Friendly Fire

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  Logan didn’t try to search for a spot, instead pulling into the fire lane and parking beside the sheriff’s car that Jordy had driven. He was out of the vehicle and pulling Julia’s door open before she’d unfastened her belt.

  “Let’s go. We don’t have a moment to waste,” he said. His hand didn’t linger on Julia’s waist as he flipped the seat forward and all but lifted Dawn out. He took her tiny hand in his and started walking, setting his other hand into the small of Julia’s back and urging her forward.

  “Everyone’s here, Sheriff. We’re ready to start,” Clinton said, holding the front door of the school open, as if he’d been watching and waiting for them. He nodded to Julia. “Julia, I’m so sorry. We’re going to find her for you. Stuff like this just doesn’t happen around here.”

  “Clinton,” Logan interrupted. Julia didn’t miss the look that passed between them. “We need to get started. I want to have a talk with the leaders of each group first.” He urged her and Dawn into the building, past Clinton, not releasing his hand from her back.

  The gym was crowded, people murmuring, but the chatter fell silent when Julia walked in with Logan. All eyes seemed to settle on her.

  “Come on up front,” Logan said, leading them past everyone, keeping Dawn beside him, holding her hand and keeping Julia close, as well. It was comforting, and she realized she didn’t want to leave his side. He stopped, setting his finger and thumb in his mouth and whistling loudly enough that everyone turned. He gestured to the side, and she saw Jordy moving through the crowd. He took in Julia and then went right to the sheriff.

  “Everyone’s here,” he said.

  “Let’s get started,” Logan announced. He moved Dawn to stand in front of him and set his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and then over to Julia, but she seemed more than happy to stay right where she was. Smart girl. “Everyone knows why they”re here. My deputies have already briefed you. We have a missing little girl, Trinity Cooper. Everyone here knows who she is. Her twin sister, Dawn, is here.”

  Dawn actually wrapped her arm around Logan’s leg.

  Logan leaned down to Julia. “You have a picture of Trinity?” he asked.

  She grabbed her purse and started to rummage inside. “On my cell phone, maybe.”

  “Mom, you have a picture of me and Trinity as a screen saver on your phone, remember, the one you took in front of the cafe?” Dawn whispered loudly.

  “Right,” Julia muttered, pulling out her cell phone and handing it to Logan.

  “Can you send it to my phone?” he said.

  She pressed her fingers to her forehead as Logan rattled off his phone number, and she texted the photo to him. His phone beeped.

  “Got it,” he said in a voice reserved just for her. “Okay, listen up, folks! We’re losing daylight, so we don’t have time to waste. I have Trinity’s photo, and I’ll make sure each of you gets a copy. Each of you has already been assigned to a group. You’ll get your search area from your team, and we’ll be searching by grids.” Logan turned to Jordy. “I’m sending Trinity’s photo to your phone. It has her twin sister in it, as well. Make sure everyone gets this.”

  “Got it,” Jordy replied. “By the way, Sheriff, Sheriff Wilcox is on his way. He’s on the road. Caught him heading to Idaho Falls, but he turned back and expects to be here within the hour.”

  “Good. Let me know when he shows up.” Logan set both hands on Dawn’s shoulders and said to Julia, “Stay here. I just need to organize the team leaders.” Then he crouched down to Dawn, who was looking to him for instructions. “Here, honey. Hold your mom’s hand, and stay right here.”

  Then he stepped away, and Dawn slid her tiny hand in Julia’s. She took in her terrified little girl, the spitting image of her missing sister, and pulled her closer in her arms.

  Chapter 16

  Logan gestured for Clinton, who made his way toward him.

  “Yes, Sheriff?”

  “Listen,” Logan began, “don’t go making any more promises to Julia. We don’t know what we’re dealing with or the situation.” For a moment, he wondered whether Clinton was going to argue with him. “You may not agree with me, but you don’t get to argue with me,” he snapped. “Is that understood?”

