by CJ Lyons
"My assistant usually takes care of all this," the principal, a forty-ish man named Culpepper, muttered as he leafed through sheets of attendance records. "It will take me a minute."
Lucy resisted the urge to dive into the records herself. "Call your assistant in to help. There are two boys' lives at risk here."
He reached for the phone, grumbling about budget and overtime. Lucy left him to check on Jenna and the girl.
She'd only met Olivia Harding briefly during her last visit to New Hope. Even then the girl's delicate beauty had struck her. Like her mother she had pale skin, dark hair, and large eyes that ranged from blue to violet, depending on the light. Now at sixteen, Olivia hid her good looks beneath layers of black leather, flannel, a bulky hoodie, and clumps of dark eye shadow and mascara. All she accomplished was making herself stand out even more.
Lucy had a sudden sense of deja vu. Ashley, the girl she'd saved in September, also tried to hide in plain sight. And failed. Instead attracting the attention of a predator.
Who was Olivia trying so desperately to hide from?
"Do you remember me?" Lucy asked. Jenna sat on a teacher's desk, feet propped up on the desk chair, while Olivia paced.
"Did you find him? Is Darrin okay?"
Lucy shook her head. "We're looking. Searching the school. The security tapes—" She nodded at Jenna, who took the hint and left to cover that angle. "But," Lucy wheeled the teacher's chair for Olivia to sit in before taking a seat beside her in a student's chair, "I'd really like to hear what happened. Tell me everything."
Olivia plopped into the chair, an exhalation escaping from her, and Lucy thought of Megan. Hoped she was still awake by the time Lucy got a moment to call home again. While Olivia adjusted her quilted leather jacket, then twisted the silver rings on each of her ten fingers, she assessed Lucy with a sidelong glance.
"I remember you. You made my mother cry."
"I'm sorry."
"No. It's a good thing. First time I'd ever seen her cry. She hasn't since." Another sigh. "Kinda sleepwalks through life. Pops the pills the shrinks give her and she's gone. I mean, she's there, she's just not there. Know what I mean?"
"I have an idea. Not uncommon after the kind of trauma your mother suffered." Although Karen Harding seemed to be taking it to the extreme. Lucy wondered what else was going on to prevent Karen from healing. "It must be hard on you kids. Especially with your dad away so much of the time."
Now a resentful sniff. "He's gone even when he's here. Sleeping with a girl over in Juniata. A college freshman who was an intern in his office last summer. Gives him an excuse to come home more often, otherwise he'd just stay in DC. Except when he wants to torment us. You'd think a guy who controls millions of dollars and thousands of votes and all those powerful politicians in DC wouldn't need to bully his wife and kids to feel good about himself, wouldn't you?"
"When you say bully—"
"I mean nothing you or the law can do anything about." Disdain colored her tone black. "No marks left for you to photograph or enter into your precious evidence. Nothing you could prove in a court of law."
"I'm not talking about proof. I'm talking about your little brother. What happened that made you think he ran away from home?" Lucy had a thousand more questions—like why had no adult reported Darrin's absence?—but she let Olivia set the pace.
Olivia shifted in her seat and stared at the far corner of the room where the exit sign glowed bright red. "Sometimes Darrin wets the bed. Only happens when Dad's home. I think he just gets so nervous; he can't stop it. Doesn't help that Dad checks on him before he goes to bed. Says it's to get Darrin up to pee so he won't wet the bed, but I think he wants to find Darrin's already had an accident. Usually I try to sneak in before Dad gets there, just in case, but last night I fell asleep." Her gaze shifted down to her feet. She knocked the heel of one boot against the toe of the other.
"So your dad found Darrin had an accident?"
Olivia nodded, a tight jerk of her chin all the way down to her collar and back again. "Made him get up, take the sheets off the bed, then marched him downstairs. Yelled at him, sent him to the basement. Darrin hates the basement. Scares the crap out of him, all dark and spooky. Then locked him in."
