by Sue Pethick
“I’m coming over.”
“No, it’s okay,” she said. “The sheriff and a bunch of volunteers are out looking for him. You don’t have to.”
“I know I don’t have to. I want to. Give me a minute to throw on some clothes, and I’ll be right there.”
She nodded, feeling both relieved and grateful in spite of the fact that it probably wouldn’t help. Unless and until they figured out where Kieran had gone, the best they could do would be to let the volunteers keep searching and wait for the sniffer dog to arrive.
There was a knock at the front door and someone stepped into the foyer.
“Hello!” a sweet voice called. “Anybody home?”
Renee looked up and saw Maggie McRay, a large box in her arms, walk into the kitchen.
“I brought food for your volunteers,” she said, opening the top flap. “There’s doughnuts and sweet rolls and a couple of thermoses full of coffee, plus sandwiches in case things go on awhile.”
She took a tray full of pre-made sandwiches out and opened the refrigerator.
“Mind if I put these in here?”
“No, it’s fine,” Renee said. “If you can find the room.”
Maggie surveyed the contents of the icebox.
“There’ll be plenty of room once we take this turkey out of here,” she said, giving the bird a yank. “I’ve got a cooler in the van. You can keep it in there ’til it’s time to stick it in the oven.”
She slid the sandwiches onto the shelf and shut the door.
“I’ll be right back.”
Wendell had been migrating closer since Maggie had walked in, and he was standing right behind her as she turned to go.
“Oh! Hey, Wendell,” she said as she breezed past.
He watched her go, then turned back, open-mouthed.
“Who was that?”
“What do you mean, who was it? That’s Maggie McRay.”
He glanced back over his shoulder.
“That was Maggie?”
“Yes,” Renee said. “Why?”
Wendell looked down at the rumpled clothing he’d thrown on in haste and paled visibly.
“I’ll be back in a minute.”
* * *
Wendell and Maggie were having coffee and doughnuts in the kitchen when Travis arrived. Two of the more experienced volunteers had already returned to check the map for another area to search, and Jack and Dylan were filling a thermos with coffee before heading out again. Grace and McKenna had gone back to bed, and Megan was rocking Lilly in her lap, hoping she would do the same. When Renee saw Travis heading up the walkway, she hurried over to open the front door.
He was, she thought, the very definition of a sight for sore eyes. Dressed for the weather in a heavy parka and jeans, the determined look on his face was reinforced by the stubble on his chin and softened by the look of tender concern in his eyes. He looked, in short, like the kind of man you wanted on your side when disaster struck.
Renee stepped back and he came inside, taking a quick look at the command post/kitchen.
“I take it he isn’t back yet,” he said.
She shook her head, feeling hot tears pressing against her eyes.
Travis took a deep breath.
“All right, what can I do to help?”
Renee shrugged.
“I’m not sure, exactly,” she said, looking around. “Everyone’s gone out in teams of two, but there’s no one here at the moment for you to partner with. Mostly, we’re just listening for the phone and waiting for the sniffer dog to show up.”
He pulled off his gloves and tucked them into his pocket.
“In that case,” he said. “I think we need to talk.”
She led him into the living room and took a seat on the couch, wondering what was going on. Travis looked so serious that whatever was on his mind, she feared it must be bad news. Then again, Renee told herself, there wasn’t really anything worse than what had already happened, and she was desperate for something to distract her from worrying about Kieran.
Travis still hadn’t taken a seat. Renee thought he looked agitated as he loomed over her.
“Why didn’t you tell me your son was in my program at school?”
Renee sat back, appalled. This wasn’t any of his business.
“What’s this got to do with anything?”
“Was it because you didn’t trust me?”
“Trust you,” she said. “Is this a joke? My son is outside, lost in a snowstorm, and you want to know if I trust you? What is your problem?”
Travis raised his hands in a calming gesture.
“I’m sorry. I know this is terrible timing, but you said there was nothing else to do, and if our relationship is going to have any kind of future, I think it’s time we got this out of the way.”
Our relationship?
She stared at him, chagrined by an unwelcome tingle of desire. What kind of person thinks about romance while her kid is missing?
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but this is just not the time or place—”
“My brother, Hugh, is autistic. I didn’t tell you before now because I thought I might be falling in love with you, and I was afraid I’d lose you if you knew.”
He gave her a penetrating look.
“I think maybe that’s why you didn’t tell me about Kieran, either.”
She felt a tear run down her cheek and wiped it away.
“The last guy I went out with told me that Kieran was just trying to get attention. You know, like the poor kid wants to get picked on and made fun of in school.”
“Guy sounds like an ass.”
Renee hiccuped and swiped at another tear.
“He was.”
“Then you’re lucky you have Kieran, or you might not have realized until it was too late.”
Renee nodded and looked down at her hands. She loved her son fiercely, but no one had ever told her that she was lucky to have him before now. She smiled and patted the cushion next to her. Travis took a seat.
“So,” she said. “Hugh is autistic.”
He nodded.
