Chapter One:
The sun caused the lake to glitter and shine as the sun set over it, and the small ripples caused by the bitter wind made the water look like it was dancing. The air, which had been warm at one point, was cooler now in dusk, and trees surrounding the lake were adding to the chill felt by those who were walking. Birds chirped their last songs, and the sky was beginning to purple, though the clouds were golden and pink.
"You all right, Dan?" Aubree asked quietly, as we meandered around the dusty trail near the lake.
"Yeah. . . fine." I answered, shivering in a sudden gust of wind.
"You don't look fine." She told me. "I haven't seen you smile since you got back yesterday..."
"I've smiled." I told her.
"Not with your eyes..." She said gently. "What's wrong?"
I felt annoyed. War was awful. The question should've been what wasn't wrong. I loved Aubree... I loved her with all my heart... every day I had been apart from her had gnawed at me, and I could never describe how grateful I was to be here... to be back with her... but she could not understand the demons of war... I would never want her to understand.
"I just keep thinking of those trenches..." I answered quietly. "All those people who died... all those people I killed..."
Aubree fell silent. "Don't blame yourself, Dan... it wasn't your fault."
"I hate killing." I said quietly, stopping.
Aubree held my hand more tightly, and turned to face me. "You're home now, baby... you're safe. That's what matters."
She put her arms around me, and kissed my stubbled cheek.
"You're gonna be okay." She whispered. "I promise you."
I shook my head quickly, as though I could shake the memory from my brain.
You shouldn't have promised, Aubree. I thought ruefully. But I'm getting by.
It had been the last day I'd seen my wife alive... I could still see her blue eyes like they'd never become still and glassy. I could feel the touch of her warm hand and her soft hair. I could hear the sound of her cheerful voice... It had been two years since she'd died... two years... how could it be I was still so in love with her?
"You all right, Mr. Skowadj?" Bruce Alan asked me.
"I'm fine." I answered, trying not to sound too upset about my personal life, and standing up from my desk in the small courtroom.
"Well, we'd better get to work, huh?" Bruce asked cheerfully. He was a thin man, in his early twenties, with a muscular build and dark eyes. The thick brown hair on top of his head was curly, and he had a calm, composed air to him.
"Yeah, I suppose so."
We were police officers in the sleepy town of Chippewa Falls. I was the sheriff and Bruce was my deputy- a new recruit I had never met before last week. Chippewa Falls had been without a deputy for months now- since Frank Hodgeson moved. But it wasn't as though Chippewa Falls really needed two law enforcement officers. I had been more than capable of keeping the peace by myself. The courthouse was not large, and the courtroom and two-celled jail were separated only by a wooden door.
"So, what'll we be doing today?" Bruce asked eagerly, as we walked out of the small courthouse into the semi-busy street.
"Well, you're in luck, Bruce." I answered. "We have an investigation today... don't get used to it. We'll be chasing chicken thieves from here on out."
"What sort of investigation?" Bruce asked curiously, as they walked up to a police car parked outside.
"Disappearance." I answered. "A woman named Rose Dewitt Bukater."
"Where was she last seen?"
"Insane asylum." I said.
"What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know... never heard of her before this." I replied unconcernedly.
"I didn't know there was an insane asylum here."
"It's pretty secluded... located a few miles outside town."
"I see... does anyone one have any idea how she disappeared?" Bruce asked.
"No. One day she was there, in her room, the next day, the staff couldn't find her." I told him.
"How long was it since she disappeared?"
"They realized she was gone this morning."
"Guess she couldn't have got to far." Bruce mused.
"No. Probably not." I said distantly, pulling open the door to my car and sitting in the driver's seat.
"Is she dangerous?"
"Not that I know of. . . the staff should give us details when we get there." I told him, starting the car.
There was a long silence.
"So, do you have any family?" I asked awkwardly, feeling like I should talk to him, but not really knowing what to say. My job had become my life and I didn't socialize very much. "You're from Portland, aren't you?"
"Seattle, actually, and nope, I'm all alone. . . you?"
"I used to be married, but my wife died a couple years ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Bruce said sympathetically. "Have any kids?"
I brightened. "A daughter. Her name's Cora... she turned seven last week."
"Where does she go when you're at work?"
"I hired a nanny."
"Nice."
"She's everything in the world to me." I confided, thinking of my beautiful, strawberry-blonde haired daughter, with her chubby cheeks, pink lips and long brown eyelashes. She looked so much like her mother, and yet she was so different from her...
"Can I see a picture of her?" Bruce asked, smiling at the unmistakable pride on my face as I thought of her.
"I still need to get one taken."
"Yeah, pictures are expensive." Bruce agreed.
"The problem is she won't sit still long enough... five-year-olds. They're always moving." I chuckled as I drove out of Chippewa Falls into the surrounding woods.
Behind a few trees I saw a couple men standing on the road. . . I'd never seen them before, and I knew almost every face in Chippewa Falls.
Strange. I thought, but I did not have time to wonder. Now was the time to begin thinking of what happened to a Miss Rose Dewitt Bukater.
It was odd how she'd disappeared like that... my mind turned again to the men I'd seen in the woods and I wondered if they had anything to do with it.