Rock Harbor Search and Rescue

by Colleen Coble

The rest of the students took the dogs around the building. Naomi got in what Emily had been told was a scratch box, a rough wooden box with a guillotine-type door. Emily shuddered when Bree dropped the door into position. She was glad she wasn’t the one in the cage. Carrying a bag with the scent article of Naomi’s for Bree, she followed her around the corner.

  Emily never got tired of watching the dogs work. Bree lined up the dogs and handlers, then let the animals smell the scent article. The handlers began to release each dog individually and see how long it took them to find Naomi in the box.

  Samson was the fastest to find Naomi, of course. He drove straight for the scratch box, jumping up on it and barking. He grabbed a stick off the ground and carried it to Bree with his tail held high in triumph. Bree praised him, rubbing his ears, and Emily patted him as well. She just loved that dog. Not as much as Sherlock, of course, but awfully close.

  Each of the dogs got their chance. Sherlock took the longest, nosing around the meadow for nearly fifteen minutes before Bree turned Samson out to help him. The older dog quickly led the puppy to the box.

  “Good dog,” Naomi said, rubbing the puppy’s head. “One of these days Emily and Sherlock will be as famous as Bree and Samson.”

  Bree smiled, and the approval on her face warmed Emily clear to her toes. She wanted to be just like Bree when she grew up.

  They repeated the training exercise, then moved on to one in the woods. When the time was up, Emily was more tired than she’d expected, but at least Sherlock was beginning to get the gist of what he was supposed to be doing.

  “That’s it,” Bree said. “I’ll see you all on Saturday.”

  “Bree, could I ask you a few more questions?” Inetta asked. “Naomi and Emily too.”

  “Of course.” Bree led her toward the building, and they entered the SAR center.

  Inside the building, Bree moved over by the window and settled on the floor beside Samson cross-legged. Samson yawned, then moved over to plop his head on her lap. She absently played with his ears, and the dog gave a sigh of contentment. She picked up a brush and began to work it through the burrs in his coat. “What can I help you with?”

  “I asked Emily why she wanted to be part of a search-and-rescue team, and she told me about you two rescuing her and Timmy. I’d forgotten all about that.” She turned to Naomi. “And then you married Donovan and became her stepmom. It’s such a heartwarming story. I’d like to do a feature on how events can be so interconnected. How you follow your dream and find a delightful surprise. And how that one event changed so many things—this center was started, other lives have been saved, and now Emily here is following in your footsteps.”

  Naomi’s eyes widened. “Really? I’ve always thought our romance should be in a book. Oh, Donovan will laugh at this.”

  Emily nearly groaned. She was going to be the laughingstock of school when this article came out. She should have kept her mouth shut.

  “I’m so glad to see everyone out this evening.” Mrs. McDonald, their grandma’s friend, had made a beeline for their table just moments after Naomi got Matthew situated in his seat at the new restaurant out on the M-18 highway.

  Emily sat between Dad and Matthew and Timmy sat between Dad and Naomi at a round table. They’d never been to the restaurant before, but Dad had wanted to take everyone out to celebrate the great interview. He now bragged to Mrs. McDonald about his “girls.” Emily looked around the new place as she tried not to blush, even though she loved having Dad’s approval.

  The building reminded Emily of pictures she’d seen of hunting lodges with big half logs for walls that were decorated with dream catchers made by the local Ojibwa tribe members. Several wampum belts hung on display from wooden pegs. She couldn’t help but wonder what Brandon would think about the place.

  The waitress came to the table and took everyone’s drink orders and left menus for them to look over.

  “I must let you enjoy your meal.” Mrs. McDonald patted Naomi’s shoulder. “I was supposed to meet your mother here, but she had to cancel at the last minute.” She smiled. “So now I’m on my own.”

  “If you’re here by yourself, why don’t you join us?” Naomi asked.

  “Oh dear, I couldn’t intrude.” But Mrs. McDonald’s expression said the opposite.

  “It’s no intrusion. Really. Do come join us.” Naomi’s smile looked genuine.

  “Well, if you insist. I’ll just grab my purse and be right back.”

