Tracking Justice

Justice huffed out a breath and barked.

“Seek,” Detective Black commanded, and the bloodhound took off, his handler running along behind him. Across the backyard, into the neighbor’s. Out onto the street beyond.

She lost sight of them there.

If she could have, she would have followed them, but she knew she had to go back. Do what she’d been told. Answer dozens of questions that might, if God were willing, bring her son home.

He certainly hadn’t been willing to bring her parents’ murderer to justice, but she had to believe that this time He’d answer her prayers.

Please, God. Please.

She walked around to the front of the house, skirting by several police officers who were standing on the front porch. Three police cars were parked on the curb, another one across the street. One in the driveway. Lots of people, and that had to be a good thing.

Didn’t it?

She hoped so, because every minute that passed was a minute that Brady was alone with...

She cut the thought off. Didn’t want to acknowledge what had been floating around in her head since Detective Black had mentioned the crime at Slade’s house.

Had Brady seen something?

He shouldn’t have. He wasn’t allowed to play outside by himself, and Mrs. Daphne didn’t like being outside in the cold. Arthritis, she always said, and who was Eva to say differently? At seventy, Mrs. Daphne deserved to stay inside if it was what she wanted. The rule was, Brady stayed inside with her. A tough one for him to want to follow. He was high energy and active, and he loved being outdoors.

Had he skirted the rule?

Snuck outside or convinced Mrs. Daphne to let him go?

Her house was close enough to Slade’s for Brady to have had a clear view of it from the yard. But could he have seen enough to make him the target of a criminal?

She didn’t know. Didn’t even want to speculate. All she wanted was her son.

She walked back inside, tried to return the smile that Slade offered. “Do you have some questions for me? Because if you don’t—”

“I do. Officer Cunningham is working with the evidence team, and I’ll be conducting the interview. This should only take a few minutes.”

“All right.” She sat on the edge of the couch, her body trembling and cold.

“Was Brady with Mrs. Daphne today?”

“Yes.”

“What time did you pick him up?”

“Six.”

“Did he mention anything unusual about his day? Anything that concerned you or him?”

“Nothing. He did seem...quiet.” She knew where the conversation was heading, and she took a deep breath, tried to relax.

He narrowed his eyes. “You heard what happened at my house yesterday afternoon?”

“Yes. Detective Black told me.”

“Then you know that my father was attacked and Rio was stolen. Do you think it’s possible that Brady saw what happened?”

“He didn’t mention it, but I guess anything is possible.”

Slade jotted something in a notebook, asked another question and another.

Eva answered all of them as best she could. She couldn’t collapse, couldn’t let herself give in to the emotions that beat like bat wings in her stomach. She wanted to, though. Almost wished she had someone to lean on. Someone who could put an arm around her shoulder and tell her everything would be all right. There was no one. She wasn’t sure there ever had been.

The clock on the fireplace mantel ticked the time away. Five minutes. Ten. Fifteen.

Nearly an hour since Eva had realized Brady was gone.

An hour that he’d been missing. An hour that he’d been terrified, cold. Hungry, because he always was.

She wiped clammy hands on her pajama pants, swallowed down bile. “Are we almost done, Slade?”

“I just have a few more questions to ask.”

“I’ve already answered dozens, and I’ve answered some of them more than once.”

“We have to be thorough, Eva. It’s the only way to get your son back.”

“The only way to get my son back is to go out and look for him. That’s what I’m going to do.” She stood, her legs shaky. “Where’s Detective Black?”

“Tracking Brady. If things go well, your son will be home before dawn.”

“And if they don’t?”

“I can’t answer that, Eva. Sometimes kids are returned home in an hour or two. Sometimes it takes longer.”

She sucked in a breath. “And sometimes it doesn’t happen at all?”

“I think you know the answer to that. I also think that you know we’ll do everything we can to bring Brady home to you.”

She’d wanted reassurance.

She’d gotten truth, instead.

She should be thankful for it but she just felt sick, her stomach heaving, stars dancing in front of her eyes. “I need some air.”

She ran outside, letting cold air bathe her hot face.

