1225 Christmas Tree Lane

13

“Officer, let me explain,” Linc said, doing his best to stay calm. His brothers stood on either side of him, arms raised high in the air. The deputy, whose badge identified him as Deputy Pierpont, appeared to have a nervous trigger finger.

The second officer was in his car, talking into the radio.

“Step away from the vehicle,” Pierpont instructed, keeping his weapon trained on them.

The three brothers could’ve been playing the children’s game, Mother, May I as they each moved forward one giant step.

“What were you doing on private property?” Pierpont bellowed as if he’d caught them red-handed inside the bank vault at Fort Knox.

“We’re looking for our sister,” Mel blurted out. “She ran away this morning. We’ve got to find her.”

“She’s about to have a baby,” Linc said, feeling some clarification was required.

“Then why are you here?” the deputy asked, his tone none too friendly.

“Because,” Linc said, fast losing patience, “this is where we thought she’d be.”

The second officer approached them. His badge said he was Deputy Rogers. “We had two separate phone calls from neighbors who claimed three men were breaking into this house.”

“We weren’t breaking in,” Mel insisted, turning to his brothers to confirm the truth.

“I looked in the window,” Linc confessed, shaking his head. “I didn’t realize that was a crime.”

Pierpont snickered. “So we got a Peeping Tom on our hands.”

“There’s no one at home!” Linc shouted. “There was nothing to peep at except a crazed cat.”

“I tried to open the back door,” Mel said in a low voice.

“Why’d you do that?” Rogers asked.

“Well, because…” Mel glanced at Linc.

As far as Linc was concerned, Mel was the one who’d opened his big mouth; he could talk his own way out of this.

“Go on,” Rogers prodded. “I’d be interested to know why you tried to get into this house when your brother just told us you were searching for your sister and that you knew there was no one here.”

“Okay, okay,” Mel said hurriedly. “I probably shouldn’t have tried the door, but I suspected Mary Jo was inside and I wanted to see if that elderly couple was at home or just hiding from us.”

“I’d hide if the three of you came pounding on my door.” Again this was from Deputy Rogers.

“What did I tell you, Jim?” Pierpont said. Mel’s comment seemed to verify everything the officers already believed. “Why don’t we all go down to the sheriff’s office so we can sort this out.”

“Not without my attorney,” Linc said in a firm voice. He wasn’t going to let some deputy fresh out of the academy railroad him. “We didn’t break any law. We came to the Rhodes residence in good faith. All we want…all we care about is locating our little sister, who’s pregnant and alone and in a strange town.”

Just then another car pulled up to the curb, and a middle-aged man stepped out, dressed in street clothes.

“Now you’re really in for it,” Pierpont announced.

“This is Sheriff Troy Davis.”

As soon as Sheriff Davis approached, Linc felt relieved. Troy Davis was obviously a seasoned officer and looked like a man he could reason with.

The sheriff frowned at the young deputies. “What’s the problem here?”

They both started talking at once.

“We got a call from dispatch,” Pierpont began.

“Two calls,” Rogers amended.

“From neighbors, reporting suspicious behavior,” Pierpont continued.

“The middle one here admits he was trying to open the back door.”

Mel leaned forward. “Just checking to see if it was locked.”

Linc groaned and turned to his brother. “Why don’t you keep your trap shut before we end up spending Christmas in jail.”

To his credit, Mel did seem chagrined. “Sorry, Linc. I wanted to help.”

Linc appealed directly to the sheriff. “I understand we might have looked suspicious, peeking in windows, Sheriff Davis, but I assure you we were merely trying to figure out if the Rhodes family was at home.”

“Are you family or friends of Ben and Charlotte’s?” the man asked, studying them through narrowed eyes.

“Not exactly friends.”

“Our sister knows Ben’s son,” Ned told them.

Mel nodded emphatically. “Knows him in the Biblical sense, if you catch my drift.”

Linc wanted to kick Mel but, with all the law enforcement surrounding them, he didn’t dare. They’d probably arrest him for assault. “Our sister’s having David Rhodes’s baby,” he felt obliged to explain.

“Any day now,” Mel threw in.

“And she disappeared,” Ned added.

“If we’re guilty of anything,” Linc said, gesturing with his hands, “it’s being so anxious to locate our sister. Like I said, she’s alone in a strange town and without family or friends.”

“Did you check their identification?” the sheriff asked.

“We hadn’t gotten around to that yet,” Deputy Rogers replied.

