“What does that mean?” a cop asked.
“It’s his standard answer when he’s finished talking,” I explained over my shoulder where he scurried behind us. “Or when he doesn’t want to be bothered anymore.”
“Keep trying,” he urged.
I stepped up next to Zach, keeping in stride with his pace. Thank goodness he wasn’t limping or crying or indicating that he hurt anywhere. “Zach, where have you been?” I asked again.
“Mimi knows,” he mumbled. “All done.”
The cop stepped in front of us, blocking our path. “Who’s this Mimi?” he asked suspiciously.
“Our grandmother. She’s home. But she doesn’t know where he’s been either,” I said quickly. “Mimi knows is one of Zach’s pet expressions to any question he can’t answer. Like all done when he wants to be left alone or get shoes when he wants to go outside. It’s like a code.”
His brows furrowed together, as though he wasn’t buying my explanation. I sighed. Poor Mimi might be getting the third degree when we got home. I understood that police had to be suspicious and cynical by nature, but for the first time I worried about the consequences of Zach’s mysterious disappearance. Would the cops think we had something to do with it? Or that we were negligent, incapable caregivers?
The worry that we were indeed negligent only fueled my paranoia.
A thirtysomething woman in jeans and a Keep Calm and Do Yoga T-shirt sidled up to us. I recognized her as a neighbor from a block away. “You think he went outside to play and just wandered off?” she asked.
“No.” I directed my answer to the cop, noting his name was Dempsey. I needed to impress upon him that this was no accident. I couldn’t dismiss the threatening messages I’d received. It was too much of a coincidence to think he’d wandered away for so long for the first time in his life right at the time I faced an unknown menace. “Officer, I believe he was abducted.”
Zach walked around the guy, careful not to accidentally brush against him. “Home,” Zach said, tugging my hand impatiently. He led all of us into the house, where Tegan awaited with a broad smile.
“I just checked,” Tegan said. “Your grandmother’s still asleep. She’ll be so relieved when she wakes up. Do you want me to get her?”
“No. Let her sleep.”
As though not noticing the entourage of people crowded around him, Zach headed down the hallway.
“We’ll need to do that body search before we go,” the officer reminded me.
“I want Deputy Blackwell to do it, if she’s willing. Zach’s met her a few times. She won’t be a complete stranger.”
Tegan nodded. “Sure. Let’s go ahead and get this over with.”
Mimi stumbled out of her bedroom, blocking our way to Zach. “What’s going on?” she asked, hands on her hips, glaring at the noisy crowd in the den. “What are all these people doing in my house?”
She didn’t act surprised Zach had returned; the memory of his disappearance had apparently dissolved during her nap.
The cop raised an eyebrow at me. He must think we were the craziest family ever. But after today’s crisis, I didn’t care what anyone thought as long as Mimi and Zach were safe.
“Listen up, everyone,” the officer called over his shoulder. “Everyone head on home or back to your jobs. Thanks for your help.”
“Thank you,” I added. “We’re so grateful.”
“I’ll stay until I’m sure Zach doesn’t require medical attention,” the officer said.
“Medical attention?” Mimi asked. “He’s perfectly fine. Who are you?”
“Officer Dempsey, ma’am.”
I intervened. “Why don’t you go in the kitchen and make a cup of coffee, Mimi? I’ll explain everything in a minute.”
Mimi shook her finger at the cop. “I want you out of here, young man.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled as I walked past him.
Tegan snickered as we walked into the bathroom. I had the feeling she didn’t particularly care for the cop.
We quickly assessed that Zach had no marks on him. Zach dressed, and a scrap of paper fell out of his jeans pocket and landed on the floor. “What’s this?” I asked, picking it up. Zach ignored me and left the bathroom.
Large typed block letters delivered a succinct message.
I warned you. Next time he won’t come back.