“Is everything okay, Ms. Billows?” Officer Cunningham asked, stepping away from a group of officers he’d been talking to.

“Do you know where Detective Black is?” If Slade couldn’t give her an exact location, maybe he could.

“He’s organizing the search team.”

“Where?”

“Headquarters are at the east entrance of the Lost Woods. We have a team setting up there. I’m sure Captain McNeal explained everything to you.”

Eva nodded as if he had, but she’d been told nothing. Maybe Slade hadn’t known. Maybe he just hadn’t told her. The second seemed more likely than the first. He’d taken several phone calls during the interview. At some point, he must have been told that Detective Black was setting up at the Lost Woods.

He had chosen not to share the information.

It didn’t surprise her. She’d learned all about police silence after her parents’ deaths.

She walked back inside, grabbed her purse, slipped her feet into old sneakers.

“Where are you heading?” Slade asked.

“I told you that I was going to go look for my son.”

“I can’t recommend that.”

“Can you stop me?” Because unless he had a legal reason to keep her at the house, she didn’t plan on being there. Not for a minute longer.

He hesitated, then sighed. “You’re not a suspect, and you’ve answered all my questions. As long as I can get in touch with you if I need to, I guess I can’t keep you here.”

“I have my cell phone.” She jotted the number on a scrap of paper and handed it to him, trying hard not to look into his eyes. She respected Slade. He was a good man who’d always been a good neighbor, but if his son, Caleb, were the one missing, he wouldn’t be sitting in his house answering questions while other people searched.

“Just be sure you don’t get in the way of the search, Eva. If you do, it won’t help Brady.”

“I know. I just need to...be doing something.” She grabbed Brady’s coat from the closet, telling herself that she was bringing it to him. That she’d go to the Lost Woods and see him standing with the search team, cold but fine.

She jogged down the porch stairs and across the yard, unlocking the station wagon and sliding in behind the wheel. She slammed the door closed as several people called out to her. A few were neighbors. One was a stranger, a reporter maybe.

She didn’t care.

All she cared about was Brady.

“Please, for once, just start!” she muttered as she shoved the key into the ignition. The starter clicked once, then again. Finally, the engine sputtered to life and she pulled away from the curb, glad for once for her father’s advice. Never park in the driveway or the garage, kid. If you do, it’ll be too easy for the police to block in your vehicle and keep you from running.

Yeah, Ernie had been overflowing with little tidbits of information. Especially when he’d been drinking.

A police cruiser pulled in behind her, lights on. No sirens, though. No doubt Slade had called in a tail. He’d probably call it an escort. Either way, Eva knew her rights, and she didn’t stop or slow down. That was another thing Ernie had taught her.

He’d also taught her that people couldn’t be trusted. Not strangers, not friends and certainly not family. A good lesson that she’d forgotten once and would never forget again.

The road leading out of the neighborhood was nearly empty, the moon hanging low above distant trees. A quarter mile, and she was outside Sagebrush city limits, sparse trees and thick scrub lining the two-lane highway. She knew the way to the Lost Woods. There weren’t many people in Sagebrush who didn’t. The place was legend, the deep wilderness a siren’s song that had called more than one explorer to his doom.

She shivered, flicking on the heater and grimacing as cold air blew out of the vent. The car was a junker, but it ran. Until she finished school and got a better-paying job, there was no way she could afford better. It didn’t matter. She and Brady had what they needed and they had each other. She’d told herself that often over the years. She’d believed it, too. As much as she cringed when she thought about the mistake she’d made, the lies she’d bought into, the things she’d given away, she couldn’t regret Brady.

A tear slipped down her cheek. The second of the night, and if she wasn’t careful there would be more. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel, her fingernails digging into hard plastic as she turned onto the narrow road that led to the east entrance of the woods.

If Justice had tracked Brady to the woods, it meant he’d found the trail and been on it for nearly half a mile. Good news, but Eva didn’t want to think about Brady wandering through the wilderness. Anything could happen in the thick shelter of the Lost Woods. Anything could be lost there and never found again.

