Jade sat in the back of the ambulance next to her daughter’s gurney. The paramedics had covered Dez in blankets, and everyone seemed excited that her body had finally picked up its cues to start shivering.
“She’s going to be fine,” one of the men assured Jade.
The road to the hospital was paved with ice and frost heaves. Jade figured it was probably a good thing that the driver wasn’t rushing. He hadn’t even turned on his sirens.
“Mama?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“What time is it?”
Jade looked to Ben who was sitting across from her.
“Time to get some sleep.” He gave Jade a soft smile.
“Mama?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“We didn’t miss Christmas, did we?”
“No, we didn’t miss Christmas.”
“Good. Because I’m ready to do my lines for the play at church.”
“You are?”
“Uh-huh. And the angels said, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.’”
Ben burst into applause. “Very good job. Are you sure you’re only five? I know some teenagers who couldn’t learn their lines that well.”
Dez beamed.
“Thanks again for all the time you spent looking for us.” Jade didn’t know what else to say. Ben wanted to ride with them in the ambulance so he could talk with Jade about the case, but so far the entire conversation had been focused on Dez and keeping her warm and happy.
Jade couldn’t believe their trouble was over, couldn’t believe the extent Sapphire had gone to in order to steal her daughter.
“Mama?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“How long we gonna be at the hospital?”
“Not long. We just want to get you all warmed up and make sure you’re all right.”
Ben leaned forward. “You, too. You’re getting checked out just like she is.”
Jade shrugged. “I’m fine. The doctor’s probably going to tell me all that exercise was good for me.”
She caught Ben’s eye. When she met him last night, she would have never expected to feel so thankful to have him looking out for her safety. Thankful to have him by her side.
You really do have a sense of humor, don’t you, God?
Ben continued to stare at her then cleared his throat. “Well, I guess we should make the best use of the time we’ve got and compare notes. Let me tell you what I know first.”
Jade was happy to let him take the conversational lead.
“We checked out Keith Richardson’s car. Someone cut through the brake lines, not all the way but enough to get him to that icy pass and let gravity take care of the rest.”
Jade was thankful he spared her any further details.
“We found a letter in his pocket where he talked about how he feared the pastor’s wife was the one behind the kidnapping. Said something about her having a dream about her husband’s kid … real woo-woo stuff, just like you said. But we compared the handwriting with the note you got earlier. Seems he was trying to help you. Give you some kind of warning. I can show you if you want.”
Jade shook her head. “Not now.” In fact, she wasn’t sure a letter like that was something she’d ever want to see. “How’d you know where to look for us in the woods?”
“Well, I got back to the car after checking things out at the crash site. Saw a blood splatter on the head rest. Pretty amateur move. We figured Sapphire had you, and we also figured she had someone to help, so we looked into it. Guess there was this Elder Gabriel, some guy who recently moved to Palmer to help run the church. Keith mentioned him in his letter. We looked into it, and it turns out he’s got a little cabin near the Sheep Mountain area. We went to check it out, found Gabriel shot and a few kiddie toys in the back room. That’s when we brought in the search and rescue team.”
He glanced at Dez resting on the gurney. “I’d really like to hear your side of it now, but maybe we should wait.”
Jade nodded. There was no need to make her daughter relive every horror and trauma she’d endured.
Dez blinked her eyes open. “You should tell him about the dreams, Mama.”
Ben glanced at Jade. “What dreams?”
Dez grew animated. “All kinds of dreams. You should have heard them. Like one about how that lady was supposed to turn herself into my new mom because my dad was the pastor at this church, only Mom says it’s not a church church, just some weird fake thing. Have you ever been to a fake church?”
Ben shook his head. “Can’t say that I have.”
“Me either, but if it’s got people like this lady, I wouldn’t want to go either. I think Mama had the right idea shooting her.”
Ben raised his eyebrows, and Jade nodded. So much for trying to protect her daughter from frightening memories.
“Where was that?” Ben asked.
“I couldn’t say. Somewhere in the woods. We got turned around.”
Dez nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yeah. It was scary. Mom thought we were going to have to spend the night outside even though I’ve never been camping before because Mom refused to take me last summer when I really wanted to go, and all we had was one sweatshirt for both of us to share, and it was really dark, and Mama got us lost in the woods. It was kind of my fault because I was awake when that bad lady drove me out to the cabin place, only I couldn’t tell Mama if the mountains were behind me or to the side or what, so she didn’t know how to get us back to the road. And she was getting kind of tired and even a little grumpy.” Dez stole a glance at Jade who sat there wondering where her daughter’s sudden burst of energy came from.
“Well,” Dez went on, “Mama said it was time for us to get to sleep, only I didn’t want to spend the night in the cold, and I was hungry too, so I asked Mama if maybe we should pray and ask Jesus to send us a dream to tell us which way to go. Because I figured if that weird church lady had dreams and God talked to her except she didn’t even go to a real church, God would definitely talk to us if we asked him nicely, so we did. And then Mama was already starting to snore a little bit, but I wasn’t asleep quite yet, only I was about to fall asleep, and I remembered where I saw the mountains in the car, and I knew they were behind me when we were driving. So I told it to Mama, and she said that meant we’d been walking the wrong way, but there was enough moonlight we could see the mountains by then, and if we went toward them we’d find the highway. Which we did but not until we found you guys first.”
Ben reached out and ruffled her hair. “You’re a good story-teller. Did you know that?”
Dez pouted. “It’s not a story. That’s how it happened. Tell him, Mama.”
“I know it happened,” Ben said. “I meant you tell the story in a really exciting way.”
“It was a compliment,” Jade explained.
Dez glanced at the trooper. “Oh. Well, thank you, officer.”
“You’re welcome. And on top of being very smart and a good storyteller, you’ve got excellent manners.”
“Oh, that’s because Mama says that when I meet a police officer, especially if he’s white like you, I’ve got to be extra polite and make sure …”
“Okay now,” Jade interrupted. “I think maybe you should let the grown-ups talk a bit.”
“Why? Are you gonna tell him how you shot that big scary guy when that church lady was tying a rope around your neck?”
“Is she making this up?” Ben asked.
“I wish.” Jade rolled her eyes. “No, it happened pretty much like she said.” Jade started from the point when Sapphire tied her up and explained how they escaped the cabin and ended up in the woods, where eventually Sapphire caught up with them.
“Mama was really brave,” Dez inserted. “I don’t know if I would have known what to do with a gun because Mama’s always telling me I can’t go near them or touch them or if I see one lying around I’m never allowed to pick it up and I have to tell someone right away.”
“Those are very good rules,” Ben said approvingly.
Dez shrugged. “Nah. It’s just good sense. Guns are tools, not weapons.”
Ben chuckled, which forced Dez into an exaggerated pout. “I wasn’t making a joke.”
“I know you weren’t. I just wish every kid in the state of Alaska were as smart as you are.”
She shrugged again. “It’s not smart. It’s just common sense.”
“That’s probably because you have a very good mom.” Ben glanced over at Jade again, and this time the approval in his eyes was directed at her.