When Sammi came back to work, I'd make sure we worked something out. Sure, she was smart-mouthed and resentful, but what did I expect? The kid had been raised by dust bunnies.

The next morning, I came in from helping Owen in the boathouse and found Emma stripping the beds, alone.

"Sammi's not here again?" I said.

She shook her head.

"Did she call?"

Another head shake.

Now this was really bugging me. Sammi had said she didn't want to lose her job, then after we'd come to an agreement on better hours, she stopped showing up giving me just the excuse I needed to fire her. Something was wrong. Time for another run at Janie.

Chapter Four.

Twenty minutes later, I was banging on Janie's front door. I didn't expect her to answer she wasn't known for getting up before noon. But I was reasonably certain babies didn't sleep that late, so Sammi should have been awake.

"Sammi? If you're in there, open up! We need to talk."

I jumped down to the dirt patch in front of the window, a garden that likely hadn't been a garden in fifty years. I rapped on the dirt-encrusted gla.s.s.

"Sammi! It's Nadia. Look, I'm not here to chew you out. I just need to know if you're coming back to work."

Silence. I put my ear to the window, but couldn't hear so much as a baby gurgling. I rapped harder.

Nothing. I stalked back to the pickup. As I was getting in, I heard a soft voice behind me.

"She's not there. She's gone."

I turned to see Tess Hargrave. Her face was wan and splotchy, eyes rimmed with red.

"Where is she?" I asked.

Tess cast a nervous glance at the Ernst place. After a series of bounced checks years ago, her dad had stopped serving Janie, so Tess was no more welcome at the hovel than I was, even if she was Sammi's friend.

"Climb in," I said. "Let's grab a coffee."

"I can't. Stock arrived this morning and Dad needs my help. Can I catch up with you later?"

"Lunch?"

She nodded. Again, her gaze flickered toward the Ernst place. "I told Don about it, but he doesn't seem to care."

Staff Sergeant Don Riley was commander of the local Ontario Provincial Police detachment.

"What'd you tell him?" I asked.

"That Sammi and Destiny are gone."

"Gone? When?"

"Sunday night. My dad says " Her eyes brimmed with tears. "I gotta go. Meet me at Larry's? At noon?"

"Sure, but "

She sprinted away, long hair flapping behind her. I thought of following, but the animosity between Janie and Rick Hargrave extended to Hargrave's opinion of Sammi, and I knew Tess wouldn't feel comfortable discussing her friend in front of him.

I glanced down the street at the OPP office. Most cops don't have a problem with me. In fact, the "public safety" occupations cops, military, firefighters, paramedics form a large part of my lodge clientele. They might not agree with what I did, but they understand how it could happen. Don Riley and his sergeant, Rudy Graves, were among the exceptions. The first time we met, Riley told me I was a murdering b.i.t.c.h, no better than the man I'd killed. Our relationship had deteriorated from there. Yet, given the choice between spinning my wheels at the lodge and going a few rounds with Riley, I chose the latter.

When I walked into the tiny station that housed the White Rock OPP detachment, I bypa.s.sed the desk clerk, Maura, who wisely pretended she didn't see me. There were three officers in the main room: Riley, Graves, and a new guy. Riley was in his usual place, leaning against the pillar in the center of the room. One of these days, after years of straining to hold him up, it's going to give way. With any luck, it'll take him and Graves with it.

"Get out of my station, Stafford," Riley said as I entered. "You aren't welcome here."

"It's a public building," I said. "Paid for by my tax money."

The new guy scrambled for the door, saying something about fresh coffee. I stepped aside to let him pa.s.s, and murmured a greeting. He gave me a half-smile as he brushed past.

"What do you want, Stafford?" Riley said.

His hand moved to the b.u.t.t of his gun, stance widening. I hummed the theme to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. He turned on his heel and stomped into his office, slamming the door behind him. He turned on his heel and stomped into his office, slamming the door behind him.

Graves took his boss's place, planting himself in my path.

"What do you want, Stafford?" he said, parroting his boss.

"I hear Sammi and her baby are missing."

"No, they're not!" Riley thundered from the back.

"You know, Don, you can eavesdrop better if you put a gla.s.s to the door. Come on, guys. Let's cut the c.r.a.p. I'm not here to cause trouble "

"You wouldn't dare," Riley said, striding out. "Not in my town."

I bit my tongue to keep from humming the Western theme again. "I'm worried about Sammi. Tess says she's disappeared."

"Really? Wow. Kid's had a record since she was thirteen, gets herself knocked up at sixteen, and now she's disappeared? There's a shocker, eh, Rudy?"

Riley lumbered to Graves's desk and thudded his bulk into the chair. He picked up a car magazine and thumbed through it.

"So you think she ran away?" I said. "How did she get out of town? Taxi? No, wait, we don't have one. Bus? Train? Limo service? Hmmm, don't have those, either."

"She probably hot-wired a car," Graves said. "That's what she did the last time. Stole a cottager's SUV and rolled it."

"She went joyriding in a car with the keys left in the ignition. That was four years ago, and she hasn't been in trouble since. Has someone reported a car stolen?"

"That's privileged information."

