Cold Wind

by Paige Shelton

  Gril rubbed his hands over his beard. “Can you think back to three months ago? How was she then? How did she behave?”

  Lane was quiet a long moment.

  “Lane?” Gril said.

  “Three months ago, I found her in my work room. I came home and she was cleaning blood off her hands, but there were no animals in the room. She said she got hurt releasing a wolf back into the wild, but she wouldn’t show me her injuries.”

  “That could happen,” Gril said.

  “Dangerous, though,” Tex added.

  “You’re coming with us,” Gril said to Lane. “We’re walking back toward Benedict. I want you to help us find her, bring her out. I’m sure she’ll be watching. Somehow.”

  “Of course.” Lane quickly grabbed and donned his gear. He led us out of the house. Once we were back outside, both he and Tex looked around with identical intensity; they were both trackers and trappers.

  “Did you ever ask her more questions?” Gril asked as we approached the land with the collapsed shed and gravestones.

  “No, Chief, that’s not how we communicate. We leave each other alone for the most part.”

  “Did you have a daughter?” I interjected.

  Lane’s eyes shot to me. The pain there was hot and not diluted. “I had a daughter and a wife. They died in the wild.”

  “You told me about your wife. When did your daughter die?” Gril asked.

  “The same time as my wife. My daughter was two years old.”

  “Shit,” Gril muttered. “Lane, you weren’t straight with me when I asked you about a child. That’s not smart.”

  “I know,” Lane said, no apology to his voice.

  “Let me see if I’ve got this straight, Donner. Lane’s family died six and a half years ago. We had a house fire about the same time and a strange woman with a burn on her face showed up at Lane’s a few months later. Sound about right?”

  “Yes, Chief,” Donner said. He’d been quiet, but apparently, he and Gril had been working through the timeline, working the case or cases.

  They were good cops. I was impressed.

  “You buried both of them?” Gril looked at Lane.

  “I buried my wife. My daughter’s body was … gone.”

  “You never saw her body?” Gril said.

  “No, but she had gone out with my wife and I found her doll with my wife’s body. The bear took her away.”

  “Shit,” Gril said. “Well, I’m sorry for your loss, Lane, but goddammit, you should have told someone.”

  “I don’t tell the police anything,” Lane said. “I took care of it. I tried to find my daughter’s body, but it was gone. I buried my wife and, with her, my daughter’s spirit. I know the woods, Chief. There was no sign of her. There was so much … blood.”

  “Jesus fucking Christ,” Gril said.

  Of course, he was thinking the same things I was, the same thing Tex probably was. Somehow, Lane’s child had lived and Tex had raised her. But there were two children.

  “Was your wife Tlingit?” I asked.

  “She was. I am, too, but I haven’t been a part of a tribe for years. I … there were issues.”

  “I need to know the issues right this minute,” Gril said. “No time to waste.”

  Lane nodded. “My father was abusive. I ran away when I was twelve. My father is dead, Chief. I’m sure that has nothing to do with what’s going on now.”

  “Your missing daughter might,” Gril said, with more anger than compassion.

  “I don’t know what to think about that. I’m afraid to hope. But I will do whatever you want me to do. I was … so upset, and then the woman came. We were both hurting, but she never told me the reasons for her pain. I’m … sorry.”

  “Tex, when did you adopt your girls? Six years ago, right?”

  “They came to Brayn in July, six or so years ago. I adopted them shortly thereafter, but there are no official state records of the adoption.”

  “Gril, why did you take Tex back to Benedict to be questioned?” I asked, hoping he would tell.

  “We found one of his traps in the cave.”

  “With the purse and wallet?” I said.

  “Yes.”

  “How did you know it was his?”

  “His name had been etched into it.”

  “I have no idea how it got there, but it was a trap I haven’t seen for years, and I didn’t put it in the cave. I’m happy to keep answering those questions, but right now, I need to find my daughter.”

  “Look.” Lane pointed.

