IT NEVER GOT EASIER TO BE ON THE FRONT LINES OF tragedy. Bree rubbed her stinging eyes and tried to comfort Samson, who lay panting at her feet. Finding a dead body was hard on him too. He’d vomited, then cried for several minutes. Bree expected Mason soon. After he told Sara the news. It appeared to Bree as though Pia had fallen onto a jagged branch that impaled her.
Samson’s ears flicked, and he rose with his nose up. His dark eyes were worried. “It’s okay, boy,” Bree said, rubbing his ears. He whined and his dark eyes stared at a spot farther down the trail. “What is it?” Bree tried to see what had caught his attention, but her beam of light didn’t push back the edges of the darkness enough.
She rose as a plaintive cry echoed through the darkness. The sound held an edge of wildness that made her shudder. A big cat? She’d have to tell Kade. Samson whined again and strained away from her. He seldom reacted to animals, so Bree’s curiosity was caught.
She rose and let go of his collar. “Show me, boy.” The dog leaped away from her until he disappeared into the darkness. Bree shined her light along the path and followed. “Samson, speak!”
The dog woofed ahead of her, and she moved the flashlight beam in the direction of the sound. She saw Samson standing by a pile of fallen trees just off the ski path. The pool of light caught him as he flattened onto his belly and nosed through the snow toward an opening in the jumble of wood. As Bree got closer, she heard a faint sound on the wind. The cry came again.
She hurried to join her dog. “Move away,” she commanded, pulling on his collar. Samson sat back on his haunches, and she aimed her light into the cavity formed by the fallen trees. Bree caught her breath at the sight of an infant backpack carrier with a quilted cover. Weak cries came from the hidden baby. Kneeling, she pulled the carrier free of the trees and peeked inside.
A tiny baby in a pink sleeper wailed her misery to the world. Her tiny face was red and screwed with outrage. How long had she been here? Bree touched her. The baby’s sleeper was totally soaked. Bree focused her light under the tree trunk again and saw a diaper bag. She pulled it out. How had the child gotten here? And who had hidden her like this?
“There, there,” she soothed. Surely there were bottles and formula in the bag, though it might be frozen, depending on how long it had been out here. She touched the baby’s cheek, and the infant turned her head hungrily. Her cheek was warm though. The insulating cover had done a good job of keeping her protected from the wind. The fallen trees where she’d been hidden had helped too.
Bree shined her light into the recesses of the bag and began to dig through it. Her fingers touched a wallet, and she flipped it open. Pia’s face on a driver’s license smiled back at her. Bree’s throat closed, knowing the young woman would never smile again. She sat back and the light shone on a piece of paper lying on the ground. She picked it up and held it under the light. A sudoku, handwritten. She thrust it into the bag.
Her gaze went back to the child. A foster child in Pia’s care? The baby mewled again, and Bree went in search of food. Her hand dug past diapers and sleepers. The formula inside was very cold but not frozen. At least the baby’s tummy would be full. Bree didn’t dare pull the infant from the warmth of the carrier. She shook up the formula, pushed the air out of the bag, then popped the nipple into the baby’s mouth. The tiny girl made a face at the cold rubber, then began to suckle weakly.
How long had she been out here? Hours? Over a day?
Samson looked on and whined. He sensed Bree’s agitation. “She’ll be okay, boy,” she said, looping her other arm around the dog.
How was she going to burp the baby? Bree couldn’t expose her to the wind. The best thing to do was to get her to the hospital. It wasn’t far. Bree could call Mason and explain why she couldn’t wait.
The baby finished the bottle, and Bree lifted the covering over the carrier again. The baby whimpered inside. Rising, Bree slipped her shoulders into the carrier and went back the way she’d come. She whispered a prayer for Pia’s family as she passed the woman’s crumpled body. She stayed on the packed ski trail, which made walking in her snowshoes easier than what she might face on the surrounding heavy snow.
Her breath fogged out of her mouth, and the extra exertion caused her to pull more cold air into her lungs. She was already tired from the trek in, and the extra burden wore her out even more. Her cheeks burned from the cold, and she realized she should have worn a ski mask.
She reached the edge of the woods and saw bobbing lights moving toward her across the dark field. It had to be Mason. She paused in the shelter of the trees until the sheriff reached her.
Mason’s gaze flickered to the baby carrier and he raised his brows. “Is that a baby?”