The words hit me like a sucker punch. I dropped to my knees on the hard tiled floor. My lips numbed, and blood drained so fast from my face that the tiny bathroom walls began to spin and close in on me. The faded wallpaper of poppies swirled like a psychedelic field of blue and pink. A rabbit trap that threatened to suck me into its vortex.
“Jori? Sit down.” Tegan’s face swam into my vision. She grasped my shoulders and guided my body so that my back leaned against the wall. “Put your head between your knees and take deep breaths.”
The shock of the message, piled on top of the intense stress of the last few hours, left me exhausted as adrenaline suddenly bottomed out of my system.
“Will you be all right for a minute?” she asked.
I nodded, and she left me alone, promising she’d return in a minute. “Leave the paper where it is and don’t touch it,” she warned.
I had no intention of touching it again.
Voices carried from the den for several minutes until Tegan entered the bathroom pulling on rubber gloves and carrying a manila envelope. “We’ll see if we can get fingerprints from this note,” she said, tucking the evidence into the envelope.
I watched listlessly, my hope as drained as my energy. Whoever had taken Zach was too smart to have left fingerprints behind.
“Your grandmother’s made coffee. How about we go in the kitchen. Can you get up?”
Tegan leaned over me and grasped my elbow, helping me to my feet. The room whirled once, twice, and then my vision cleared.
I peeked into Zach’s room as we walked down the hallway. Zach briefly glanced up, then went back to his own world. You’d never guess he’d spent the past couple of hours at the mercy of a killer.
“I hope Zach’s not traumatized from all this. I know he appears calm, but who knows what he’s really thinking?”
Tegan cocked her head to the side. “Maybe you can ask his day program director if she thinks he could benefit from speaking to a counselor?”
“I suppose,” I answered, not believing any good would come of pursuing that. But I could at least try.
At the end of the hallway I pulled up short. “I’m worried with everyone gone. What if the kidnapper returns?”
“Don’t worry,” she assured me. “Your house will be under round-the-clock police protection for at least the next forty-eight hours.”
The smell of freshly brewed coffee and the absence of dozens of eyes on me—which I imagined as critical and accusatory—revived my spirits. Stirrings of anger also fortified me. Whoever had taken Zach needed to be arrested. He needed to pay for what he’d put us all through this harrowing afternoon.
Mimi was already seated at the table sipping coffee. Her hands were steady and her eyes clear, fully awake and alert. “I’m sorry, Jori,” she said.
“For what?”
“Falling asleep. I can’t believe he disappeared right under my nose like that. If only I’d woken up.”
Her memory had returned. “And if only I hadn’t been so busy. I should have come out and checked on Zach. Thank God you weren’t hurt. If you’d woken up and seen someone with him—”
“Then I’d have killed the son of a bitch,” Mimi said, slamming her cup on the table so hard I was surprised it didn’t shatter to pieces.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Tegan said wryly.
For the first time since Zach disappeared, a smile flirted at the edges of my mouth. That was the Mimi I knew and loved. A no-bullshit, don’t-mess-with-me woman.
I’d need to channel that kind of strength if our little family was to survive the invisible menace pressing in on us.
Chapter 26
TEGAN
It was good to see the color return to Jori’s face and the suggestion of a smile play across her features. When she’d sunk to the bathroom floor minutes ago, I’d feared she wouldn’t have the strength to take care of herself and the family dependent on her.
For now, anger was a healthy emotion, a fuel for action. A first step in moving past a victim mentality and fighting against an unknown enemy.
I took a deep breath. It was time for the hard questions. Oliver left this to me since I’d forged a relationship with one of Zach’s caretakers and might have the best success.
“I have to be honest with both of you,” I began. “In these situations, it’s almost always someone close to the victim. It seems obvious that whoever took Zach knew him well. By your own admission, Zach is agitated around strangers. Yet he returned calm, unharmed, and not hungry or thirsty.”
They both regarded me blankly. Either they were good liars, still in shock, or clueless where Zach might have been during the missing hours.
