by Mark Stone
“Sure. Doesn’t seem hard,” Isaac said, shrugging.
“Do you like Rebecca?” I asked flatly, careful to keep any emotion out of my voice.
“She’s your wife,” he answered quickly, folding his hands together and placing them on his lap.
“I know that,” I said. “But that’s not the question I asked. I wanted to know if you like her, and remember, I need you to be truthful.”
“I don’t really know her,” he answered, looking down at the floor. “I’m sure she’s great. She definitely seems nice enough, but I can’t really say I like her.”
“Fair enough,” I said, tossing my good arm over my nephew’s shoulder. “That’s a well thought out and honest answer. I’m going to need another one of those, and I’m afraid this answer is even more important than the last one.” I took a deep breath before I continued. “Do you think that, if you make Rebecca upset or if she thinks you’re in the way or not worth the trouble, I’ll send you away?”
Isaac didn’t look at me. His eyes stayed plastered on the floor. His mouth stayed closed tight.
“Isaac,” I repeated.
“She’s your wife, Uncle Dillon,” he said. “I know how that works. I know who the most important person to you is.”
I squeezed my nephew’s shoulder tightly, pulling him even closer. “You’ve got that all wrong, kid,” I said. “You’re my family. You’re my blood. Rebecca might be my wife, and yes, that’s the chief relationship in my life, but she would never send you away. I would never allow her to, and more than that, if she was the sort of person who would ever suggest something like that, I can promise you I would have never married her in the first place.”
“I just thought-”
“I know what you thought,” I said, cutting him off. “You thought that you needed to walk on eggshells around here, and that you needed to put your best foot forward or-”
“Or you’d send me to my father,” Isaac said, finally looking up at me. “I saw him the other day at school. He was waiting for me in the parking lot, because I got on the bus. He said he wanted to see me, which is weird, because he never does that. He never even looks at me when we see each other in public.”
Flashes of my own childhood moved throughout my mind. I couldn’t help but remember when I was a kid, just like Isaac, with a dad like Peter. Not being acknowledged hurt me more back then than I would have ever admitted. I had to imagine Isaac was feeling something similar.
“What did he say?” I asked, nervous.
“He said he was sorry about what happened to Mom,” Isaac answered. “He said he wanted to talk about getting to know me more and about maybe living with him someday.” Isaac blinked back tears.
“And what did you say?” I asked, a ball settling in my throat as I looked at the boy.
“I told him to go to hell,” Isaac said quickly. “I told him my mom isn’t dead, that she’s coming back to me, and that-even if she didn’t- I would never live with him. I don’t know him.” He shook his head. “But if you ever-”
“Whatever the end of that sentence is, you don’t need to worry about it,” I said. “Your mother will come back to you, but if she doesn’t, you have a home here as long as there are stars burning in the sky.” I squeezed his shoulder again. “You are my family, Isaac Storm. Nothing will ever change that. It’s forever.”
“He said he got a lawyer,” Isaac replied, his voice trembling. “He said a judge would see that he was the best person to raise me.” Tears now rolled down the young boy’s face. “What if he’s right? What if a judge makes me go with him? I don’t want to go with him, Uncle Dillon. I don’t want to ever live there.”
My mind went into overdrive listening to the kid. He was terrified…and so was I. I didn’t have the right words, because there were no right words. I couldn’t promise to know what a judge would think. I could only try to comfort him.
“Isaac, I don’t think that’s a-”
A knock came on the door, silencing me. I grimaced.
“Give me just a second,” I said. “We’ll finish this conversation.
Walking to the door, I opened it to find Ellen, the woman I saved from the fire, standing on the other side.
“Good,” she said in a breathy voice. “I thought I had the wrong address. Even a few days after the indecent, she still looked tired, and drained.
“Ellen, what are you doing here?” I asked, narrowing my eyes a little. “Is everything okay?”
“Kind of,” Ellen said. “I kept waiting for you to come to my hospital room so that I could thank you for saving me, for getting me back to my son. You never came, though. I waited, and you never showed.”
“I got reassigned,” I answered, talking about the move to a desk job that was going to take effect when I went back to work next week. “But you didn’t have to come all the way down here to thank me. I was just doing my job.”
“I know that,” she said nervously, blinking hard at me. “But that’s not the only reason I’m here. You see, I wasn’t completely honest with the police officers I did speak to.” She shook her head. “I didn’t lie to them or anything. I just left something out.” She sighed, looking up at me. “And I think it might actually help you find your friend.”
28
“Come inside,” I said to Ellen, opening the door wider and stepping away to give the woman room to enter. My chest tightened at her words, at the promise behind them. Though I did have to admit to being more than a little wary of the idea. I mean, if she really did have information that could lead us to find Charlotte, then why hadn’t she given it to the police already?
There was only one way to find out.
“Look at you,” Ellen said, walking through the doorway and staring at me as I closed the door behind us. “You look so beaten up. Is that from saving me?”
“Some of it,” I admitted, nodding at the woman. “The nose I got earlier, while I was chasing the son of a bitch who held you captive.”
