Addison would be waiting in a car by the entrance, while I sat in my own vehicle at the exit behind the diner. We weren’t exactly sure who or what we were looking for, but we knew that if we somehow lost Rachel in this mess, we were screwed. It was better to spread out and keep watch as best we could.
Once everyone was in place, I got a text from Mika.
She’s inside.
In other words, it was time to start paying attention. I settled back in my seat, crossed my arms and waited. The back door opened a few times and I jumped up in my seat, squinting through my window, but it was always a staffer coming outside to smoke or drop a bag of garbage into the dumpster. One time it was a cook and one of the waitresses, taking turns pushing one another against the cold brick establishment, their tongues tangled in a slobbery mess as their hands ran over various body parts of the other. The cook was short and round while the waitress was tall and thin with messy bleached hair. I couldn’t make myself stop watching. I was so distracted by the mess that I didn’t realize how close I’d leaned in over my steering wheel. I accidentally honked, scaring all three of us. The chef wheeled around quickly and both of them took an opportunity to cast a dirty look my way, the waitress even flipping me the bird before she flounced inside after her secret lover.
The spikes of adrenaline, each followed closely by an inherent lack of action, were taking their toll. After about an hour, I could feel myself nodding off. In desperation, I cranked up the only rap station I could find. It was fuzzy and faded, but it was all that I had. I cursed myself for not grabbing a coffee. Observation was for the birds.
Somewhere in the midst of a fourth helping of bitches and hoes, there was a loud knock on my driver’s side window. I yelped, then turned to see James, holding a cup of steaming hot diner coffee. My hero. Turning down the radio, I immediately reached to roll down my window. “Having a good time?” he smirked, handing me the styrofoam cup.
“What happened? Did he open the bag?” I asked. Taking a sip of the coffee, my eyes closed in pleasure. The slightly burnt hazelnut flavor rolled over my tongue and deep into my throat. Cheap diner coffee is so close to my mother’s own attempt at the drink that, for a moment, I was home. As I swallowed, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. I felt terrible not informing my parents of our plan that evening. We’d more or less hustled off without saying anything to them, or to John. Still, I’d feel worse if I’d gotten their hopes up tonight only to disappoint them again — which appeared like it would be the case. If Rachel thought this would turn into anything, she’d have informed everyone of the second ransom note. My parents weren’t old but they certainly weren’t sprightly. I wasn’t sure how much more bad news they were capable of handling and they had been handed quite a load over the last day or so.
“He was a no-show,” James said. “We’ve been waiting for over an hour. Mika called it.”
I allowed the news to sink in. “So where does that leave us?” I asked. Just then, my phone began to ring. Pulling it out of my coat pocket, I saw that my mom was calling. “Hold that thought,” I said. “Hi, Ma.”
“Where are you kids? I’ve been worried sick,” she moaned. “I come in from the garage and you’re not there. I look in your bedroom and you’re not there. I call Rachel’s house and no one picks up. Everyone left us.”
“We’re working on the case.”
“You’re what? Does your father know? No one tells me anything,” she cried. “Your father is calling off the next round of volunteers. They’re saying sub-zero temperatures tonight. He doesn’t want anyone getting frostbite. What if Riley gets frostbite? Why has no one been able to find my baby?”
“Truthfully, I don’t think Riley is out there,” I admitted quietly. I heard my mother gasp — as though this possibility hadn’t dawned on her — and raced to calm her nerves. “I’m sure she’s somewhere warm, though, that’s all I’m saying.”
My mom sighed heavily, wanting to believe me with everything she had. I didn’t blame her, wishing that I could just believe myself. Just then, the passenger door opened and James slid in. “Cold out there,” he mumbled quietly.
“Who is that?” my mother asked.
“It’s just James,” I assured her.
“You need to tell me more about this young man,” she said.
“Not now,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Please?” she begged. “Distract an old woman. I need something good to happen to our family. Are you seeing each other? He’s a real stallion.”
“Ma, that’s gross.”
