Lily asked more questions about the material they had just covered and handed out stickers and cards to all the children. Every one of the children was so adorable, she thought. Some of them weren’t much younger than Jackson. “Do any of you know Jackson Endicott?” she asked as a little girl deliberated over her choice of prize.
“I heard about him on the news last night,” one boy, the tallest of the group said. “But I didn’t know him.”
“What happened to him?” a little girl asked.
“He disappeared,” the boy said.
“I’m sure they’re going to find him very soon,” Kristen said. She sent Lily a warning look.
“Hey everybody, you’ve been such a great group,” Lily said. “If you take your skis off, you can come pet Shelby.”
“Why do we have to take off our skis?” a girl asked.
“Ski edges are very sharp,” Lily said. “They can cut a dog’s paws and hurt them very badly. So never ski close to a dog.”
The kids raced to kick off their skis, then descended on the dog, who greeted them with a wagging tail. Lily moved over to Kristen. “Sorry I mentioned Jackson,” Lily said. “I didn’t mean to upset anyone.”
“It’s okay,” Kristen said. “What a terrible thing to happen. I’m afraid to let any of these kids out of my sight now.”
“Have you seen anyone hanging around the children?” Lily asked. “Watching them or anything?” Though the note Denton Endicott had received seemed to indicate that Jackson was the deliberate target, maybe the kidnapper had looked for him first among the other kids at the resort.
Kristen shook her head. “I haven’t seen anyone. And we do watch for things like that. Anyone hanging around the kids who we don’t know for sure is a parent gets reported to security.”
“How often do you have to report someone?” Lily asked.
“Not often, but even once is too much.”
Lily was packing up the posters and preparing to call the kids off Shelby when a familiar figure in a black helmet skied up. Scott nodded to her. “Don’t let me interrupt.”
“I was just finished.”
“Is everybody ready for lunch?” Kristen called.
“Yes!” The children scrambled to line up.
“Shelby, come!” Lily called.
The dog loped over to her side, while the ski school students returned to their skis. “Did you need me for something?” she asked Scott.
“What were you and Kristen talking about?” Scott asked.
She frowned. Why did he care about that? “I asked her if she had seen anyone suspicious hanging around the kids,” she said. “I thought maybe whoever took Jackson might have looked for him with other children.”
“It’s not your job to investigate this,” he said.
“I happen to think it’s every person’s job to look out for kids,” she said. “A little boy’s life is at stake, and I’ll do anything I can to help.”
She braced herself for an angry reaction, but he appeared unfazed. He watched the ski school class head down the hill, an undulating line following their instructor. “You’re really good with the kids,” he said. “I bet you were a good nanny.”
Was he complimenting her, or insinuating she should leave patrol and go back to taking care of children? She wished he wasn’t so hard to read. “I try to do my best at every job,” she said. “Whether that’s changing diapers or training an avalanche search dog.”
He was still watching the retreating children. “I’ve been thinking a lot about Jackson.”
“I have, too,” she said. “I looked at a map again last night, and I don’t think the kidnapper would try to go directly over the ridge to Pandora.”
He turned to look at her, though she couldn’t see his eyes clearly through the amber goggles he wore. “Why do you say that?”
“Going over the ridge is the shortest route, but it’s also really risky and really hard. It would be a lot easier to go around the mountain.”
