Athena's Daughter

by Juli Page Morgan

  “Um.” Athena swallowed and tried to focus. “She plays with Keely Monette down the street. But she wouldn’t have gone there. They’re in California at Disneyland.”

  “We’ve already looked there,” Andi put in from somewhere behind her. “No one’s home.”

  “Well, we can look again. Is that all, Athena? No one else in the neighborhood she plays with?”

  “I can’t…” A horrifying thought occurred to her, and she gripped her mother’s hands. “The lake!”

  “Your father and some of his students are already looking there.” Katherine’s lips shook a bit before she firmed them again. “I’m sure Elizabeth would not get in that lake, Athena. She has more sense than that.”

  Nodding obediently, Athena agreed. Elizabeth might go to the lake, but she’d never go into it.

  “Walt took a picture of Elizabeth to his office, and he’s running off flyers on his copy machine. He should be back here any minute. Your dad is out looking for her, like I said. Speaking of dads, we don’t know how to get in touch with Derek,” her mother continued. “Have you called him yet?”

  Derek! In an instant Athena wanted him there with a need that was almost painful. “No, not yet,” she whispered.

  “Then you need to do that. But before you do, you need to give us a key to the guest house.”

  “She can’t get in there,” Athena protested. “It’s locked.”

  Andi spoke up again. “Theenie, she spent so much time out there with him. Maybe she knows a way to get in even without a key.”

  That was true. Elizabeth had been in the guest house almost more than she’d been in the main house over the summer. If there was a way to get in there, to go into the place where she could feel close to her father, she’d do it.

  “My keys,” she murmured, patting her pockets. “I don’t know where my keys are.”

  “Here they are.” Tammy stepped forward and pressed them into Athena’s hand. “And I just called the sorority house. Some of the sisters are here taking summer classes, and they’ll be here in less than ten minutes to help search.”

  “Thanks.” She nodded at Tammy with gratitude, and began fumbling through the keys on the ring, looking for the one she’d never used. “Here it is.”

  Andi took it from her and headed out the back door, followed closely by two college students.

  “Now.” Her mother put a hand on her back and turned her toward the hall. “Go call Derek. Use the phone in your bedroom where it’s quieter.”

  Nodding in obedience, Athena went down the hall to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. The quiet of the room was surreal after the circus atmosphere of the kitchen, and it, along with the calm, controlled voice of her mother, steadied Athena a bit. She was still panicked and lost, but at least now she had an immediate goal, a job to do.

  Her little red-covered address book was in the nightstand drawer, and she pulled it out, searching for the contact information Derek gave her when he first told her he would be going to Muscle Shoals. The paper with his handwriting fluttered into her lap along with a collection of business cards, and she snatched it up, the cards falling to the floor.

  Derek. Just the thought of him steadied her further. If he would come home, then everything would be fine. Elizabeth would come to him even if she ignored everyone else. He could find her.

  Her hands were still shaking enough to make dialing the phone tricky, and it took her three tries before she was able to punch in the correct number. The connection was made, and the phone rang. And rang. And rang.

  Panic fluttered to the surface again. Was she not going to be able to reach him? She gripped the phone harder, and willed someone to pick up. Just when she was on the edge of full-blown terror, a brusque male voice answered.

  “Yeah?”

  “I need to speak to Derek Marshall immediately,” she informed him.

  “Sorry. No one here by that name.”

  “Oh yes, there is!” She jumped to her feet. “There’s an emergency with his daughter in Memphis, and you’d better get him to this phone this instant!” She was yelling, but couldn’t stop. “You tell him Athena needs to talk to him. And if you don’t, then I’ll call whatever passes for police in your shitty little town and have them swarming all over the place and arrest your ass!”

  “Geez, darlin’,” the voice drawled. “Don’t get your panties in a wad. Hang on.”

