Little Girl Lost

by Adrianne Lee

  “It’s a nasty night for driving,” Adam replied, removing a damp raincoat. He was medium height with a commanding presence and a voice that demanded respect. He approached them with an air of confidence that told Barbara he expected Quinn to acquiesce to his request to join them.

  Feeling Chad’s gaze on her, Barbara glanced at him questioningly. “Barbara, this is Adam de Wolfe.”

  The attorney. The knot in her stomach eased slightly. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. de Wolfe.”

  “I called him right after I called the police,” Chad explained.

  “I’m acting as Mr. Ryker’s and Ms. Dawson’s counsel,” Adam informed Detective Quinn.

  “No problem. Take a seat,” the police officer said. “And let’s get on with this. I’m sure we’d all like to go home sometime tonight.”

  With Adam’s approval, Barbara briefly explained her history with Edie. Both Chad and she related Edie’s confession and that she’d taken her own life.

  “I guess that covers my questions for now.” Quinn started to stand.

  “Wait.” Chad stopped him. “That’s not all. Ms. Dawson and I are certain Marshall Emerson killed a homeless woman named Saucy Sue five years ago and that that murder is directly connected to the Sunshine Shelter fire last night.”

  Quinn looked skeptical. “Why would the doctor have killed a homeless woman?”

  Chad leaned forward. “For the inheritance that he recently collected.”

  Barbara nodded. “You see, Detective Quinn, Marshall thought Saucy Sue was his missing cousin—the wealthy Suzanne Emerson.”

  “‘Thought’?” Chad questioned.

  “He was wrong.” Barbara grinned. “Marshall may have killed Saucy Sue, but she wasn’t Suzanne Emerson. His cousin is still alive, calling herself Ritzy.”

  “What?” Chad gaped at her.

  “I realized it when I saw Elvis tonight. Ritzy and he have the same pale blue eyes. Emerson eyes.”

  “What sweet justice.” Chad laughed and spread his arms out to encompass the elegant room. “All of this actually belongs to that dotty woman we spoke with today at Harborview.”

  Barbara sat straighter. “Detective, when we spoke with Ritzy today, she was confused, but she kept saying the ‘fire-man’ couldn’t catch her. I think she saw Elvis setting fire to the shelter and recognized him. I’m not sure what kind of witness she’d be. But she and Saucy Sue were good pals and it’s very likely Ritzy recognized Marshall and told Saucy Sue his name—the name she’d called him as a child.”

  “That’s some kind of tale, but I wouldn’t smear Dr. Emerson’s good reputation on the word of a woman who’s kept his child from him for five years.”

  “Then maybe this will help convince you that Marshall isn’t the upstanding citizen he appears to be.” Chad stood and handed some folded papers to the detective. “Those pages were taken from a journal Marshall kept years ago. It should be easy to prove the handwriting is his. They document quite clearly how he cheated on his board exam in order to get his medical license.”

  It was Barbara’s turn to be surprised. Chad hadn’t told her he’d found the journal pages, but she realized he must have searched Edie before the police arrived. Edie had probably used them to gain entry into the house this evening. She inhaled a quavery breath.

  Quinn looked the papers over for a long moment, then nodded. “I think it might be worth the county’s expense to exhume Saucy Sue’s remains and have the ME look for evidence of murder.”

  He glanced at a uniformed officer standing near the door. “Go to the hospital and check on the Emersons. I want both of the men brought in for questioning as soon as they’re released.”

  “Is there anything else, Detective?” de Wolfe asked.

  “Not for now.” Quinn stood and left.

  “I think that went well. Very well.” Adam reached for his coat.

  Barbara rose on unsteady legs. “Mr. de Wolfe, if Marshall goes to jail, could I petition to adopt Missy?”

  “Certainly. I’d even handle it for you.if you’d like.”

  “Yes, please.” She beamed, the ice inside her beginning to melt. But the lawyer’s grim expression stopped a complete thaw. “What? Aren’t my chances any good?”

  “I’d say they were very good, but meanwhile, Missy will have to be remanded over to Child Protective Services and will be placed with a foster family until the issue is decided.”

