Free Dream Chasers by Barbara Fradkin

were not allowed off-lead in this park, let alone in the water. She tried to grab his collar, but he danced further out of reach. Her sandals sank into the wet mud.
    Her second reaction, once she’d absorbed the diving gear and the waterproof yellow clothes, was that this was about the missing girl. They were dragging the river for her body. Although they hadn’t acknowledged Digby’s presence, the earsplitting barking could hardly be improving their focus.
    Digby, however, was not to be reassured, forcing her to wade ankle deep in muck to secure his collar. As she leaned forward to snap on his leash, trying not to think about the turtles and mud-dwelling creatures that might be tempted by her toes, she caught sight of a yellow and black object coiled around a reed. At first she thought it was some exotic snake, and she recoiled with a small shriek. On closer inspection, she realized it was cloth, and when she fished it out of the water, she saw it was the skimpiest bikini bottom she’d ever seen. She pictured it stretched over her own expansive tush, and the unflattering image made her chuckle.
    Don’t suppose anyone even missed this, she thought. Then she raised her head to consider the men combing the river bottom just off shore. What were the odds, she wondered? The bikini wasn’t remotely like the description of the girl’s clothes reported in the media, yet it looked almost brand new and showed no signs of fading or rot from being in the water for long.
    â€œHey!” she shouted to the men in the water, brandishing the sodden bikini. “This was in the water. Could it be important?”
    The driver of the boat looked over at her with an annoyed frown that vanished the instant he saw her find. He got on the radio, and within seconds he gestured to her urgently. “Stay in the water exactly where you found it, ma’am, and wait there. An officer will be right there.”
    Ruth stared at the slip of clothing in dismay. The police reaction told it all. They believed the girl had drowned wearing this bikini. Only now, when they found her body, the poor girl would be nearly naked.
    The police responded very efficiently from that point, taking her statement and her contact information before sending her firmly on her way. Police in dark coveralls swarmed the marshy area by the alders, and others fanned out along the water’s edge up towards Hog’s Back. She could see similar activity on the north bank of the river, and she shuddered. She’d lived in her old brick house by the Rideau River almost thirty years. It was a tame river, at least within the city, since its force had been blunted by dams and canals. Small children frolicked in its waters, along with the frogs and ducks. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had drowned in the Rideau, unlike its larger and wilder sisters, the Ottawa and the Gatineau. It seemed impossible that a girl in her prime, especially a strong swimmer as the papers reported, could have died here.
    * * *
    Sullivan phoned Green with the news at seven thirty. Green had managed a fitful night’s sleep and had been up since dawn, preparing to do battle once again with Hannah’s school. The news hit him like a sledgehammer in the chest.
    â€œWe’ve set up a command post in the parking lot by Billings Bridge,” Sullivan said, “and the dive team are now concentrating their search on the stretch of the river downstream of the falls. We’ve got a local expert on the topography and currents of the river coming to meet with us at the CP . MacPhail’s also coming to check water temperature and perform his magic calculations on the buoyancy of the body...stuff like that.”
    Green absorbed the news about the forensic pathologist’s involvement grimly. “Has anything been released to the media?”
    â€œNot yet.”
    â€œGood. Hold off until we have something.” Green didn’t bother with the