  “I’m sorry,” Naomi whispered to Dad as Mrs. McDonald rushed to the other side of the restaurant. “I just couldn’t stand for her to eat all alone.”

  Dad grinned. “Your generosity is one of the reasons I love you so much.”

  Timmy made gagging sounds while Matthew laughed. Emily laughed and scooted her chair closer to Dad’s, making room for a place between her and Matthew. “She can sit by me.” When her dad smiled with approval, she knew she’d done the right thing. And besides, if she could get Mrs. McDonald to talk, she might learn something about who took the necklace.

  Mrs. McDonald returned and sat down on the seat next to Emily just as the waitress came and took their order. Once the waitress had left, Mrs. McDonald turned to Emily.

  “How are you, dear? Your grandmother told me about your injury,” Mrs. McDonald said as she pointed at Emily’s arm. “Are you doing well?”

  “It’s fine.” Emily would rather not talk about how clumsy she’d been.

  Mrs. McDonald nodded. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. Naomi, I suppose you’re happy your brother is here visiting.”

  Naomi smiled. “Very much so. I can’t believe Mom finally got him to come. He usually stays away so that Mom can’t try to convince him to move back here.”

  “She’s been after him for years, dear. Years.”

  So his showing up wasn’t sudden or surprising? Why hadn’t Naomi mentioned it?

  Naomi squeezed lemon in her tea. “I know. I hope Mom isn’t too disappointed when he goes. He’ll leave on Tuesday. He starts his new job the following Monday.”

  Uncle Greg was leaving on Tuesday? And he had a new job?

  “Your mom said he took a position at a new company. I understand it’s quite a prestigious promotion.”

  The waitress returned with their meals. After she left, Dad asked a blessing over the food, then Mrs. McDonald returned to the conversation. “I’m just pleased he came to visit your mother before he started his new position. It’s made her quite happy.”

  “It has,” said Naomi in between cutting Matthew’s food and trying to grab a bite for herself.

  “What about Valerie?” Emily couldn’t believe she’d blurted that out loud.

  Naomi gave Timmy a spoon for his soup. “What about her?”

  “Isn’t she with Uncle Greg?” The familiar burn lit her cheeks. “I mean, like boyfriend-girlfriend.”

  Dad threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, Em.”

  Naomi and Mrs. McDonald snickered.

  She hated to be laughed at. “What?”

  “Your Grandma Heinonen set Uncle Greg up with Valerie.” Dad took a long swig of water. “She didn’t wait long to start her matchmaking efforts.”

  “Mom thought she could entice Greg to stay in Rock Harbor if a beautiful woman turned his head. What better woman to do that than Valerie, who’d recently been named the spokesmodel for a bathing suit company?”

  “Hey, a beautiful woman can make a man do things he never thought he’d do.” Dad leaned over Timmy and kissed Naomi’s cheek.

  “Well, that’s good, because we saw Valerie at the festival with a man. He’s her manager, Kenneth Lancaster, who is probably a criminal.” It felt good to let that out.

  Naomi set down her water glass. “More investigating, Em?” Her brow creased with worry.

  She shrugged with her uninjured shoulder. “He and Valerie were at our booths when Mrs. Dancer was in the bathroom. We sold him a necklace that she picked out.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything
to Sheriff Kaleva?” Dad asked.

  “Because we didn’t know who he was then. We just found out.”

  “How’s that, dear?” Mrs. McDonald asked.

  “We did some Internet research.” Emily met Naomi’s stare, then dropped her gaze into her lap. “He’s been fired by several models for mishandling funds.” She lifted her eyes. “But there’s no logical reason for him to be here in Rock Harbor unless he’s with Valerie. And if he’s with Valerie, then that was bad for Uncle Greg.”

  Mrs. McDonald dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “Oh my. I can help you with that mystery. Mr. Lancaster is staying at the inn, and you all know Patty Solka, the manager, is my friend. Anyway, she said Mr. Lancaster has been dating Valerie’s older sister.”

  Wow. So Mr. Lancaster was dating Valerie’s sister.

  “If memory serves me correctly, I believe Valerie mentioned something about picking out a gift for her sister’s birthday at the festival.” Mrs. McDonald folded her napkin and laid it across her plate.

