The backpack's straps pressed heavily on his shoulders while his steps became faster until he finally ran. A soft curse escaped his lips as he jogged across the huge bus station.

Six weeks had passed since he had spoken to Dylan. Six damn bloody weeks in which he'd been anything but lazy. The research took hours, during which he scoured the net, wrote emails, and spoke to his informants. But again and again, he and his informants had only found small clues, which had all come to nothing.

How could a woman with a child disappear off the face of the earth like that? Without his network even being able to find out anything about her?

Neither the search for a Kaylen Conner nor a Liam Conner had resulted in anything. The search for an O'Brien family also proved to be difficult, as it was not precisely the rarest name in Ireland. At first, it seemed very logical to him that she had returned home. And if she really was in Ireland, he had no choice but to check it out personally, as he had no connections there. But just as he was about to give up, someone who owed him a favor came forward.

The official handed him a half-blackened document. It was the transfer of ownership of a small guesthouse in Canada that had belonged to an old woman and had now become the property of a Riona O'Brien. It was a transfer of ownership just when he was looking for that very surname. And then a woman whose age could fit. Coincidence? Surely not!

Although he wasn't sure at first, he made further enquiries and discovered that the small guesthouse was in a secluded village called Silvershore in Canada. As if fate favored him, he saw an advertisement in which Pineview Cottage sought a craftsman to do urgent repairs. Perfect for him to follow up the lead. So he canceled the flight to Ireland and headed to Silvershore in the bottom corner of Canada instead.

The ticket seller had already stared at him as if he was out of his mind, and he slowly realized why. The route from Echo Bay to East Pine Creek wasn't the most popular - and that was putting it mildly. The station was empty, and the bus in front of him seemed to have its best days far behind it. The engine chugged along and was more reminiscent of a tractor than a means of public transport. The smoke coming out of the exhaust was almost coal-black.

The bus's folding door opened with a clumsy squeak, and an elderly driver with greying hair looked at him in surprise from his worn leather seat.

"Are you lost, son?" asked a smoky voice. "This is the bus to East Pine Creek."

Smiling politely, Ryker climbed the narrow steps to the entrance and handed the ticket to the older man.

"I want to go to Silvershore; that should be on the way, right?"

"Silvershore, really?" he heard the soft humming and let the bus driver scrutinize him without a murmur as he took a closer look at the map.

"I can give you a lift, but I can't go straight to Silvershore; I'm sorry. The road is too narrow and in a bad state. I can't get far with the bus." He sounded as if he hadn't to explain this for the first time. "But I can drop you off at the crossroads near Brookside. Then it's only a few kilometers to Everbreeze Lake and the little village."

Ryker blinked in surprise. It was rare for the roads to be so impassable. The small village seemed all the more interesting to him. Perhaps he was finally getting closer to solving the case.

"That's no problem," he quickly assured the bus driver with a friendly smile. "I'd be grateful if you could take me as far as possible."

"Well, why don't you find a seat? You'll probably be the only guest anyway."

Ryker's eyes were fixed on his mobile phone. It wasn't the first time he'd looked at the photo Dylan had sent him. It showed his former brother in arms and a little brown-haired boy who looked just like his father. He laughed happily into the camera while his father wrapped an arm around his little offspring.

A smaller, blonde woman stood next to Dylan. Her hair was straight and tied into a side braid. Shorter strands framed her rounder but still elegant face. The slight, at first glance, an almost shy smile on her rosy lips had something somehow... attractive. Even if she didn't have the most slender figure and wouldn't fit on the cover of a fashion magazine, she wasn't without appeal.

In fact, the woman he saw in the photo seemed less and less like a mother who was deliberately hurting her son. But Ryker was more challenging to fool. A picture was just a picture. It's a snapshot that could hide a lot. After all, there were enough cheerful pictures of married couples who had ended up stabbing knives into each other's backs. Nevertheless, his instinct told him that he was overlooking something...

"What brings a young man like you to a place as secluded as Silvershore?"

The driver's question snapped him out of his thoughts. When Ray looked up, he saw that the old man at the wheel had raised his eyes to the mirror and kept looking behind him.

"Are you an adventurous traveler who wants to see and explore this hidden cave?"

As Ryker looked out the window, he realized he must have been staring at his mobile phone for a while. The city had given way to a seemingly endless, autumn-coloured forest.

The bus rumbled through a pothole. The rumble compressed his body, sending a painful jolt up his spine. He drew in his breath as the agonizing ache spread from his back to his leg and right arm. At the same time, the display on his mobile phone went dark.

"No, but that sounds interesting. What cave are you talking about?" he managed to force the words out.

The driver's gaze in the rear-view mirror seemed to be watching him more closely. He saw his lips move slightly as the man mumbled something unintelligible and shook his head with a hint of a smile.

"I thought this hole was the only thing that could lure people from outside into this corner. I'm talking about the Hunters Pit; it's about three hours' walk from Silvershore and has attracted a few tourists in recent years. Probably because of the history that's been built up around it," the older man said before his gaze slid back to the road.

"A hunter is said to have sought shelter here once during a snowstorm. But he wasn't alone. A pair of bears had also found shelter in the same place. But instead of attacking the exhausted hunter, the bear couple showed him mercy and warmed the exhausted man during the snowstorm. They saved his life, while the male bear died that night. After the storm, the hunter is said to have returned to the cave every year on the same day, as did the female bear. In the end, all three are said to have found their final resting place in the cave."

As Ryker listened to the tale, he couldn't help but smile. It was an interesting story that no doubt piqued the humans' curiosity. After all, they loved such legends. It even made him forget the pain for a moment.

"I think I'll take a closer look when I have time," he said, earning a hearty laugh in response.

"Go ahead, but stay on the paths and be careful. People have been disappearing repeatedly in recent years. Of course, the authorities don't do anything about it."

In one fell swoop, Ryker's interest was piqued.

"Why is that? Isn't it the authorities' job to investigate such things?"

The man let out another bumpy laugh, rivaling the bus rattling.

"Well. First of all, Silvershore doesn't have its own police station. By God, it has hardly any residents as it is. So, the department in East Pine Creek has jurisdiction. But before they drive into the province because of a few stray hikers..."

The bus driver's shoulders shrugged in the rear-view mirror.

"People keep disappearing from time to time. Especially smart-aleck hikers or climbers who think they can throw themselves into the countryside and know what they're doing. Or wild campers who think it's an excellent adventure to camp in an area with bears and wild animals. It's their own fault, most people say, as do the officials... and thus often see no reason to pursue the matter. By the time they find them, they're usually dead anyway. They typically say it is a predator attack, and the case is closed. "

Ryker growled quietly so that he could barely hear it himself.

But he understood what the bus driver was getting at. What policeman liked playing babysitter to cocky hikers? Besides, the place was too insignificant for anyone to be interested in what was happening there. It sounded perfect to hide out here.