The girl had first been entered into the system after she was found wandering the streets in the early-morning hours alone at the age of six. The case disposition said she was returned to her father late in the afternoon of the next day. According to neighbors, Mary Ellen’s mother had died suddenly and her father was having difficulty caring for the child.
Six months later there was another incident, but things had changed as far as how long the police department could keep the child. By that time the law required that the child be sent either to probation if the offense was criminal or to the Department of Children and Family Services if the child was a dependent. Carly noted that there was a report indicating Mary Ellen did well in school when she applied herself, but she was described as “emotionally immature.” Which could explain why she hooked up with Harper.
Carly saw scanned paperwork familiar to her from her time in juvenile. The juvenile detective who had logged Mary Ellen in made note of an interested party, a relative willing to take the child in the event the father couldn’t.
Juvenile detectives often took down names of relatives and then left the ball in the DCFS court to determine if the home was acceptable for placement until the court decided custody or disposition. This was what she wanted—relatives who weren’t mentioned elsewhere, people she could contact who would hopefully help her find Mary Ellen. She clicked the mouse to get to the next page and jerked her hand away in shock when she read the scanned, grainy name of the relative.
It was Jonah Rawlings, her pastor.
16
HOW LONG SHE HAD STARED at the name and address she wasn’t sure. The shock settled into her bones, and she wanted to call Nick. She even went as far as picking up her phone but in the end decided against it. There was nothing she could do right now—it was close to midnight. Tomorrow was Tuesday, and she knew Jonah would be at the church early, so she’d deal with it then.
With fatigue and questions weighing her down as if she carried a hundred-pound rucksack, Carly closed the file. She sent a text to Joe and asked him how he was. He responded that he was tired, too tired for visits. Carly said she understood and that she was praying. Wearily, she headed home.
Andi’s door was closed when Carly got home. Only her puffy nose kept her from knocking and finally talking with her roommate, though she was glad to think about a different problem for a few minutes. She let Maddie out and leaned against the sliding door, praying she’d get the chance to talk to both Andi and Pastor Rawlings and that A.J. would be found unhurt and this nightmare would end. After the dog came in, she spent a few minutes with an ice pack on her nose, undressed quickly, and just as quickly fell asleep, completely exhausted.
Four hours later the alarm jolted her out of bed, though she swore she’d only just lain down. She needed an early start; she had three stops to make before she went to work.
Her roommate’s door was still closed tight, and Carly wasn’t certain Andi would be up this early. Groggy, Carly started coffee, then jumped in the shower. If she does get up, I want to be wide awake when I talk to her.
After the shower she studied her face. It was sore, but not as bad as she’d feared. The two shiners Alex predicted were there, but not terribly dark.
Carly felt better clean and in fresh clothing. She couldn’t imagine occupational health keeping her out of action because of a couple of bruises. She dried her hair halfway, trusting the heat of the day to do the rest, then took Maddie out for a quick walk.
When Carly returned, she found Andi in the living room drinking coffee. Carly poured a cup and joined her.
“Morning,” she said, not wanting her voice to reveal the turmoil in her soul.
“You’re up early. . . . Well, don’t you look special.” Andrea raised her eyebrows, regarding her roommate over the rim of her coffee cup. She was on the couch, sitting with her feet drawn up under her, still in pajamas.
“I had quite a day yesterday.” Carly settled into her recliner and told Andrea about the vehicle fiasco. Stories like that usually got her roommate animated. Not today. All Carly got was polite attention.
“Sorry to hear it. I was really hoping you’d find the kid by now,” she said flatly as she sipped her coffee, then looked away.
There was silence, and Carly struggled to find words. When did this become so hard? She’s always been my friend; we’ve always talked about everything.
“Is there anything new from the hospital?” She winced at the lame-sounding question.
“Yeah, you know I’ve been suspended.” Andi studied her coffee, and Carly didn’t miss the strange defiance in her friend’s voice.
“I heard they might. What are you going to do?” That was lame too! Why can’t I say what I want to say?
“Don’t have any choice but to face the music. My interview with the disciplinary board is later today.” She stood and strode to the window. “They just want to blame someone, so they picked me.” She jerked the blinds open in spite of the fact that it was still dark outside.
“Were you . . . Well, is what they’re saying true?”
“Was I with a man in the supply closet?” Andrea finally turned to face Carly, her eyes blazing with anger. “No, I wasn’t. I don’t know who started that rumor. I did let my break go long, and I was with a man. But I was just having a little harmless fun! Don’t go giving me your uptight Christian nonsense right now. I don’t need to hear it and I don’t want to hear it.”
Carly’s head snapped back, slapped by the tone and the words thrown at her. “Andi, I just want to help. We are friends, aren’t we? Can you at least tell me why you react to the word Christian like it’s a swearword?”
“We are friends, but I can see the judgment in your eyes. That’s the Christian in you, looking for fault, something to judge. Don’t worry; I won’t be around to taint you. Just as soon as I can find another place to live, I’m gone.” She stormed past Carly and into her room, slamming the door.
