The Courage Tree - Diane Chamberlain [70]
Janine broke free from him again and ran toward the sheriff, who was standing near the rising car. “Did you find the other child?” Joe heard her shout. “Is she down there?”
One of the rescuers shook his head. “No sign of a third person,” he said.
“But there was a third person in the car!” Rebecca called from behind him. Along with Steve and Lucas, she had left the embankment and was approaching the edge of the cliff.
“Do you know that for a fact?” the sheriff asked them. “Did someone see two children get into that car?”
“Yes,” Janine said. “Gloria did. The other Scout leader. She said they—Alison and the girls—drove off ahead of them. Besides, there are two children missing. One of them must still be down there. Please let me go down and look.”
“No, ma’am. As soon as this rain lets up, we’ll get down there again and—”
Janine whirled around before he could finish speaking and started running down the road.
“Ma’am!” the sheriff called after her. “Mrs. Donohue!”
Joe started to follow her, but Lucas caught his arm. “Let her go,” Lucas said. “She has to see for herself.”
“This is not about your daughter,” Joe said. “Or your wife.”
“Janine isn’t your wife, either,” Lucas said. “She’s not yours to control or accuse or criticize any longer.”
“You son of a bitch,” Joe said, ready and more than willing to punch Lucas in the face, but Paula literally jumped between the two of them.
“Cool it, you guys!” she demanded. “You’re not helping. Neither one of you.”
“Janine’s gone,” Rebecca said suddenly, and they turned to see that Janine had disappeared from the side of the road. It looked as if she’d fallen, but no doubt she’d found an area that would let her climb down the cliff safely. She would probably work her way back to the accident site, if no one tried to stop her, and Joe felt more than a little admiration for her—and a great deal of gratitude.
If Sophie was down there, Janine would find her.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
No one was bothering her, and that was good. Maybe they were calling to her from above, but the rain kept their voices from reaching her. The teeming rain made the hillside slippery, though, and she had to hold on to tree branches and the trunks of young saplings as she worked her way back toward the crash site. She had to see for herself. Maybe it was Sophie in that child-size body bag, and maybe it was not, but there was one more child who had been in that car, and Janine was determined to find her.
There was no mistaking the crash site. The shrubs and brush were flattened and black, the trees near the site charred. Even with the rain, she could smell the scent of ash and fire. It was a sick smell that burned her nostrils and turned her stomach.
She began to hunt. She was searching for a small, frail child with red hair. In her heart, though, she knew she was more likely to find a tiny, charred body, and she tried to brace herself for that possibility.
She understood, balancing there on the side of the cliff, clutching the rubbery branches of a young maple tree in her fist, why the rescuers had given up for now. There was no sign of life here. She fell to her hands and knees and crawled among the brush and the vines. Probably poison ivy here, she thought, as she felt beneath every growing thing, feeling for the form of a child.
But there was no child here. Thirty minutes passed, maybe longer, as she scoured the ground on her hands and knees. The rain had plastered her clothes to her body and her hair to her cheeks by the time she turned her head to see that Lucas was standing above her.
He sat down on the damp, muddy incline and pulled her close to him. Her hands were caked with mud and leaves, and for a fleeting moment, she thought she knew what insanity felt like.
“We need to go, Jan,” he said.
She had no strength left to respond.
“They’ve taken the bodies to the medical examiner’s office. They’re going to get Sophie and Holly’s dental records. Joe gave them Sophie’s dentist