“How about the swamp? Would he be afraid to go there in the dark? Or do you think he’d stay close to the car?”

A pit yawned in her stomach. Fear made her mind clear just a little.

“Kyle isn’t afraid of being outside, even at night. He loves to wander in the woods by our house. I don’t know that he knows enough to be afraid.”

“So he might have. . . .”

“I don’t know . . . maybe,” she said desperately.

Sergeant Huddle paused for a moment, trying not to push her too hard. Finally: “Do you know what time it was that you saw the deer?”

Denise shrugged, feeling helpless and weak. “Again, I don’t know . . . maybe nine-fifteen. I didn’t check the time.”

Instinctively both men glanced at their watches. Taylor had found the car at 9:31 P.M. He’d called it in less than five minutes later. It was now 10:22 P.M. More than an hour-at the least-had already passed since the accident. Both Sergeant Huddle and Taylor knew they had to get a coordinated start right away. Despite the relative warmth of the air, a few hours in this rain without proper clothing could lead to hypothermia.

What neither of them mentioned to Denise was the danger of the swamp itself. It wasn’t a place for anyone in a storm like this, let alone a child. A person could literally vanish forever.

Sergeant Huddle closed his flip pad with a snap. Every minute now was precious.

“We’re going to continue this later, if that’s okay, Miss Holton. We’ll need more for the report, but getting started with the search is the most important thing right now.”

Denise nodded.

“Anything else we should know? A nickname, maybe? Something he’ll answer to?”

“No, just Kyle. But . . .”

It was then that it hit her-the obvious. The worst possible type of news, something the trooper had never thought to ask.

Oh God . . .