Bree nodded and drew in a deep breath. Carrying the extra weight had winded her. “I found her hidden in a pile of downed trees.”
“I don’t know. I found Pia’s driver’s license in the backpack with her formula and diapers. If Pia hid her, this little one has been out here all day. I have to get her to the hospital.”
“I’ll check with Children’s Protective Services. They’ll have a record of which babies were in Pia’s custody for placement.”
Bree glanced back toward the house. “Did you tell Sara?”
He nodded. “She went to her sister’s.”
The baby began to whimper. “I need to get this little one checked out.” She studied Mason’s face an instant longer. “Kade and I have been approved as foster parents. When you call CPS, would you ask if I can keep her?”
“You think that’s wise?” Mason’s voice held unusual gentleness. “You’ll have to give this baby up eventually. I’d hate to see you get hurt.”
“I’m a big girl, my friend. You don’t have to worry.” The moment she’d heard the infant cry, her heart longed to care for the baby. What would Kade say? He might have the same concerns as Mason. Davy would be ecstatic though.
Mason shrugged. “Okay, I’ll have them meet you at the hospital. You’ll have to jump through their hoops, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”
The baby wailed louder. “She’s soaked. I’m going to take her to the hospital first and make sure she’s okay, so call my cell if you need me.” Bree wouldn’t rest easy until a doctor confirmed the baby was only suffering from hunger and mild exposure.
Mason nodded, and Bree hurried as fast as she could across the deep snow in the field. There were no lights on at Pia’s house, other than the back porch light, so she went around to the front and found Sara’s car gone. Bree tried the door and found it unlocked. Just as she’d hoped, she found an infant car seat inside. She installed it in the Jeep, then secured the wailing baby.
She had Samson get in the backseat, then she drove to the hospital. The baby’s whimpers grew more plaintive, and Bree’s palms grew moist with the desire to tend to the infant. She stopped at the emergency entrance to the hospital, retrieved the crying infant, then rushed her inside with Samson on their heels.
A nurse took Bree and the baby back right away. The baby’s cries weakened. “There, there, precious,” Bree crooned. The sleeper was dripping wet, all the way up to the neck. She changed the diaper and wrapped her in a dry receiving blanket. Humming “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You,” she cuddled the smelly infant and rocked on her feet.
The baby cried even louder when Bree unwrapped the blanket so the doctor could examine her. At the hoarse sobs, Bree rubbed the baby’s soft head. “It’s okay, precious. It’s almost over.”
By the time CPS arrived and filled out all the forms, the female doctor pronounced the baby fit and suffering only from mild exposure and hunger. The CPS worker mentioned that she had no record of the baby in Pia’s care and would dig into it more in the morning. Bree carried the baby back to the Jeep. When Bree pulled up to the lighthouse, the clock on the dash read eight o’clock, but it seemed much later.
The lake ice gave a loud crackle when she got out of the Jeep and removed the infant carrier. Samson beat her to the porch, and Bree rushed to get the baby inside. The warm air was a welcome stream over her face when she opened the door. She carried the infant to the living room, where she set the carrier on the floor and peeled back the cover.
Samson pranced around the table as the baby’s cries grew more insistent. “There, there, sweetheart,” Bree said, lifting the infant out of the carrier. At the sudden human contact, the tiny girl turned her face into Bree’s neck. Her fist went to her mouth. “Are you still hungry?” Bree said. “You’re soaked again.”
“Bree, is that you, kulta?” Anu Nicholls appeared at the bottom of the steps. Nearly sixty, she was a trim, soft-spoken woman with soft blonde hair streaked with gray. She was Rob’s mother and still as close to a real mother as Bree had ever known. Her presence always calmed the family. “What are you doing with a baby?”
“I don’t know. I found her hidden in the woods. Where are Davy and Kade?”
“David is in bed,” Anu said in her faint Finnish accent. “Kade went to town for some formula. When Mason called and told him you were bringing home a baby, he asked me to come since David was already asleep.” She approached Bree and touched the infant’s cheek. “She is hungry.”
“I gave her part of a bottle in the woods. I don’t know how long she’s been out there.” Bree nodded toward the backpack. “Could you warm another bottle? I’ll get her bathed and changed.”
She carried the baby into the kitchen, and Samson followed anxiously on her heels as though the baby were his responsibility. He’d been this way with Davy too, Bree remembered, though he’d only been a puppy. She turned on warm water and let the sink fill. “You need a bath, baby girl. You’ll like the warm water.” Cradling the child in one arm, she put a dishtowel on the counter and undressed the baby quickly.
