“What do you mean?”
“Found plenty of people once the snow started melting. I’m starting to get reports of missing people,” the sheriff said.
“Who’s missing?”
“Well, I was rather surprised that Trudy Willis wasn’t here.”
Heather wrinkled her brow. “I think she was at school. Millie said that she and Will Keegan left around the same time.”
“Trudy never made it home.”
“Perhaps she stayed somewhere? She could have stopped at either a store or a home and waited out the storm.” Heather offered.
Mr. Talley shook his head. “Mrs. Willis stopped us on the way over here. Wailing like a banshee, she was.”
“At least she fared better than Mrs. McDaniels and her baby.”
“Winnie?” Heather asked.
Mr. Talley nodded. “Husband was locked in the barn. Sheriff found them not even ten feet away from their front door.”
The sheriff cleared his throat. “We are trying to get a list together of who is missing or deceased.”
“I’ll stop by and see Mrs. Willis.” Heather’s eyes scanned down Chimney Rock Ranch Road. The snow hadn’t quite cleared enough for them to walk through. “Looks like I’ll be here a bit longer.”
“Looks like this is done. I’m going to start over at the preacher’s house now,” Mr. Talley said.
Heather rushed over to enter the carriage house, but Mr. McFarland blocked her way.
“I dunno if you should go in there,” Mr. McFarland said.
“Why not?”
“I dunno hear no sound.”
Heather tilted her head. Silence emanated from the small shelter. She should at least hear the chuffing of the horses. “I need to see if my horse is alright.”
She pushed aside the liveryman and opened the door. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dark interior after looking at the sun reflecting off the ground.
There should be two horses – hers and the one that was already in the stall. But she didn’t see anything. She stepped further in, afraid of what she might find.
When she arrived at the stall, she tried to muffle her scream with the back of her hand. Both horses were dead on the ground. Heather reached down to touch her horse. She yanked her fingers back as if she were burned. The horse was frozen solid.
Letting loose her cry, she turned and ran from the building.
Heather caught up with Millie as she was speaking to Will Keegan. Thank goodness the boy was safe. Will spied Heather and gave her a wave. Heather waved back. She needed to wipe her face before she joined them. Using the back of her gloved hand she wiped her eyes and cheeks and then cleared her throat.
No use inviting unwanted questions.
“How did you make out in the storm?” Heather asked, approaching the young man. Will was sixteen years old and had a bit of a reckless streak. He didn’t take too kindly to his brother Luke going on the hunt and making Will stay at home.
“We ran out of firewood, but we made do.”
Millie gave Heather a glance. “We did too, but at least we could burn the furniture.”
“I’m glad you are alright.”
“Thanks for taking care of Livvy and Emmy. I know Ma was worried about them.”
“I wanna go home now, Will,” Olivia said tugging on his coat sleeve.
As Will turned to leave, Heather called to him.
“I was talking to the sheriff. It appears Trudy didn’t make it home. Do you know if she stayed anywhere?”
“Trudy?” Millie said.
Will scratched his head. “I don’t know. The storm hit so quickly.”
“If you see her, would you let her know that her parents, and the sheriff are worried?”
“Yes ma’am.”
She watched Will guide his sisters up the porch steps and into the house. When the door shut, Millie turned to Heather. “What was that all about?”
“I guess people are being found as the snow melts.”
“Found?”
“As in d-e-a-d under the snow.” Millie let out a gasp. “The horses in the carriage house were d-e-a-d too. Frozen solid.”
“You know she can spell, don’t you? What absolutely dreadful news.”
“Did you get the children to their destinations?” Heather asked.
Millie nodded. “I released them to a family member, or a neighbor. I’ll make a point to visit tomorrow or the day afterwards. Right now, I just want to go home and go to sleep.”
Heather agreed.
“Missus Reed, I wanna go home.” Cecily tugged on Millie’s sleeve.
“Of course.”
Cecily grabbed Heather’s hand and pulled her towards Grand Platte Road at the edge of town.
Cecily wouldn’t let go of Heather’s hand. When Heather tried to tug her hand free, Cecily held on to it tighter. There wasn’t anything physically wrong with the child, but the trauma of being stuck in the school for several days and not being able to reach her family was bound to take a toll on such a young girl. Heather relented and allowed the child to continue to pull her.
“I think we need a boat,” Millie said, walking up to Heather’s side. Heather glanced around. There was a small stream of water carving through the slush. It was leading down towards the river. As the snow melted, the small stream expanded, and Heather could see the streets at the lower portion of town were starting to flood. There wasn’t enough room in the North Platte River to hold all the melting snow.
“That sun feels good.” Millie said, lifting her face towards the sky.
“I’m glad it is warm again. I realized how much I don’t like the cold.”
Millie put her hand on Heather’s shoulder. “Makes you wonder why, in heaven’s name, we moved to Nebraska,” she laughed.
“Which direction do you live,” Heather said, smiling at the young child.
“Over there,” Cecily responded,
