Mason drew in a deep breath. The more she told him about Bethany, the more he wanted to meet the girl. He just hoped Georgia was the one that was going to make that possible. “Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Mason opened the door and climbed out of the car. Lacey did the same and they walked side by side up the path to the front door.
Lacey reached out a finger and pressed the doorbell.
The girl he’d just questioned a few hours earlier opened the door with a smile that quickly turned into a frown when she saw him. When her eyes landed on Lacey, the frown tightened into a look of fear. “Ms. Gibson? Have you found Bethany?”
Lacey took the girl’s hand and gave her fingers a squeeze. “Not yet, hon. And that’s why I really need to talk to you. Is it all right if we come in?”
Georgia licked her lips, looked over her shoulder then back at them. “Um, sure. I guess.”
Lacey noticed that fear still lingered in Bethany’s friend’s gaze. Georgia led them to a nice-sized living area. The white walls and French doors made it seem larger than it actually was. The tan leather couch and matching love seat complemented the room.
“Do I need to get my mom?”
Mason gave her a comforting smile. “Not unless you want to. I’m not here in an official capacity.” He glanced at Lacey. “I’m here to support Bethany’s mother, I guess you could say.”
“Okay. Well, just let me tell her you’re here. I’ll be right back.”
True to her word, she returned within seconds and said, “Mom said you could talk to me.” She sounded like she wished her mother had refused.
Georgia waved them to the sofa while she chose the cushioned rocker on the opposite wall. One bare foot tapped the floor in a silent nervous gesture.
Lacey looked the girl in the eye and leaned forward. “Please, Georgia, tell us what happened the night of the wreck. I know Bethany was there—and you were, too. Please, please, be honest. Right now, you’re my only hope of finding Bethany.”
Georgia swallowed hard and tears filled her eyes. “Ms. Gibson, I’m sorry…I…”
“Tell the truth, Georgia.”
The quiet voice filled the room. Lacey looked to her left to see Georgia’s younger brother standing in the connecting door that led to the kitchen. He was about thirteen years old and a male copy of his sister from his dark curls to green eyes.
Georgia’s nostrils flared and she blinked rapidly. “Go away, Nate.”
Her words lacked force and didn’t faze the young man. Shoving his hands into the front pockets of his khaki cargo shorts, Nate stepped toward Georgia. “You were there that night. I saw you slip out and get in the car with Kayla.”
Lacey breathed a surprised gasp, and Nate turned toward her. “I think Bethany was in the car that night, too. There was someone else in the passenger side. Could have been her.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before this?” Lacey asked.
Nate shrugged. “Because Georgia asked me not to. She said she’d get in a ton of trouble for sneaking out and lying about everything.” He frowned at his sister. “But she’s been so weird since then, and I don’t think some things that have happened to her were really accidents. I’m scared for her.” He flushed. “I kept quiet because she could get me in trouble for something I did at school, but if she’s in some kind of danger…”
Mason looked at Georgia. “So you blackmailed him?”
Georgia jumped up. “I had to! Don’t you under stand?”
At her shout, Georgia’s mother entered the room, her eyes taking in the agitation of her daughter and her guilty-faced son. “What’s going on?” She looked hard at Mason and Lacey. “When I said you could talk to Georgia, I didn’t mean you could have her in tears.”
Lacey bit her lip and stared at Georgia, ignoring the girl’s mother. “No.” She kept her voice as neutral as possible. “I don’t understand. Could you please explain it to me?”
Mason jumped in with his own question. “What accidents, Georgia?”
Nate answered for his sister. “A car almost ran her off the road a couple of days ago. And then we were at the mall last Saturday with Bethany and someone tried to shove her down the escalator.”
“What?” Georgia’s mother gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
Severely agitated, Georgia looked back and forth between Nate and her mother. Then she let out a groan and sank back onto the chair. “All right,” she finally whispered, “I was there the night of the wreck.” She looked up. “Bethany was there. We were all there.”
“Georgia?”
The girl ignored her mother’s horrified whisper and shot a look at her brother so full of agony that Lacey gasped. Then Georgia took a deep breath and said, “We all snuck out and Kayla picked up Bethany first, then came after me.”
“I knew it,” Lacey replied as her heart thudded in her chest. Was she finally going to hear what happened that night?
CHAPTER EIGHT
Mason watched Georgia’s face and wondered at the sheer terror washing over it. What had happened to instill such fear in the poor girl? His stomach lurched. What had happened to Bethany? Would he even have the chance to meet his daughter?
He listened as Georgia drew in a shaky breath and continued. “We were supposed to meet up with a couple of guys from school.” She swiped a hand across her lips and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “But we never got there. Bethany and Kayla were in the front. Kayla got a text message and started to answer it, and Bethany yelled at her to quit texting and to pay attention to the road.”
“Texting?” Mason’s gut clenched and anger flowed through him. Would people never learn? Not just teens, but adults, too. Driving and texting was a deadly combination.
“Kayla.” Georgia laughed without humor. “Well, you couldn’t tell her anything. She just kept on answering the text. Bethany grabbed for the phone and Kayla shoved her away. Bethany refused to speak to her while Kayla was texting and the next thing I know, we’re wrapped around a tree.”
