Kidnapped ik-10

by Jan Burke

  “Couldn’t it wait a few days? Perhaps on Saturday?”

  “Many more of your neighbors will be home on Saturday, Roy. If something goes wrong, we really don’t want to attract attention.”

  Roy looked toward Dex in appeal.

  “Will it help your resolve to know that she asked me to help her leave you?” Dex asked.

  Roy dropped his gaze.

  “She confided that she wasn’t made to live shut up in the house all the time,” Dex went on. “She assured me she wouldn’t try to take the children away from you, but it seemed to me that was just another way of saying she was eager to be free of her responsibilities. She hopes the children will be allowed to go to our school, to socialize. She thought it would be safe to let them do so if she wasn’t in the picture.” He paused. “She feels certain the Fletcher family will help her reestablish herself in her new life. She wants us to offer… how did she put it? Oh yes, ‘money to ensure that she stays silent.’”

  “One must give her credit,” Giles said, “for not pussyfooting around.”

  Roy covered his face with his hands. No one said anything else for long moments. When he looked up again, he said, “Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I mean, just let her divorce me. She’s Carrie’s mother, for God’s sake—”

  “Roy,” Giles said gently, “none of us were raised by our birth mothers. This family, more than any other, knows that good parents are more important to a child than biological relationships. Have you forgotten why we dared to take matters into our own hands to create your family? It was for the sake of those children. They needed us. Needed our intervention.”

  “Yes, but they were so young then! They accepted change more easily. This will be so hard on them. I was against the idea of divorce before, but compared to the other alternatives… And even if Victoria says she doesn’t want responsibilities, I know she loves the children. She wouldn’t do anything to cause them problems. We could wait a while to make it official, until no one was watching for her. Or even help her establish a new identity.”

  “And you think this plan of yours would be easier on your children? To know she’s intentionally abandoned them? To see her once in a while and let her influence their thinking? To abandon them again and again, each time a visit ends? Alienate them from this family?”

  “It might not happen that way,” Roy said, dropping his gaze to the floor.

  Dex said, “You’ve spent years trying to rescue her, haven’t you, Roy?”

  Roy looked up at him.

  “You saved her from the low-life scum she was living with when you met her,” Dex said. “You helped her to become free of alcohol and drugs. You wanted children, but she had become infertile. You were ready to adopt, but she must first have her own child. You changed your whole life so that she could be reunited with Carrie.”

  “Yes,” said Roy. After a moment he added, “I do see her faults. She can be… difficult. I suppose that’s why I’ve… why I’ve strayed. But I never meant that to lead to something like this.”

  “It’s not your fault, Roy,” Dex said. “It’s hers. She was as ready to stray as you were, but you don’t want to abandon the children and blackmail the family in the bargain.”

  “No. But there has to be some other way to deal with this.”

  Giles exchanged a quick glance with Dex, then said, “This should be your decision, Roy. No matter what you decide to do about Victoria, though, you must take the children away for a while.”

  “Because of the newspaper reporter.”

  “Yes.” Giles looked again to Dex. “Tell him about Ms. Kelly.”

  Dex said, “I was… busy for part of the day, as you know. As I was over the weekend.”

  Roy winced.

  “Later,” Dex went on, “Giles asked me to try to learn what Ms. Kelly was working on, but that’s not as easy as it seems. Newspapers are always concerned that someone is trying to publish a news item before they do, or steal a story from them, so no one discusses what they are working on. I called Ms. Kelly’s office, just to see if she was in, thinking I might follow her from the Express when she left. But her outgoing voice mail said she would be out of the office all day.”

  “So?”

