by Kahlen Aymes
“I’ll look into it. What was he doing in Pennsylvania?”
“He said he was bidding a construction job.”
The agent looked pissed. “Did you call the authorities?”
She shook her head. “No, because I couldn’t prove he wasn’t there on a job and he wasn’t threatening my son or my new… friends,” she said shakily. “I didn’t know if he was telling the truth about my attorney until I looked up the obituary and found a news article on a local network website. I guess the police report listed it as an accident. The car was hit by a train.”
I ran a hand through my hair in agitation. “It’s not as if the police could have done anything without proof of injury, anyway. We were told that even for a stupid restraining order, Ellington would have to physically hurt Missy or her son. Threats weren’t enough.”
Agent Mills’ eyes narrowed, and he nodded. “Well, we’re on it now.”
“Not that I’m not grateful, but why is the FBI here? It’s a local crime.”
“The suspect is from out-of-state, so he might cross state lines, but in any case, the Feds get involved in all missing child cases.”
I could have corrected the status of our relationship but left it alone, unwilling to expend the effort.
He took a statement from Missy about her encounter in Philadelphia while I watched another agent, a female wearing the same type of dark blue jacket with big yellow letters on the back, interview the two little boys I’d identified as those who had preceded me down the slide. She sat down with them and their parents at one of the tables in the corner. I hovered a few feet away, doing my best to listen and keep an eye on Missy as well.
“What are your names?” the woman asked the boys.
“Billy,” one of them said.
“Davey,” said the other.
“My name is Agent Tilly, and I’m going to need your help.” The kids looked scared. The playing, the skating, all of it had come to a stop, and every customer and employee was made to sit at the tables or floor of the main room, while the facility was searched from top to bottom. Everyone was seated in one room and told to keep as quiet as possible. The agents were letting the families leave one-by-one after questioning. “Don’t worry; you’re not in any trouble. I’m a police officer, and we help people. I just need to ask you a couple of questions, okay?”
They stared at her face, their eyes wide. Both of their mothers were with them and told them it would be okay and that they should answer the questions.
“A little boy and girl are lost. They went down this slide right here.” Agent Tilly pointed to the red plastic tube that came from three stories up. “They slid down in front of you, and I’m hoping you can help us find them.”
It sounded like a ridiculous expectation. There were hundreds of kids here, all of them yelling and running around. It had been chaos at best. These boys had gone down that slide at least twenty or thirty times, and a hundred kids could have been in front of them at any given time during the party. Could we realistically expect them to remember anything?
The agent had Missy’s phone and a photo she’d taken of the kids with me when we’d first arrived. “These two. Look at their picture?” She pointed at the screen on the phone. “Do you remember them?”
It was obvious they were scared as the woman questioned them. They were six years old and being questioned by the goddamned FBI because I wasn’t watching my kids close enough. Guilt ate away at my gut. If anything happened to Remi… If anything happened to Dylan… I’d never forgive myself.
One of the little boys shook his head, but the other one nodded, and I perked up.
“Yeah. I saw!” he said excitedly. “They were talking to a clown.”
Agent Tilly’s eyes flew up to lock with mine, then back to the little boy. “Which clown? Do you remember what he looked like?
“The one in the blue suit.”
“What color was his hair? Was his face covered with make-up?”
“Pink,” Davey, the other little boy piped in.
“Yeah, pink,” said Billy. “He didn’t have no makeup on. Just a big red nose.”
The agent motioned to her colleague; a clean-cut young man who might have been an intern. “Go tell Morris to look on security tapes. Focus on the clowns and the area by the bottom of the slides and the entrances; even the fire exits. If they find anything, get the timestamp if you see the perp taking them out of the building. If we know what time he nabbed them, then we’ll be able to calculate a perimeter for the search.”
“I’m on it,” he said, and then rushed away.
Fucking hell. It never occurred to me to worry about the clowns. I felt like an idiot.
I went to tell Missy what the boy had said after she was finished speaking with Agent Mills.
