A Case for the Cookie Baker

by Candace Havens

  He broke everyone up into teams of five.

  Jasmine, Shannon, me, Jere and Levi, were the last five.

  “I need you guys to search her room and around the barn. Try to find us some sort of clue to where she’s gone. This is a big ranch, and we have too much ground to cover with this kind of weather.”

  “We can go out searching with you,” I said. “This isn’t some sort of design to keep me safe.”

  He smirked. “You are better at finding clues than any detective I’ve ever met. Look for photos, anything that might give us some idea where she is. This is going to be hard enough in the rain and with it pitch-black. Find us something, please.”

  We all nodded.

  “It’s sweet that you guys came with us,” Jasmine said. “I would have thought you would have been really angry with Lizzie and Becky.”

  The two men looked at each other. “Tell them,” Jere said.

  Levi cringed. “I followed my brother that night,” he whispered.

  “What?” I asked.

  “He was in such a mood when he found out about Jere and me. He had this hard and fast rule about not dating employees. Jere and I had been really discreet, but he must have seen us somewhere.”

  We needed to be searching for clues, but maybe Levi had seen something that night.

  “Tell us everything,” Shannon said. She didn’t have kids yet, but she had that mom voice down.

  “He didn’t even know—none of my family does. He didn’t care about that, but he was worried that we wouldn’t be professional at the office. We had been for months, but he wouldn’t listen. He was in one of these moods where he refuses to hear the other person.”

  “Okay,” I said. “But how did you end up in Sweet River?”

  “He’d mentioned he was coming here to see Lizzie. She—well, she’s always been good to me. Even after everything that happened. I thought she might be able to make him see reason. He was going to fire Jere if we didn’t stop dating.”

  Hmmm. Well, if that wasn’t motive, I’m not sure what was.

  “So it was you I saw in the park that night?”

  He jumped back. “You saw me?”

  “You ran past me and my dog.”

  “That was you?”

  I nodded. “So, did you see the murder scene?”

  He shook his head. “No. I heard people screaming. I thought it was Lizzie and my brother. They were friends but she would let him have it if he made her angry. I didn’t want them to see me, so I ran off.”

  He hung his head. “If I hadn’t been such a coward that night, my brother might still be alive. I just didn’t want to make him angrier at me. I didn’t see anything. They were yelling pretty loud. I was about twenty feet from the building.”

  “Think about what you actually heard,” I said. “Just close your eyes and put yourself right outside of the building. What do you hear?”

  He closed his eyes. The rain outside pounded the ground. I wasn’t looking forward to making the small trek to the house. And our poor guys were out there in the thick of it.

  “It’s a woman’s voice but I don’t think it’s Lizzie. She’s screaming at him. How dare you. How dare you. And then he said something corny, like don’t get your panties in a wad, woman. I would have been surprised if Lizzie hadn’t killed him at that point, but I really don’t think it was her.”

  Could that have been Mrs. Whedon? Maybe she’d stumbled upon the scene.

  “I just ran off. I’m a coward and because of that, my brother is dead.”

  Jasmine hugged him from behind. “You don’t know,” she said. “Like with Lizzie, you didn’t see anything. There’s a chance you might have been hurt, as well.”

  I felt sorry for poor Lizzie. They wouldn’t let her come try to find Becky. Greg said from here on out that they had to follow protocol. She was home with one of the officers waiting for our call.

  “She’s right. Let’s get to the house and see if we can find something that will help the search and rescue gang,” I said.

  “We can search outside the house,” Jere offered. “This is serious, but I did always win at hide-and-seek. Maybe, she’s in one of the outbuildings we saw on our way in.”

  “If you guys are sure you don’t mind.”

  “No problem,” Levi said.

  We headed into the house. Luckily, the rain softened a bit so it wasn’t pelting so hard it hurt my skin. It was hot and muggy, especially in the raincoats.

