They were greeted at the chain-link fence by Royer, Worthington, and half a dozen sheriff’s deputies, who had come running, weapons drawn, at the sound of the shotgun blast.
The boy, trembling, kept his face buried in Anna’s neck. Rather than deal with the logistics of getting him up and over the fence, one of the deputies ran back for a pair of wire cutters and they simply made a hole big enough for Anna to step through.
She carried him across the rutted field, through the backyard, past the house, and on out to the Ford Explorer, where she waved the others away and deposited him on the backseat. He was crying, tears streaking his dirty face, and she could see that he was in shock, a shock that might be too deep to penetrate.
“It’s okay, Evan. Everything’s okay now.”
But it wasn’t okay and the boy knew it and he continued to tremble as the tears flowed. She figured he had to be close to seven years old, but his reaction to the trauma of this night made him seem much, much younger.
“I want my mommy,” he said in a small, shaky voice.
Anna’s heart seized up in her chest. “I know you do, hon; I know. But your mommy’s been hurt and she can’t be with you right now.”
“I don’t want her to go away. I want her to come back.”
“I know,” Anna said.
She’d lost her own mother to cancer when she was about his age. Remembered the feeling of helplessness, the disbelief. The ache.
“Bring her back,” the boy cried, then flew into Anna’s arms again, pressing his face against her chest, sobbing uncontrollably.
Anna held him, wishing she had a magic wand she could wave to make his pain vanish. But she had learned long ago that there was no magic in this world. There were no miracles. No do-overs.
Dead was dead and resurrection was the thing of fairy tales.
Anna’s biggest failing as a federal agent was her tendency to become emotionally involved in a case. She knew it could only lead to trouble-and certainly had in San Francisco-but she never hesitated to allow herself to empathize with the victims of crime. If a situation called for her to be a friend, a confidante, or even a surrogate mother, she was more than happy to fulfill that need.
If she had a calling, that was it. Which sometimes prompted her to think she should have continued with her education, rather than allow herself to get sidetracked into law enforcement.
She might be better off now, if she had.
Might even be sane.
As the boy cried against her chest, she pulled him close, rocked him, and quietly sang her favorite lullaby, the song her mother had sung to her nearly every night of her life before she was too weak to sit up:
Every little star
Way up in the sky
Calls me
Heaven in my heart
Wishing I could fly
Away
Drift off to sleep
Into a dream
My soul to keep
I do believe…
Her mother had written the song, playing it on a cheap ukulele she kept on a shelf next to Anna’s bed. A simple, melancholy tune that, to Anna, now seemed prophetic. As if her mother had known, even before the illness, that death was approaching.
As she sang the last bar, Anna noticed that the boy, Evan, had grown quiet. Was lost in his own moment, his own memory.
She hoped it was a good one.
“ You question him?” Royer asked.
“As much as I could.”
“And?”
Royer and Worthington were huddled in the front yard, several feet from the Explorer, as Anna approached. The boy was asleep on the backseat.
“He’s in shock. He doesn’t remember anything.”
“Nothing at all?” Worthington asked.
“He knows his mother is dead, but can’t or won’t tell me what he saw. And he has no idea where his sister is. He’s a complete blank as far as I can tell.”
“As far as you can tell.” Royer didn’t bother to hide his contempt. Despite this turn of events, his anger had obviously not dissipated. “Maybe somebody else needs to take a shot at him. Somebody qualified.”
Anna looked at him. She’d never been the type to flaunt credentials, but she’d had about enough of this jerk. “You’re probably right, but just for the record, I have a Master’s Degree in applied psychology. I was working on my Ph. D. when the bureau recruited me.”
“Is that supposed to impress me?”
“I’m merely stating a fact. And it seems to me the only thing you’re qualified to do is bitch and moan.”
Royer said nothing for a moment, cycling through three or four different facial expressions before finally settling on what Anna could only describe as a murderous glare. “That’s it, McBride. You’re done. As soon as we get back to Victorville, your ass is-”
“Hold on, now,” Worthington said, throwing his hands up. “As entertaining as this little squabble may be, I’d appreciate it if you two would stow the bullshit and get back to the matter at hand. I’ve got my men scouring that junkyard, but there’s still no sign of the girl.” He looked at Anna. “You think if we bring an expert in here, we might be able to get Evan to open up?”
Before she could respond, Royer said, “If you have any questions about how to proceed, Deputy Worthington, direct them to me.”
Worthington frowned. “Nobody’s given you the keys to the car just yet.”
“The Ludlow County Undersheriff might disagree.”
“The Ludlow County Undersheriff is one of my best friends and he called you people because I asked him to. And until we establish that there’s actually been a federal crime committed here, let’s consider this a cooperative effort and keep the drama to a minimum.”
Royer cycled through another set of facial expressions, and was still looking for a suitable response when Worthington turned again to Anna. “I assume the bureau has somebody they can call for this?”
“Down in Victorville. But it’ll take a while to get him out of bed and bring him out here.”
“We don’t have the luxury of time.”
“You have somebody local in mind?”
“Unfortunately, the only head doctor we’ve got within spitting distance is currently out of the county. Around here, most people’s idea of therapy is shooting at junkyard rats.”
“Do I hear a ‘but’ in there somewhere?”
Worthington nodded. “The thing you said about the boy being a complete blank brought something to mind. There’s a guy I know, lives just over the state line, maybe a twenty-minute drive. He hasn’t worked with the police in a couple years, but when he did, he was considered one of the best. He might just be able to help Evan remember.”
“A psychologist?” Anna asked.
Worthington shook his head. “A hypnotherapist. Specializes in forensic hypnosis. Or at least he used to.”
“Used to? What’s he doing now?”
For the first time, Worthington’s confidence faltered a bit. He seemed almost embarrassed. “He has a lounge show at one of the state-line casinos.”
Royer broke his silence with a loud snort. “You gotta be fucking kidding me. You want to bring in some sideshow psychic?”