“Your father- I’ve always been grateful. He’s a real stallion himself, if you know what I mean,” she said with a giggle.
The image in my head was too much. I gagged a little. “I have to go.”
“Well, when are you coming back? Surely you kids must have a lead or something by now. You’re all young, intelligent people involved in various branches of the law. You wouldn’t run off and scare me half to death for nothing. What did you find? What do you know? Tell me. Please.”
“We’re doing everything that we can. I promise,” I assured her. “We’ll be back soon. I think.” I looked to James for confirmation and he nodded. “James says we will be back soon.”
“Are you kids hungry?”
“We don’t need-”
“I’ll just put together some sandwiches.”
I sighed. Food was my mother’s response to everything. There would be no point in arguing with her. “Sounds great. See you in a bit.” We disconnected.
“Did you understand what she meant when she said your father was a stallion?” James asked me with a conspiratorial wink.
“Shut up,” I grumbled. “What do we do now that the drop was a no show?”
“We go home and regroup,” James admitted. “Hope something comes of The Quill tomorrow. Otherwise, unless Rachel can give us something new to go off of, we’re back to square one.”
“Riley has been missing over 24 hours, James,” I said quietly. “You know how this works. Especially with missing children. We have to find her soon or we may never get the chance.”
James stroked my cheek. “We’ll find her,” he assured me. “I promised you and I meant it.”
In that moment, it was all I could do not to kiss him. We stared at one another for a long time, his hand gently touching my face. I felt my breath quicken and my heart begin to pound. I watched him, waiting, licking my lips in anticipation. Was it too much to ask for a little sympathy kiss? Sometimes a girl just needs some comfort. Eventually, though, James turned away and I felt my stomach sink with disappointment. “They’ll wonder where we are,” he said quietly.
I sighed quietly and nodded. Slipping the SUV into gear, we nosed towards my parents’ house. The drive was short but we managed to fog up the windows with heavy, unanswered breath. At one point I couldn’t see out the windshield and I found myself wondering why he hadn’t kissed me. When he and I arrived home, everyone else was gathered around the kitchen table, munching on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, including my brother, who was tightly holding Rachel’s hand. “Not half bad,” my father promised me of the sandwiches between chews. Hesitantly, I took one from the tray and bit into it. You wouldn’t think it would be possible to screw up something as simple as a peanut butter and jelly. Still, my mother is more than capable of doing just that and has proven it on a number of occasions. Don’t ask.
“Any leads Mr. Moyer?” Addison prompted my father between chews.
My dad shook his head. “She’s not out there,” he told us assuredly. “We’d have found her by now. I know she’s not out there.” There was a pause and a sigh. “I haven’t been able to get in touch with Frank to let him know I called off the search for tonight. Left messages.”
“He’s probably sleeping,” I assured my dad. “Running that size of an operation in such cold weather really takes a lot out of you, I’m sure.”
My dad nodded. “I just wish that whoever wrote that ransom would follow up.”<
br />
I shot a look to Janet across the table, who coughed loudly. Addison began to pat her worriedly on the back.
“What?” my mother asked, perking up. Her motherly instinct was buzzing and she knew something was up. I was sure of it. “What is it?”
“Ma-” I started.
“It’s nothing,” Addison told my mother pleasantly, continuing to pat Janet. “Bread just went down the wrong pipe, I’ll bet.”
“Addison,” I warned.
“Marian,” Addison responded with a leveled stare.
“I’m okay,” gasped Janet, clutching her chest.
“There was a follow-up ransom,” James blurted out.
“What?” my father cried, dropping his sandwich and leaning across the table towards James. If we were in an old Hollywood film, he’d have grasped James by the lapels and shaken him. “There couldn’t have been. Why wouldn’t anyone tell us? We’re police!”
Rachel moaned quietly and dropped her head into her hands as John gave her a sharp look. “Did you know about this?” he asked her angrily. She didn’t respond.