  A clunk sounded in her ear as the phone was put down on a solid surface. She heard the distant sound of a door opening and closing before silence descended. Hurry! Now that she knew she would talk to Derek, any delay was unbearable. Hurry!

  When she heard the door again followed by approaching footsteps, she pressed the phone tighter to her ear.

  “Athena?”

  His soft, confused voice in her ear was the most comforting thing she’d heard all day, and she sagged in relief.

  “Derek, come home.”

  “What’s going on? Jerry said something about an emergency.”

  “Elizabeth’s missing.” Now that she’d started talking, the words spilled out of her in a torrent. “The kids were playing in the back yard and Andi came in to make Kool-Aid. And Elizabeth went out the gate, but Andi couldn’t find her. And now she’s gone and the police won’t do anything to help and everyone’s looking but we can’t find her.”

  “How long?”

  The low note of panic in his voice brought her upright, and brought back to mind the severity of the situation.

  “I don’t know. An hour, maybe more.” Her voice broke. “Derek, please come home. I need you.”

  “I’m coming right now. Do you hear me, angel? I’m on my way.”

  “Please hurry.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  All her life Athena had heard the phrase “like looking for a needle in a haystack,” but she never really realized what it meant until she started looking for her missing daughter.

  Elizabeth was so small and Memphis was so big; how was she supposed to find one little seven-year-old girl? And she might be hiding, afraid she was in trouble. Athena made sure to call out that she wasn’t mad as she searched the streets. But no one ever answered.

  Now the sun was setting and Elizabeth was still missing. The walkie-talkie Walt handed her just before she left to search had only crackled once in the intervening hours, and it was just her mother wanting to know where she was.

  Athena stopped and looked around. When her mother called she had just crossed Southern Avenue. Now she was on Park among run-down buildings with boarded-up windows, and empty lots full of weeds and broken bits of glass. It was forbidding enough during the day, but with the shadows lengthening and streets growing empty it was downright scary. Only the thought of her baby being lost in this kept her going.

  She really didn’t think Elizabeth could have made it this far, and even if she did she wouldn’t stay in such a frightening place. Athena turned and started walking toward Highland Street. In a bit she would come to a quiet neighborhood with small, trim houses, schools and churches. If Elizabeth was lost, that was the kind of place she’d feel safest.

  Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks as she trudged along the sidewalk. The further down in the sky the sun got, the more her hope was extinguished. All the things she hadn’t let herself think of during the day were creeping in despite her best efforts to keep them out. Elizabeth knew not to talk to strangers or to get in cars with them, but if someone wanted to take her, they would have no problem grabbing her and …

  A sob tore through Athena’s chest, and she walked faster as if speed would somehow bring her daughter into sight. This was a nightmare and she couldn’t wake up.

  “Athena!”

  She whirled around at the voice. The next moment she was flying toward Derek, her feet skimming over the cracked and uneven concrete. His arms crushed her to his chest, and she let go, bawling like a baby. Of all the people who cared about finding Elizabeth, only Derek could understand how Athena felt. She knew he f
elt the same fear, the same urgency, and yes, the same guilt she did. He was the only one she trusted to never, ever give up, just as she wouldn’t.

  “We’ll find her,” he whispered into her hair, confirming that trust. “I promise; we’ll find her.”

  Before she could respond, her mother’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie in her pocket. Athena struggled to remove the huge, industrial-sized instrument, and the moment it was free she hit the Talk button.

  “Mom? Did you find her?”

  “Not yet,” Katherine’s voice crushed the momentary hope. “But there’s something we need to know. Derek was here a while ago, and right after he left, Calvin came in and told Walt something he just remembered. He said right before Elizabeth went out the gate she said she was going to go get her daddy and bring him home. Do you have any idea what she could have meant by that?”

  Athena raised her eyes to Derek who looked as perplexed as she felt. “No. He was in Alabama, so she…” Her voice died as a thought burst into her head. When her mother had told her to call Derek, Athena thought then that Elizabeth would come to him even if she ignored everyone else. And that’s exactly what she did. Elizabeth had gone to Derek. “The Holiday Inn.”

