Now Playing: The Silent Child
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Episode One concluded with:
“My name is Rance.
What’s your name?”
The girl remained silent.
“Do you know where your mommy or daddy are?”
The child said nothing and Dehner stopped with the questions. The look on the
girl’s face caused him to pause. He had seen that empty expression before, on
the face of people who had witnessed death and destruction on a massive scale.
The detective sighed inwardly. He had been through hell only a few days ago. He
had a feeling that this little girl had been through something even worse.
Episode Two
Dehner
tried to keep his voice friendly and kind. “For a little while, I’m going to
call you ‘Pixie.’ A pixie is sort of like an elf. Some folks say pixies live in
the woods.” He nodded with his head toward the grove of trees the girl had just
emerged from. “You can be ‘Pixie’ for a while, then you can get your real name
back.”
The girl didn’t respond. Dehner
didn’t really expect her to. He knew the area reasonably well. Candler was the
nearest town. If he couldn’t find the kid’s home or her family, he would take
her there.
“We’re going to ride on my horse!”
Dehner kept his voice happy and upbeat though he suspected the girl didn’t
really care. “Maybe we can find your people.”
Pixie didn’t resist as Rance lifted
the child up, carried her to his horse and seated her on the saddle. He then
climbed up behind her and carefully looked over the rocky area. The stream got
larger as it flowed East from the mountains and the land became greener. A good place for a ranch: maybe he could find
some people there who would recognize Pixie.
The detective kept an eye on the
girl as they rode in the direction of green land. He paid no heed to the row of
boulders on their left side.
Dehner’s horse went up on two legs as the
sound of a shot echoed off the mountains. Pixie screamed and jumped from the
bay, landing on her face. She scrambled up and began to run back toward the
grove of trees. The sound of a second shot whined over the land.
Dehner drew his .45 and fired twice
toward the boulders. The move was
primarily intended to provide cover as he grabbed a Winchester from its boot.
He slid off the bay and ran toward the girl, snapping off a shot at the attackers
with his .45 while toting the Winchester in his left hand.
He caught up with Pixie and pushed
her to the ground. The girl continued to scream hysterically. “Stay down!”
Dehner yelled as he crouched on one knee in front of the child. He hastily
tossed down his Colt and aimed the Winchester toward the boulders.
He saw sunlight glint off the barrel
of a rifle and sent a red spear in that direction. A man’s yell echoed across
the mountain range mixing with the sounds of a ricocheting bullet. Dehner
reckoned his shot had missed the mark but the enemy had fallen down on hard
stones in his attempt to duck.
Sounds of horses in retreat
followed. Dehner was sure there was more than one horse but couldn’t tell how
many. Pixie’s crying overwhelmed the
hoofbeats.
Rance lifted the child to her feet
and spoke calming words. It didn’t work. The detective had to give Pixie about
ten minutes to exhaust herself with the loud cries. As she screamed, Dehner
tried to get her to talk, to tell him at least a little bit about what had
happened to her. That didn’t work either. Finally, he was able to take the girl
by the hand and walk with her back to his horse. The bay was now grazing on
some grass that lined the stream.
Pixie had again become silent. Rance
found that to be more nerve wracking than the screams. He decided not to try
and locate Pixie’s family. He needed to get the child into town and make sure
she was safe.
And he needed to find out who was
trying to kill her.
Tomorrow: Episode Three of The Silent
Child
