It hit Meghan like a sledgehammer to the guts. She stood up but somehow managed to keep her mouth shut. It helped that she went cold and dry in the throat. Dana had something to prove. She had something to make of herself; Meghan wasn’t interested in the woman’s outrageous and unfounded claims. Instead of saying anything she’d regret later, Meghan took her coffee and walked around Dana, still shivering and standing in the center of the situation room.
Meghan went into her office and squeezed her fist. It helped sway her from slamming the door on Dana’s face.
“I want you to know that I am taking over operations here. I’ve mobilized Wilcox’s team. We’re expecting a team of cadets and junior agents to fly in first thing on the earliest commercial flight.”
“Did you clear all that with the Alaska State Troopers?”
“Wilcox said he’d take care of the meet and greet.”
“Dana, you are making a big mistake here. You’re going to burn up a lot of labor hours for a child who at the moment isn’t under any harm—”
“What are you talking about? The little girl is missing, Meg. That should get your blood boiling.” Dana stopped talking for a few hammering heartbeats in Meghan’s ears. She shook her head, furrowing those razor-thin eyebrows. “What happened to you? You used to care. You used to want to help people. All I see now is a woman growing fat on a city paycheck and a government retirement pension.”
Meghan ignored Oliver standing behind Dana. He had an incredulous look on his face.
“Dana. I am not going to tell you again. I want you to listen carefully. Whatever you plan to do, whatever happens from this point forward, you are on your own. You coordinate with whoever you want, but I do not answer to you. I answer to the troopers. I will do my due diligence, and Christine will probably show up first thing in the morning. You think calling out the FBI field office is proactive; it’s a preemptive logistics nightmare. If you worked with me, you’d see we’re doing exactly the necessary steps we need to find the girl. You’re taking it way out of proportion.”
“All I see right now is a woman too lazy to do anything.”
“Dana, you can try to provoke me all you want. You have something going on with you, not me, and if you think this is the way to prove something to yourself, you are not going to like the outcome.”
“You’re afraid of something. Maybe it has to do with you getting shot. You gave up after that. I don’t know, and I read a lot of people experience PTSD when they face life-threatening encounters. I don’t think you need to worry about what happened to you. You need to worry about what could happen to the girl because you failed to act accordingly.”
Dana appeared haughty, her self-righteousness elevating her to a place in her mind that rose above the cold she felt during the short walk from Meghan’s house to the police department.
“I’ll leave you to your little world, and you can hide behind your little desk. This is my show, Sheppard, and you might want to pay attention.”
Dana walked out of Meghan’s private office. She closed the door behind her with a gentle touch. Meghan heard Dana begin giving orders to Oliver and Lester. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When Meghan heard something drop on the desk blotter, when she looked down, it surprised her to see the tears fell like rain.
Chapter Nine
The Amber Alert originated out of Kinguyakkii a little after midnight. Meghan followed up with social media posts and current photos of Christine Tuktu. The description of her last known location, and the outfit she wore at the time of the Memorial celebration. According to Joane, Christine had an oversized red winter coat from an online retailer. It wasn’t the heaviest or best kind of jacket for the environment, but it was all she could afford. Earl supplied a picture of the winter coat from the online retail store. Meghan added it to social media posts. She spent hours at her desk, scanning pages of people who were still awake and trending the Amber Alert.
Lester and Oliver checked all the locations they remember where children liked to congregate. Lester took the snowmachine out to tent city and checked in with the transient locals. Many people who couldn’t afford a hotel room, but wanted to share the Memorial Day weekend events, spent their nights in the sprawling dunes and muck north of the city along the shoreline. Lester confiscated two plastic bottles of whiskey and issued a summons for court appearances.
For the first time since taking the job, Meghan wanted out. Elected officials like sheriffs, didn’t like the negative publicity that came with a missing child case. If it went wrong, no one recovered. With the disappearance of Christine Tuktu, Meghan had no grounded suspects, and Joane worried but didn’t point fingers.
Oliver cleaned out the supplies in the Suburban. They needed the extra space because Meghan appointed him designated driver for the Alaska State Troopers and the FBI agents when they showed up.
After five in the morning, two Piper Super Cubs with AST liveries arrived at the airport. Oliver chauffeured two rounds of Alaska State Troopers from the airstrip to the office. Among the unfamiliar faces Meghan greeted, she saw Riley Winters. He gave Meghan a big bear hug without considering what it looked like to the other strangers around them.
Riley Winters, selected and trained by Meghan, went on to become a trooper recruit. He still had months left on his field supervision, but Meghan knew Riley was the right candidate for the rural posts. Trooper Sergeant Emanuel Reeve likely selected Riley for inclusion because he was someone from the community. Born and raised
