been assigned the first section of clifftop as part of their search radius, he told them that he and Anahera had checked it out and that they should focus on the rest of their assigned area.
“I’m going to go down to the beach,” Anahera said after he hung up. “Can you climb down?”
Will just nodded. Golden Cove natives tended to assume he was a city slicker who didn’t know his way around this land and he hadn’t done much to disabuse them of the belief. “You should go first,” he said. “I haven’t used this path before.”
“I didn’t need your permission,” Anahera responded, but the words held no heat. It was obvious her attention was on the search for Miriama. They made the climb down in silence, ending up on the farthest side of the beach search area.
Another fifty meters and the sand disappeared under a flow of water that turned into a whirlpool surrounded by rocks as black as obsidian and as jagged as broken glass. Everyone knew to keep their distance from the spot—there was simply no hope for anyone who fell into that water; they’d be smashed up against the rocks and sucked out to sea long before a witness could hope to summon help.
Growing up in the area as she had, Miriama would’ve been well aware of the danger, would have never run too