02 Outwitted

by Beth Solheim

  "It's not that I don't like dickeys. I can think of better places to wear them than around my neck."

  Jed let out a big guffaw before burying his mouth in Sally's hair.

  "That's not funny." Jane pointed a finger at Bernie. "Quit grinning. It only encourages her."

  Aanders rapped on the screen door before pulling it open. "Hi, Bernie," he said, joining them at the table. "Hi, Mr. Bakke."

  "I suppose we better go," Jane whispered to Bernie. "Sadie's got stuff to do."

  As Bernie followed Jane to the door, he turned and looked back toward the table. He scrunched his eyes into little slits. His gaze lingered on the empty chair under the clock before Jane yanked him through the door.

  "That darn Jane's been blabbing to Bernie. I can tell," Sadie said. "She can't keep the crosser secret for one second."

  "He must have accepted what she told him or he'd have fled in the other direction," Jed said. "You have to admit it's incredible. I can see why he's checking it out."

  "I knew something smelled fishy. I could tell by the way he's been staring at Aanders. You'd think he expects to see the word death coach branded on Aanders' nose."

  "I hear you weren't exactly a good girl, today." Jed picked at a strand of hair caught in Sally's eyelash.

  Sally kept her dangling foot in motion, ignoring Jed's comment.

  "I thought we agreed you needed to mind Aanders. I can't give you a surprise if you can't follow instructions."

  "A surprise?" Sally rotated on Jed's lap. "What surprise?"

  "I'm not going to tell you. It's going to have to wait. If you're a good girl, I'll give it to you tomorrow night."

  "When we get home from the hospital?"

  "Only if you behave."

  "I'm getting a surprise, Sadie." Sally jumped down from Jed's lap.

  "How about a movie?" Aanders followed Sally toward the inner room.

  "I don't want to. I'm taking Belly back to our secret hideout."

  "What?" Sadie watched Sally retreat. "What secret hideout?"

  Sally tipped her head to one side and kicked at the rug with her bare toes.

  "Sally? What secret hideout?"

  "It's a secret." She crouched down and buried her face in Belly's neckerchief.

  "Remember what we said about going out without permission?"

  "I didn't bother anyone."

  Sadie put her hand on Sally's head and turned her around. "Where is your secret hiding place?"

  "It's not a hiding place. It's a hideout." She drew out the word with exaggerated impatience.

  "Same difference," Aanders taunted.

  "What do you and Belly do in your secret hideout?" Sadie eased closer to Sally.

  "Nothing."

  "Can we go with you?"

  "You're too big."

  Jed and Sadie glanced at each other. "Sadie's pretty small. Are you sure she's too big?"

  "You have to be dog size, like me."

  "How do you get in your hideout?" Sadie bent down and stooped over. "Like this?"

  Sally giggled. "No. You jump in the hole. Then you dig for pirate's treasure. Just like on TV."

  "In the water?"

  "No. We dig in the dirt. Belly helps, too. He even found something." Sally glanced toward the kitchen table.

  They waited for the miniature culprit to explain, but all they got were lips sealed in stubborn determination. Sally reached over and grabbed at the gyrating hairs on Belly's tail as he circled the group.

  "What did you find?" Jed reached out his hand and pulled Sally close.

  "Things. I didn't find them, Belly did."

  "Where did you put the things?"

  Sally glanced toward the table again. "In there."

  "Show me," Jed said, tugging on Sally's arm. "Where?"

  "They're with Mr. Bakke. He's protecting the treasure." Sally climbed up on a kitchen chair and lifted the lid off Mr. Bakke's urn. Her fingers sifted through the ashes. She frowned. She peered into the dark hole and dug around again. "It's gone."

  "Was it a bone?"

  "Just like the other one. There's more." Sally dug around again and pulled out a soiled object dangling from a delicate chain.

  "A necklace?" Sadie took the chain from Sally and held it over the urn. She flicked dust off the surface before rubbing the half-heart with her thumb to remove the silt. Walking over to the window, she held it so the sun reflected on the necklace. "It's got writing on it. It looks like J-E-D."

  "Let me see," Jed said, lifting the chain off Sadie's outstretched palm. He held it up to the window.

