He waited a few minutes, then when no more questions arose, he stood and looked at Valerie. “Get yourself some rest, Detective. You won’t be much help right now.”

  She didn’t argue, merely nodded.

  That troubled him, too. He’d seen her fire, her determination. Was she giving up?

  Kell McLaren’s dog stood outside Lizzie’s room, off lead now.

  Kell said, “I don’t know how much he found in addition to the baby’s scent, but Bradley seems raring to go.”

  “Then let him.” Although how Kell read that much in the dog, Guy had no idea. He had to trust Kell’s experience.

  The two went out the door. Unlike the cadaver dogs, also off lead, who were searching a wider area, Bradley kept lifting his head, sniffing, then sniffing the ground. He was searching for something different from the other dogs and he appeared to be seeking a scent apart from the others. He certainly didn’t head toward them.

  Maybe they’d get something out of this. He just hoped it wasn’t the cadaver dogs who found it.

  *

  THE SEARCH CONTINUED throughout most of the day while Guy kept badgering the office about whether they’d gotten any kind of response to the widened Amber Alert. He knew they’d call him if they got even the slimmest lead, but he kept calling in anyway.

  Connie returned from her expedition and motioned to him. He moved away from the house, hands tightening against disappointment. Not even the barest spark of hope ignited in him now.

  Simple fact was he had begun to think about trying to find a psychic, because they sure as hell weren’t getting anywhere this way.

  “Well?” he demanded of Connie.

  “Maybe something. Some of the PAs at the hospital know several people who got angry with Chet over the last few years. They won’t say who, of course.”

  “Of course. Gage said he’s looking into a warrant to break the HIPAA barrier. Don’t know how long that will take.”

  “Judge Carter doesn’t waste time when it’s important.”

  “Never known him to. But there might be some difficulties here. Look, I’ll stay here in case any of the dogs alert. You go over to see Gage and tell him what you learned. Maybe that’ll be the probable cause the judge needs for a warrant.”

  “It can only help. Anyway, I haven’t interviewed everyone. Gotta go back after shift change.”

  Guy watched Connie stride away then resumed waiting. There was too much waiting in this case. He wanted some action.

  He wanted a child back in her mother’s arms and his hands around someone’s throat.

  A good solid punch would help, too, help exhaust some of the fury he dealt with. Except that it would be stupid beyond belief to hammer a tree and break his hand. Never had he wished more for a punching bag. But he couldn’t afford the time to hunt one up.

  He was involved in an endless hunt that required every ounce of patience he had, but he didn’t have enough time.

  Neither did that little girl.

  * * *

  IN THE LATE AFTERNOON, he went into the house. Both women looked as if exhaustion had dragged them into sleep for a little while. Valerie’s color had improved.

  And sitting with them was Pastor Molly Canton, wearing her clerical garb of black shirt with white dog collar and black slacks. Molly was something of a bone of contention around this county, being a woman, but acceptance of her had grown after a few years. It was obvious she wasn’t going away, no matter how much resistance she met.

  Sort of like him, Guy thought.

  “Listen,” he said, “I’m gonna send Artie Jackson to Maude’s. You folks want something to eat that doesn’t come in a bakery box or a casserole dish?”

  Molly smiled. Valerie managed a small one. May’s face remained flat.

  “We all need to eat,” Molly said kindly. “Especially you, May. You have to keep up your strength for Lizzie.”

  At last May nodded.

  With a little coaxing, Guy put together an order then went to hunt up Artemis Jackson, who was reaching break time from her shift in the trailer. She hated her first name, preferring to go by Artie. An athletic young woman, she wore her uniform well.

  “Okay, Artie, here’s the list for Maude. Throw in a meal for yourself. Chilly as it is, you need extra calories to stand out here.”

  Artie smiled, as much as anyone could in these circumstances. “Thanks.”

  “No thanks necessary. Trust me, the department is paying.”

  With a small laugh, Artie headed for her vehicle. Moments later she drove away.

  Which left Guy pretty much alone, except for the deputy in the command trailer who was monitoring the location of the dog handlers.

  Thinking about those cadaver dogs, Guy realized he’d never hoped so hard in his life that nothing would turn up.

  * * *

  AFTER DINNER, WHICH even May had eaten most of, Guy left the three women and stepped outside, mentally beating his head for ideas, solutions, anything at all in this intractable case.

  He wasn’t surprised when Valerie joined him a few minutes later.

  “I’ll go over to the hospital,” she said. “Do some more questioning.”

  “You’ll do no such thing,” Guy answered.

  She turned on him, blue eyes sparking. “How dare you?”

  “Look, the people over there know who you are now, at least some of them. We’re running up against a problem here, Valerie. I bet a lot of them don’t want to talk because of your relationship to Chet and May. How could they say anything critical in front of you that might get back to the Chamberlains?”

  She compressed her lips and turned her head away. She couldn’t argue with that, thank God.

  Damn, this woman was wrestling him into knots. And they weren’t all about Lizzie. Her feelings were beginning to become his own. He felt her frustration, for sure. She needed to be doing something and right now couldn’t. Well, neither could he.