The tiny girl’s thin wails cut off in a gasp, and she threw out her arms. Bree quickly tossed a corner of the towel over the infant’s chest. “It’s okay,” she crooned.
Samson put his front paws on the counter and watched with anxious eyes. “Get down, boy,” Bree said. The dog dropped back onto all four paws. She transferred the baby, still on the towel, to the sink. The infant’s tender skin was red and raw from the extended contact with her dirty diaper.
“We’ll be done soon,” Bree said in a soothing voice. She became aware of Anu moving up behind her. Bree turned the water on in the other side of the sink so Anu could fill a pan with water to warm the bottle. She used gentle hand soap to wash the infant.
“Could you grab me a hand towel from the drawer?” she asked Anu.
Anu did as she was asked and also laid out another hand towel on the counter. “Here are the clothes from the bag. My, she looks quite new.”
“I don’t think she’s more than a couple of weeks old. Maybe not even that.” Bree lifted the screaming infant and wrapped her in the hand towel. She dried her, then put a clean diaper, onesie, and sleeper on her. The baby began to quiet in the clean, dry clothes. Bree cuddled her close and turned to see Anu checking the temperature of the milk.
“It is not quite as warm as she might like it, but the cold edge is off, kulta,” Anu said, drying the bottle and handing it to Bree.
The baby sucked greedily at the bottle, and her translucent eyelids began to close as the lukewarm milk slid down her throat and filled her tummy. When was the last time Bree fed a baby? Maybe not since Davy was this age. The warm weight of the baby’s relaxed body filled a need in Bree’s heart.
Still holding her close, she carried the infant to the living room and settled into the rocker. The baby girl’s mouth slackened as she sank deeper into sleep, and a dribble of milk spilled from it. The sweet scent of baby skin drifted to Bree’s nose. There was no better fragrance.
Anu sat on the sofa opposite Bree. “Kulta, you will have to give her up. Do not be too quick to love her.”
“Too late.” Bree managed a smile. “But I know it’s temporary.”
“What do you know about this little one? Did not Kade say some babies were missing from the reservation?” Anu studied the infant’s sleeping face. “Though she looks Caucasian.”
Bree ran her palm over the baby’s thin blonde hair and studied her translucent skin. “I don’t think she’s Ojibwa, but I’ll check it out.” She glanced over to see Anu lifting items from the backpack. “Maybe God heard my cry for a child,” she said.
“God always hears the cries of his children,” Anu said. “But do not be too quick to jump to a conclusion the Father never intended.” She frowned. “What is this?” she asked, holding out a paper. “One of those sudoku things.”
“I found it on the ground by the baby.” Bree glanced at it. The top numbers were familiar. “Grab that sudoku Victor gave me at the cabin, would you? It’s there on the coffee table.”
Anu smoothed the paper and laid the other sudoku beside it. “The top numbers are the same. And the handwriting appears identical.”
Victor had left a sudoku in the woods? Bree’s mind made connections she didn’t want to make. He’d been on the scene when Florence died too.
Light spilled from the lighthouse windows in a welcoming glow. The wind drove needles of icy snow into Kade’s skin as he hurried inside with the formula. He’d grabbed disposable diapers as well, then stopped at Naomi’s and borrowed a bassinet. He and Bree had made preparations to be foster parents, but he hadn’t expected their first child to show up so quickly or under such dramatic circumstances.
He found Bree nestling the infant in the living room. Samson lay curled at her feet. “Where’s Anu?” he asked, shrugging out of his coat.
“I sent her home.” Bree’s green eyes stayed focused on him. “Thanks for getting the formula. She’s sleeping now.”
He sat beside her and studied the baby. “She’s tiny.”
Bree smoothed the infant’s soft hair. “Newborn.”
“I’m sorry I forgot your doctor appointment.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Man, was that only this morning? So much has happened. What did she say?” He watched the muscles in Bree’s throat convulse as she swallowed hard, and he knew the news wasn’t good.
“The doctor thinks we should go to in vitro.”
“What does that mean?”
She raised her gaze to meet his. “She’ll give me high-powered drugs to help me make more eggs than usual. They’ll extract them, fertilize them, then implant them. But it’s expensive.”
His mouth tightened. “How much?”
“Five thousand dollars.” Her gaze stayed on him. “Per month. I know it’s a lot, but it might be the only way to get pregnant.”
