The Courage Tree - Diane Chamberlain [49]
“How many people do you have out looking for Sophie?” Janine’s mother asked from her seat near the window. Her father offered him the tray of chips and salsa, which he declined with a wave of one big hand.
“Everyone in the department is working on it,” he said, pulling a handkerchief from his uniform pocket and mopping his brow. He probably thought their air-conditioning was broken. “And so are the other police departments between here and the camp.”
“I still think you need to do more,” Joe said. “Janine and I drove all over last night and today, asking people if they’d seen Sophie and checking the side roads. And frankly, we didn’t see a lot of cops out. She and I can’t cover every possible route they might have taken.”
“We’re doing everything we can, Mr. Donohue,” the sergeant assured him.
“Maybe you should be up in a plane,” Janine’s father said to Loomis.
“It doesn’t make any sense to do an air search at this point,” Sergeant Loomis informed him. “To begin with, we don’t have any clear idea where to look.”
Joe glanced at Janine, and she spoke up. “I’m going up in a helicopter tomorrow,” she said, directing the information more to the air than to her parents or the officer.
“Why?” her mother asked, apparently forgetting that she was not speaking to her.
“I need to be able to look down on the area myself,” she said. “I have to satisfy myself that I’ve looked everywhere—and in every way—that I can.”
There was silence in the room for a moment. “Are you licensed to fly a helicopter?” Sergeant Loomis asked.
She nodded. “Yes. And I’ve already made the arrangements.” She’d called Omega-Flight from the police station before the press conference, and they’d offered her the use of one of their helicopters. “I’m going up as soon as it’s daylight. If Sophie hasn’t turned up by then, that is.”
“That’s ridiculous,” her mother said. “If the police say they can’t find anything from the air, how do you expect to?”
“I have to try,” she said.
“Will you go with her, Joe?” her father asked.
“No, I want to go alone,” Janine said quickly, saving Joe from the embarrassment of having to admit he still feared flying.
“I really don’t understand you,” her mother said.
“Mrs. Donohue,” Sergeant Loomis said to Janine. “I think it may be a wasted effort on your part. And are you really up to flying right now? This has been a very stressful—”
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted, and the tone of her voice put an end to his comments. She didn’t dare glance at her mother.
Her father had once told her that, in her youth, her mother had been very much like Janine. She’d had a wild streak, he’d said, and that had cost her the respect—and the money—of her family. Now, she was intolerant of any behavior that reminded her of the girl she used to be.
“I know we talked about the possibility that this might be a kidnap case.” Sergeant Loomis looked around at the room once more. “A ransom case. Now that I’m here…I know Joe and Janine don’t have a lot of wealth someone might be after, but I’m wondering if someone might know that you—” he nodded at Janine’s father “—and your wife are well-off. Can you think of anyone who would know that about you and might have taken your granddaughter with the hope of collecting a ransom for her? You haven’t received any calls along that line, have you?” He looked at Joe, then Janine, and they shook their heads. “The kidnappers would most likely tell you not to involve us, but trust me, that would be a mistake.”
“No, no calls,” said Janine’s father. “And we’re not actually well-off.”
Her mother literally winced at his admission.
“My wife is the last in a long line of Campbells,” her father continued, “and we’re allowed to live here, but we don’t own any of the estate. We don’t have any of the Campbell fortune.”
“But someone might not realize that,” Loomis said. “They might know you live in the Ayr Creek mansion and think you have the money to rescue your granddaughter.”
Janine had not considered that. People often thought