“I didn’t say that,” Clove insisted, grabbing my wrist. “I think she wandered outside as part of a game. I also think it’s possible someone stumbled across her. Maybe they took her someplace because they thought she was lost.”
Or maybe they took her for another reason entirely. I made my decision on the spot. “You’re right. We need Chief Terry. This is bigger than us now.”
“Then let’s get him.”
I cast one more hopeful glance over my shoulder, hoping I’d somehow missed a secret hidey-hole and that Annie was watching us, a mischievous grin on her face, and everything would be okay. She didn’t appear.
I fell into step next to Clove, my emotions muted and numb as I attempted to hold it together. “Yeah. Let’s get Chief Terry. He’ll know what to do.”
“WHAT DO you mean?” Chief Terry Davenport sat behind his desk, a plate of doughnuts I recognized from the inn resting next to his computer. He seemed puzzled when Clove and I entered. Even after we told him why we were there he couldn’t seem to get a grip on what we were saying.
“She’s gone,” Clove explained. “One second she was sitting on the floor of the store and the next she disappeared.”
“But … how is that even possible?”
“We’re not sure,” Clove replied. “Mrs. Little came in and distracted us with that stupid idea to start a D&D club.”
“DDA,” I automatically corrected. “I would totally join a D&D club with Mrs. Little because it would be hilarious. We could film it for a reality show.” It was meant to be a joke but my voice was so flat that it came out robotic.
“What’s the difference?” Clove asked.
“One is a card game in which you battle with other players and one is a way for Mrs. Little to get control over the town’s businesses,” Chief Terry answered, his expression thoughtful as he rubbed his chin. “Are you sure Annie isn’t hiding in the store?”
“We looked everywhere. She’s not in the store. The back door was open. We searched the entire alley – several times – and she’s gone. I … lost her.” It was hard for me to grit out the words, and when I did, I wanted to dissolve into tears. That wouldn’t help Annie, though, so I struggled to remain strong in the face of Chief Terry’s sympathetic eyes. For some reason the pity there almost undid me.
“She can’t have wandered far,” Chief Terry said, getting to his feet. “I’m going to put a call out over the radio and have my officers converge on the town to search for her. I’ll go back to the store with you girls and have a look myself. Then, if we still don’t find her, we’ll go business to business. It’s a small town, Thistle. I’m sure she’s okay.”
I wanted to believe him. I was desperate to believe him. “Hemlock Cove may be small, but the woods surrounding it are thick,” I pointed out. “What if she thought she was being funny and went into the woods and got lost?”
“She hasn’t been gone for thirty minutes yet,” Chief Terry pointed out. “That’s hardly time to get lost.”
He believed the words. I could tell. That didn’t make me feel better. “We need to find her.”
Chief Terry looked stricken when my voice cracked. “Honey, we’ll find her.” He rested a hand on my shoulder. “You girls took off plenty of times when you were that age. I always found you.”
“We never took off this way,” Clove sputtered, offended.
“You did it more times than I can count,” Chief Terry shot back. “Bay took off at summer camp, for crying out loud. She was in the woods all by herself for hours. Kids take off all of the time. I swear we’ll find her.”
“Then let’s do it,” I said, gathering my nerve. “I don’t like this. I want to find her right now.”
“And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
“WHAT DO we have?”
Landon Michaels, in addition to being Bay’s boyfriend, is an FBI agent. When I saw him striding toward us as we regrouped in front of the police station three hours later, I didn’t take it as a good sign.
“You called in the FBI?” I felt defeated when I locked gazes with Chief Terry.
“I called in Landon,” Chief Terry replied. “We need as much help as we can get.”
“It’s a good thing.” Bay, who joined the search not long after we started, hopped to her feet and threw her arms around Landon’s neck as he approached.
He returned the embrace, running his hand down the back of her head as he briefly swayed. He was all business when he released her. “I’m taking it you still haven’t found her.”
“We’ve looked everywhere,” Chief Terry said. “We’ve been through every store. We’ve searched every alley. We’ve walked around the woods on the edge of town. We can’t find her.”
“She’s gone.” Clove sounded mournful as she leaned her head against the police station’s brick wall. “I don’t understand how we lost her. She was right there.”
Landon’s expression was sympathetic as he squeezed Clove’s shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
“What if we don’t?” I asked hollowly. “What if we never find her? What if she’s wandering around the woods and … ?”
“Don’t go there,” Landon warned, taking me by surprise when he grabbed my shoulders and gave them a moderate shake to get my attention. “If you give up now then we’ve already lost. Is that what you want?”
“No.”
“Then don’t.” Landon licked his lips before turning to Chief Terry. “We need dogs.”
Clove was horrified. “Cadaver dogs?”
Landon shook his head. “No. The state police have search dogs. We need them to follow Annie’s scent.”
“I already placed a call,” Chief Terry informed him. “They should be here in twenty minutes.”
“Which means we need an article of Annie’s clothing to give them,” Landon said, his gaze pointed when it landed on Clove. “Can you be responsible for that?”
Clove nodded. “Her coat’s in Hypnotic.”
That’s when realization truly set in for me. “She didn’t take her coat. It’s cold out. I … she’s probably freezing.”