She pulled in behind a line of police cars, search-and-rescue vehicles and TV-news vans. A crowd of people stood in the glow of several oversize spotlights, huddled around a long table, staring at something spread across its top. A tall broad-shouldered man gestured to the table and then to the entrance of the woods, his sweeping motion including stately pine trees crowded close and giant oaks that seemed to bar entrance to the forest’s dark interior.

Detective Austin Black.

Exactly the man Eva wanted to see.

She grabbed Brady’s coat and jumped out of the station wagon, ignoring the officer who was getting out of the patrol car behind her.

“Detective Black!” she called, pushing past a couple of news photographers.

“Come on over.” He didn’t look surprised to see her. Had probably been warned that she was on her way. Good, because she didn’t want to waste more time arguing about whether or not she should be there.

She squeezed in between him and a dark-haired officer who held the leash of a border collie.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Justice and I tracked your son to the entrance of the woods. We were able to follow the scent trail to a stream about a half mile in. We lost it there, but I think Justice can pick it up again. We’ll have four teams working quadrants from here.” Detective Black jabbed at a map of the Lost Woods, the cool leather of his jacket brushing her cheek. She caught a whiff of pine needles and soap and some indefinably masculine thing. It settled into the pit of her stomach, mixing with her fear and worry, the combination shivering through her blood, lodging in the base of her skull. It pounded there. The beginning of a migraine.

She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the stabbing pain and concentrate on the map.

“Do you really think he’s in the woods?”

“It’s not what I think that matters. It’s what Justice’s nose says, and it’s saying your son went into the woods. I don’t know yet whether or not he’s come out.”

“Is it possible that he ran from his kidnapper and came here on his own?” That would be so much easier to think about than Brady with someone who had beaten a man just a few hours ago.

“His kidnapper was still with him at the stream. I found footprints on the bank. One child-size print. Three adult boot prints.”

“There’s more than one kidnapper?”

“I didn’t say that. I just said there were multiple footprints.” He turned his attention back to the team.

“We’re going to split up from here. I’d like you to cover that section, Lee.” He used a highlighter to mark a rectangle of forest, and the man beside him nodded. He marked two other sections, calling out names of people Eva didn’t know, but who she had to trust to do everything they could to find her son.

“I’ll take the last quadrant,” he said, marking the spot. Acres of land. That’s what he was talking about. Miles of wilderness they had to search, and Brady maybe somewhere in the middle of it.

“Any questions?” Austin asked.

No one on the search team seemed to have any.

Eva did.

She wanted to know what the temperature was, wanted to know how long it would take for a little boy dressed in nothing but flannel pajamas to succumb to hypothermia. She wanted to know what kind of person would beat an elderly man, steal a dog, kidnap a child, and she wanted to know how likely it was that Brady was still ali—

No.

She already knew the answer to the last one. He was alive.

She could feel it in her gut. She backed away from the table and the map and the group, because she couldn’t bear to look at that expanse of wilderness and picture her son lost somewhere in the middle of it. Something bumped into the back of her legs. Or maybe she bumped into it. Whatever the case, she nearly fell over.

“Careful.” A warm hand wrapped around her wrist, and she looked straight into Detective Black’s midnight-blue eyes. Thick black lashes, laugh lines fanning out from the corners. Handsome, hard-edged and someone she desperately wanted to believe in.

“I’m okay.” She pulled away, looked down at the thing that she’d tripped over.

The dog.

Justice, with his tongue lolling and his dark eyes gleaming, his droopy face matched by his droopy ears. He looked sweet and a little silly, and Eva thought again that Brady would love to meet him.

She touched his head, feeling knobby bones beneath velvety fur. “Brady would love you.”

“Hopefully they’ll meet soon.” Austin scratched the bloodhound behind his ears, crouched and held Brady’s shirt in front of him. A piece of Brady’s shirt.

His favorite blue one, cut into pieces.

She’d buy him another one when he got home. Maybe she’d buy him four, because the little savings that she’d managed to secret away didn’t matter if he wasn’t around when she spent it.

She swallowed hard as Austin put the square of fabric into a plastic bag, tucked it into a backpack and shoved a hardhat fitted with a searchlight onto his head.

“How long do you think it will take to find him?” she asked.