“You’ll see we’re telling the truth,” Linc asserted.

“None of us have police records.”

With the sheriff and his deputies watching carefully, Linc, Mel and Ned handed over their identification.

The sheriff glanced at all three pieces, then passed them to Pierpont. The young man swaggered over to his patrol car, apparently to check for any warrants or arrest records. He was back a couple of minutes later and returned their ID.

“They don’t have records.” He seemed almost disappointed, Linc thought.

The sheriff nodded. “What’s your sister’s name?”

“Mary Jo Wyse,” Linc answered. “Can you tell us where we might find the Rhodes family? All we want to do is talk to them.”

“Unfortunately Ben and Charlotte are out of the country,” the sheriff said.

“You mean they aren’t even in town?” Mel asked, sounding outraged. He turned to Linc. “What are we going to do now?”

“I don’t know.” Mary Jo must have discovered this information about the Rhodes family on her own. The only thing left for her to do was head back to Seattle. She wouldn’t have any other options, which meant this entire venture through dismal traffic, falling snow and wretched conditions had been a complete waste of time.

“She’s probably home by now and wondering where the three of us are,” Linc muttered.

“Maybe.” Ned shook his head. “But I doubt it.”

“What do you mean, you doubt it?” Linc challenged.

“Mary Jo can be stubborn, you know, and she was pretty upset last night.”

“We should phone the house and find out if she’s there,” Linc said, although he had a sneaking suspicion that Ned was right. Mary Jo wouldn’t give up that easily.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Sheriff Davis inserted.

Linc reached for his cell phone and called home. Five long rings later, voice mail kicked in. If his sister had gone back to Seattle, she apparently wasn’t at the house.

“She’s not there,” Linc informed his brothers.

“What did I tell you?” Ned sighed. “I know Mary Jo, and she isn’t going to turn tail after one setback.”

This was more than a simple setback, in Linc’s opinion. This was major.

“Have you tried her cell phone?” the sheriff suggested next.

“Yeah, we did. A few times. No answer,” Linc said tersely.

“Try again.”

“I’ll do that now,” Linc murmured. He reached for his phone again and realized he didn’t know her number nor had he programmed it into his directory.

He cleared his throat. “Ah, Ned, could you give me the number for her cell?”

His youngest brother grabbed the phone from him and punched in Mary Jo’s number, then handed it back.

Linc waited impatiently for the call to connect. After what seemed like minutes, the phone automatically went to voice mail. “She’s not answering that, either.”

“Maybe her cell battery’s dead,” the sheriff said. “It could be she’s out of range, too.”

Actually, Linc was curious as to why the sheriff himself had responded to dispatch. One would think the man had better things to do—like dealing with real crime or spending the evening with his family. “Listen, Sheriff, is Cedar Cove so hard up for crime that the sheriff responds personally to a possible break-in?”

Troy Davis grinned. “I was on my way to my daughter’s house for dinner when I heard the call.”

“So you decided to check us out.”

“Something like that.”

Linc liked the sheriff. He seemed a levelheaded guy, whereas his deputies were a pair of overzealous new-bies, hoping for a bit of excitement. He’d bet they were bored out of their minds in a quiet little town like Cedar Cove. The call about this supposed break-in had sent these two into a giddy state of importance.

“The only essential thing here is finding our sister,” Linc reiterated to the sheriff.

“The problem is, we don’t know where to find her,” Ned put in.

The sheriff rubbed the side of his face. “Did you ask around town?”

No one at the pub had been able to help. “Not really. We asked the guys at some tavern, but they didn’t seem aware of much except how full their glasses were.”

The sheriff grinned and seemed to appreciate Linc’s wry sense of humor.

“She’s very pregnant,” Ned felt obliged to remind everyone. “It isn’t like someone wouldn’t notice her.”

“Yeah.” Mel once more thrust his arms out in front of him and bloated his cheeks for emphasis.

Linc rolled his eyes.

“Wait,” Deputy Pierpont said thoughtfully. “Seems to me I heard something about a pregnant woman earlier.”

That got Linc’s attention. “Where?” he asked urgently. “When?”

“I got a friend who’s a firefighter and he mentioned it.”

“What did he say?”

Deputy Pierpont shrugged. “Don’t remember. His name’s Hutton. You could go to the fire station and ask.”

“Will do.” Linc stepped forward and shook hands with the sheriff and then, for good measure and goodwill, with each of the deputies. “Thanks for all your help.”