  We all looked up the road at the same time. Ahead, black smoke filled the sky.

  “Son of a…” Gril was the first to take off in a run, but the rest of us followed behind quickly.

  Thirty-Seven

  The shed and its contents were gone by the time we got there.

  We came upon ashes and leftover black smoke. Tex moved close to inspect the building’s remains, but the rest of us grabbed his arms and held him back.

  “Hang on,” Gril said. “It’s not going to do you any good to get hurt, Tex.”

  The smoke cleared a million long moments later. There was no sign of Annie, no sign of her body. I felt my legs wobble with relief.

  “Who would burn this down, Lane? The woman?” Gril asked.

  We’d let go of Tex and all of us moved closer to the shed’s remains.

  “I don’t know why she would,” Lane said. “Except maybe this is the place I once showed her, a place where we kept some of our child’s things. I truly don’t know.”

  I looked at Lane. For an instant, I thought his image might have wavered, its edges transforming into someone else—Travis Walker.

  I wasn’t going to let that happen. I gritted my teeth and took a loud breath in through my nose. This wasn’t going to happen. I blinked rapidly and my stomach turned, but Travis Walker didn’t appear in place of Lane.

  “Beth?” Gril asked.

  I hadn’t fallen into a memory or a spell this time, but coming back to the moment wasn’t instantaneous. I made it through. I had kept my captor at bay. He wasn’t here. I might have pushed away an important memory, a message, but if I could push it, him, away, maybe I could retrieve the important parts later.

  Control. This was what it felt like, and it felt good. Was it because I knew, without a doubt, that a child’s welfare was more important than my own, so my own issues had to be forced away? I doubted it was anything that noble, but I’d take it, no matter what had given me the strength.

  “I’m fine,” I said. I was, for now.

  Gril looked at me. He knew what I’d been through and he knew I’d just remembered something.

  “I’m okay, Gril,” I said. “Really.”

  “All right.” He turned to Lane. “Come on, you gotta tell us where that woman is, what she might have done with Annie.”

  Lane’s eyes wavered with real fear and concern. “I truly don’t know. I’m sorry.”

  “I have an idea,” I said.

  They all looked at me. I could never have seen this moment coming in my life. But what do we ever really see coming? There’s a beginning and an ending. The in-betweens can be anything. If I knew anything at all, I knew that with certainty.

  “Let’s check Randy’s house,” I said.

  “You think Randy took them?” Gril said.

  “No, I don’t,” I said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if we find the woman and Annie there. It’s just a hunch, but we don’t have anything else at this point. Is Randy back from Juneau?”

  “He was at the mercantile earlier,” Donner said.

  We had no phone. We had no vehicle. We could only gather Randy if we walked back to Benedict first and found him at the mercantile.

  “I’ll go get him,” Donner said without needing instruction. “I’ll bring him to the house.”

  He started running down the road. He had boots, but it wasn’t going to be an easy trip. No one protested and Gril didn’t stop him.

  “Let’s go
,” Gril said to Tex, Lane, and me.

  The four of us were silent again as we hiked quickly toward Randy’s. I could feel Tex’s anxiety, Gril’s concern, Lane’s confusion.

  “Why do you think they’re at Randy’s house?” Tex asked. “Who is Randy?”

  “He runs the mercantile; he’s a great guy, but he’s not home much. My hunch could be wrong, but I think the woman is Wanda, Randy’s wife, and I think she’s been spending time in that house when Randy’s not there.”

  “Wanda?” Lane said.

  “Ever heard her use that name?” Gril asked.

  “Never.”

  “You think she’s lived out in the wild all these years?” Gril asked me.

  “I think so. But … Gril, have the identities of the bodies been confirmed? Are they Paul and Ashley Horton?”

  “Probably, but I only told Christine who I thought they were today. She’ll let me know.”

  “You didn’t recognize Ashley’s body?” I said.

