“Well, she’ll turn up.”
“Joane doesn’t seem too broken up about Christine wandering off,” Meghan said.
“She’s not exactly ‘Mom of the Year,’” Lester said. “They don’t have a lot of money.”
“I checked the logs. We’ve never had a domestic call with the family. She lives in 3F, right across the hall from where Nancy lived.”
Lester sipped at the mug and nodded. “They lived there since Christine came along.”
“What about Earl Melton?” Meghan asked. “Is he Christine’s father?”
Lester waited to answer. His eyebrows did a little talking as they danced on his forehead.
“He works a lot of odd jobs now. He used to work construction when Alaskalytical was around.” Lester let it drop there. It wasn’t Meghan’s fault someone murdered the guy who ran the biggest construction contract company on the North Slope. She solved the crime, not shut down the business. “I think he hauls mail for the post office. There’s a close rumor that Christine is Eugene’s daughter. They got close after Clifford’s death. I don’t know much about that. I don’t know if they ever found out.”
“Again, he’s not in any incident reports. How does he fit into the picture with the ready-made family?”
“Well, he moved in with Joane as far as I understand it. That was about three years ago.”
“So, we’ve got a missing girl. A mother that doesn’t seem too broken up about it, and a town full of people looking out for her,” Meghan said. She rubbed a hand over her face and saw Oliver pressing his lips together. She narrowed her eyes at the sergeant. “You want to talk about the big elephant in the room, don’t you?”
Oliver looked around as if expecting to see the elephant. He took a sip of soda from the 20 oz bottle he carried from the front counter to the situation room. It meant to help break Meghan’s stare.
“I’m not saying anything about your friend,” he whispered.
“Well, I will, if you don’t.”
“She started telling everyone to stop dancing, to stay in one place. She wanted someone to bar the doors. When Duane went to calm her down, I think it was as bad as poking a stick at a wolverine. Everyone took off.”
“I saw a lot of that. I think it’s not over.”
“What do you want us to do?” Lester asked.
“What are we not doing now?” Meghan asked. “I checked the sex offender registry. Two known registered sex offenders are living in Mountain Manor. Both are currently up to date in registration. Neither fit the profile for child endangerment.
“In the morning, one of us needs to get to the terminal as soon as TSA gets there. Let’s make sure they checked the CCTV footage for the whole day. I want to know if anyone allowed Christine to board a plane with a guardian.” She took a deep breath feeling the weariness pulling at her shoulders and lower back. “This is one time when I truly appreciate living here.”
“Why, Chief?” Oliver asked.
“The entire town rallies together for a missing child. We don’t have to wait long before someone calls or brings in the child. It’s rare in the lower forty-eight when a community acts so fast to reach out and help. And right now, everything is on autopilot.”
Someone banged on the front door. After midnight, keeping the door locked at the police department, even with officers on-duty, was an added layer of safety for her crew. Oliver answered the door. Lester and Meghan exchanged glances when they heard Duane’s insistent voice. He barged through, banging the swinging gate as he passed through the archway.
Meghan saw Ulva walking quietly behind her husband. She smiled at Lester.
“What is going on around here?” Duane said. “Your friend, the FBI agent who wanted everyone to sit on the floor until she had a chance to interview everyone—” Duane said.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot that part,” Oliver added.
“She is out of control,” he said.
“Did anyone find Christine?” Meghan asked.
“Not that I know of,” Duane said. “What are you three doing, shouldn’t you be out patrolling?”
“Duane, in my experience, in a situation like this, burning up more gas, driving from one side of the city to the other, using a lot of added labor hours, isn’t in our best interest,” Meghan said. “We’ve had this happen before, and we’re doing what we always do.”
“Well, Agent Wyatt thinks you’re doing it all wrong.”
“She upset a lot of the elders tonight,” Ulva added. “I think it needed better handling.” There was a look from the woman that suggested Meghan had control over the federal agent.
“I agree,” Meghan said. “She’s a little outspoken.”
Duane shook his head. “She told us to stay out of the way. She refused to let us leave. We can do better as a community working together and out searching for Christine than waiting around for her to point fingers at us.”
“I had a conversation with her.”
“Well, we just saw her marching up Third Avenue on her way here, I presume.” Ulva had a small smirk that suggested a walk in the cold on a cloudless night above the Arctic Circle was a way to cool off after what Dana put everyone through.
“Why did you leave?” Duane asked.
Meghan wanted to remind him that what she did in the capacity as police chief had nothing to do with him. Instead, for the sake of Christine, Meghan gave a glimpse of what she did and how she prepared for a missing or endangered child.
“I went with Joane back to the apartment. I wanted to see the place. I wanted to talk to her one on one. Joane wasn’t too upset with Christine taking off from
