Kat hushed Nomad, the leader of the pack. The other huskies would take their commands from her.
“Harper, if that’s the homeowner, we need to get out of here. I’ll slip the harnesses off the dogs and press the exit button for the garage door. Hopefully, they’ll run around the front of the cabin to greet their musher. We can sneak into the woods at the back.”
Harper felt ill. She was certain this disaster was her fault.
“Kat, wait. It might be the cops. They’ll have to park at the gate because the driveway’s blocked. That’ll buy us a couple of minutes. Stay with the huskies and try to keep them quiet. I’ll sneak upstairs, see if I can catch a glimpse of the driver. If they’re harmless, I’ll invent some excuse to get rid of them. If not, I’ll scoot back down here. In an emergency, I’ll ring the dinner bell twice. If you hear it, let the huskies go and I’ll meet you in the woods.”
“Harper, I don’t think—”
But Harper didn’t stop. She was up the storeroom steps in record time. Clambering out, she shut the trapdoor and pulled the rug over it. Tiptoeing to the living room, a worrying thought occurred to her. The cabin door wasn’t locked. Harper hoped she’d have time to bolt it from the inside. It was a flimsy lock, but it would be an extra barrier between them and the unwanted visitor.
Keeping out of sight, she peeked through the side window. A police car was parked at the gate. The driver’s door was open, making a semicircle of light in the early-morning shadows.
Before Harper could fly back down to the storeroom, boots stamped across the porch. Someone pounded at the door.
Frozen with indecision, she could only watch as the front door handle turned. At the last second, she forced her feet to retreat, but it was too late. A state trooper was stepping into the cabin.
Harper felt a bolt of terror. The officer matched the composite sketch of the man responsible for ambushing Riley’s bodyguards’ vehicle. He’d shaved since and changed his uniform from park ranger to cop, but otherwise it was a remarkable likeness, right down to his mean, calculating expression.
A zen stillness came over Harper. A tip Kat had mentioned from the Adirondacks survival book returned to her with perfect clarity.
Your brain is your biggest asset … Those people that remain calm, don’t panic, and then logically reason out their situation are the ones who most often survive.
“Good morning!” she chirped in the manner of a waitress welcoming a favored customer to a diner. “I was just on my way to answer the door.” She eyed the badge on his chest: OFFICER BURT SKINNER.
The officer’s brow jutted over his pebble eyes like an eroded cliff. “Who are you? Where’s the musher?”
“He’s out exercising the huskies,” improvised Harper. “You’ve just missed him. He’ll be gone for hours. Would you like me to pass on a message?”
“Isn’t that interesting.” Officer Skinner began to roam around the room, taking in the scattered foam cushion innards, the dishes piled in the sink, the ash spilling from the grate. “And you’d be what—his daughter?”
“Uh-huh. Like I said, he’ll be gone for a while. Maybe you could come back later.”
“I could, but then again I might make myself a coffee first. That okay with you, young miss?”
He strolled into the kitchen and filled the coffeepot with water. “What did you say your name was?”
Harper hovered by the breakfast bar, torn between convincing him to leave and making a break for the storeroom. Her mind raced. Why would a police officer dressed as a park ranger attack Riley’s bodyguards? Was he a cop at all or just pretending?
But, no, he had to be the real deal. It was him who’d taken her call at the sheriff’s office, she was certain of it. The “young miss” was a giveaway. Was it possible that there was an extra member of the Wish List gang she and Kat hadn’t counted on? A crooked cop would make a perfect robber. Maybe he’d planned to eliminate the star witness so the trial would collapse, freeing his accomplice, Gerry Meeks.
Whatever the truth, he was a cunning and deadly monster who had already put two trained protection officers in the hospital. It was unbelievable bad luck that of all the cops in all the sheriff’s departments in the U.S., Harper had gotten him on the end of the line. Now he believed that someone in the Dog House had information on Riley’s whereabouts.
“Umm, uh, my name’s Louise,” she told him. “There’s a to-go cup in the cupboard behind you. Take it with you! Drop it off next time you’re passing. You’re welcome to have the bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups too.”
He propped himself against the counter, head cocked to one side. “Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t. ’Fore I do anything, though, Louise, you and I need to have words. See, Torvill, the Norwegian widow who owns the huskies, she only ever hires women mushers to take care of ’em. Says they’re more reliable. Not sayin’ I agree with that, but they’re her huskies. It’s her choice. The clue’s in the team name: Wonder Women Racing.
“Other thing is, Torvill’s a real stickler for tidiness. Any time I been around here, you could eat off the floor. But right now it’s like a grenade went off in a cushion factory.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Harper noticed a cereal box wobble. Rocky’s masked-bandit features rose above the box of granola before sinking out of sight. If she hadn’t been so scared, she’d have laughed. She did her best to focus on the sallow jowls of Officer Skinner—if that was his real name—while edging carefully around the counter.
