by Lisa Gardner
“Three-minute sustained bark,” Nelson supplied. “All SAR dogs are trained a little different—some sit to indicate a hit, others have a particular woofing pitch. But given our team specializes in search and rescue, we’ve gone with a three-minute sustained bark, assuming our dogs might be out of sight, behind a tree or boulder, and we might need three minutes to catch up. Works for us.”
“Well, I can’t supply a marked X,” D.D. said, “but we do have one way of getting started.”
D.D. turned to Tessa. “So let’s take a trip down memory lane. You drove this far?”
Tessa’s expression had gone blank. She nodded.
“Park here?”
“Don’t know. The road was better formed, packed down. I drove to the end.”
D.D. gestured around. “Trees, fields, anything look familiar?”
Tessa hesitated, shivering again. “Maybe that copse of trees over there,” she said at last, pointing vaguely with two hands bound on the wrists. “Not sure. The fresh snowfall … it’s like someone wiped the chalkboard clean. Everything is both the same and different.”
“Four hours,” D.D. said crisply. “Then one way or another, you’re back behind bars. So I suggest you start studying the landscape, because if you really want to bring your daughter home, this is the only chance you’re gonna get.”
Something finally moved in Tessa’s face, a spasm of emotion that was hard to read, but might have included regret. It bothered D.D. She turned away, both arms wrapped around her middle now.
“Get her a coat,” she muttered to Bobby.
He was already holding an extra jacket in his hands. He held it out and D.D. almost laughed. It was a down-filled black coat emblazoned Boston PD, no doubt from the trunk of one of the patrol officers. He draped it around Tessa’s shoulders, as she could not slide her shackled arms into the sleeves, then zippered up the front to hold it in place.
“What’s more incongruous?” D.D. murmured out loud. “A state trooper in a Boston PD field coat, or a Suffolk County Jail inmate in a Boston PD field coat? Either way,” her voice dropped, sounding dark, even nasty, “it just doesn’t fit.”
D.D. stalked back to her car. She stood alone, huddled against the cold and her own feeling of impending doom. Dark gray clouds gathered on the horizon.
Snow’s coming, she thought, and wished again that none of them were here.
They set out twelve minutes later, a shackled Tessa in the lead, Bobby and D.D. on either side, with the canine team and an assortment of officers bringing up the rear. The dogs remained leashed. They hadn’t been given the work command yet, but strained against their leads, clearly anxious.
They’d made it only twenty feet before having to stop for the first time. No matter how vindictive D.D. was feeling, Tessa couldn’t walk shackled in four inches of fresh snow. They released the binds at her ankles, then finally made some progress.
Tessa led the group to a first copse of trees. She walked around it, frowning as if studying hard. Then she entered the cluster of bare-branched trees, making it ten feet before shaking her head and withdrawing again. They explored three more patches of woods in a similar fashion, before the fourth spot appeared to be the charm.
Tessa entered and kept on walking, her footsteps growing faster, surer now. She came to a massive gray boulder jutting up from the landscape and seemed to nod to herself. They veered left around the rock, Quizo whining low in his throat, as if already on-scent.
No one spoke. Just the squeaky crunch of footsteps trampling snow, the panting of dogs, the muffled exhalations of their handlers and officers, bundled up in neck warmers and wool scarves.
They exited the copse of trees. D.D. paused, thinking that must be a mistake, but Tess kept moving forward, crossing an open expanse of snow, fording a small, trickling stream just visible between fluffy white banks, before disappearing into a more serious line of woods.
“Awfully far to walk with a body,” D.D. muttered.
Bobby shot her a glance, seeming to think the same thing.
But Tessa didn’t say a word. She was walking faster now, with purpose. There was a look on her face that was almost uncanny to see. Grim determination rimmed with ragged desperation.
Did Tessa even register the dog team, her entourage of law enforcement handlers? Or had she gone back somewhere in her mind, to a cold Saturday afternoon. Neighbors had seen the Denali depart around four p.m., meaning there hadn’t been much daylight left by the time she made it all the way out here.