  As soon, as we were inside, I took mine off, and hung it on the rack by the door. A bunch of towels and mats had been put down to soak up moisture. I stepped out of the wet boots, and then onto the towels.

  Becky’s mom had calmed down and was seated at the table with another woman. It didn’t feel right just barging into their house.

  “Hi,” I said. “I’m Ainsley McGregor and these are my friends. We all adore Becky. My brother, the sheriff from Sweet River, has asked us to go through her room and see if there are any clues as to where she might have gone.”

  The mom started to get up, but I waved her down. “Please, don’t get up. We can find our way if you just point us in the right direction.”

  “It’s the third door on the left,” she said hoarsely. I couldn’t imagine what it might be like to have a child who was missing. Well, Becky was a grown-up, but I had a feeling that didn’t change no matter how old the kid was.

  The house was large, and Becky’s room very much looked like her. It was cheerful in bright yellows and pinks. There were photos everywhere and flowers. It was a happy place for a young girl.

  I remembered being her age and wanting to paint my room black. My mom settled on a light blue.

  Some of the pictures were with her friends, many of whom I’d seen in the barn. On her desk were a stack of photos. One was of her with her horse at the edge of a stream. Becky was beautiful with her long dark hair blowing in the wind and the sweetest smile. It was easy to see she was in her happy place.

  “Oh,” I said.

  “What did you find?” Shannon asked. She and Jasmine walked over to me and I showed them the picture.

  “She’s gorgeous in this. I wonder if it was her senior picture?”

  I walked back to the kitchen and showed the photo to her mom.

  “Is this on the ranch?”

  She took the picture and stared at it lovingly. “My beautiful girl,” she whispered.

  Her friend patted her hand. “Honey, they need to know where it was taken.”

  “By the creek over by the mesa,” she said.

  I had no idea where that was, but I grabbed the walkie-talkie that Jasmine had been given and headed back to Becky’s room.

  “Jake, Greg, are one of you there?”

  “What did you find?” Greg asked.

  “A photo of her by a stream. Her mom said it’s near a mesa.”

  “Makes sense,” Jake said. “George took off in that direction and I can’t keep up with him, but he’s barking and he’s near. I’ll let you know what we find.”

  Then they were radio silent for what seemed like forever.

  “Please, God, let her be safe,” Shannon said.

  Jasmine and I bowed our heads. We all wanted the same thing. For that sweet girl to be okay.

  “Lucy, call everyone in. Jake has eyes on her. He needs some help and I’m headed that way.”

  My heart, which already felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, beat even faster. Were Jake and George in danger?

  They were in the middle of it and I knew better than to distract them.

  That didn’t keep the bile from burning my throat, and the tears from falling.

  “They are fine,” Shannon said. “Mike is with him and a lot of his guys. They probably just need some extra hands.”

  We headed back to the kitchen. I wasn’t sure if her mom had heard, but it hit me that they didn’t say anything about Becky being alive or fine. The last thing I wanted to do was distress her more.

  I cleare
d my throat. “We’re going to head out to the barn,” I said. “I’m sure we’ll hear something soon.”

  We put our raincoats back on. A few of the groups had already returned.

  An ambulance pulled up with the lights flashing, and I took that as a good sign. It wasn’t Kane’s coroner van, which was already here. Unless—nope, I would not allow myself to imagine that Jake, George, or my brother might have been hurt.

  The high-pitched whine of ATVs and a flash of lights hit just outside the barn door. We ran over to see what was going on. The EMTs jumped out with a stretcher. And several men carried Becky, who was covered head to toe in blankets on to the gurney. She was ghastly pale, and her eyes were shut.

  Lucy had her arm around the mother and guided her into the ambulance, once they had the gurney set. The EMTs and Kane were busy working on her. And the mom hugged a man who was in the ambulance crying. I guessed that was Becky’s dad. He was covered in dirt and brush.

  “Let’s go,” Kane said.

  The ambulance left, and everyone was left standing there wondering what happened.

