Rock Harbor Search and Rescue (25 page)

“She must really want it back,” the sheriff said. “I wish I’d been able to find it already.” His piercing gaze landed on Emily. “For more reasons than one.”

Emily held on to the compassion in his face. Maybe he wanted her to be innocent. She managed a smile. “Then there’s Mrs. Dancer herself. Until she offered the reward, I’d thought she might have done it for the attention. You know, like people who claim to have won the lottery so they can get lots of interviews. Publicity could only help her business. But she’s not going to offer a reward if she took it herself.”

“True,” the sheriff said, his lips twitching. “Is that it?”

“I guess so,” she said. Other than her uncle, Mr. Lancaster, and Valerie. They weren’t cleared yet.

Because if Uncle Greg wasn’t here to be with his sister because of a divorce or marriage problems, why was he here?

She glanced at Naomi and wished she could voice her suspicions, but there was no way she was going to accuse Naomi’s brother right in front of her.

At least not unless she had evidence.

NINETEEN

Emily eyed the familiar blue car as Naomi maneuvered the SUV into a parking space. Inetta was already here. She licked her lips and swallowed. Why had she ever agreed to this interview?

Carrying Sherlock, Emily followed Naomi and Charley to join the dogs and people in the yard with Bree and Inetta. With any luck, there would be better people to interview than her. Her puppy squirmed to be let down, so she put him on the ground and he ran to touch noses with Samson.

Bree was dressed in jeans and a green sweater that looked great with her reddish hair and green eyes. Her smile broadened when Sherlock came over to lick her shoe. “I think he remembers me. Naomi tells me you’ve been doing some preliminary training with him.”

Emily’s face burned when everyone turned to look at her. “A little. He doesn’t understand it yet.”

“The other dogs will train him better than you can.” Bree began to organize the collection of people and dogs.

Inetta stepped over to talk to Emily. “Thanks for helping me
get this interview. I think my readers will be very interested, and one of the bigger papers might even pick it up.” Her eyes were shining. “I’ll get to see dogs being trained from puppies right up to seeing the master Samson at work.”

“He’s pretty awesome. Charley too,” Emily said. “Uh, if you want to interview Naomi first, go ahead.”

Inetta took out her pen and paper. “Let’s start with you, Emily. What made you want to do search and rescue? It’s not a normal activity for a teenager.”

“I’ve been around it since my dad married Naomi, and when Timmy and I were lost in the woods, Samson found us. I knew right then I wanted to be part of something that awesome. I like helping people.” She blushed at how silly her words sounded, but Inetta just smiled and nodded. Maybe she didn’t sound as stupid as she felt. “That’s why I’ve got to find that necklace. I’ll get the money I gave to Mrs. Dancer back, and it will pay for my puppy, Sherlock’s, training.”

Bree approached and heard her words. “You know I wouldn’t charge you to train Sherlock, Em.”

“You know my dad. He won’t let you train him if I don’t pay for it. And really, he’s right. When you pay for something, you value it more.”

Bree patted her shoulder. “You’re turning into quite the young lady, honey. I’m proud of you.” She glanced at Inetta. “We’re ready to start the training.”

“My photographer is set up and ready. I can’t wait.” Inetta followed her.

“Let’s go!” Bree shouted.

The rest of the students took the dogs around the building. Naomi got in what Emily had been told was a scratch box, a rough
wooden box with a guillotine-type door. Emily shuddered when Bree dropped the door into position. She was glad
she
wasn’t the one in the cage. Carrying a bag with the scent article of Naomi’s for Bree, she followed her around the corner.

Emily never got tired of watching the dogs work. Bree lined up the dogs and handlers, then let the animals smell the scent article. The handlers began to release each dog individually and see how long it took them to find Naomi in the box.

Samson was the fastest to find Naomi, of course. He drove straight for the scratch box, jumping up on it and barking. He grabbed a stick off the ground and carried it to Bree with his tail held high in triumph. Bree praised him, rubbing his ears, and Emily patted him as well. She just loved that dog. Not as much as Sherlock, of course, but awfully close.

Each of the dogs got their chance. Sherlock took the longest, nosing around the meadow for nearly fifteen minutes before Bree turned Samson out to help him. The older dog quickly led the puppy to the box.

“Good dog,” Naomi said, rubbing the puppy’s head. “One of these days Emily and Sherlock will be as famous as Bree and Samson.”

Bree smiled, and the approval on her face warmed Emily clear to her toes. She wanted to be just like Bree when she grew up.

They repeated the training exercise, then moved on to one in the woods. When the time was up, Emily was more tired than she’d expected, but at least Sherlock was beginning to get the gist of what he was supposed to be doing.

“That’s it,” Bree said. “I’ll see you all on Saturday.”

“Bree, could I ask you a few more questions?” Inetta asked. “Naomi and Emily too.”

“Of course.” Bree led her toward the building, and they entered the SAR center.

Inside the building, Bree moved over by the window and settled on the floor beside Samson cross-legged. Samson yawned, then moved over to plop his head on her lap. She absently played with his ears, and the dog gave a sigh of contentment. She picked up a brush and began to work it through the burrs in his coat. “What can I help you with?”

