Rock Harbor Search and Rescue Page 5

  “Well, I’m the person who can help you at the moment.” The reporter moved toward them, hand extended. “Inetta Harris.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ve seen you in town, and you were my substitute teacher once when I was in the fifth grade. I’m Emily O’Reilly, and this is my best friend, Olivia Webster.”

  “Ah, yes. Donovan’s little girl. You look like your mother, though.”

  Emily gave a weak smile. “Naomi’s my stepmom.”

  “I know that. I meant you look like your mother. Your real mother.”

  “You know my mother?” Emily’s voice wavered. It’d been so long since she met someone who actually knew her mother personally.

  Ms. Harris chuckled. “Marika and I were friends, right up until she married your dad.”

  Emily couldn’t think straight. It’d been six years since her mother’s trial and sentencing. She’d been accused of attempted murder, but had testified against her partner and had gotten a lighter sentence. It’d been years and years since Emily had met someone who knew her mother before all of that.

  “You, honey, look exactly like she did as a young woman.” Ms. Harris smiled as she patted Emily’s hand. “Those beautiful dark curls. Your hair is absolutely gorgeous. And, oh my, you’ve already got a figure just like Marika’s. I was always jealous of her curves.”

  Heat filled Emily’s face. She hated that the top half of her body had grown so much larger than the other girls in her class. She’d begun wearing bigger clothes to keep anyone from noticing.

  “Sorry. I know you must miss your mother, and here I am, talking about her when I know she won’t even be up for parole for months. Do forgive me.” Ms. Harris straightened. “So, what edition of the paper were you interested in, girls?”

  Months? But Mom had been sentenced to twelve years. It’d only been a little over six. Breathe. This couldn’t be true, could it? She eyed Ms. Harris’s face but decided not to ask.

  Olivia took a step forward. “The one that featured the festival with the picture of Mrs. Dancer’s jewelry. We’d like a copy of that one, please.”

  “Ah. Yes.” She smiled at Emily again. “I imagine you must be upset. Mary was really not happy with you. I tried to keep the article as neutral as I could.” She moved behind the counter. “Let me get your order in.” Her fingers flew over a keyboard.

  Emily stepped up to the other side of the counter. “What did Mrs. Dancer say about me?”

  “It’s not what she said, exactly. More like the innuendos.”

  What did that mean?

  Olivia moved beside Emily. “I’m not sure I understand, Ms. Harris.”

  The lady smiled at Olivia. “By the way Mary kept bringing up Emily’s name, even though the sheriff told me there was no physical evidence she’d done anything wrong, I could tell she thought Emily had something to do with the missing necklace.”

  “But I didn’t.” Yet everybody in town seemed to think she did. Especially Mrs. Dancer.

  “You know, if you could get your dad’s permission, I could interview you and run a story of your side of things.”

  “She can ask them,” Olivia butted in. “But for now, we need to hurry and get home. May we please get a copy of that paper?”

  Ms. Harris nodded and headed to the back room. “Certainly. Let me grab it for you.” She returned in a moment, paper in hand. “That’ll be a dollar fifty.”

  Emily dug in her pocket. She had some change from her lunch money. She pulled out the exact change and handed it to Ms. Harris.

  “Thank you, girls.”

  “Thank you.” Emily tucked the paper under her arm and turned behind Olivia. They opened the door, and the bell jingled.

  “Don’t forget to ask your father about that interview,” Ms. Harris called out.

  “I will. Thank you.” Emily let the door shut behind them before racing with Olivia down the street.

  “You aren’t really going to ask your father about that interview, are you?” Olivia shifted her backpack on her shoulder.

  “Of course not.” Emily flattened the newspaper open and stared at the picture of Mrs. Dancer’s Sapphire Beauty. “Wow, it’s so beautiful. Even in black and white.”

  Emily read the article under the picture. She scanned the information about the dates of the upcoming festival, costs, and other exhibitors. She paused when she reached the description of the Sapphire Beauty.