“You got pregnant a few months ago.”
“And lost the baby.”
“What would keep you from losing it again, even after spending all that money?”
“I forgot to ask her,” Bree said. “I guess they’ll give me something to help me carry the babies.”
“Babies? As in more than one?” His brain tallied the cost.
She nodded. “Probably.”
He winced. “Let’s just try it on our own, babe. I don’t think we can swing that now.”
Disappointment darkened her eyes. “Maybe I could get a parttime job.”
“Your work with training search dogs is important.”
“But it doesn’t bring in much money,” she reminded him. “I want to give you your own child, Kade.”
He cupped her chin in his fingers. “Dave is my own. I’ve got you and him, and if we don’t have more, it’s enough.”
“You’re a good man, Kade Matthews,” she said, her voice husky.
Kade smiled. “I know we’ll have our own baby, Bree.”
Her smile returned. “I’m sure I’ll be able to find this girl’s parents, but if Pia had her, they might be unfit.”
“We’ll cross that bridge if we have to.”
Her gaze turned thoughtful. “It’s late, but Mason might know who she belongs to by tomorrow.”
He could only hope this little one’s parents were located before Bree grew too attached to the girl. “Seems strange Pia would hide the baby like that. You think she was being chased and was murdered?”
“The thought crossed my mind.” Bree’s head fell back against the sofa. “Something about the way she was lying. She’d fallen uphill too, as though she’d been shoved.”
“I know it’s useless to warn you not to get involved.” Kade grinned and dropped a kiss on his wife’s check. “But be careful.”
“I’ve got Davy to think about too. He’ll have to stay close to one of us.” She shuddered. “With Florence and Pia both dead, I have to wonder about his story. Maybe there’s a killer out there after all, human or otherwise. I need to talk to Victor.”
Mason called Bree’s house at nine the next morning while she was getting dressed. CPS had no record of the baby they’d found by Pia. He hadn’t been able to find Victor, either, and wanted her team’s assistance. She left the baby in Kade’s care, assisted by Davy, who had barely left the infant’s side. Kade had called in to take a few hours off work and had been strangely silent when he got off the phone, but she didn’t have time to probe.
The sheriff and his men waited for her at Florence’s house. The temperature stood at ten below, and the wind whistled through the treetops after zooming off Lake Superior. She stood with Samson on his leash and listened to the sheriff outline what he needed.
Mason’s skin was sallow, and his eyelids drooped. “We suspect Victor Pelton is hiding in the woods somewhere. I want us to find him before anyone else is hurt.”
“Mason, Victor is autistic, not a murderer.” She tried not to remember her fear when she saw the bloody shovel in Victor’s hands.
Mason shrugged. “Let’s just say he’s a person of interest right now.”
The wheels of justice sometimes crushed the innocent, and she was afraid that was about to happen to the gentle twenty-five-year-old man. He mowed their yard, and she’d often baked him cookies and had him stay for dinner. It was hard for her to believe he could have hurt Florence or Pia.
But he might know who did.
Her team today consisted of Naomi and her dog, Charley. No one else was available. They stood at the edge of the Ottawa forest. The most recent storm had dumped another six inches onto the twenty already on the ground. Luckily, a hard crust had formed over the snow, so they should be able to walk on the top with snowshoes.
“Let’s head away from the lake,” she told Naomi.
“You’re worried, aren’t you?” Naomi asked.
Bree nodded. “I’m afraid Florence’s death is connected to that guy trying to grab Davy from your place yesterday. I wish you’d caught a better look at him.”
“Me too, but he had on that ski mask. Something about his walk seemed familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
Bree knelt and had the dogs sniff the scent article—Victor’s socks—that Mason had obtained. “Search, Samson,” she said, releasing him from the leash. She watched as Naomi released Charley and the two dogs bounded away. Naomi’s golden retriever was a world-class search dog too, and she had every confidence Samson and he would find Victor.
Bree plodded along on her snowshoes. Only occasionally did she break through into thigh-high snow. She kept her vision glued to the animals. Charley and Samson crisscrossed the open meadow with their noses in the air as they tried to pick up the scent.
Samson’s tail stiffened, and his head came up. “He’s got the scent!” she shouted to Naomi.
She and Naomi moved as fast as they could through the forest. A small cabin lay just ahead, a hunter’s cabin. A wisp of smoke trailed from the chimney. Samson and Charley ran to the door. Her dog whined and pawed at the door, and she knew Victor was inside. She called Mason on her cell phone, and he told her to wait outside.