  "Where did you get this?" Jed spun around and grabbed Sally by the shoulders. Tears sprouted from Sally's eyes and her lower lip quivered.

  Jed shook her. "Where did you get this?"

  Full blown sobs gushed forth. Sally ran to Sadie and clung to her leg.

  "What is it? What's wrong?" Sadie watched as Jed's realization turned to anguish.

  Jed's hand trembled as he held it up to Sadie. "It's Celeste's necklace. When we were kids, we bought this heart necklace for our mother. It had two halves. One has Celeste engraved on it and the other has Jed. Mom gave us each other's half and made us promise we'd always keep them. She wanted us to cherish the love we had for each other."

  Jed dropped into Jane's chair. "I put mine away for safe keeping when Celeste disappeared. I wanted the sheriff to have something to match to Celeste's half if it ever surfaced. My half is at my house."

  Sadie bent down and wiped Sally's cheeks with her thumbs. "Jed's not mad at you, Sweetheart. He's just worried. Where did you get the pretty necklace? Did you find it in your hideout?"

  Sally nodded her head. "Belly dug up some more bones, too. And a pirate's head."

  "Will you show us where it is?"

  Sally nodded again.

  26

  "What's taking so long," Dan Avery asked for the second time, pacing the short length of the cabin. "I thought you said a bath would make the kid stop crying."

  Dan sat on the bed and cupped his hands over his ears. When the crying grew in intensity, he pushed the hospital blue print onto the floor and yanked a pillow out from beneath the bedspread. "Damn kid," he muttered. He jammed the pillow against his ears with his fists and flopped onto his back. "Can't you do something to shut him up?" He threw the pillow at the bathroom door.

  Startled by the door banging against the bathroom wall, the infant wailed in protest.

  "Raising your voice certainly won't help," Pam bit back. "I haven't bathed him yet. Quit referring to the baby as a boy. You're going to make a mistake in public. Get over here and hand me a diaper," Pam ordered.

  Reaching for the stack of diapers, Dan picked one up and shook it open.

  Cool air wafted over the infant. His arms trembled as shrieks of distress added to the tension.

  Pam secured the diaper and wrapped the child snugly in the blanket. Drawing the baby to her shoulder, she patted his back and bounced in a smooth, steady rhythm as she joined Dan on the sofa. Within seconds, calm filled the room. Pam whispered, "He apparently doesn't like being cold. We need to remember to keep him bundled." Slapping her forehead with her free hand, she winced. "I mean she."

  "Whatever you did, it worked," Dan said. "Keep the kid quiet." He rotated his neck several times to release the grip of anxiety.

  It was just like Dan to barrel headfirst into one of his pouting jags. He did it every time they secured a baby. He criticized her for getting nervous before the abduction, but he fell to pieces when they took possession of the infant.

  The customary two-day span the child lived with them sped by too fast for Pam. She loved the feel of a warm infant against her neck. The timing on this abduction forced them to stretch their stay a few days longer to make sure no one suspected anything. She loved the added mothering time.

  They'd survived the wait before. They'd survive it again. They? Pam snickered. It wasn't they. It was up to Pam to provide the care. Dan didn't expend any energy fulfilling his end of their
arrangement. Unless driving the car and complaining counted. He expected her to function as a drill sergeant and force the babies to behave. She released a jagged sigh as a nagging suspicion resurfaced. Would Dan react the same when they had their own child? She knew the answer.

  Placing the child on the bed, Pam pulled a baby bottle and a container of powdered formula from the diaper bag. She scooped powder into the distilled water, shook the lumps out, and lifted the baby into her arms.

  Pam gently ran the nipple back and forth over the child's mouth before his lips closed around the object.

  "I'm going out for a smoke." Dan let the door slam shut behind him.

  Pam looked up when the door slammed a second time.

  Sally crossed the floor and peered around the bedroom door frame. "I came to see your baby. I heard her crying."

  "There you go," Pam cooed, rubbing her free finger over the infant's warm cheek. "One of these days I'm going to have a baby just like you. She'll be mine. Not one belonging to someone else." Closing her eyes, Pam's thoughts lingered on Dan's promise of starting their own family. She'd make it work. No matter what.