Troy Davis nodded. “You tell your sister she shouldn’t have worried you like this.”

“Oh, I’ll tell her,” Linc promised. He had quite a few other things he intended to say to her, too.

After receiving directions to the fire station, they jumped back in the truck. Finally they were getting somewhere, Linc told himself with a feeling of satisfaction. It was just a matter of time before they caught up with her.

It didn’t take them long to locate the fire station.

Rather than repeat their earlier mistakes—or what Linc considered mistakes—he said, “Let me do the talking, understand?”

“Okay,” Ned agreed quickly enough.

“Mel?”

“Oh, all right.”

They walked into the station house and asked to speak to the duty chief. The man eyed them cautiously.

Linc got immediately to the point. “I understand that earlier today you responded to an incident involving a young pregnant woman. A firefighter named Hutton was mentioned in connection with this call. Is that correct?”

When the chief didn’t reply, Linc added, “If so, we believe that’s our sister.”

The man raised his eyebrows, as if determined not to give out any information.

“She needs her family, chief.”

There must’ve been some emotion in Linc’s voice, some emotion he didn’t even know he’d revealed, because the man hesitated, then excused himself. He returned a few minutes later, followed by a second man.

“This is Mack McAfee. He’s the EMT who responded to the call.”

“You saw Mary Jo?” Linc asked. He extended his hand, and Mack shook it in a friendly fashion.

“I did.”

Linc’s relief was so great he nearly collapsed into a nearby chair. “That’s great!”

“She’s okay, isn’t she?” Ned blurted out. “She hasn’t gone into labor or anything?”

“No, no, she had a dizzy spell.”

“Dizzy?” Linc repeated slowly and cast a startled look at his brothers.

“Does that mean what I think it means?” Mel asked.

Linc felt sick to his stomach. “I was twelve when Mary Jo was born and I remember it like it was yesterday. Mom got real dizzy that morning and by noon Mary Jo had arrived.”

“That’s not generally a sign of oncoming labor,” Mack reassured him.

“It is in our family. Dad told me it was that way with each and every pregnancy. According to him, Mom had very quick deliveries and they all started with a dizzy spell. He barely made it to the hospital in time with Mary Jo. In fact—”

“She was born while Dad parked the car,” Mel said.

“He dropped Mom off at the emergency door and then he went to look for a parking space.”

That tale had been told around the kitchen table for years. Once their father had parked the car and made his way back to the hospital, he was met by the doctor, who congratulated him on the birth of his baby girl.

“Do you know where she is?” Linc asked with renewed urgency.

“You might talk to Grace Harding,” Mack said.

“Who’s Grace Harding?”

“The librarian.” Mack paused for a moment. “Mary Jo was at the library when I treated her.”

“The library?” That didn’t make any sense to Linc. Why had Mary Jo gone to the library?

“What was she doing there?” Mel asked.

“That isn’t as important as where she is now,” Linc said. “Mack, do you have any idea where she might’ve gone after she left the library?” He remembered seeing it earlier. The building with the mural.

Mack shook his head. “She didn’t say, although I told her to put her feet up and rest for a few hours.”

“She must’ve gotten a hotel room.” They should have realized that earlier. Of course! If Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes were out of town, that was exactly what Mary Jo would have done.

“I don’t think so,” Mack said. “I thought I’d check on her myself and discovered she isn’t at any of the motels in town.”

“Why not?”

“No rooms available.”

“Where would she go?”

“My guess,” Mack said slowly, “is to Grace Harding’s house.”

“Why her place?”

“Because it seems like the kind of thing Mrs. Harding would do. I have the Hardings’ phone number. I could call if you’d like.”

Linc couldn’t believe their good fortune. “Please.”

The firefighter was gone for what seemed like a long time. He returned wearing a grin. “You can talk to her yourself if you want.”

Linc bolted to his feet, eager to hear the sound of his sister’s voice. He’d been upset earlier—angry, worried, close to panic—but all he felt now was relief.

“She’s at the Harding ranch in Olalla.”

The three brothers exchanged smiling glances. “Is she all right?”

“She said she’s feeling great, but she also said she’s ready to go home if you’re willing to come and get her.”

“Wonderful.” Linc couldn’t have wished for anything more.

“I’ll give you directions to the Harding place. She’s on the phone now if you’d like to chat.”

Linc grinned, following Mack to the office, his brothers on his heels.

This was finally working out. They’d get Mary Jo home where she belonged before Christmas.