Leo grinned back. “Zoe will love an assignment. She’s been bugging me since last night. I got no less than ten texts from her before midnight.”
“Then dish out as much as she can hold on her plate. But keep her close, Leo. I don’t want anyone wandering around by themselves too far from base camp.”
****
Fifteen minutes outside Coeur d’Alene off a stretch of I-90, Barbara Smith lived in a small three-bedroom, one-bath frame house with her other three children—Laurel’s sixteen-year-old brother, Levi, and two younger sisters, Lara and Luna.
While celebrities vacationed here and liked it so much that they began snapping up entire chunks of waterfront lots around her, Barb quietly raised her family on very little assistance from anyone. Forced to find a way to make ends meet after her husband died from a truck accident when the kids were small, Barb went back to school to become a nurse. The hardworking single mom found a job at a doctor’s office during the week and picked up a few part-time hours on the weekends as a county health care nurse on the Reservation.
But since Laurel’s disappearance, she’d cut back on the weekend work to focus on the kids. Part of that was running down her own leads on what had happened to her daughter.
By the time Josh and Skye walked up the sidewalk, the kids had already left for school, the last days winding down before summer vacation.
Barb didn’t even let them ring the doorbell before she flew open the front door, greeting them with an eagerness and a nervous banter. “Did you have trouble finding me?”
Skye shook her head. “No. Your directions were excellent. Thank you.”
“Thank you for being here. I can’t tell you what this means to me that you’d come all this way to help find Laurel. All of you.” She glanced at Harry who’d trailed behind and was just now making his way into the living room. “Would you like some coffee?”
“You read my mind,” Harry stated, looking around for a place to sit. The room was neat and tidy with books on the shelves and a host of plants lining the front windowsills. Before choosing the recliner, he reached out his hand. “Harry Drummond. Retired detective from Seattle.”
Barb’s right hand flung out to take his as her other hand clutched at the heavy locket she wore around her neck. “Wow. Felix wasn’t kidding when he said I’d be impressed.”
“No need,” Harry began. “We’re just like you. Even these two. We’re all just down-to-earth people who don’t much like the idea of predators taking away little girls.”
Skye looked at Barb with emotion in her eyes. “We’re very sorry that your daughter is part of all this.”
Barb flitted around the kitchen making the coffee and starting the automatic drip. “So Felix Tanoose was correct. All of you believe that Laurel isn’t coming back, that she’s like all the others. You think she’s gone for good?”
“We aren’t here to take away any hope you have,” Skye said as tactfully as she could.
“Hope. I start every morning that same way. I try to tell myself that Laurel’s still alive. After all, there are other abduction cases out there with a happy ending. But…” Barb fought back tears. “Laurel wouldn’t want me to give up. I’m not giving up but…I don’t think she’s alive. It hurts my heart to say that. And I usually refrain from using those words around my other kids. But after five months I know my daughter. If she could come home, she would. I just need to know what happened to her. Who took her? And why? I want her back home.”
“We know. We’ll do everything in our power to find the person who did this.”
“I heard on the news that they found Rosa Andreas. Do you know if it’s true?”
“Too early for confirmation yet,” Josh stated. “They should know something by this evening, though.”
Barb wiped the tears off her face. “I bet Rosa’s been found. Good thing for her parents. That’s something to be glad about, I suppose. It’s certainly more than they ever did for my Laurel. I should run by and talk to Janie. She’ll be devastated.”
“Janie?”
“Rosa’s mom.”
“I take it Laurel knew Rosa?”
“Oh, yeah. The girls were in the same class at school, used to play together all through grade school. That changed a little after they got to middle school though. You know kids that age. But Janie and I go way back. We grew up together on the same street. We were best friends in high school. So, tell me what I can do to help you. What do you need from me? I can make another appeal, go on TV again if you want.”
“What we need right now is to dig deep, retrace Laurel’s steps from that day. And it wouldn’t hurt to tell us who you suspect did this.”
Barb covered her face with her hands. It took several long seconds before she looked up. “Everyone loved Laurel. She’s such a kind girl. I’m not just saying that because she’s mine. The day she went missing Laurel and Lara had baked a batch of Christmas cookies for a church Christmas party the next day. They’d spent the afternoon dipping them in red and green icing and making a mess.”
Barb’s lips curved up at the memory. “But my girls know if they bake, they have to clean up. That’s the rule. So when they finished up, Laurel agreed to go to the store to buy Luna’s Christmas present, a gift they intended to wrap that night and put under the tree because Luna, my youngest, had been counting presents. Lara stayed behind to clean up the kitchen while Laurel got dressed to walk into town. Lara told me that while she was busy doing dishes, Laurel threw on a sweater and jeans and grabbed her long coat and out the door she went. How they worked out who did what? I have no idea. But probably since Laurel was the older of the two, she’s the one who decided. Laurel could be bossy at times, especially with her younger sisters. But the girls mostly got along, all my kids do. Working moms need a lot of support from their kids. And all my kids were wonderful that way. They might argue but they’d make up within an hour or two and be best friends again. Even Levi. I taught my boy to cook and clean and do laundry. They’re just good kids all around. Sorry, I got off track.”