  “How soon would she have to go?” Chad asked.

  “Right away, I’m afraid.”

  Barbara’s emotions bounced between sorrow and relief as Chad and she returned to the room where Missy waited. They sent the policewoman away. Chad sank to the floor in front of Missy, and Barbara joined her on the bed.

  The little girl huddled against Barbara, holding a teddy bear that the police had exchanged for the heroic Mr. Bear, who’d been bagged as evidence. Missy lifted sad eyes to her. “Auntie Edie scared me. She had a gun and a big needle and she put something stinky on my nose.”

  Barbara kissed Missy’s head, caressed her temple. “Aunt Edie was sick, sweetie. We didn’t know it, but she was confused in her mind.”

  Missy made a face. “Is that why she said she was my mommy?”

  “Yes.” The answer seemed to satisfy Missy. Barbara wasn’t sure it would ever satisfy her. Everything she’d ever known about Edie—from the first moment she’d walked into the emergency-room cubicle and introduced herself—had been a lie. All the trust and friendship was a lie.

  “Can we go home now?” Missy asked.

  A knock at the door startled Barbara. Chad stood, uneasiness in his eyes. “Come in.”

  A young woman, with dark hair hanging loose around her kind face, entered the room. “I’m Mrs. Graves, with Child Protective Services.”

  She produced identification, which Chad inspected carefully, then returned to her. She nodded toward Missy. “Is she ready?”

  Barbara’s heart sank to her toes. Her gaze flicked between Chad and the woman.

  He frowned at Mrs. Graves. “We were telling her now.”

  Missy looked frightened. Chad hurried to her side. “Hey, princess, this is nothing to be sad about. But you can’t go home just yet.”

  Barbara hugged the child. “Remember this afternoon when I told you the judge said you had to live with your daddy full-time?”

  Missy nodded. “But I don’t like it here. I want to go home with you.”

  “Good. Because I’ve got a lawyer who’s going to see if we can’t get the judge to change his mind and let you come back and live with me.”

  Her lip trembled. “Now?”

  “No, sweetheart.” Chad held her hand. “First you have to go with Mrs. Graves…but just until the judge decides.”

  “No, I—”

  “You must, Missy.” Barbara pleaded for the little girl to understand, even though she knew it was beyond a five-year-old’s comprehension. “If we cooperate with Mrs. Graves, she’ll tell the judge that we deserve to be together.”

  Missy peered at Mrs. Graves with wet eyes. “Will you?”

  Mrs. Graves nodded.

  “Can you come and visit me, Mommy?”

  “Not for a while, sweetie. But soon, I promise. And you’ve got the locket.”

  Missy nodded and sniffled.

  For the second time that day, Barbara kissed her little girl goodbye and watched helplessly as she was led away.

  Chad looked as devastated as she felt. And guilty. So guilty she couldn’t bear gazing into his beloved eyes. He made no move toward her, no offer of a comforting embrace. The ice that had been melting around her heart froze into a solid layer, chilling her. Numbing her.

  Where could she go? Whom could she stay with? She no longer knew anyone in Seattle well enough to call and intrude on. Her gut wrenched. All she really wanted to do was go home to her haven—her little apartment in Ellensburg where every memory she had of Missy lived.

  Once they were in Chad’s car, she insisted he take her to the nearest
motel. As much as she hated spending this night alone, it was better than sharing small talk with him, being frozen out by his pity, his guilt, his inability to give them a chance.

  He carried her bag into her room, then looked reluctant to leave. He stood by the door, so damned handsome and needy it ripped her heart to shreds.

  He rubbed his crooked pinkie finger. “I can’t.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  Again he hesitated. “Do you have to go back to Ellensburg?”

  “Yes. Vesta needs me at work. And I need the diversion.”

  “How will you get there?”

  “It’s not your concern.” She closed the door and leaned against it, shuddering.

  Tomorrow, just like five years ago, she would be heading east on a bus. Only this time she was going without family or friend.