  “She’s alive,” someone said, who had come in with the team. “But she was in the water a long time. That dog saved her life.”

  George? Was he okay? And where were Jake and my brother?

  My eyes burned with tears and as if they knew exactly what was happening, my two besties put hands on my shoulders and guided me to a hay bale.

  Lucy walked over.

  “Where are they?” Shannon asked.

  I had the biggest lump in my throat and was grateful my friend had my back.

  “They’re coming,” she said. “They had to wait for the ATV with the trailer.”

  “Lucy what happened?”

  She knelt down. “George saved that girl’s life,” she said. And then she sniffed.

  My heart fell to my stomach.

  “She was in the middle of a river, which used to be a stream, and it was coming so fast. Rocks were pushed up from the ground. The limb holding Becky above the water broke, and George—”

  I sobbed. No. Please. Do. Not. Say. The words.

  “Ainsley, he was in that water a long time and used every bit of his strength to keep her head above the water. I’ve never seen such a heroic rescue. They hit a rock and he still held on but—”

  My brave George. Shannon put her arms around me and I sobbed.

  Just then there was a big commotion and another ambulance arrived.

  I pushed my friend away and ran out. My brother drove an ATV with a trailer hitched to it. George and Jake were lying on it and neither of them moved.

  “No!” I screamed.

  Jake’s eyes opened. “Ains?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Broke my arm and maybe my ankle,” he gritted out. He was soaking wet and covered in mud. But he was alive.

  “It’s George I’m worried about. He hit a rock hard, and he’s taken in a lot of water. I’m sorry Ains, I couldn’t stop him. He was determined to save her.”

  I put a hand on George, who struggled to breathe. “Oh, my sweet boy,” I sobbed. “Jake said no heroes and look at the both of you.”

  “Get up,” my brother ordered. “We need to get them to the hospital.”

  Men stood there with gurneys for both of them.

  They were quickly loaded into the ambulance.

  “Well are you coming?” My brother held out his hand.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Ainsley,” Jake whispered. “Hon, you need to wake up.” I tried to force my eyes open but it was impossible.

  “Tired,” I said.

  “I can imagine. You slept on a steel table.”

  Wait. Jake. My eyes popped open. He stood next to me with one arm in a cast and the other holding a crutch.

  “Oh.” I sat up fast and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Are you okay? Greg said you were, but I’ve been worried sick.”

  “I’m doing better than George.” He frowned.

  I glanced down at the pallet the vet and his tech had made in the corner of the room. George was asleep and bandaged from head to toe, wearing a cone of shame. He was too big to be comfortable in any of the kennels the vet had on hand, so they set us up in one of the vet check rooms.

  “He’s alive,” I said. “That’s all that matters.”

  Jake hugged me.

  “I feel so guilty for not being at the hospital with you,” I said. And it was true. He’d forced the ambulance driver to go to the vet hospital first and told me to go with George. That he would be fine. If George hadn’t whined just then, I’m not sure I would have done what Jake wanted.

  “Don’t. I needed you here with our guy. I’ve been worried sick about him. He was so brave, Ainsley. Like, didn’t take a moment’s thought, just did what he had to in order to save Becky’s life. I’ve trained with search and rescue dogs who wouldn’t have been that fast or brave.”

  “And he almost killed himself and you. Greg told me what you did.”

  He shrugged and gave me that sly grin of his. “I was not going to let him die,” I said.

  The team had made a human chain to grab Becky and George with Jake and my brother in the water, pulling them to safety. But once George let go, a fast current ripped him out of Jake’s hand. Jake let go of my brother, and floated down until he caught George.

  When the guys tried to pull him in with the rope they’d yanked a little too hard and had pulled his shoulder out of the socket and had broken his wrists.

  “Was your ankle broken?”

  He shook his head. “Just swollen. I don’t even remember hitting it. Everything happened so fast.”

