Authors: Louise Hendricksen
“How far along are you?” Mary asked hesitantly.
“Only four months, but I'm expecting twins."
“Twins.” Mary settled down on the bench beside her, “That's nice. Is, is this your first
pregnancy?"
Amy nodded. “Do you have brothers and sisters?"
Mary picked at a ragged cuticle. “I'm the oldest of seven."
“Wow, that must be a handful."
“Sometimes.” Mary relaxed against the back of the wooden bench. “But I'm used to it.” She
folded her hands in her lap and gazed across the campus.
After several moments of silence, Amy realized she'd have to initiate the discussion.
“Why don't you tell me something about your childhood?"
Mary looked startled. “Like what?"
“Oh, I don't know,” Amy said, waving her arms. “What you did. What your mother is like.”
She spread her hands. “Just talk, so I can get to know you. I'm new at this sort of
thing."
“I'm not too good at talking,” Mary said, her eyes flashing with self-deprecating humor.
“The kids at school used to call me long, tall, tight-lipped Mary."
“I used to get skinny ninny all the time.” Amy chuckled. “I can laugh about it now, but
it sure wasn't funny then. I never seemed to fit in."
Mary's lips parted in a lopsided smile. “Neither did I.” She pushed restless hands in and
out of her jacket pockets. “My father died when I was five and my mother remarried. I
was six when she had the first baby and every few years she'd have another one. If my
stepfather couldn't find a job, my mother would go to work and I'd take care of the
house and kids."
“How old is the youngest?"
“Six.” A gentle smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “I helped deliver Jacy.” She
smiled again. “I think he was the prettiest of all of them."
“You were there when she delivered?"
“I tried to be. Whenever she got close to her time, I'd beg her not to have the baby
until I got home from school. If I was there, the midwife would let me help with the
delivery.” She interlaced fingers whose nails had been bitten to the quick and let out a
long sigh. “I sure miss the kids.” She swallowed and blinked her eyes.
“I can see how you would. I was an only child and I used to long for a sister. But my
mother deserted us and my father never remarried.” She chewed the inside of her bottom
lip.
He should have,
she thought. He had too much love and not enough people to
give it to.
She blew out her breath and glanced at Mary. “I suppose you put off college because of
the children."
“That's right. I'm nearly twenty-seven and my mother kept worrying that I was waiting too
long, but I didn't want to leave until Jacy started school."
Her face lit up. The first day, he was so proud. He put on his new clothes and marched
out to wait for the school bus with the rest of the kids. Funny little guy kept setting
his shiny red Mickey Mouse lunch box on the ground and opening it up. She laughed. “He's
some kid."
“Where do they live?"
“Kamiah, Idaho."
Amy tried to remember the Idaho map she'd studied so closely the previous fall. “Where is
that?"
“Up in the shank of the Idaho boot. Just inside the Nez Perce Reservation. The closest
town of any size is Orofino."
Orofino!
Nathan was born and raised there. Amy gripped her purse in both hands.
Surely this had to be a sign. “Do you speak the Nez Perce language?"
Mary stiffened and swung to her feet. “Why do you want to know?"
Amy met her defensive stare. “My twins are half Nez Perce. I want them to learn their
father's language and culture."
“What could I teach them that he can't?"
Amy's lip started to tremble. She took a deep breath. “They won't ever see him. We aren't
married."
“Oh ... The counselor didn't tell me that you,"
“Does the fact that I'm not married bother you?"
“No ... it ... uh, just kind of surprised me. You being a doctor and all.” She bent her
head and stared at her scuffed loafers. “Back home people say such things only happen to
us stupid Indians."
“People with small minds have to find some way to make themselves feel superior. You
didn't say whether or not you spoke the language."
“Yes.” She smiled shyly. “And I know the songs, the stories, and the dances."
“That's wonderful.” Amy beamed at her. “Would you be interested in living with me and
taking care of the twins?"
“Are you close to the college? I don't have a car."
“We may have to get you a bicycle. The apartment is on Endicott Street."