  “As you know, she recently wrote a story on missing children. She worked with your wife — when your wife was known as Bonnie Creci — and may be able to recognize that Victoria Fletcher and Bonnie Creci are the same person. Ms. Kelly was at the scene where police were digging up the remains of your son Aaron’s birth father — the man who supposedly abducted Aaron in a custody dispute two years ago. She arrived at Sheila’s house just after Sheila died. Within hours, she had uncovered a great deal of Sheila’s history. Caleb, who apparently didn’t know her until last week, dined at her home two nights in a row. Her husband has alerted Ben Sheridan to the fact that Anna Stover is our cousin. Do I need to go on listing reasons why we may want to know what she’s up to these days, and why she may be a threat to your family?”

  “No,” Roy said. “No.” He put his head back in his hands. As if asking the floor, he murmured, “So where was she today?”

  “We don’t know,” Giles said. “Dex followed her for a brief time this afternoon, from police headquarters, but he was spotted almost immediately. Her husband is a homicide detective, as you know.”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you notify your clients?” Dex asked.

  “Yes,” Roy said, his voice flat. Beaten, Giles thought. He’s giving in.

  “And?” Dex prodded.

  “No one expects me back for at least three weeks.”

  “Good,” Giles said. “And now, you remember what you’re to do tomorrow?”

  He sat up straight. “You agree with me, right?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “About the divorce. Separation. Whatever it ends up being.”

  “Yes, as I said, it’s your decision.”

  “In that case, plans will change a little.” He held up the prepaid cell phone Giles had supplied. “You’ll call me at home on this phone at about ten o’clock and tell me to come over to Dad’s house. I’ll bring Victoria and the kids there in our SUV and leave my work van behind at the house. You’ll have a new SUV in Dad’s driveway, packed with everything we’ll need for the trip to the mountains ready and waiting. Once we’re in the mountains, you’ll call me to let me know what to do from there.”

  “Hmm. That’s not quite what we said, and I think it would be best if we didn’t change that aspect of the plans,” Giles said. “It would be much better if you left with the children, but not Victoria. She can follow you a little later.”

  “But—”

  “Think this through, Roy. We need to work out details of the divorce with Victoria before she knows where you and the children are, or she really has us in a terrible bargaining position. When it comes down to making sure she won’t take advantage of the family, I think it would be best for you to leave that to us, don’t you agree?”

  He stared at them. Giles wondered if he would object, but in the end he said, “I’ll trust you to do what’s best, Giles.”

  “I’m honored by that,” Giles said. “Now, let’s send you home. Do you need anything to help you sleep?”

  “No. I don’t think so.”

  “Dex, why don’t you give him something just in case he changes his mind?”

  Dex moved to a cabinet in a nearby bathroom and came back with a bottle of sedatives.

  Roy looked at the label. “This says these are for Victoria,” he said in surprise. “And they’re dated six months ago.”

  “She called Susan—” Dex began.

  “Our Susan? Dr. Susan?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Victoria asked her to prescribe something to help her sleep,” Giles said. “Around the time you were… working so late.”

  “Oh.” He pocketed them. He stood and lurched toward the door. The staggering walk of a drunk, although Giles knew h
is brother was completely sober. Roy was caught between his long-cherished hopes for Victoria — his dreams of helping her to become the perfect wife and mother — and the facts that continued to present themselves to him. That Dex and Giles continued to present to him. Dexter’s astute observation this evening that Roy loved to play the rescuer was undoubtedly correct. Roy’s tendency to view himself in that way probably also accounted at least in part for his infatuation with Cleo, although Giles nearly laughed aloud thinking of anyone trying to rescue Cleo. The poor boy was in terrible shape, but Giles had no doubt that he would pull himself together eventually.

  Roy stopped at the door and turned to look at Dex. He held up the bottle of pills. “They are just sleeping pills?”

  “Oh, yes. She could safely take a dozen of them.”

  “A dozen…”

  “Yes.”

  When they heard his van pull away, Giles said, “I think that went rather well, don’t you?”

  Dex shrugged and said, “We’ll know soon. I’m heading home. Maggie will wonder where I am.”

  Giles sincerely doubted that but wished him a good night.

  CHAPTER 36

  Tuesday, May 2

  4:35 A.M.