“Think hard,” I told them. “Let’s start with family and then friends. Who knows Zach well?”
“If you have to interrogate anyone, look at the day program staff,” Mimi said, eyes shooting daggers at me.
“Absolutely. We’ll continue questioning them. The afternoon driver has agreed to submit to a polygraph test. He’s at the station now. I want you both to come to our office at eight o’clock tomorrow morning for a polygraph test as well.”
Jori flinched as though she’d been struck.
“I’m sorry. The quicker we can rule you out as suspects, the quicker we can explore other leads. You can bring Zach along with you.”
“He’ll love that.” Jori rolled her eyes. “All those strangers, all that noise . . .”
“Is there someone who can stay with him here at the house?”
“No,” Jori said immediately. “I don’t trust anyone.”
“What about Dana?” Mimi asked.
“No,” Jori insisted.
“Who’s Dana?” I asked, pulling out my phone to make notes.
“A . . . friend.”
I raised my brow at her hesitation at using the friend word. “You sure she’s a friend?”
“I used to be sure,” Jori admitted. “We had a recent falling out.”
“Is it possible she took your brother in retaliation? Wanted to hurt you in some way?”
Jori’s eyes widened. “I-I don’t think so.”
“I’ll have a talk with her. Her full name?”
“Dana Adair.”
Mimi made a small snort of derision. “Always thought that girl was shady.”
“Anyone else you two have had trouble with recently? Another friend or family member?”
Jori shook her head no, and Mimi continued to regard me stonily.
“I’ll need a list of close family members that live in the area.”
“There’s Tressie Ensley, my aunt and Mimi’s sister; Uncle Buddy—Buddy Munford, that is—Crystal Donley, a cousin on my dad’s side of the family . . .”
I dutifully wrote down another half dozen names of various cousins. I’d contact each of them tonight and get their alibis. “Is that everyone you can think of?” I asked again. “Have you had any trouble with neighbors or anyone else?”
“Nope. We don’t have any close neighbors, and I can’t think of a single person who would want to hurt us or Zach.” Jori turned to her grandmother. “Mimi?”
“No. Isn’t it possible he just wandered off alone and decided to return?” the grandmother proposed.
“You said he’d never done that before,” I reminded her. “Why now? Besides, there’s the threatening message he carried back.”
She gasped. “What are you talking about?”
I held up the evidence bag I’d placed in the chair beside me.
“We found it in Zach’s pants when he came home,” Jori admitted.
“What did it say?”
I repeated the message to her, as Jori appeared to want to gloss over the matter. She was understandably protective of her grandmother, and I noticed she tried to cushion her from bad news as much as possible. But they both needed their eyes wide open if they were going to protect Zach.
“One more thing,” I added as I rose to leave. “We’re obligated to report this matter to Adult Protective Services. They’ll probably send a social worker out here tomorrow.”
“Terrific,” Jori muttered. “Just what we need.”
Neither of them made a move to walk me to the front door.
“May I see you a minute, Jori?”
Reluctantly, she walked outside with me to the front porch, and I faced her square on. “I am sorry. I’m doing my job. You and your grandmother have nothing to fear. Take the polygraph, talk with the social worker, and keep a close eye on your brother. We’re going to do everything possible to find who’s responsible.”
“How can you be sure it’s not me?” she asked bitterly. “Maybe I’m secretly a crazy narcissist who’s done all this for attention.”
“I don’t believe that. Look, we’re on the same side here. We both want to capture who’s responsible and for your family to be safe.”
Some of her anger melted, but she still held her body stiffly. “Thank you. Anything else?”
“Not unless you have anything else to shed some light on this situation. I get the feeling you don’t feel free to talk in front of your grandmother.”
“I have nothing to say.”
I nodded, not surprised at Jori’s reticence. It’d been a long, stressful day for her, and tomorrow promised to be hard as well. I started to suggest she contact Family Services for a list of respite care providers, but now was not the time. Jori would be mistrustful of any stranger until we solved this case.
