Rock Harbor Search and Rescue (8 page)

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 kicked 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.”

Emily’s heart pounded even as she realized Naomi had stopped humming. “Quick, hand me the notebook so I can write down the address.”

Olivia passed her the spiral notebook and pen. Emily scribbled the name of the pawnshop, along with the address and phone number, just as the door to Matthew’s bedroom clicked shut.

“Exit the Internet,” Emily whispered.

Olivia closed the window. They stood as Naomi came down the hall, carrying the latest book she was in the middle of reading.

“What’re you girls doing?”

“Research.” Emily hugged the notebook to her chest. “But we just finished. I’m about to go brush my teeth and floss.”

“Oh, okay. Keep it down. I just got Matthew to sleep.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Emily led the way to her bedroom and pulled the door behind them.

“That was close,” Olivia said as she plopped onto Emily’s bed.

“Tell me about it.” Emily set the notebook on her desk and joined Olivia on the bed. “But at least we know the pawnshop where Mrs. Cooper sold the jewelry.”

“Um, Emily . . . what are you going to do about it? It’s not like we can go to Marquette to the pawnshop to see if Mrs. Dancer’s necklace is there.”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Maybe we can call the pawnshop and describe the necklace. See if they have it.”

Emily chewed her lip. “I don’t think they’d give out that information over the phone.”

“Maybe we could get someone to take us there.”

“Like who?”

Olivia shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Wait a minute . . .” The idea came to Emily like a bolt of lightning. “How about we give the tip to Ms. Harris to check out for us? She’s a newsperson . . . it’d be natural for her to follow up on a lead.”

Olivia sat up straight. “And she seemed to really like you.”

Because of her mother. But right now, Emily didn’t have any other choice. “Yeah. I bet she’ll get right on it.”

Emily just wouldn’t mention her mother, or parole, or how much she looked like her.

That reminded her that she needed to talk to Timmy and find out about those nightmares. She thought he’d stopped having them years ago. If they were bad, she’d have to tell Naomi and Dad, even if that made Timmy mad at her.

Sometimes doing the right thing was hard.

After brushing their teeth and changing into their pajamas, they climbed into Emily’s bed. Within minutes, Olivia’s steady breathing told Emily her best friend had fallen asleep.

Emily wasn’t so lucky. Her mind raced with so much stuff to think about. Her mom . . . the pawnshop . . .

Screeeeeccccchhhhh
.

Emily sat upright in bed. What was that sound? Her heart raced. She bit her lip and waited, listening. Nothing.

Letting out a slow breath, she lay back down. With everything going on, it was natural she was hearing things. Olivia would get a kick out of it in the morning when Emily told her. They’d laugh and—

Screeeeeccccchhhhh
.

That wasn’t her imagination! Clutching the covers to her chest, Emily sat up. Her mouth went dry. What
was
that sound? It seemed to be coming from right outside her window. But if that was the case, why wasn’t Charley barking up a storm?

The Windigo! It was the Windigo, right outside her window! Did he think she stole the necklace? Was he here to make sure it was never found? Was he going to eat her up?

Screeeeeccccchhhhh
.

Olivia sat up, rubbed her eyes, and then stared at Emily. “Is
that tree rubbing against the house again?” She yawned. “Don’t laugh, but it scared me silly last night until I realized what it was.”

Emily let out a relieved snort. “Yeah, it’s doing it again.” She inched back down under the covers.

Olivia rolled over, turning her back to Emily.

Screeeeeccccchhhhh
.