“You saw him?” Ellen asked, blinking hard and shuddering a little. The fear on her face was evident. It was palpable.
“I did,” I answered, motioning for her to take a seat on the couch in the living room. “I’d have caught him too, if not for an exploding car.”
“My God,” Ellen muttered, taking a seat. “I can’t believe all of this is happening and for nothing. All I wanted to do was meet someone. I just wanted to not be alone for once in my life.” She shook her head. “He was so sweet online. He was caring and patient with me. When I told him we needed to talk for a bit longer before I could decide whether or not I wanted to meet in person, he was gracious about it. He never pressured me even once.”
“Because he was grooming you,” I answered. “It’s part of his plan. People like him, serial offenders, and serial abusers of women, often work like that. A spider’s web might be effective but that doesn’t mean it comes together quickly.”
Ellen gasped and dropped her purse on the floor. Looking up at me with flared nostrils and tears in her eyes, she asked, “What did you just say?”
“It’s nothing,” I answered, my eyes narrowing. “It’s just an old saying. I got it from my grandfather. It means-”
“I know what it means,” she cut me off, her body shaking. “That bastard said that almost every day. He told me what it meant. He-he taunted me with it. He said he was breaking me down so that he could build me up as something else. I was going to be his spider web. I would finally be his masterpiece.”
“He told you that?” I asked, carefully sitting next to the obvious fragile woman. “He used that same phrase? That doesn’t make any sense. I’m pretty sure my grandfather just made that up. He used to hit me with it whenever I’d complain about how long it took to fix up a transmission or give an old car a new paint job. I don’t understand how Dustin Reynolds could have known it.”
“Well, he did,” Ellen answered. At this point, her entire body was shaking. My first instinct was to slide closer and try to comfort her, but
I knew better. I had been around enough victims of this sort of abuse, enough women who had been exploited by men who had no business calling themselves men to know where the lines were. Throwing a comforting arm around her shoulder might trigger something inside of her, and I didn’t want that. So, I kept my distance on the couch and nodded at her, giving her words of comfort.
“He can’t hurt you now, Ellen,” I said firmly. “And the Collier County Police Department is hot on his trail. They’ll find him soon, and he won’t be able to hurt anyone else ever again.”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “He’s smart. He’s charming. He’s sneaky.” She wept hard. “No one came looking for me. He had everyone in my life convinced I had just up and ran, that I had abandoned my son. That’s part of the reason he forced me to give up my parental rights, I think. He didn’t want anyone to even consider the idea that I had been kidnapped. He didn’t want anyone to come looking for me, and there’s no better way to stop the people you love from looking for you than to convince them that you’re the kind of monster who could run away from your child when you’re all he’s got.”
“Is that what happened?” a weak voice asked from right outside the room. I looked to find Isaac standing on the staircase, his hands clutched so tightly against the bannister that they had turned white. “Is that what happened to my mother? Did somebody make her do that? Is that why my dad-”
“Isaac! You shouldn’t be listening to this!” I said, standing quickly and rushing toward the staircase. The kid was already crying when I reached him. “Did he make her give me up? Does she think that I know that? Does she think that I hate her?”
“Hey. You listen to me,” I said, settling at the bottom of the staircase and trying not to lose it. “Your mother knows you could never hate her. She’s smart. Whatever lies this guy has told her, she sees right through them. I promise. When we find her, when we bring her back to you, she can tell you herself.”
“What if that never happens?” Isaac asked. “What if she never comes back?”
“I’ll make sure she does,” I said, blinking back tears of my own, something that happened far too often these days for my liking. It was a promise I had no business making, but I wasn’t going to watch pain settle in my nephew’s eyes and not do anything about it. That was for damn sure. “Listen, Isaac. I need to talk to this lady. She has information that I need. Let me do that, and I’ll come see you soon, okay?”
“Okay,” he said through sniffles. He then turned and ran back up the stairs. I could hear him crying as he did. I was going to have to do a lot of damage control when I went up there, but as it was, I needed to get this information first, especially if it could help me find Charlotte.
“I’m sorry about that,” I said, turning and walking back toward Ellen. “He’s something of a mess, but I suppose that’s to be expected.”
“I can’t even imagine how my son reacted to everything that happened,” Ellen said, shaking her head. “I think it’s even harder for them, you know? We’re the ones who were taken. We’re the ones who were held captive, but at least we knew where we were. Our families, our kids, they had no idea. I think the uncertainty might be worse than the torture.”
“I think you might be right,” I answered, sitting down beside her again.
“There is some hope, though,” Ellen said. “He kept me for a long time. That means he’s probably keeping your friend the same way. It means there’s a good chance she’s still alive.”
“It does,” I agreed. “Though the fact that he was willing to set you on fire doesn’t bode well for her long term safety.”
“It was much longer than this before he forced us to find her, though,” Ellen said.
“What?” I asked, sitting upright rigidly. “What are you talking about? Finding who?”
Ellen shuffled nervously. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I didn’t tell the others because I’m pretty sure I broke the law, and I didn’t want to face jail time after everything else. I’ve been away from my son for long enough.”