“Oh, my God,” Missy groaned, putting a hand over her eyes. “How did Derrick know we’d be here?”
That was a good question. Our personal security hadn’t noticed anyone following us. “I don’t know. All I can figure is he followed us. But he didn’t have makeup covering his face so he must have just gone into the employees-only room and stole the costume.”
We listened in stoic silence while they told us that the best chance to recover the children would be within the first twenty-four hours, but we had no information on what Derrick was driving. Surely, he wasn’t dumb enough to use his company truck. Several agents were on their phones and walkie-talkies, many of them speaking at once. In a haze, I heard one of them ordering an APB on Ellington and possible company vehicle, defining the description of Remi and Dylan, and a request for all of the hotel guest lists from throughout Atlanta, and in order to focus on all of the interstates leading out of state.
My heart was pounding. I felt sick inside as if my entire chest was a hollow shell, and my head was throbbing. How in the fuck could I let this happen?
“Mr. Jeffers, Ms. Ellington?” Two other agents appeared, one of them handed back Missy’s phone to her. “My name is Agent Daniels, and this is Agent Webster. We’ve downloaded the information from your phone, but please keep it on in case the suspect tries to call. Do either of the kids have phones? If so, we can track them through the cell towers.”
We both shook our heads.
“No,” I said.
“They’re just babies!” Missy blurted, tears starting in her eyes again. “Who gives a six-year-old a phone?”
“You’d be surprised,” the agent answered.
“Can you track Ellington’s phone?”
“Already tried. It’s either been turned off or the sim card removed. It’s off the grid. If he uses it, we’ll find it, though, don’t worry,” said the one called Webster. “Can you come with us, please? Mills told us to escort you back to the Forrester place. Can I have the keys to your vehicle? Someone else will bring it later. We have to search it, first.”
“For what?” I was incredulous.
“Just procedure. We cover all of the bases.”
“Okay,” I said wearily, handing them over. “Come on, honey.” I didn’t know where our coats were, or if Missy had her purse. Within seconds, the officers were giving them to us, and swiftly escorting us outside and into the back of a waiting black SUV.
I was holding Missy’s hand, but it was limp in mine. She was introspective but had stopped crying, zoning out. Her makeup was smeared, with black mascara tracks trailing down her face. I wanted to talk to her, to apologize and beg her forgiveness, but how could she forgive me, if I couldn’t forgive myself?
“Should we call Ben?” I asked tentatively, beginning to rub my thumb over the top of her fingers. Should I call Chase’s sister, brother and his parents? Should I call my parents or Missy’s mom? Teagan’s dad? Being a United States Senator, maybe he could do something to help. My mind was racing with any possibility of finding Remi and Dylan.
The weight on my chest was so heavy I found it difficult to breathe, and I struggled just to get air into my lungs. When she didn’t answer, I called her name. Sudd
enly, her head snapped around to face me.
“What? Oh,” her face crumpled, and tears started to roll again. Missy put her free hand to her face as her pain spilled forth. “Yes. Ben. Dylan means the world to him.” She pulled away from me and fumbled in her purse to retrieve her phone. Her shoulders started to shake as she wiped at her eyes with one hand and turned on her phone with the other.
“Ben?” she said into the phone a minute later. “Can you come to Atlanta? Derrick is in Atlanta, and he took Dylan and Remi.” A sob broke forth. “Yes. He took them!”
I listened to her tearful conversation with her brother as she recounted the events of the past couple of weeks and of the day. I could hear Ben’s deep voice, frantic on the other end saying he’d get a flight right away.
“Can’t you drive any faster?” I asked the driver rudely. I looked at my phone and fiddled with it. I hadn’t heard from Teagan, which was unexpected. Chase was on a plane, and his phone would be switched off, but she would have gotten the Amber Alert on her phone. My parents texted earlier, but nothing from Teagan. Something was wrong. I felt like I was about to explode. “Jesus Christ!”
“Sorry, sir. We’re almost there.”