“Among other things, and for now, at least, he lives with me. When we were younger, I promised my parents that he’d always have a home with me. There weren’t group homes and halfway houses for the mentally ill back then, and they were terrified he’d end up in an institution.”
“That’s really sweet,” she said. “You were a good son and a good brother.”
“I was hoping you’d feel that way. I wish my ex-wife had.”
He turned his head and contemplated the Christmas tree for a moment.
“Mother was already ill when Daddy died, and I knew it was only a matter of time. Moving Hugh was out of the question, and I’d already told Emmy when we married that we’d be going back to Bolingbroke one day. When the time came, though, she gave me an ultimatum: I could have her or Hugh, not both.”
“And you chose your brother.”
“I had to,” he said. “My promise to him predated any vows I’d made to her. At the time, I was devastated, but looking back, I think it was for the best. Emmy was never the person I thought she was. I just didn’t see it until then.”
“Then you’re lucky to have Hugh.”
Travis ran a hand through his hair and laughed.
“Well, some days it doesn’t feel like it.”
“And that’s why you started the program at the school?”
He nodded.
“My parents worked hard to build a company that would give them enough money to pay for whatever might help my brother make the most of his gifts.” Travis grinned. “Hugh might be strange, but he’s wicked smart.”
“Asperger’s?”
“Probably.”
She sighed.
“The counselor says that Kieran is very bright, in spite of his OCD. I can’t help wondering if there’s a connection.”
Travis shrugged.
“I have no idea. All I know is, the program Hank Fielding and I ha
ve started at the school will give the kids in it a chance to get the kind of help that Hugh has gotten at no cost to them.”
“By medicating them?”
His expression hardened.
“I like you, Renee, and you seem like a smart person, but if your son needs medication so that he can have a full and happy life, why would you prevent him from taking it?”
She pursed her lips and thought of all the reasons why the thought of giving her son pills was so objectionable.
“For starters, I don’t want him to be labeled. I don’t want every teacher and every administrator from now on to look at his permanent record and dismiss him as ‘abnormal’ before they even give him a chance.”
Travis considered that.
“That’s a valid point. Our program is considered separate from the regular reporting requirements of the school system. However, it’s got nothing to do with whether or not he’s on meds.”
“That’s true.”
Renee thought about that for a moment.
“I guess I just don’t like the idea of giving him pills to make him behave. He’s really a great kid; I don’t want him to turn into some sort of zombie.”
“Believe me, neither do we. The point isn’t to turn the kids into docile little robots, it’s to help them learn to manage whatever symptoms they have so that they can learn and retain information in an environment that’s safe for everyone. Besides,” he added, “no matter what Marissa told you, medication was never going to be the first choice in the program. That was a flat-out lie.”
“Yeah,” Renee said. “I figured that out when—”
She heard a high-pitched scream coming from the kitchen.
Travis looked around.
“What is that?”
“It sounds like my niece, Lilly,” she said, jumping to her feet. “Come on.”
Lilly was having a full-blown tantrum when Renee and Travis ran in. Lying on the floor, facedown, she was kicking her feet and screeching as Megan and Wendell tried to calm her down, and Maggie looked on from the safety of the breakfast table.
“Nooooo!” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t! He won’t let me play if I tell!”
Renee walked over and put her hand on her sister-in-law’s shoulder.
“Everything okay?”
Megan shook her head.
“I don’t know what happened,” she said, looking bewildered. “All I did was ask her if she’d spoken to Kieran last night.”
“She’s probably just tired of answering questions,” Renee said. “When I asked her before, she told me she hadn’t.”
“I know, but she fell asleep while I was rocking her, and the next thing I knew, she started mumbling about promising not to tell. I thought it might have something to do with Kieran.”
Renee felt her temper flare. She wanted to snatch her niece up off the floor and demand that she tell her what she knew, but when she looked at Lilly, lying on the floor, crying and hysterical, it broke her heart. The poor kid had been awake all night, and if she did know something, it must have been eating at her all that time. Perhaps, if they were patient, Lilly’s tantrum would run its course, and she’d be able to tell them what was going on.
It didn’t take long. The lack of sleep had drained Lilly’s usually abundant energy along with her ability to keep the secret to herself. As the adults in the room listened, she repeated what Kieran had told her before he left.
“He said he was going to find Max,” she said, wiping her nose on her arm.
“We know that, Lil, but where was he going to find him? Did Kieran say?”
The girl nodded.
“He told me they built a fort in the woods and that Max would be there.”
Renee looked at her father.
“Do you know anything about this?”
He shook his head.
“Not about the fort, but I’m guessing he meant the same woods where we rescued the dog.”
She nodded and looked at Travis.
“Can you take me there? It’s not that far.”
“Absolutely.”
“Great.” She looked at Wendell. “Do you think you could draw me a map of where you found the dog?”
“Hell, no. I’ll take you there myself.”
“No, Dad,” she said. “Travis and I will go and look for him. Megan needs to take care of Lilly, and you need to stay here and tell the volunteers where to go when they get back. I’ll take my phone with me so we can stay in touch. Call me if you hear anything.”