“I’m not judging you. I’m worried about you!” Carly spoke to the closed door. Even though she knew Andrea heard her, there was no response. All Carly could do was stare down the hall and wonder, What did I say?
I will pray for you, Andi, while you’re at that interview.
Numb, Carly finished her coffee, eyes roaming around the empty living room. She and Andrea had been like sisters for years. When Carly’s marriage ended, Andrea was there to help pick up the pieces. How could all those years mean nothing right now? She could hear Andrea banging things around in her room but hadn’t a clue how to deal with the tension between them.
• • •
The Coastal Christian Fellowship was located in an old industrial complex. The main sanctuary was a large, square building flanked on either side by long, low buildings that used to be warehouses. All in all, the church owned five buildings of varying sizes. It was the perfect location for a church—plenty of parking and no neighbors to offend when the area was packed with worshipers. The back of the property bordered land that at one time had been an active and producing oil field. Long-unused oil pumps still dotted the field.
Carly knew Pastor Rawlings hoped to buy the land from the oil company in the hopes of turning a large part of it into a park. He had a lot of vision for the area, and there was always a project going on. Even now construction was under way on a new fellowship hall, to be located in a building to the west of the main sanctuary.
Normally Carly loved coming to church. The place had become a second home in the few months she’d been attending. Jonah was a bear of a man, a lumberjack kind of guy; he always reminded Carly of the representations she’d seen of Paul Bunyan. With his calm, gentle demeanor, he instilled trust and confidence in people. He’d won Carly over in short order, once she realized he was not an adversary but an ally. To Carly, he was now a father figure. Someone she could go to with questions and problems.
But as she pulled into the parking lot with dawn’s light spreading, she felt as though she were in unfamiliar territory. Uncertai
nty colored her thoughts. She pulled in next to Pastor Rawlings’s car, the only one in the lot. For a second she sat in her car, motor running, debating putting this off. While she sat, the paper delivery person drove up and tossed a newspaper out onto the walkway. Carly watched the car in her rearview mirror until it left the lot. Turning her attention back to the church, she sighed.
No, she decided, I need to see what Jonah knows about Mary Ellen, and I want to find out before I arrive at work. Shutting down the motor, she was getting out of her car when the sound of another car approaching startled her. She was more unnerved when she recognized the truck that parked next to her. It was Nick’s.
What is he doing here? He couldn’t know about Mary Ellen’s connection to Jonah. She’d purposely come early—the construction workers hadn’t even arrived yet—because she wanted to talk to Jonah uninterrupted. Now Nick’s presence threw a wrench in that plan. He turned her way, and she saw the perplexed look on his face. He was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him. Carly fought to keep her face neutral, not wanting personal issues to cloud the bigger picture.
She stood on the walkway in front of her car and waited as he got out and limped her way, leaning on his cane.
“Wow. Does that hurt?” he said as he reached her.
For a second she didn’t know what he was talking about, and then she remembered her black eyes. “No, not now. Nothing’s broken. I’ll be at occupational health when it opens. I’m sure I’ll be cleared.”
He nodded. “Good. I’m glad nothing was broken. What brings you here this early?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“I needed to talk to Jonah.” He shrugged.
“So do I,” she said before bending down to pick up the newspaper on the walkway. She was a little surprised to see Alex’s story on the front page—about how the police had named Mary Ellen a person of interest in the kidnapping—but he probably filed the story right after they parted. He had a way of making things happen. Next to the text was a picture of the girl.
“I’m here because of this.” She showed it to Nick. He took the paper, studied the headline and the photo caption, frowning.
“We have a suspect, but what does this have to do with Jonah or the church? Did you come for prayer?”
“The girl—our suspect—is Jonah’s niece.”
Nick stared at her. “I didn’t know Jonah had a niece. You’re sure?”
Nodding, Carly took the paper back and turned for the door. “I just want to ask him if he has any idea where she might be.”
Nick followed. “I have an appointment, so I know the combination to open the door. Jonah told me to just come in, that I’d find him in the prayer room.”
She stopped her progress at the door, dying to ask what the appointment was for but biting her tongue. Standing to the side while Nick punched in the combination, Carly realized that until now, no one knew who had taken A.J. Mary Ellen’s possible involvement was just discovered yesterday, so Jonah couldn’t know. It would be a shock, and suddenly she was grateful she wouldn’t be doing this by herself. Nick was another cop as well as Jonah’s friend. Putting aside their personal issues, Carly realized that it was probably best he’d be here when she broke the news.
They entered the quiet church, and Nick made certain the door locked behind them. The prayer room was at the other end of the sanctuary, so Carly started that way, noticing Nick was keeping up with her. Was he moving better, or was that her imagination?
They walked the long hallway in silence, and when they reached the prayer room, Nick knocked.
“Come on in, Nick,” Jonah called out.
Nick opened the door and motioned for Carly to go in first.
“Hey, Carly, what a surprise! But it’s good to see you.” Jonah stood and stepped toward Carly to give her a hug. “What made you decide to join Nick today?”