He blocked her path. “You seem pretty bundled up, Louise, for a kid who claims to only be hanging around the cabin, not bothering to wash the dishes. Sure you’re not off to the North Pole like one of them explorers?”
“I was going to out with Dad and the huskies, but I changed my mind.”
He snorted. “Call me suspicious, Louise, but what I’d like to know is why you’ve been lying to me since I arrived. You’re averaging about one lie per minute. First, you lied about what you and your dad are doing in Torvill’s cabin—”
“We’re visiting!”
“If that was true, you’d be at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Canada. That’s where she was taken for an emergency operation after suffering a burst appendix on an overnight dog-training trip. There were complications, and she was sedated for a few days. When she came around last night, she was frantic about her huskies—understandably. Asked us to check up on them.”
Harper nearly fainted. That explained why the huskies had been left alone. She and Kat were going to be arrested, exactly as they’d feared.
But the cop hadn’t finished.
“Next, you told a lie about the huskies going out in the snow ‘for hours.’ I ain’t deaf. They’re whining and scuffling fit to blow a gasket down in the basement. And I’ll take a punt that Louise is not your real name. That’s lie number three. Fourth, you’re lying about why you’re dressed for a polar expedition. Fifth, you made up lies about Riley Matthews’s kidnappers. Yeah, I know it was you on the phone, Louise. I traced your call to this here cabin.”
He lunged at her and clutched her arm. “Start talking, kid, or you’ll be walking all the way to the jailhouse.”
“Ow, you’re hurting me.”
He squeezed even harder. “Where is that Riley brat?” he thundered. “I had a tip-off that she knows where the diamond necklace is stashed. Where is she hiding? Urff!!!”
He dropped Harper’s arm and reeled away, blood streaming from two punctures on his neck. Chittering in terror, the raccoon jumped from his shoulder onto the kitchen cabinet. The husky cookie jar smashed as he evaded the man’s grasp and leaped for his escape route.
Before disappearing, the raccoon pivoted toward Harper as if to reassure himself that she didn’t need his help anymore.
“Go, Rocky!” she screamed.
Officer Skinner was clawing at a roll of paper towels. The raccoon was forgotten as he clamped a wad to his bleeding neck.
Harper didn’t waste time concerning herself with his well-being. She ran for the front door. Slamming it behind her, she jumped off the porch into the snow.
All she could think about was leading him away from Kat. Once she’d done that, she’d try to flee into the woods.
The man staggered out onto the porch after her. “Come back here or you’re dead.”
Harper kept going, sloshing and crunching through the snow on the driveway, her breath coming in gasps. When she reached the police car, she leaned into the driver’s side, wrinkling her nose at the stench of stale sweat, festering burger wrappers, and crumpled coffee cups. Burt Skinner was hardly in a position to give lectures on cleanliness.
Wrenching the keys from the ignition, she rushed down to the lakeshore and threw them as hard and far as she could. They slid into a crack in the ice and were lost to view.
Officer Skinner was standing on a rise glaring down at her. “You’ve done it now, Louise. You and Riley Matthews, you’ll be sorry.”
As soon as Rocky came shooting down the storeroom pipe, gibbering with fear, Kat knew that Harper was in desperate trouble.
At the time, she was standing beside the printer. While poking around the prepper cupboard for dog treats to keep the huskies quiet, she’d spotted the police sketch Harper had uploaded for her. The fake park warden who’d ambushed the vehicle Riley was traveling in looked every inch a bully with a badge. She could imagine him arresting people just because he could.
While at the printer, Kat noticed something else too. Harper had reprinted the photos from the Royal Manhattan in hope of improving the detail. She’d forgotten to pack them. As Kat slid them into her backpack, she spotted what looked to be the white flare of a flashbulb on one of the pictures.
But there wasn’t a moment to think about it as Rocky came flying out of the pipe and leaped into Kat’s arms. That was too much for the agitated huskies. They barked and howled loudly enough to be heard in Florida.
Remembering Harper’s instructions on what to do in an emergency, Kat made a series of spontaneous decisions.
She stuffed Rocky into her backpack, zipped up his protests, and heaved him onto her shoulders. Leaping onto the sled, she snatched the ganglines and popped open the garage doors. As cold air blasted in, the huskies blasted out.
“Gee!” cried Kat. “Gee, gee!”
The huskies swerved left. As they rounded the front of the cabin, Kat got the shock of her life. In the distance, Harper was stumbling along the lakeshore. A barrel-shaped police officer lumbered after her, a bloodied scarf of paper towels billowing from his neck.
With a collective howl of rage, the huskies bore down on him.
“Leave it! On by!” Kat screamed as they drew level with the cop.
Five of the huskies obeyed—albeit with great reluctance—but Thunder swung his head as they swept past, delivering a vicious nip.
The man skidded on the ice and went down like a felled buffalo. He lay on his ample belly, yelling curses.
Kat braked long enough to pull Harper onto the rig, hugging her close with one arm and clinging to the lines with the other. They bounced and wobbled along the lake’s edge toward Otter Creek.
