by Sharon Sala
The silence scared her. She rolled over on her hands and knees, and as she tried to push herself up, her hands slipped on the wet leaves. She fell headfirst against the trunk of the tree in front of her, then didn’t move.
* * *
Chief Pittman drove through town with lights flashing, then pulled into the alley behind the bar to the small clapboard house.
There was no smoke coming out of the fireplace, no lights on anywhere inside. When he saw the front door open and a tall, gangly boy and a huge bloodhound emerging, Lon jumped out to open the back door of his cruiser.
As he did, a woman followed them out. She was blue from cold and shivering. She coughed, then couldn’t stop. Then the boy approached and held out his hand.
“I’m Charlie Conroy, sir. Thank you for calling.”
Lon wondered how desperate they were and then decided to deal with that later. “You can put your dog in the back and ride up front with me.”
“Yes, sir,” Charlie said. He loaded up Booger, then got into the front seat.
Lon turned around.“Mrs. Conroy, I’m Chief Pittman. Thank you for allowing your boy to help us. I’ll have him back as soon as possible, okay?”
“Yes, it’s okay,” she said.
And then another little voice piped up, and Lon saw a tiny girl standing in the doorway, also wearing her coat over her clothes. She was crying.
“Mommy, Mommy, I’m cold.”
“I have to go,” Alice said. She ran back to the doorway, picked up the little girl, and disappeared into the house, shutting the door behind her as she went.
Lon got in. The boy was already buckled up.
“We’re going straight to the nursing home.”
“Yes, sir,” Charlie said, his heartbeat jumping as the chief drove away.
“So what’s going on at your house? Don’t you have any heat?”
“We don’t have any utilities, sir. We got cut off.”
“When was this?” Lon asked.
“Oh, a few days ago, but I’ll get the money earned to get them back on.”
“Is this why you put out the flyers?” Lon asked.
Charlie nodded.
“That was very industrious. How old are you?” Lon said.
“I’m twelve, but I am the man of the family now,” Charlie said, and then turned his head as they passed the school, looking at it with a mixture of longing and despair.
Another two blocks, and they pulled up in front of the nursing home. One of Lon’s deputies was already there gathering info, while the other one on duty was back at the station. People had begun gathering here as the news had spread, ready to help search.
“Here we go,” Lon said as he parked. “You get your hound and follow me.”
“Yes, sir,” Charlie said, and leaped out, grabbed Booger’s leash, and took off after the chief.
Nathan Rose, the nursing home administrator, was trying not to panic as he explained what he knew to Deputy Ralph.
“We’ve never had this happen before,” Nathan said. “We lock the doors at night and everything. Wanda is the one who discovered Gertie’s absence.”
Ralph eyed the aide in purple scrubs. She looked to be in her late twenties, and she also looked scared to death, like someone was going to lay the blame for this on her.
“So, Wanda, how did you know she was missing?” Ralph asked.
“She wasn’t in her bed when I came on duty at six a.m., so I went looking for her, assuming she’d just fallen asleep somewhere else inside the building. They do that sometimes, but I couldn’t find her. That’s when we all began to search. She’s not here.”
“Were there any unlocked doors?” Ralph asked.
Wanda’s shoulders slumped. “The one from the kitchen leading out into the back alley. There’s an extra lock up high. She’s so little, I don’t know how she reached to open it.”
“Either someone helped her, or it was unintentionally left unlocked,” Nathan said. “It’s the only explanation.”
“Have you notified her next of kin?” the deputy asked.
“She doesn’t have any,” Nathan said. “She brought herself here three years back and hasn’t had a visitor from outside Blessings since.”
At that point, the chief walked up and didn’t waste time explaining.
“Nathan, I need something that belongs to Gertie…something that would have her scent on it…like her shoes…or a piece of her clothing…something that hasn’t been washed yet.”
Nathan saw the boy and the bloodhound and didn’t ask questions.
“Wanda, you heard him. Bring something that will have Gertie’s scent on it.”
Wanda turned and ran into the building as the deputy recognized the boy.
“Hey, that’s the kid from the flyer,” he said, then glanced at Lon. “Good call, Chief.”
“If it works, we can all thank Peanut Butterman. It was his suggestion.”
Charlie had outgrown his coat months ago and had been wearing his daddy’s clothes all winter, but he didn’t have a coat. It had burned up in the explosion. He shivered slightly as he waited, thinking nothing of the discomfort because it had become the norm, but Lon saw it.
“Be right back,” he said, and jogged toward his cruiser, popped the trunk, and then came back with a heavy, fleece-lined flannel jacket. “Put this on,” he said, as he handed it to Charlie.
Charlie’s eyes widened.
“I might get it dirty.”
“Son, it’ll wash,” Lon said. “Put it on.”
Charlie didn’t argue. The warmth that enveloped him was so welcome it brought tears to his eyes.
“I thank you,” Charlie whispered.
Lon patted the boy’s shoulder as Wanda came running back holding a pair of cotton socks.
“Gertie wore these yesterday. They were still in her shoes. Will they work?”
Lon glanced at Charlie, who nodded.
