Merciless

“Well, I don’t know. Maybe. About an hour ago two people came in and reported a missing person. To be honest, that happens all the damn time; then the missing person rolls back home after a couple of days being on a bender.”

“Is the missing person female?”

“That’s the thing. Yes, she’s female, but she doesn’t fit the pattern of the other two victims. First, she’s older.”

I paced. “Like how much older?”

“Old enough to be the other girls’ grandmother. And the other thing? You know her.”

I froze. “Who is it?”

“Penny Pretty Horses.”

“She’s missing? Who filled out the report?”

“Her mother. Sophie Red Leaf? Who, I understand, used to work for you. And her son. John-John Pretty Horses? Who, I understand, you used to work for at Clementine’s?”

“Yes. How long since anyone last saw her?”

“According to the report, they waited twenty-four hours.” Officer Orson sighed. “Look. I’m not supposed to do this, but do you have a fax number where I can send this report? I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the Shooting Star and Dupris cases because…”

Rollie Rondeaux was in jail. Even Officer Orson believed Rollie was guilty.

“You can send them to my home fax, and then if I think the FBI needs to get involved, I’ll talk to Agent Turnbull.”

“Thanks. I didn’t want to overstep my bounds, but I also didn’t want the feds to accuse us of dropping the ball again.”

“So noted.” I gave him the fax number.

I’d forgotten Hope was in the office working on the books. She glanced up expectantly as I came in. “A fax is coming through for me.”

She returned to her calculator.

A minute later the fax machine beeped and spit out paper. I skimmed the part about name, age, etc., and skipped to the last-known whereabouts section.

Evidently, Penny had gone for her noon walk and hadn’t returned. Sophie hadn’t immediately panicked because Penny had a tendency to go where the road took her. Sophie claimed she hadn’t kept too close tabs on her daughter because Penny was easily upset if she was treated like a child.

When Penny hadn’t returned by noon the following day, Sophie contacted John-John. They called her friends and checked the hospital, but no one had seen her.

“Mercy?” Hope asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Have you talked to Sophie recently?”

She looked at the papers in my hand and then back at me. “Not since she picked up her final paycheck. Why?”

“This can’t go any further than us, but I just got word Sophie and John-John reported Penny missing a couple hours ago.”

Hope’s face paled. “What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe we oughta just call Sophie and ask.” Hope picked up the phone.

“Don’t. I’m not supposed to have this information.”

Hope looked at me. “Well, obviously, I won’t ask about that. But Sophie might tell me something if I call to see how she’s doing.”

I straddled the chair opposite the desk as she dialed.

She drummed her fingers on the desk, and it struck me how… confident she acted.

“Devlin? Hey, it’s Hope.” She frowned. “Jake’s wife? Yeah.” She listened for a minute or so before she said, “Is Sophie around? Oh. No. Don’t wake her. Just tell her… I miss seeing her, and I wanted to know how she was doing. Okay. Bye.” She scowled at the receiver. “Devlin is such a shithead. I’ve never liked him. He acted like he didn’t know who I was. Anyway, Devlin claimed Sophie was taking a nap, but I could hear her and John-John talking in the background.”

“But he didn’t say anything about Penny being missing?”

“Nope.”

I stood. “I think I’ll take a drive.”

“I’d offer to go,” Hope started, “but I want to get this done while Jake is taking care of Joy.”

Made me happy Hope could let go of her mama responsibilities, even for a little while, just to do the ranch books. “That’s okay. I’ve had my fill of domestic stuff. A little alone time will be good for me.”

Things had been tense in the Gunderson/Dawson household since our little blowup, and so far we hadn’t kissed and made up. Mason had a rare weekend off, so he and Lex had been inseparable and underfoot. Every day had been the same. First they’d watch a movie-a loud movie. Then they’d play video games-loud video games. All of which required popcorn, pretzels, and peanuts-loud snacks.

Earlier that morning, when I’d needed a break, I’d gone outside with a couple of guns to keep up with my shooting skills. Practice had almost become an addiction for me. With nothing better to do after supper while I was at Quantico, I spent at least two hours at the shooting range every night. Four hours on the weekends if we weren’t tasked with other training.

But my target practice session had been short-lived. Mason and Lex had decided to throw a football around. Then a baseball. When I was tempted to shoot their balls out of the air, I knew I needed to go. I’d spent the rest of the day inside.

Now I would’ve liked someone’s company besides the radio.

Jake called on my way into Eagle River after he’d heard from John-John that Sophie was so distraught over Penny’s disappearance that she’d gone straight to bed.

He advised me to turn around.