It felt like Olivia had more to say. But before she could, Jenna ran into the room. "Got them!"
"You found him?" Olivia bounded to her feet.
"No. But I know when they left and where they were headed." Jenna led them back to the office where she had the security footage up on a computer monitor. "He and Marty. They left together, see here." She pointed to two small boys on the screen. They were out at the bus pickup point, then both turned together and ran off the screen.
"That's 2:47. Then you can see them again here at 2:52." Now the camera caught the backs of the two boys on the edge of the screen as they ran through a snow-covered field.
"Where's that second camera?" Lucy asked the principal who'd joined them.
"The teacher's parking lot. They're headed across the playing field."
"And where does that lead?"
"Into the woods," Olivia said. She collapsed into a kneeling position, hands clutching the corner of the desk, as she stared at the last sighting of her little brother. "Those woods go on for miles. There's no way we'll ever find them. Not in this weather. Not alive."
Chapter 21
Lucy left Jenna coordinating search and rescue efforts at the school while she drove Olivia home. Now that they knew the two boys left of their own accord, their high-risk missing persons response moved into a whole new direction. One that required boots on the ground as fast as possible.
They still needed to interview the boys' teacher and classmates, see if they gave any hint of their destination. Lucy would start with Darrin's family, then work her way down the list the principal provided. It was going to be a long night, but hopefully the boys left enough of a trail.
Lucy was relieved. Usually her job meant racing to expose a predator, her wits deciding a child's fate. This time she was just a grunt doing legwork while the local SAR experts battled the weather. And time, their constant enemy.
"You think he'll be okay, right?" Olivia asked as they navigated the long, winding drive up to the Harding house. "I mean, he's with Marty. Marty's real smart. His dad was in the Army, took him camping and stuff."
"We're doing everything we can. Sounds like Darrin and Marty make a good team."
"Yeah. They watch out for each other. Darrin's kinda quiet and shy, but he's a good kid. Doesn't say a lot, but pays attention to everything. And reads. He'll read anything he can get his hands on. But sometimes he lives too much in a fantasy world. Like he's trying to escape reality." She blew out her breath. "Like Mom. He even made up a new imaginary friend. A big brother to take care of him. Guess that doesn't say too much about me. I should've stuck up for him more."
"You did the best you could." Lucy wanted to say that it was the adults who should have protected Darrin, but since it sounded like they were the problem, she kept quiet. "After this is over, is there anyone you could stay with? Maybe give your mom and dad some time?"
Olivia turned to face Lucy. "I'm not going anywhere without Darrin. I've been reading about being emancipated, seeing if I could get custody of him. But I don't have a job or anything."
"Maybe we could get your mom some help? So you don't have to take care of everything by yourself?"
"Maybe." Olivia sounded skeptical. "You know what I worry about the most? What happens to Darrin once I leave for college and he's alone with them? Part of me wonders if maybe he was smart to run away now before it's too late."
Lucy pulled the car over and stopped. "Olivia. If there's some reason why your brother shouldn't be living with your parents, you need to tell me. If either of you are being hurt, I can stop it. Trust me."
Silence except for the engine idling and the wet shoosh of snow being cleared by the windshield wipers. "There's nothing you could prove. They never touch us." She sniffed
, a lonely sound in the dark car. "Maybe that's part of the problem. I don't know."
They sat there for a moment longer, then Lucy put the car in drive. Minutes later they reached the house. The lights were all on, making it look like a cruise ship had grown out of the side of the mountain. Dark shadows loomed beneath the cantilevered first floor they parked beneath. Olivia led her inside the basement entrance and up the steps to the kitchen.
"I'm back," she called out, her voice rattling around the large, empty glass and chrome kitchen.
Lucy kept her coat on. The house was warm enough but she couldn't stop shivering. The kitchen faced the rear of the house with large windows and sliding glass doors backing onto a small deck. The only thing between them and the mountainside. It was a bit claustrophobic and unnerving. She had the urge to grab the countertop for balance as if the entire house might slide off the mountain.
