“What are you thinking?”
“It’s dark thoughts, I know,” she said. “Cecil played me and Dana. He had all of us running around looking for his sister. No one we contacted ever remembered seeing Christine at the school that night.”
“What about her parents?”
“Earl, the mom’s boyfriend, thought she went to the dance, or was gone all day. Joane wasn’t much good either. I remember seeing kids earlier in the day ice panning.”
“What’s that?”
“Kids like jumping on the flowing sheets of ice as they speed along the shoreline.”
“We get kids joyriding. You get kids thinking they’re immortal and waterproof.”
“We get joy riders too,” she said. “This whole thing got me thinking.”
“Is that why we’re out here in the valley?”
“The address on the package Cecil sent today. It’s in Wasilla.”
“It’s right up here according to the Google maps.” Anderson flipped the blinker, taking the exit for Trunk Road. The Mat-Su Regional Hospital sat to Meghan’s right, and the exit ramp roped around it. “It’s to the left here.”
Meghan sat up and rubbed her eyes. Anderson turned left down a frontage road. Blue Lupine snaked around away from the hospital and traced along the main highway. She saw the digital map on Anderson’s smartphone put the fourplex townhouses to the right, and Anderson pulled into the gravel drive full of cars and potholes.
He turned the spotlight on the second door from the right.
“Want me to go with you?” he asked.
“You can, if you want.” Meghan released the seatbelt and got out of the car.
It was a little after eleven and the living room light glowed through the drawn curtains. Meghan heard the dog barking inside the townhouse. When she climbed the wooden stairs, the porch light snapped on. Anderson stood behind her in the lawn, waiting.
A woman came to the door. She looked Native Alaskan and terrified. Her round face paled when she realized the police showed up at her door.
“Hi, my name’s Meghan Sheppard. I was the Police Chief in Kinguyakkii.” She waited a moment. The woman in her forties drew up her thin blue robe around her neck. “I think you know why we’re here.”
“Yes, I know.” She nodded. “I told him it wouldn’t work. I knew it wouldn’t work.”
“Well, what if I told you, it did work?” she said. “Can we come in?”
“Sure, if you don’t mind dogs. She sounds mean, but she’s a pussycat.”
“I love dogs,” Anderson said.
It was a tight fit. Meghan and Anderson didn’t move too far into the apartment. The tiny living room had a doorway that led into the kitchen. The thin stairwell went up the right side of the room.
“Want me to get her? She’s asleep upstairs.”
“What’s your name?” Meghan asked.
“I’m Nicole Whitley. I’m Cecil and Christine’s auntie. We’re not related, but they grew up with me until I left Kinguyakkii two years ago. I remember you,” she said. “You’ve done good things for that town.”
“Does she know what’s going on?”
Nicole shook her head. I came to town on Friday and picked her up. Cecil, he’s a bright boy. It’s hard to say no to him.”
Meghan nodded. “I understand.”
Nicole climbed the stairwell as the steps groaned under her weight. Meghan squatted to play with the dog that continued to nuzzle her crotch like it was normal behavior for a dog.
Anderson cleared his throat. Meghan looked at him.
“You got to be kidding me,” he said.
Meghan shook her head.
The light in the hallway at the top of the stairs turned on. Meghan saw little feet in pajama pants and a matching top. She saw the dimpled face as the girl yawned and rubbed her eyes.
“Do you know who I am?” Meghan asked.
“Yes, you’re the police chief.”
“Think you can come home, Christine? Your mom’s worried about you.”
“Okay,” she said. It was as if sleeping in a friend’s bed five hundred miles from Kinguyakkii was a normal thing.
“Am I in trouble?” Nicole asked.
Anderson laughed. “You’re not in trouble,” he said. He reached into his coat pocket for the smartphone.
Chapter Twenty-Three
They had to wait until morning to leave. Meghan got a room at a motel in Wasilla while Anderson drove back to Anchorage. Nicole picked up Meghan before the morning light. She had to stay behind while Meghan and Christine Tuktu got shuttle service from a valley Alaska State Trooper to the airport.
Returning to Kinguyakkii, Meghan wasn’t interested in the spotlight. She managed to sleep on the plane despite her aviophobia. Sometimes the fear of flying had to take a break when she didn’t get enough sleep. Before Meghan fell asleep, she had a brief conversation with Christine about what happened between her and her uncle. Meghan wasn’t an expert with child sex crimes, but she knew enough to understand when the girl buttoned up when it got uncomfortable. They spent more time talking about Christine’s detailed drawing style. Christine opened up more about her love of animals and the use of a pencil. Meghan felt confident that whatever damage Eugene did to Christine, it wasn’t permanent.
Anderson went through all the necessary channels for Meghan’s return trip. Trooper Chandler flew the lost little girl and the stubborn former police chief without much conversation or intervention between them. She sat beside Christine as the girl stared out the window of the Piper Super Cub looking down at the swirling colors and dancing mountains. Christine didn’t have a fear of flying. Meghan put on a brave face for the girl.
Meghan glanced out the window to the dirt and gravel roads, the shanty houses, the piles of broken machines around the clusters of civilization. Meghan saw the patch of melted earth of the
