She stared, hoping and praying to see Elsie’s bright face leaning over the edge. Nothing. Elsie would’ve come to the edge if she could have. A dark thought hovered at the corners of her brain. No, she would not let herself go there. Maybe her child had run for help. But what about the person who’d pushed her? What was going on?
Gripping the protruding rocks, she pulled herself upright, feeling pain in her arms with every movement. Nothing was broken, but she was pretty bruised and scratched up. She got to her feet on the narrow ledge and shouted, “Somebody, help.”
Only the wind answered back.
She found her first foothold and, with some effort, climbed up a few feet. She called for help again and then reached for another protruding rock. Her mind was starting to process what had happened. If she hadn’t landed on the narrow ledge, she could have fallen all the way to the bottom. She pulled herself up closer to the top until she could peer over. Her breath caught. No Elsie.
“Help, someone.” Her voice sounded weak as panic set in.
She climbed the remaining distance. Before she even got to her feet, she saw the scattered yellow flowers and the pink hat lying on the ground. It felt as though an anvil had been placed on her chest. A deep breath was impossible.
The parent volunteer, a short, bald man, emerged through the trees.
Lydia ran toward him, stopping to pick up the pink cap. “Did Elsie come back to the group?”
“No.” He shook his head, sunlight reflecting off his glasses. “We were starting to worry about you two. The others are done with their lunch. I was sent to find you.”
Her hands trembled as her voice cracked. “You didn’t see Elsie?”
The father must have seen the terror in Lydia’s eyes. He gripped Lydia’s wrist. “Is everything all right?”
Lydia felt as though she were pulling words up from the bottom of her feet. “Call search and rescue. I think my daughter is missing.” She could not bring herself to say what might have really happened. That Elsie had been kidnapped.
* * *
K-9 Officer River Jameson listened as the call came through his radio.
“Suspected missing child near the Peewee Trail on Ridge Mountain. Foul play highly likely.”
His stomach tied in knots as he absorbed the words of the conversation between search and rescue and the 911 operator. A missing child rarely had a positive outcome. He of all people knew that, after his last case involving a child had come to a harrowing end.
Though he had been on a mission for the task force he was part of, trying to uncover a baby adoption ring that was targeting young vulnerable mothers in the area, he wasn’t far from where the girl had been reported missing. He and his K-9, a female yellow Lab named Frankie, were close and they could help. He had to help… After his last case, he couldn’t stand by if an innocent was at risk. The task force assignment could wait.
The sign came up for the hiking trails on Ridge Mountain, and he hit his blinker. He pulled out his radio and spoke into it. “This is Officer Jameson of Ridge PD. I’m close to the sight and have my search and rescue dog with me.”
The operator responded. “The volunteer team won’t arrive for another twenty minutes. And some other K-9 officers are on the way as well. We could use all the help we can get.”
Time was of the essence in finding this girl. “I got this.” He turned his head slightly and addressed his next comment to the yellow Lab in the backseat kennel. “You ready to go to work, Frankie?”
Frankie responded with an enthusiastic bark.
As he drove toward the trailhead parking lot that connected to where the child had disappeared, River’s thoughts turned to the task force and another life that needed saving. Mia Andrews, a pregnant missing teen from Denver. Her grandfather, Dodger, was a philanthropist known throughout the state for his funding of K-9 operations, and he’d been instrumental in forming the Colorado K-9 Unit, which comprised K-9 officers from across the state, to find his granddaughter. The task force was also determined to get justice for three other young women, all pregnant and in their late teens, who’d disappeared over the past year. Unfortunately, the three teens had been murdered and their babies had been taken. The COK9 team believed they were dealing with a ruthless illegal adoption ring operating around the Denver area. If they didn’t act fast, Mia Andrews would be their next victim. The clock was ticking. Mia would only be kept alive until she gave birth in October. It was May, and River hoped they found her well before it was too late.
His task today was to interview a colleague of another murder victim, Gayle Gorman, who was from Ridge, where River worked as a local police officer when not with the task force. Gayle Gorman’s body had been found by hikers in a remote area outside of Ridge. But recently her colleague, who’d worked with her at Ridge Burgers and More, had come forward saying she had information. Hopefully there was a new lead. He just needed to show up for the interview at the burger place before Gayle’s former work colleague went off shift at 7:00 p.m. In the meantime, he’d help search for the missing toddler.
He pulled into the parking lot beside a small bus that said Great Beginnings Preschool.
A short way up the trail, he could see a group of children with two adults: a man and a woman. He opened Frankie’s kennel and gave the command to dismount. The yellow Lab looked up at him in expectation.
One of the adults, a young woman with black hair, came toward him. “You’re search and rescue?”
“Yes.” It appeared that he was the first on the scene.
“Elsie’s mom is looking for her. Mr. Crane and I had to stay with the other children. We need to get them loaded into the bus and calmed down. They’re all worried about Elsie.”
“More search and rescue people are on the way, but I need to start ASAP.” He didn’t want to say it, but the forest was filled with hazards for such a young child even if there wasn’t foul play.
The young woman held up a pink baseball cap. “This belonged to the little girl. Lydia, her mom, knew you would need it to get a scent off of.”
