A River Through Two Harbors Page 2

  Then, as fate would have it, they were both hired as deputies by the Lake County Sheriff’s Department. When the sheriff they served under retired, the two adversaries ran for his office, Deidre defeating Ben in a hard-fought election. Ben went so far as to file an unfair labor complaint against her.

  Gradually, the ice between them thawed, and five years ago, in a shootout involving terrorists, Ben had saved her life. The result of his quick and assertive actions led to an appointment with the FBI. He and Deidre remained friends, but their paths seldom crossed. They hadn’t seen each other for a well over a year.

  Deidre remembered the early summer day she had decided to drive to Duluth, take in a play at the local theater, and stay in a lakeside hotel. As she was walking down Superior Street with her head down, her mind was a thousand miles away. Suddenly, she was hit with a jolt as a vary large person struck her, almost knocking her off her feet.

  She felt a strong hand grip her shoulder, and she was about to cry out when she looked up and saw the face of the person who had delivered the body check.

  “Ben!” she exclaimed, surprised to see someone she knew. “Ben, you almost took me out. I guess we both must have been pretty deep in thought. Geeze, I’m sorry I wasn’t watching.”

  “No. No, it was my fault. I was in a rush and not paying attention. Deidre, you look great. How you doing—I mean are things kind of back to normal for you? Hardly a day goes by that I don’t think of you and John. I still remember the look in your eyes the night of his visitation. I honestly didn’t think you were going to make it, but it’s good to see a sparkle in your eyes again.”

  “You know, Ben, things are good. I’m happy where I’m at, and the pain’s subsided, but I’ll always miss him. What can I say?

  “How’s your family? Okay, I hope.” The minute the words left her mouth she knew that wasn’t the case.

  Ben’s face became like a stone mask. “You haven’t heard, then? Jenny died a year ago in August.”

  Deidre’s gut knotted, and she couldn’t force words from her mouth. Here she had been telling him about her missing John while his wounds were far fresher and more raw. She looked into Ben’s eyes and saw nothing but pain.

  “Jenny was having some problems earlier in the summer. She was experiencing quite a bit of back pain, but that wasn’t unusual for her, just a little more intense. When the pain became too strong, she visited her doctor, who ordered a CT scan. They discovered she had advanced ovarian cancer.

  “I did some research and discovered the one-year survival rate for that disease is only seventeen percent, so I prepared for the worst. She died three months later.”

  Deidre finally found her voice. “Ben, I had no idea. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to comfort you. News doesn’t always reach me up there in the woods. How are your girls doing?”

  “Okay, I suppose. They have a hard time understanding why they don’t have a mother anymore, but we manage. My folks still live in Two Harbors, and they help out as often as they can. The girls are with me most of the time, but I’m afraid I don’t quite have a mother’s touch.”

  Deidre toed a crack in the sidewalk. “Tell you what, if you ever want to get away, let me know. I’d enjoy babysitting them.”

  Ben perked up. “Are you sure you’d like to do that? Because if you’re serious, I’ll take you up on your offer. Two of my buddies are going camping next weekend in the BWCAW to do some fishing. They invited me to go with, but I said I couldn’t get away. If they still have room, I’d really like to get out with them.”

  And so plans were made. The next weekend Deidre drove back to Duluth and located Ben’s home in a comfortable neighborhood off Woodland Avenue. She rang the doorbell and heard the rush of feet running on the other side of the door.

  Ben answered. “Come on in, Deidre. We’re just about set here.”

  Deidre spotted two blond heads peeking around the doorway behind their father.

  “Come on, girls. You remember Deidre, don’t you? She’s a friend of mine.”

  The girls, four-year-old twins, cautiously approached from either side of Ben, each holding onto one of his legs. Deidre knelt down so she was at their level.

  “My, you have beautiful hair. Did your daddy make those braids?”

  They nodded and looked at the floor.

  “Well, he did a really good job. You’ll have to show me how he does it. Which one of you is Maren?”

  The twin with a red ribbon in her hair smiled and lifted her shoulders as she buried her head behind her father’s knee.

  “Well, you must be Megan,” Deidre said to the other girl whose hair was held back with a blue ribbon.

  “Here, I have these for you.” Deidre had bought two small dolls before she came, and she took them from the store’s bag. “Would you like these to play with?” she asked. “I’ll bet you have other dolly things. Would you show me?”

  Without saying a word, the twins took her hands and led her to their room where they showed off their other dolls, a cradle, and all of the paraphernalia little girls collect. She sat on the floor. In minutes the girls had warmed to her, forgetting about Ben.

  By the time Ben was ready to leave for the weekend, Deidre had made two fast friends. They hardly gave their father a notice when he hugged them and said goodbye.

  Deidre couldn’t believe how quickly they bonded, and the weekend sped by. She, Maren, and Megan colored with crayons, played games, and went to a nearby kiddy park. But the hit of the time they spent together was when Deidre played a DVD of The Sound of Music. She and the girls sang along with the music, mimicking the parts played by the children and pretended they could yodel.

  All too soon, as far as Deidre was concerned, Ben returned from his fishing trip. He suggested they go out for pizza before Deidre had to leave. By the time the meal was over, she felt a part of the family.