  HUNTINGTON BEACH

  THE two girls silently watched the street from their bedroom window. The pickup truck for the delivery of the Orange County Register had gone by some time ago, and Carrie began to wonder if they were now waiting in vain.

  She was so sleepy, but at the same time too worried and excited to fall asleep. Genie was drawing on the window with her fingertip, breathing out to make the glass fog, then making faces in the moisture. Carrie couldn’t turn on a light to read or do much of anything to keep herself occupied while they waited.

  She had never realized how quiet it was at this time of day. After a while, she gave in and made faces on the window just as Genie did. Genie smiled, and a few minutes later they began playing tic-tac-toe.

  They both gave up this pursuit and sat up with a start when lights came on at Mrs. Pherson’s house across the street. Carrie remembered something and whispered it to Genie. “Mrs. Pherson works in a bank in Los Angeles. She has to leave early to drive there.”

  Mom didn’t like Mrs. Pherson, they knew. Genie had once heard Mom and Dad talking about her. Mom didn’t like Mrs. Pherson because she flirted with Dad, but Dad said she was just trying to be neighborly.

  Carrie had long ago noticed that women paid a different kind of attention to Dad than they did to other men. They didn’t become as silly around him as they did around Uncle Dex, but they smiled at him a lot.

  That made her think about Uncle Dex’s visit yesterday while Dad was gone. Uncle Dex had been over here several days in a row, but Carrie hadn’t been here when he showed up on Saturday and Sunday. Dad had taken the kids to the zoo and over to Grandfather’s house again this weekend, and Mom had stayed home. That was strange, because usually Mom came with them everywhere they went. Dad had seemed unhappy, and it kind of spoiled the fun. When they got back, Mom had mentioned that Uncle Dexter had stopped by, and Carrie hadn’t thought anything of it. But yesterday’s visit made her uneasy, because Uncle Dexter had never stayed for more than a few minutes when Dad wasn’t home. This time, he was here for a long time, and Mom had asked Carrie and Genie to watch the boys while she talked privately with him.

  Carrie was glad for it, in a way, because it gave Genie time to carry out the first part of her plan — calling the Express and subscribing to the paper. Carrie still couldn’t get over how bold Genie was.

  Still, it might not have worked. Maybe the person in Circulation at the Express had not been fooled by Genie, had recognized that this was a child’s voice. The phone had rung a few times later in the day — maybe the paper had called to confirm something, and Mom had said that there was a mistake.

  No, if that had happened, the paper would have asked about the address and the credit card, and she would have pressured both girls into telling her what they had done. The thought of this happening at some later point made her feel scared.

  Last night the boys blurted out the news to Dad that Uncle Dex had visited, of course. Dad was cheerful with the boys about it, but he looked at Mom, and she gave him a smug kind of smile. After that, Mom and Dad didn’t look at each other all night. They didn’t talk to each other. Dad went out for a while and didn’t get back home until late. Thinking about this made Carrie’s stomach hurt.

  “Listen!” Genie whispered.

  They both heard the noise before they saw the headlights, a low motor sound punctuated by drawn-out, high-pitched squeals. A pickup truck with bad brakes was coming up the street. It was going slowly, as if the driver wasn’t sure of his destination. He stopped the truck in front of their house.

  Hurry up and get out of here! Carrie screamed inside her head. At long last the paper was tossed and landed at the foot of the driveway with a soft thump. The truck drove off. The girls hurried silently to the stairs. Carrie followed Genie’s method of going down them, stepping at the outer edges, avoiding the one that sometimes creaked.

  Genie was at the front door in a flash and waited there for Carrie to reach the security system controls.

  Ignoring the shaking in her fingers, Carrie entered the code on the keypad exactly as Genie had told her to. This did not set off the howling alarm, as she had feared it might, but the three quick beeps acknowledging that it was disarmed seemed loud enough to wake the whole household. Genie smiled at her, but Carrie cringed, expecting their father to come running down the stairs. He didn’t — the house slept on, even through the soft swooshing of the opening of the door. Carrie hurriedly grabbed the door before it could swing shut. Genie was already on her way to the end of the drive.