My eyes burned and felt gritty from crying. I used the thumb and index finger of my left hand to rub them both at the same time. My heart was hammering like hell, and I sniffed at the remnants of tears. I might as well be dying, myself. I would die if we couldn’t find the kids. Remi and Dylan were both mine. I wasn’t either of their father, but they were mine just the same. I couldn’t imagine loving them more than I did. I’d give my own life to get them back. I’d do whatever it took.
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose and then looked at the woman who had become the center of my universe, terrified that she’d hate me after this. She was staring out the tinted windows as the sun was starting to set in the western sky. I vaguely registered the muted colors of pink and purple on the horizon.
“Missy,” I murmured, rubbing her fingers again. “I’m so sorry.” Words couldn’t express the depth of my sorrow or regret. “I should have kept a closer eye on them.”
“It’s not your fault. We shouldn’t have let them go to the party. They would have been upset, but at least they’d be safe right now.”
“He would have just waited for another time. We wouldn’t have been able to keep them from doing everything they wanted to do forever.”
“You’re right. He’s ruthless. I hate him, so much.” Her voice was thick and full of tears.
Something like fire exploded inside me, and I squeezed her hand. “We will find them. I will not let that motherfucker hurt my kids.”
Her head turned toward me as she offered a weak smile. Her eyes flooded with tears and she swallowed, nodding. “I know.”
She took out her phone again and rolled through her recent calls and touched on one of them. She lifted the phone to her ear. “Derrick, please don’t hurt the kids. We’ll give you anything you want. Just, please!” she cried. “Don’t hurt them!”
Air rushed out of me as she hung up and then collapsed in a torrent of tears against me. I held her until we arrived at our destination, and I pushed the security code from the open window on the backseat of the driver’s side of the SUV. Praying Teagan wouldn’t see the flashing red lights coming from the dashboard of the vehicle. The first security team remained at the venue after we left, and second had been monitoring the situation from outside the Forrester estate and followed onto the grounds.
We parked in the driveway, and I helped Missy out of the vehicle. We all rushed up to the door. I had a key, and we quickly went inside. Agent Daniels stayed outside to confer with the Perlington team. Inside, Teagan wasn’t anywhere to be found.
“Teagan?” I called. The house was dead silent. The TV wasn’t on, the music had been turned off. “Teagan?” I yelled louder.
“Maybe she’s upstairs,” Missy offered weakly. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy.
“Maybe you should go up and look for her,” Agent Webster added. “I’ll stay down here with Ms. Ellington.”
I didn’t want to leave Missy in such a fragile state, but this was going to be just as devastating for Teagan as it had been for Missy. I had a very difficult conversation in front of me, and I was worried something was amiss with Teagan.
“Yeah, I’ll be right back,” I answered the agent but then turned toward Missy. “Why don’t you get some water and sit down?” I said.
“Yes, if the perp wants money, he’ll be in touch, ma’am,” Webster added. “Sadly, we’ve seen a lot of these cases. Your ex-husband has no history of pedophilia, and we’ve received digital copies of the report from the investigators Mr. Forrester hired already. It looks like a clear motive for funds. We have to wait for him to contact you and we’ll lock on to the signal.”
Missy nodded, as Daniels entered the front door.
I moved quickly to the stairs and ran up, taking them two at a time. I looked in the hall bathroom first. It was empty. “Teagan?” I called again. I pushed open Remi’s bedroom door and found no sign of her. Maybe she was sleeping. As I got closer to the master bedroom, I could hear her moaning in pain. I rushed in, banging open the door.
“Teagan?”
“Jenseeeeen,” she groaned. She was in a fetal position on her bed still dressed in her pajamas from earlier, cradling her rounded baby bump with both hands. “Oh, God.”
“For Christ’s sake, Teagan! Are you in labor?”
Her hair was stuck to her furrowed forehead by a slight sheen of sweat as she nodded. “Yes,” was all she said. Her eyes were swollen and red, traces of tears still on her face. She knew.