“Call me if you need me,” I reminded her, but I had a feeling my phone wouldn’t be ringing. I left the porch and headed down the driveway, my gaze shifting to the woods on either side of the house. Who had been here earlier, lying in wait for Zach? While I was relieved he’d been returned unharmed, frustration knotted my gut. If only someone had seen something—anything—for me to pursue. The various threads of old and new crimes were a tightly woven web, a mystery that so far eluded me. But surely we were close to finding answers, or else Jori wouldn’t have been threatened and Zach wouldn’t have been kidnapped.
“Whoever you are, I’ll find you,” I whispered into the gulf wind.
Chapter 27
JORI
What monster lurked behind the smiling faces of everyday friends and family? Tegan had insisted that most likely our stalker was someone I knew and knew well.
Only two people with motive and opportunity came to mind—Dana and Aunt Tressie—I realized as I tried to focus on the last-minute details for the Blessing event. But my mind wouldn’t cooperate. Dana’s motive might be because of some old, deep-harbored jealousy. As ludicrous as that sounded, I couldn’t rule it out. And then there was Aunt Tressie. Her ex-husband had opened my eyes to the realization she wasn’t who I thought she was.
I continued my pacing, feeling as hemmed in as a chicken in a crowded coop.
“Why don’t you come sit down and watch a show with us?” Mimi asked.
“Sit,” Zach echoed, pointing to the empty spot on the couch beside him.
“For a minute,” I conceded, dropping onto the sofa. Much as I knew Zach hated the physical contact, I ruffled his hair. “You doing okay?”
He frowned and leaned his body away from my touch. “Okay. All done.”
I didn’t mean to annoy him, but it was impossible not to constantly touch his shoulder or hug him every time I passed him in the den, unharmed and seemingly content as always.
The social worker had briefly stopped by this morning and had reassured us that we were in no danger of being declared incompetent to care for Zach.
“Accidents happen,” she said. “No one can be one hundred percent vigilant one hundred perc
ent of the time.”
The polygraph test had proved more stressful. Being shoved into the room and hooked up to the wires intimidated me, even though I had nothing to hide. Tegan had watched Zach while I was being tested. Later, she told me it had taken half a dozen trips to the vending machine to keep Zach pacified. The bags of chips and soda kept him occupied and distracted. Mimi was another story. It had not been a good morning for her. Her mind was hazy, and even asking her simple questions such as her name and today’s date proved too much. Mercifully, the polygraph examiner had concluded testing my grandmother would be a waste of time.
Within five minutes, I was bored to tears with the game show that had Mimi and Zach engrossed. I jumped up from the couch and for the dozenth time since yesterday worked my way clockwise around the house, checking to make sure that all windows and doors were locked, that the curtains were drawn, and that there were no signs of disturbance.
“Why don’t you get out of the house for a bit?” Mimi finally suggested. “It’ll do you good.”
“No, no, I can’t leave y’all alone.”
Mimi set down her knitting. “If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for me. You’re making me nervous. We can’t become prisoners in our own home.”
I hesitated, toying with the idea. It would be nice to get some fresh air.
“If it’ll make you feel any better, I can have Rose stop by to keep Zach and me company.”
“If she’s free . . .”
While Mimi called Rose, I went out on the porch and called Tegan.
“Are you positive a cop car will be watching us all day and night this evening?” I asked.
“Positive. If you need to leave the house for groceries or any other reason, that’s perfectly fine.”
I waved at the cop watching me, and he waved back. The guy was evidently paying attention and not sleeping on the job. A good sign.
“How did the social worker interview go?” Tegan asked.
“Better than I could have hoped for. Actually, she was very nice.”
A brief silence settled between us.
“Anything else?” Tegan said at last.
It wasn’t until that moment I realized the real reason I’d called her. “About the messages,” I began hesitantly. “If you were me, would you stop questioning people about Jackson Ensley’s murder?”
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