  It would be easy! It would be easy after all!

  Then, as Carrie watched in dismay, Mrs. Pherson came out of her house. She halted and stared at Genie. Her attention moved to Carrie, standing in the doorway.

  “Good morning,” she called to the girls. “You two are up early!”

  Carrie felt her shoulders hunching up, as if she could become a turtle. But Genie smiled and nodded, then hurried back inside.

  Carrie softly shut the door as Genie rushed upstairs, then Carrie reset the alarm.

  Carrie was halfway up the stairs when her parents’ bedroom door opened.

  Her father stepped into the hallway and shut the bedroom door behind him. He was fully dressed and seemed distracted. He did not see her, frozen in place, until he reached the top of the stairs. “Carrie?” he asked in a low voice, freezing in place as well.

  “Good morning, Dad,” she said softly back.

  “What are you doing up?”

  She shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep.”

  His brows drew together in worry. “Your hand bothering you?”

  She nearly lied, but foresaw that this might lead to further worry on his part, or a trip to see Dr. Susan, where her fakery would be exposed. “Not really.”

  He moved down to where she stood, sat on the stairs, and patted the place next to him. Obediently, she sat.

  “You’re cold,” he said. “You should have put slippers and a robe on. Or…” He frowned, seeming to notice she was dressed. “Shoes and a sweatshirt.”

  She found herself wondering, as she looked more closely at his own attire, why he was fully dressed so early in the day. He saw her notice, and seemed to try to head off any questions about his own early rising. “Not feeling sick, are you?” he asked.

  “No, I’m fine.”

  He studied her face.

  “Carrie, is anything troubling you?”

  Suddenly it seemed as if the truth had become a big fish inside of her, swimming hard, wanting to break to the surface. He asked this question so sincerely, so lovingly, she felt the certainty of his love for her, and of her own love for him in return. But she had Genie to think of.

  And then, looking at him, she saw the trouble in his own eyes. The big fish changed into a questi
on of her own.

  “Daddy, what’s wrong with you and Mommy?”

  She hadn’t used these younger child’s terms for them for so long, but she felt small now. Afraid.

  He tensed, then looked away. “We’ll be okay,” he said.

  “I don’t like Uncle Dex,” she blurted out.

  He put an arm around her and hugged her to him. “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s okay.” His voice sounded funny, almost as if he might cry or something, which made her very afraid. She took his hand in hers and held it. He smiled and took a deep breath and said, “Don’t be mad at Uncle Dex, honey. He’s not a very happy man. Right now… well, your mother’s not very happy, either.”

  “Why?”

  “Hard to explain. But no one would want to worry you, not me, not Mom, not Uncle Dex. Soon things will work out. I promise you. Everything will be all right, and you and I won’t let anybody worry us or make us get up early in the morning.” His voice had lightened by the end of that, as if they shared a little joke. He squeezed her shoulders again and said, “Think you can get back to sleep?”

  “I think so,” she lied.

  “Good. Now, I’m going for a little drive, just to clear my head.”

  “You aren’t leaving us?” she asked anxiously.

  “Never, Carrie. Never. You remember that, okay?”

  “Yes.” She hugged him hard, smelled his aftershave, and felt comforted by the familiar scent. He ruffled her hair, then helped her to her feet as he came to his own. She promised she would go back to bed, and he kissed her cheek before he left.

  He was gone from the house for several minutes before she climbed the stairs to her bedroom. Everybody was acting so weird. Where was he going so early in the morning? What was bothering him?

  Genie was waiting for her, her eyes wide and her face pale. She seemed scared, but at the same time wore an expression that Carrie immediately recognized as her most determined look.

  “Don’t worry,” Carrie said. “I’m not in trouble. And he doesn’t even know you’re awake.”