  Awareness dawned on Derek’s face, and he grabbed her by the shoulders. “You don’t think she…”

  The squawk of the walkie-talkie interrupted. “What? Athena? I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”

  “The Holiday Inn out by the airport. Derek was staying there the last couple of days before he left. It’s the last place Elizabeth saw him.”

  “The Holiday Inn?” Katherine sounded indignant. “Why in the world was he at the Holiday Inn?”

  Walt’s voice overrode Athena’s mother. “I’m on my way.”

  “Athena, did you hear that?” Katherine demanded. “Walt’s going right now to look.”

  “I heard.” She lowered the device and stared at Derek. “That’s where she must have gone. If she was looking for you, that’s where she thought you’d be.” Fresh tears blurred her vision. “This is all my fault! If I had just told her what it meant when you had to go to work, she’d have known you weren’t there.”

  “It’s my fault,” Derek contradicted, his face stricken. “I should never have left the house.”

  “I shouldn’t have made you go. I was just so upset, and…”

  “You didn’t make me do anything, angel.” His mouth firmed. “But we can discuss all that later. I can’t believe I was just at the airport. I was right there! We need to…”

  “We need to go get my car.” The initial buoyant joy she’d felt at having some idea where Elizabeth might have gone was wiped out by the thought of her little girl walking alone and unattended down Airways Boulevard.

  Derek nodded. “Let’s go.”

  By the time they reached the house it was full dark. The silence from the walkie-talkie had been ominous, and Athena couldn’t bring herself to contact her mother, either. She’d always heard that no news was good news, but in this case all it meant was that the nightmare continued.

  She and Derek rushed into the house so Athena could get her keys. Only a few students remained along with Andi and the twins, her mother, and her dad who was pouring a glass of iced tea.

  When Howard Hill saw his daughter, he put the pitcher down and came to her, drawing her into a pipe-smoke scented hug. “Hey, baby.”

  “Hey, Daddy.” Athena rested her head against his chest for a moment, eyes closed. “Heard anything?”

  “Not yet,” her mother responded for both of them.

  “Okay.” Athena stepped away from her dad and stiffened her spine. It was a relief to feel Derek’s arm slip around her shoulders. “Derek and I are going to take my car, and…”

  The phone rang. For a moment, everyone in the room stood frozen and stared at it. Then Andi rushed forward and snatched it off the cradle, barking a terse “Hello.”

  For a moment her face remained tense, and Athena’s heart started to pound with dread. Then Andi’s face crumpled and she sobbed, “Oh, thank God. Thank God!” She looked up with a tremulous smile. “Walt’s got her. She’s safe.”

  After a frozen second, Athena’s brain accepted the truth, and relief and joy swept through her like a tidal wave. All her muscles loosened with a thanksgiving too deep for words, and her knees buckled. Only Derek’s arms kept her from crashing to the floor.

  He picked her up and carried her to the den where he settled into a corner of the couch with her on his lap. She turned her face into his chest and noticed he was shaking as hard as she was. Her arms crept around him and they sat silent, holding each other as the rest of the room swirled around them in chaos.

  “Walt said he found her sitting in the hallway,” Andi’s voice said, low. “She was just sitting outside the door where Derek was staying last.”

  “I still don’t understand why he was at the Holiday Inn,” came Katherine’s aggrieved tone. “Nobody ever told me anything about that.”

  Andi’s voice developed an edge. “Well, maybe it wasn’t any of your business.”

  “I’m going to call Donnie,” said Howard, clearly eager to escape the pending fireworks.

  Katherine’s sigh was that of a martyr facing the stake. “Why they don’t just go ahead and get it over with I’ll never know.”

  “Mother!” Andi snapped. “Not now.”