“I don’t know, and it wouldn’t be fair to you if I speculated. I’ll be calling updates in to Captain McNeal, though. He should be here shortly.” He gazed down at her. “Why don’t you wait for him in your car so you don’t get hounded by the press?”

“I—”

Austin issued a command to Justice and walked away, obviously not interested in a discussion.

That was fine.

Eva wasn’t interested in one, either.

She followed him across the small clearing that narrowed onto a hiking path, buttoning her coat against the cold wind as they walked deeper into the blackness of the woods.

THREE

Eva didn’t plan to give up. She was bound and determined to help find her son.

That much was obvious.

It was also obvious that having her wandering around in the Lost Woods could only lead to trouble. Dozens of hikers had been lost there over the years. Some had been recovered. Many hadn’t.

Austin had been on plenty of search-and-rescue missions in the thousand-acre wilderness. He knew the area well, and even he got turned around on occasion.

“You need to go back to base camp,” he barked over his shoulder, Justice tugging at the lead, anxious to be given his head.

Eva didn’t reply.

Not a word.

Not even a hint that she’d heard.

He pulled Justice to a stop, aggravated, annoyed and frustrated.

“I’m searching for your son, Eva. You’re slowing me down.”

“I have his coat. It’s cold tonight. He’s going to need it.” She held out a thick blue coat, her arm shaking, her voice steady.

“Thanks.” He took it, tucked it into his backpack, not bothering to explain that he had plenty of blankets and knew how to warm someone with hypothermia.

“Do you think he’s okay? It’s freezing out here, and he’s just a little guy.”

“We’re in the forties. That’s well above freezing.”

“You know what I mean, Detective.”

“Austin.” He urged Justice to seek again, not willing to stop for a conversation. Not wanting to spend any more time trying to assuage Eva’s worry. She needed to go back and wait. It was as simple as that.

Unfortunately, forcing the issue and dragging her back would waste time they didn’t have.

Forty-three degrees was cold. Especially for a kid who wasn’t dressed for the weather.

“If he’s still with his kidnapper, do you think that—”

“Eva, I don’t have time for a question-and-answer game, okay? If you want to have that, then go back to the head of the trail. I’m sure Slade is there. He can answer every question you want to ask.”

“I can’t go back. Not when Brady is out here somewhere.”

“You’ll be helping him more if you go back. Do you understand that you’re slowing me down?”

“Go as fast as you want. I can keep up.”

“For how long?”

“As long as it takes.”

“That could be hours. You know that, right?”

She didn’t respond, and he glanced over his shoulder, irritated by her presence. She was a wrench in the works, a roadblock getting in the way of the smooth teamwork that he and Justice usually achieved without effort. “This is your son’s life that we’re talking about, Eva.”

“I know,” she said simply. No dramatics. No tears.

“Then you’ll understand why it’s better for me and Justice to do this alone.”

“Let me ask you something, Austin. Do you have any idea how it feels to wake up in the middle of the night and realize that your child is missing?

“No,” he responded honestly.

“Then you can’t understand why I need to be here.”

“You’re wrong. I can understand. But finding the missing is what Justice and I are trained to do. We put everything we have into it every time. You can trust us with your son’s life.”

“I don’t trust anyone. Especially not when it comes to Brady.”

“This time, you don’t have a choice.”

“Sure I do. I trusted the police to find my parents’ murderer. That hasn’t happened. I trusted Brady’s father to keep his promises. Look where that got me.” She laughed, the sound achingly sad. “Now, I trust God and myself. That’s it.”

“I’m not anyone you’ve dealt with before, Eva. Maybe you should keep that in mind.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“When I’m on search and rescue, every person I’m looking for is my family. I don’t leave family behind. Not ever. As long as there’s a chance of recovering Brady, I’ll be out here searching for him.”

“Who decides when there isn’t a chance?” she asked quietly.

“Time.” He shoved through thick foliage, holding back branches so they didn’t slap her in the face.

“How much time?” Eva persisted.

“I don’t know. Every situation is different.”

