Dana Mentink - Hazardous Homecoming

“All right,” Pickford said, grabbing his radio. “Let’s just go do that.”

They did not make it farther than the front counter before the door banged open. Josephine clumped in, a shocked silence burying them all for a moment at her wild-eyed stare, her dress bunched and knotted, dirty hem dragging on the floor.

Pickford recovered first. “Mrs. Walker. Come into my office. We were just making plans to go see you.” They returned to the back and he continued. “Ruby said you’ve got a locket. I’ll need to have a look at that.”

“He’s coming back,” she said. “He called me a few minutes ago to tell me so.”

“Who has, ma’am?”

“My husband.”

Cooper tried not to look disbelieving, but he knew Lester Walker had taken to acting strangely, convinced that the Hudsons or Peter knew something they weren’t telling about his daughter’s abduction. Days after Alice’s abduction, he’d disappeared, too, though the police had no evidence to suggest he’d done anything to his daughter and had not even been in the county when she was snatched. Indeed the man was grief stricken, according to accounts that Cooper had heard. Lester hadn’t been seen since, that Cooper was aware of.

Pickford fiddled with the three-hole punch on his desk. “Your husband is coming back, ma’am? Mr. Walker?”

She nodded, a smile of satisfaction pulling at her thin lips. “Yes, and he’ll make sure my baby is found.” Her eyes slid to Ruby. “You’re going to pay now. For what you did.”

“She did nothing,” Mr. Hudson said.

“Oh, yes,” Mrs. Walker singsonged. “Oh, yes.”

Cooper saw delicate patches of color deepen on Ruby’s cheeks.

“I did not hurt Alice, Mrs. Walker. She was my friend, and I’ve grieved every day since she disappeared.” Her voice hitched, and she cleared her throat. “You need to give Sheriff Pickford the locket so he can have it DNA tested.”

She glared at Ruby. “It’s at home. My husband is on his way to get it. He told me when he called.”

The chief held up his hands to soothe her. “All right. We’ll just call your husband to talk it over. Okay? What’s the number?”

“He doesn’t have a cell phone. He called from a pay phone on his way to our house. He must have felt deep in his soul what was happening with our Alice, and he called just at the time we needed him the most. I told him about the locket.”

“We’ll go talk to him in person, then, at your place.”

“That’s a good idea, before anything happens to the locket.” Ruby strode to the door.

“Not to be rude at all, Ruby, but this is a police matter now. You’re not to tag along.” The sheriff shot a glance at Perry. “Or any of the clan.”

Cooper knew he was included in the directive, as well. Stay away. Let the police handle it. The last time he’d trusted the police to handle things, his brother had been brought in for questioning, turned into the object of hatred by the whole town. He wasn’t going to intrude on an investigation, but he was not going to be the mild-mannered bystander either.

Ruby’s expression was a blend of anger, determination and exasperation. He was struck by the fact that as much as he did not have fond feelings for the Hudson family, he could not deny that it was hard to tear his eyes away from Ruby. Her hair was the kind of rusty red found in autumn leaves, skin creamy and porcelain, but she was certainly not fragile. Ruby was dainty and graceful, but he knew there was steel running along her spine.

“He’s right. Let’s take you to the doctor and see to your injury,” Perry said.

Pickford focused again on Josephine. “You’re very fortunate that Ruby wasn’t injured badly and isn’t pressing charges, but that doesn’t mean I won’t take action if I believe you’re intending to hurt someone. I’m going to insist you go speak to one of the doctors at the hospital right now.”

Josephine frowned.

“Let’s have you all wait outside for just a minute,” Pickford said. “I need to make a phone call.”

Mick was already heading to the door, looking relieved that he’d been sprung from the tiny, crowded room.

Perry thanked the sheriff and nodded to Cooper before he exited, as well.

Considering the Hudsons were low on the list of his favorite families, he could not explain why he took a step toward Ruby when Josephine walked by. Maybe it was the memory of Josephine standing over her, triumphant. Or the feeling that something about Lester’s well-timed phone call felt wrong, like the scream of a chain saw cutting through a silent forest morning.

Josephine surged close and Ruby backed into Cooper’s steadying arms.

“Now you’re going to get what’s coming to you,” Josephine said, her breath stirring the hair around Ruby’s face, one side of her mouth drooping slightly. “You’ll be punished, just like you should have been all those years ago for hiding the truth about what happened to my girl.”

Ruby’s cheeks flushed and went pale as milk. He tightened his sideways embrace. “Accusations can ruin people, Mrs. Walker.”

She peered at him. “Peter and the Hudsons. Both of them worked together to ruin my life. Lester said it was a conspiracy all along. But no more. Now it’s time to pay.”

He was unsure how to respond as she moved by and passed out of sight into the lobby.

Ruby broke from his grasp. “My family had nothing to do with this,” she said, turning blazing eyes on his.

He felt the flush of anger and pride. “And neither did mine. Feels rotten when someone thinks you’re a liar, doesn’t it?”

He expected an acid response to match his own bitterness. Instead he saw her falter as the barb struck home. For a moment, he wished he could retract the words. No one escaped unscathed from that long-ago moment. No one.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “That was...”

A shout from the receptionist interrupted his apology. Ruby and Cooper charged through the reception room and out the front door to find Josephine lying on the steps, eyes half-closed, Perry kneeling beside her.

“She collapsed,” Perry said.

The receptionist covered the phone with one hand. “I’ve got an ambulance en route.”

Sheriff Pickford addressed the few passersby who had hastened to help while an officer tended to the fallen woman. “Ambulance is on its way. Let’s just give the lady some privacy.”

“Isn’t that Josephine Walker?” The question came from a whip-thin woman dressed in jeans and a denim jacket. “I heard she found her daughter’s locket in the woods.”

Pickford’s thick brows drew together. “News travels at Mach 2 around here. What of it, Ms. Bradford?”

She flashed a smile. “You can call me Heather, Sheriff.”

“I make it a practice to keep away from a first-name basis with reporters.”

“Freelance writer.” Heather kept the smile.

“Whatever.”

“So it’s true that the locket was found? The one that belonged to the abducted girl?” she pressed.

The ambulance made the turn onto the main road, lights flashing. Cooper thought a look of relief washed over Pickford. “No information now. Priority now is getting emergency medical help to Ms. Walker. I’ll need everyone to step back and let our medics do their jobs.”

Cooper stayed at a distance. Mick and Perry bookended Ruby, standing like protective pillars on either side of her as Josephine was loaded into the ambulance. He wondered what was going through Ruby’s mind.

Would the investigation stall until Josephine was released?

And in the meantime, the locket, the clue to finally clearing Peter’s name, was hidden somewhere, unaccounted for.

Heather was edging her way toward the Hudson family.