“They’ll do just fine,” Charlie said, then glanced at Lon. “Are you ready, Chief?”
Lon glanced around at the small crowd of people who’d gathered to help search.
“We’re going to try this first before we send everyone out in different directions. If some of you want to go home, you’re welcome. But if there are any who want to follow us and the hound, then fan out in a grid behind him and do your best to keep up.”
A few waved and headed back to their cars, but a good dozen of them stayed.
Lon heard one searcher call out, “That hound won’t track. I reckon the rain has washed out her tracks and scent.”
“We’ll see,” Lon said, and watched as Charlie Conroy got down on one knee and shoved the socks up under Booger’s nose.
As he did, the hound began to whine, as if sensing he’d just been given a task.
“Hunt, Booger! Hunt!” Charlie said.
The massive bloodhound lifted his head, sniffing the air, then put his nose to the ground and moved toward the back of the building with Charlie hanging onto the leash. The moment they reached the back door, Booger bayed.
“He’s on the scent,” Charlie cried, and off they went, through two blocks of housing, across the baseball field, and then up into the woods, with the cops and the searchers behind them.
Chapter 9
They’d been on the march for nearly a half hour when Booger stopped going forward and began moving in wide, spreading circles.
Charlie saw the tracks and frowned. Something wasn’t right.
“Stop!” he shouted, adding,“Wait here,” as he loosened his grasp on Booger’s leash to allow the dog more lead as he began to circle an area about the size of a football field.
Charlie could hear grumbling from the searchers around him, saying the dog was no good, that he couldn’t even follow a scent and didn’t know what he was doing. The talk made Charlie
nervous, afraid that his first chance to make money was going to go bust before it began. But he could see what some of the others could not. Booger was following the scent just fine. It was Miss Gertie who didn’t know what she was doing.
Finally, someone near Charlie even shouted at him. “Hey, kid. You sure that dog knows what he’s doing?”
Charlie’s face turned red with anger. Even though he’d been taught to mind his elders, he was nearly a man, and a man had to stand up for himself.
“It’s not the dog that’s lost, mister. It’s Miss Gertie. If you don’t believe me, come look at the footprints Booger is following. She walked in circles here, likely realizing she was lost,” he shouted, and then he took a tighter grip on the leash as Booger suddenly plunged ahead, dragging Charlie with him and leaving the rest struggling to catch up.
The loudmouth in the crowd was startled that the boy had called him out and started to grumble again until someone told him to shut up or go home.
They were back on the move again. It was now three hours past the moment they had discovered Gertie Lafferty missing from her room in the nursing home. Not knowing how long she’d been gone before that was frightening. Time was not on their side.
Lon had seen enough hunting dogs in his day to know a good dog when he saw one, and old Booger was a dandy. He knew they’d find Gertie. What he didn’t know—and what worried him most—was not knowing what shape she’d be in. He kept praying as he went. Lord, please don’t let us find her dead.
Charlie and Booger were so far ahead now that Lon couldn’t see them, and he increased his stride as he jogged through the forest. There were quite a few evergreens, but also a lot of trees that had shed all their leaves, and their dark, naked branches looked like arms reaching for someone to pick them up. He couldn’t see or hear Charlie or the dog anymore and was about to break out in a run when he heard the hound bugle. He knew that sound.
“They found her!” Lon yelled, and started running.
* * *
The moment Charlie saw the little body crumpled next to a tree, he wanted to cry. Booger began to bugle. He’d treed his prey, so to speak… He’d found Miss Gertie.
“Good boy! Good boy!” Charlie said, praising Booger and petting him as he tied the hound’s leash to a nearby tree, then ran to the old woman’s side.
Her whole face was bloody, and for a moment Charlie thought some animal had been at her to cause all that blood, and she was most likely dead. Then he noticed the cut on her forehead just below the hairline and the blood on the trunk of the tree. She’d fallen, and that’s where she’d hit her head.
He felt for a pulse and was so excited when he felt one that he jumped straight up and started shouting, “She’s here! She’s alive!” over and over until he saw Chief Pittman coming through the trees at a lope. “Over here, Chief!” Charlie yelled, waving his arms. “She has a pulse, Chief. She’s alive.”
Lon reached them in seconds, thumping Charlie on the shoulder over and over.
“Good job, Charlie. You and Booger did a real fine job!” Then he got on his walkie-talkie and called for a stretcher.
The searchers who had been carrying it came running. Ken Yancy was the EMT who’d come with the searchers, and once he reached Gertie’s body, he knelt to check for a pulse. It wasn’t a strong pulse, but it was there. Ken gauged the angle of her body to the blood on the tree, then looked up at the kid who’d found her.
“Did you move her at all, son?”
“No, sir,” Charlie said. “Just felt her neck for a pulse.”
“Good,” Ken said, and unhooked the cervical collar he’d fastened to his belt. “Okay, Chief, I need two people to slide that stretcher up against her back while I hold her. Looks like she went headfirst into that tree when she fell, so I need to get this collar on her, and then we’ll turn her.”
Charlie was riding an adrenaline crash and starting to shake. He kept swallowing back tears, praying the old woman didn’t die.
