Kaleidoscope Eyes

by Karen Ball

  “And when she led me to the find location, it was the same as it’s been on every other alert. Nobody there. And Kodi seemed as confused and upset as I was.”

  “I don’t know what to say, sis.”

  Neither did she. Because a small part of her wondered …

  Was she doing something wrong? Was she hindering Kodi somehow without even being aware of it?

  Maybe Dan was right. Maybe you should have stayed home on this one.

  She shook her head. Now that was sour grapes talking.

  And fear.

  Annie wiped the cool handkerchief at the back of her neck. Yes. There was fear. Thanks to those stupid, stupid notes. With each passing day, she’d been less and less successful pushing them out of her mind.

  The only saving grace had been that they couldn’t follow her out here.

  Kodi slurped up every drop of water from her dish, then nudged Annie with her nose again.

  “She wants more?”

  Annie looked down at her girl. No denying the dog was hot and tired. With a soul-deep sigh, Annie poured more water into the dish, then crouched beside Kodi. She didn’t say a word, just put her arm over the animal’s shoulders, letting her touch convey the comfort she wanted to give.

  When Kodi drained the dish again, Annie picked it up, clipped it to her belt, and stood.

  “What say we head back to camp?”

  Annie nodded. “It’s time. We need a break.” She patted her leg. “Okay, Kodi girl. Back to camp.”

  The shepherd didn’t budge.

  Dan’s brows rose. “Wow. I didn’t think she ever disobeyed you.”

  “You’re a dreamer. She’s got a mind of her own, and if she thinks I’m wrong—” she indicated the inert animal—“she lets me know.”

  “So she thinks you’re wrong about something?”

  Annie planted her hands on her hips, holding Kodi’s gaze. The dog’s eyes flitted to the side, then came back to her. But for all that she showed submission, she still didn’t move.

  “She knows what camp means.”

  Dan gave a slow nod. “That you’re quitting the search. And she doesn’t want to go.”

  “Apparently not.” She kneeled in front of the dog. “Come on, Kode. It’s too hot. For you and for me.”

  And for Amberly. Father, please, be with her.

  Kodi sat there, eyes wide and intent. And just a shade defiant.

  “You could just grab her collar and make her come.”

  “I could. But I’d rather not.” Annie put her hands on either side of Kodi’s face and tipped the dog’s head so that their foreheads touched. “Kodi, come on. You need rest. So do I.” Her voice cracked. “It’s no help to Amberly if we miss something or end up hurt because we’re tired.”

  A deep groan rumbled in Kodi’s chest—a sorrowful though simple capitulation. Annie couldn’t hold back her tears. The dog was giving in, not because she wanted to, but because she trusted her mistress.

  If only, Annie thought as she stood and the three of them started back toward camp, she felt the same way.

  2:00 p.m.

  Annie lay in her tent, staring at the nylon ceiling. Kodi was deep asleep beside her.

  Good. At least one of them would be rested when they went out again tonight.

  Annie had tried to sleep. But her brain wouldn’t shut down. It kept running over and over the last few days, second-guessing, telling her how many ways she’d misdirected Kodi, that their failure was her fault.

  All her fault.

  “You think that little girl is still alive?”

  Annie turned her head. Someone was talking beside her tent.

  “After so much time in this weather and terrain? I’d say the odds aren’t good.”

  “So I take it the ‘Wonder Team’ is still out searching?”

  “Nah. They came in hours ago. I think they’re sleeping.”

  She didn’t recognize the voices, but searchers from a number of neighboring states had been called in so there were plenty of people Annie didn’t know. Even so, the snide comments cut deep.

  “Like that’ll make a difference.”

  “Man, I thought these two could find anyone.”

  “Shows you how wrong the media can be, I guess.”

  Annie heard feet rustling across the dry ground as the voices moved away. She turned onto her stomach and pressed her aching eyes against her forearm. Don’t take it personally. You know how frustrated searchers get when they can’t find a child. It eats at them. Just like it’s eating at you. And then they lash out.