What had Tessa Leoni been thinking in those last thirty minutes of twilight? Struggling with the weight of her daughter’s body as she careened through the woods, across flat white fields, heading deeper and deeper into the dense underbrush.
When you buried your child, was it like imparting your greatest treasure into the sanctity of nature? Or was it like hiding your greatest sin, instinctively seeking out the darkest bowels of the forest to cover your crime?
They came to another collection of moss-covered rocks, this time with a vague man-made shape. Rock walls, old foundations, the remnants of chimneys. In a state that had been inhabited as long as Massachusetts, even the woods were never totally without remnants of civilization.
The trees gave way to a smaller clearing and Tessa stopped.
Her throat worked. It took her a couple of times, then the word came out as a whisper: “Here,” Tessa said.
“Where?” D.D. asked.
“There was a fallen tree. Snow had collected in front of it, forming a snowbank. Seemed … like an easy place to dig.”
D.D. didn’t say anything right away. She peered at the clearing, smothered with fresh white flakes. Over to her left, there appeared to be a gentle rise, like what might be formed by a toppled tree. Of course, there was another such rise a few feet in front of that, while she made a third on the other side of the clearing, next to a patch of stray trees. Still, she was gazing at three hundred square yards of space, give or take. Given a team of three experienced SAR dogs, the search area was highly manageable.
Bobby was studying the landscape as well, going over it with his fine sniper’s eye. He looked at D.D., pointed out the first couple of swells, then an even broader rise next to the far edges of the woods. D.D. nodded.
Time to release the hounds.
“You will return to the car now,” D.D. said, not looking at Tessa.
“But—”
“You will return to the car!”
Tessa shut up. D.D. turned back to the assembled team. She spotted an officer in the back, same one who’d worked the murder book at the original crime scene. She waved him over. “Officer Fiske?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You will escort Inmate Leoni back to your cruiser and wait with her there.”
The kid’s face fell. From active search to passive babysitting. “Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“It’s a big responsibility, escorting a prisoner alone.”
He perked up a little, taking up position at Tessa’s side, one hand on his holster.
Tessa didn’t say anything, just stood there, her face expressionless once more. A cop’s face, D.D. thought suddenly, and for some reason, that made her shiver.
“Thank you,” D.D. said abruptly.
“For what?” Tessa asked.
“Your daughter deserves this. Children shouldn’t be lost in the woods. Now we can bring her home.”
Tessa’s expression cracked. Her eyes went wide, endlessly stark, and she swayed on her feet, might have even gone down, except she shifted her stance and caught herself.
“I love my daughter.”
“We’ll treat her with respect,” D.D. replied, already gesturing to the SAR team, which was starting to re-form itself into a search line at the closest edge of the woods.
“I love my daughter,” Tessa repeated, her tone more urgent. “You think you understand that now, but it’s just the beginning for you. Nine months from now, you’ll be amazed by how little you loved before t
hat, and then a year after that, and then a year after that. Imagine six years. Six whole years of that kind of love …”
D.D. looked at the woman. “Didn’t save her in the end, did it?”
D.D. deliberately turned away from Tessa Leoni and joined the cadaver dogs.
30
Who do you love?
That was the question, of course. Had been from the very beginning—but, of course, Detective D.D. didn’t know that. She thought she was dealing with a typical case of child abuse and homicide. Can’t say that I blame her. God knows, I was called out to enough houses where wan-faced five-year-olds tended their passed-out mothers. I’ve watched a mother slap her son with no more expression than swatting a fly. Seen children bandage their own scrapes because they already knew their mothers didn’t care enough to do it for them.
But I’d tried to warn D.D. I’d rebuilt my life for Sophie. She wasn’t just my daughter, she was the love that finally saved me. She was giggles and joy and pure, distilled enthusiasm. She was anything that was good in my world, and everything worth coming home to.