“We’ll find her,” Landon said, gripping my elbow as he focused on Bay. “Sweetie, I need you to track down Marcus to see if he can get people out on his horses in the woods. He’ll be able to cover more ground.”
My heart rolled at mention of Marcus’ name. I’d forgotten all about my boyfriend. “I didn’t tell him. I should’ve told him right away, but … I knew he would worry.” Annie absolutely loves Marcus and the feeling is mutual. At first I didn’t tell Marcus because I didn’t want to panic him. Once it became more serious, I got distracted. He’d be angry I didn’t tell him. “Maybe I should do it.”
Landon shook his head, firm. “Thistle, I need you to stick close to me. You were the last one to see her, so your presence is important.”
I narrowed my eyes. I had trouble believing that was true. “You’re only saying that because you think I’m going to fall apart.”
“Oh, golly, you’re smarter than you look.” Landon flicked me between the eyes. I knew he did it to fire me up, so I opted against picking a fight that would distract everyone from the important goal of finding Annie.
“I’ll go with Marcus to search,” Bay said. “I know the area as well as anyone.”
“You be careful,” Landon intoned, pulling Bay in for a quick hug. “Last time you got on a horse you fell and scared the life out of me.”
“That’s because a poltergeist was out to get me.” Bay didn’t bother faking a smile as she pressed a kiss to Landon’s cheek. “I’ll text if we find something.”
“You make sure you’re off that horse before dark,” Landon instructed. “It gets dark early these days.”
“And cold,” I muttered. “So cold.”
“We’ll find Annie,” Landon said, grabbing my arm so I had no choice but to swivel and face him. “We’ll start hitting residential neighborhoods next. There’s a good chance she wandered down a side street and someone
invited her inside because it is so cold.”
That was a possibility, and yet … . “If you found a child on the street, what would you do?”
“I would help,” Landon replied, confused. “That’s what you would do, too. That’s what you did with Annie in the first place.”
“Yes. I found her on the street. I brought her inside and got her something to drink and eat. Then I immediately called Chief Terry because I needed help. Isn’t that the normal thing to do? Don’t you call law enforcement when you find a missing child?”
“I … .” Landon broke off, unsure. “Maybe whoever it is lost track of time. Maybe Annie saw other kids playing on the street and went inside of a house and the parents don’t even know she’s there yet.”
“But … how?”
“She could be playing with friends in a basement or bedroom,” Landon answered. “There are a thousand different scenarios. Not all of them are bad.”
“Not all of them are good either,” I pointed out.
“No, they’re not,” Landon agreed, resigned. “If you focus on the bad, though, it’s almost as if you’re creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Is that what you want to do?”
“Of course not. It’s just … she’s so small. She was my responsibility and she’s gone.”
“Accidents happen,” Landon said. “You can’t blame yourself. We also can’t waste time sitting around here. We need to get moving. We all have jobs to do. Can you do yours? Annie needs you to do it, but I can’t waste time if you’re not up to the challenge.”
There was something about his voice that irked me. But I knew what he was trying to do. He would antagonize me until I focused. That was best for everyone, so it’s exactly what he was attempting to accomplish.
“I’m up to the challenge,” I said, squaring my shoulders. “I want to find her as much as anyone.”
“I know you do,” Landon said, gripping my shoulder. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do. Everyone knows his or her job, right? Then let’s find Annie. She’s out there waiting for us and we can’t let her down.”
Four
It was dark when we regrouped in front of the police station hours later. My legs ached from walking, my voice strained from yelling and my heart hurt from worry.
“Still nothing?” Bay rubbed her rear end as she moved to join us. She’d clearly spent a lot of time on a horse this afternoon. She wasn’t used to riding, so she’d be sore for days. She didn’t mount one second of complaint, though.
“No.” Landon tugged Bay to him, taking a moment to bury his face in her golden hair. He looked exhausted, grim even, and I could tell that Annie’s disappearance weighed heavily on him. He was in law enforcement, of course. He knew the terrible things that happened to children when they went missing.
Marcus, his expression hard to read, stared at me from the other side of Bay. I hadn’t seen him since this morning when he rolled out of bed to start his day. He was usually unflappable, soothing in an unobtrusive way, but I couldn’t help but notice the distance he maintained between us. That couldn’t be good. He clearly blamed me for losing Annie. I agreed with the sentiment, so to have someone reinforce it almost made me feel better. Almost.
“I don’t know what else we can do,” Chief Terry said. “The state police dogs picked up her scent in the alley and followed it to the town line. Then they lost her in the underbrush. I … don’t know what to think.”
“How is that possible?” Clove asked, rubbing the back of her neck. She was pale and drawn. I had no idea what she’d been doing over the past few hours, but she looked as if a light breeze could knock her over. “If she was on foot then they should’ve been able to find her.”
“Not if someone took her,” I said bitterly.
“They still should’ve been able to follow her,” Clove persisted. “Even if they carried her, right? I mean … they should’ve been able to find her.”
“We don’t know what happened,” Landon said, his gaze dark as he rubbed Bay’s back. He seemed to need to keep his hands busy. “Someone could’ve picked her up or … the dogs could’ve lost her scent because it’s wet out there. It’s been raining a lot over the past few days.”