  “Listen to this,” she told Olivia, then read aloud. “’Legend has it that deep in the forests, there are things that make the bravest of brave shiver. Inhuman things, supernatural things, savage things.’” Emily lowered her voice, mimicking the tone her old babysitter had used when she told the tale. “’Strange creatures dwell in the deepest, darkest forests in the world, especially around the Upper Peninsula, but even stranger are the creatures that live inside of man, inner beasts more fearsome than anything else.’”

  “That’s a freaky voice, Em,” Olivia said.

  “Here’s the rest of it.” Emily took a breath before finishing. “’During the autumn and winter, it’s said the Windigo goes mad with hunger and hunts people. He looks for people lost or alone in the woods. He’s hard to kill. Some say he’s like a werewolf and must be killed with a silver bullet. Others say you have to burn the body and bury the ashes. One Ojibwa story says a medicine man named Big Goose fought and killed the Windigo with his bare hands.’” Even as she read, Emily’s heartbeat kicked up a notch.

  Olivia let out a nervous laugh. “No matter how many times you hear the story, it’s still creepy.”

  “The article goes on . . . ‘Mrs. Dancer, being a descendant of the Ojibwa tribe, crafted the beautiful Sapphire Beauty, photographed above, to ward off the Windigo. This one-of-a-kind necklace will be for sale at the festival, but it won’t come cheap. This enchanted necklace carries a price tag of over a thousand dollars, a bargain when you see it in person.’”

  “Enchanted? That’s crazy.” Olivia switched her backpack from one shoulder to the other.

  “But that’s what Mrs. Dancer meant when she said the Windigo would strike while the protection was gone.” Emily folded the paper and shoved it into her backpack. “Besides, it got a lot of attention in the paper, which probably made it worth even more to people, I guess.”

  “And the article told everyone how much it was worth, and when and where they could get their hands on it.”

  Emily and Olivia started toward Cottage Avenue. Two high school kids stood outside the community center. One of the girls nodded toward Emily, then whispered to her friend. They both snickered, then crossed the street, away from Emily and Olivia.

  Emily pressed her lips together. She needed to figure out what really happened to the necklace. Soon. Before her reputation was trashed.

  The house was quiet when Emily got home. “Timmy? Naomi?” When no one answered, she went to the kitchen and grabbed apples for herself and Olivia. The phone jingled from the living room. “Olivia, could you grab that?” She held the apples under the faucet, then dried them with a paper towel.

  Olivia appeared in the doorway with the portable phone in her hand. She was white, and her eyes were big. She held out the phone. “Em . . .”

  Emily frowned and put down the apples before she took the phone. “Hello?”

  “Emily. It’s so good to hear your voice.”

  Emily had only heard the woman’s voice in her nightmares. Her throat tightened, and she couldn’t speak. She shot a panicked glance at Olivia, who mouthed, I’m sorry. Swallowing, Emily finally found her voice. “Mom?”

  “It’s me.” Her mother’s giggle sounded nervous. “I wanted to hear your voice.”

  Her heart galloped in her chest. “Does Dad know you are calling?”

  “Your father has refused all my calls. I haven’t forgotten about you and Timmy, Emily. You kids belong to me and no one else.”

  “Listen, Mom, I have to go.” Emily slammed her finger onto the phone’s power button and threw it on the table. All the strength
left her legs, and she sank onto a chair. Burying her face in her hands, she let out the sob that had been building.

  Olivia knelt beside her. “I’m sorry, Em. The man said he had a collect call from her, and I didn’t know what to do. I said yes to accepting the charges just as a reflex. I bet I could have said no.”

  Emily swallowed hard and tried to get herself under control. “I can’t believe she called here. Dad said I didn’t have to talk to her ever again and neither did Timmy. She scares me so much.” She hugged herself. “She said me and Timmy belong to her. What if she gets out and tries to take us?” Her voice rose, and she bit her trembling lip.

  “You’ve got to call your dad.”

  Emily nodded. Her heartbeat began to slow. “He’ll be really mad. She could have killed Timmy! She deliberately tried to make him sick to make it look like Naomi was a bad stepmother. What kind of person would do that to their own kid?”

  “I don’t know, Em. A sick person, maybe.”

  Emily rubbed her eyes. “Oh sure, try to make me feel sorry for her. She’s just evil, Liv. Some people are.”

  Olivia nodded. “Your dad will protect you.”