  “Thank you so much,” Ben expressed his gratitude. “I needed to get away for a couple of days, and there’s nothing more therapeutic for me than getting out in the woods. Thanks again.”

  The twins hugged her and begged her not to leave, tugging at her heart like nothing had done for a long time.

  “Tell you what . . . why don’t you have your daddy drive up to my cabin some day soon? We can go swimming, he can fish in the lake while we make him supper, and you and I can spend the day together.”

  The little girls jumped and clapped their hands. “Can we, Daddy?” they begged. “When can we go to Deidre’s?”

  Two weeks later Deidre found herself mothering the little ones, and she felt a deep love growing for them. That was the beginning of a summer of healing for all four of them, Deidre, Ben, Maren, and Megan. By autumn they were making a habit of spending at least one day of each weekend together.

  Now, as Deidre warmed herself in her police car, she regretted having said she would act as a replacement for the officer while he recovered from shoulder surgery. She didn’t want to break her date with Ben and his daughters, but she had no choice. She looked at her watch and stepped back out into the cold.

  “My shift,” she said to Cliff. He had been standing in the cold for fifteen minutes, Kathy was still trying to warm up after her turn, and Deidre felt the sting of the northwest wind pierce the fabric of her coat and cap. In minutes, her fingers were tingling, and then they became numb.

  The rotation continued until nearly one o’clock. Deidre was standing her shift, making sure the crime scene was observed constantly while they waited for the BCA to arrive. She heard the vehicle approach before she saw it and was relieved to see the marked SUV pull to a stop on the other side of the bridge. Deidre met its passengers halfway across the span.

  Judy Coster, forensic anthropologist, held out her arms and hugged Deidre while Melissa Sobranski, BCA investigator, put her arm over Deidre’s shoulders. It was good to see her friends
again.

  “We thought you’d hung up your spurs. What made you change your mind?” Judy asked.

  Deidre shrugged. “Boredom. A moment of weakness. Who knows? I sure never expected this. I signed on for six weeks to fill in while the regular officer, Dan, recuperated from shoulder surgery, rotator cuff. Then this had to happen.”

  By that time, Cliff had left his car and joined the three women. Deidre made the introductions and urged, “We better get this over with before dark. That gives us about four hours of daylight.

  “I haven’t called in Search and Rescue to pick up the body. Didn’t want anyone monitoring the call and showing up. The less interference, the easier this is going to go. I’ll warn you, it’s not pretty down there.”

  “From what you told me on the phone, I think this is going to be a tough one to handle,” Judy said. “Well, lead the way. The sooner we’re done, the faster we can get in where it’s warm.”

  The investigators sorted through some items in their SUV, evidence collection bags, a camera, marker flags, and whatever else they figured they’d need. The bank was too steep to climb up and down very many times.

  Deidre led the way. When they reached the bottom, Melissa began to take samples from the blood smears. Deidre pointed out the handprint in the snow, and Judy photographed it as Melissa prepared to make a cast of the imprint.

  She sprayed it with a special kind of wax to seal the surface, and then poured in a concoction that would set up.

  “Let’s move ahead and give this time to solidify. We can come back to pick it up.”

  Deidre shined her light into the dark area under the bridge’s bed. “I think we should take our time getting up there and scour the ground for anything of interest. That way we won’t walk on any evidence and have to figure out what it was later.”

  The women made their way shoulder to shoulder, stooped over at the waist, their eyes searching every inch of ground as they slowly moved forward.

  “I don’t think we’re going to find a thing,” Melissa opined. “It looks like the victim crawled up there without any help. To me, it looks as though she were pitched over the bridge railing onto the ice and was left for dead. I am guessing after her attackers left, she revived enough to crawl up there.” Melissa shined her light in the direction the crawl marks led.

  “I agree,” said Deidre, “but I think we still have to take every pre­caution. We can’t really know what happened until we reach the body.”

  And so their progress was slow.

  “Oh, the poor thing,” Judy exclaimed when they were close enough that their flashlights lit up the body. Melissa let out an expletive.

  “I know,” Deidre said, shaking her head. “Senseless, isn’t it?”

  Huddled in the shelter formed by the river bank and the roadbed of the bridge was the frozen body of a young girl curled in the fetal position. She was bluish, and ice crystals hung from her skin. They could see she had moderately long black hair, and her eyes were closed, so they could see her heavy eyelashes. She looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, and she was totally naked. It was as though she were sleeping peacefully, except for the ice crystals.

  “I’m surprised,” Judy said, her face screwed in a grimace. “There’s so little blood up here. It doesn’t appear that she bled out.”

  “Well, something killed her. Deidre, why don’t you call for transportation to Two Harbors. They don’t have a funeral home in Silver Bay, and we’ll have to transport the body to where it can be thawed. It’ll be a while before we can perform an autopsy. Possibly then we’ll have some answers.”

  Deidre dialed the number of Search and Rescue, and after a brief conversation, she turned to her companions. “We’ll have a vehicle arriving in fifteen minutes and bringing some help. In the meantime, let’s go up top and see what we can find. Cliff and Kathy will help us, and we can make a pretty thorough search of the area before anyone else arrives.”

