10:45AM

Samantha De La Croix wasn’t scheduled to report in for duty until noon, but something had compelled her to show up to work a little earlier than usual. She’d been up most of the night going over her finances; with a new steady salary she’d no longer need to rely on renting her house to strangers in the spring and summer months in order to pay her mortgage, but now she’d have less money to take care of basic repairs and maintenance. The rain gutters needed replacing, and she doubted if her roof would hold out for another winter. Then there were the monthly boarding fees for her beloved mare Ooljee, not to mention veterinary fees and any other number of incidental necessities. At least while on duty she was able to shut off the little imaginary calculator that ticked away in her head. Handing out speeding tickets, picking up the occasional shoplifter or giving out warnings to overly boisterous vacationers; it all kept her mind occupied for a little while and she could worry about something other than her own personal matters.

Laurie Brady, the day shift dispatch operator grabbed her the minute she walked into the door. “Sheriff Wade just called; seems we have a child missing from school this morning and he wants you to look into it; said the father would meet you in front of the elementary school.”

Samantha grabbed the report from the woman’s hand and her eyes narrowed as she read the details. 

“Apparently he knows the little boy’s dad and he wants you to give it top priority.” The older woman eyed Samantha, noting how all color had drained from her face.

Egan and Jacob Walsh. A sick feeling took hold in her stomach. “I know them both. Hopefully he simply wandered off and it’s just a matter of finding him.”

Her words sounded confident, but in her heart she could almost imagine Egan’s anguish. No parent wants to get the news that their child isn’t where they’re supposed to be.

“I’m on it.”

***

Egan stood waiting out in front of Jacob’s school with a shivering Principle Leeds standing beside him.

“Mr. Walsh, we could wait in my office where it’s warm. The police officer will know to meet us inside.”

Egan scowled, digging his hands further into the pockets of his jacket. He didn’t know whether the man was simply being practical or if he actually resented the fact that he’d lost track of one of his students. He suspected the latter. First the attendance office clerk who questioned him about his memory and now this shivering school official who seemed more worried about catching a cold than he was with one of his student’s safety.

“I’ll wait right here. The Sheriff said the Officer would meet us in front of the school and this is where we’re both stayin’ until that happens.”

Principal Leeds was about to open his mouth to object, but Egan’s expression made him think better of it. This was really a most unfortunate occurrence, but he couldn’t realistically be expected to keep tabs on every student at every moment of the day. If his own father lost track of him, was it really fair to lay the blame on him or the school personnel’s shoulders? The two men stood in uncomfortable silence until Samantha pulled up to meet them less than ten minutes later.

She was all business as quickly interviewed them both, instructing Principal Leeds to send for the two boys whom Egan had seen Jacob with earlier that morning. She wondered why Leeds hadn’t already done this himself, but she kept her thoughts to herself; there was no reason to agitate either man any further at this point and it wouldn’t help them find Jacob.

 Something told her that Jacob wasn’t far away, and her suspicions were confirmed when she interviewed the boys in question.

Jimmy Carson and Patrick Laramie looked frightened when they appeared in the Principal’s Office escorted by one of the office staff. Principal Leeds started to question the boys but Samantha waved him off. Crouching down to meet them at eye level, her voice was soft yet firm.

“Boys, I think you know why you’re here. I need you to tell me what happened to Jacob this morning and why he didn’t go with you to class.”

Jimmy spoke up first. “It was that bully Craig Donager; he was kicking this dog that ran in front of his car and almost caused him to crash and Jacob ran back to stop him.”

“Yeah, and Jacob stood up to him, too.” Patrick added, his voice excited. “We tried to tell him to come back but he was worried about the dog.”

Egan listened quietly, his temper easing a bit when he realized what Jacob had been trying to do.

After getting all the information she could from the boys, Samantha interviewed the school janitor, hoping that he might have seen something that would help them. Stanley Worthington was in his sixties and his eyesight wasn’t as good as it used to be. But he was familiar with all the students.    

“Now, I do remember that stray dog. Been hangin’ around here for a couple of days. Don’t know where it came from, but I did see someone walking off through the north end field with it right after school started.”

