At the end of Ms. Belcher’s line, she turned and caught his eyes. He saw a flash of worry before she smoothed her expression and moved in front of the group.
“Students,” she said calmly, although Derek could sense the tension vibrating through her. “Does anyone know where Zoe and Maya Springfield are?”
The response was a mixture of shaking heads and blank looks.
“Are you sure? This is very important. I promise that neither you nor the Springfield girls will get into trouble.”
When none of the kids said anything, Derek saw Artie’s shoulders fall with a silent sigh. “Okay. Everyone on the bus, please.”
He took a step toward Artie as she supervised the boarding. Leaning close to her ear, he said quietly, “Steve’s girls are missing?”
“They’re probably close by,” she said in an equally hushed—but tense—tone. “We’ll look around, but I want to get the rest of the kids on the bus before any more disappear.”
“Good idea.”
When the last child climbed onto the bus, Artie waved over Marnie and the two other women, who were looking a little worse for wear. Derek figured they probably hadn’t been prepared for the field trip from hell when they’d volunteered to chaperone.
“Lorna, could you stay here with the driver and watch the students?” At Lorna’s nod, Artie turned to the other two. “Betsy, would you mind checking over there? It’s closest to where I last saw the girls, right after Chase fell in.”
“Sure.” As Betsy hurried in the direction indicated, Artie looked at Derek.
“Since you’re the diving expert, could you look for the girls closer to the shore?”
“What about me?” Marnie asked.
Holding out her fist, Artie sighed. “One of us has to call Chase’s parents. The other one will search opposite from where Betsy’s looking.”
With a groan, Marnie put her fist next to Artie’s.
“Rock, paper, scissors, go!”
Artie picked paper and gave a tiny, pleased yelp when she saw Marnie’s rock.
“Wish me luck,” Marnie muttered, retreating to the bus.
“Good luck!” Artie called after her before lowering her voice so only Derek could hear. “Although it doesn’t seem to be in plentiful supply today.”
“I don’t know about that,” Derek said as he started walking back toward the reservoir. “Chase is alive, isn’t he?”
“True.” She gave him a smile that was only slightly pained. “And we’re going to find the girls in no time and get their wandering little butts on the bus.”
As they split, heading to their designated areas, Derek couldn’t stop himself from turning his head so his gaze could follow her. Despite the knowledge that he wouldn’t ever have her, he couldn’t seemnotto watch Artie whenever she was within view. Maybe it was his punishment for almost wrecking her life four years ago.
He shook off his thoughts. There were kids to find; it was not the time for him to dwell on his biggest regret.
Shaking off his distraction, he noticed Sheriff Rob Coughlin heading to intercept her. Derek immediately reversed direction so he could join the pair. A part of him felt a twinge of guilt. It wasn’t Rob’s fault that most of the female—and a few of the male—Simpson residents were tempted to commit crimes just so they could be arrested by the rugged, good-looking sheriff. Rob was a decent cop, too, and Derek normally would rather deal with him than anyone else in the sheriff’s department. It was just that Artie’s smile was awfully big. And was it really necessary that they stand so close together?
As he stopped behind Artie, Derek caught the tail end of Rob’s sentence—something about a report.
“I promise I’ll give you my statement in just a few minutes,” Artie said. “Right now, I have to track down Zoe and Maya Springfield.”
Wrinkles appeared between the sheriff’s eyebrows. “Steve’s girls are missing? Hey, Derek.”
Although all of Rob’s attention was focused on Artie, Derek returned the greeting with a lift of his chin.
“Yes.” Artie scanned the area as she spoke. “Zoe was the first to notice Chase had fallen through the ice. I don’t know if they’re scared and hiding somewhere or what.”
“I’ll help you look. Where do you need me?”
