by Jane Toombs
“You’re where?” Steve asked.
“Ojibway, Michigan, following a lead,” Mikel told him. “No real news yet.”
“If you’re going to be there a few days, I’ve got some photos of Heidi I want to send you. General delivery?”
“I figure it might take a week or so up here to check things out. Send ’em along.”
Mikel smiled as he hung up, Steve thought his adopted baby daughter was the cutest thing on two feet. Which she was, more or less. He called Grandma Sonia then, who, as he’d expected, began to scold him the minute she heard his voice.
“What kind of grandson are you who doesn’t come to see his aged grandmother when he’s on vacation? For all you know I might be on my last legs.”
“As I recall you were wearing shorts when I last saw you,” he reminded her, “and your legs looked pretty healthy then.”
“A lot can happen in two months, my Mikel. Where have you got yourself to now?”
“I’m in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in a town named Ojibway. Sort of a wilderness area. After all, I’m on vacation.”
“Don’t try to fool me, young man. You never were one for hunting and fishing or gawking at wildlife. You’ve got some other reason for being in such a strange place. You’re not working, so it can’t be that. What is it?”
Mikel sighed inwardly. Try as he might, he’d never managed to stop Grandma Sonia from asking questions. When he was on agency business, he simply told her he couldn’t discuss what he was doing, but it was hard to discourage her natural inquisitiveness otherwise. This might not be agency business, but it was his business and he had no intention of revealing the truth. What could he say to keep her quiet?
A thought struck him, making him smile. She was always trying to marry him off to some girl or other, maybe this would stop her. “I’m seeing a woman,” he told her.
“You’re interested in some girl up there in the wilderness?”
“Yes.”
His smile broadened at the few seconds of silence that followed. Gotcha, he told himself.
“May I ask her name?” Grandma Sonia finally said.
“Rachel Hill.” The name was out before he thought to invent a fictitious one. Still, it didn’t matter, Ojibway was a long way from White Plains, New York, where his grandmother lived.
“Well, dear, I don’t want to keep you,” she told him, and hung up before he could promise to come and see her on his way back to his Maryland apartment.
Which wasn’t like Sonia, not at all. He’d been preparing himself to field a hundred questions about “his girl” but she hadn’t asked a one. Odd. He was still puzzling over it when he got back to the car and found the gas station attendant talking to Rachel through the open window.
“I sure am glad he’s gonna be okay,” the man said. “Got worried when I heard he was took bad. Wouldn’t be the same around here without old Aino.” He waved at Mikel and walked back to the building.
“News travels fast in these parts,” Mikel commented as he started the car.
“You can’t keep a secret in a small town,” Rachel agreed.
If that was true, then sooner or later someone in the vicinity was bound to know the answers to Mikel’s questions.
“I have some pasties ready to bake,” she added. “I was about to turn the oven on when I looked out and saw you there in the driveway holding on to Aino. You’re welcome to have supper with me.”
“Pasties?”
“Cornish meat pies. Except not quite, because we Finns put carrots in them, something a true Cornishman would never, ever do.”
“Since I’m not Cornish, I won’t quibble. Thanks for the invitation.”
“I’ll be putting the food on the table in about an hour and a half,” she told him.
Once they arrived at the farm, she gave him the key to the small cottage and he settled himself in, finding the place a bit chilly even though the rain had stopped completely. He decided to light a fire in the fireplace so it’d be warm when he came back to the cottage after supper, as Rachel had called the meal.
Once he got a blaze going he sank into an old armchair, propped his feet on the matching stool and relaxed, thinking it’d been a long time since he’d sat in front of a real fire. Rarely did any agency investigation lead him to such a snug and cozy spot. But this time he was on his own. Was Renee to be found here in Ojibway?
He’d come to the Upper Peninsula, following the only lead he’d been able to uncover. Victoria hadn’t been able to tell him much. She’d been eleven when her sister disappeared and vaguely remembered that Renee once had a crush on a teacher of hers—a man named Leo Saari. Then she’d given Mikel her mother’s address in Florida.
He’d flown down to see Mrs. Reynaud, who was living in a retirement village and had unearthed a few more facts. She’d told him Renee had sometimes baby-sat Leo Saari’s daughter, even though Mr. Reynaud had forbidden his daughters to go anywhere other than school without their mother. Baby-sitting was therefore out of the question unless Renee’s mother had covered up for her daughter, which she admitted having done.
Rusty Reynaud had been a mean alcoholic, an abusive type, according to both Victoria and her mother. They were all terrified of him, especially when he got out his old Colt .45 with the elk embossed on the grip and aimed it at them, threatening to shoot. If Renee had run off, it was no wonder. But it was strange the Colt had disappeared at the same time she did.
Mikel stared into the dancing flames as if they held the answer to what had happened to that thirteen-year-old girl. Her old man hadn’t killed her, because a month after Renee vanished, the mother got a phone call from her, though she’d never told this to Victoria. Before Renee could say much of anything, the father had grabbed the phone, cursed her and demanded she return his gun, threatening he’d find her no matter where she hid. Understandably, the girl had hung up and the family never heard from her again.