A few minutes later, they had an IV in Gertie’s arm, a pressure bandage on the head wound, and a blanket tucked over her as they started back. Ken radioed his partner to bring the ambulance to the edge of the tree line at the back of the baseball field and said they’d meet him there.
Charlie was walking beside the Chief as they moved quickly back toward Blessings.
“She was really cold,” Charlie said.
“They’ll get her warmed up at the hospital,” Lon said. “You and your dog sure earned your money today. You both made a name for yourself, and I hope it brings you all the money you need. As soon as we get back to my cruiser, I’ll get you home and see about getting you and your family some help. I don’t like to see people doing without in Blessings. It’s not how we roll here.”
Once again, Charlie felt like crying. The relief of having even a small part of the burden of his family on someone else’s shoulders was overwhelming.
“I sure thank you,” he said gruffly, and then cleared his throat, not wanting the chief to think he was the crybaby sort.
* * *
They came out of the woods to find the ambulance waiting. The EMTs loaded Gertie and took off through town with the lights flashing and the siren screaming.
Deputy Ralph was also there to pick up the chief, along with Charlie and his dog. He dropped them off at the nursing home and went back on duty patrolling Blessings, as Lon reclaimed his cruiser and took Charlie and Booger home.
The chief pulled up in front of the house and parked, then got his wallet and counted out twenty-five dollars.
“Here you go, Charlie, and thank you again for your help.”
Charlie palmed the money gratefully. “If you have any other emergencies we can help you with, keep us in mind.”
“Is it okay with you if I go in and talk to your mother?” Lon asked.
Charlie hesitated.
“I won’t insult her,” Lon said. “I just want to help.”
“Yes, all right,” Charlie said. “Come with me.”
Lon got out and followed Charlie and the dog to the house. Charlie knocked.
“We only have one key,” he explained, and then the door opened, and Alice was there with her daughter in her arms.
“Thank you for bringing him back, Chief,” Alice said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Lon said. “He did great. We found Mrs. Lafferty alive, thanks to Charlie and his dog.”
Alice smiled and then coughed, then kept coughing until Charlie took his little sister out of her arms.
“Come in, Chief,” Charlie said.
Alice gasped. She didn’t want anyone to see what a state they were in. “No, wait! I don’t—”
“It’s okay, Mama,” Charlie said. “Chief Pittman wants to talk to you.”
Alice clutched at her coat collar, as if holding it tight against her throat would stop the coughing. She was scared they were going to call DHS on her for neglect.
“Please, Chief, please don’t take my kids from me. I can’t live without my babies,” she whispered, and started to cry.
“I came to help, Mrs. Conroy. Not make matters worse.”
“Oh lord, lord,” Alice cried, and sank into a chair near her sofa.
Charlie tweaked his little sister’s nose until she grinned.
“Chief, this is my sister, Patricia, but we call her Pitty-Pat. Honey, this is the police chief. His name is Chief Pittman.”
Lon grinned. “Hello, Pitty-Pat. You have very pretty blue eyes.”
She hid her face against her brother’s shoulder.
Lon had been thinking about this ever since he’d picked up the boy and his dog, and now he sat down near Alice to lay out his plan.
“I will have your utilities turned on before noon today,” he said.
Charlie panicked. “But we can’t pay for them yet.”
“Let me worry
about that,” Lon said. “Mrs. Conroy, do you have food?”
Alice looked helplessly at Charlie.
“I’m not sure. I’ve been sick,” she said.
Charlie sighed. “Barely.”
Lon nodded. “That’s okay. Just know that some people will be coming by with groceries today.”
“Uh, Chief…we’ve only got one skillet to cook with, so make sure whatever they bring can be cooked in that. Everything we had burned up when Daddy blew up the house.”
Lon paled. “Even your clothes?”
“Yes, sir. We went down to the Salvation Army and got a couple of outfits apiece, so we’re managing.”
Lon took a deep breath and then made himself get back on track. “I’ll contact the County Department of Human Services to get you setup for some financial assistance. You definitely qualify. And rest assured, I’m not reporting your behavior. Just your situation.”
“I don’t know how to thank you,” Alice said.
Charlie’s legs were beginning to shake, so he sat down. He’d gone a long way this morning on a very empty belly.
“Thank you, Chief. Thank you so much,” Charlie said.
“It’s part of my job, and I’m glad I can help,” Lon said. “So, I’d better get back to the office and get the ball rolling on all of this. Have faith, ma’am. We don’t abandon our own here in Blessings. Just stay seated. I’ll see myself out.”
They watched the chief leave and then looked at each other in disbelief.
“It’s gonna be okay, Mama,” Charlie said. “Why don’t you take Pitty-Pat and go back to bed so you two can get warm? I’m here. I can handle stuff.”
Alice began wiping her tears as she stood. “Maybe I will lie down just for a bit. I don’t feel good.”
Charlie was scared for her, but trying not to show it. Mama couldn’t die too. God wouldn’t do that to them—would He?
* * *
Lon had already called the gas company and was calling the city utilities department on the way back to the office.