Chapter 16

Canada, Twenty-Eight Years Ago

Noshi and the boy crawled back into the cave. Chepi, curled into a tight ball holding herself, keened until drained of tears, then cried no more. The boy squeezed between his mother and father to keep warm. No one slept that night…

Northern California, Present Time

“We didn’t call you,” Maggie said as she and Jake approached the agents, “Why the hell are you here?” She knew, of course, this would become a federal case, but the timing couldn’t be worse, and she was in no frame of mind to put up with feds right now.

“I’m Agent Marley, and this is Agent Thompson.” Marley talked to the sheriff, and ignored Maggie. He gestured to the man with him. Both agents held out their badges for Jake’s inspection.

“Sheriff Lubbock, are you aware there are unsolved twin child killings in Oregon and Washington, even across the Canadian border going back at least two decades?” Marley said. He was slender built, about an inch taller than Maggie, with an imperious demeanor that set her teeth on edge.

“I heard that, yes. I figure our guy is a copycat since there have never been killings this far south, until recently, matching the suspect’s M.O.”

Maggie sneered at the agent. “Yeah, and are you aware that we are here right now looking for my nieces who have been missing for over eleven hours and we don’t have time for your horseshit?”

“We have reason to believe we’re dealing with the same killer, so this is now officially a federal investigation. We are part of a special task force, and require your full cooperation as well as immediate access to all your files and evidence in the case. We’ll take over from there.”

Jake’s face reddened. “I don’t think so,” he said. “This is my town. These are my people. I don’t give a rat’s ass if you are an FBI task force, or avenging angels sent personally by Jesus damn Christ, you know better than to interrupt a search for missing children like this, and you aren’t coming here in your cheap suits and your shiny wingtips to take over anything.”

There was no way Maggie was going to back down either. “Gentleman, I’m a retired Oakland detective, a criminologist, with more years’ experience than you two whelps combined. I’ve been working with the Wild River County Sheriff’s Department since the beginning of these investigations. If you are here to help us, great, but Jake is the boss and you will respect his position and mine. And, fellas, stay the fuck out of our way. Now, if you excuse us, we have to find my grandnieces before it’s too late.” She turned back toward the forest, and flipped on her flashlight.

“About that, Ms. Sloan,” said Agent Thompson, the shorter of the two, a youngster with a pale cherubic face. “In our opinion, given it’s your grandnieces we are looking for now, it’s a conflict of interest for you to be on this search, or to even be on the case.”

“You little maggot,” Maggie said, turning on her heels. She started for the agent who took a step back; his eyes popped open wide. He put his hand on his service revolver. Jake thrust out his arm to restrain Maggie who stopped in her tracks to stare down the smaller man. “Don’t get in my way.”

“We’ll be questioning the remainder of the search party, and we’ll be looking around a bit ourselves. We’ll meet you at the station first thing tomorrow morning,” said Agent Marley. The agents headed back toward the house.

“Those arrogant dickheads,” Maggie said.

“We knew they’d be getting involved sooner or later.”

“Yeah, well, the time those idiots robbed me of could cost the lives of Flower and Bird. If so, I’ll be going to prison for murdering FBI agents. And I swear, if that little snot says one more word about my grandnieces, I’m going to slap the piss out of him.”

“You know how it goes, Mag. They will question you about how you knew where the Sorenson kids were buried, too. Neither of them will buy your ‘I had a dream’ story. I don’t quite understand it myself.”

“Yeah, I do know.” She inhaled then exhaled forcefully as though expelling toxic fumes from her lungs. “I can’t abide those dickwads interrogating me, but what’s worse, I don’t have time for their bullshit. Every second I wasted up here with them I could have spent down by the river looking for the girls. Those sonsabitches.” Maggie rubbed her temples with her free hand. “I can’t take this, Jake. Let’s find Bird and Flower.”

*

Maggie stayed the course following the two ravens. She appreciated that Jake didn’t push her to go in any other direction. He stepped back and allowed her to take the lead, but he remained close behind. The woods were so dense in some places that Maggie and Jake had to hack their way through the underbrush. It was more like a jungle than a conifer forest. The sounds of the other searchers and the baying of the hounds faded into the far distance.

“This is a bloody nightmare” Maggie said.

The sound of the wind in the trees, the caw of the ravens, and footsteps through the pine needles were the only sounds of the forest. As her panic mounted, Maggie was aware of the persistent thrum of her heart pounding hard. Those girls are dead, I know it. Her ears were filled with heartbeats, heavy and dreadful. They’re dead.

They broke through an opening and Maggie spied something near a creek. A reclining bear cub? No, smaller. A doe? She shined her flashlight on two little girls on the ground under a rocky overhang partially buried under a blanket of fall leaves, their skin pale as quartz in the moonlight. They were still, face-to-face, their arms in an embrace.

“Aw shit,” said Jake.

“No. No. God, no.” Maggie dropped her flashlight and ran through the darkness to Flower and Bird.