“So what do we do now?” I asked. “Do you issue an Amber Alert? Do you bring in the National Guard?”
Chief Terry’s gaze was sympathetic. “Honey, we can’t issue an Amber Alert because we have no idea if she was kidnapped or walked away. Amber Alerts are for when we have a suspect and need the community to be on the lookout.”
“Then call in the National Guard.” I pushed forward stubbornly. “They can cover more ground.”
“This isn’t a natural disaster,” Chief Terry argued. “We’re doing the best that we can. We’ll bring in helicopters tomorrow. They have infrared scanners. They might be able to detect her body heat.
“That will be difficult in this area because we have so much wildlife, but that’s our best shot right now,” he continued.
“That’s it?” My temper ratcheted up a notch. “Are you honestly telling me that you’re done for the night? You’re just going to leave her out there?”
“What do you suggest I do, Thistle?” Chief Terry shot back. He was generally calm in the face of disaster, but weariness weighed heavily on his strong shoulders. “We can’t keep looking in the dark. We’ll lose more people. Someone could get hurt.”
“Well, I’m not giving up.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’ll get a flashlight and look myself. If you think I’m giving up you’re crazy.”
“Of course you’re not giving up,” Landon said. “None of us are giving up. I just … what do you suggest we do?”
“We keep looking.”
“And how are we supposed to find her when we can’t see a foot in front of our faces?” Landon challenged. “We could step within five feet of her and not even know it.”
“If she hears us she’ll come.”
“And what if she can’t hear us?” Landon asked. “What if she’s unconscious? What if she’s hurt? We’ll be walking around in circles and exhausting ourselves. We need to eat … and sleep … and regroup for tomorrow.”
“I’m not leaving her!” I burst into tears, my control finally slipping. The sight was enough to jar Marcus into action. He moved to me and tugged me into his arms. I fought the effort. I didn’t want to be consoled. “Don’t! This is my fault. I did this.”
“You didn’t do this,” Marcus murmured into my hair, smoothing it with his hand as he rocked back and forth. “It was an accident.”
“Don’t try making me feel better,” I warned. “She was my responsibility. I promised Belinda I would watch her. She was right there! I know you blame me. I saw it on your face when you walked up with Bay. You should blame me. I … lost her.”
The tears were so heavy they clogged my throat, and my shoulders shook as Marcus tightened his grip.
“I don’t blame you, Thistle,” Marcus said, his voice surprisingly strong. “You couldn’t have seen this happening. Annie clearly chose to walk out the back door on her own. You were distracted.
“We can’t be sure what happened to her after she took off – and that very well may have been out of her hands – but she made the initial decision herself,” he continued. “I’m not angry because you lost her. I’m angry because you didn’t call me sooner.”
“Oh.” That made sense. I would be angry if I were in his position, too. “I didn’t want to worry you at first. I didn’t want to frighten you. I thought we would find her right away and then … well … we didn’t. I got distracted. I … .”
“You panicked,” Marcus finished. “I know. I’m not angry any longer. There’s no sense in being angry. It won’t help anyone … especially Annie.”
“We can’t give up,” I gritted, out, turning my pleading eyes to Landon. “There has to be something we can do.”
Landon looked helpless as he held up his hands, the lines on his face making him appear ten years older. “I don’t know
what to do, Thistle. We’ve looked everywhere. The dogs lost the scent. What do you think we can do to fix this?”
“I … .”
“We need to cast a spell,” Bay volunteered, taking me by surprise.
“A spell?” Clove shifted her eyes to Bay. “What kind of spell?”
“Not that I want to encourage the spell talk, but can you do something to find her?” Chief Terry asked hopefully.
A spell. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Clearly my brain wasn’t working. “We can perform the locator spell,” I said, wiping my runny nose with my coat sleeve. “We can do it because the ball of light will appear in the darkness. It will lead us.”
“Exactly,” Bay said, bobbing her head. “We’re witches. We might as well use our magic. We should’ve done it hours ago. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.”
“None of us thought of it,” Clove said. “It’s a good idea. Our biggest problem is that we’re kind of bad at them. We need … help.”
As if on cue, Aunt Tillie appeared out of the darkness on the sidewalk. She looked furious, her hands clenched at her sides. The combat helmet she wore had a light attached to it. She was clearly loaded for bear.
“Why do you think I’m here?” Aunt Tillie barked, drawing everyone’s attention in her direction.
“You’re here to help us,” I said, relieved. Aunt Tillie was here. She was mean and terrible when she wanted to be, but she was also competent and loyal. She wouldn’t let Annie go without a fight. She would find her … and punish the Hecate out of whoever took her. “You’re going to find her.”
“Of course I’m going to find her,” Aunt Tillie sniffed, annoyed. “You should’ve called me the second this happened. What were you thinking?”
“That she couldn’t have gone far,” I answered honestly.
“Yes, well, next time, don’t think.” Aunt Tillie smacked her index finger between my eyebrows. “You’ve made this much harder than it has to be.”
Thistle While You Work: A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Short Page 3