Who do you love?
Sophie. It has always been Sophie.
D.D. assumed she was seeing the worst a mother could do. She hadn’t realized yet that she was actually witnessing the true lengths a mother would go to for love.
What can I tell you? Mistakes in this business are costly.
I’d returned to Officer Fiske’s police cruiser. Hands shackled at my waist, but legs still free. He seemed to have forgotten that detail, and I didn’t feel compelled to remind him. I sat in the back, working on keeping my body language perfectly still, nonthreatening.
Both doors were open, his and mine. I needed air, I’d told him. I felt sick, like I might vomit. Officer Fiske had given me a look, but had consented, even helped unzip the heavy BPD coat that pinned my arms to my torso.
Now, he sat in the front seat, obviously frustrated and bored. People became cops because they wanted to play ball, not sit on the bench. But here he was, relegated to listening to the game in the distance. The echoing whines of the search dogs, the faint hum of voices in the woods.
“Drew the short straw,” I commented.
Officer Fiske kept his eyes straight ahead.
“Ever done a cadaver recovery?”
He refused to speak; no consorting with the enemy.
“I did a couple,” I continued. “Meticulous work, holding the line. Inch by inch, foot by foot, clearing each area of the grid before moving to the next, then moving to the next. Rescue work is better. I got called up to help locate a three-year-old boy lost by Walden’s Pond. A pair of volunteers finally found him. Unbelievable moment. Everyone cried, except the boy. He just wanted another chocolate bar.”
Officer Fiske still didn’t say anything.
I shifted on the hard plastic bench, straining my ears. Did I hear it yet? Not yet.
“Got kids?” I asked.
“Shut up,” Officer Fiske growled.
“Wrong strategy,” I informed him. “As long as you’re stuck with me, you should engage in conversation. Maybe you’re the lucky one who will finally earn my trust. Next thing you know, I’ll confide to you what actually happened to my husband and child, turning you into an overnight hero. Something to think about.”
Officer Fiske finally looked at me.
“I hope they bring back the death penalty, just for you,” he said.
I smiled at him. “Then you’re an idiot, because death, at this point, would be the easy way out.”
He twisted around till he was staring out the front of the parked cruiser, falling silent once more.
I started humming. Couldn’t help myself. Bad Tessa rising.
“All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, my two front teeth.”
“Shut up,” Officer Fiske snapped again.
Then we both heard it: The sudden excited barks of a dog catching scent. The cry of the handler, the corresponding rush of the search team, closing in on target. Officer Fiske sat up straighter, leaned over the steering wheel.
I could feel his tension, the barely repressed urge to abandon the cruiser and join the fray.
“You should thank me,” I said from the back.
“Shut up.”
The dog, barking even louder now, honing in. I could picture Quizo’s path, across the small clearing, circling the gentle rise of snow. The fallen tree had created a natural hollow, filled with lighter, fluffier flakes, not too big, not too small. I’d been staggering under the weight of my burden by the time I’d found it, literally swaying on my feet from exhaustion.
Setting down the body. Taking out the collapsible shovel strapped around my waist. My gloved hands shaking as I snapped the pieces of handle together. My back aching as I bent over, punching my way through the thin outer layer of ice to the softer snow underneath. Digging, digging, digging. My breath in short, frosty pants. The hot tears that froze almost instantaneously on my cheeks.
As I carved out the hollow, then gently placed the body inside. Moving slower now as I replaced scoop after scoop of snow, then carefully patted it all back into place.
Twenty-three scoops of snow to bury a grown man. Not nearly so many for this precious cargo.
“You should thank me,” I said again, slowly sitting up straight, uncoiling my body. Bad Tessa rising.
Dog was on it. Quizo had done his job and was letting his handler know it with his sustained bark.
Let him go play with his friends, I thought, tense now in spite of myself. Reward the dog. Take him away to Kelli and Skyler. Please.
Officer Fiske was finally staring at me.