  A vision of the house she had dreamed about on Lake Minnetonka filled her mind. A nursery, a library, and a kitchen with every appliance and gadget known to the modern cook would be at her disposal. The need to take risks would no longer be necessary after they earned enough. Cutting out the middle man had been a brilliant inspiration. She didn't want to admit it to Dan, but she now welcomed the next few abductions. If future abductions went as smoothly as this one had, they'd be living in luxury before she had time to sketch floor plans for her dream home.

  As the tension from the previous hours drained, Pam slipped into a state of half-sleep. Aware of voices, she didn't rise to full consciousness until a hand tapped her shoulder. She pitched forward.

  Dan stood directly in front of Pam with his index finger to his lips. Pointing at the door, he motioned for her to take the baby into the bathroom. His pursed lips trembled in anger. "You should have finished the job before. It'll be your fault if we get caught. Now get in there and don't come out till he looks like a girl."

  Pam slipped quietly into the bathroom. Sally followed.

  Grabbing a bag from the bed stand, Dan handed it to Pam through the opening. When the bathroom door's latch clicked into place, he headed back toward the porch.

  Clay pulled the screen door open and crossed the threshold. With an outstretched arm, he offered Dan a beer. "Here. It's the least I can do for a man who offered me a job." Pulling a chair up, Clay added, "I thought you might like to hear the news."

  Bare thighs flowed over the edge of the chair as Clay leaned back and propped his sandals on the sofa. "There's so much commotion going on at the lodge I had to get the hell out of there. Those cops make a big thing out of nothing. They said a baby's missing. It's just a baby. Now if a car was stolen, that's cause for concern."

  Dan pointed at Clay's lap. "Where are your pants?"

  Clay looked down and lifted his shirt tails. "I don't know. I must have taken them off when I took a crap."

  "You take your pants off to take a crap?"

  "I must have." Clay stared up at the ceiling in thought. "Or maybe I left them at the mortuary. A dead guy in the cooler had new jeans. I thought I'd trade with him, but they didn't fit."

  A bewildered frown furrowed Dan's forehead as he peered at Clay out of the corner of his eyes.

  Clay downed a swig of beer. "That scrawny bitch Sadie is always sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. She's going around telling everybody."

  "About your pants?"

  "No. About the baby." He emptied the beer bottle. "She reminds me of one of them tight-assed poodles always prancing around. She must be French."

  Peeling the paper label off the beer bottle with his thumb, Dan glanced at the bathroom door.

  "You still got work for me to do?"

  "Tomorrow," Dan responded. He wadded a strip of label paper and shot it across the room. "Unless the kid changes my mind. That crying drives me nuts. Maybe we'll cut our vacation short and head back to Minneapolis."

  "I know what you mean. After my divorce, I dated a woman with a kid. We ended up bringing the brat with us on vacation because her babysitter canceled. As far as I'm concerned, the next time I look for a woman, she ain't going to have kids."

  "I hear you." As Dan rose from his chair, he handed the empty to Clay and walked toward the door. "Thanks for the beer. I'm going to see if my wife needs help."

  Pam placed the sleeping infant on a mattress of towels on the bathroom floor. She gathered a pair of scissors, a can of shaving cream, and a razor from a bag of supplies before arranging them on the floor. Grasping the fine silken hair between her fingers, she snipped at the black wisps until she'd reduced his hair to a jagged quarter-inch in length. Turning him and propping him with her knee, she finished the hair cut.

  "My mom cuts my hair. She says she doesn't want to pay for a haircut because it won't make me look better anyway." Sally let out an accepting sigh. "She wishes I wasn't so ugly." Sally stood on her tiptoes trying to catch her image in the mirror. Patting her hair over her ears, she said, "Sadie and Jed told me I'm beautiful. Especially when I wear Sadie's earrings."

  Picking at the fallen hair with her fingers, Pam gathered as much as possible and placed it in the wastebasket next to the vanity. She blew across the child's forehead to remove the remaining traces of loose hair.

  Pam filled the sink with hot water and floated the can of shaving cream in the basin. After wringing out a white washcloth, she placed it over his scalp. He stirred. His lower lip curled into a pout before he returned to slumber. Pam squirted warm shaving cream onto her palm and rubbed her hands together to distribute the mound.