“Adult or child?” Samantha asked.

Stanley hung his head and shrugged apologetically. “I didn’t get a good enough look. See, I left my glasses in my truck ‘cuz I mostly need ‘em when I’m driving. I think it was someone small, but they could have just been a ways off and I couldn’t tell you how tall they were.”

“Was this person walking with a dog?” It was Egan who spoke this time.

Stanley closed his eyes and tried to remember. “You know, I think there was a dog.”

Egan headed towards the door. “Which field and what are we all standing around waiting for?”

Samantha thanked Stanley for his assistance and nodded at Principal Leeds. She was tempted to arrest him on the spot for negligence, but figured there’d be plenty of time for that later.

“Egan, hold up.”

Something had changed between them in the past twenty minutes; it was in the tone of her voice as she called out to him and in the expression on his face when he stopped to wait for her. The awkward yet playful sense of flirting was gone and they were simply two people who were trying to find a missing child.

“Principal Leeds owes you his gratitude.” Egan growled as she walked alongside him. “He’d be nursin’ a busted jaw if it wasn’t for you.”

“He probably deserves that and more, but I’m glad you didn’t. We can set nails under the tires of his car later.”

It was a bad joke, but Egan couldn’t help but smile in spite of it. “Do you think he wandered very far?”

Jacob had been wearing a warm coat and mittens, but the weather report was calling for more snow. He bit back on the fear that was gripping is gut and tried to focus. Jacob would be found safe. He had to believe that.

“Well, the way I’m figuring it, he was looking for a place to keep the dog where he could come back and get it later. You know how little boys think.”  They made their way back out to the front of the school and Samantha indicated towards her Blazer when Egan started to make his way over to his truck.

“Let’s stick together. I know this area better than you do and we’ll have better luck in finding him.”

Egan was silent as he got in and fastened his seat belt, overcome with guilt and worry. Samantha’s voice was low and gentle as she tried to draw him out.

“Do you have any idea why Jacob would wander off like this?”

Egan sighed and decided to confide in her, offering the condensed version of Jacob’s history as they headed toward the field Stanley Worthington had mentioned.

Samantha’s heart went out to Jacob. For a child to lose his mother at such a young age was a terrible tragedy. She knew all too well how drugs and alcohol could ravage the lives of a family.

“I can imagine it’s been difficult, suddenly realizing that you were responsible for a child you never even knew existed. I guess it’s only normal that you two would share a bit of a bumpy road in the beginning.”

Egan sighed, his eyes keen on the field they were approaching. “He’s like night and day from one moment to the next. The temper tantrums, the bedwetting, the defiance over dinner; it’s overwhelming.”

He told her about his decision to seek help from a family counselor, again feeling the waves of guilt and failure coming over him as he vented his frustration.

Samantha pulled the Blazer over to the side of the road and glanced over at him. “Okay, let’s start here. If we’re lucky we’ll find two sets of footprints and we’ll be able to follow them. With a little more luck, they’ll lead us to where Jacob’s hiding.”

***

The dog’s hair stood up on its back as it growled at the intruder. Jacob held his breath, watching the shadow of whatever it was as it darted further back in the other room. The dog started to bark and there was a crash and Jacob and the dog found themselves standing nearly nose to nose with a big angry raccoon.

The raccoon bared its teeth and edged back; growling and rocking its head to and fro in agitation. Without thinking, Jacob took off his backpack and threw it at the raccoon.

Direct hit. The raccoon wasn’t hurt, but it seemed a little dazed, backing off again. A quick shake of its head and the dog lunged forward. Perhaps deciding that it was outnumbered, the raccoon turned tail and scampered out the door.

Jacob was shaking as he called the dog back beside him. Deciding that the immediate danger was over, he went over to pick up his backpack. So okay, what now?

He went into the other room where the raccoon had been hiding. Up against a wall, spray painted with an upside down star was the skeleton of an old couch. Directly across from this was what was left of a fireplace, stripped of its mantle and filled with debris. Suddenly realizing that this was probably not the best place for him to be staying, Jacob decided that he and the dog had better continue on their journey. But as he stepped back outside the sky had grown darker and flurries of snow were beginning to fall. His feet were cold and he couldn’t feel his toes. On top of that, he was hungry.

