Page 20 of Red Boar's Baby

He texted her back a moment later:

owrieutpw4eroijccx444444444

And then:

I think you can guess who decided to put her 2 cents in.

Diana stifled a laugh.

Before she could respond, Costa’s next text came in.

If there’s anything there, I trust you and the team to find it.

Her chest filled up with a whole swirling cloud of butterflies, and the buoyant feeling stayed with her so intensely that she barely registered her passengers’ reactions to the moment in a helicopter flight that most new passengers reacted to most strongly—the thrilling instant when they left the ground and began to hover.

I trust you,he’d said.

Inwardly, Diana shook her head at herself.

Yes, but we don’tworkwhen we’re together,she told that hopeful inner voice.We tried it. And it didn’t work then, and it won’t work now, and we know why.

There was nothing to be gained by throwing both of their hearts off a cliff a second time.

* * *

Now that Diana knew where it was, the crashed red and white airplane could be seen in glimpses through the dense brush in the gully. She circled slowly to give her passengers a good look. Fifi, in the copilot seat, peered out of the helicopter’s plastic bubble canopy in fascination.

It was clear that the crash investigators had been on site. Some of the brush was cut back—Diana could see the exposed ends of branches and stumps where chainsaws had been used—and there were trampled trails leading in and out of the ravine. All of this was going to make it even harder to find anything useful.

“How are they going to get that out of there?” Jessie asked over her headset from the backseat.

“They may not,” Diana said. “After the investigation is done, the owners will retrieve any parts they want from the plane, assuming it’s not seized for evidence in a drug trial or similar. As for the actual wreckage, in a remote location like this, they’ll probably either try to sell it off to someone who’s willing to cart the pieces out, or just leave it.”

She had sometimes seen old wrecks on her flights, the remains of long-ago military or civilian aircraft left to slowly decay in the desert landscape. These days it was a lot less likely, between concerns about fuel contamination and the ready availability of salvage companies that could be found online. But this would be a difficult and expensive retrieval. There was no chance of getting road access anywhere close enough to truck it out.

The fact that Emmeline had survived, and survived in good shape, still seemed almost magical. Whatever the kid had gone through before she ended up on that plane, she had an angel watching over her now.

Diana found that the helicopter landing site was now marked with orange flags and a large survey tripod. She set down the helicopter in a scuffed and trampled circle. Crash investigators must have been all over the place yesterday.

Today it was deserted, as quiet and still as Diana remembered from her first trip with Luis. She shut down the helicopter, and they climbed out. Fifi blew out a breath as she stepped down and pressed her hand to her chest.

“Are you all right?” Diana asked her.

“Yes, I just—it’s very different from flying in a big jet, isn’t it?” She turned to look at the helicopter.

Diana reminded herself to be careful with the low circling and turbulence while carrying novice flyers. “Yes, it is. You all did great. Now, everyone grab your hat and a bottle of water. Yesterday my partner and I went straight down the ravine, but I saw a better way when we were flying over.”

She had noticed a number of animal trails leading into and out of the ravine. It looked like the crash site investigators had been using them rather than bushwacking. After a short scramble along the descending ridge, she glimpsed a flash of sunlight off the fuselage below them, and they climbed down to look.

As she had observed from the air, the brush was now cut back, and it looked like all the loose items had been picked up. The door of the plane was open, and Diana risked a quick peek inside to find the dead pilot gone and some loose wires dangling where the flight recorder had been. The interior of the plane, which she remembered had had quite a bit of random debris, had been stripped aside from a small amount of trash, including a dropped water bottle that she supposed had belonged to one of the investigators. Careless behavior if this was an actual crime scene, but she reminded herself that no one except the SCB had any reason to think so.

“Who has the evidence?” Caine asked in his soft, rasping voice, right at her shoulder. Diana jumped and nearly banged her head on the door frame.

“The Cochise County sheriff’s office, most likely, aside from whatever the NTSB investigators took. Quinn—that is, Chief Costa was working on getting the items transferred over to your bureau, I think, or getting you access if they can’t.”

Caine nodded. He still looked wildly out of place in his black suit, and the hat did not improve the picture, although it did make it considerably more hilarious.

“Where did you find the child?” he asked.

---