“What’s your problem?” he asked crossly.
“What’s your problem? After all, I’m the one who just saved your life.”
“Saved my life? What the hell—”
Then, staring at my impassive face, he finally connected the dots.
Officer Fiske jumped from the car. Officer Fiske scrambled for the radio on his duty belt. Officer Fiske turned his back to me.
What can I tell you? Mistakes in this business are costly.
I sprang from the rear of the cruiser, fisted both of my shackled hands together and cracked him over the skull. Officer Fiske stumbled forward. I got my arms over his head, around his neck, and yanked hard.
Officer Fiske gasped, made a funny rattling hum, which come to think of it was a lot like CO Kim Watters. Or maybe Brian, dying on the spotless kitchen floor.
I am not sane. That was my last thought. I can’t possibly be sane anymore.
Officer Fiske’s knees buckled. We both went down, while a quarter mile ahead, the snow blew up and screams split the sky and the first dog began to howl.
When Officer Fiske’s legs finally stopped churning, I gasped three times, inhaling shocks of cold air that forced me back to the present. So much to do, so little time to do it.
Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think.
I unwrapped my hands, fumbling with the keys at Officer Fiske’s waist, then remembered to snatch his cellphone. Had a very important call to make in the next thirty seconds.
I could hear cries in the distance. More dogs howling. Four vehicles over, Kelli and Skyler picked up the message of distress, their higher-pitched barks joining the fray.
Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think.
I glanced at the sky, calculating remaining hours of daylight.
Looks like snow, I thought again.
Then, clutching keys and cellphone, I ran for it.
31
When the first explosion rocked the sky, D.D. was halfway across the clearing, striding toward the snowy mound where Quizo barked with excited intent. Then the world went white.
Snow sprayed up and out in a giant concussive boom. D.D. just got her arms up and it still felt like being hit by a thousand stinging needles. Quizo’s deep bark turned into an immediate bay of distress. Someone screamed.
Then, another rocking explosio
n and several more cries, while D.D. was knocked back on her ass, head buried behind both arms to shield herself.
“Quizo, Quizo,” someone was crying. Probably Nelson.
“D.D., D.D., D.D.,” someone else was crying. Probably Bobby.
She got her eyes open in time to see Bobby charging across the clearing, legs plunging through the snow, face ashen with panic. “Are you all right? Talk to me, D.D. Talk to me, dammit.”
“What, what, what?” She blinked. Shook ice and snow from her hair. Blinked again. Her ears were ringing, filled with a sense of pressure. She cracked her jaw, trying to release it.
Bobby had reached her side, clutching her shoulders.
“Are you okay are you okay are you okay?” His lips moved. It took another second for his words to penetrate the buzz in her head.
She nodded weakly, pushing him back so she could inventory her arms, legs, and most importantly, her torso. By and large, she appeared to be in one piece. She’d been far enough away and the snow had cushioned her fall. She wasn’t hurt, just dazed and confused.
She let Bobby help her to her feet, then triaged the rest of the damage.
The snowy rise targeted by Quizo’s keen nose had disintegrated. In its place was a brown hollow of earth, covered in shredded bits of tree, leaves, and—heaven help them—pink fabric.
Quizo was off to one side, muzzle buried in the snow, whimpering and panting. Nelson stood over his dog, hands gently holding the shepherd’s ears as he whispered low, soothing sounds to his distressed pet.
The other search dogs had halted in their tracks and were howling at the sky.
Officer down, D.D. thought. The dogs were telling the world. She wanted to bay with them, until this terrible feeling of rage and helplessness eased in her chest.
Cassondra Murray, team leader, already had her cellphone out and in clipped tones was summoning a vet. Other BPD officers were swarming the scene, hands on holsters, searching for signs of immediate threat.
“Stop!” Bobby yelled suddenly.
The officers stopped. The dog handlers froze.
He was looking around them in the snow. D.D., still cracking her jaw against the ringing in her ears, did the same.