  It doesn’t mean anything.

  She knew it was true. All of it. But that didn’t make the mean-spirited comments much easier to bear.

  God … please. Let someone find Amberly. I don’t care who. It doesn’t have to be Kodi and me.

  Liar. You want to find her. Want to prove you’re as good as anyone else. That you belong here.

  Annie’s hands fisted. No. I don’t care if everyone thinks we’re failures. I just want Amberly back with her family Otherwise …

  Her throat constricted. Otherwise, she’d never be able to look Brianna in the face again. Never be able to take Kodi to the vet without facing their failure.

  Failure that cost a little girl her life.

  Jesus … please …

  Dark emotions weighed down on her—deep, ugly shades of red, pressing down, as though a heavy hand reached into her tent and pressed, pushing her deeper into the ground. And Annie’s frustration only grew when she realized that something else was nagging at her.

  Jed hadn’t called. Not once! Not to say he was back, not to ask how are you, not to say go jump in the lake.

  Annie didn’t know what angered her more. That he hadn’t called, or that it bothered her so much. With all that was going on in the search, Jed calling shouldn’t even matter. But it did.

  It mattered a lot.

  “Annie. Get up!”

  The sharp call, and the sound of a flat palm smacking the fabric of her tent, just about sent both Annie and Kodi through the roof. The dog bolted upright, barking and growling.

  If Annie had been able, she’d have growled right along with Kodi.

  She settled for a heated mutter. “Darn you, Dan! You scared the life out of me!” She jerked the tent flap out of the way and stomped outside, Kodi right on her heels.

  “I’m sorry, but we’ve got to talk.”

  Annie’s anger dissipated as quickly as it formed. Mostly because of the tone of his voice. It held an odd mixture of anger and apprehension.

  She rubbed her eyes. “What’s up, bro?”

  He didn’t answer. Just held out a steaming mug of black coffee.

  “What’s this?”

  He lifted his chin. “Drink up. You’re going to need it.”

  She did as he said and took a couple deep swallows. Then, and only then, did he draw a slip of paper from his pocket and hand it to her. The too-familiar type sent her heart plummeting to her boots.

  UR STAR SEARCH TEAM IZ A

  FRAUD. WHY HAVEN’T THEY

  FOUND THE GURL?

  Annie crushed the note into a ball and threw it.

  “Hey! That’s evidence.” Dan went to pick it up, then stuffed it in his pocket.

  “Where did it come from?”

  He hesitated, and she had the sense he didn’t want to answer. But he gave in. “It was in the mail.”

  “At my house? Did you go back to town?”

  “No.” The hard note in his words told her how angry he was and that if he ever caught the person who’d been sending the notes … well, Annie just hoped, for her brother’s sake, that he wasn’t the one who caught the creep.

  “At my office. It was waiting on my desk when I got there this morning, so it must have been delivered yesterday.”

  A chill skittered across Annie’s nerves, like a cockroach when the lights went on. She met her brother’s grave gaze.

  “So he must know I’m not home to get my mail.”
>
  “We don’t know that for sure.”

  “Come on, Dan. Why else would he send the note to your office and not to my house?”

  “Look, Annie, we’re trying to figure all that out. But until we do, I want you to go—”

  “No.”

  “Annie.”

  “No! I’m not going home. I don’t care what you say, or what this jerk writing these notes says, or what other searchers say, we are not going to quit.”

  “Lower your voice. People can hear you.”

  “I don’t care!”

  Funny thing was, she really didn’t. The dark red of her negative emotions had become so oppressive, so all-encompassing, that Annie had been having a hard time seeing much of anything else. It colored everything and everyone, keeping her in a crimson haze that made it hard even to think.

  So letting it out felt good.

  Really good.

  Jackie, a member of the Rogue Valley SAR group, came toward them. “Are you okay, Annie?”

  “I never asked to be labeled the ‘Wonder Team.’”

  Jackie nodded. “I know that.”