Kat’s heart was in her mouth. Would the ice be solid enough to take their combined weight? The huskies would know. She had to trust them.
They did, and it was.
The minute they were sheltered by the high, rocky walls of the creek, the tortured yells of the police officer faded to nothing. The huskies quickly found their stride. They ran in silence, their breath blowing in white puffs, their bright blue eyes watching for hazards.
Snow-covered evergreen trees hung like specters over the banks. Though the wind numbed their cheeks and sliced through Kat’s thermal gloves, the fire in her chest blazed strongly.
“Who was that man, Harper? Did he hurt you?”
Harper recounted her conversation with the officer and her terror when she’d realized he matched the sketch of the ambush attacker. It had changed everything. Theirs was no longer a mission only to save Riley. She and Harper had to get to safety now!
Rocky too, Kat remembered with a smile, as the raccoon poked his head out of the backpack.
One after the other, landmarks the girls had circled on the map and rehearsed until they were dizzy fell behind them. Deadwood Bridge. Pinto Pond. Wild-Goose River.
Before they knew it, the huskies were puffing up the riverbank. Silver Lake, iced over and streaked the color of mercury, was before them.
Harper saw the pale-yellow house first. Smoke wafted from the chimney. “Kat, that’s Cath Woodward’s home at the end of the lane. I recognize it from the satellite image. Seems we’re in luck. I think she’s home.”
“Haw,” Kat called to the dogs. “Haw!”
Panting noisily, the huskies veered right and pulled up behind a battered SUV. A sign planted in the snow-covered lawn appealed to visitors to: SAVE ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL.
“Hold on to the huskies,” said Harper. “I’ll ring the doorbell.” She walked confidently up the path of the clapboard house.
Kat stared at the hospital sign, remembering the local newspaper report: “With the battle to save the loons behind her, Woodward plans to turn her attention to fundraising for the St. Francis of Assisi Children’s Hospital…”
Riley’s words also came back to her: My nan’s crazy about birds. Dad thinks she’s crazy in every way, but that’s only because she’s as fierce as a lioness when it comes to righting wrongs.
Righting Wrongs.
Wrong Righters.
Wrong Writers.
“Harper, stop!”
Abandoning the huskies, Kat ran up the path.
It was too late.
Petite, purple-haired Cath Woodward was opening the door, her smile turning to astonishment as she took in the six huskies spreading out across her lawn, the bedraggled girls in their oversized thermals, and Rocky the raccoon, shrieking to be let out of Kat’s rucksack.
Kat bounded onto the porch. To Harper’s astonishment, she said furiously, “It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the eighth member of the Wish List gang or the Wrong Writers or Clue Club or whatever stupid name you call yourselves. How could you do it? You’ve betrayed your own granddaughter, made her a pawn in your evil game. She loves you so much. Are you going to claim the reward for kidnapping her too?”
A tall man with many tattoos and a gentle gaze came up behind Riley’s grandmother. “Is there a problem, Cath?”
“Hope not,” she said. “Any chance you could feed and water these girls’ huskies, Michael? They look as if they might need it.”
His face lit up. “It would be a pleasure.”
“Don’t you dare touch them!” Kat began angrily, but Harper quieted her with a We have more pressing business glance.
Cath Woodward looked sad and resigned, as if the fight had gone out of her.
“I don’t believe you’d abduct your own granddaughter,” said Harper. “So what have you done with her? Where’s Riley?”
“I think you’d better come in.”
Kat tried to resist, but Harper was already unlacing her snowy boots and following Cath into the house, and she wasn’t sure what else to do. Whispering soothingly to the raccoon, she stepped over the threshold.
The hallway was lit with candles and smelled of warming winter spices.
Classical music played softly. Cath hung up their coats and gloves before leading them up a staircase lined with photos of sailboats and birds. Kat noticed a portrait of a flame-haired woman who resembled Riley.
Cath pushed open a bedroom door and Kat’s mouth dropped open. Riley was sitting up in bed, wearing candy-striped pajamas. She was absorbed in the game of Scrabble she was playing with Bianca and Georgia. Kat recognized the women from their online photos. Bianca gave a nervous smile. Georgia threw a questioning glance at Cath and an alarmed one at Rocky.
“Riley,” said Cath. “Two friends are here to see you. Three, if you count the raccoon.”
“I keep telling you, I don’t have any friends,” said Riley, intent on rearranging the letters she concealed behind a fold of patchwork quilt. “Except y’all, of course … Uh, what raccoon?”
When she saw Kat, her expression flickered through more moods than Storm Mindy. It settled on partly sunny with a warning of thundershowers to come.
“Kat with a K! Harper! What are you doing here? How did you find me?”
“They know everything,” Cath Woodward said in a flat tone. “Don’t ask me how. They know about the Wish List gang, the Clue Club … even the Wrong Writers.”
“No!” cried Bianca.
“Are the cops here?” asked Georgia.
Riley’s eyes met Kat’s. There was an audible gulp.
“This is not how it looks,” she said.