Mika glared across the table at James, who just shrugged. Janet sat quietly, taking long sips of water. Addison leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms tightly as she studied my parents, who were white-faced and silent. I put my hand on James’s arm as a sign of unity. I had his back. It was time to come clean. Sort of. “It’s true,” I told them. “That’s where we were earlier. There was a drop amount. And a place. And instructions.”
Some color started to come back to my father’s face. His cheeks pinked with excitement. Riley or no Riley, crime was what the man lived and breathed for. “And?” he asked.
I shook my head. “They were a no show.”
“No,” my mother said quietly, raising her hand to cover her mouth. “My poor Riley. My baby.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” John snapped at Rachel. Suddenly, he pushed himself away from the table and stood with a disgusted look. Wiping his face with a napkin, he tossed it back on the table and began stalking towards the hallway. “Thanks for dinner, Ma. I need to go home and get some rest.” A few moments later, there was the sound of him putting on his shoes, then the loud slam of the front door.
“I- I’m sorry,” Rachel stammered, standing and scurrying into the hall. “I need to go, too.” A few seconds later, we heard the front door squeak open and shut, as Rachel screamed John’s name into the cold black night. I imagined her running after him. He’d shake her off and continue to push towards the house. She’d try again. It would continue like this until they reached their front door. I’d seen it happen that way a million times.
Heavy silence descended upon the table. No one ate. No one drank. No one spoke. My regret began to feel heavy when I noticed how small and fragile both of my parents had become in those last few moments, the excitement leaving my dad nearly as quickly as it had come to him. Finally, Addison broke the silence. “We weren’t going to say anything,” she growled to James. “We were going to keep them out of it so that- that- THIS! Didn’t happen!” She gestured wildly to my parents, who were sitting dejectedly, clutching each other’s hands.
“Addison Mae Dawes,” my father said quietly. He was one of few people who could use her full name to make her listen. Almost instantly, her back went rigid and she cast her eyes downwards. My father continued. “I so appreciate your desire to protect Lou and I. But if you kids ever, ever keep us in the dark again, I will kick you into next Sunday. Do you understand?” Addison nodded. “What else do you know, then?” my dad asked the table.
“Since the drop didn’t pan out, our last lead is a used bookstore down in Chicago. Janet is headed there tomorrow.”
“How did you find your lead?” my dad asked us, confused. “And why haven’t you been involving the local police? This is why we have so much trouble trusting you people.” He glared menacingly at James and Mika, who had the decency to look contrite.
“The problem is,” Mika began in a soft voice, “we don’t know who to trust within the local PD. There’s a reason Rachel was coming to us and not the police.”
“I’m really confused,” my dad said, holding up a hand, swiping grape jelly from his beard with the other. “Rachel was giving you kids information that she didn’t give us? Why?”
“We’re not sure,” James told him. “But there are a lot of possibilities.”
“What kind of possibilities?” asked my mother, rubbing her temples. “This doesn’t make any sense. And none of it sounds like Rachel.”
“We’ll explain everything,” Mika promised her quietly. “But you have to promise us that all of this stays in this room. There can be no further involvement of the local police.” He looked at my dad. “I understand how difficult that will be for you, Sir, but at this time, it’s how it has to be.”
“We promise,” my parents answered unanimously as they leaned forward. “Now,” my father prompted. “Tell us everything.”
I finished filling my parents in on all of the details we’d withheld. I started with the secret bank accounts, then went on to expose Rachel’s unintentional lead, Gregson’s misstep, our call to Rachel, the additional ransom note and the failed drop. At the end of it, my father leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Closing his eyes, he appeared to be deep in thought. We all stared, waiting for him to speak. “What if Rachel wrote the ransom notes herself?” he finally asked. “No suspicious fingerprints were found. John seemed just as shocked as Lou and I were. He clearly knows nothing.”
“If that’s true, if Rachel wrote both ransom notes, then why?” asked Addison, looking up from the table. She looked much calmer and far less red in the face than she’d been just a few minutes before.
James shrugged. “Maybe she’s responsible for Riley’s disappearance.”