CHAPTER 37
“Thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty . . .”
Kieran halted unsteadily and looked around. His face and hands were numb, and the frost on his eyelashes was making it difficult to see. He swiped a gloved hand across his face and squinted hard, trying to get his bearings. The snow wasn’t as deep in the woods as it had been outside, but what there was had hidden both the trip hazards on the ground and the landmarks he used to find the fort. He shook his head.
What number was I on?
It didn’t matter, he told himself. The only thing that mattered was Max. Once he found the fort, he’d find Max. He just had to keep going. Kieran took another step.
“One, two, three . . .”
There was a sapling up ahead on the right, bent over by what could have been snow, but might also be another snare. Kieran shook his head and gave it a wide berth. If he hadn’t been so cold, he might have taken a stick and tried to trip it, but he wasn’t sure if he could actually pick up a stick with his hands the way they were. He promised himself that as soon as he was warmer, he’d go through the entire woods and trip every snare he found. Until then, he’d just have to . . .
He stopped. What was he doing?
A gust of wind rattled the trees and icy clumps of snow began to fall all around him. Kieran felt the world begin to wobble and realized that he was the one wobbling. He hugged himself and realized he’d begun to shiver. It was nice, he thought. Shivering made him feel warmer. Then he remembered something he’d read about how being too cold made you feel warm and he frowned. He looked down at his feet and willed them to move.
“One, two, three, four . . .”
A crow in the tree up ahead flapped its wing and cawed menacingly at him. Kieran scowled at the bird.
“G-go away!” he said.
It must have a nest nearby, he thought. There was a crow whose nest was near the fort, and whenever he and Max were there, it had cawed at them like this one. The stupid birds were as bad as Cody Daniels, he thought. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone?
He paused and looked back at the bowed sapling.
The crow . . . the fort . . . the secret entrance.
Kieran turned quickly and lost his balance, crying out as his knees hit the frozen ground. Unable to stand, he crawled toward the sapling, hoping he was right and feeling absurdly grateful at having been harassed by a crow. When he reached the sapling, he pulled himself upright and his heart leaped. It was the secret entrance! He just hadn’t recognized it because the other sapling he’d tied it to was broken. He ducked underneath and crawled inside.
“Max, it’s me,” he said. “It’s ok-kay now. I’m h-here.”
Kieran looked around, confused. The tree overhead had acted just like he’d thought it would—the ground was dry and almost free of snow—and the wind was noticeably calmer in there, too. Nevertheless, there was no sign of the dog. His knees buckled and he fell, his teeth chattering, his entire body shivering convulsively. He crawled forward and leaned his back against the sheltering tree.
I’ll just rest here for a while. I can look for Max again after I take a nap.
Kieran closed his eyes and smiled as someone covered him with a warm gray blanket.
* * *
The man with the sniffer dog showed up just as Renee and Travis were pulling out of the driveway. She flagged them down, told the handler where they were heading, and after a brief call to the sheriff’s station, the man agreed to follow them there.
“I’ll need a piece of your son’s clothing,” he said. “So the dog will know his scent.”
Renee grumbled in frustration as Travis took her back to the house. She ran inside, grabbed one of Kieran’s jackets, and jumped back in the car. Minutes later, the vehicles pulled to the side of the road, and she handed it over.
“You sure he’s in here?” the man said, as the German shepherd put its nose into Kieran’s jacket.
Renee nodded.
“He told my niece he was going to the fort that he built in the woods.”
The man gave her a skeptical look.
“In the snow?”
“He’s looking for my dog,” Travis said. “And it’s a long story. Can we just—”
The shepherd lifted its head from Kieran’s jacket and sniffed the air. Then it took a step and whined, tugging its handler toward an opening in the trees. The man looked at them and smiled.
“Looks like it’s time to go.”
Renee and Travis followed behind the man as he and his dog led the way. The animal seemed excited to be out in the woods, sometimes sniffing the air or walking in a circle, sometimes stopping to sniff the ground before whining and moving forward again.
“Why doesn’t he just keep his nose to the ground like a bloodhound?” Renee said.
The man shook his head.
“Addie is an air scent and a trailing dog. Air scent dogs work well in wild, open areas like this, but if it’s windy, like today, they can lose the scent. If that happens, Addie can just pick it up from the ground or the shrubs and keep moving.” He grinned. “She’s also a girl, so watch yourself.”
“Sorry.”
“Her name is Addie?” Travis said.
“Short for Adalwolfa Meine Schatzi. My wife thought she should have a German name.”
Addie had wandered off the trail again, alternately sniffing the air and the ground.
“What’s she doing now?”
The handler frowned.
“I think it’s possible your son passed by this way more than once.”
Renee looked at Travis, who shrugged and shook his head.
“Why would he do that?” she said.
The man’s face was grim.
“Mostly likely, he was confused,” he said. “People can get disoriented when they’re cold. They start walking in circles.”