* * *
Kristin was eating a late supper of baked beans, ham, and a slice of the fresh bread a patient had brought her, when she heard a loud pounding on her front door. Another emergency, she surmised wearily. But this was what she’d gone to school for.
She answered the door to find Mason, looking frantic. His eyes were wild, and a lock of chestnut hair had fallen over his forehead. Outside the gate, his auto was still running.
“What is it, Mason?” she asked, genuinely concerned. “Is your mother—”
“It’s not my mother. It’s Gerda. We were talking out by the bog; she got scared and ran away from me. Now I can’t find her. I think she’s hiding from me. But she trusts you.” He swallowed hard. “We can’t just leave her out there, can we?”
“No, of course we can’t. Let me grab a jacket and my bag. I’ll be right out.”
As an afterthought, along with the other things, she found an old pair of boots to take along. If Gerda had fallen into the bog, the boots would come in handy. She also found a flashlight.
What had the girl been thinking, running off in the night? Kristin could imagine what might have happened. But she would have to get the details from Mason. With luck they would find Gerda on the dike road or walking back to town. But given her pregnancy, anything could go wrong.
While Mason drove, Kristin slipped off her shoes and pulled on the boots she’d brought. It never hurt to be prepared. “Tell me one thing, Mason.” She spoke over the noise of the engine. “Once and for all—could Gerda’s baby be yours?”
“No.” Mason answered without hesitation. “I swear it by all that’s holy. I’ve done some despicable things in my life, but bedding that girl isn’t one of them.”
“All right. I believe you. But for her sake and for yours, you’d better hope we find her safe.”
The drive from the house to the bog road took about twenty minutes. They’d kept watch all the way, but so far there was no sign of Gerda. At Kristin’s suggestion, Mason parked the auto by the fence, next to the main road. If Gerda was afraid, the sound of the vehicle on the dike could keep her from coming out in the open.
Leaving her bag under the seat, Kristin climbed out of the car, turned on her flashlight, and started along the dike. Mason followed her with his own flashlight. “Keep quiet unless you see something,” she cautioned him. “If she’s really afraid of you, we don’t want her to hear your voice.”
“You know I’d never hurt her.”
“I know. But maybe she doesn’t.”
As she walked forward, she played her light beam on both sides of the dike and called out every few minutes.
“Gerda! It’s Kristin! I’m here to help you. Can you hear me?”
There was no answer and no visual sign of the girl.
They walked the length of the dike, turned around, and walked slowly back to the automobile. Nothing.
“We can’t just give up and leave,” Mason said. “What do you think could’ve happened to her?”
“I can think of several possibilities. She could have gone, and we somehow missed her on the way here. She could still be hiding. Or she could be in trouble.” Kristin looked back down the moonlit dike. Her gaze roamed over the bog, catching glimpses of open water among the stands of cattails and sedge grass.
“A person could drown out there.” Mason voiced her own fears. “But if she fell in the water, I never heard a splash or a voice.”
“I think it’s time to fetch the sheriff,” Kristin said. “Take your car. He lives in that little house behind the office and jail. I’ll stay here and keep watch.”
Did he hesitate? She remembered the scene at the dance, when Lars had attacked him, and the new sheriff had arrested the big man and taken him to jail. That shouldn’t give Mason any reason to fear the lawman.
But then again, if Gerda were to be found dead, Mason would be the most likely suspect.
“All right,” he answered after a pause. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
As the auto started and pulled away, Kristin walked back along the dike. Maybe if she heard Mason’s car leaving, Gerda would show herself.
But nothing happened. Forty-five minutes later, when Mason and Sheriff Jake Calhoun showed up in separate vehicles, Kristin was still watching and waiting.
“I sent my deputy to get more help,” the sheriff said. “We won’t stop looking until we find her. You may as well go home and get some rest, Doctor.”
“I should stay. She could be hurt.”
“If that’s the case, we’ll bring her to you, where you can treat her.” The sheriff’s lean face was unreadable, but the flat tone of his voice told Kristin what he expected to find.
“All right. But let me know as soon as she’s found. Her family will be wondering why she hasn’t come home. Somebody should tell them she’s missing and wait with them. I’ll do that myself as soon as I get back to town.”
“That would be a kindness.” Something flickered in his eyes and was gone. A memory flashed in Kirstin’s mind—two elegant figures perfectly matched, whirling around the dance floor.
“Your brother can drive you to town,” he said. “He offered to come back and help us search. But I ordered him away. He’s too closely involved to be here.”
“I understand,” Kristin said. “If you don’t find me at home, I’ll be with the Anderson family. Do you know where they live?”
“Yes, I know.”
Kristin joined Mason in his auto. He drove in silence at first, his lips pressed in a thin, tight line. Minutes passed before he spoke. “I didn’t do anything bad, Kristin. I only flirted with her, and even that wasn’t as much as she wanted. What if she’s dead? What if I get blamed? I was seen with her leaving town—I could hang if her father doesn’t kill me first.”
“We don’t know any of that,” Kristin said. “Remember what our father always said.”
“I can still hear him. ‘Take care of today, and tomorrow will take care of itself.’ I didn’t believe it then, and I sure as hell don’t believe it now. Tomorrow is a crapshoot.”
“I’ll be going to the Andersons’ tonight. If you don’t feel like driving back to your ranch, you’re welcome to stay at my place.”
“Thanks for the offer. But I don’t want to miss the look on my mother’s face when the sheriff comes to haul her darling son off to the calaboose. If you want to do me a favor, you can make sure she gets me a good lawyer.”
“Stop it, Mason. We don’t know anything yet.”
They had reached her front gate. She caught his shoulder and gave him a quick hug. “Don’t give up hope, brother. This isn’t over.”
She found the shoes and doctor’s bag she’d left under the seat, climbed out of the auto, and watched him drive away. Mason was far from perfect. He’d made selfish mistakes and broken his share of hearts. But heaven help her, he was her brother; and she couldn’t help loving him. If he was blameless in this likely tragedy, she would do everything to help him prove it.
After fishing the key out of her pocket, she unlocked the door and hurried into the house. As she changed her dirty boots and washed up in the bathroom, she thought about the Andersons. How could she best comfort them while they waited for news about their daughter? The family had already lost two sons, including her beloved Alvar. How much loss could these good people bear?