  Clinton was shaking his head. Logan could tell he was ready to stand his ground. “Look, Sheriff, we’ve never had trouble around here,” he said. “This is a safe community. What are folks going to think if they have to worry about their children walking home from school alone, always concerned and on guard, thinking their children may be snatched from the street? Most of us live here because we don’t want all that stuff that happens in the big city. We don’t want to have to worry about locking the door and keeping it locked during the day.”

  “I get that, Clinton, and maybe I’m too jaded, but let me tell you something: Trinity all but vanished into thin air. She disappeared from this school, and nobody saw anything. What that tells me is that folks around here are too lax,” he said. It came out a little sharply, and he noted the fear that flickered across Clinton’s face. Good. He was scared, and he should have been==especially at the thought of his own child growing up in this community. Logan swept his hand out to the people gathered. “Let’s get started! We don’t have any time to waste.”

  He spent the next ten minutes going over the map and search grids with the team leaders. Everyone had their radios and backpacks with supplies, and they dispersed out the door. Logan caught Julia lingering, holding her daughter’s hand and barely holding it together. He could see her wide eyes, people stopping and talking to her, and she nodded each time. He made his way through the bodies to Julia, and she looked right at him, as if she had already known he was there.

  He slid his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go. I’ll take you home. I have to go back to the station. Do you have someone you can call for Dawn? You two shouldn’t be alone, and I would prefer someone was there with you.”

  She touched her forehead as if she had forgotten something. “I need to call their father and let him know. Oh, he’s going to blame me.”

  Logan didn’t miss how stressed she had become. “Give me his number. I’ll call him.”

  She looked to him, started to shake her head.

  “Look, this is about Trinity,” Logan said. “I’ll talk to him after I take you home, and then I need to start searching. I’ll ask Rose to come over and stay with you.”

  She only nodded, but then she said, “No, you need Rose at the station to help you. I’ll call Ruth Lewis. She has a shop next to mine, and she lives not far from me. She already offered.”

  “Call her now. Ask her to meet us,” Logan added, watching Julia as she scrambled with a shaky hand, pulling her cell phone from her pocket. She put her hand on her forehead as she pressed the phone to her ear. Dawn was standing there, wide eyed and lost. He’d seen that shell-shocked look before, way too many times, and it wasn’t fair for a child to wear it. He leaned down as Julia talked on the phone, and he slid his fingers over her cheek. Dawn stepped closer to him as if looking for a safe space. He reached for her again, and she quickly slipped her tiny hand in his. He could feel how fragile she was.

  “She’ll meet us at my house,” Julia said.

  “Good. Let’s go.” Logan led them both out of the gym. The men and women who were part of the search and rescue team also followed. He had them in his Jeep and at her house right as a blond woman arrived, stepping out of a small red Honda.

  “Hello, we haven’t met yet, Sheriff. Ruth Lewis—I own the beauty salon on Main Street.”

  He shut the door to the Jeep. “Logan Wilde,” he said. “Listen, Ruth, if for some reason you hear anything, you call Rose at the station.”

  “Absolutely, Sheriff,” Ruth said. She waited for Julia to approach, then reached down for Dawn’s hand. “Come on, honey. Why don’t you take me inside and show me all your dolls?”

  Julia rummaged in her bag for her keys, but Logan could see she was one step from losing it. He
didn’t hesitate to move closer, and she went right into his arms, clutching his shirtfront, trembling. He could tell she was fighting to hold it together. He held her tight and didn’t miss the moment Ruth realized there was something between them.

  “Julia, listen to me,” Logan said. “I will turn over every rock to find her. Do you understand?”

  She nodded and then slowly pushed away. He took in her pale complexion, her terrified expression. If he didn’t find her child—it would likely destroy her.

  She touched her head as if she had forgotten something. “Logan, Brent is still at my cafe,” she said.

  “I know. I’ll deal with him. Give me the keys to the cafe. You just go inside. Stay with Ruth, and call me if you hear anything.” Logan unlocked the front door to let them into the house, Julia’s fingers still linked with his. She didn’t want to let go, and he didn’t, either. “Lock the door behind you. You have another set of keys to the house?” he asked.