  “I’m not the one who said Kodi and I could find anyone.” Her voice raised a notch. “I never asked anyone to interview us or stick our faces in the paper,” She looked back at Dan. “I sure as spit didn’t ask to become some loony’s poison pen pal! It’s just the way things worked out. I don’t know why. What’s more, I don’t care why. All I care about is that little girl out there. Someone’s got to find her.”

  “We will, Annie.” Others picked up Jackie’s assurance. “You know we won’t stop until we do.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not quite true.”

  Everyone turned to stare at Chuck, the incident commander. A muscle in his jaw tensed, and Annie wanted to scream. She knew that look. She’d seen it before on the faces of other incident commanders who had to deliver news searchers weren’t going to like.

  “No.”

  Chuck didn’t react to Annie’s terse denial. “I just got the word. They’re terminating the search tonight.”

  “They?” Dan stepped forward. “What they? Sure as heck not the sheriff’s department.”

  “Some state politician way up the food chain got wind of how long we’ve been out—”

  “—and how much money it’s costing—”

  Again, Chuck didn’t let the sarcasm derail him. “Yes, and the cost. And he convinced the decision makers that, with the decreased likelihood of the child’s survival, the expense wasn’t justified.” He held a hand up to stem the flood of objections. “A rep from said politician’s office will be here in a couple hours to join our debriefing. You can express your objections to him. They’ll issue a statement to the media around seven.”

  Annie stepped toward him. “They can’t do that. She’s alive out there. I know it!”

  “I believe you. But if we don’t find her tonight, what can we do? When the powers that be say we’ve got to stop, we have no choice.”

  “This is crazy How can money be more important than a little girl’s life?”

  The coordinator shrugged. “Who knows what motivates politicians?”

  Annie spun on her heel, heading for her Jeep, Dan and Kodi on either side.

  “Where are you going?” Her brother sounded worried.

  “To get my cell phone.” With radios for communication out in the field, Annie didn’t carry her cell phone.

  “Annie.”

  “Don’t worry, Dan. I’m not going to do anything crazy.”

  “Why don’t I believe that?”

  She pulled the Jeep door open. “I’m not. I’m just going to place one harmless phone call. That’s it.”

  Dan studied her, clearly not convinced. Annie pulled her cell phone out of the console and gave him a pointed look.

  “Oh. I guess you want some privacy?”

  She gave him a sugar-sweet smile. “Love that keen sense of the obvious you have, brother dear.”

  She waited until he was a safe distance away, then leaned back into the Jeep and rustled through a pile of papers on the backseat. Please … please let it be in here. She could swear she remembered tossing the paper here when she took the DVD to mail it—ah! Bingo!

  Annie read the phone number on the note, punched it into her cell phone, and hit Talk.

  Cancel the search? She counted the rings.

  Not if she had anything to say about it.

  3:00 p.m.

  “So you think we’ll actually get out of Medford this time?”

  Jed shuffled another step forward in the security line, trying to ignore the fact that every muscle in his body ached and his eyes felt like someone had poured twelve buckets of sand into them. “We’d better. I can’t believe we’ve been fogged in here for a stinkin’ week!”

  “Or that we actually stayed in this airport all night last night. The Rogue Valley International Airport.” Andy surveyed the building around them. “Right. This place is about as big as a shoe box!”

  Jed stretched his shoulders. “They kept telling me we might get on the next flight.”

  “There were no flights after eleven, Jed. That’s what I kept trying to tell you. We could have gone back to the hotel—”

  “I wasn’t taking a chance on missing something. I’ve got to get this done.” He shook his head. “I told Annie I’d be back in a day or two.”

  Andy hitched his camera case higher on his shoulder. “So call her.”

  “I told you, not until this thing with the show is settled.”

  “Then you should have called Silas. That crazy ad has run all week. I don’t know how Annie hasn’t seen it—”

  The ring of Jed’s cell phone cut through Andy’s tirade. First time Jed was actually glad to have the phone go off and interrupt a conversation. He flipped the phone open. “Hello?”

  “Hello. May I speak with Mr. Curry?”

