In Care of Sam Beaudry. Kathleen Eagle

Hilda didn’t like being the bearer of bad news. “Why don’t we go check on your mother? We’ll put up the BS sign. Back Soon.”

      “You’re the only grand—” Star went still at the sound of a siren.

      “That sound says ‘Make way for the Bear Root Rescue Squad.’”

      “What’s that?”

      “It’s our ambulance.” Hilda moved toward the door as another warning siren rose like a mating call to the first one. They screamed in tandem, coming on hard until they blew past the store—yeeee-ooooow whoop-whaaa—drawing down on the end of Main. Not much left on that end besides…“Headed for the motel.”

      Star barreled through the screen door like a ball aimed at the last pin standing.

      Hilda started after her but reversed course at the sound of scrabbling claws. “Leave it! Come.” The dog did his three-paw jig across the threshold and passed his mistress. “Can’t trust you for a minute with the smell of chocolate in your nose.”

      Hilda glimpsed the dropped piece of cookie on the floor as the door swung shut. She had that part of the job mastered. She could make a damn fine cookie. At the edge of the yard the girl’s hair was swinging like a metronome as she sprinted into the street after the sheriff’s car.

       Sam?

      She couldn’t be Sam’s. Zach’s, maybe, but not…

      Hilda’s boot heels rattled down the wooden steps.

      “Come on, Lucky. Follow that ponytail.”

       Chapter Two

      Maggie shooed Jimmy through the heavy glass door ahead of her. Stern-faced principal Dave Cochran greeted her with a nod, the better part of his attention fixed on the approaching ambulance. The siren crashed through Maggie’s head, in the left ear, out the right, tugging on her like a knotted thread.

      “Looks like they’re headed for the motel,” the principal said, eyes glued to the action. “Dr. Dietel is looking for you, Jimmy. Tell her you already saw me.”

      “I’m sorry, Mr.—”

      “Be in my office at three-thirty. Get to class now.” He craned his neck toward the glass, the very image of a long-legged blue heron getting ready to take off. “Don’t think anyone’s staying there. Didn’t see any cars this morning. Hope it’s not Mama Crass.”

      “Or Teddy. I’m going to run on down there and see if they need help.” She hadn’t gone for her daily jog yet. Halfway out the door, she hesitated, caught between duties, leaning toward escape. “Unless you want to talk to me. Jimmy was hanging around Sam’s office again.”

      “Sam shouldn’t encourage—”

      “I’ll stop back.” She backpedaled until the door left her fingertips and slowly swung shut. “Or call, depending. Consequences at school, consequences at home. Team effort.” She gave him a thumbs-up through the glass.

      The principal cracked a smile. A good sign for Jimmy. Maggie knew at least two things about this man—he was attracted to her, and he liked being quoted. The first was unsettling. Dave was two things that didn’t interest her: old and married. The second was useful. Since she probably wouldn’t be able to “stop back,” the homage to the last discipline lecture he’d given her was a sacrifice in behalf of her son’s defense. She didn’t condone Jimmy’s actions, but it wasn’t like he was leaving school grounds to go on a crime spree. He wanted to be Sam Beaudry.

      Maggie jogged across the graveled parking area toward the flashing lights of the now silent ambulance. Driver Dick Litelle was opening the back doors while motel owners Cassie and Ted Gosset took turns jumping in and out of the emergency team’s way as they directed Dick’s partner, Jay, toward the cause for concern.

      “She called the desk, but I couldn’t tell—”

      “She said she couldn’t get up, didn’t she?” Teddy put in, shifting his negligible weight anxiously as though he worried about getting blamed for something. “I told Mama to check on her, but she had to go…You had to go fix your hair first! Just the woman and her little girl checked in, so I didn’t wanna—”

      “Need any help?”

      “Yeah, hey, Maggie.” Dick made a be-my-guest gesture in the direction of door number three. “I’ll bring the gurney. Ted, Cassie, let Maggie through.”

      “She’s the skinniest woman I ever saw,” claimed Cassie, who had applied considerable effort to keeping her own weight up. “Not you, Maggie,” Mama Crass hastened to explain as she nodded toward number three. “The one in there.”

      “What’s her name?” Maggie called out over her shoulder.

      “Is the little girl in there?” Cassie called toward the open door. “You should send her out.”

      “The woman’s name,” Maggie insisted.

      “Merilee Brown,” said Teddy.

      “The little one shouldn’t be in there watching,” Cassie said, lifting her voice to whomever would listen.

      The room was dark and smelled like rancid potato chips and sweat. “Hey, sweetie,” Maggie called out, glancing toward the bathroom as she moved to the side of the bed opposite Jay. “There’s a child,” she whispered. She raised her voice. “We’re going to take you and your mommy for a ride in a big van.”

      “She’s got a pulse, but it’s pitiful,” Jay reported from the bedside, where Maggie joined him. With space at a premium, he stepped aside, deferring to the unofficial top-of-the-pecking-order designation Maggie’s skills had earned her in the two years since she’d been on staff.

      “Merilee, can you hear me? We’re here to help you.” Maggie directed Jay toward the bathroom door, which stood open. He knew what to look for. “Where’s your little girl, Merilee? What’s her name?”

      “What’s she saying?”

      “Sounds like she’s counting. Did you take pills, Merilee?” Maggie leaned close to the woman’s pale lips, fingers on the thready pulse. At her back, Dick was raising the gurney. “Anything, Jay?”

      “Not much.” Jay came out of the bathroom brandishing a small plastic bag. “Meds. No kid.”

      “Check under the beds.” Maggie tucked a white blanket around the patient while Dick strapped her down. “I’ll ride with her.”

      

      Sam watched Dick Litelle back through door number three, pulling the loaded gurney out after him. The patient came out feetfirst, swaddled like a mummy. Sam endured a few seconds of dry-mouthed suspense before getting his first glimpse of a frowsy head with unopened eyes and uncovered face—not dead, but deathly pallid—as it slid into the sunlight. The translucent frailty of a once hard-edged beauty now stung his eyes. Merilee Brown. The name the Gossets had given him was a surprise, but the face was a shocker. The years were written on it a thousand times over.

      “Mommy!”

      Sam spun on his heel.

      “They’re taking my mom!”

      “Wait, honey.”

      Sam jerked his head toward the sound of a voice more familiar than his own. Sure enough, his mother was there, wrapping her arms around a child who had suddenly become her honey. The same child claiming Merilee for her mom.

      Hilda looked up at him, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. “Sam, what’s happened? This little girl just showed up at the—”

      “Merilee Brown.” A flurry of disconnected images—some sweet, some sordid—swirled behind Sam’s staring eyes. “I used to…” He shook his head hard and got his wits back in line. “Ted