  “I didn’t, for a few reasons.” Gril paused, but only a moment. “The Hortons weren’t here long, and if I had any interactions with them, I don’t remember. They had their house built before they arrived. But my wife died right before their house fire. I was in Chicago, taking care of her funeral when it happened. Donner wasn’t working for me yet. The folks who investigated the fire came over from Juneau. I see now that they didn’t do a good job with the investigation, but I’m afraid I didn’t follow up when I got back to town. I was … I probably should have taken some time off, but there was no one else. I got Donner aboard, but the fire was behind us by the time I got back at the end of August, and then winter was on its way. We had other things.”

  If Gril had been here, if his wife hadn’t died, maybe none of the subsequent tragedies and mysteries would have occurred. I would never point that out to him, but he knew, and it would wear on him. It was a perfect storm of bad things.

  “I think Randy’s wife left Randy, but I don’t think she ever left Benedict. I think she’s a murderer, although”—I looked at the three pairs of curious eyes—”I have no idea why she would have killed either of the Hortons. Lane said her face is burned—she was somehow involved in the house fire. The good news is, I don’t think she would hurt a child.” I looked at Tex. “I really don’t.”

  “How did you come up with all of this?” Lane said.

  “I trespassed, Lane. If I hadn’t gone into Randy’s house because I was curious, I wouldn’t have seen three beds in the loft and three toothbrushes in the bathroom. That’s all I have, so I could be wrong, but … I don’t think I am, at least not completely.”

  “Are you in law enforcement?” Tex asked.

  “I used to be.” I looked at Gril, who nodded.

  “Let’s go,” Gril said as he pushed his way to the head of the line.

  * * *

  Randy’s house looked empty and quiet. There was no sign of Donner, but I calculated that he might have only just made it back to Benedict. If he rounded up Randy and a vehicle, he would be back in about ten to fifteen minutes.

  We weren’t going to wait.

  We stood behind a few trees on the perimeter, but we were too large a group to be hidden.

  “You all stay here a minute. I’ll check it out,” Gril said. He pulled his weapon from its holster.

  “Chief Samuels, I’m not the type of man to tell law enforcement what to do, but please don’t shoot anyone in there,” Tex said.

  Gril looked at Tex and then did something my grandfather would have done. He holstered his weapon, though he kept the snap undone. “All right, I hear you, but none of you can get in my way. Understand?”

  We all nodded.

  A bead of sweat rolled down my back. I was warm, but would be cold quickly if I didn’t get moving again soon.

  Gril stepped around the trees and made his way toward the house.

  “Hello? Anybody in there? It’s the police chief. Come on out,” he said.

  Nothing. The house was dark and quiet. I looked up at the loft window. The green paper was still there. I’d all but forgotten about it.

  I tapped Tex’s arm. “Does that look familiar?” I pointed.

  “It might. Hard to tell. My girls make stuff like that all the time.”

  No one had answered Gril’s calls, so he kept moving forward. He was careful, but I didn’t think he put much stock in my theory.

  “I’m going around back,” I said to the men beside me. I raised my voice. “I’m going around back, Gril.”

  “Hang on a second,” Gril said.

  “I’ll go with her,” Lane said.

  “All right,” Gril said a long moment later. “Heads up, though. Got it?”

  Lane and I assured him that we understood.

  “Want to come?” I asked Tex.

  “No, I’ll stay on this side. Be careful.”

  Walking along the perimeter and keeping ourselves amid the trees, Lane and I moved around the house.

  “I saw a back door,” I said quietly. “There are windows. We need to stay to the side so we’re not seen.”

  I could still hear Gril calling from the front, still announcing his arrival. And then I heard the rumble of a truck. It was Gril’s, I knew the engine. Donner was here, with Randy, probably.

  “Let’s go back,” I said. “We’ll go in with Randy.”

  The back door of the house slammed open.

  A woman emerged. She wasn’t anything like a wild animal. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and her face was clean; one cheek was scarred. She wore jeans and a faded blue shirt underneath a well-worn brown sweater. There were no bearskins in sight. She saw Lane and me and she stopped, her eyes flashing with surprise.

