Kaleidoscope Eyes (43 page)

She pursed her lips, looked from the card to him, then stepped forward to wrap him in a hug. “Thanks,” she whispered in his ear. “I hope Jed knows what a good friend you are.”

He hugged her back, then let go. She started to turn, but he stopped her.

“He really loves you, you know.”

Annie kept her gaze fixed on the ground. “I know”

“And you love him.”

She could only shrug.

Without another word, she went to catch up with Dan, glancing around as she did so. “Did Killian leave?”

“As fast as his little legs could take him.”

She frowned again. “What’s with you and Killian? Are you mad at him about something?”

Dan started to say something, then stopped, shaking his head. “Nah. What could I be mad at him about? Let’s go talk to Amberly.”

As they walked, Annie pulled the business card from
her
pocket and read it again. Dan glanced down at it as well.

“Andy seems like a good guy.”

Annie nodded. “Yes, he does.”

“And Jed?”

“Is off-limits.”

At her terse reply, Dan put an arm around her shoulders.
They walked the rest of the way in silence. They’d no sooner reached the family than Brianna threw her arms around Annie. “I can never thank you enough for bringing my little girl home.” She stepped back. “Is Kodi okay?”

Annie smiled her relief. “She’ll be fine. No broken bones, thank heaven. She’s asleep in the tent right now. The unit vet bandaged her leg and gave her a shot of antibiotic and a light sedative so she’d sleep.”

Dan stepped forward. “I’d like to talk with Amberly for a minute, if that’s okay.”

“Of course.”

Dan set the little girl up on a picnic table. As he eased onto the bench so they were almost eye-to-eye, the child looked at Annie.

“Is your doggy okay?”

Like mother, like daughter. Annie touched Amberly’s hair. “She’s just fine, honey. She’s taking a nap.”

“Can I see her?”

“Sure, you can. Right after you talk with the deputy. Did I tell you he’s my brother?”

Taking his cue, Dan leaned forward. “Hi, Amberly. I’m Dan.”

Those big blue eyes peered up at him. “Hi, Dan.”

“Honey, can you tell us what happened when you got lost?” He jotted down notes as Amberly spoke, and listening to that little-girl voice, Annie could picture the child chasing after the butterfly, suddenly realizing she was lost …

“Were you scared?”

At Dan’s question, Bree turned away, biting her lip. Amberly tugged at her mother’s sleeve. “It’s okay, Mommy I wasn’t afraid. My angel was there to take care of me.”

Bree and her husband exchanged a surprised look.

Dan’s brows creased. “Your angel?”

Amberly’s little head nodded. “Uh-huh. He was always with me.” Her smile beamed up at her parents. “He was the ark angel, Mommy. He told me you sent him to take care of me. So I wasn’t afraid.”

“Ark angel?”

Brianna stroked her daughter’s hair. “Michael. I told her a story about Michael, the archangel.”

Bree sounded so apprehensive. Annie studied her friend’s features and knew. The terrible thoughts that had been taunting Annie were beginning to torment Brianna as well. Annie wished she could comfort her friend, put her fears to rest.

But she couldn’t.

Bree looked from Annie to Dan. “Is something wrong?”

Dan watched her, his gaze steady. Annie could tell how careful he was being with what he said. “About Amberly’s angel—”

“Oh.” Brianna clutched her hands together, two bright spots of red blooming on her pale cheeks. “She’s loves angels so much. And she’s always been such an imaginative child.”

Mark stepped forward. “I’m sure Amberly conjured this angel up because she was afraid.”

Annie wasn’t convinced. “But she said she wasn’t afraid.”

Dan turned his focus back to the little girl. “Amberly, we need you to tell us if your angel was real, or if he was a pretend angel.”

The little girl frowned. “Am I in trouble?”

Bree put her arms around her daughter and hugged her. “Not at all, sweetheart. We just want to know because … because—”

“Because if he’s real, we want to thank him for coming to take such good care of you.”

Bree’s gratitude shone in her eyes as she turned to Annie.

“Oh, he’d like that!” Amberly patted her mother’s arm where it was wrapped around her. “Honest, Mommy, Michael came to take care of me. He was real. I talked with him and held his hand, and he took me to a cabin to visit.” She looked at Dan. “He was a very nice angel.”

The disquiet that had been lurking deep inside Annie burst into full-blown dread. So it was true. The little girl hadn’t been lost.

She’d been taken.

By someone posing as an angel.

Annie saw the same horror color Bree’s features.

“He told me he was the ark angel—” Amberly twisted to face
her mother—“and he said it the same way I do, Mommy
Ark
angel.” She grinned, clearly delighted that she’d known something her mother hadn’t.

Mark put a protective arm around his wife’s shoulders as Dan turned back to Amberly “So what did you and your angel do together?”

Annie tensed.

“For a while he brought me food and played games with me.”

Dan’s pencil paused. “What kinds of games?”

“Oh—” she kicked her feet back and forth over the edge of the table—“hide-’n’-seek an’ follow the leader, mostly. He showed me where to hide, then went away for a while. And when he came back, he’d find me. Then we walked and walked to a new hiding place.”

The child’s simple, straightforward words sent chills across Annie’s skin.

“What did your angel look like?” Dan slipped off the bench seat. “Was he tall, like I am?”

Amberly shook her head. “He wasn’t
that
tall.”

“What color was his hair?”

The child’s smooth forehead wrinkled. “Shimmery.” She shrugged. “It was just his angel hair.”

Dan eyed Annie, and she understood. Her experience with search and rescue had taught her how difficult it was to get any kind of details from adults, let alone children.

