Heaven's keep

FOUR

Day One, Missing 12 Hours

He sat at the kitchen table, a cup of cool coffee at his elbow. He held the phone in his right hand and, with his left, punched in the number of Jo’s sister.

“Rose, it’s Cork. Sorry to call so late.”

Because of either the lateness of the hour or the somber tone of his voice, she didn’t waste time. “What’s wrong, Cork?”

“I’ve got bad news. Jo was on a charter flight to Seattle. This morning while it was flying over Wyoming, it disappeared from radar and radio contact was lost.”

There was a long moment of silence as Rose absorbed this information. “What does that mean exactly? Did the plane crash?”

“Not necessarily. The authorities are checking all the airports in the area to see if it might have landed somewhere. They’re in the middle of a big snowstorm, and it sounds like everything’s kind of confused.”

“So it could have landed in some out-of-the-way place and because of the weather they can’t get word out. Is that it?”

That was the positive read. He said, “Yes.”

He waited, staring out the window at the night beyond that was as black as the cold coffee in his cup.

“Just a moment, Cork,” Rose said. “Mal’s here.” She covered the phone, and he couldn’t hear anything except the emptiness of the line. He thought of the silence in the middle of the message Jo had left him, and again he felt the knife of regret.

Mal was Cork’s brother-in-law. He’d once been a Catholic priest serving the parishioners of St. Agnes in Aurora. Then he’d fallen in love with Rose. Now they were married-five years-and living in Evanston, Illinois.

Rose came on the line again. “Do the kids know?”

“I called Jenny and Anne. They both wanted to come home right away, but I convinced them to stay put until I know more.”

“How’s Stephen doing?”

“Taking it hard. He’s up in his room right now.”

“And you?”

“Not good either. I would have waited to call until I knew more, but with this kind of situation it won’t be long before the media picks up on it. I wanted to make sure you both heard it from me.”

“We’re coming up there, Cork.” Rose, always a strong woman, had already put away her despair and girded herself for action.

“Rose, there’s no reason-”

“You’ll have your hands full. We’ll leave first thing in the morning. End of story.”

For many years before she married Mal, Rose had lived with the O’Connors. She was part of the family. Cork could have resisted more, but the truth was that he liked the idea of her being there. He also understood that worry was multiplied by distance and silence, and coming to Aurora would put her closer to the situation, to any news that came.

“Thanks, Rose.”

“If you hear anything, you’ll let us know.”

“Of course.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Cork. In the meantime, we all have a lot of praying to do.”

Cork had the television on, tuned to The Weather Channel. The storm in the upper Rockies was one of the stories they were tracking. On radar, the area of snow was a huge white blob gobbling up most of western Wyoming, as well as large parts of Montana, Idaho, and northwestern Colorado. He went to the bookcase in the corner of the living room, pulled out an atlas, opened to the map of Wyoming, and located Owl Creek County and the Washakie Wilderness. He’d been through Wyoming a couple of times, but always far to the south, on I-80. He’d never been to Yellowstone, never been anywhere near the Washakie Wilderness. He tried to imagine it, and what he visualized were the mountains in the cowboy movies of his youth-distant, blue, beautiful, formidable.

The phone rang. Caller ID told him it was the Tamarack County Sheriff’s Department. It was Dross. “I’m back in the office,” she told him. “I just wanted you to know I’m here all night and in constant contact with the sheriff’s department in Owl Creek County.”

“Mind giving me the number of the people out there you’re talking with?”

“I’m sure they’re busy and doing everything they can.”

“I’m sure,” Cork said. “I’d still like the number.”

She gave it to him, though he could tell it was with reservation.

“I’m watching The Weather Channel,” he said. “Doesn’t look good.”

“Local conditions vary a lot, you know that.”

“Right. Thanks, Marsha.”

He called the number she’d given him.

“Sheriff’s office.” A tired male voice.

“My name’s Cork O’Connor. My wife, Jo O’Connor, was one of the passengers on the flight that’s missing there in the Rockies. I’d like to talk to someone about what you folks are doing.”

“Just a moment.”