  “He couldn’t protect Timmy. He wanted to, but she was so sneaky.”

  “He knows how bad she is now. It will be okay. Call your dad.” Olivia handed her the phone.

  FIVE

  “Come on.” Timmy was worse than Charley, racing ahead to the field, then bounding back to hurry Emily and Olivia along. “Dave’s waiting for us. He said he found out something important.”

  “We’re coming. We’re coming.” Emily shook her head and grinned at Olivia, but inside, hope burned. Maybe Dave had uncovered something important.

  It was hard to be excited about anything when her whole world had just shifted an hour ago. Her dad had been so mad. He’d promised to make sure Mom never called again.

  “Hurry up!” Timmy looped back to them again.

  “What do you think he found out?” Olivia asked.

  Timmy tugged his baseball cap lower on his head. “I don’t know. Whatever it is, it had to come from his parents since Dave said Pansy wasn’t in school today.”

  A breeze swept over Rock Harbor, dancing through the higher grass of the field. It carried the scent of the surf that tickled Emily’s nose. She shivered as she eyed the forest in the distance. What if there was something to the Windigo legend? She shook her head. No, that was just a story. Right?

  “Finally.” Timmy bent to rub Samson’s head as Dave and the dog joined them. Samson was the star of Kitchigami Search and Rescue. He mostly looked like a German shepherd, but his curly tail was all chow. “I didn’t think you were ever going to get here.”

  “Hey, thanks for calling, Dave.” Emily smiled as she approached. “I appreciate all the help I can get.”

  Together, the four formed a loose circle.

  Dave ran his fingers absentmindedly over his dog’s head. “I overheard Mom and Dad this afternoon.”

  While Ranger Kade Matthews wasn’t Dave’s real dad, he was as good a stepdad to Dave as Naomi was a stepmom to Emily and Timmy. And he’d adopted Dave a couple of years ago, just before the twins were born.

  “And?” Emily tried to restrain her impatience.

  “Dad told Mom that Mrs. Cooper was back in town.”

  “How’d your mom react?” Olivia asked.

  “What did she say?” Emily added.

  “She said she hadn’t heard. Dad told her they’d been back for only a couple of weeks, but Mom had been busy with an out-of-town search. Dad said Mrs. Cooper had been looking for jobs, but no one would hire her.”

  Olivia nodded her head. “Just like my parents said.”

  “Mom asked where they were staying, and Dad told her that he’d heard she was back in the house she and Mr. Cooper lived in.”

  Emily bit her lip.

  “Dad told her that Mrs. Cooper had been seen selling off pieces of her jewelry at the pawnshops in Marquette.”

  “What’s a pawnshop?” Timmy asked.

  “A place where you can sell your valuable stuff and get cash quickly.” Dave ducked his head. “At least that’s what I heard.”

  “You’re right. It is.” Emily’s mind raced. If Mrs. Cooper was selling off her jewelry for money, then it made sense she’d steal a valuable necklace and try to pawn it too! “I wonder if Sheriff Kaleva knows that.”

  “She could have stolen the necklace and pawned it as her own.” Olivia’s eyes were wide.

  Emily nodded. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.” She turned to Dave. “Did your dad happen to mention the name of the pawnshop?”

  He shook his head. “He didn’t say, but my mom’s planning to go visit Mrs. Cooper.”

  “When?” Oh, wouldn’t she love to listen in on that conversation. Emily knew gossiping and eavesdropping were wrong—Pastor Lukkari preached on the topic every couple of months—but was it okay when she would use the information to clear herself of a crime?

  Dave shrugged. “She didn’t say.”

  “Wow. What’d your dad say about that?” Olivia asked.

  “He said he didn’t think it was the best idea but knew she’d do it anyway.”

  Olivia and Emily both chuckled. Bree was a take-charge type of woman, one of the reasons Emily wanted to grow up to be just like her.

  Dave kept his head ducked. “I feel bad for Pansy. Her dad didn’t care if she got hurt. He just did what he wanted.”

  Timmy knelt down to hug Charley. “Grown-ups sometimes do bad things. My real mom messed up my insulin medication to try and hurt my dad and Naomi. My sugar got all messed up, and I was really sick. It’s scary to know that my own mother would try and hurt me to get back at my dad.” He buried his face in Charley’s thick fur. “I still get nightmares about her coming back to hurt me.”