  “Well, it’s not good for Elizabeth to have to…”

  The sound of the front door opening stopped everything as effectively as the ringing phone had earlier. Athena’s head popped up from Derek’s chest as he twisted toward the doorway.

  Walt walked into the den holding Elizabeth. Her arms were looped around his neck, and she looked into the room over her shoulder, her anxious blue eyes taking in the crowd that surged forward with cries of relief.

  Athena scrambled off Derek’s lap and rushed to where her brother-in-law stood. Elizabeth saw her coming, and two fat tears rolled down her grimy little cheeks.

  “Mommy,” she whimpered, and held out her arms.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  The next moment, Athena had her daughter in her arms. She hid her face in Elizabeth’s neck and relished the solid little weight resting against her. Then Derek’s arms encircled both of them and Athena was complete. She never needed anything else, would be content to spend the rest of her life right where she was, surrounded by the two people she loved more than life itself.

  Elizabeth’s hair brushed her face as the little girl turned her head. “Daddy?” she asked in a voice full of astonishment.

  “I’m here, munchkin,” Derek murmured.

  With a sigh, Elizabeth relaxed against Athena. After a moment, though, she raised her head again and whispered into her mother’s ear.

  “I hafta go to the bathroom.”

  “Okay.” Athena glanced up at Derek’s quizzical expression and nodded her head toward the hall. “Upstairs.”

  “Right.” He pressed a long kiss to the back of his daughter’s head and released them. As Athena moved away she heard his voice speaking low to someone.

  “Elizabeth needs a little time,” he explained.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Andi responded. “Y’all go on.”

  Followed by Derek, Athena carried their daughter up the stairs and to the bathroom across the hall from her pink bedroom. While Elizabeth took care of her bladder, Athena removed the sandals from her filthy feet, and Derek turned on the bathtub faucet, holding his fingers under the flow to test the water temperature.

  Athena finished undressing their child, and by the time she’d handed Elizabeth a wad of toilet paper and took the hair band from her ponytail, Derek had the plug closed over the drain and the tub was filling up with warm water.

  “In you go,” Athena said, and assisted the little girl into the bathtub. She grabbed a washcloth and soaped it up while Derek used the pitcher that always sat on the tub’s edge to wet Elizabeth’s hair for shampoo.

  The little gir
l sat silent while her parents removed the day’s grime from her skin and hair. As she bathed her, Athena checked for injuries but could detect nothing more than the usual assortment of bruises around her knees and elbows. She wanted to make sure, though.

  “Elizabeth, are you hurt anywhere?”

  “No,” Elizabeth said in a small voice. She studied the chipped pink polish on her toenails. “Am I in trouble?”

  “Yes,” Derek replied as he squeezed excess water from her hair.

  Elizabeth said nothing more, but deflated like a balloon. She remained silent and compliant while she was rinsed, dried off, wrapped in a towel and carried across the hall by her father. When the towel came off she started to shiver.

  “I’m hungry.”

  “Okay.” Athena held out a clean pair of yellow panties for her to step into. “Let’s get your pajamas on, and then I’ll go get you something to eat while your dad combs your hair.”

  Elizabeth glanced up at her. “Can Daddy go get me something to eat while you comb my hair?”

  Remembering Derek’s terse tone in the bathroom, Athena shook her head. “No.” It was about time Elizabeth learned that her father could punish her as well as Athena could, and far past time for Derek to start doing it.

  As she descended the stairs, Athena hesitated, listening for voices. But the house was quiet; only the hum of the refrigerator came to her ears. She entered the empty kitchen and breathed out a sigh of relief, grateful to Andi for her assistance in chasing everyone out of the house.

  Opening the refrigerator, she found a platter of sandwiches covered with plastic wrap, and a fresh pitcher of tea. An unopened bag of potato chips sat on the counter next to the sink, and in a matter of minutes Athena had filled a plate and glass for Elizabeth. Just as she reached the door to the little girl’s room, she heard her speak.