Soon after that, the mother packed up and moved with Victoria to another state. Two years later she heard her husband had died. A relief to everyone, Mikel was sure.
Mikel had then checked with the police in what had been the Reynauds’ New Jersey hometown. He learned that the same night Renee had disappeared there had been a shooting in town. A drug dealer had been killed by a bullet from a Colt .45, which was never found. Although Mikel had learned that Rusty Reynaud had been chummy with the dead man, there was no concrete evidence to connect him to the shooting, especially since another thug had left town just about the same time.
With that lead a dead end, Mikel had checked the school Renee had attended. The principal had told him that Leo Saari had resigned the month before Renee had disappeared to care for his sick wife. Saari had given Ojibway, Michigan, as his forwarding address. Although the principal had no idea when Saari had left town, he thought it seemed logical it would’ve been not too long after he resigned.
This brought Mikel’s attention back to what Renee’s mother had confessed to him. She’d never told her husband where their daughter was headed that fateful afternoon for fear of his rage. Renee had gone off by herself to baby-sit the Saari child, making Mikel wonder if she’d ever arrived. No one had asked at the time, because Renee’s mother had been afraid to speak up.
But it meant Saari had still been in town on that day. Though it didn’t pinpoint the exact date of his departure, the coincidence had made Mikel suspicious. So, fourteen years later, he was here in Ojibway, where Leo Saari moved to, trying to trace a possible connection between Saari and the missing girl. Though Leo was no longer alive now, surely if he’d brought a red-haired girl with him all those years ago some people around here would remember.
Certainly his father would. Unfortunately, at the moment, Aino was in no condition to be asked questions. But Rachel Hill was available. For questioning, that is. Not for anything else, Mikel cautioned himself, no matter how well she’d fit into his arms.
The chair was so comfortable and the fire so pleasantly warm that he hated to move. All the
cottage lacked was someone for him to share this interlude with.
A female someone. In his mind’s eye he pictured a leggy brunette whose soft brown eyes promised a sweetness he didn’t see too much of in the women he knew. She wasn’t all that far away, either.
What harm was there in imagining her here with him? In reality, far from practical, but no problem at all in a daydream. Rachel had worn no makeup, her pink lips, free of gloss, had looked eminently kissable. He recalled her scent, something faintly flowery but elusive, an enticing fragrance that was on the tip of his memory.
If she were here in this chair with him, he might be able to place that elusive scent. And taste those enticing pink lips. Among other things that he’d best not dwell on or he’d be in no shape to go to the farmhouse for supper.
Chapter Two
Once the pasties were in the oven, Rachel went out, collected the cow from the field and led her to her stall in the barn. There, she pulled on her coveralls and sat down to milk her. When she finished she placed the milk in the cooler, shed the coveralls and returned to the house where she washed up.
Eyeing her jeans and T-shirt, she decided to change to a pants outfit more intermediate—not jeans, but not dressy, either. She had no need, or reason, to dress up for Mikel, though she did need a few dabs of makeup. But when she found herself fussing with her hair, she made a face at herself in the mirror, put the brush away and marched out of her bedroom.
In the big old farm kitchen, she set the pine table with everyday dishes and silverware, not wanting Mikel to get the idea the meal was a special event for his sake. It was merely the supper she’d planned for herself and Aino, not a good-china-and-silver-dining-room dinner.
As she finished making the salad the oven chime went off, telling her the meal was cooked. After setting the salad bowl on the table she grabbed a hot pad and removed the sheet of pasties from the oven. She glanced at the phone, which hadn’t rung since the doctor had called to tell her Aino’s prognosis looked promising. He’d said he believed the immediate treatment he’d been able to give Aino had prevented a more serious stroke. And, yes, she’d be notified if there was any change for the worse—which he didn’t expect.
Of course she was still worried about Aino, but that wasn’t why she was as jittery as a teenager on a first date. Which this certainly wasn’t. Inviting Mikel to supper was a mere courtesy and bore no possible resemblance to a date. Well, maybe a little something other than courtesy. She needed to discover exactly why he’d come here to locate a man who’d been dead for seven years, and a good way to find out was to be casually friendly over food.
Transferring five of the pasties to a plate, she set it on the table next to the salad, then plucked the ketchup bottle from the refrigerator and added that. Aino always slathered ketchup on his pasty. Never mind what Martha Stewart might say, the bottle on the table made it all the more casual.
Even though she’d been expecting it, when she heard the tap at the kitchen door she started and had to clear her throat before calling, “Come in.”
“Something smells mouthwatering good in here,” Mikel said as he entered.
She gestured toward the table, wordlessly inviting him to be seated.
“Anything I can do?” he asked, hovering instead of sitting, looking at her with those green hunter’s eyes.
“Just tell me if you want coffee with supper or afterward.”
“After, please.”
When she started toward the table, he held her chair out for her and pushed it in once she sat down, just as though they were in some fancy restaurant. She appreciated his gesture, even though it made her more nervous for some reason.
“I hope you like the pasties,” she said.
“My grandmother taught me early to approach any new dish with a confident heart, as she put it, meaning that I should expect it to be delicious.”