“You can’t be prosecuted for something you were forced to do by your kidnapper,” I instructed, my muscles tensing. “Tell me what happened.”
“He came to me one night,” Ellen said. He untied me and told me he had something for me to do. He took me outside for the first time since I’d been taken. Then he put me in a car and sent me down a long road. We found a woman down there. We stopped her, asked her for directions, and when she gave them to us, we grabbed her and brought her back to him.”
My blood ran cold. Remembering the phone call Charlotte had accidentally given me the night she went missing, I thought about the voices on the other end of the line. I had heard them asking her for directions. I had borne witness to that in some strange way. If I had just called back, maybe I could have helped her. If I’d have just done something, maybe she wouldn’t be gone right now.
“Wait,” I said, thinking of something else she’d just said. “You said ‘we brought her back to him’. Was Dustin Reynolds not in the car with you? And, if not, then who was?”
“The guy from the picture,” she said. “That was the weird part. When I was put in the car, the guy from the pictures on the dating app was sitting in the front seat. He kept apologizing. He kept asking if Dustin was going to kill us.”
“Wait,” I said, my hands clenching into fists. “Are you telling me that the man you saw in the pictures on the dating app, the man you thought you were coming to meet, isn’t the man who kidnapped you?”
“No,” Ellen said, shaking her head. “It’s someone else entirely.”
“My God,” I muttered, sitting back against the couch. “This changes everything.”
29
“What the hell were you even doing talking to her?” Boomer asked, glaring at me from across his desk as he shook his head at me. “I put you on desk duty, for God’s sake. And, before you can even start that job, you’re already overreaching.”
“She came to me, Boom,” I said, sighing. “What was I supposed to do, just send her away? She said she had information that might help lead us to Charlotte. I wasn’t going to let another second pass without getting it, not with all the time that’s already been wasted.” My jaw tightened with frustration. “Besides, I think you’re missing the point here. Dustin Reynolds isn’t the person behind this. At least, not the man we thought of as Dustin Reynolds.”
“I know how to do my job, Dil,” Boomer said, though there wasn’t much in the way of anger in his voice. “I know what the point of all of this is, and I certainly know how important information like this is.” He stood, looking at the door. “But I also know that she didn’t say anything to the officers who actually questioned her about her time as a captive.”
“Because she didn’t trust any of them,” I explained. “She thought she was going to be arrested for the role she played in Charlotte’s abduction. That’s all.”
“Does that make any sense to you at all, Dil?” Boomer asked, narrowing his eyes at me. “I mean, come on. Who hasn’t seen enough Law and Order reruns to know at least that much?”
“I don’t know, Dil,” I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “But she told us the truth about the rest of it. She has a son, and before she disappeared, she did give up parental rights to him. It’s just like what happened with Charlotte.”
“Maybe,” Boomer said. “Or maybe it’s all been a lie. Maybe she actually did want to give up rights to her son. Maybe the person we think of as Dustin Reynolds really is Dustin Reynolds. Maybe he is actually behind all of this.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said quickly.
“Of course, it does,” he said. “What if she fell for this guy? What if he convinced her to leave her life, to leave her son? What if he also convinced her to grab Charlotte?” Boomer shrugged. “Maybe Dustin liked Charlotte better. Maybe he was done with Ellen. Maybe, to cut loose ends, he ties her to a chair and decides to make quick work of her, and when you saved
her, she decided to make up this whole story to get him back.”
I balked, my head spinning. “Why the hell would you think that? We have no reason to believe she isn’t telling the truth right now.”
“Except the fact that she just told Rebecca and Clive that she lied to you,” Boomer answered, looking down at me.
“What?” I asked, my muscles tensing. “That’s not possible.”
“Not only is it possible, it’s true,” Boomer said. “She was asked to give a sketch of the man who took her, and she couldn’t follow through on it. When questioned by your wife and Clive, she told them she lied to you.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said, standing up. “First of all, I don’t think Clive is ready to head up an investigation like this especially considering the fact that you’re partnering him with someone who isn’t even a detective, and secondly, maybe she was still afraid. If you would just let me talk to her-”
“You already talked to her,” Boomer said, cutting me off. “That’s how we got here, remember?” He stopped a beat, looking at the floor before looking at me again, his eyes softening a little. “I get that you want to be hands on about this, and I agreed with you at first, but it’s obvious to me now that you’re not capable of separating yourself from this in a way that allows you to be productive.”
“I damn well can,” I answered loudly.
“Tell that to Jack Lacey,” Boomer responded, cutting me to my core. “Oh, that’s right. You can’t. He’s still in a medically induced coma, trying to recover from the wounds he sustained the last time you told me you were the right person for this job.”
“That’s not fair,” I said, taking a deep breath.
“You’re right, Dillon, but I’m not a politician. I don’t have to pretend to be fair,” Boomer said. “I have cases to solve and a county to keep safe. You don’t like my choice for your replacement. That’s fine. I didn’t figure you would, but Clive is a good detective, and your wife is a smart woman.”