“Is Frank’s theory possible?” George asked.

“It’s possible. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to go searching. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. But we all need closure.”

“Nancy would want us to get the answers,” Ned said quietly. “Frank is doing just that.”

“Hang on a second,” Callie said getting everyone’s attention. Once everyone was looking at her, she continued. “Frank may be onto something. He might know something that makes him believe Nancy is alive. She could be seriously injured. She could be along the river somewhere.”

“Have you been drinking?” Joe asked.

“Frank told us how Nancy had to be positioned in the car when it crashed.” Callie looked at everyone in turn. “It’s possible Nancy survived. Frank said the water was only up to the front seat. She could have survived.”

“It’s just not likely,” Joe said. “It’s been 48 hours. If she was along the riverbank, the officers searching would have spotted her by now.”

“Then someone had to have helped her out of the car. She wears her seatbelt. She wouldn’t have been washed out of the car. There’s no way the current could do that.”

“You’re right,” Ned said. “The current is strong, but not strong enough to pull her out the way the car was positioned.”

“Frank was right,” Joe said, surprised that his brother had come up with the clue they needed, but also shocked and guilty that he hadn’t believed his brother sooner or helped. He rubbed his face. “I wish I believed him when he first said something. We need to find him.”

“I wonder where he went,” Callie said.

“Probably back to the river,” Joe said.

“Do you really think Nancy is alive?” George asked hesitantly.

“We need to optimistic, but I believe Nancy survived. We need to look for her,” Ned said and looked at the others. “I’m going to search until Nancy is found.”

“Count me in,” Vanessa said.

“Me too,” Callie said.

“We should get started,” Joe said.

Ned looked at his watch. “It’s late. We won’t be able to search until morning.”

“Then we’ll start at dawn,” Joe said.

Callie and Vanessa followed Bess and George out of the room. Ned looked at Joe once they were alone. Ned said, “I was a little hard on Frank.”

“So was I,” Joe admitted. “I feel really guilty trying to brush his theory aside and giving in to the grief. I should have believed him.”

“We can help search. At least now we realize Frank had a point. Then we’ll know what happened to Nancy.”

“We will find out what happened,” Joe said. “We will.”

* * * * *

Frank spent the night walking to his destination. He arrived at the trail as the sun was beginning to rise on Sunday morning. He made his way along the trail. He finally reached the spot where Ned had punched him. He started searching again.

He spotted footprints. He kneeled down and got a closer look. There were marks on the ground beside the footprints. The marks looked like something had been dragged from the river.

Frank scanned the area. He had a feeling this was the clue he’d been looking for. He got to his feet and followed the marks into the woods. He had trouble keeping track of the marks. The deeper into the woods he got, the more trees there were. Suddenly, the marks disappeared. He scanned the area, but the marks were gone. He couldn’t believe he’d lost the marks. He knew he couldn’t give up though. He knew he had to keep looking. He knew he had to find Nancy.