As he spoke, he slid a pasty onto his plate. Picking up his fork, he used it to break through the crust and lifted out a portion filled with vegetables and meat. As he chewed he raised his left hand and formed an approving circle with his thumb and forefinger.
She gestured toward the ketchup bottle. “Aino likes to pour ketchup over his pasty.”
Mikel shook his head. “I don’t fool with perfection.”
Though pleased, she told herself she wasn’t getting any further with her plan to find out why he’d come here. What did he want to know about Leo?
He looked out a window, saying, “Even on a cloudy day you have long summer twilights here.”
Rather than wasting time commenting on northern summer evenings, she tried to find an opening that wasn’t too obvious. “Have you ever visited the U.P. before?” she asked finally.
“No. Do you always get these cold rains in August?”
“Some years. It’ll warm up.” How could she ease him off small talk?
“Did you hear how your grandfather is doing?” he said after a short silence.
“The doctor is optimistic.”
“So that means you won’t have to call his granddaughter in Finland right away. How long before she comes back to the States?”
She had her opening. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I’d like to talk to her.”
“About what?”
He raised an eyebrow. “How about a fair exchange here? You haven’t yet answered my question.”
It wouldn’t do any harm to tell him, she decided. “Eva will be flying back to New York City the end of next week, but, before driving home, I think she plans to stay awhile with the upstate friend she left her car with.”
“So my questions will have to wait.”
“I still don’t understand why you want to talk to her.”
Evaluating her comments, Mikel decided she didn’t sound particularly defensive, just curious. Those soft brown eyes hadn’t blinked too many or too few times and she met his gaze normally. Liars tended to either look away or keep fixed on the person they spoke to.
“I realize you must want to know what I’m doing here in Ojibway,” he said. “Fourteen years ago a girl disappeared from her home back East. Her name is Renee Reynaud and she was thirteen at the time. I’m searching for her.”
Though she didn’t respond immediately, he noted that Rachel’s expression of polite curiosity didn’t change, reassuring him of her honesty. “I don’t understand why you’re searching here,” she said.
“Leo Saari was one of Rachel’s teachers and she sometimes baby-sat his daughter. He left that same New Jersey community about the time Rachel disappeared and I learned that he’d come to Ojibway. I’m checking out every possible connection. I was hoping Aino would be able to tell me if Leo had a red-haired little girl with him when he arrived here, but I don’t want to pester him with questions until he’s recovered. Eva may be able to remember a few things about Renee that might help me.”
“Eva was only eight when her father returned home. She might be rather hazy about an early baby-sitter.”
“You’re protective of Eva.”
Rachel gave him a level look. “Maybe so. I tend to feel like her older sister. But as for asking if Leo arrived here with a red-haired girl, I can answer that. Like everyone else around Ojibway, I know the only people with him were his wife and daughter Eva. Poor Mrs. Saari died not long after they got here.”
He had no reason not to believe her, though he’d ask around to be sure. “I’d still like to talk to Eva, even if I have to wait until she gets back. I don’t expect you to put me up for what may be several weeks so I’ll look for—”
Rachel cut him off. “Aino will be upset if you don’t stay at the farm. It’s his way of repaying you for your timely help.”
Mikel didn’t argue. It suited him to be right where he was, handy to those who might offer some clues to what had happened to Renee. Not to mention seeing more of Rachel, whether that was wise or not.
“Is that what you do for a living?” Rachel asked “Search for missing persons?”
“It’s part of my job, yes.” Which it was. She didn’t need to know those he searched for were usually criminals. “What do you do?”
“I teach English and drama at the Ojibway High School.” She rose and began clearing the table, declining his help.
When she served the coffee, she also brought a plate of chocolate cookies with chocolate frosting. “My compliments to the chef,” he said after the first bite.
She smiled, the first genuine smile she’d given him. “Those are Aunt Sally’s Cocoa Drops, but don’t ask who Aunt Sally is. No one has a clue.”
He’d noticed there was no automatic dishwasher so he said, “I do know my way around a kitchen, thanks to Grandma Sonia, who insisted chores were a unisex thing, not divided into male and female duties. I’ll help you with the dishes as thanks for a great meal.”
“Did your grandmother live with you?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Like you, I was orphaned young. My grandparents raised me.”
“Then you can understand how much Aino means to me. I’d do anything for him.”
She sounded so fierce he smiled inwardly. Rachel was protective of her own, a trait he could understand.
After they finished the coffee and cookies, he pitched in to help clean up and she didn’t argue. He found he enjoyed working alongside her, leading him to wonder what it’d be like if he actually had a permanent home and someone to share it with. Back off from that thought, Starzov, he warned himself. Even if that’s what you wanted, and it’s decidedly not, this gal is off-limits.
“I’m going to the hospital to visit Aino,” she told him when they finished.
Despite knowing better, he wanted to prolong that feeling of companionship. “I’ll drive you, if you like,” he offered.
“Nice of you, but no thanks.”
“Then I presume it’s good-night.” He headed for the back door as he spoke.
She followed, saying, “If you like you can have breakfast here.”
He paused, turning to look at her. “I don’t want to take advantage of your hospitality. Just give me the name of a good place to eat in town.”