***
“It’s a parade,” Bella screeched from the back seat of Tank’s SUV. “It’s the Christmas parade. Look…there’s Santa!” Bella pointed to the merry man in red.
“There’s no way I’ll be able to park close to the store,” Tank said. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
Bella stopped craning her neck for long enough to understand what Tank was saying. “You can’t go back on your word. I need the craft supplies for dad’s present.”
“I’m sorry, Bella. But a deal is a deal. I told you before we left Pastor Steven’s house that if this didn’t feel right, Rachel wasn’t going inside for your supplies. It doesn’t feel right, so we’re going home.”
“I don’t want to go home. If we follow the parade down Main Street, we’ll drive straight past the craft store. The floats are going so slow that you wouldn’t need to find a place to park. Rachel could jump out and then run along the sidewalk and catch up with us.”
“Rachel would slip feet first into the gutter if she ran along the sidewalk. We’d end up in the hospital with a concussed teacher who should have known better.”
Rachel glared at the back of Tank’s head. “The so-called concussed teacher now has everything clearly spelled out. Thank you, Tank.”
“Don’t get angry with me. I’m just telling you that no one is going anywhere.” He stopped at a set of traffic lights.
Rachel watched the people on the side of the road. They were huddled in their jackets, with scarves and hats firmly attached to their bodies. The Christmas parade was a big deal in Bozeman. Most families made sure they were standing on the side of the road to see the long trail of floats moving down Main Street.
Tank was going to have to take a left-hand turn up ahead if he wanted to go anywhere. Main Street had been closed to vehicles and judging by the number of floats she could see, it would be a long time before it opened.
Before Rachel could think of another craft store they could visit, Bella had unclipped her seatbelt and jumped out of the car.
Rachel made a frantic grab for her jacket, but her seatbelt locked her in place. “Bella! What are you doing?”
Bella kept running, disappearing into the crowd of people walking along the sidewalk. “Tank, Bella’s gone. I’m going after her.” She threw off her seatbelt, slid across the SUV, and jumped out Bella’s door. She ran around the other cars waiting at the lights and hit the sidewalk at a run.
Even though this end of Main Street was less crowded, there were still a lot of people blocking her path. She dodged strollers and preschoolers as she tried to see where Bella had gone.
She crossed the street, slowed down as the slippery road made it impossible to keep moving fast. She made her way toward the craft store. It was still three blocks away. Three icy, snow-covered, blocks.
Bella hadn’t been to the craft store before, but she had been to Angel Wings Café. Rachel had taken her there when they’d been in town.
Her phone started ringing and she pulled it out of her pocket. The callers’ number had been blocked. She looked at it again before answering. She hoped it was Tank and not John.
“Where is she?”
Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. “I don’t know. She’s probably heading toward the craft store, but I can’t see her.” Rachel looked at the buildings around her. “I’m just passing Pete’s Emporium.”
“Keep heading toward the craft store. Bella’s got a GPS chip in her coat. I can find her with that.”
Tank ended the call and Rachel stared at the phone. A GPS chip? She had no idea that John had gone to such extreme lengths to keep track of where Bella was. Usually, she’d be mortified, but not today. Bella had disappeared and she had no idea where she was.