Mary laughed. “I can walk that easy. When will you want me?"
“As soon as you can move in. I want to have a natural birth if I can, and I'll need a
labor coach. Are you working somewhere?"
“I wash dishes from six to twelve out at Logger's Roost."
“Jeez, Mary, that's a tavern, and a rough one at that. How do you get there?"
“I walk."
“In the rain? My God, it's at least five miles each way. And there aren't any
streetlights."
“I'm a fast runner."
Amy shook her head. “It's a dangerous part of town. Working for me, you won't need that
job. Quit, okay?"
“I'd have to give them a few days' notice."
“Okay, if you must.” Amy raked her fingers through her hair. “But at least let me take
you to work and pick you up when you get through."
“I'll be all right. Dr. Prescott. I've been walking in the dark all my life."
“Maybe so,” Amy said, scowling at her. “But a woman is unsafe on the streets at night,
alone and unprotected.” She grasped the young woman by the shoulders. “You be careful.
I've seen some terrible things."
Amy parked her car in the private parking lot behind the Prescott
Building. In this sensitive area, they'd taken a number of precautions. Photocell
sensors turned on a sodium floodlight at dusk. A deadbolt secured the door that opened
onto a short corridor; the door leading upstairs also had a deadbolt.
She accepted the system as a necessary measure to protect them and the evidence on which
they worked. Now, viewing it from Mary Little Bear's point of view, she wondered if the
young woman might not feel as if she were imprisoned.
She hurried past several doors and worked the lab's combination lock. Her father would
probably be inside, and she was anxious to share the news she'd gotten at the doctor's
office with him.
In the brightly lit autopsy room, B.J. stood at a counter putting away the sterilized
knives, forceps, chisels, and electric saw blades he and Dr. Epps had used while
performing Chea Le's autopsy.
“Hi,” he said. “You look excited. What's up?"
She regarded him with a rather belligerent set to her chin. If he didn't react as a
grandfather should this time, she wouldn't share anything else regarding her pregnancy
with him. “I had an ultrasound today."
“Everything all right?"
“Yes. The doctor says the twins are boys."
“That's grand, kitten. Just grand.” He gave her a hug. “Have you decided what you're
going to call them?"
She noticed the forced joviality in his voice, but she smiled and patted his arm anyway.
Neither one of them functioned very well when they were at odds with each other.
“How do you like the sound of Joshua Berkley, after you?” B.J. grimaced as she knew he
would. “And Jeremy Tate, after Nathan's father?"
“Joshua's getting the worst of the deal. I hope he can tolerate Berkley better than I
did.” He lay an electric motor on a shelf beside a mallet and a rongeur. “A woman by the
name of Lian Choy called and left her number. It's in the office."
“Good. I suggested she talk to the people in her apartment complex to find out if any of
them saw Chea Le the day she moved.” Amy headed for the office.
When she dialed Lian's number, the woman answered so promptly Amy wondered if she'd been
waiting right beside the phone. “This is Dr. Amy Prescott,” Amy said. “Did you lean
anything about Chea Le?"
“A little. Our manager assigns renters a specific parking space. The man who lives
directly in front of Chea's saw her leave two weeks ago. That's the last time he saw her
car."
“Was her car packed, do you know?"
“No."
“What was she wearing?"
Lian's voice faltered and Amy heard her blow her nose. “A red b-blouse with a dark gray
blazer and slacks."
Amy caught her breath. The same clothing she had on when she was killed. “What about the
man someone observed on your floor?"
“That woman says she saw him twice. He carried out several large garbage bags and dumped
them in a blue pickup."
Victor Samphan?
“Could she describe him?"
“He was Asian and had a scar on his face."
Could there be a connection between him and Samphan?
Amy's pulse began to race. “I
saw him in the lounge the night I talked to you."
“Yes, he comes in about once a week, but he couldn't have had anything to do with Chea
leaving."
“Why not?"
“She hated him. Chinn made her go upstairs with him. The man beat her when she resisted
him. She would never have gone anywhere with him."