"You get used to it after awhile," Olivia said. She led the way through the hall into the front of the house, which had Frank Lloyd Wright styling combined with a post-modern industrial decor. At least that's what Olivia said, her inflection that of a bored tour guide. "I call it Edward Scissorhands chic. Sharp and sterile."
They emerged into a wide-open living room/dining room with a staircase splitting the two areas. The space was empty.
"Mom!"
No answer. Olivia shrugged and began up the steps. "Sometimes I wonder if this house isn't half her problem."
Lucy couldn't help but agree.
Sheriff Zeller greeted them at the landing at the top of the steps. He looked relieved. "She isn't taking it very well."
Olivia rushed into the master bedroom to tend to her mother. Zeller walked Lucy back down the stairs and over to the front door which stood on a side wall to make room for the two walls of windows. "I finally reached the husband. Out hunting. He's on his way back."
"Did you search this house?"
"Nothing. No signs of any advance planning or anything worrisome." He dropped his voice, glanced back up the stairs. "Nothing comforting either. Sooner we find these boys the better."
"Jenna and your team are coordinating the search and rescue. Marty's mom has her church doing a phone tree getting volunteers and the Civil Air Patrol will come in at first light if we need them."
"Good." He put his hat on and reached for the door. "You need me, I'll be at the school for the duration. Oh, when Harding gets here, try to stay on his good side. Apparently one of the guys he was out hunting with is the Lieutenant Governor."
Lucy shut the door behind him and turned around. The wide-open space angled out on either side, the windows floor to ceiling. In the daytime they would have revealed only sky across the valley below. The vista should have given the room a sense of grandeur, but all that black emptiness felt bleak. Wind rattled the massive walls of glass and clouds scudded black on black across the darkness, adding to a feeling of impending doom.
No wonder Karen never got over her trauma. Trapped in this house would leave anyone unbalanced.
She climbed the stairs again but instead of going to Karen's room she opened the doors to the other bedrooms down the hall from the master suite. Olivia's made her smile. A mirror image to Megan's, all chaos and color and trying hard to make a statement without having any idea what that statement was.
The next room was a bathroom shared by the kids. Nothing out of the ordinary, not much cleaner than her own although the Hardings had the resources to hire a cleaning woman if they wanted.
Then came Darrin's room.
The scent of disinfectant hit her nostrils as she opened the door. Darrin's mattress sat on the floor in the corner. Covered with plastic, no sheets, a single pillow. As if no one expected him back.
On the opposite side of the room was a dirty clothes hamper with a lid. Beside it, a white dresser, no mirror, nothing but a small black comb, the kind they gave out at picture day at school, sitting on top. White walls. No posters, no toys, no music, no games, no electronics.
Prison cells held more warmth and comfort than this room. The room faced the mountain, so no need for curtains, the large window stood naked, exposed. A few small handprints and what had to be nose prints marred the surface.
"Dad took everything." Olivia's voice came from the door. "Told him as soon as he made it a month without wetting the bed, he could earn some of it back."
Lucy hauled in her breath, trying not to show her anger. Not the time or place. Or the right audience. "How's your mom?"
"She wants to talk with you. In private." She looked hesitant as if that might not be a good idea.
"It'll be all right. I'll call you if we need you."
Olivia gave a reluctant nod and led Lucy to the master suite. There were two large bedrooms with an adjoining bath. That surprised her. That Kurt Harding would make such a concession to his wife—or put her needs above his own.
Karen's room had two walls of floor to ceiling windows, giving it the same paradoxical claustrophobic feeling as the living room downstairs. As if the wide open space beyond the windows was a thin disguise for a prison cell with no escape.
The rest of the room mirrored the white on white decor of the kitchen. Bare walls, minimalistic bed and dresser, two white chairs that looked more uncomfortable than sitting on than the pale wood floor. Perched on one of them was a woman, also dressed all in white: white silk pajamas, white silk robe, pale white skin down to her bare feet. Even her lips were blanched white.