Her brother nodded to Brianna and Mark. “Can I talk with you two a minute?”

Fear tinged Bree’s features. “Can Annie come with us, Dan?”

“Sure. We’ll just get someone to watch Amberly for a minute.”

Annie turned to the child. “Hey, kiddo, I have some of my art pencils with me. If I brought them to you with some paper, could you draw a nice picture for your mommy?”

The little girl clapped. “Oh, that would be fun!”

Annie trotted back to her tent. Kodi lifted her drowsy head, then lowered it and went back to snoring as her mistress entered. Annie gathered up the art supplies and hurried back to the table,
pausing near where Jed and Andy were sitting by the campfire. She called to them, and the two men came right over.

Annie laid the colored pencils and paper out on the table, explaining what Amberly was going to do. “When she’s done, would you guys mind taking Amberly to see Kodi? She’s asleep in my tent, and I promised Amberly she could visit.”

“Happy to do it.” Jed parked himself on one side of Amberly, and Andy settled in on the other. Annie smiled to herself.

No one was getting near that little girl.

She followed Dan and the others as they moved out of Amberly’s earshot.

Dan studied Amberly’s parents a moment before he spoke. “I think it’s pretty clear that Amberly’s angel was someone real. Do you two know of anyone who would want to take your daughter, or why?”

Mark, his arm forming a protective barrier around his wife, shook his head. “It’s not like we have much money or anything. I can’t imagine someone doing something like this.”

“What bothers me—” the tremor in Bree’s voice showed how hard she was struggling to keep it together—“is that he knew about Michael. And that Amberly called him the
ark
angel. How could he have known that, unless—” Her hand went to her throat and she turned to her husband. “Oh, Mark! He must have been there. At our campsite. Watching us, listening when I told her stories.”

She hid her face in Mark’s chest, and he looked at Dan over her head. “Do you think he’ll come after Amberly again?”

Would he tell them what they suspected? That this whole thing wasn’t about Amberly at all? That whoever took Amberly had done so to torment Annie?

“I don’t think so.” Dan spoke with slow care. “I can’t explain why, because it involves an ongoing investigation of another case, but I think Amberly just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She presented an opportunity for this person, and he took it. I seriously doubt he’ll bother you or your family again.”

“Just get him, Deputy.” Mark’s tone was hard and angry “That’s
all I ask. Just … get him. And make him pay for what he did.”

Dan’s gaze drifted to Annie. “That, Mr. Heller, you can count on.”

The sun was just dipping behind the mountains when Jed went to find Annie. He wasn’t sure what he would say to her, but he had to say something. They couldn’t go on the way they had since they’d returned with the child.

In silence.

Other than asking him to take Amberly to see Kodi, Annie hadn’t spoken two words to him since they got back to camp. He’d hoped, after what she said about him saving her life, she’d forgiven him for his deception. But there had been hints in her actions, in the way she looked at him—or, to be accurate,
didn’t
look at him—that said otherwise.

Ah. There she was. At the edge of camp, leaning against a tree, staring up at the sky Happily, she was alone.

He made sure she heard his approach. Last thing he wanted to do after all she’d been through was startle her. Sure enough, she turned her head. He watched for any sign of change in her expression when she saw him approaching.

Nothing.

No frown. But no smile either.

Jed swallowed. This did not bode well.

He stopped next to her, standing there in the early evening stillness, enjoying just being near her.

The silence ended all too soon.

“You ready to leave?”

He glanced back to where Andy waited by the car. “Yeah. We’re ready.”

She didn’t say anything. Just stared up at the sky, where the moon had just become visible. The blanket of stars would be next. He’d never seen as many stars as dotted the night sky out here.

Say something.

He shifted.
What do I say?

Tell her how you feel.

He almost laughed out loud at that.
When I don’t know what she’ll say? You know what kind of risk that would be?

“It’s worth it, you know.”

He stared at her. “I—what?”

“The work, the frustration … it’s all worth it when we bring someone home.”

Ah. Right. “You made it happen, Annie. They would have given up too soon if you hadn’t pushed things.”

She turned to face him. “I guess, when it comes right down to it, we all do what we have to.”

He couldn’t bear the raw pain in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Annie. So sorry … ”

She looked down and wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s getting late. You’d better go.”

His gut churned. His heart pounded. His hands shook …

So this was love.

Frankly, he didn’t care for it one bit. He’d be better off without it.

And Annie? Would you be better off without her?

The ache inside threatened to choke him. No. Not in a million years.

“Annie—”

She stopped him with a glance. The merest shake of her head. Their gazes caught, held, and he read in those magnificent eyes the depth of his betrayal.

Without another word, she turned and walked away, the only sound around him the soft crunch of her steps in the snow.

Jed wasn’t sure how long he stood there, but it was dark when he finally walked back to the car. Andy got inside, and Jed was grateful that his friend didn’t ask. Didn’t talk.

The car backed out, turned, and Jed drove it toward the road. But he couldn’t stop himself from taking one last look in the rearview mirror. He saw Annie’s tent and a shadowed form standing beside it. And the words poured forth, giving voice to his regret.

“‘Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs,

Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes,

Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers’ tears—’”

His voice caught, but he forced himself to continue.

“‘What is it else? A madness most discreet,

A choking gall and a preserving sweet.’”

Andy leaned his head back against the headrest, pursing his lips. “You know what, bud?”

Jed stared at the road ahead. “What?”

“Shakespeare knew what he was talkin’ about.”

“That he did, my friend.” Jed’s sigh was deep and heavy. “That he did.”

FORTY-FIVE