The moment turned into two minutes. Cork assumed a couple of possibilities. First, that the department was overwhelmed. Second, that they were taking time to verify his identity via caller ID and whatever information the Tamarack County Sheriff’s Department had given them.

“Mr. O’Connor, this is Deputy Quinn.” Sounded like he had a cold, something rattling in his chest.

“I’m wondering, Deputy, if you could give me a rundown on where things stand.”

“All right. The FAA is still trying to contact all the possible landing fields. That’s not easy because there are a lot of private airstrips, some pretty remote, and the storm’s brought down a lot of power and telephone lines. It’s snowing like blazes and it’s dark as pitch.” The deputy coughed away from the phone, then came back. “If a search becomes necessary, we’ve already got a number of Civil Air Patrol volunteers standing by. And our own search and rescue people are geared up and ready. They’re good. They’ve done this kind of thing before. As soon as we get a break in the weather, if necessary we’ll be out there looking. Believe me, Mr. O’Connor, we’re doing everything we can.”

“Are you familiar with the area where the plane disappeared from radar?”

“We know where it dropped off the radar, but we don’t know that it actually went down in that particular area. The folks at the FAA are doing their best to advise us.”

“I was told it’s called the Washakie Wilderness. Could you tell me about it?”

“As I said, we have no reason at the moment to believe that the plane went down there.”

“Tell me anyway.”

A too long pause. “It’s remote, rugged. Mostly big mountains and no roads.”

“What’s the local weather forecast?”

“Just a moment.” The deputy covered the phone, but not well enough that Cork couldn’t hear him hacking something up. He came back on. “They’re saying the snow could last another twelve to eighteen hours. We’re looking at total accumulations in the high country of four, maybe five feet. Mr. O’Connor, Sheriff Dross has told us about your law enforcement background, so I’m guessing you know to a certain extent our situation. Believe me, we’re doing everything we can, and we’ll keep you well informed.”

Which translated into “please don’t call us.”

“I appreciate your time, Deputy Quinn.”

“No problem, Mr. O’Connor.”

He was no place different from where he’d been ten minutes before. Absolutely lost.

Stephen wandered down the stairs and slumped onto the other end of the sofa. He looked at the television screen, which was delivering the “Local on the 8s.” In northern Minnesota tomorrow, the prediction was for another beautiful day. A minute later, the coverage returned to the storm in the Wyoming Rockies.

“Is she dead?” Stephen said.

“Why would you think that, Stephen? There’s every reason to hope that she and the others are safe.”

“I don’t care about the others. I just want Mom to be okay.” He stared at The Weather Channel, the shifting of white against green that was the digital image of the snowstorm, a simple representation of a crushing fear. “I wish I could be looking for her.”

“She’ll probably turn up by morning and she’ll have a hell of a story to tell, buddy. And remember, there are good people out there who know what they’re doing.”

“They don’t care like I do.”

“Sometimes, Stevie, in really tight situations it’s best to have someone who’s not emotionally involved. They think clearer.”

“My name’s Stephen and that’s bullshit. If I was out there, I’d be looking for her right now.”

“Sorry about the name. And I’m sure you would,” he said gently.

Stephen fell asleep on the sofa. Cork covered him with an afghan Rose had knitted for Christmas one year. He settled into the easy chair with the phone at hand and closed his eyes. He couldn’t sleep. He kept going over the possibilities, searching for some reasonable alternative, something to hold on to, but his thinking kept coming back to the darkest prospect-a plane in pieces in the mountains, slowly being buried by snow.

He picked up the phone and listened again to the message Jo had left.

“Cork, it’s me.” During the long silence that followed, he heard the wind in the background like the whisper of a ghost. He saw her outside somewhere. He didn’t know Casper, Wyoming, didn’t know the geography, and he imagined her in a vast nowhere standing against a sky that was gunmetal gray, her blue eyes searching the empty horizon, the wind pulling at her hair. “I’ll call you later,” she finished.

But she hadn’t. And despite all the hope he was trying to give his family, in his own mind he fought not to hear the bleak, bitter voice of his terrible fear telling him she never would.