  “What’s going on?” Lane asked her as he stepped around me.

  She looked at me again, and then at Lane.

  “Where’s the girl?” I asked.

  She still didn’t say anything, just shook her head as her mouth pulled into a tight line. Tears filled her eyes. She took off, running into the woods.

  “Hey!” I yelled. “She’s back here!”

  I took a step in the direction she’d gone, and then I went down. My foot had caught on something. I looked back, wondering what it had snagged on. At the angle Lane was standing, it looked like there were two possibilities: either he had put his foot in my way, or the toe of my boot had caught on a rock.

  Had he stopped me from going after her?

  Lane reached out a hand to me. “Should I chase her?”

  I let him help me up. “It’s probably too late now.” I looked out into the woods. She was fast and agile, darting behind trees, making it difficult to keep track of her, and she had a good head start now.

  Gril, Randy, and Donner came around the house another second later.

  I pointed out to the woods. “She ran!”

  “I’ll go,” Donner said, and again, he took off.

  I looked at Gril. “The girl?”

  He stepped up the small stoop and went in through the back door. The rest of us followed. Tex had gone in through the front door. We didn’t have to go far to see him—with his daughter.

  She seemed fine as Tex held her tight in his arms.

  The shared relief was palpable, emotional if we let it be. But there wasn’t time.

  Gril turned to me. “What the hell happened?”

  “She came out the back door and saw us. Lane asked her what was going on, but she didn’t answer. She took off running.”

  “It was the woman?” Gril asked Lane.

  “Yes. I didn’t know if I should chase her.”

  I inspected Lane’s face, but couldn’t discern if he was lying or pretending. I didn’t voice my recent suspicion.

  Gril looked out to Donner. “Dammit.”

  Randy ran a hand through his hair. He walked over to the desk and opened a drawer. He pulled out a picture and brought it back to the rest of us.

  “Is this … her?” Randy pointed at the woman in the pic
ture. She wore a wedding dress and a happy smile as a tuxedo’ed Randy stood next to her.

  “Yes,” Lane said.

  “Yes,” I added.

  It was the same woman, and in fact, to me she looked younger now than in the picture, even with the scarred face. For a moment I tried to make sense of that—the woman I’d just seen for the first time didn’t wear makeup, and she was older than in the wedding picture. She wasn’t tanned, but she wasn’t winter pale, either. She reminded me of the outdoors, but that might have only been because of what I knew about her.

  Randy’s eyes were wide with confusion. I put a hand on his arm. “You okay?”

  “I don’t understand what’s going on,” he said.

  “We’ll get to the bottom of it,” Gril said. He walked to Tex and Annie. “Come and sit down. We need to see what we can learn from your daughter, as soon as possible.”

  Somehow, Randy got past this new shock and went to the kitchen to gather waters for everyone. Donner hadn’t been able to find Wanda, lost her tracks quickly, and he joined us, too.

  “I wish I could tell you where she goes,” Lane said. “I would. I swear I would.”

  I studied him. He seemed sincere.

  Gril turned to Tex. “What can Annie tell us about the woman?”

  Tex nodded. He and Annie had been conversing in sign language. When Tex spoke to us, he didn’t sign.

  “The girls met her the day after the recent mudslide. They saw her across the river—she waved them over. Annie said she was kind to them, asking them if they wanted to play or if they wanted something to eat.” Tex paused. “I know this isn’t the most important part of all of this, but I have taught my daughters to beware of strangers, not to talk to them. The only thing I can come up with is that they truly hadn’t run into any strangers until they met this woman. Our community is small. No matter what I taught them, until now, they must not have understood.”

  He felt responsible. I couldn’t share how I’d opened my front door to a stranger and had learned the ultimate lesson that, thankfully, Annie and Mary hadn’t had to learn as violently.

  “It’s okay, Tex. Kids are kids. The girls are fine, that’s all that matters,” Gril said. “Can Annie tell us anything else about her?”