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you?” I asked.

      “I do, but I won’t make you live there if you don’t want to. I picture waking up in the morning and finding you sitting in that bay window, watching the deer come out of the hills. I think about standing in that window myself and watching you out in the corral area with the horses. I picture a house full of friends, not often but occasionally. I picture a Christmas tree in the front window.”

      “You do? You picture all that when you see that house?”

      “I do, and more.”

      “Would you go riding with me?”

      “If we started out slow. I could take you around and show you some of the houses I looked at before I went to Mrs. Morgan’s house. That might show you a thing or two. The problem is that, after seeing this house, other houses just don’t measure up.”

      “Let’s see. Let’s go to a realtor’s office, tell them what we are looking for, and see what they come up with. If we haven’t seen anything we like by the end of the day I’ll be convinced.”

      So that’s what we did. We looked at five more houses that the realtor thought were exactly what we were looking for and Rusty was right, they just didn’t measure up.

      What would I do with a house that big? Did I really want two horses to take care of? Who would take care of them if I got stuck on a three day search? Horses needed daily care. They needed feeding and brushing and shoeing and exercising. I battled with myself back and forth over the house, thinking about how much furniture we would have to buy to make it presentable for a wedding. Ironically, finances didn’t enter the picture much. I had life insurance money left. After my house had burned down I got some compensation for that. Then my neighbor had bought the lot from me to add to his own yard. I was sure we could come up with a sizable down payment. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted the house. But why wouldn’t I want it? It was a beautiful house, near the forest, with a barn, with room for an agility course. I could set up a regulation size course out there and train Shadow to compete in obedience and agility trials. Round and around I went. I would keep arguing with myself until the wedding at this rate. Then I remembered I could have the wedding there if the house closed in time. And we didn’t have a date yet so maybe we could schedule the wedding for after the closing.

      “Cass, your ears are smoking. You’re burning off your brain cells. What’s going on?”

      “I’ve got a million piece puzzle and I’m trying to put it all together at once. Let’s stop for lunch and look at some numbers.”

      We looked at the numbers, assigned a furniture allowance and it was doable. Oh dear. Then I drew out the floor plan and where things were on the property. I drew out a possible set up for a wedding. It was doable, too. Hoo boy. Umm, okay. Rusty watched the smoke billow out of my ears with amusement. I was trying to talk myself out of the house but the longer I tried the more it looked like the house for us.

      “Houses never close in three months. If we want to have the wedding there we will have to choose a later date.”

      “Let me talk to Mrs. Morgan. I think she has to move out sooner anyway. She’s moving into a retirement home and if she doesn’t take the apartment when it’s available she’ll lose her chance at it. Maybe she will rent the house to us until it closes.”

      Rusty looked at the figures again. I didn’t know if I was dreading this or celebrating it.

      “Cass, are you sure this is what you want?”

      No, yes, maybe, give me a year to get used to the idea. I didn’t know. The house was everything I wanted, plus. This just felt like an awfully big step to take even though he was right, the condo was not right for us either.

      “I think I need to talk to my mother.”

      I dialed the phone wondering what in the world I was doing. I could handle being stalked, shot at, chased by lunatics and I could brave the woods and wilderness, but I couldn’t make a simple decision that would affect my happiness for the next ten years or so.

      “Hello?”

      “Hi, Mom? Do you have a few minutes?”

      “Cassidy! Of course! Oh dear, what’s happened to you this time? Are you in trouble again? And how bad could it be this time? You didn’t call when your house burned down…”

      “Mom, I’m fine. I just need some help deciding something.”

      “Oh, okay, well what is it?”

      “Rusty found a house.”

      “Cassidy, that’s wonderful!”

      “I’m still trying to decide if it’s wonderful. I was hoping you could help me decide if it is really wonderful or not.”

      I described the house in minute detail and it still sounded wonderful. I told her about the layout for the wedding and it still sounded wonderful.

      “Cassidy, why are you so worried about this decision? Everything sounds perfect for you.”

      Sigh, maybe that was why I was being so wary. I wasn’t used to things being perfect. I was used to things turning into trouble.

      “Okay,” I told Rusty, “go ahead and see if Mrs. Morgan will sell us the house and let us move in early.”

      He glanced up from his study of the floor plan I’d sketched out. “Are you sure about this?”

      “I’m trying really hard to be sure.” I saw the mixture of hope and uncertainty in his eyes. “Okay, I’m sure. Go for it. Just remember that if we have the wedding there the date depends on when we move in. I need time to get the house furnished and ready.”

Chapter 3

      Strict waited four days before calling me out again. I wondered how they did the searches when I wasn’t there. Did they still try to track the missing person? Or did they just send out a bunch of people to do a broad search of the area? That was one thing tracking was very good for, saving manpower. It narrowed the search down to one trail. I hadn’t lost a trail yet but if I ever did, tracking would still save time because there would be a more specific starting point to the search. This time the search worked the other way. They had searched until they found the last visible evidence and then I needed to figure out what had happened from there.

      When I arrived at base camp Landon was there ready to take me in. He was in full backpacker and mountain climbing gear complete with harness, ropes and pitons. What had they been up to while I was gone? I put on my pack and pulled the shoulder pads down snug. I fastened the Fastex buckle and was ready to go. Rosco and Victor appeared with packs ready and side arms. I looked at Landon. He was armed too. I was used to these guys carrying but for some reason their attitudes clued me in that this was no ordinary track. Four officers joined the group and I became even more wary. Rosco, Victor and Landon were all EMTs. As long as they were in the group it was a rescue. Add the officers and it was now an apprehension involving possible injuries. I looked around for Strict. He stood with a group of men who were bent over studying a map. He glanced up and motioned me over.

      “Cassidy, will you promise me to listen to the guys up there?”

      “What’s up?”

      “It started out as a simple traffic stop on the highway. Drugs were found, the driver was arrested. Two passengers took off into the forest. That was yesterday. Backup was called in and a search was started. It’s going to be a fast hike to the last visible sign. After that we are stumped. There’s tracks all over those hills. Two of them belong to our escapees.”

      “Will I get a chance to see some examples of their real tracks before I get up there?”

      “The guys will do anything they can to help you. Don’t try and be a hero. Find the end of the trail and back off.”

      “Okay, I’ll try. Does Rusty know what

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