Prodigal

Chapter 35

35

After Dorothy dropped her off, JJ headed back toward Cold Springs in her own car. She was reminded, as she passed it yet again, that something needed to be done about Adam’s car in the ditch. Maybe she’d drop by the garage on the edge of town, see if they still did towing. She imagined there was a flat call-out fee, but a guy who worked there owed her a favor, so maybe he’d give Adam a deal.

JJ took the back roads, not exactly sure where she was going and in no particular hurry. About a mile outside of town, the pullout where the big power line came through looked like a parking lot, and she stopped to investigate.

A search team had gathered, under the direction of the most recently hired Sheriff’s Deputy. The woman’s uniform stood out among the sea of jeans and sweats, despite the fact that she wasn’t more than a hair over five feet tall. The deputy was in her early thirties, trim, but with a wide face that made her look heavier. Her blunt haircut didn’t help.

“Beth, is it? I’m JJ Tulley,” she said, sticking out her hand. “I live next door to the Nicholsons, and I was wondering if you could use an extra set of eyes.”

JJ hadn’t asked if the deputy needed an extra set of eyes, because she obviously didn’t. There were a couple of dozen people present already, for a small search area that was unlikely to hold anything of value—not Rachel, nor a clue to her whereabouts. But what the community needed was to be doing something, and Beth realized that as well as anyone.

“Beth Marshall,” the deputy said. “Thanks for coming out. If you head over to that end, the gentleman in the yellow shirt will tell you what to do. We’ll be moving out in just a few minutes.”

JJ checked in and moved to her designated spot. The road people had parked alongside wrapped around the hill, much like a line on a topographic map, well below its summit. The view downslope was mesmerizing. Laid bare in a corridor a hundred or so feet wide, with forests of trees crowding on either side, the hills seemed stacked end on end, all the way to the state line.

The deputy was true to her word, and soon they traversed the ground in some kind of pattern JJ couldn’t be bothered to figure out. It was enough that she knew to stay between the same two people, all the time. The team would work their way down the relatively steep hill and up to the crest of the next one before turning around.

The searchers kept their eyes to the ground, occasionally bunching closer together when conditions—sometimes rocky, sometimes heavy brush—dictated. It was quiet work, the only sounds an occasional car passing on the road above, the echoing scream of a hawk hunting nearby, a bunch of dogs barking farther away. The sun was surprisingly intense, and JJ wished she’d thought to wear a hat.

JJ found herself thinking about Rachel, about the girl’s personality. She’d been glad when Rachel and Evie became good friends. Aside from the convenient proximity, the girls provided each other balance. JJ sometimes wondered if her daughter knew what fear was at all. Rachel, on the other hand, was a sweet girl, but a little on the timid side.

What kind of person could have kidnapped Rachel? Who would she have gone with? It was a stupid question, really. Rachel would never have willingly gone anywhere with anyone other than her parents, or JJ. Of course, it didn’t matter if she was willing or not when she was physically outmatched by anyone—male or female—over five feet tall and a hundred pounds.

A man stumbled farther down the line of searchers, and the person next to him paused to help him up. They were good people, doing a useless task but so desperately wanting to do something to help. They’d be in church tomorrow morning, praying for a miracle, bringing casseroles to the Nicholsons if this dragged on, or if—God forbid—the worst came to pass. And yet…

And yet, these were the same people that threatened their own children when no one was around to hear them, that beat them and their wives and their elderly parents and even their dogs when no one was around to stop them.

A sudden breeze came up and gave JJ a chill. At least, that’s what she told herself. That it was the breeze rather than the stark acknowledgment that any of these people could have taken Rachel. That any one of them could have the child tucked away, waiting for his—or her—return.

JJ gratefully took the bottle of water Deputy Marshall offered. “Thanks.”

“Thank you for… you know,” the uniformed woman said, looking around uncomfortably.

“No problem.” JJ had convinced one of the local elderly dears to coordinate new arrivals (i.e., tell them to go home) rather than hiking down to search with the younger folk, undoubtedly breaking an ankle. She leaned against the hood of her car, snapping the bottle cap and taking a swig. “It’ll be easier when people know you,” JJ said. And it’ll be harder, too. “Let me ask you something. If somebody files for a restraining order, is that public record?”

“Has somebody been bothering you, Ms. Tulley?” the deputy asked, cracking the seal on her own bottle.

“Call me JJ,” she said automatically. She found that she couldn’t be bothered to muster a convincing lie. “I just wondered about the procedure.”

“Have you spoken with Sheriff Mason about this?”

The woman’s tone of voice suggested she already knew JJ and Grant were friends—whatever that word meant. It seemed to be in flux. “No,” JJ said. “It’s nothing. Forget I asked.”

“The hearings aren’t necessarily public, but the paperwork would be. And you know how fast things get around in a town this size.”

Yes, JJ did.

Both women watched a car pull over, squeezing in as one of the volunteers left. JJ recognized the white blonde hair behind the wheel.

“Excuse me, Deputy,” JJ said.

“Beth. And if you’ll forgive me for butting in, when someone of your temperament—what I’ve heard of it—” she said, with a hint of self-consciousness, “When someone like that has gotten to the point of wondering about procedure, then I’d say whether it’s public or not should be the least of her concerns.”

“That may be,” JJ admitted, thinking of the gun in her glovebox. Unlike Dorothy’s, hers was loaded.

JJ found Iris standing next to her car, almost in the road, gazing down the power line to the mountains beyond. Her hair was damp, and she looked upset, unfocused in a way the woman rarely was.

“Iris?”

She startled. “Oh, JJ. I saw the crowd and just wondered… nothing?”

“Not yet. Are you all right? You seem distracted.” A sudden image of Adam in his slippers, being driven away in Otto’s truck, flashed into JJ’s head. “Adam’s okay, isn’t he?”

Iris shook her head with frustration. “That boy.”

“Iris,” JJ said firmly, “he’s not a boy anymore.”

“That’s what I said.”

To whom? What had JJ missed while she was searching for Rachel? “Iris, what’s going on? Where is Adam?”

Iris’s eyes settled on the horizon again where a turkey buzzard rode the air currents, cruising above the next ridge as though it had all the time in the world. Maybe it did, but JJ didn’t. Having made everyone sweaty, the sun seemed now determined to beat feet behind the mountain and give them all a chill. And bring darkness. Again.

“You think that little girl’s still alive?” Iris asked.

“I do,” JJ said, “Partly because I want to, but mostly because Adam does. Where is he?”

“So you know about all this, too?” Iris looked around, self-conscious, but no one was paying them any mind. “These dreams of Adam’s?”

“I know that if something bad happens to Rachel, and he thinks he could have helped her but didn’t—whether that’s true or not—he’ll be devastated.” And so will Grant. “Especially after Danny.”

Iris pushed her hair back, shoving it behind her ear on one side, and gave JJ a sad smile. “You thought I didn’t have a clue, didn’t you? When you kids were tramping all over creation trying to find the boy. I knew, but I didn’t say anything. I was so scared that something might happen to you—you’d fall or get lost or someone would run you over on the highway—but I was even more scared of what it would do to you, both of you, if you had to stay put. So was your father.”

“Dad knew, too?”

Iris nodded, then sighed and stepped around JJ to get in her car. “Adam’s at Harlan Miller’s. If you don’t know the way, you can follow me. I’m headed there now.”