She sat in darkness, staring out the window. Her vacant gaze not registering Lucy's arrival.
"Mom," Olivia said, arranging a white wool shawl around her thin body. "I'll be in my room if you need me."
Karen Harding nodded, not looking at her daughter. Lucy sat across from her and waited. Sometimes it was best not to rush. Especially with someone as fragile as Karen.
If it wasn't for Karen and the notoriety surrounding her release, Lucy never would have begun her investigation. But once she heard about what happened to Karen, she knew there had to be more victims. No Unsub could have perfected his methods of abduction and protecting his identity so well on the first try.
Karen hadn't been kept in a cave. She described her prison as a hole dug into the dirt, narrow like a grave, not quite long enough to lie flat or tall enough to stand in. But with a door on one wall and a ceiling made of wood. The type of structure that could have been hidden anywhere outside of a city. All you needed was a vacant field with no foot traffic and some camouflage.
The Unsub made a mistake with Karen. He let it get personal. His need to degrade her and her family with as much public humiliation as possible outweighed his need for secrecy.
He'd taken Karen in the middle of a political fundraiser where her husband was to introduce the guest of honor. An immediate search had been mounted. Her face in every newspaper and on every TV station, first in DC, then nationwide. But no sign of her.
Not until eight months later when she'd been dumped at another of her husband's public functions, naked, hair shorn, an iron collar and chain around her neck, and seven and a half months pregnant. Again the national headlines plunged the family into a media feeding frenzy.
Her husband could neither deny the child nor abandon or his wife—although Lucy had the feeling he wished she'd stayed missing—so he made a huge production out of building her a new house back in their hometown, the "safest place in America." Under public scrutiny, and at the urging of the conservative politicians he worked with, he officially adopted the child.
On paper at least. Obviously never in his heart.
The investigation pried relentlessly into his background, trying to find someone with a grudge strong enough to go to such lengths to humiliate Harding. They found plenty of people with grudges and some rather shady though legal business dealings, but no one they could link to the kidnapping.
If Kurt Harding was the real target, then the Unsub failed. Harding's business skyrocketed with the public sympathy he received. He'd even been approached about
running for office himself, although he declined, saying he didn't want to put his family through the scrutiny. Lucy bet it had more to do with the financial disclosures public office would require.
But she was a cynic.
Hard to believe another Harding family member had gone missing. Even if Darrin had run away.
"I'm sure you must be imaging the worst," Lucy finally broke the silence.
Karen flinched but said nothing.
"Did Sheriff Zeller explain that Darrin left school of his own volition? With Marty? No indication he was coerced or taken by force."
She nodded. Her fingers kept tugging the robe's belt tighter and tighter until Lucy wondered how she could breathe. Despite everything that had happened to her, she was still a beautiful woman. But it was a brittle beauty. Lucy hoped she hadn't reached her breaking point.
"How about if you come down to the school? Marty's mom is there and the sheriff is organizing the search parties from there. You can help people understand Darrin. How he'd think. Would he panic, is he the kind of boy who would keep going if he was lost or would he stay and wait for help?"
"I can't." Karen's voice was raspy.
Lucy had almost forgotten. Eight months wearing the iron collar, screaming and crying, not to mention having a cattle prod rammed down her throat, had permanently damaged her vocal cords.
"Sure you can. I'll take you. Olivia will be right beside you. We'll have someone here waiting just in case Darrin calls or comes home."
"You don't understand." Karen shrugged so hard, the shawl slipped to the floor. "I don't leave. I can't leave. This house—it's all I know anymore. I haven't left it in six years."
Lucy suspected as much, but was still shocked to hear Karen admit it. That even with her son's life in danger, she couldn't leave the house her husband built to keep her locked safe away from the world.
"I understand," Lucy finally said, holding Karen's hands in hers.