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“Which is why I said one of them could be hiding her.”

“Do we think they’re all in on it?” Forge asks.

“Stranger things have happened. We shouldn’t rule it out so early on.”

Raewyn’s home is close to the treeline, her back door leading right to a slightly warn path. Getting from Theodore’s home to here without being seen wouldn’t be difficult. Yet, we now know that someone did in fact see her.

We knock on the door, announce ourselves, and when we don’t get an answer, we try the knob. I raise a brow at Forge when it turns, and then I push the door open.

“Miss Forester? Detective Warren and Thane. We have a warrant to search the premises,” I announce.

I wait a beat before stepping in, Forge following behind me. We both stop immediately, the scent hitting us like a smack to the face.

We look at each other with furrowed brows.

“Do you smell that?” he asks, taking in a deep breath.

“Yes,” I say as I look around.

“What the hell is that?” he asks in a tone much too calm for him. I see his shoulders relax, his eyes fall closed, and he takes in another deep breath.

Something in my chest eases when I find myself breathing deeply too. There’s something calming about the scent. Something almost familiar.

I step forward, inhaling more and finding the scent everywhere. With each breath, I feel more relaxed.

“This is the same scent,” I say.

“Are you sure?” Forge asks.

“Yes, it’s just… better.”

He nods in agreement, his eyes falling closed as he inhales deeply.

The scent is almost addicting.

We need to get ourselves together.

“You good?” I ask.

It takes a moment, but he finally answers.

“Yeah.”

Forge has a distinct way about him while working. It’s not something he does purposefully, he just goes into work mode like a lot of us do. His, though, is very intense. It’s exactly how he wants others to see him. Forge wants people to take him seriously, to be intimidated by hime, and maybe even scared sometimes. That is not how he’s acting now. Not even close. It’s like he’s walking around at home and not in a suspect’s home.

“There,” he finally says, pointing toward the small kitchen where there is a bread box with the door open. “Looks like she grabbed food.”

I scan the area, noting the empty fruit basket and opened cabinet by the window.

Raewyn delivers fresh fruits to everyone in the morning, meaning she should have had some here, yet there’s nothing.

“Took it with her,” I say.

Forge nods, and we move through the living room and toward the bedroom.

The cabin is small. Perfect for her, I suppose, but with our sizes, being in the same room feels crowded. Forge stop stops in the doorway, and inhales deeply. Once. Twice. Three times.

Yeah, something is definitely up.