My mother shook her head. “I don’t believe it,” she cried loudly, turning to me. “And shame on you, Marian Louise, if you believe a word of that malarkey,” she added, wagging her finger towards me.
“Lou,” my dad said gently, covering her hand with his, gently lowering it to my mother’s side. “I hate to say it, but given the evidence, Rachel should definitely be considered suspect.” My mother frowned at him, causing deep lines to crease her cheeks and forehead, but she didn’t argue. We all sat quietly, waiting for this revelation to settle in. After a long stretch of silence, my father spoke. “I think,” he said, “I think that we all need to get some rest.”
“But Riley-” my mother started.
My dad took her hand again and squeezed it gently with a knowing look. “I trust our daughter. I trust her friends, even if I don’t appreciate how they’ve kept us in the dark. If Marian thinks that we need to solve this case without bringing police resources further in, we need to trust her. And we need sleep to be on top of our game. You and I should try to get more rest. Reset our internal clocks. Get back to our regular routine.”
Mika nodded. “I agree. Let’s all get some sleep and come at this again in the morning, once it’s had a chance to marinate.”
“I haven’t even been awake that long,” my mother protested. “I’ll never be able to sleep. I have to do something.”
“You could help us get set up,” I suggested. “We all need beds for the night.”
A while later, my mother had put fresh sheets on John’s bed, made up the couch, and lumped together several pillow nests on the floor. Much to my parents’ dismay, James and Mika gave up both beds and the couch so that all three visiting women had a comfortable spot to lay our heads. My dad eyed both men suspiciously as they lingered in the hallway, unsure of who had the privilege of my floor versus who was going to be in Addison’s room. “Whatever,” I finally muttered in frustration, pushing past both of them to stalk into my childhood bedroom.
“You don’t even care?” my father called after me. “Are you dating both of them, or something?” I closed the door loudly behind me as I went to change into my pajamas. “Well?” My father
called through the door. “Are you?” When I still didn’t answer he muttered “Christ,” and I imagined he was giving himself the sign of the cross as well.
“Don, leave her alone,” I heard my mother murmur. I could picture her putting a calming hand on his chest, the way she often does when he starts to get worked up.
After I’d changed, I pulled back the layers of blankets and sank comfortably into my old bed. It sagged slightly in the middle and I found myself melting into it, not caring that the lack of decent springs hurt my lower back. A small pile of teddy bears was stacked neatly near the drab white wall. I grabbed for my favorite. He was missing large patches of hair and had, had to be sewn up in several spots. When Addison and I were younger, she’d wanted to be a beautician. One day she’d actually taken the shears to my teddy bear collection. My mom had been able to salvage most of them, but their battle scars would forever linger. I sighed deeply into the teddy’s fur. “I’m so overwhelmed,” I told him quietly. “I feel like the entire day has just been a colossal waste of our time.”
Just then there was a gentle knock on my door. “May I come in?”
“Yes,” I answered, sitting up, clutching the bear tightly to my chest. I was wearing a t-shirt but there was still something intimate about a man coming into my room when I was so barely dressed. James stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind himself. I smiled shyly but didn’t lower the stuffed animal.
“Disappointed?” he asked me with a devilishly handsome grin.
“No,” I admitted. And I wasn’t. The revelation surprised me, considering how hard I was crushing on Mika.
James carried his bag to the corner of the room and softly dropped it to the floor. Then he began to unbutton his shirt, facing the wall. I watched him, mesmerized. After he peeled his shirt off, he folded it neatly and laid it across his bag. His shoulders rippled slightly under the soft moonlight. I gulped and clutched my bear tighter. Next, James unhooked his belt buckle before unbuttoning and unzipping his dark-wash jeans. It was suddenly very warm in my room and I fought the urge to fan myself. Folding his pants, he stacked them neatly on top of his shirt, then walked over to the bed. He stood over me for a few moments, but didn’t do much else. “What are you doing?” I finally asked.
Allison Janda - Marian Moyer 02 - Seduction, Deceit & a Slice of Apple Pie Page 8