  After a bit, he said, “I told you I was sending Connie Parish over there. Everyone around here knows her. Spent her whole life here. What’s more, they trust her discretion. Much as you don’t want to admit it, Valerie, you’ve been away for quite a few years. They don’t really know you anymore.”

  “Val,” she said quietly.

  “What?”

  “Just call me Val. Everyone who knows me does.”

  So he knew her now? Maybe that was a compliment? Hell if he knew. He still wasn’t sure he could trust her. His own form of bigotry, he supposed, a one-eighty from what he’d faced his entire life. Right now, though, he needed to get her mind on something else.

  “So what’s happening with that pup you rescued?”

  She turned her head back to him. “I haven’t checked.”

  “Then check. Seems to me you’re in the process of adopting it.”

  Her lips curved upward ever so slightly. “I wish. My hours wouldn’t be fair to a dog, though.”

  Well, he could understand that. “So think about a cat. It could probably endure your hours. Anyway, check on that dog. Might make you feel a bit better.”

  She nodded and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

  Relief eased him, but only briefly. What could he come up with for another distraction? But distractions were far from his own thoughts.

  Except her mouth. Man, that tiny smile. He closed his eyes. What was it they said about men thinking about sex six times an hour or more? But not right now. Absolutely not right now. Right now it felt loathsome.

  “He’s doing okay,” she said when she disconnected. “Out of surgery and recovering. They’re going to try to find someone to adopt him.”

  Sad, that. “It’s amazing you rescued it. Considering you probably drove hell-for-leather to get here.”

  Her eyes widened. “How could I leave it, Guy? How could any feeling person?”

  “Well, someone sure as hell did. Guess it was one of those people who don’t have feelings at all for anything but themselves. Most folks around here know the value of animals. Most people depend on them one way or another.”

  “But not everyone. This is no utopia.”

  “True.” Sad to say, but humans didn’t seem capable of creating one.

  He rocked on his heels, trying to think of something else. “You ever hear about the big program to colonize other planets?” He now had at least some of her interest.

  “No, not really. Something about visiting Mars?”

  He snorted. “Yeah, with plans to terraform it. Make it into another planet like our own. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the bigger plan. The one that says we’ll eventually have to escape Earth to save the human species.”

  “Wow,” she said quietly. A spark of interest showed in her eyes.

  “Yeah, I read an article about it recently. And all I could think was, what makes us think we’re worth saving? Then they talked about how one of the biggest problems would be getting the thousands of people on a huge spaceship not to develop all kinds of problems with each other. You know, feuds, fights, all that.”

  “Wars,” she said quietly.

  “Exactly, because we all get along so well right now.”

  She nodded, that small smile appearing again.

  “Anyway, I was getting more disgusted by the piece, then this one scientist asked the question I was waiting for. He asked what makes us think we’re so special that we need to be saved from extinction. He said there are eighty-eight million species on this planet. They don’t deserve to survive?”

  “Good point.”

  “So he concluded by saying we ought to just cram a small spaceship full of the most viable bacteria, send ’em out and let ’em evolve. Just the way they did here. In a few billion years they might evolve into us. Or into another species.” He shrugged.

  “That’s a thought.” Val’s smile widened a shade.

  “Sure is. On the other hand, how can we be sure we or the bacteria will arrive on completely dead planet? How can we be sure we won’t become an invasive species that destroys all the life already there? Look what happened in the Americas when Europeans arrived.”

  Now her smile became broad. “I like the way you think.”

  He shrugged again. “Or maybe I see the whole world upside down.”

  “Maybe you have a right to, given your experience.”

  That observation took him by surprise. “Well, we haven’t done such a great job taking care of this planet. Land us somewhere else and we’ll do the same thing all over again. We don’t seem to learn from our mistakes.”

  He let it go, aware that he was ranting, however quietly, a rant that came from his own culture. Should he even try to explain that to her? Nah. She wouldn’t understand. She’d probably think those beliefs were weird, or worse.

  After a bit, Val spoke again. “Just more human superiority. When we’re only a gene or two removed from chimpanzees. Have you ever seen them in a zoo?”

  Guy shook his head.

  “I did. Calm females looking rather disdainfully at a couple of male chimps that were acting pretty much like wild teenagers trying to impress the girls. I couldn’t help seeing similarities.”

  Now it was his turn to smile. “Given what you see on the job, I’m not surprised.”

  She looked down, then glanced at the watch she wore. “I’m going in to get a drink since you’ve got me off duty. Want some coffee or tea while we wait here for what feels like forever? I’ll bring it out.”

  “Thanks. Coffee if you don’t mind.”

  Which left his own thoughts spiraling into the very real problem that wasn’t going away, distractions notwithstanding. He called the office yet again. “Anything from the wider world?”

  Velma’s scratchy voice answered him. “We’re doing what you said, calling every department we can find. Surprising how many there are in a state with so few people. Anyhow, nothing yet. All the federal and state forest rangers are on the lookout, too. Woods and brushland being searched everywhere. And we’re just getting ready to start calling surrounding states.”