“I asked Emily why she wanted to be part of a search-and-rescue team, and she told me about you two rescuing her and Timmy. I’d forgotten all about that.” She turned to Naomi. “And then you married Donovan and became her stepmom. It’s such a heartwarming story. I’d like to do a feature on how events can be so interconnected. How you follow your dream and find a delightful surprise. And how that one event changed so many things—this center was started, other lives have been saved, and now Emily here is following in your footsteps.”

Naomi’s eyes widened. “Really? I’ve always thought our romance should be in a book. Oh, Donovan will laugh at this.”

Emily nearly groaned. She was going to be the laughingstock of school when this article came out. She should have kept her mouth shut.

“I’m so glad to see everyone out this evening.” Mrs. McDonald, their grandma’s friend, had made a beeline for their table just moments after Naomi got Matthew situated in his seat at the new restaurant out on the M-18 highway.

Emily sat between Dad and Matthew and Timmy sat between Dad and Naomi at a round table. They’d never been
to the restaurant before, but Dad had wanted to take everyone out to celebrate the great interview. He now bragged to Mrs. McDonald about his “girls.” Emily looked around the new place as she tried not to blush, even though she loved having Dad’s approval.

The building reminded Emily of pictures she’d seen of hunting lodges with big half logs for walls that were decorated with dream catchers made by the local Ojibwa tribe members. Several wampum belts hung on display from wooden pegs. She couldn’t help but wonder what Brandon would think about the place.

The waitress came to the table and took everyone’s drink orders and left menus for them to look over.

“I must let you enjoy your meal.” Mrs. McDonald patted Naomi’s shoulder. “I was supposed to meet your mother here, but she had to cancel at the last minute.” She smiled. “So now I’m on my own.”

“If you’re here by yourself, why don’t you join us?” Naomi asked.

“Oh dear, I couldn’t intrude.” But Mrs. McDonald’s expression said the opposite.

“It’s no intrusion. Really. Do come join us.” Naomi’s smile looked genuine.

“Well, if you insist. I’ll just grab my purse and be right back.”

“I’m sorry,” Naomi whispered to Dad as Mrs. McDonald rushed to the other side of the restaurant. “I just couldn’t stand for her to eat all alone.”

Dad grinned. “Your generosity is one of the reasons I love you so much.”

Timmy made gagging sounds while Matthew laughed. Emily laughed and scooted her chair closer to Dad’s, making room for
a place between her and Matthew. “She can sit by me.” When her dad smiled with approval, she knew she’d done the right thing. And besides, if she could get Mrs. McDonald to talk, she might learn something about who took the necklace.

Mrs. McDonald returned and sat down on the seat next to Emily just as the waitress came and took their order. Once the waitress had left, Mrs. McDonald turned to Emily.

“How are you, dear? Your grandmother told me about your injury,” Mrs. McDonald said as she pointed at Emily’s arm. “Are you doing well?”

“It’s fine.” Emily would rather not talk about how clumsy she’d been.

Mrs. McDonald nodded. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. Naomi, I suppose you’re happy your brother is here visiting.”

Naomi smiled. “Very much so. I can’t believe Mom finally got him to come. He usually stays away so that Mom can’t try to convince him to move back here.”

“She’s been after him for years, dear. Years.”

So his showing up wasn’t sudden or surprising? Why hadn’t Naomi mentioned it?

Naomi squeezed lemon in her tea. “I know. I hope Mom isn’t too disappointed when he goes. He’ll leave on Tuesday. He starts his new job the following Monday.”

Uncle Greg was leaving on Tuesday? And he had a new job?

“Your mom said he took a position at a new company. I understand it’s quite a prestigious promotion.”

The waitress returned with their meals. After she left, Dad asked a blessing over the food, then Mrs. McDonald returned to the conversation. “I’m just pleased he came to visit your mother before he started his new position. It’s made her quite happy.”

“It has,” said Naomi in between cutting Matthew’s food and trying to grab a bite for herself.

“What about Valerie?” Emily couldn’t believe she’d blurted that out loud.

Naomi gave Timmy a spoon for his soup. “What about her?”

“Isn’t she with Uncle Greg?” The familiar burn lit her cheeks. “I mean, like boyfriend-girlfriend.”

Dad threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, Em.”

Naomi and Mrs. McDonald snickered.

She hated to be laughed at. “What?”

“Your Grandma Heinonen set Uncle Greg up with Valerie.” Dad took a long swig of water. “She didn’t wait long to start her matchmaking efforts.”

“Mom thought she could entice Greg to stay in Rock Harbor if a beautiful woman turned his head. What better woman to do that than Valerie, who’d recently been named the spokesmodel for a bathing suit company?”

“Hey, a beautiful woman can make a man do things he never thought he’d do.” Dad leaned over Timmy and kissed Naomi’s cheek.

“Well, that’s good, because we saw Valerie at the festival with a man. He’s her manager, Kenneth Lancaster, who is probably a criminal.” It felt good to let that out.

Naomi set down her water glass. “More investigating, Em?” Her brow creased with worry.

She shrugged with her uninjured shoulder. “He and Valerie were at our booths when Mrs. Dancer was in the bathroom. We sold him a necklace that she picked out.”