  Epilogue

  The noon crowd at the Buckin’ Bronc had kept Barbara and Vesta hopping for three hours, but was now down to one couple in the back booth. Wynonna Judd’s latest single, a slow, soulful tune about love and betrayal, played in the background, the words painfully stroking Barbara’s wounded heart.

  She slammed the phone down and swore under her breath.

  Vesta looked up from putting glasses in the dishwasher. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  “I tried reaching my attorney, but he’s out of town.”

  Swishing a strand of her fiery red hair out of her eyes, Vesta shifted her weight to her other leg. “He called you when the prosecutor’s office decided not to press charges against you. He called when Marshall was arrested for Saucy Sue’s murder. And he’ll call you when there’s something to report about Missy.”

  The examination of Saucy Sue’s exhumed body proved she’d been poisoned with the very drug Marshall bragged about in the journal pages that Edie had so accommodatingly provided for the investigation.

  Barbara swiped a bar rag across the counter. “I know, but I just hate Missy having to stay in that foster home another day.”

  Sympathy entered Vesta eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want time off to go to Seattle?”

  “What good would that do? They won’t let me visit her.”

  “Maybe you could visit Chad.”

  At the mention of his name, Barbara’s heart skipped. She missed him as badly as she missed her little girl. She’d thought it impossible that she would ever love a man as much as she loved Missy, but she did. Trouble was, he couldn’t return her love. She shook her head. “That’s not a good idea.”

  “Really, Barb.” Vesta blew out an impatient breath. “I don’t know why you don’t call that man. At least, meet and talk to him.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?” Her auburn brows cocked and her green eyes softened. “Does it bother you that he had a fling with your sister long before either of you knew the other existed?”

  Barbara lifted her hair off her neck. “I don’t give a hoot about that. But he does. Kayleen convinced him that marriage and commitment were four-letter words.”

  “Humph! I can’t believe you’d let him go on believing that.”

  “If he loved me he would have called me sometime in the past five weeks. He hasn’t. Not once.”

  Her gaze was pointed. “Have you called him?”

  “Well, no, I.”

  “Then do it.” Vesta pressed the phone into her hand. “Now.”

  Shaking her head and fighting the jitters in her stomach, Barbara dialed the number she’d almost dialed ten times a day, every day since she’d arrived home. His number. After four rings the answering machine picked up. “This is Ryker. Leave me a message.”

  She listened to the long beep, but could think of nothing to say, and hung up. Vesta was staring at her. Barbara drew a shaky breath. “He’s not there.”

  Vesta pressed her lips together sympathetically. Barbara dropped the bar rag into the sink, ran water through it, then wrung it tight, twisting it with all her pent-up frustration.

  Vesta let out a soft whistle. “Now that is one finelookin’ cowboy. He could park those shiny loafers under my bed any time.”

  Barbara’s head jerked up. Adam de Wolfe was strolling toward her. Her stomach crashed to the floor. “That’s my lawyer.”

  “If you’d told me he was this fine, I’d have offered to go to Seattle with you.” Vesta raised her voice. “What do you suppose he’s doing here?”

  “That’s what I’m wondering.” But Barbara was sure it was bad news. He wouldn’t have driven all the way from Seattle for good news. “Hello, Adam.”

  “Barbara.” His rich voice should have soothed her. Instead, it terrified her.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Vesta nudged Barbara gently.

  “Of course.” She made the introductions, dropping the bar rag and drying her hands.

  “Could we speak?” Adam asked. “Somewhere alone?”

  “Use the dining room,” Vesta offered. “It’s between lunch and dinner and you’ll have the place to yourselves.”

  Barbara led the way. They chose a corner table and sat across from each other. She couldn’t have stood if she’d wanted to. Nor could she bear wading through a lot of small talk and pleasantries. “Are you here because of my petition to adopt Missy?”

  “Yes. Partially.”

  “Please, don’t keep me in suspense.”

  His eyes revealed nothing, but the firm set of his mouth confirmed her first impression that the news was bad. He replied, “Full custody of Missy has been granted to her father.”

