Dan Smith - The Child Thief

‘No.’

‘Or did you just kick him when he was lying in the snow?’

‘Don’t judge me, Luka.’

‘Like you judged him .’

‘You’ve no right—’

‘Rights? That’s a joke. What? You suddenly grew some balls after you lynched a man? It gave you the strength to step forward, did it? Or are you speaking because you think these men stand behind you?’ I looked at the others, but none of them made any sign of wanting to join Leonid. They looked at one another and I could see they knew what they’d done. Finally, there was shame.

Leonid looked at the ground.

‘I thought so.’ I watched them before turning back to Stanislav. ‘Show me the tracks.’

‘Maybe Dimitri should come too?’ he offered.

I nodded. ‘Of course.’ I had no love for Dimitri, but I hadn’t lost my ability to empathise with him. His daughter was missing, and I couldn’t think of anything that would burden my heart more than if Lara were taken from me.

The three of us moved away from the mess of the scuffle and the destructive tracks of the searchers until we came to the pristine snow, and Stanislav pointed.

We stood in a line at the first print. A clear footprint in the snow, followed by another and another, moving away into the trees until they were too far away to see any more.

‘Could it be Dariya?’ Stanislav asked.

Dimitri moved to step forward but I put out a hand and stopped him. ‘Keep them fresh,’ I said. ‘For once the snow is our friend.’

Dimitri resisted a moment, then stopped. He shouted Dariya’s name into the woods and waited for a reply.

There was no sound. Nothing. Not a bird call, not a flutter of snow from a branch, not even the whisper of the wind. He called again, and when there was no reply he stepped forward once more, pushing against my hand which was held to his thick coat.

‘Please,’ I said. ‘For Dariya’s sake. Stay still.’

I felt him relax.

‘You think they’re her tracks?’ Stanislav asked.

I already knew they weren’t Dariya’s tracks. Dariya was eight years old. A young girl with small feet and a short stride. These tracks were large and deep and far apart.

‘What do you think?’ I said as I continued to study the marks, crouching in the snow for a closer look, blowing away the sprinkling of soft snow that had fallen into the prints. The tracks were recent enough to call them fresh. They had sharp edges, the bottom packed hard but not frozen to crystal. Older prints would be less defined, crumbled around the edges, glazed with ice. These were clear; the snow had captured them perfectly. I could make out the shallow tread of the boot that had made them, a place on the bottom of the right foot, close to the toe, where a piece of the sole was missing. This was what I’d use as a signature track. That defect on that particular boot made its print unique. I could follow it.

‘I think they’re too big,’ said Stanislav. He crouched beside me and we looked at each other.

‘We should follow them,’ Dimitri said.

‘These aren’t Dariya’s tracks,’ Stanislav said.

‘What?’

‘He’s right,’ I told him. ‘Anyone can see these aren’t your daughter’s tracks.’

‘Then whose?’ He started to move again. ‘We have to go after—’

I stood and held him back once more. ‘There might be other tracks,’ I said. ‘Something to show us where Dariya has gone.’

‘And you’re an expert?’ Dimitri said.

‘I’ve followed tracks.’

‘Rabbits,’ he said. ‘Squirrels. That makes you an expert?’

I ignored him and went back to the other men, taking no notice of them watching me as I went to the boundaries of the disturbance we’d made and began walking around it, looking for other signs. It wasn’t long before I found them.

I called to my brother-in-law, but Dimitri wasn’t alone when he came to where I was crouched in the snow. The others followed, keeping back.

‘The same tracks,’ I said without looking at them.

I sensed Dimitri step closer and I put out a hand to take hold of the hem of his coat. I tugged, indicating he should come down to my level.

‘I have tracked more than rabbits and squirrels,’ I said quietly. ‘They’re what I track here, because they’re what we have. Maybe a wolf from time to time, but I’ve been way north of here, right into the Carpathians, and I’ve tracked bear and deer and elk.’ I looked at Dimitri. ‘And you’re forgetting the things you hate about me. I’ve followed armies through the snow and the summer forests, across steppe and river, and they’ve followed me. I’ve tracked and killed men – experts at concealing themselves – sharpshooters hiding in the forest. I’ve hunted deserters and enemies, anarchists and revolutionaries and tsarists.’ I leaned close so Dimitri could feel my breath in his ear. ‘Don’t doubt that I know how to track a little girl.’

Now I looked back at the others standing behind us and I raised my voice. ‘Any one of us can see these tracks were made by the same boots as those tracks back there. And even my daughter Lara,’ I glanced at Dimitri, ‘even my daughter Lara could tell me these prints were not left by an eight-year-old girl.’

I pointed into the track. ‘The light’s not so good, but see how deep this is?’ I took Dimitri’s hand and pulled off his glove. ‘Put your finger in it,’ I told him. ‘ Feel how deep this track is.’ I let go of his hand and waited for him to put it into the impression in the snow, nodding at him when he hesitated. ‘Go on.’

When Dimitri had done it, I stood and walked away, beckoning him to follow. We went to where the other tracks led away and I told him to do the same thing.

‘What?’ Dimitri said looking up. ‘What am I supposed to be feeling?’

‘They’re different,’ I said.

‘For God’s sake, we’re wasting time. My daughter is out there, maybe she’s—’

‘These tracks are leaving,’ I said. ‘The others were arriving.’

Dimitri looked at me.

‘And they’re made by the same boots. There’s a defect in the right sole, close to the toe.’

‘Dariya’s?’

‘No. You followed her tracks. You wiped them out with your own; otherwise you’d be able to compare them. These are a man’s boots. And the prints are much deeper here. This man was carrying something when he left. Something heavy.’

‘Something heavy like what?’

‘A child.’

Now the realisation came to his eyes. Dimitri’s whole face changed as he stood and looked out at the tracks that disappeared into the trees. ‘We have to follow. Now.’ He began to move, but once again I stopped him. Dimitri pulled against me but I dragged him back.

‘This is going to be difficult for you, Dimitri, but you can’t go now. Unprepared. In the dark.’ The sun was gone now and the sky was darkening quickly. It would be black in just a few minutes. ‘Only an idiot would go into the forest at night in just their coat and boots.’

‘But we have to go after her.’

‘We can’t leave her out there.’ Leonid came forward.

‘I’ll go,’ Stanislav said. ‘Together we’ll find her.’

‘You’d die,’ I said. ‘That’s what you’d do together out there, and you know it. You’d get lost in the dark and you’d freeze to death.’

‘What about Dariya?’ Leonid said. ‘She—’

‘She’ll be fine. Whoever she’s with, he’ll have to stop. There’s nothing out there for a long way. It’ll be too dark, too cold. He’ll have to stop. He’ll have somewhere. Shelter of some kind.’

‘Then we’ll catch up with him. Come on.’ Dimitri turned to the others. ‘Come with me.’

Stanislav nodded, but the others stood and watched. Uncertain.