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posted at the station. He made another call to the station, held up another five fingers in Taylor's direction, and keyed in a phone number.
    "Mrs. Morgan," he began when he got Brittany's mother on the line.
    "It's Ciscoe, actually," she said. "I didn't change it. But never mind; do you have any news?"
    "Not yet, I'm afraid. We're bringing in a special canine team from Spokane. We'll come to your house this afternoon."
    "Canine? A dog? Like a search dog? Ivy disappeared from the car in the Food Mart parking lot, not from our house."
    "We tried a dog in the parking lot. It couldn't find anything more than thirty feet from Brittany's car. But now we think it could possibly be useful to bring this other specially trained dog to your house, walk him around the neighborhood. He might pick up a trail we haven't thought of yet. In past cases, missing children have been found at a neighbor's house."
    Susan Ciscoe seemed doubtful, but said okay. He didn't tell her that he didn't need her permission. He also didn't volunteer that the missing children he'd mentioned had been found dead, and that this dog from Spokane was trained to sniff out cadavers.

Chapter 7

    Eighteen hours after Ivy disappears

    On the video monitor, Grace McKenna studied the image of a white kitten scampering across the shaggy landscape of a gorilla belly. Neema, lying on her back, threw one huge arm over her head and chuckled in delight. Snow tickle Neema , she signed.
    Grace moved away from the screen and sat down on the braided rug next to Neema, crossing her legs. She signed Where snow?
    The gorilla cupped a gentle hand around the kitten. This snow , she gestured with the other. Then, soft baby .
    So Neema had decided to name this kitten Snow. Just to be sure, Grace signed, Snow is dog?
    Neema's gorilla eyes flashed a look that implied Grace's species was the one with limited intelligence. She signed Snow dog here .
    Before she had worked with Neema, Grace would not have believed that an ape could be sarcastic. It was great to get this sort of 'talk' on tape to demonstrate that gorillas had rich imaginations and associations and memories, much like children.
    "You don't like dogs," she said, simultaneously signing the words. "I'll take the dog away." She reached for the kitten.
    Neema clasped the tiny furball to her chest as she abruptly sat up. Neema's baby . She hurriedly drew her fingers out from her mouth, mimicking whiskers, thumped her chest and then curled her hand across it, then pulled imaginary whiskers again. Cat my baby cat .
    "Ah, now you know the difference." Best cat? Neema keep Snow?
    Neema drew the basket of kittens closer, gripping the wicker rim between her feet. All cats play .
    "One." Grace held up a finger. "You can have one . Which one do you like the best?"
    All stay Neema .
    "One."
    The white kitten squirmed against Neema's chest and mewed softly. The gorilla bent and brushed it with her lips, and then set it carefully on the floor. Next, she gently plucked a calico kitten from the basket and lifted it for a kiss.
    What color that cat? Grace signed.
    Nest .
    Grace frowned and spoke while signing simultaneously. "It's not time for your nest now. Not time for sleeping. It's morning," she said, gesturing a sunrise. "What color is that cat? Blue? Red?"
    This nest .
    "You want to take the cat to your nest?" Grace asked. "You want to sleep with that cat?"
    Play now .
    Grace sighed. "Talk now," she insisted. "You must answer when I ask you a question. What color is that cat?"
    Nest .
    Grace gritted her teeth. Neema could be incredibly stubborn, especially when she was bored with answering routine questions.
    "Yellow? Green? Brown?" Grace persisted, flashing signs one after another.
    "Dr. McKenna," Josh interrupted from the doorway. "Take a look at Neema's nest."
    Grace glanced at him over her shoulder, then turned and studied Neema's nap area in the corner. She'd created a gorilla sleeping nest, but instead of using leaves and grasses as she