Rachel murmured and slipped her injured feet inside, wincing when she put pressure on them.
“I’ll call in the crime scene unit to go over the house and take photos of the footprints and tire tracks. Hopefully, we can get some answers for you soon,” Walker assured Rachel.
She clutched the blanket around her shoulders against the biting wind.
“Let me take you to the house so you can change into something warmer,” Noah said, noticing. “Then we’ll go to the station. I want you to look through some mug books. You said you ripped the mask off the man?” She nodded. There was a slim chance she might be able to identify the man from the photos. “I know you said you didn’t get a good look at him, but maybe going through the books will help you pick him out. While you’re doing that, I’ll speak to Anna Lapp. It could be that Eva changed her mind and spent the night with her friend and I’ll find her there safe and sound.”
“I’m going with you,” Rachel said without budging. “I want to speak with Anna.”
“That’s not happening,” he assured her without considering it. “Until we’re sure what’s truly happening here, you need to stay out of sight. Chances are, Eva grew sleepy and decided to spend the night at Anna’s house.”
“And what if she didn’t? What if she is out there somewhere hurt? She could have been in an accident on the way home. I’m going with you to speak with Anna. Eva’s my sister, Noah. She needs me.” She lifted her chin. The courage he’d seen in her so many times in the past returned.
Noah faced the sheriff. “What do you think?”
Walker considered it for a moment. “The young lady is more likely to answer your questions with Rachel there. Do it,” he agreed. “But make sure you check in with Janine when you arrive and before leaving the Lapps’ place.”
Expelling a breath, Noah accepted Walker’s suggestion despite his misgivings. “Okay. But I want you close at all times,” he told Rachel. While he understood the benefit of having her at the Lapp interview, he still worried about keeping her safe.
“I’ve called in Ryan and Cole. I know their shifts don’t begin for,” Walker glanced at his watch, “another six hours, but we need everyone on this.” He surveyed the desolate stretch of road. “We’ll set up some floodlights. If she’s here, we’ll find her.”
“What if she’s not here?” Rachel’s question was directed solely at Noah, and he didn’t have an answer.
“The best way you can help Eva now is to identify the man who attacked you.”
He noticed her shivering still and took off his coat and placed it over her shoulders. “It’s freezing out. Let’s get you inside the cruiser where it’s warm.”
He and Rachel headed toward his SUV along with Walker. Rachel braced against the biting wind that threatened to knock her down. The Montana weather could be brutal, and it appeared winter was setting in early in the shadow of the mountains. Though barely November, already they’d had several feet of snow.
He clutched her arm to keep her steady. Opening the door, he waited until she slid inside.
“Looks like the rest of the team is here.” Walker crooked a thumb behind them.
Noah mentioned the Beacheys coming to investigate. “It’s possible they saw the man.”
“I’ll have someone speak to them. We’ll start canvassing every square inch of the place,” Walker said. “I’ll let you know the minute we have anything.”
“Thanks.” Noah asked Megan to ride over with them to the house so she could stand guard while Rachel changed.
While Megan hopped in the back, Noah got in next to Rachel. She appeared in a daze. Noah prayed they would find Eva alive.
He touched her arm. “Don’t give up hope.” She twisted in her seat. The desperation on her face made him want to gather her close. He didn’t have that right anymore. He’d broken her heart once, and he doubted she’d want his comfort now. Instead, he put the SUV in Drive and slowly turned around and eased past the slew of police vehicles.
Driving the short distance to her house, Noah parked out front. He couldn’t imagine how terrified Rachel had been to awaken and find a masked stranger standing over her.
The three of them got out and went inside.
“Here, put these on,” Megan said and handed Rachel a pair of latex gloves. “We don’t want to contaminate any evidence the attacker may have left behind.”
Rachel slowly nodded and took the gloves.
“I’ll be right out here,” Noah assured her when she hesitated.
The bedroom door closed behind them, and quiet returned to the house. Taking out his flashlight, he shined the light around the living room he remembered from his youth. The furnishings appeared the same. A couple of rockers flanked the woodstove, a sofa across from them. A small wooden desk placed under the window. He pictured Rachel sitting there, looking out at the breathtaking views of the mountains she loved so much with that awestruck gleam in her eyes that he remembered from the past. As kids, they used to play all over these mountains. Knew every square inch by heart.
Seeing her home again flooded his heart with bittersweet memories. Rachel’s family had treated him like one of their own. His childhood home was a stone’s throw from theirs, at the edge of the West Kootenai Amish Community. At one time, before that final summer, he’d talked to Rachel about joining the Amish faith. When his father found out, he’d become furious. Being Amish was not what his dad had planned for Noah’s future. He’d go to college. Make something of himself.
Noah swallowed deep and shoved those images aside. The past was over and done. Nothing he could do would change it now.
He moved to the kitchen dominated by a wood-burning cook stove. To his left, the handmade table Rachel’s father, Ezra, created years earlier was covered in a plain white tablecloth, a kerosene lamp sitting in the middle. Two plain wooden benches flanked either side.
A sound close by had him spinning on his heel. Rachel and Megan emerged from the bedroom. The somber black dress Rachel wore was a stark contrast to her white apron and prayer kapp. A reminder that she was in mourning. Noah’s good friend Isaac Yoder had told him Rachel lost her husband a little more than a year earlier. Another man had loved her. She’d loved him back. That was the hardest part, even though Noah had been the first to marry someone else.
“Ready?” he asked. A tiny frown line appeared between her brows as she watched him. He couldn’t imagine the things his expression must be giving away.
Once he’d dropped Megan at the search site, he and Rachel headed for the Lapps’ home.
“Do you mind if we go through the events of tonight one more time?” he asked because he needed something to fill the poignant silence hanging between them, and he didn’t understand why someone was targeting her and Eva. The Amish were peaceful people.
“I don’t mind,” she said and smiled at him for the first time. His chest constricted at the sight of it. He remembered the love they’d shared before it had all fallen apart.
“I’d drifted