  Well . . . that made sense. But why had Valerie acted so strangely when Emily mentioned she’d seen her? Was it because she’d been with her manager, who was a thief? Did she know that? She had to. Maybe she couldn’t fire him because he’d break her sister’s heart.

  Matthew spilled his milk in his lap. Dad grabbed him while Naomi reached for the glass.

  “I’ll take this little man to get cleaned up,” Dad said and headed toward the bathroom, Matthew in his arms.

  Naomi threw napkins on the spill, sopping up the milk.

  “I heard Mary Dancer has put up a reward for the return of her necklace,” Mrs. McDonald whispered to Emily.

  “I heard that too,” Emily whispered back.

  “I wonder if Mason has received any tips?” Mrs. McDonald handed her napkin to Naomi, then turned back to Emily. “Have you heard of any?”

  “No, ma’am.” But maybe that’s what his visit yesterday was all about. Feeling her out, seeing what she knew.

  Her gut knotted. What if he thought she was guilty and told her about the reward just so she’d be tempted to “find” the necklace to get the reward money? Had he come by just to feel her out about it?

  “I also heard Mary’s family is very interested in getting the necklace back. It had apparently been made with the beads that had been ‘blessed’ with the tribe’s medicine man equivalent, so it is believed to have serious protective and preventive power. They weren’t very happy she was selling it.”

  Hmm. Maybe she could ask Brandon about who in their family wanted that necklace back and if any were serious enough to take it.

  “Do you believe that?” Emily whispered. “That such a blessing could give something power like that?”

  “Of course not, dear. I believe in God and his Son, Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s all the protection I need.”

  Very true.

  Mrs. McDonald peered down her nose at Emily. “You don’t believe it either, do you?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Good. I’d hate for you to fall prey to such nonsense.”

  TWENTY

  “Have you heard the news?” Olivia shoved off the lockers as soon as Emily entered the school’s hallway.

  “They found the necklace?” This could so be the answer to her prayers. She held her breath as she slumped her backpack to the floor.

  Olivia frowned. “No. I’m sorry. I meant about the surfing championship.”

  Emily reached for her lock and rolled the dial for the combination. “It’s okay.” She let out a disappointed sigh. She should’ve known better. If the necklace had been found, surely the sheriff would have called Naomi and Dad.

  The bell rang, and the girls went to their different home-rooms. Mrs. Harris stood at the front of Emily’s class. “Principal Sturgeon is asking all students to make encouragement cards for the surfing team for their championship meet this weekend. They’ll be distributed among the team members. So put away your books.” She gestured to the two boxes on the table in front of the first row of desks. “Please take one of the blank cards and an envelope from one box, and markers and stickers from the other. Feel free to decorate your card however you wish.”

  Students murmured to one another as everyone made their way to the front of the room to grab supplies. Rachel Zinn moved beside Emily, who waited behind the groups crowding around the boxes.

  “Hi, Emily. How’re you doing?”

  “Good.”

  “Hey, did you hear about Mrs. Dancer putting up a reward for the return of her missing necklace?”

  “Yeah.” Emily hadn’t quite gotten comfortable with the change in her and Rachel’s relationship. Ever since their truce had been called, Rachel had been friendly, but Emily didn’t know if she could trust that. After all, she and Rachel had been friends since childhood, only to have Rachel turn on her for something Emily had no control over. Would she do it again? Emily was hesitant to let her guard totally down.

  “Did you know the bank’s been threatening to take her house because she can’t make her payments?”

  Emily stopped moving forward with the group and faced Rachel. “I didn’t know that. How do you?”

  Rachel’s face turned bright red. “Well, my punishment for running away is to help out at my dad’s fishing resort. Answering the phone, filing . . . stuff like that. I was in the office filing receipts yesterday when I heard Dad and Mr. Kukkari talking.”

  “He’s running for mayor, right?”

  “Yeah. He came by to ask Dad for a campaign contribution.” Rachel glanced at Mrs. Harris, who sat engrossed in whatever was on her computer monitor. “Anyway, Mr. Kukkari was appealing to Dad’s business sense, I guess. Saying how Mayor Kaleva had gotten soft and that she was making business decisions based on emotions, not logic.”