  Before starting up the bank, Melissa collected the cast she had made of the hand imprint. “I’d be surprised if this is anyone’s but the victim’s,” she mumbled to herself as she struggled up the steep slope.

  Chapter 3

  The five officers, two state troopers, Deidre, and the two BCA members walked side by side across the bridge, their heads bowed, eyes scanning the ground for anything out of context. Their first sweep revealed nothing, so they turned and reversed their direction, this time moving closer to the side of the bridge over which the victim had been hurled.

  “Here! I just spotted something metallic when the wind kicked up a flurry of snow,” Deidre shouted. She stooped and gently brushed away the powder with her gloved hand, picked up a brass object, and held it so the afternoon light shone on it.

  “It’s a key,” she excitedly announced to the group. “And there are letters stamped onto the top.” She turned the key to catch the waning afternoon sun.

  “RRR. Do you suppose that stands for some railroad line?” She turned the key over in her hand, and the others came closer so they could get a better view.

  “It doesn’t look like its been used for quite some time,” Cliff offered his opinion.

  Melissa contradicted. “Look closer. See those fine scratches in the patina. It’s an old key that wasn’t used for a long time, but I think someone has recently fit it into a lock, although not often.”

  Cliff bent so he could look closely at the key. “You know, you’re right. It’s really tarnished, but up close, there are scratches on the side, and you can see that the teeth are a little shiny. But I don’t recognize those letters. Nothing around here would have those initials. The only old railroad was the DM&IR. Reserve Mining had their own line and so did the docks at Taconite Harbor further up the shore. They were built in the ’50s, but the initials don’t jive. Do you suppose those are someone’s initials?”

  “Could be,” Judy said. “But whatever this is, it’s about the only significant clue we have. Why don’t you bag it, Deidre, and lock it in your car.”

  As she was bent over with her head in her patrol car, Lake County Search and Rescue pulled up, and her friend Scott got out.

  “Hi, Deidre. Thought you’d decided to retire.”

  “So did I. Just filling in until their officer recovers from rotator-cuff surgery. You probably know him. Dan Butler?”

  “Oh, sure. Dan. I know him well. He’s a good man,” Scott added. “So now you’ve got yourself up to your neck in another tough one. What’s the story? I don’t see anything.” He looked around to see what he missed.

  “Under the bridge, but I’m warning you, it isn’t pretty. Be prepared.”

  Scott and two other members of the rescue squad followed Deidre down the bank, with Judy and Melissa close behind. The six of them gathered under the bridge, and Deidre shined her flashlight under the abutment.

  “She’s up there, but I don’t think it’s going to be easy. She’s curled in a ball, and frozen solid. Maybe the best way is for two of you to lift her and the third keep her from rolling down the bank into the river. You might as well leave the stretcher here. It’ll only get in the way. You’ll see what I mean when you get up there.”

  The men nodded.

  “Go ahead of me. I’ll hold the light so you can see.”

  The three Search and Rescue members began the climb with Deidre behind as she had said.

  “Oh, shit!” Scott muttered. Deidre couldn’t make out what the other two said. “What’s wrong with people? She’s just a little girl, probably as old as my seventh-grade daughter.” Then he stood looking, shaking his head. Finally he came out of his trance.

  “Okay, guys, let’s get this over with.”

  Together, the three burly men approached the body. They bent down to pick her up, one on each side and one on the down side of the bank. As they made their way down the steep gra
de and maneuvered past Deidre, she was stopped by the sight of tears freely flowing down their cheeks.

  In the direct light of day, Deidre could see that the girl’s body was covered with bruises and scratches. Her back looked as though she had been flogged, and on the side of her face that was visible, Deidre saw a large welt under her eye. Everything was silent, the very sound of their footsteps muffled by the loose snow.

  They gently laid the girl’s body on the stretcher and tried to devise a plan so she wouldn’t roll off while it was raised to the roadway. While they were strategically placing straps around her, Melissa and Judy climbed to where the body had lain. Deidre could see them on their hands and knees, trying to find the smallest clue.

  By the time they finished, the Search and Rescue crew had worked their way to the top and had placed the stretcher into the back of their truck, which was equipped to serve as an ambulance.

  “Wait a second,” Judy panted as she came up the river bank. She bent over for a second to catch her breath. “Is there any way to keep the back of the vehicle cold so the body won’t thaw? I’d like to be present while the process takes place.”

  Scott looked at the others and shrugged. “Sure, we can do that. Bundle up boys. It’s going to be a cold ride to Two Harbors.”

  Deidre and Melissa watched as they pulled away from the scene with windows rolled down and the heat turned off. Judy was riding in the back, bundled against the cold, her hands thrust deep inside the pockets of her parka.

  “I think you can go now,” Deidre said to the highway patrol troopers. “Thanks so much for your help. I’m not sure how you do it, patrolling these lonely stretches of highway by yourselves. I’d be worried every time I made a stop that the driver was going to turn out to be somebody dangerous.”

  “The nature of the beast.” Kathy shrugged in resignation.