Chapter 16

Nero - Saturday

"Here we are."

Forrest stopped the truck in front of a white clapboard house that looked very typical for Cooper Springs: about a thousand square feet total, shutters on either side of the windows guarding the front door, everything covered with a slightly green tinge from moss or just the sea air. There was—unsurprisingly—a seven-foot wood carving of Bigfoot in the front yard, and a live raven was currently perched on his head. The bird watched them get out of the truck, then cawed and flew off when Nero and Forrest approached the front walkway.

"That's his car," Forrest said, pointing to a car parked not quite directly in front of the home. "The black Prius."

Nero knocked and stepped back, waiting for Rufus to come to the door.

"Do you hear anything? Footsteps?" Forrest asked.

"Nothing."

"Maybe he walked over to the pub. He often does. Or he could be helping Wanda at her shop."

Nero knocked again and received the same silent result. Forrest grumbled something under his breath and drove them the four blocks to the Steam Donkey.

"Forrest… Nero." Magnus nodded as they entered the pub, one eyebrow raised. "What can I get you two?"

"You can get your mind out of the gutter," Forrest said so only Nero heard him.

"What was that?" Magnus asked.

"I said we're trying to find, ah…" he stalled out and shot Nero a panicked glance.

"Is Rufus around?" Nero asked, leaning against the bar. "We have some questions for him."

Magnus's eyebrows drew together. "I haven't seen my old man this morning. Not since the town meeting. Like you noticed, Forrest, he seemed shaken up when I caught up to him. He told me to give him some space. I figured I'd stop over at his place once Garth gets here tonight."

"We were just over there. He's not home."

"Probably at Wanda's, then."

But when they stopped by the thrift shop, Wanda hadn't seen Rufus either. "He stopped in after the town meeting about the girls but left after a few minutes. We usually talk at night, but I knew he was shocked by the news so when he didn't call, I wasn't worried. Should I be worried now?"

"He wasn't home," explained Forrest. "Or at least, he isn't answering the door. Magnus is going to go over and check on him once Garth gets in."

"To hell with waiting. I'm going over there right now. He could have fallen or something."

Somethingthat none of them wanted to consider. In a flurry of motion, Wanda grabbed her purse and a set of keys from underneath the cash register, then headed for the door.

"Come with me. I'm not locking you two in here and I might need help."

* * *

They didn't sayanything while Forrest drove the truck, following Wanda the short distance back to Rufus's house. Without waiting for them, she parked and bolted out of her practical silver sedan. She jogged up the walkway to the small porch and pounded on the door loud enough to echo over the small neighborhood.

Forrest and Nero hurried up behind her and all three of them waited, staring at the front door and willing it to open. Nero didn't know about Forrest, but he was hoping they didn't find something unpleasant. Praying, actually.

Like earlier, Rufus did not come to the door. There were still no sounds from the inside. Not looking at them, Wanda fumbled with her purse, digging around in it for a moment before pulling out a keyring with a single key hanging on it.

Still not looking at them, she said in a slightly shaky voice, "We've exchanged keys. I think I'm going to ask him to marry me." Sliding the key into the lock and turning it, Wanda pushed the front door open to step inside.

They could see nothing out of the ordinary over her shoulder as they followed her, just a tidy front room with a small leather couch, a TV, and bookshelves packed two deep with books. More books were tucked in horizontally between the tops of the books and the next shelf up. Framed black-and-white photographs hung on the walls where there was space.

There was no sign of Rufus.

"I'm going to check the bedroom," Wanda said grimly.

"Let us," Forrest said, catching her arm before she could head down a short hallway. "Let me," he said more gently.

Wanda nodded, tears brimming, her lips pressed tightly together. Nero waited with her while Forrest made his way to Rufus's bedroom and pushed the door open.

"Nothing," he said. "Checking the bathroom now. Nothing there either."

"When you've looked all the logical places, I guess we need to start looking in the odd ones," Wanda said when Forrest came back out to the living room.

Instead, Wanda checked the bedroom again, the bathroom again, and the spare bedroom, which was also empty of Rufus. Nero stayed out of the way while Forrest scanned the kitchen and opened a door that clearly led to a basement or cellar.

"It's creepy down there, and the stairs are steep and narrow." Forrest flicked on a light switch, and Nero heard the stairs creak under his weight as he went down them.

"Nothing here," he called out.

Wanda came back inside through a door that led out to a patch of mossy grass and looming trees. "Nothing in the backyard, either."

"He's not here," Nero said pointlessly. Obviously, he wasn't there. But where the hell was he?

"If his car weren't here, I wouldn't be as worried as I am." Wanda looked around as if she might spot him hiding somewhere. "I don't understand where he could have gone. Why would he go somewhere without his car? Why wouldn't he tell Magnus or me anything, or at least leave a damn note?"

Neither of them had an answer.

"This just isn't like him," said Wanda. She headed back out the still open front door, expecting them to follow her. Which they did.

"Let's think about next steps," Forrest began as Wanda hunted in her purse for the key again. "First, we need to go back over to the pub and let Magnus know we can't find him. I don't know where else to look either and Nero sure doesn't because he's not from here. He also doesn't know much of anything about Rufus. It's not as if it's hiking season or anything like that since it's March…" his voice trailed off.

Forrest looked at them and then glanced at the trees behind the row of houses that made up the edge of the forest—or the edge of town, depending on how you looked at it. Following his gaze, Nero thought he knew what Forrest was thinking.

