32The stand of trees along the corner of the parking lot was deeper than Maggie realized. She entered from the back and made her way through the tall pines. She could hear traffic but couldn’t see it. She hiked for some distance before she saw the hospital, and then only slices of it through the branches.
If the killer had left this way, no one would have seen him. In fact, he could have watched from somewhere behind a cluster of trees and probably not be visible from the parking lot.
Maggie started looking for the police cruiser as she walked. As soon as she got a first glimpse she slowed her pace. She kept her eyes moving, scanning the ground, searching for anything out of place. Pine needles and cones crunched underfoot. There were no freshly broken twigs or branches that she could se