“I can’t go home without him.” Her voice quivered, and Austin remembered the softness in her eyes when she’d held her son’s photograph. The lone tear that had slid down her cheek. She was tough, but she was also a mother whose child was missing.

“Then let’s both pray that you don’t have to,” he said, because he wouldn’t promise that he’d find Brady. No matter how much he wanted to. He’d gone down that path before. It had ended in tragedy and heartache.

For a moment, Eva was silent.

Maybe she was waiting for the vows that Austin wouldn’t make, hoping that he’d reassure her, tell her that finding Brady was a certainty.

“Thanks,” she finally said. Nothing else. No begging or pleading for a guarantee.

“For what?”

“For not feeding me a bunch of lies about how certain you are that you’ll find my son.”

“You deserve the truth, and the truth is, I can’t promise a good outcome, but I’m going to do everything that I can to make sure we have one. Come on. Let’s pick up the pace.”

He loosened his hold on the leash, allowing Justice more slack. The bloodhound leaped forward, his paws scrambling in the thick layer of fallen leaves and pine needles. They’d searched this area before, and Justice followed the scent trail easily, baying once and then taking off.

Austin ran behind him, his feet pounding on packed earth and slippery leaves. No thought of Eva and whether or not she could keep up, just focusing on the feel of the lead in his hand, the tug of Justice’s muscular body, the tension that surrounded both of them.

Justice stopped at a small creek, sniffing the ground and moving back and forth across the creek bed. He stopped at a small flag, his tail wagging slightly as he acknowledged the area that they’d searched so intently, the prints that Austin had cast and photographed.

“Seek,” Austin urged, and Justice bent his nose to the ground again, his ears dragging along the wet creek bank.

Nothing.

Another ten minutes. Fifteen.

He pulled Justice up with a quick command, bent to study a small footprint pressed into the earth. Five toes. A little heel.

A little boy walking with his kidnapper or running from him?

Eva crouched beside him, her pants dragging in the mud, her sneakers caked with it. “His feet must be so cold.”

“Kids are pretty hardy.” He tried not to think about the children who hadn’t been. The lifeless bodies he’d found on riverbanks and in deep forests. Tried not to remember little Anna Lynn. Missing for four days before Austin had finally been able to bring her back to her parents. She’d been the daughter of one of his closest friends.

The search hadn’t ended the way he’d wanted it to.

Never again.

That’s what he’d told himself. No more emotional involvement. No more allowing himself to be so personally invested. But how could he not be when a little kid was lost, scared and alone?

He shoved the thoughts away and stood. “He headed downhill from here. We picked up the trail at a creek there. Come on.”

He led the way down the steep hill, Justice panting behind him. He gave the bloodhound a minute to lap water from the cool creek, then pulled the shirt from his pack again.

“Seek!” he commanded.

Justice raised his head, sniffing the air.

“Seek!” Austin encouraged, and Justice ran to the edge of the creek, snuffled at the ground.

Nothing.

“Do you—”

“How about we just let him work?” Austin cut Eva off. He needed to focus. Needed to keep moving. Time was ticking by. Brady was still missing. As much as Austin had tried to play it cool with Eva, he knew how quickly a child could become hypothermic. Especially a wet child. Brady had walked through two creeks and there was a hint of moisture in the cold air. The clouds might open at any moment, pouring down rain or ice.

Please, Lord, help us find him before then.

He let Justice work the area around the creek for fifteen minutes, then led him from the water, Eva pressing in so close that he could hear her soft breath, feel the warmth of her body through layers of cloth. She had a presence about her, and even in silence, she was difficult to ignore.

In the distance a dog barked, and Justice cocked his head to the side, then bent it to the ground again. Still nothing.

Brady and his captor might have come this way a couple of hours ago, the scent trail diluted by time and forest life, but giving up wasn’t an option. Not now. Not an hour from now. Until Brady was home, Austin would keep searching.

Slow. That’s the way they were moving, circling one area after another as Justice nosed the ground. Eva didn’t say another word. No questions. No idle chatter. She just followed along, stayed out of the way, and let Austin and his bloodhound do their job. She wanted to run, though. Race past them both screaming Brady’s name. Hoping he would answer.