  “Tell ’em I don’t care if it’s just a wisp of something unusual. Anything.”

  “I think they know that, Guy. But if you want, we’ll call all of them again.”

  “Call. I need something.”

  “Like I said, we’re just getting on to neighboring states, too.”

  “Maybe it’s time to start calling airlines. Except they probably see so many infants boarding there’s no reason any would have stood out.” He swore. If you looked at the numbers it was amazing how many people just vanished, never to be seen again. One little kid could do that even more easily.

  * * *

  VALERIE CAME OUT of the house carrying a tall coffee for Guy and two fingers of bourbon for herself. She rarely drank because she could be called out on a case at any time. But Guy had made it clear that she wasn’t working right now. The waiting made it even more difficult.

  She held her glass up to Guy. “Does this bother you?”

  “Why would it? Never wanted the stuff. It’s not like I’m a recovering anything.”

  She tried to smile but fear was rising in her again, like a tidal force that couldn’t be denied.

  Just then Guy’s radio crackled with his call sign. He answered immediately. “What’s up? Tell me it’s not the cadaver dogs.”

  Valerie heart hit top speed, leaving her nearly breathless. God, no!

  Then came the answer. “Kell McLaren’s K-9. He’s found the point where Lizzie Chamberlain disappeared.”

  Chapter Twelve

  They got to the spot in less than five minutes. There was Kell, Bradley sitting right at the edge of the road, not all that far from the Chamberlain place.

  Valerie and Guy jumped from his vehicle and trotted over to man and dog.

  “Here,” Kell said. “Right where Bradley is sitting. The child’s trail vanishes.”

  Valerie felt her knees grow weak. Guy instantly reached out a steadying hand.

  Guy spoke. “How can you be sure it’s Lizzie’s scent he’s been following? If she was being carried, how could she leave a scent trail?”

  Kell simply looked at him. “A million ways. Ask Bradley how he does it, not me. I just know he can follow scents that are days old. Maybe fuzz from a blanket drifted to the ground. Maybe the guy had to set her down occasionally.”

  “Well, that settles it.”

  Valerie drew a shuddering breath. “Kidnapping. At least she’s not dead. We’ve got to tell May.”

  Guy scanned the area. “Not all that far from the Chamberlain house. What, a mile?”

  “A little more,” Kell agreed. “Whoever it was followed a circuitous route, though. Like he was afraid of being seen even in the dead of night.”

  “Or maybe the kid was crying,” Guy said.

  Valerie had thought of the same thing. Because Lizzie always cried when she was away from her mom. But why hadn’t May heard a thing?

  The question that had plagued her nearly from the beginning haunted her now.

  * * *

  GUY AND VALERIE returned to the Chamberlain house, a house that felt as empty as a tomb except for May and Pastor Molly.

  May looked up immediately, her hands twisting Lizzie’s blanket. “Anything?”

  Valerie answered. “Kell McLaren’s K-9 found where Lizzie disappeared. It definitely appears she was kidnapped.”

  May sagged and murmured. “Thank God. Thank God. She’s not dead.”

  Valerie and Guy exchanged looks. There was no proof of that. None.

  Valerie slipped outside with Guy and they held another brief meeting beside Guy’s Suburban.

  “No crying?” Guy said.

  “No.” Valerie’s fists clenched and her neck appeared to stiffen as she turned her head to look into the deepening night. “She might already have been dead.”

  Guy blew a long breath between his lips. “Don’t even think that way.”

  “Then why didn’t May hear her cry? Why, Guy?”

  He gave a short shake of his head. “You giving up?”

  Her eyes blazed. “No, damn it. But all possibilities...”

  “Have to be considered,” he interrupted. “But how about you let me worry about the worst ones. Let’s just find that little girl.”

  Val bit her lip. “Okay. Okay.”

  “Meantime shut your cop self down for just a little while. Give yourself a break. Hell, I don’t know how you’re walking this tightrope without falling.”

  “Funny, I had that image myself a day or so ago. I’m doing it because I have to.”

  He nodded. “Life’s that way sometimes.” He waited, knowing he was the only person she could share her fears with, all the million images and ideas that must be roiling her.

  When she didn’t speak, he turned to get into his vehicle. Then her voice stopped him.

  “Guy?”

  He faced her.

  “I don’t want to sit in there with May and do nothing at all. It’ll make her feel worse if I’m sitting on my hands. Can I come with you?”

  A new tension coiled in him, but he answered simply. “Sure, Val. Climb in.”

  *

  VALERIE FELT AS if she was abandoning her sister, but she had to get away, just for a while, the need all the stronger because the investigation was turning up nothing. Because Lizzie had vanished into thin air and they had no idea where to look.

  Because sooner or later May would begin to wonder why her sister was doing nothing. Because there’d be anger and confrontation, neither of which would do either of them any good.

  She felt awkward about asking Guy to take her with him, but he hadn’t seemed reluctant. She knew she was infringing on a professional relationship but it seemed a minor concern considering the entire situation. There’d been times in the past when she’d needed to be a cop with another cop. One who understood the worst sides of human nature.