  "Can I help, too?" Sally held her palm out.

  Gently drawing the razor from his crown to his forehead, Pam continued until the razor's head overflowed with cream. The infant flinched at the distraction. She rinsed and shaved until all traces of black hair disappeared.

  She ran fresh water in the basin. The child flinched when the warm water washed over him, but didn't protest. Pam cooed gently to the infant during his bath and then patted a dry towel over his body.

  Digging in the supply bag, Pam pushed the items around until she found the tiny pink stocking cap. She bit a plastic strip to sever it from the price tag and tossed the pieces into the wastebasket. She placed the stocking cap snugly on the infant's head.

  Pam grinned. "You are now officially known as Chelsie. A very bald Chelsie, but still a Chelsie."

  The baby whimpered a few times when Pam placed him on her outstretched legs. Digging deeper into the bag, she withdrew the remaining items and laid them on the floor.

  "Can I help, too? I know how to take care of babies." Sally edged closer to Pam.

  Systematically breaking the seal on each plastic wrapper, Pam removed the tags and stacked the clothing in order of application. After unsnapping the closures on the first item, she lowered the upper portion of the terry towel and pulled on a new pink T-shirt adorned in bunnies. The baby squeaked a protest. She tugged on the new pink booties before the child mustered a second whimper. A diaper and a new soft, pink blanket engulfed him to complete the alteration.

  Gathering the plastic wrappers and remaining price tags, Pam dropped them into the wastebasket along with the discarded clothing before unlocking the door and walking over to the bed.

  "Wow. That's quite the transformation," Dan said, lifting the edge of the stocking cap. "Looks like a Chelsie to me."

  "It's time we introduce him to the world." Pam balled her fist as she realized her mistake. "I mean her." She nodded toward the screen door. "Let's make the rounds. We need to make sure people see pink everywhere we go."

  "You're right. We do, but first, I need to warn you word is out about the abduction. Clay just told me."

  Pam drew in a deep breath. "Then the timing is perfect. A boy is missing. People already know we have a g
irl."

  Sally stood on the porch and watched Pam and Dan walk down the path toward the lodge.

  27

  "We can't just go barging into the sheriff's office," Sadie said. "How are we going to explain how we found two finger bones?"

  "I still can't believe it. You mean Sally dug up a body under Clay's cabin?" Jane traipsed back and forth in front of the stove. "How can it be possible? Celeste must have been murdered right under our noses and we didn't even know it."

  "We're still not sure it's a human body and we don't know if it's Celeste. Sally said she found a pirate." Sadie paused before she added, "And, we certainly don't know if it's murder."

  Bernie's gaze bounced from Sadie to Jane as they discussed the discovery. "Why else would her body be under the cabin if it wasn't murder? I think we need to call the sheriff."

  "Me too," Jane replied. "Let's get Lon over here and see what he thinks."

  "What do you mean 'we'?" Sadie glared at Bernie. "We don't even know what's going on and you want to bring in the sheriff?"

  "I know what's going on. Jane told me. You and Aanders talk to dead people and it's one of the dead who found the bones."

  Sadie stared at her sister. "You big blabbermouth. I knew I couldn't trust you. You told Mr. Bakke and now you've told Bernie. Why don't you just put an ad in the newspaper?"

  As Jane drew in a sharp breath, Bernie grabbed her hand. "Actually I'm glad Jane explained it. I wondered about continuing a relationship with Jane because of you, Sadie."

  "Me? What do I have to do with your relationship?"

  Bernie eased Sadie into the kitchen chair and put his hands on her shoulders. "To be honest, I thought you were, well, a bit unstable."

  "Unstable? Unstable? I'm not the one who has to have everything in order every second of every day." Sadie pointed at Jane. "She even insists I have tidy thoughts before I speak."

  "I happen to like tidy," Bernie said. "I'm anal just like Jane and understand where she's coming from. I'm not one to believe in supernatural powers. Bernie indicated quotation marks around the word 'powers' with his fingers. "After hearing the story about Mr. Bakke's death and all the comings and goings of your crossers, it makes sense."