  She frowned, thinking. “I have a spare key in my bedroom.”

  Logan clutched her keys. “Then I’ll keep yours with me.”

  She nodded before two pools of tears sprang into her eyes, and she shoved her fist to her mouth to stifle a sob. Logan pulled her against him and just let her cry.

  Chapter 17

  The MacKay sheriff’s office was buzzing. Rose’s husband and sister-in-law were also at the station, with a few others; someone making coffee, someone else setting out platters of sandwiches.

  “Sheriff!” Rose called, practically jogging over to him.

  “Rose, who are these people?” he asked, standing in front of her desk. An older, balding gentleman with thick glasses, standing with a gray-haired lady with a cane, waved from across the room.

  “Community members, all here to help out,” Rose added as if this was the most normal thing. “This is where the teams will come. We have food to feed everyone, because they always come back hungry.”

  “Hmm” was all he said. “Do you have any news for me?”

  She just shook her head. “No, nothing. This is horrible, Sheriff. Nothing like this has ever happened here. Do you think someone snuck into town and took her?”

  Logan didn’t know what to think. When he called Julia’s ex-husband in California, the man had been frantic and had behaved exactly as Julia had predicted. He blamed her for not watching his child. Logan had quickly put an end to that, but Kevin Cooper had told him he’d be on the next flight to Idaho. Great, he had thought as he hung up the phone. At least he had pretty good confirmation that Kevin hadn’t snatched the child, though.

  “Don’t know, Rose,” he said. “It was most likely done by someone already here. Any strangers in town, Jordy would have tracked them down.”

  “Hey there, Jordy,” Rose called as the door clicked shut. He stepped up beside Logan.

  “Finished combing all the businesses downtown,” he said. “We’ve talked to everyone.”

  Logan didn’t say anything, thinking. He was beginning to suspect that they were coming at this from the wrong direction. He wished Sheriff Wilcox would hurry up and get here, because he needed to know about the residents in this town. Right now, he felt blind.

  “Jordy, how many people live in this town, and how many are here part time?” he asked.

  Jordy looked to Rose, who appeared to consider and count in her head.

  “There’re about six hundred and fifty residents,” Jordy answered, shifting his stance. “Maybe two hundred part-timers, give or take.”

  “I think we need to start looking at everyone in this town; anyone that moved here recently, anyone with a record,” Logan said. “You know everyone, so tell me: Who comes to mind? Are there any registered sex offenders living here?”

  “Most people were raised here or have come back,” Rose said. “We know them. Some have been in trouble a time a two, but nothing like this.”

  “There’re four new people in MacKay this year,” Jordy said, “including that teacher you wanted us to check out.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m still not too happy with that whole mystery. Rose, you thought he was from Chicago, but Julia said Boise, and when I saw his teaching certificate, it was from Washington. I don’t have the man hours to continue unraveling what’s going on with him, but it doesn’t take a detective to figure out that man is hiding something. We’ll deal with him later.”

  Whatever passed between Jordy and Rose, Logan wasn’t privy to it. He knew what an angry woman looked like, though. Especially from his experience with his own mother and, to Logan, Rose was as close to the mothering type as one could get. Jordy just shook his head as if what Logan had said was the stupidest thing in the world.

  “What?” Logan asked.

  “Rose doesn’t get things wrong,” Jordy said, as if Logan should know better.

  Rose was standing straight, her face already taking on the look of a woman ready to scold him. She was holding back, maybe because of who he was. “Sheriff, I told you once already what that boy told me. I sat him down and had a long talk with him, so I’d consider very carefully why Brent doesn’t want us to know where he came from.”

  Logan didn’t know what to think. The different stories that Brent had relayed to Julia and Rose hadn’t been right, according to his file at the school. Logan needed to have his own chat with the man. Brent had always bothered him, and he knew he was still sitting at Julia’s cafe.