  “What does that have to do with Mrs. Dancer?”

  “Give me a second.” Rachel smiled. “He said something about her making a recommendation to the bank to give certain Rock Harbor people longer to pay their house notes. He said that the bank could take homes and sell them for a profit, and someone else could buy and flip them, or something.”

  That sounded cold. Banks could just do that?

  “Dad asked him for an example, and Mr. Kukkari said people like Mrs. Dancer, who didn’t even have a real job with no means of a paycheck.”

  “Girls, come on.” Mrs. Harris stood and stared.

  Emily had been so engrossed in Rachel’s story that she hadn’t noticed there was no longer a line at the boxes and everyone except her and Rachel had returned to their seats and were working on cards. She grabbed a blank card and envelope, two markers, and a couple of sheets of stickers and rushed back to her desk.

  But her mind wasn’t on creating a card. If Mrs. Dancer couldn’t pay her house payment, how would she pay a reward for the return of her necklace?

  Emily absolutely adored being in Bree and Kade’s lighthouse. She loved the age of it, the way the wood floors squeaked when she stepped on them, and the way the sun slanted through the wavy glass in the windows.

  “This is such a cool house,” Olivia said as they finished putting the dinner dishes into the dishwasher.

  “I love lighthouses. I’d like to see the Tower of Hercules. It’s a Roman lighthouse in Spain.” She sighed. “I love Roman history.”

  Olivia wrinkled her nose. “You like all history.”

  Hannah, one of Bree’s three-year-old twins, tugged at Emily’s leg. “I want to swing.” Her twinkling eyes tugged at Emily’s heart.

  “Okay.” Emily allowed herself to be pulled toward the door. Hunter ran to join them too. “Just for a bit, though. It’s almost time for your baths.” And bed, but Emily didn’t want the wailing to start.

  “Thanks for helping out this afternoon, girls,” Bree called after them.

  “You’re welcome,” Emily and Olivia said in chorus.

  Bree had asked them to keep the children entertained while she got the house ready for compan
y. Dave was with Kade, so they just had the twins to take care of. Samson, trailed by Emily’s adoring puppy, followed them outside. He rarely let the children out of his watchful sight, and Sherlock never let the big search dog out of his sight. That was fine with Emily. Maybe her puppy would pick up some of Samson’s expertise.

  They put the children in the swings and began to push them. Samson lay down on the ground, and Sherlock curled up by his belly. So cute. Emily yanked her cell phone from her pocket and snapped a picture. Lightning flashed high overhead. Emily glanced at the darkening sky and winced at Olivia. “We’d better get them inside. The storm’s coming fast.” As was common in Rock Harbor, storms could build and erupt without much notice.

  Samson lifted his head and gazed toward the house. Moments later Bree charged through the door with his search vest and backpack in her hand. “Samson, come!”

  “Wait here,” Emily told Olivia, who worked to get Hannah out of her swing.

  Emily ran to join Bree. “What’s wrong?”

  Bree was white. “The Coopers were having a picnic, and Mrs. Cooper’s daughter, Pansy, wandered into the woods while Lucy was taking stuff out of the car.” She knelt to slip the search vest on her dog.

  “Oh no! Naomi was taking Timmy to a movie after his doctor appointment. I could get Charley and help. Olivia could stay with the twins.” She didn’t like that Pansy was missing, but she’d love the chance to go out on another SAR.

  Bree considered the offer. Emily could tell that she didn’t want to risk Emily getting hurt again on a rescue, but she finally nodded. “We need all the help we can get with the storm coming up. I have two on my team I can call, but Charley is one of our better dogs. Let me make sure your dad doesn’t mind.” She pulled her cell phone out and dialed.

  “I’m sure he won’t mind. I’ll tell Olivia.” While Bree made the call, Emily ran to tell Olivia what was going on. Emily helped get Hunter out of the swing too and handed him off to her best friend. Olivia promised to pray for them while she watched the twins and Sherlock.

  “Your dad says it’s okay,” Bree said when Emily returned. “We’ll stop and get Charley on the way.”