His gaze darted around the clearing, scanning for any sign of movement. Then, his eyes caught something he hadn’t noticed before—a piece of fabric, torn and weathered, snagged on a low-hanging branch. His stomach clenched. It hadn’t been there earlier. Someone had been here—recently. And if they had taken the backpack, they had a reason for wanting it gone.
Then he noticed something else. A set of footprints leading away from the clearing, deeper into the forest. His pulse hammered. He wasn’t imagining this. Someone else had walked this way, and they had done so after he left. His instincts screamed at him to turn back, but he ignored them in his quest for proving his innocence.