Wait.

Was that Wyatt over by that airplane talking to someone?

They were the only ones at the airport, at least that she could see, so heart beating faster, Elsie walked in their direction.

The expression on Wyatt’s face was enough to stop her cold, or would have been if she’d been a weaker woman. He was angry, that much was obvious. And maybe...hurt?

“You didn’t tell me you were heading out again.” He didn’t sound like he’d slept at all.

“I almost called.” It was all she could offer.

From the shake of his head, Elsie knew it wasn’t good enough.

“Elsie Montgomery?” The other pilot stuck his hand out for her to shake. “Mike Wallace, SeaAir. I’ll be taking you out to the island today.”

“Despite the fact that the wind changed and conditions aren’t favorable for flying in that area?” Wyatt asked.

“I think we’ll hit a window.”

His bravado was forced—even Elsie could tell that. Mike Wallace looked to be about twenty, and while she didn’t doubt that a younger man could be a good pilot, how many hours of experience did he have? Was Wyatt just being overprotective or was there really good reason not to fly today?

“Could you give us just a minute?” Elsie said to the pilot in a voice that was sweet and gave no evidence of what she’d experienced in the last several days.

The kid nodded once and climbed back into his plane.

“What are you thinking?” she snapped, turning to Wyatt. The sweetness was gone, her voice more biting. As short as she was, she was a force to be reckoned with when she was angry.

“I was thinking you’re not a lot of help to anyone if you’re in a plane at the bottom of the Gulf of Alaska. I was thinking you’d have enough sense to call me so you wouldn’t be out there alone.”

“Oh, so now I don’t have any sense?”

Wyatt blew out a breath, raked a hand through his hair. “Don’t be like that.”

“What are you trying to say, then?”

“Please don’t go,” he finally said, after a long moment of silence. “I don’t think it’s safe.”

“Noelle is still out there, Wyatt. The woman we have been looking for wasn’t the one who was killed. She’s in danger from the elements, lack of food, lack of water, even with the creek on the island...”

“And from someone trying to kill her.”

“Yes, exactly!” Elsie sounded triumphant.

Wyatt shook his head. “Exactly. They’re still out there and for some reason they are after you, too.”

“Maybe just because I’m searching for the missing woman?”

“You don’t believe that for a second. Neither do I.”

They stared at each other, Wyatt trying to keep his breathing calm. She was her own woman, an adult who had been making her own decisions and choices for longer than he could imagine. But right now, Wyatt was sure he was right about the weather. This wasn’t a safe flight.

“I’m not asking you to stop searching.”

Her mouth opened and her face looked shocked he would even have said something like that, so he quickly started to shake his head, holding up his hand to stop her.

“I know I don’t have any right to ask you to stop. But please, for today, listen to me.”

She stared at him for a moment, then pulled out her phone. He stayed quiet. Waited.

“Officer Richardson? This is Elsie Montgomery. I very much want the search and I understand the necessity of hurrying, but I have a friend who is concerned about the weather right now...The pilot thinks there will be a window...Yeah. Right. I do understand that...Yes, exactly. I suppose I agree, and we will plan on that. Thank you.”

She looked up at him. “He’s going to check the weather and make a call. Either send a more experienced pilot now or send me with this one when it’s cleared up a bit.”

“Let me come with you.” He hadn’t planned to ask, much less sound desperate like that, but the words came tumbling out before he could stop them.

“Really?”

“I want to help. I know I can’t fly you, but...”

“Let me think about it.” She seemed to consider him. “For now, want to go to the police station? I’ve got a friend there who will let me use their resources.”

He stared at her.

She shrugged. “Sometimes it’s necessary to help me with missing-persons cases. She only lets me access things I’m allowed to. We could look up other missing-persons cases around here. Maybe something will help me see how to search better, or where to start in a way that will break this loose.”

It was better than not being invited along anywhere, so Wyatt nodded, eager to do something. “Yes, definitely.”

Neither of them said much on the short walk. Destruction Point was so small that Wyatt rarely drove in town. He wished they had the privacy of a car now, though. He had so many questions to ask her. He waited until they were in a basement room in the police department.

“So why do you think someone else was on the island? And is this connected to you and the guy who seems to be after you?”

Elsie shook her head. “I don’t know how any of that works, to be honest. I...” She trailed off, then turned to face him fully. “I finally told a trooper this morning about the intruder.”

“And they’re still okay with you heading up the search?”

She nodded.

“I don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to. I don’t, either. But I don’t think I have a choice. I’m not safe anywhere, and at least if I’m out searching, I’m doing some good.” She let out a breath, looked at the stack of cases her friend had printed out for them of missing people in the area.

“Do you want to look through this half and then we can switch?” She looked over at him and Wyatt found himself nodding. He was starting to suspect there wasn’t much this woman couldn’t convince him to agree to.

Why did the one woman who had sparked something inside him back to life—something familiar but so much different, purer, fuller—have to be a woman who felt like she should be off-limits?

As he flipped through the pages in the folder Elsie had given him, he found himself surprised at the sheer number of people who had gone missing in the general area of the island where they’d been searching. The reasons were as varied as the people, but there had been many who had disappeared over the years.

He read until his eyes stung and was just about to suggest taking a break when Elsie spoke.