“It’s okay. You tell us anything you think is important…or not.”
Barb smiled. “As you can see when I get to talking about them, I don’t know when to stop. Anyway, last Christmas the kids had all pooled their money to buy Luna a fancy Barbie doll that she’d been begging for, one of those in the big box. You know the kind, the ones decked out in a beautiful sequined gown. Holiday Barbie, or something like that. It’s the only reason Laurel went into town in the first place—to get Luna that special doll before Pasqual’s sold out.”
Barbara shook her head. “Who knows what would’ve happened if both girls had decided to go to town together. He might’ve taken both of them. Imagine that. Or, he could’ve left them alone if they’d been together. I guess we’ll never know, will we? But some days I dwell on that and realize I could’ve lost two daughters that day. But you have no idea how much I truly wish Laurel had never left the house. If only she’d stayed home.”
“The police report said that even though it was Saturday you’d been at work all day. That you came home around five-thirty and Laurel wasn’t back yet.”
“That’s right. When I finished up making my rounds on the Reservation—I’d been giving flu shots all day—I stopped at the store to buy something for dinner. Levi wasn’t here either because he had a job at the Christmas tree lot. I called him on a cell phone that my kids all took turns carrying. I never knew which one had it exactly. I just took a chance it would be Levi that day since he was the one at work. Anyway, I asked Levi if he’d seen Laurel in town. He said he hadn’t. Something about that answer made the hairs stand up on my neck.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because the tree lot was right across the street from the hardware store where Laurel was headed. Now grant it, I know Levi could’ve been busy with a customer when she happened to get there. But I think Laurel would’ve stopped by to say hi to Levi if she’d ever reached the store just so she could say she’d browsed
through the trees. At the very least, she would’ve wanted to show off the doll to Levi before heading home.”
“Hardware stores sell Barbie dolls?” Josh asked.
“Oh yeah. At Christmas time Pasqual’s always stocks toys, stacks them on a huge display in the window so that when you walk by you get a good idea of what they’ve got. Then when you go inside, there’s another big display in the center of the aisle by the cash registers.”
“And there was no CCTV recovered?”
Barb puzzled over that. “No one mentioned having CCTV to me.”
“But no one remembered seeing Laurel inside the store?”
“No, not a single person. That’s how I know she didn’t make it there.”
Skye took hold of Barb’s hand. “You want to help? You don’t have to go on TV again to do it. I need you to write down every single person’s name you can think of that Laurel might’ve interacted with each day, before school, at school, during school. Then add in the people she saw on the weekends, at church socials or any other extracurricular activities she participated in.”
“You really think the person who took her is someone she knew?”
“Let’s just say we’re covering all the bases for now and leave it at that.”
“Okay. If you really think it’ll help, I’ll sit down with the kids when they get home from school and make a list. They’ll be able to add in anyone I don’t know about.”
“Great. When you’re done either email it to us or we’ll stop by and pick it up.”
Later, when they were by themselves inside the minivan, Skye turned to Josh. “Before we head over to Wren’s house, could we drive the route that Laurel would’ve taken to the hardware store?”
“Sure. According to MapQuest, downtown is around this corner, heading north. It’s not even half a mile, a quarter of a mile maybe.”
On the slow cruise through the neighborhood, Skye took in the surroundings, letting her eyes wander from house to house. “Let’s say someone was watching the Smith house that day from a vehicle, observing, waiting for his opportunity to strike. Maybe he’s already zeroed in on her as his next victim. Maybe he doesn’t know Laurel will come out that particular afternoon, but he gets lucky when she does.”
Josh tightened his jaw. “How lucky could he get, though?”
“See, that’s what I’m thinking. Maybe our predator already knows that she plans a trip to pick up that Barbie doll. Maybe she mentioned it to someone, suggesting that she’d be at Pasqual’s Saturday afternoon.”
“It didn’t have anything to do with luck,” Josh determined. “Laurel told the wrong person about the trip into town.”
“Yeah. We just have to figure out who that someone was.”
“That would mean it’s definitely someone in her circle. You don’t just drop your plans to a stranger.”
“It has to be someone she thought would be interested in knowing that information. What kind of grown man cares about a Barbie doll, though?” She slowly glanced over at Josh. “Someone with girls of his own.”
“Our guy’s married with kids. Figures. What else would he do but blend into the community? He somehow manages to put these girls at ease before turning on them.”
“Let’s see what Wren has to tell us about Sara.”
“Her place is basically four streets west.”
Skye leaned forward, continuing to scan the streets. A tight knot formed in her belly. “You really don’t understand what a small area he’s hunting in until you see it for yourself. How many victims lived here, in these houses, walked these same sidewalks to school and back every day, flew out those doors to meet up with their friends at the pizza parlor or the ice cream joint? It’s all so normal, Josh.”
“Until the guy down the street, the guy they trusted, turns on them, becoming the monster they see in their nightmares.”