She would rather talk to Victor, but she closed her phone and told Naomi they had to hold back. Bree called to the dogs. Samson’s tail sank but he obeyed her command to come. Bree fed him a treat and rubbed his ears. “Good boy,” she said.
His ears pricked and he turned to gaze back at the cottage. She stared too and saw the door opening. Uncertain what might be happening, she fell back another step, tugging Samson with her.
Victor, dressed in a blue parka and rubber boots, stuck his head out the door. When he saw Bree, he exited the cabin and came toward her with a paper held out in his hand as though he wanted to give it to her.
“Stay here,” she murmured to Naomi. She advanced to meet him. “Hi, Victor, we’ve been looking for you. Are you okay?”
He said nothing but continued to approach her. Bree knew Mason would be alarmed at Victor’s expressionless face and vacant eyes, but she still didn’t believe he would hurt anyone.
The first thing she needed to establish was control. “Victor, look at me,” she said in a commanding tone.
He was staring above her head. At her order, his gaze didn’t shift, and his eyes retained their emptiness. He reached her and stopped with the paper still extended.
“You want me to take this?” she asked. Her gloved fingers touched the paper, and he released it. He was still staring above her head, not making eye contact. “What’s this all about, buddy?”
He turned and trudged back to the cabin. Bree started after him, then heard the buzz of Mason’s snowmobile behind her. He’d be here in minutes.
“What did he give you?” Naomi asked, joining her.
Bree handed it to her. “It’s just another puzzle. He’s crazy about sudoku.”
“I’ve never figured it out,” Naomi said.
“I’ve dabbled with it.”
“Did he say anything?” Naomi asked.
Bree shook her head. “And he wouldn’t look at me. He just came out, handed me the puzzle, then retreated back to the cabin. His eyes looked funny. Shocked and distant or something.”
Naomi glanced toward the cabin “You said he had that shovel. Maybe he found it by Florence’s body, and it traumatized him.”
“Maybe.” Bree watched Mason and one of his deputies approach on their machines before she glanced at the puzzle in her hand again. The sudoku grid had been drawn in red ink, then filled in with black ink. Her gaze traced the numbers, and it appeared he had done it correctly. At least as far as she could tell with a quick scan.
The whine of the engines quit, then Mason and Deputy Doug Montgomery thrashed through the snow. Without snowshoes, their weight sent them crashing through the crust on top of the drifts. They were panting by the time they reached the women.
“He’s in there,” Bree said, pointing to the cabin. “He came out a minute ago and gave me this.” She handed the puzzle to Mason.
He frowned. “What is it?”
“Sudoku.” She could tell he’d never heard of it from the way his brows drew together. “It’s a number puzzle. The basic has nine boxes in a three-by-three grid. You can use each number only once in every column, each row, and each of the nine boxes. It’s based on Latin squares.”
Mason raised his thick brows, graying now that he was nearly forty. “Did he say anything?”
“No. This is the third puzzle I’ve seen.” She quickly told him about the one she’d found in the baby’s backpack and the one Victor had given her after she found Florence’s body.
“Maybe he’s trying to tell us something. Is it a code or some-thing?”
“I don’t know. The numbers on the top row are the same in all three sudokus.”
He nodded, then pocketed the puzzle and started toward the cabin. Montgomery hurried after Mason as fast as his bulk would allow. Bree wanted to be in on the questioning, but she knew even Mason couldn’t allow it.
“Let’s get back.” Bree called Samson to her, and the team trooped back through the forest to her Jeep. Kade had wanted her to call when she found Victor, so she paused on the road to dial while Naomi loaded the dogs.
His voice came on at the second ring. “Hey, babe. You done?”
“Yes, he was hiding in the hunter’s cabin out near the gully.”
“That’s good,” he said as though he hadn’t even heard her.
She tried to read his distracted tone. What was going on with him? “We’re heading home now. Everything okay with the kids?”
“Sure. Anu offered to take the baby home with her, so I let her. Dave and I are playing Uno.”
“You didn’t want to keep her?”
“She cried a lot and I didn’t know what to do.”
Or he didn’t want to try. She didn’t argue about it. “I’ll stop by the store and get her.” Then she was going to dig around a little until she heard what Mason found out from Victor. Someone had to know something about a missing baby girl. How did Pia come to have her if CPS had no record of it?