"In other words, no. Or else you'd be saying Sammi did did steal a car." I perched on an empty desk. "Look, I'm concerned, okay? Don't turn this into a p.i.s.sing match. My employee has disappeared and I want to know if there's any reason to worry. Have you spoken to Janie?" steal a car." I perched on an empty desk. "Look, I'm concerned, okay? Don't turn this into a p.i.s.sing match. My employee has disappeared and I want to know if there's any reason to worry. Have you spoken to Janie?"

"Why?" Graves said, crossing the room to stand in front of me. "Sammi Ernst is gone, big deal. The Ernsts don't breed nothing but trash. Never have. If you were from around here, you'd know that. You feel sorry for that little baby? Look at Janie Ernst. I remember when she was a little baby herself, everyone saying how cute she was, how she'd be the one to break the cycle. But she wasn't, was she? Just pa.s.sed it on to her brat, who pa.s.sed it on to hers."

"Is that how you guys work around here? Decide who deserves help and who doesn't?"

"You think we got nothing better to do than chase runaway kids?" Riley said. "We've got two cottage B&Es, a cougar on the loose "

"Cougar?"

"Cougar, mountain lion, whatever. The point is "

"We don't have cougars around here."

"No f.u.c.king kidding. Why do you think it's a problem? It must have escaped from that zoo over on 55 and now we've got campers calling in, freaking out about hearing a cougar in the woods. You think we need that kind of trouble?"

"Is the zoo missing a cougar?"

"How the h.e.l.l should I know?" Graves said.

I bit my tongue hard and stood. "If there's a big cat out there, I'd like to know about it. I take guests into those woods and I've got enough trouble worrying about "

"Had enough trouble with Sammi, too, didn't you, Stafford? I think we've solved the case, Don. Sammi p.i.s.sed Stafford off and she gave the kid permanent walking papers." He pointed his forefinger between my eyes, c.o.c.king his hand into a gun. "Pow. The Stafford Special."

I stared at his finger. Thought about breaking it.

I let myself savor the fantasy for ten seconds. Then I turned and walked out.

I walked back to Janie's place and spent another ten minutes banging on the doors and windows. She didn't answer. Big surprise there. Next I popped into the liquor store, paid Hargrave for yesterday's beer, and told Tess I was heading to the diner. I had a half hour before she'd be off for lunch, but I went early and ordered coffee.

Of the half dozen people in Larry's Diner that morning, two worked there and four spent so much time there that Larry should have charged them rent. I sat at the counter with everyone else.

After the initial greetings, I lapsed into listening mode, hoping to hear something about Sammi so I could join the conversation rather than instigate it. After fifteen minutes of listening to the Myers brothers b.i.t.c.h about native land rights, I realized no easy segue was coming.

"Anyone hear what happened to Sammi?" I asked when Jason Myers paused for a caffeine refill. "She hasn't been to work in two days."

"Took off," Jason said.

Everyone nodded.

His brother, Eric, leaned forward, jabbing his finger at the countertop in front of Larry, the diner owner. "Now, these Indians, we paid them for their land. If I sell my house to someone, my grandkids can't come back fifty years later and say they got a b.u.m deal and want it back."

I could have pointed out the fallacy of this argument but, during my years in White Rock, I'd learned there were certain issues you didn't debate with the locals.

"About Sammi," I said. "Did she really run away?"

The Myers brothers shrugged in unison.

"Hey, Nadia," Brett Helms called down the counter. "You see any sign of that cougar up your way?"

I shook my head. "Heard about it, though. It's for real, then?"

"Guess so. Some kids camping over by the Potter place heard it. Came racing in here just before closing, huh, Larry?"

Larry nodded and poured fresh grinds into the coffee-maker.

"Scared s.h.i.tless," Brett said, laughing. "City kids. Said they'd heard cougars on some wildlife show and they were sure that's what it was."

"Man, that'd be a trophy," Eric said. "Think Don'll let us hunt it?"

I tuned them out and sipped my coffee. Seventeen-year-old girl goes missing and no one even wonders why. But an escaped cougar? Now that's news.

Chapter Five.

Tess arrived ten minutes early. She only had a half hour before she needed to begin the drive to school. Tess was in her last year and had crammed in enough credits that she only needed to attend afternoon cla.s.ses. Mornings were spent working with her dad to save for college.

We took a booth at the back and ordered burgers. When lunch arrived, Tess nibbled the crispy end off one fry, then stared down at the overflowing plate.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm not very hungry."

"That's okay. So the last time you saw Sammi was... ?"

"Sunday. I was driving home from my grandma's, saw her walking to town from your place and gave her a lift. Kira and I usually stop by Sammi's around ten, after Destiny's asleep. That night, Sammi didn't come out, so Kira snuck in the back door. Janie was pa.s.sed out on the couch, and Sammi and Destiny weren't home. Yesterday morning, I went back, 'cause I was worried, but Janie ran me off, said Sammi was gone and good riddance."

"Did Sammi say anything unusual when you gave her a ride?"

Tess shook her head and blew her nose on the napkin.

"New boyfriend?" I asked.

Another head shake.

"What about Trent? Did they get back in contact? Maybe she followed him out to Vancouver."

Tess made a noise of disgust. "That a.s.shole couldn't get away from here fast enough, get on with his new college life where no one knew he'd had a kid. Sammi would never never lower herself to going after him. And even if he asked her to, she'd tell him where to stuff it." lower herself to going after him. And even if he asked her to, she'd tell him where to stuff it."

"Did she make a new friend? Acquaintance?"

"No."