  “Okay, Jordy, tell you what: He’s supposed to be at Julia’s cafe, so I’m going over there to have a chat with him. Jordy, check on—”

  “Sheriff!” an older man called, waving from a desk behind Rose. “One of the volunteers found a girl’s sneaker on the Lost River Trail, about a mile from town.”

  Logan glanced to Jordy, who was still wearing the same scowl he always did.

  “There’re almost three hundred miles of trails out there,” the deputy said.

  “What would little Trinity be doing out there?” Rose asked. “That’s not like her at all. She may be mischievous, but that girl would never wander off.”

  “Who’s missing from town? Let’s find out,” Logan ordered, starting toward his office and lifting his jacket from the hook. “Who knows these trails, Jordy?”

  “Me,” Jordy said. “I know them well. There’re all kinds of cabins and hideaways throughout those hills. You could search for a month and not find them all.”

  “Well, we don’t have a month. If we don’t find that girl soon, she’s going to be in real trouble. I don’t plan on telling her mama that her daughter ain’t never coming home,” Logan said. That was exactly what he was afraid of. Trinity could be hidden anywhere, and it might be damn near impossible to find her. If they had her tracks and her lost shoe, though, they had a place to start. “Rose, get Clinton back here,” Logan said as he started for the door.

  “Well, where are you going?” Rose was right behind him.

  “I’m going after her. Jordy, you’re with me. Rose, have Clinton find out who’s missing in town. You get everyone accounted for.” Then he stopped, remembering Brent sitting at Julia’s cafe. He looked around the station, wishing he had more manpower than two deputies. They were stretched thin enough as it was. He gestured to a thin-haired older man who had come out of the back room, lugging a big carafe of coffee. “You,” he said, pointing to the man, who stopped in his tracks, staring at Logan with an expression that was both startled and worried. “Who are you?”

  Rose tapped his arm. “That’s my husband, Fred,” she said. The man nodded.

  “Fred, can you do something for me?” Logan asked.

  “Sure, Sheriff.”

  “I want you to go to Julia’s cafe. There’s a man there by the name of—”

  “Oh, you mean the new math teacher, Brent Maloney?” Fred interrupted.

  Logan glanced down at Rose. She shrugged, and Logan realized that whatever Rose knew, Fred most likely knew it, too. “Yes, Brent Maloney. I want you to go there, tell him I sent you, and stay there with him. You
have a cell phone?”

  Fred reached into his jean pocket. “Right here, Sheriff, charged and ready.”

  “Rose, I want you to coordinate with Fred. He’s to stay with Brent, at the cafe, until I say otherwise.”

  “What should I tell him if he wants to leave?” Fred asked.

  Rose gestured to the sheriff. “Go. I’ll take care of it, Sheriff.” She turned to her husband. “You just do what I tell you, and…” Her voice trailed off as she walked her husband to the back of the room, where he lifted his coat from a metal chair.

  “Ready, Sheriff?” Jordy asked as he slipped on his coat.

  “Let’s go. Do you know where they found the shoe?”

  “Yes,” Jordy said in his direct way as they stepped outside. The evening sky was growing dim; warning the officers that they only had a few hours of daylight left.

  Chapter 18

  From the moment Logan pulled away, Julia had paced what felt like a hundred miles across her carpet and through her house. Did it help that Logan was running the investigation into her daughter’s disappearance? Absolutely. One thing she did know, growing up with her father in the military, was that marines were trained to have the best tracking abilities, to notice all the differences in their environments: footsteps, broken branches. They were taught observation and profiling, to sense what was out of place or missing. It was something they knew deep down, something they never forgot, especially the ones in the thick of it year after year. Even knowing that didn’t help, though. The grief and agony she felt were so deep that she couldn’t relax or even breathe without feeling as if someone had dug her heart out with a spoon.

  “Julia, sit down,” Ruth said from where she sat with Dawn snuggled beside her on the sofa. “You need to rest, and you need to eat something.”

  When Julia looked at her daughter, she saw that Dawn had a hollowed-out look that broke her heart.