Chapter Thirty-Seven

For Robert, the weeks had fallen into a dull pattern of minding the shop, monitoring Sophie’s school progress, checking up on the painfully slow work on the lodge, and waiting to hear from Miguel and Amalia. It was the waiting that was the worst. Sometimes it seemed everything else was on hold in anticipation of that letter. Meanwhile he kept letting Emily have her wine, knowing Norma was watching him and wondering what, if anything, he would do.

It was while he was paying Rosi Alvarez for some eggs that he would later re-sell, when Norma asked if he had seen Mateo. He finished counting change before answering. “No. He and Sophie must have stayed after school, or maybe one of them forgot something and they went back.”

Norma walked away and Robert thanked Rosi for the eggs and took them to the ammonia-fueled cooler. On his way back to the counter he glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned. It was a little late for the kids not to have arrived, even if they did have to go back to the school for a book or a pair of gloves. They hadn’t gotten in trouble with Ms. Garduño, had they? Did they even give detention at this school anymore? The quality of some of their graduates gave Robert doubts.

Fifteen minutes later, and still no sign of the children, he went and got his jacket. “Baltazar must have picked up a stone or something,” he told Norma, affecting a casual tone. “I’ll go find them.” He ignored her skeptical look and went outside.

There was only one direct route from the store to the school, and it didn’t take Robert long to confirm that Sophie and Mateo weren’t on it. The school itself was closed, the lights turned off. Robert stood in the schoolyard and looked around, willing himself not to panic. This was a small, safe town. There was no danger here. And even if Will Channing knew he was here, it was Robert who was at risk, not his daughter.

Maybe Sophie had enticed Mateo to the house for some reason – to pick up a game or puzzle to work on in the back room of the store if there were no deliveries today. She had never done anything like that before, but when there were no logical explanations for something, one needed to consider the illogical. So Robert went home. And it was there that he found the note.

#

They couldn’t have gotten far, even if they had started in the morning. Robert grabbed a few essentials in case he was unable to get the children back to town before nightfall, and then saddled his horse. Before heading out, he went to tell Norma what had happened. “Send someone to Mateo’s house to let his family know.”

“Shouldn’t you get a group together? You don’t know which way they went. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“I have a pretty good idea where they would’ve headed,” Robert said. He cast a grim look at the western horizon. Sophie knew which trail led back toward Taos and Santa Fe. But whether she would keep to it was another matter. “If you can get a group of riders together, tell them we need to be checking the western trails. And if you know anyone who’s a good tracker, make sure they come. I can pay.”

As Robert headed out of town he cursed himself for not having seen the signs. Sophie had been quiet and secretive lately, writing things in notebooks and sneaking things to her room when she thought he didn’t notice. He had been reluctant to question her after their argument over Mateo, and Robert had been too distracted by his own concerns to remember that children’s worries were never small to the child living through them.

When he got to the trailhead outside of town, he dismounted and took a close look at the dust. Yes, there were clear prints of a horse and donkey here, and they were recent. Robert was a poor tracker and knew he couldn’t expect to find such clear prints later on, but for now he was reassured. Donkeys had short legs and couldn’t move as fast as a horse, so maybe he would catch up to them before they could get to some of the less traveled areas where only a skilled tracker would be able to follow their trail.

However, it was already late afternoon, and with the days becoming shorter he soon found it difficult to keep sight of the path. He looked around at the growing shadows. As long as the children had kept to the trail, there was no reason he couldn’t continue following them even after the sun set. And there was no reason to think Sophie would go off into the woods. She was impulsive at times, but she didn’t lack good sense. But what if she and Mateo had ventured off the trail to make camp? Unless he caught a glimpse of their fire, Robert stood no chance of seeing any tracks they might have left.

But would Sophie expect anyone to follow them in the dark? She probably wouldn’t risk the forest unless she thought someone might be foolish enough to ride through the night looking for her. Robert weighed his options. If Diana were here, what would she do?

He got back on his horse.

#

He rode slowly at first, but as the moon rose higher and visibility improved, he could move a little more quickly. It was a beautiful night, still and cool, with owls calling to each other and unseen creatures rustling the tall grass of the fallow fields. There had been a time when he loved such evenings, but the war years had trained him to see every bend in the path and every shadow among the trees as a potential threat. Now he wished he hadn’t left town so suddenly. What could it have hurt to wait half an hour for someone to come with him?

But there was no danger, he reminded himself. That was just his imagination taking over. With nothing to distract him from his memories, he might as well be on a mission again, with a price on his head and bodyguards who may or may not be double agents.

He took a deep breath and shook himself. It was just a pretty night. Nothing to get excited about. The war was long over. Up ahead was a slight ridge and he urged his mare into a trot, then reined in at the top. Below, a shallow bowl of a valley spread out below him bathed in the silver light of moon and stars. And far off in the distance, whether real or imagined, was a pinprick of orange light. Robert sucked in his breath and told himself not to get his hopes up that the children had made camp in such an obvious spot, but as he began winding his way into the valley, he could hardly think, his head was so full of all the things he would say to Sophie – questions, words of anger, disappointment. How could she have done such a crazy thing? How could she have scared him like that, and Mateo’s parents too? What on earth made her think…oh, hell. If that was really her up there, he’d just give her a hug and take her home. There would be a whole lifetime for words.