  Jake helped me off the table with his good arm, and I knelt beside George. The doctors said he wasn’t out of the woods yet. One of his ribs had been broken, and his skin rubbed raw in several places. That was why he was wrapped in gauze. They put a special ointment on his whole body to help him heal. And there’d been damage to some of his paws. They thought, because he was trying to get traction on the sharp rocks.

  “Is Becky okay?” I asked. I sat on the floor and scratched George’s ears. It was the only part of him that wasn’t bandaged.

  He tried to lift his head but he was still heavily sedated. The vet wanted to keep him still for twenty-four hours to give his rib time to set.

  “It’s okay, boy. You rest.”

  “She hasn’t regained consciousness yet, but her vital signs are looking good. Her mother and father wanted to thank you and George for helping to save her life. If you hadn’t told us where to look when you did, she would have drowned.”

  “George knew. Didn’t he?”

  Jake nodded. “He was definitely headed in that direction. I’m telling you, Ainsley, I’ve seen him run fast in the backyard and do his crazy thing, but never like that. It was as if he understood the gravity of the situation before we ever caught up with him. He was already leaping into the water when we got to the scene. I tried to catch him but I missed him.”

  “It’s okay, Jake. I know you feel guilty but you saved his life, too.”

  George grunted.

  “I think that means he’s grateful,” I said.

  We both laughed.

  “Any change with Gran?”

  He shook his head. “Her vitals have improved and almost all the swelling is gone from her brain. The doctors think she might wake up any minute but said it’s hard to predict exactly when.”

  Wake up, Gran. You’re the only one who can tell us what really happened and possibly save Becky and Lizzie from prison.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  A week later, the Fourth of July parade was in full swing. Lizzie, who rented Shannon’s apartment, had invited us to watch from the rooftop patio. We’d had a lot of parties up here when Shannon was living there, but this was the first one Lizzie had thrown.

  She’d been cleared of any wrongdoing and I think she was just now beginning to feel somewhat normal. Her happy smile still hadn’t come back, but like
most of us, she probably needed a little time.

  “There it is,” Shannon squealed. “Look at George and Jake. They look so handsome.”

  Jake sat on a chair with George by his feet. I’d nixed the idea of George riding alone, and Jake offered to sit with him.

  “And here come our heroes Fire Chief Jake and the town celebrity, and everyone’s favorite Great Dane, Geooooorge Clooney,” the announcer said.

  The crowd went wild. Kids and adults jumped up and down yelling, “George. George. George.”

  I swear my dog sat up a little straighter. Being who he was, he’d healed quicker than anyone had expected. Even though it had only been a week. A tear dropped down my cheek as I watched my guys go by. Julia Roberts mewed in my hands.

  “Yep, your big brother is putting on quite the show,” I said.

  “George’s head is not going to be able to fit through your doors at home,” Mike joked.

  “You aren’t wrong.” I laughed.

  After our float, came Shannon’s. It was a giant smiling coffee cup that waved.

  “Oh, Mike, it looks so good,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “That’s ingenuity,” I said. “It looks like a real arm.”

  Mike laughed. “It is. We couldn’t get the mechanism to work at the last minute so one of my guys took all the mechanical stuff out of the giant cup. His arms are completely covered in a blue sweater and matching gloves, so that it looks like the cup is waving. Wearing a sweater in July is hazardous. I have to pay him overtime but it’s worth it.”

  “Thank you, honey. It pays to be married to a man who thinks fast on his feet.”

  “I thought I’d find you kids up here. Put me down, Judge.”

  That voice. I turned to find Gran in the arms of the judge. He was at least eighty. Had he carried her up the two flights of stairs?

  “She is supposed to be in the hospital,” he said. “But she demanded we come find you.”

  She put a hand on his chest. “Henry, put me down.”

  A look passed between them that was so sweet. He’d been by her bedside more often than not the last week.

  I ran to them and kissed her cheek. “You’re awake.”

  “Darn straight. Can’t believe I was out for so long. But I was having the best dreams.”