Page 66 of The Girl in the River

Calvin grinned as he pulled out his pocket note pad and scribbled down the name. Moon wanted him to find the little girl.

Now he knew where to look.

EIGHTY-SEVEN

BABBLING CREEK RANCH

Pixie pumped her legs back and forth in the swing, the metal rungs creaking as she looked up at the clouds. One looked pretty and white like a cloud a magic genie would ride on. But there were other gray ones that formed shapes. She and her mommy liked to name them. A lion. A bear. A bird. A shark.

Shivering, she made herself look away. Norah and her three brothers were building a fort in the backyard and were covered in mud and pine needles. Their dog Debbie was running wild, digging in the dirt. But Ms. Emily didn’t seem to mind the mess. She said she’d just hose ’em all off.

Pixie curled her fingers around the ropes and pumped her legs harder, making the swing fly higher and higher, so high she wished she could fly back to her mommy’s house and be in her own backyard with her and Mr. Mark.

She didn’t want to play in the fort right now although she liked Norah and her brothers and the dog and the two guinea pigs and parakeets they had inside. On the ranch they even had horses and goats that were silly and ate everything in sight. Norah’s daddy sang goofy, made-up songs that didn’t make sense but made everyone giggle, and Ms. Emily had the kindest blue eyes and always had snacks and hugs and Band-Aids for boo-boos.

Only she wasn’t Mommy and now she was starting to wonder if her mommy was ever coming back. Ms. Emily just gave her a hug and a sad smile when she asked like she wanted to make her feel better but that she didn’t know either.

She bit her lip. That worried her the most.

Maybe Ms. Emily knew something she wasn’t telling her. And why hadn’t she seen Mr. Mark? He’d said he wanted to be her daddy.

Had he changed his mind? Didn’t he want her anymore?

Tears filled her eyes and made the clouds look blurry. She blinked and started to cry again. Her legs were tired from pumping and she let them hang, the swing slowing down and her toes dragging the grass.

She pushed her fist against her eyes to stop crying, then saw a black car drive by and slow down. The car stopped on the street by the fence but she couldn’t see who was inside.

Then the window rolled down and she saw a man with a camera aiming it at the yard. She thought he took some pictures of her or maybe of Norah and the brothers.

Her heart stuttered and she had a bad sick feeling like when Mommy told her not to speak to strangers.

She jumped off the swing and started running back to the house to tell Ms. Emily. But the car engine roared up and the car sped away before she made it to the house.

EIGHTY-EIGHT

MOONDOGGY’S

“What did the bartender have to say?” Ellie asked when Derrick returned to the table.

“Not much to offer,” Derrick replied. “He just moved here a few months ago so he didn’t know Jesse. Like everyone else around here, he said the Moons run the town. He hangs out with a lot of the raft guides at the company next door. Didn’t seem to care for Kevin. Kevin runs in different circles.”

“Maybe we should talk to the raft guides,” Ellie said, then lowered her voice. “And I want to find out about this woman named Patty Lasso.”

“Who?”

“Thelma scribbled her name on the back of the receipt and left it. But she didn’t give me a chance to ask about her.”

“My guess is she probably wouldn’t have, not with the Moons watching,” Derrick said. “She looked nervous as hell.”

“A lot of people here do,” Ellie said. “Another little old lady whispered to me to be careful, that there’s bad blood around here.”

“Interesting. They want to talk but are paralyzed with fear,” Derrick said.

“I think so. Why don’t you talk to the folks at the outfitters store while I look into Patty?”

“Good idea. Maybe one of the raft guides knows her.”

The afternoon sun was blinding as they left, flickering through tall pines, oaks and cedars. Birds flew from branch to branch, the sounds of summer filling the air as people lined up for the raft tours.

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