  “But he’s in jail.” Barbara’s mouth dropped open and her spirits sank to their lowest point ever. She hadn’t felt this bereft since she’d arrived home to her apartment to find that Edie had used her spare key and removed every stitch of Missy’s clothing, every one of her toys, rendering the once-loved home an empty shell. Now her heart felt the same.

  “If you’ll excuse me.” Adam stood. “There’s someone here to see you.”

  Barbara was too dumbfounded to object. Too shocked with disbelief. She glanced up at the man coming through the dining-room doorway. Chad. Despite the misery wrenching her heart, it leaped with joy at the sight of him.

  He sat in the chair Adam had vacated. She gathered her pride around her like a coat of armor and gave him a haughty glare. “If you’re here to try and console me, forget it, Ryker. I don’t need your pity.”

  “Good, because pity is the one emotion I don’t have for you.”

  Surprised, Barbara lost some of her bluster. What, exactly, was that supposed to mean? What emotions did he have for her? Any he could admit to? Live with? “What are you doing here, then?”

  His gray-blue eyes seemed to devour her face. “I had to see for myself if you were as beautiful in person as you are in my dreams.”

  Discomfited, she blushed. “Chad, I haven’t heard from you in five weeks—”

  “I’ve been busy. Thinking. Finding a new employer. Thinking.”

  Something about the way he said this reached inside her and caressed her—a sensation so intimate and real he might have touched her. Her mouth dried. “Thinking about.?”

  “About us. About the way I treated you. I was a real jerk.about Kayleen.” He winced as though his actions caused him physical pain.

  She put her finger to his lips. “I don’t care about Kayleen and you.”

  He leaned across the table, his expression so vulnerable, she knew she held his heart in her hands. The realization sent a zing of hope through her. He murmured, “Do you care about me and you?”

  Her throat constricted. “What are you asking me, Chad?”

  “I guess I’m doing this pretty clumsily. But it seems I’ve fallen head over heels in love with you. I’ve been one miserable man since I dropped you off at that motel room.”

  She wanted to tell him she’d been miserable, too. But she feared she would break the moment and he wouldn’t say what he’d come to say.

  “My dad and I had some long heart-to-hearts. He told me he was afraid
of commitment, too.after what my mother had put him through. Then he met Lynn. He said he thought I’d met ‘my Lynn’ in you. He didn’t understand how or why I’d let you walk out of my life. God, he was so right.”

  Chad shoved his hand through his thick tawny hair. “I was a fool to let you leave without at least trying to find out if you felt the same way about me as I feel about you. I love you, Barbara. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to make it legal.”

  She gaped at him. “Is this a marriage proposal?”

  He pushed his hands across the table until his fingertips touched hers. A solitary diamond engagement ring was on his crooked pinkie finger. He pulled it off. Proffered it to her. “What do you say?”

  How could her life have gone from devastating one moment to rapturous the next? “I guess I should ask where this new job is?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Is that a yes? Should I get down on one knee?”

  “I love you, Chad.” She laughed and extended her left hand for him to slide the ring onto her finger. “But I’d rather you stood and hugged me.”

  He leaped to his feet and held his arms open. She couldn’t get up fast enough, couldn’t feel his arms locking about her tight enough, couldn’t breathe for the pure joy of it, and didn’t even care.

  “Mommy, Mommy!” Missy’s unmistakable voice startled Barbara. She felt Chad’s embrace ease and twisted in time to see the little girl come running toward her, followed by Tom and Lynn Ryker and Adam de Wolfe.

  Happiness lifted her on wings of pure elation. Tears sprang to her eyes and spilled down her face as she scooped up the little girl, hugging her, crying and laughing with delight. Her gaze collided with Chad’s. “What is this? How did you get her Out of foster care?”

  He tousled Missy’s platinum hair, his eyes misty, but warm and as full of love as her soul. “The judge,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion, “took pity on me, since I’ve been deprived of her for the first five and a half years of her life.”

  “What?” Barbara shook her head, knowing she was missing something.

  “You were wrong, Mommy. My name’s not Missy Emerson. It’s Missy Ryker. The judge said so. Chad’s my real daddy.” Missy beamed. “And I even have a grandma and grandpa, too.”