"On the other hand. Wanda, do you think he could have gone for a hike, maybe just to clear his mind? Let's check for his equipment. Do you know what he has these days?"

Wanda stared back at Forrest before turning and walking back inside to open the closet door they hadn't thought to look in. After all, why would Rufus be hiding in his front closet?

"I think some of his gear is missing," she declared after shuffling through it. "The man is an REI and Outdoor Outfitters addict, so it's difficult to tell for certain."

"What does he usually take with him when he goes out there?" Nero stared into the remarkably large closet that was, unlike the rest of the house, filled to bursting with coats, boots, hats, scarves, several bags, and plastic boxes on the upper shelves that held only Rufus knew what.

"Well, he has a hiking pack for long trips and that's here." She pointed out an orange and brown backpack tucked along one side. "But his favorite boots and hiking sticks are missing and his heavy coat too. Why wouldn't he tell me if he was going out for a ramble?"

They didn't have an answer for Wanda, but they gave each other a concerned look over her head.

"When I spoke with Rufus after the announcement, he was very reserved," Wanda continued. "He didn't want to talk about it. I could tell he was shocked by the news that the remains found up there were those poor girls, but he seemed to almost take it personally."

"Did he say anything before he left the shop?"

Wanda frowned. "Just that he loved me."

They didn't know when he might have left. Had it been yesterday afternoon after the town meeting or earlier this morning? There was no way to tell; his house was spotless.

"That damn man, he better not have done something stupid."

Nero pretended not to notice Wanda swiping a tear from her eye.

"The house is very tidy," Nero pointed out. "Is it always like this?"

"Rufus is very proud of keeping a neat house. It makes me smile. The man is a dream, he's so tidy. I've complained that there's no way to sneak in and change anything because it's so darn clean."

Mutually, they decided to head back over to the pub. They needed to include Magnus in the Find Rufus conversation and decide what next steps should be taken. Or at least, Wanda, Magnus, and Forrest did. Nero was feeling a bit like a fifth wheel.

* * *

Magnus was concerned.

"Hiking gear's missing, huh? That's a tad worrisome, but on the other hand, Dad's been tramping around in those woods longer than I've been alive. Let's give it another couple of hours. I've tried calling, but the damn man doesn't keep his cell phone on all the time since the service is so poor anyway, and it's going straight to messages. Since that's not all that unusual, I don't know that we should head straight into panic mode."

Wanda shot him a dirty look. Magnus got the message.

"Okay." He raised his hands in surrender. "I'll text Garth right now and see if he can make it in early to take over here. Then I'll go over to Dad's place and wait for him there. Wanda, do you want to wait with me or are you going to open the shop back up?"

Magnus grabbed his cellphone from next to the cash register and immediately began one-finger texting.

"I'm not about to re-open the shop, Magnus," Wanda said tartly. "No one is going to care if it's closed the rest of the day—or until we find Rufus. I'll just go slap a sign on it and tell customers to come back another time. Rufus is more important than selling used baby carriers and shell art. I'll meet you back at Rufus's place. We can wait together."

"Do you want us to wait with you?" Forrest asked.

"No," said Wanda. "You'll just make me more anxious with your pacing back and forth. You never could sit still, and I can't imagine anything has changed recently."

"Okaaay," Forrest responded. "We have some stuff we want to do back at my place anyway."

Nero had no idea what that stuff was, but he nodded agreeably anyway.

Magnus shot Forrest a look that said he knew exactly—or thought he did—what Nero and Forrest would be doing back at his house. Did he think Nero and Forrest were off to do the horizontal tango when Rufus was missing?

"Nero's looking into Ned's death. We had a few questions for Rufus since they were friends."

Magnus seemed to accept the redirect, although Nero still suspected he knew something. Did he care? Nope. Nero was more concerned about Forrest's reaction to Magnus knowing their private business; if nothing else, the man was definitely protective of his personal space.

"I'll have my landline ringer on, and my cell phone too. Please call as soon as you learn anything, and we'll head back in."

"Is there a plan if he doesn't turn up?" Nero asked. There should be a plan, and he wasn't one to shy away from hard questions. None of them wanted to think about Rufus possibly injured or worse, but if he was, he needed them to have a solid plan of action.

Magnus eyed Nero, mulling over his question. Finally, he said, "It's like three thirty in the afternoon. If he's up there, he'll be back down before dark."

Up thereclearly meant the woods. What if he'd been up there since yesterday? Up there and not hurt? They didn't know when he'd left, only that he hadn't called Wanda the night before like he normally did.

"If he doesn't come down by dark, it'll be too late for the likes of you and me to go up after him. If we don't hear from him by this evening, I'll alert Critter and Mags, not the police. He's an adult and in fine health, so they wouldn't be able to do anything. Both because we aren't sure where he is and also because Chief Dear has limited resources. I doubt the new officers are qualified for search and rescue. But Critter and Mags, they know the trails almost as well as Pops does. It's not like he can't take care of himself, either. Aside from a lifetime of knowledge, he has every piece of hiking and survival equipment known to humankind. I'm mostly concerned because of how shaken up he seemed yesterday."

"Do you know exactly what he was shaken up about?" Nero asked. "Did he say anything?"

Magnus looked at him. "Well, son—I guess you're not quite young enough to be my son—but anyway, all I could get out of him was that he hadn't expected to learn that the remains were Morgan Blass and Sarah Turner."

Forrest nodded. "He told me that he'd always thought they'd left town for a better life than Cooper Springs had to offer, that this changed everything. That's all he would say."