A Great And Terrible Darkness | Linda J. White

Book #6 in the K-9 Search & Rescue Series

Jessica Cooper may be pregnant but she's not going to let that keep her from SAR and her PI business. Consulting on a missing student case, she travels to Harrisonburg with Luke, who finds the first significant clue in the Heather Burgess disappearance. 

Jess drives home pleased, but soon after, tragedy strikes. A devastating loss throws Nate into a paroxysm of grief and it's not clear he'll ever recover. A couple of months later, Nate makes a crazy decision: He'll hike out his grief on the Virginia portion of the Appalachian Trail, alone except for his black German Shepherd, Ember. 

Jess is panicked, convinced her friend is making a foolish if not fatal mistake. But what can she do about it? Nothing. So she continues to work on her searches and prepare for her baby. when a second college student goes missing in the very mountains Nate is hiking, Jess and Luke scramble to help. Circumstances collide, paths cross, and in the end, it's Jess who finds herself in a fight for her life.