“I’m not here to join him. It’s a coincidence we arrived here at the same time. I wanted to ask you something.” Sucking in a breath to brace herself because she was not sure what his reaction would be, she said, “I just wondered if you knew where she might be.” She opened the paper and showed him the picture.
As he looked at the picture and read the text, all color drained from Jonah’s face.
He reached out and took the paper from her. “I can’t believe it.”
Carly let Jonah read. Nick pulled up a chair and sat, but Carly didn’t sit until Jonah did. By then he held the paper down between his knees. He sighed, and it didn’t escape Carly’s notice how tired and defeated he looked. Normally larger than life, the pastor seemed smaller somehow, and she realized this news was heart wrenching.
“I’m sorry to spring it on you this way. I was really hoping you might have heard something from her.”
He met her gaze with watery eyes. “I haven’t seen Mary Ellen for ten years. Seeing her name connected with the kidnapping just now shocked me more than I thought possible.” His sad expression touched Carly. “She was a little girl the last time I saw her, and there is no reason to think she’d even remember me.”
“What happened, Jonah?” Nick asked in a quiet voice. “How did she end up involved in something like this?”
He dropped the paper and rubbed his face with both hands. Leaning back in the chair, he said, “Anita, my first wife, was killed in a car accident. I’ve shared that in church before.”
Carly nodded. She remembered hearing the story. Anita and her sister were on their way home from a women’s retreat in the mountains. The car hit some ice and left the road, crashing into a ravine, killing both women instantly.
Jonah continued. “When Anita and Lorna were killed, John, Lorna’s husband, blamed God. Seeing as how he couldn’t confront God, he turned all of his hurt and anger toward me. I had just been appointed head pastor here, and the church was growing. We’d just bought this property.”
He paused, looked up, and stared past Carly. “John descended right away into the bottle. I heard he was neglecting Mary Ellen, but I could do nothing. John wouldn’t let me near her. When news reached me that the county was going to remove her from his custody, I stepped up and said I would adopt her. We had been a close family before the accident. She used to call me Uncle JoJo, and I called her Little Bit.” His voice broke, and it took a minute for him to regain composure.
“John went ballistic. We physically came to blows. He told me if I kept trying to take his daughter, I’d be sorry, said that she’d be better off with the county than with a deluded Bible-thumper like me. He swore he’d convince everyone who’d listen that I had molested her and couldn’t be trusted. He said that he would convince her of the most vile and sick things, and he would make her believe that I had done those things to her.”
Rawlings covered his face with his hands, then let them drop to his lap. “God help me, but he scared me. Even though I knew he planned to spread pure lies, all I could think about was what the allegations would do to me, true or not. I could say I was worried about what a fight like that would do to her, but that wouldn’t be true. I was afraid for me.”
“So you stepped back,” Carly said.
He nodded. “I stepped back, withdrew my petition, and left that little girl in the custody of the county.” Tears flowed freely. “I didn’t trust God to defeat the lies, and look what my weak faith has wrought. She kidnapped that baby. Is that what the county system did to the sweet little bit of a girl?”
Carly swallowed her own emotions. Her pastor’s devastation moved her. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t think she’s completely responsible. I think there’s more going on here than we can see right now.”
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “What are you saying?”
Carly glanced at Nick, wondering if she should go into Harper’s fears for Mary Ellen and tell Jonah about the trashed apartment. She decided that she wouldn’t. “Just that we need to find her, not only to clear up the kidnapping, but because we think her life is in
danger.”
“Jonah, are there other relatives, anywhere else she might go?” Nick asked.
Rawlings shook his head. “Grandparents are all gone. John was an only child. I have, over the years, prayed for him and for Mary Ellen. I was never able to reconcile with John, and I’m sorry to say he’s dead as well. Two years ago he died of lung cancer.” He sucked in a breath. “Maybe I should have tried to find her then. Maybe this could have been avoided.”
Carly digested this for a minute. “If you hear from her, you’ll call?”
“Of course. And I’ll pray she comes to me. I want to help her. I should have helped her ten years ago.”
Carly thanked him and turned to leave.
“Wait,” Nick said. “I’ll walk you out. We can talk later if you want, Jonah.”
“I don’t mind keeping your appointment. I’d like you to stay for a bit, if that’s okay.”
“Of course. I’ll be right back.” He limped toward Carly, and they headed back the way they came. She glanced at the clock; she just had time to make it to OH when it opened.
“Where are you headed now?”
“Occupational health.”
“I knew you wouldn’t settle down and take it easy. I stopped by the hospital last night, but you’d already left. Mike told me your nose wasn’t broken.”
Did Mike tell you I left with Alex? “I didn’t crash that hard, just hard enough to activate the air bag. I feel like I was smashed in the nose with a volleyball.”
“I’m glad you feel better today. And about the order—I’m sorry, but you really were a sight with that bloody nose. You needed to see the doctor.”
They’d reached the front door. As she turned to face him, Carly felt the pressure in her chest ease. At least he’s sorry. “Thanks. I’ll admit you were right,” she conceded to herself as well. “I was just so pumped up. I felt like I was on the right trail and then a roadblock was thrown up in my face, literally and figuratively.”
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