She shook her head. “We were all pretty stunned. But I managed to open my door and get out. I remember Bethany screaming Kayla’s name and then—nothing. I think I passed out. When I woke up it couldn’t have much later. Maybe a couple of minutes because Bethany was still trying to get Kayla to wake up.” She swallowed hard and choked out, “Only she wouldn’t.”
Georgia’s mother walked over and took the girl’s hand. Georgia shook her off and swiped at her eyes. “And then he was there.”
“Who?” Mason’s adrenaline flowed through his veins as though he were facing down a fugitive who had the upper hand.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before. Or since.”
“What did he do? Did he want to help?”
“I thought so at first and Bethany seemed to know him because she said something like, ‘I’m so glad you’re here,’ but then he grabbed Bethany and tried to get her to come with him. When she wouldn’t leave us behind—” Georgia gulped “—he pulled out a gun.”
“What?” Lacey placed a hand over her mouth and stared wide-eyed at Georgia who nodded and closed her eyes. Georgia’s mother looked ready to pass out. When Georgia opened her eyes, she looked at Lacey. “I’m so sorry. I wanted to tell you but…” She bit her lip.
“But what? You have to tell what you know, Georgia,” the girl’s mother demanded.
Georgia shot her mother an irritated look and continued. “He grabbed her and started dragging her to his car. She was screaming and fighting him, trying to use her karate on him. She got loose from him, but he did something that tripped her. She fell, and he grabbed her again. I found a tree branch that had fallen off and hit him in the head with it. He let go of Bethany and dropped the gun. It went off and a bullet hit him in the leg, I think, because he fell on the ground. Bethany screamed at me to run. I did, but not before I heard him yell at her.”
“What did he yell?” Mason asked.
After another
hard swallow, she croaked, “‘This isn’t over! I’ll find you! Go to the cops or tell anyone about this and your mom is dead! You hear me? She’s dead!’”
“He threatened me?” Lacey squeaked. “That’s why Bethany wouldn’t talk to me?”
Georgia gave a slow nod, and Mason’s heart nearly broke for the daughter he’d yet to meet. How scared she must be. He had to find her—desperate to hold her and tell her everything would be all right.
Please, God…
The prayer slipped through his mind and for the first time in a long time he didn’t push it away. He wanted to bargain with God. If God would do something to help Bethany, Mason would swallow his pride and relinquish his long-held anger against the God who hadn’t done anything to stop his mother from walking out on her family. Shame hit him. He knew God didn’t work that way.
Reining those thoughts in, he looked at Georgia. “And that’s why you didn’t say anything?”
“Partly. But also because…” She broke off and sighed.
“I’ll be right back.”
She slipped from the room and disappeared down the hall. When she returned, she carried a piece of paper. Mason took it from her and read aloud. “‘Tell anyone what you saw that night and your brother, Nate, will be next.’”
A harsh gasp from Georgia’s mother sent Lacey to the woman’s side. Mason watched her offer comfort even while his mind clicked with questions. “Georgia, when did all the weird things start happening with you and Bethany?”
Georgia raised a hand to rub her forehead. “Um…about a month ago, I guess. And it wasn’t every day. Just every once in a while. Out of the blue, something weird would happen. Then it would be quiet for a couple of days. Then something else…you get the idea.”
Mason did a quick calculation. “The car wreck happened during spring break. That was the beginning of April. We’re now halfway through the month of June—about ten weeks later.”
Lacey frowned at him. “Right.”
“The incidents started about a month ago. Why wait so long after the car accident to make another attempt to grab Bethany or come after you? He knew you saw him, right?”
“Yes.” Georgia gave a slow nod.
Mason looked at Lacey and saw Georgia’s confusion mirrored in her eyes. He said, “He was recovering. Georgia said she thinks he got hit by the bullet.”
The light went on for Lacey and she jumped in. “So that’s why everything was quiet after the wreck. He was hiding out. Once he recovered, he must have realized his threat worked, when there was no report of an attempted kidnapping and Georgia and Bethany weren’t named in the news in relation to the wreck. Which left him free to try again,” she responded. “Exactly.”
“Then how do we go about tracking this person down?” Lacey demanded.
Mason looked at Georgia. “You said you think she knew him. Do you know from where?”
“No. She didn’t say his name or anything. And I’ve never seen him.”
Mason rubbed a hand across his head. “All right. Here’s what you can do to help a little more. I know it’s been a while, but we need you to work with a sketch artist.”
The teen gulped but nodded. “O-okay. And, um, now that you know pretty much everything, you should probably also know that Bethany called me a couple of hours ago.”
From her position next to Georgia’s mother, Lacey bolted to attention and zeroed in on the girl. “She called you? Why didn’t you tell me right away?”
Georgia’s gaze flicked from one adult to the next. “Because I wasn’t going to say anything at all about anything. But—” she bit her lip “—I think she’s in some really big trouble and needs help in spite of the fact that she didn’t want Ms. Gibson knowing about the threat. She was going to deal with it her own way.”
“How did she think she was going to do that?” Mason demanded.