  Emily swallowed back her own emotions. She hadn’t told Timmy what Ms. Harris had said about their mother being up for parole in months instead of years. And she sure hadn’t told him about her mother’s call. Her dad said he would have their number taken off Mom’s authorized calling list. Now Emily knew she wouldn’t say anything to Timmy. She couldn’t. Hopefully, he would never need to know.

  She patted her brother’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Timmy. Dad and Naomi won’t ever let her hurt us again.”

  “I know.” Timmy’s voice was muffled by Charley’s fur.

  Samson barked, tail wagging in the air. He whined and looked back the way they’d come just as Dave’s cell phone rang.

  Dave glanced at the caller ID. “It’s my mom. I’d better go. Dinner’s probably ready.”

  “Thanks, Dave. I appreciate it.” Emily smiled.

  “Sure.” He looked at Timmy, who stood. “See you tomorrow at school.” Then he opened the cell phone. “Hey, Mom. I’m on my way.” He jogged across the field, Samson dogging his heels.

  “Charley and I will race you girls home.” Timmy took off at a run.

  “You know, maybe we shouldn’t let the boys help us anymore.” Olivia grabbed a piece of grass and twisted it as they walked after Timmy and the dog toward home. “They seemed pretty shook up.”

  “Yeah, and I didn’t realize Timmy still had nightmares.”

  “Funny how Ms. Harris mentioned your mom.”

  “Did you catch what she said about my mom’s parole? Being in months? I thought it would be another six years.” Emily shook her head. “I wonder if Dad and Naomi know.” She tried to swallow, but there was a lump in her throat. “I can’t believe she called me.”

  “At least you don’t have to talk to her again. And I imagine your dad would have been told if she was up for parole soon. I bet it’s just a rumor.”

  “Yeah.” She pushed the worry away. Months was still a long way off even if it was true, and she doubted her mother would get paroled. “I wonder how many pawnshops are in Marquette.”

  “Let’s check the Internet and see.” Olivia began running after Timmy.

  Emily grinned and kick
ed into running. She easily overtook her best friend and quickly gained on her brother. The wind blew on her face, the scent of home washing over her. The late summer sunshine lifted Emily’s spirits. She’d better enjoy it while she could. Once winter hit, the warm sunshine would be replaced by gray clouds.

  Much like Emily’s happiness would be replaced with sadness if she didn’t prove her innocence soon.

  It wasn’t until after dinner that the girls were able to get onto the Internet without an adult looking over their shoulders.

  “Okay, let’s see what we have.” Emily opened the browser and typed in PAWNSHOP MARQUETTE MICHIGAN. She flexed her fingers as she waited for the page to load. “I hope there aren’t many. It would’ve been easier if Dave had been able to learn the name of which shop Mrs. Cooper had sold the jewelry to.”

  “There can’t be all that many,” Olivia whispered. “It’s Marquette, only a little bigger than Rock Harbor.”

  The town’s population was about twenty-five hundred, but visitors flooded in during the summer. Tourists came for the fishing and hunting, for the beauty of this land of waterfalls, and for the festivals with their Finnish or Cornish food and fun. Soon the residents would be in the town alone again.

  “Oh my gummy bears.” Olivia’s coarse whisper snapped Emily to the monitor.

  Her eyes widened and her hopes dropped to her toes. “Over nine hundred and ninety-two thousand results for pawnshops in Marquette? Seriously?” There was no way she could figure out which one Mrs. Cooper had sold jewelry to.

  “Wait a minute. Scroll down. That’s just the search engine. A lot of those pages are white and yellow pages listings.”

  Olivia always had been better with the computer than Emily. “Why don’t you do this?” Emily stood and let her best friend take her seat.

  “Okay. Let’s see.” Olivia’s pointer rolled the center of the mouse until she came to a page that had a listing in its description. She clicked on the link. “This should tell us how many there really are.”

  Emily could only hope so.

  “Look. If you take out the Goodwill store, the Salvation Army, and the local flea market, that only leaves one pawnshop.”