Josh pulled to the curb on what used to be a tree-lined street. But all the trees had been cut back to a stump, nothing ever planted to replace them. “I’m not used to the bare lawns. What do you suppose happened here?”
Skye tracked to that tiny stretch of lawn between the sidewalk and street. “Doesn’t look like a fire issue. Maybe they were diseased and had to be cut down to prevent the spread of some type of fungus.”
Wren was already standing on the porch waving to Harry who’d beat them there. “I hope you didn’t get lost.”
“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Harry said. “Sorry, we’re running late. We stayed at Barbara Smith’s house longer than expected.”
“No need to explain. Barb loves to talk and when she talks about Laurel, well…she has a tendency to go on and on. It’s difficult for any of us to shut up about our kids. When we get people to listen to us, we make it count. But the truth is, Barb’s the reason the story is kept in the papers as much as it is. Since last December, she’s been a force that doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“What happened to the trees here?” Skye asked as she moved into Wren’s living room behind Josh and Harry.
“The city planted sycamores all along the curb when the houses were built back in the ’50s. They eventually all came down with a nasty fungus and just up and died. It took years before the city came out to haul away what was left. Could I offer you something to drink?”
“Nothing for me,” Harry said.
“That’s because Barb already pumped you full of coffee, am I right?” Wren fired back.
Harry grinned. “We did go through a full pot.”
Wren blew out a breath and plopped onto the sofa. “Let’s just get this out of the way. Do you guys honestly think my son will agree to let you investigate his sister’s disappearance? I can’t even get him to talk about it with me. Every time I try to bring up Sara in conversation, he shuts me down. Ten years of that. He does that with his own father, too. What makes you think you can loosen this anger he has deep inside, loosen it enough to let you near this case?”
Wren Grayhawk might’ve been in her late fifties, but she didn’t look it. She wore her silky raven hair in a long, wavy style that made her look more youthful than her fifty-eight years. Her eyes were sharp and clear and were now staring straight at Skye’s, demanding an answer.
“He’s already agreed. I’m surprised Quade didn’t tell you we were coming.”
“He never tells me anything. Barb Smith is the one who phoned me. I’m still trying to wrap my head around Quade letting you hang around.”
“We had a long talk with him last night.”
Wren narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know what to say. You two must be exceptional at this. For Quade to let anyone near this case except the BIA is…well…exceptional.”
“We get that. And we’ll do our best not to upset him. But if it’s all the same to you, is it okay if we get this started. We know it’s difficult but…”
“My husband and I have been living with difficult since that first night she didn’t come back home. Even though we’re divorced now, we still have dinner once a week to catch up. Sara’s…whatever you want to call it…kidnapping…murder…it tore us apart as a couple, as a family. It’s not uncommon for couples to divorce in cases like this. I think Quade resents it…the divorce. Sara’s disappearance changed us all. And Quade has been adamant that he could eventually solve it. But then as time went on, the mystery of it just ate him up.”
“What do you think happened to Sara?”
“I think some very perverted lowlife bastard snatched her off her bike.” Wren’s voice broke. She dabbed at her eyes. “I try not to think about the horrible things she must’ve endured, the horrific things he did to her.”
Skye blew out a breath. “Once upon a time I was one of those girls.”
“But you got away.”
An image of Kiya popped into Skye’s head, another time, another place. “I was lucky.”
Wren reached out a hand and covered Skye’s. “I wish my Sara could’ve gotten away, too. But in my heart, I know she’s gone. We had a connection
and that connection tells me she’s no longer living. You’re Native, correct?”
“I am. My father is full-blooded Nez Perce. And I’ve already tried to play the Native card back in January with your son. But because I don’t live here, he considers me as much of an outsider as he does Josh here.”
“That sounds like Quade. You probably know by now that the Grayhawks are part of the Coeur d’Alene tribe. We weren’t nomadic like your people who traveled for the buffalo. We kept to our villages, sticking close to the lakes in the area for the fishing and the woods to hunt game. Even so, our people have a long, storied history with horses. I’m sure as a Nez Perce you know a thing or two about spirit guides. Mine is a beautiful black mare called Ilea.”
“Mine’s a wolf. And she’s a big part of my life even now that I’m an adult. Every single day Kiya influences me in some way.”
Pleased that she understood the significance, Wren went on, “Sara’s was a fox. She used to say that’s why she could get away with so much in school because she was sly like a fox. She was just getting to that point in her life when she embraced her connection to her ancestors.”
The memory made Wren’s lips curve. “There was nine years difference between my children’s ages. Quade and Sara. But in spite of that gap, the two were always very close. Don’t kid yourself, when Sara went missing, it devastated Quade. He became a different person. I think that’s the reason he’s never been able to sustain a relationship for very long. But don’t tell him I said that.”
“What can you tell us about that day?” Josh prompted.
“What I remember about it most was that it was just a normal, busy time, right before the school year ended. We were taking tests the next week for final grades. Earlier in the spring, Sara had tried out for cheerleader and made it. She was so excited to be moving into high school in the fall. For a Native girl to win such a popularity contest was a major feat. She was over the moon to be such a big part of something that wasn’t the Reservation.”
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