“Lian, you realize you mustn't discuss this with anyone, don't you?"
“I guess so. But she, she's g-gone."
Liam sobbed brokenly and Amy felt her own eyes growing watery. “What'll I do. Dr.
Prescott?"
“Don't do anything. Chea's fingerprints have been identified, so we're positive it's her.
The news of her death will be showing up in the papers soon."
“What about the man with the scar?"
“Don't mention him. Not to anyone, Lian. You understand? These men have killed four
times. They won't hesitate to kill again."
B.J. came through the lab door as Amy hung up. “What did she say?"
“Chea left two weeks ago wearing the same clothes she had on when she went into the
river. A man with a scar on his face was seen putting some garbage bags into a blue
pickup."
“Got any idea how this man with the scar fits into this?"
She shook her head. “I have a vague feeling I've seen him before somewhere in
Wheeler."
“Maybe,” He ran his hand over his beard and stared into space, “we could talk Sheriff
Boyce into bringing in Victor Samphan for questioning?"
“He might ... for you. Want to try?"
He grinned. “Let's drive over there tomorrow and give it a shot. All he can do is say
no."
“Good idea. I'll go to my exercise class while you're at the jail. I want to speak to
Hue.” Amy lay her notebook beside the computer. “I'll assemble our facts so the sheriff
can't say we're just trying to get Cam off the hook."
B.J. leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “See you in the morning about nine. Don't
work too long."
Amy stayed at the computer until seven. The report had taken much longer than it should
have because she'd kept glancing at the clock. Soon, it'd be time to call Nathan. Her
heart beat faster at the thought.
After printing copies of the report and stacking them on the desk, she took the elevator
upstairs to her apartment. The growling of her stomach reminded her that she'd skipped
lunch.
She made a vegetable salad, put it in the refrigerator, and set the table. After she
talked to Nathan, she'd grill half a chicken breast. With her nerves wound tight as
springs, she couldn't eat now.
Wandering through the apartment, she absentmindedly picked up objects and set them down
again. Inside her, Joshua and Jeremy responded to her nervousness by acting as if they'd
taken up gymnastics. She yearned to share them with Nathan, let him hear their hearts
beating, let him know these two were part of them.
At eight o'clock sharp, she sat down on me couch, took a deep breath to calm herself, and
dialed his number. The phone rang three times, then his answering machine clicked in. “I
have to go out of town,” he said, his words running over each other. “My wife's in the
hospital."
Numb, Amy listened to the humming line until the receiver began to make beeping sounds.
She dropped it into the cradle and tried to stand up. Her legs wouldn't hold her.
Although his message had sounded urgent, she couldn't get past the fact that he'd left
without giving any thought to her, or the danger he'd said she was in.
Oh God.
Oh God.
She clasped her stomach and shook as if she'd taken a chill.
His priority was Angela. And it always would be.
Amy sat beside her father in the van, staring at fir trees thrashing in
the wind. The weather echoed her chaotic emotions. Nathan had told her she was in
danger, then vanished. Now, she didn't know where the threat might lie.
B.J. glanced at her with an anxious expression. “You okay?"
“Sure. Just feel a little groggy. I didn't sleep well last night.” Actually, she couldn't
remember having slept at all.
“Why didn't you say something? I could have made this trip by myself."
“I needed to get out of the house.” She'd cried for hours but it hadn't helped. For no
reason, tears filmed her eyes. As she blinked them away, her nose started to run and she
groped in the oversized pocket of her raincoat for a tissue. She discovered a small book
instead.
After locating a handkerchief and blowing her nose, she picked up the book she'd dropped
in her lap. Where had it come from, she wondered. When she opened the cover and peered
at an inscription that read.
For Mai to keep always ,
everything came back to
her.
The day she, her father, and Nathan went to the Nguyen house she'd found the paperback
among the piles of ripped-up books and had put it in her pocket, intending to give it to
Cam. She scanned the dog-eared child's story and remembered Mai had once told her about
her father writing a story and having it made into a book.