“Why didn’t you call nine-one-one?”
She ignored my question. “I saw the Amber Alert!! You lost Remi and Dylan?”
Fuck. Could this get any worse?
My heart fell to the pit of my stomach for the second time today. I sat down on the edge of the bed, as Teagan convulsed in pain as another contraction overtook her. I rubbed her back. “Ellington took them from the venue. The FBI is on it.” Did the shock of it cause her to go into premature labor?
“Ugggghhhh!” she moaned again. “I want Chase! He’s got to be worried sick,” she panted in pain. “My battery died, and I couldn’t call!” she cried frantically. “Oh, my God. Remi!”
I stood up and took out my phone, dialing nine-one-one.
“Chase won’t know until he lands, but the police are picking him up. I’ll have them meet us at the hospital.”
“What about Remi and Dylan, Jensen?” she asked accusingly, her voice strained. “How am I supposed to have this baby when my daughter has been stolen by some lunatic?”
“You don’t have any choice, right now, Teagan.” I cupped her silky head with my free hand.
“Hello, what is your emergency?” a woman asked from my phone.
“I need an ambulance at 10857 Jefferson Terrace, in the Presidential Estate Development, Atlanta. A woman is in labor.”
“How old is she, sir?”
“She’s twenty-seven. It’s Teagan Forrester.”
“How far apart are the contractions?” she asked.
I didn’t know the answer. “How far apart are your contractions coming, Teags?”
She grimaced, jerking on the bed. “Maybe five or six minutes. I don’t know,” she panted.
“She said five minutes, but it could be closer. I just arrived and found her doubled over.”
“How long has she been in labor?” she asked.
“A couple of hours, I think.” Why couldn’t that woman just send the goddamned ambulance?
“The paramedics are on their way. Is it a gated community?”
“Yes,” I answered quickly. “I’ll open the gate, and the one at the edge of the property.”
“Yes, sir, stay on the phone until the paramedics arrive.”
“Okay,” I told the emergency dispatcher. “Teagan, I’ll be right back.”
I left th
e room and hurried down the stairs, past Missy and the FBI agents. Missy was sitting down on one of the dining room chairs, and they were standing nearby, talking to her.
“Is Teagan alright?” Missy’s tear-stained face was concerned.
“She’s in labor. I’m opening the gates for the ambulance,” I said frantically in passing.
“Oh, my God,” Missy said sadly, standing up and running toward the stairs. “
“She’ll be fine, but we need to get her to the hospital,” I answered loudly from the laundry room as I pushed in the gate code.
In less than a minute, we were both sitting on the bed next to Teagan as she writhed with labor, and the FBI agents were in the living room using their phones to communicate with their fellow agents and field office.
“I’m so sorry, Teagan,” Missy cried, reaching out for her hand. Teagan took it, clutching tight. “I love Remi.”
Both of the women had tears running down their faces. “It’s not your fault.” She closed her eyes tight and grimaced, clutching her round stomach as another pain hit her. “Mmmmm… Uhhh… I love Dylan, too. Ugh,” she moaned again, suddenly curling around her stomach as another pain seized her. “We have to—Uhhhhhh,” she groaned again, her face straining from her pain. —find them.”
All I could do was stand there and watch these two amazing women. I closed my eyes against the burning behind them. I wanted to cry, too, but being on the phone with the dispatcher, I couldn’t tell Missy or Teagan what I wanted to say; that if it took my last breath, I’d get them back unharmed.
Within minutes, the sirens sounded in the driveway, and I could hear the FBI agents directing the paramedics upstairs.
“I’m going to hang up now, sir,” said the woman on the phone.
“Okay, thank you.” I ran out of the room to show the medical team which was Teagan and Chase’s bedroom. “She’s in here,” I said.
I backed out of the room with Missy, holding her hand in the hall as we waited for them to get Teagan on the gurney, get her hooked up to fetal monitors, and take her blood pressure. We could hear them offering her soothing words. “We have a good healthy heartbeat. How far along are you.”