Deciding that he should probably stay where he was for the time being, he went back inside. The dog followed close at his heels as he went over to the couch and sat down beside it. He fought off a shiver as he reached into his backpack and dug for his lunch bag. The dog snuggled up beside him and Jacob fed him half his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He thought he heard someone calling out his name but when he tried to listen for it again all he heard was the howling of the wind.

12:30PM

They found the footprints of a boy and a dog that cut a trail the far field just beyond the north end of the elementary school, as Stanley Worthington had indicated. They led off towards the tree line and then disappeared as the snow gave way to hard frozen earth and scrubby underbrush.

“Do you know your way through these woods?” Egan wished he was on horseback; they could cover more ground.

Samantha had been thinking the same thing. But luckily, she did know these woods fairly well. The town drunk, old Henry MacDonald often set up a makeshift camp during the summer months, frightening the hell out of tourists who stumbled upon him unexpectedly. 

“There’s an old abandoned house about half a mile in. Some of the older kids like to hang out there sometimes and smoke pot. The town council has been threatening to tear it down for the past couple of years but the funds always seem to end up going toward something else.”

They trudged through the brambles that led up into the tree line, wincing as the sharp branches snapped back, scraping their hands and faces. They took turns calling out Jacob’s name, but were greeted with only silence. Then Egan heard the sound of a dog barking.

“That’s them!”

He darted off in the direction of the sounds and Samantha took off after him. She was out of breath and her lungs ached from the cold air when she finally caught up to him.

“Over here!” He called as the dilapidated roofline came into view. “Jacob!”

The dog’s barking turned into worried whining as Egan and Samantha burst through the front entrance of the old house.  A small frightened voice answered him.

“Daddy?”

Egan found Jacob huddled in a corner, his lips blue and shivering. Pulling the boy into his arms he hugged him close. “Oh my God, Jacob.” Egan fought back a sob of relief.

Jacob shivered as his father let him go to took a good look at him. Kneeling down before his son he smoothed his hand over his forehead, which felt hot to his touch.

“Why did you run away? Are things so terrible between us that we can’t fix them?”

Jacob’s eyes were glassy and his cheeks were red from the cold. He looked back at his father and shook his head, the fear and sadness in his voice almost more than Egan could bear.  “I didn’t want you to send me away.”  

Suddenly, Egan understood what his son must have been going through. “I will never send you away, do you understand? You’re my son and I love you and if there’s a problem, we’ll work on fixin’ it together.”

A tear slid down Jacob’s cheek and the dog pawed at Egan’s boots.

“And who’s this?”

Jacob reached over to pat the dog’s head. “He’s my friend. I think his name is Krypto.”

Samantha smiled, stepping closer to join them. “I think Krypto’s a girl, honey.”

Jacob looked at his father. “Can we keep her?”

Egan’s expression grew sober. “We have no place to keep her right now.”

Samantha spoke without even thinking. “I could look after her until you have a place of your own. I have a big yard and I’d kind of like the company.”

Jacob looked relieved with her solution and Egan smiled his thanks. Samantha suddenly remembered her dream of the horse spirit and felt her cheeks grow hot when she caught Egan watching her. 

She shook it off and turned back to business. “We’d better get him back to the car.”

***

Later that afternoon when they arrived back at the Inn and Jacob was fed and tucked safely into his warm bed, Egan watched over him until his breathing grew steady, then quietly got up to go call Samantha and thank her again for helping both of them. He felt a warm glow in his heart when he thought about her and longed to hear her voice again.

He reached to flip off the light switch but Jacob’s voice drew him back.

“I can’t remember what she looks like anymore.”

He felt his heart breaking again. “You mean your mother?”

“I dream about her sometimes, but I can’t see her face.”

Egan remembered a particular photo album from the summer he met Jacob’s mother. It was packed up in storage with the rest of his belongings that he had shipped out from Texas.

“I think I have a few pictures of her from when we first met, a ways before you were born. Would you like to have them as your own?”