Georgia shrugged. “She said she was going to find her dad and he would help her.”
Mason winced and shared a look with Lacey. Her heart thudded. “I don’t know how she planned to find him. She doesn’t have any idea who he is.”
“Yeah, she does. At least she thinks so.” Georgia looked Lacey in the eye. “She found your diary in an old box when you moved and started reading it.”
Lacey felt the air leave her lungs as though the words had physically punched her in the stomach. Her diary? Oh, Lord, she prayed, not that. “But I never mentioned his name in the diary. I only used initials.”
“Oh.” Georgia looked doubtful. “Well, all I know is Bethany said she was going to talk to everyone in the city whose initials were MGS. She was going through the phone book one by one.”
Lacey glanced at Mason. Poor Bethany. She never would have found him. His number was unlisted. Lacey had had to get it from her mother who got if from his step mother under false pretenses. For once, her mother had done something to really help her out. It had been the start of the reparation of their relationship.
Mason rubbed a hand across his eyes, then said, “Georgia, I need your phone number. I’m going to see if I can get Bethany’s call traced.”
She rattled it off for him and he got on his cell phone to pass the number on to one of his contacts at the police station. Probably Joseph or Catelyn. Or Daniel.
After Mason hung up, he said to Georgia, “Okay, now I need your cell phone.”
“What?” The teen looked at him like he’d sprouted another head.
“If Bethany calls again, I want to be the one to answer.”
With a huff of disgust, she dug her phone out of her backpack and handed it over. “She’s going to be really mad at me about this.”
“As long as she’s alive to be mad, I’ll take it,” Lacey muttered.
They exited Georgia’s house and climbed back into the car.
By this time, the sun was disappearing on the horizon and Lacey’s stomach growled its hunger.
Mason glanced at her as he stuck the key into the ignition. “Hungry?”
She placed a hand over her middle and flushed. “You heard?”
“I’d have to be deaf not to.”
A giggle escaped her before she could stop it. Then sadness immediately engulfed her. He could always make her laugh. Even in the worst of times. Times like now. A time when she had no right to feel the slightest bit of levity.
She blinked when he leaned over and pulled her into a light hug. Stunned, she froze. What was he doing? Why was he trying to offer her comfort when she’d kept his daughter from him?
He must have felt her tension, the confusion emanating from her, because he let her go and started the car without another comment.
But she still felt his arms around her. Still smelled his spicy cologne. The same cologne he used sixteen years ago.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted.
He glanced at her as he pulled away from the curb.
“For?”
“Keeping Bethany away from you. Regardless of how we parted, I should have found a way to tell you. To make you listen.” It was hard to swallow her pride and admit that. Yes, he’d been wrong, too, but once she’d worked through the hurt and come to know Christ, she should have contacted him.
But she hadn’t.
“I’m sorry about that, too.”
“No matter what you believe, I didn’t cheat on you with Daniel.” She sucked in a deep breath and waited for his response.
Disappointment sliced through her when he didn’t give her one. Instead, he pulled into the parking lot of the local fifties-style restaurant where customers ordered and ate in the car.
It was late and there was only one other car in the parking lot. A cute waitress, probably working her way through college, approached the vehicle. Lacey gave her order and then Mason did the same.
Then silence settled over them. An uncomfortable one that made her want to squirm. She refused.
Finally, he broke the quiet. “I want to believe you, Lacey. I just…” He stopped and drew in a deep breath. “I can’t b
elieve this is happening sixteen years later. Seeing you again has brought back all kinds of feelings I thought I’d…” Once again he paused. “Bethany sounds like a great kid. You’ve done a good job with her.”
“She likes to paint,” Lacey blurted.
He jerked. “What?”
“You remember how you’d always bring your sketch book to the lake and draw anything that caught your attention?”
A soft smile curved his lips. “Yeah.”
“Bethany loves to paint. Oil, watercolor, whatever.”
“The beach scene in your living room?”
She nodded. “Bethany did it about two years ago.”
A low whistle filled the car. “Wow, she’s good.”
“I know. I tried to get her to take some serious art classes, but she said she wanted to focus on the karate.” Lacey shrugged. “So I let her. I certainly wasn’t going to force her to paint if she didn’t want to.”
A finger reached out and traced her ear. She shivered and locked her eyes on his. He leaned toward her. “I’ve missed you.”
His words pulverized her heart. How she’d longed to hear him say that. She’d missed him so much. Lacey leaned in to him, wanting to be in his arms and have him tell her everything was going to be okay. That they could forget the past and move forward into the future together. That everything bad they’d experienced didn’t matter.
But he still believed Daniel’s lies about her.
She pulled back.
But it did matter. And the past was bulldozing it’s way right into the present. “Mason, I want to…”
The back windshield shattered and Lacey screamed as Mason grabbed her left arm and yanked her down.
CHAPTER NINE
Mason felt the car shudder. Lacey’s scream echoed in his ears. “Stay down and call 9-1-1!”
He grabbed the handle and flung the door open, rolling to the ground and reaching for the weapon he’d strapped on early that morning. He winced at the pull in his still-healing shoulder but ignored it.
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