  Jed came full awake. He knew that voice as well as he knew his own.

  Annie!

  But where did she get this number? He’d made sure she only called him at the hotel.

  “Hello? Are you there?”

  Jed didn’t know what else to do. He shoved the phone at Andy

  Andy shoved it back. “I don’t want it—”

  Jed took Andy’s hand and put the phone in it, mouthing, “Annie!”

  Understanding widened Andy’s eyes, and he put the phone to his ear. “Hello? Uh, yeah, this is Mr. Curry’s office. Excuse me? You’re who? Uh, whom?”

  Jed rolled his eyes.

  “Oh, yes! Miss Justice. We’ve been hoping to hear from you. Are we what? Still interested?”

  Jed’s pulse jumped. Was she saying she would do the show? Before he could stop himself, he nodded at Andy, who frowned in response.

  “Well, I’m not sure … ”

  Jed grabbed Andy’s arm and shook it.

  Andy jerked free, glaring at Jed, poking a finger in his chest as he spoke. “We’ve been thinking about this and realized we’ve got some issues to deal with—”

  His friend’s words hit home. Shame rippled through Jed. Man, didn’t take long to fall into old patterns, did it? Wasn’t he just standing in line, trying to catch a plane to make things right? Then, boom! One phone call and he was off to the races.

  Again.

  He held his hand out for the phone. Andy studied his face for a moment, then nodded. “Could you hang on a minute? Mr. Curry would like to speak with you.”

  Jed sucked in a steadying breath and put the phone to his ear. “Miss Justice, E J Curry here.” He grimaced. Why did he do that? Why lower his voice to disguise it? Why not just tell her who he was?

  Because it isn’t something you do over the phone.

  “Mr. Curry, do you still want to film Kodi and me for your show or not?”

  He couldn’t lie about that. “Yes, we’re still interested. Very much so.”

  “Good. Then let’s do it.”

  Jed should be thrilled. Dancing in the security lin
e. Instead, he just felt like gum on the bottom of somebody’s shoe.

  Really old, cruddy gum.

  “Okay We’ll set it up, come do the filming in a week or so.” That should give him plenty of time to talk with Silas. And then with Annie. Just thinking about it made his stomach hurt.

  “Now.”

  That made his stomach and his head hurt. “I’m sorry?”

  “Now, Mr. Curry. Or not at all. Kodi and I are on a search. For a little girl.”

  Of course. He’d caught a glimpse of something about a lost child on the news last night but hadn’t seen enough to realize it was happening here. If Annie was on-site … well, no wonder she hadn’t seen the commercial.

  “The search area is near Diamond Lake, about an hour and a half from the airport. I can give you directions.”

  He had to stall her. He couldn’t see her without getting things settled first. “Miss Justice, I understand this is a great opportunity for the show, but I’m not sure—”

  “No, you don’t understand.”

  The desperation underlying her words stopped him. He dropped all pretense. “What’s wrong, Annie?”

  Her words tumbled out in a rush. Clearly, she was so focused on whatever was happening she couldn’t think beyond it. Which probably explained why she hadn’t recognized his voice.

  “They’re going to cancel the search. They say the girl’s chances of survival are minimal after this much time. But I know she’s still out there. I know it.” She paused, as though trying to rein in her emotions. “Look, if you come in with your cameras, you’ll buy me some time. We’re close, Mr. Curry. But Kodi and I need more time.”

  Jed didn’t hesitate. “What do you need from me?”

  “I need you and your cameras here. Before 6:00 p.m. Tonight.”

  Clever woman. No politician was going to shut down a search for a child with a camera in his face.

  Annie went on. “But make sure you bring cold weather gear. The temperatures drop out here after dark.”

  “Cold weather gear. Got it.” Which they had. In the trunk. They’d bought it when they got to town, just in case.

  “So how soon can you get here, Mr. Curry?”

  He turned to Andy. “It just so happens, Miss Justice, that we’re in the airport right now.”

  Andy glared at him and gave an emphatic shake of his head.