by Jan Burke
“No. Of course not.”
There was another silence, then she shut off the car’s engine. Carrie felt a little afraid, but Ms. Kelly didn’t get out of the car.
“Do you think you might be Carla?” she asked.
Carrie nodded.
“So do I. You can call me Irene. Do you want me to call you Carla or another name?”
“Carrie, please.”
“Okay, Carrie. Do you want to talk here or is there somewhere else you’d like to go?”
As silly as she felt standing outside the car, Carrie could think of no other alternatives.
“Here, please. I’m not going to get in your car.”
“That’s okay. You shouldn’t get in the cars of people you don’t know. Do you want me to stand outside with you? I’ll keep my distance if you’d like.”
“Okay.”
She rolled up the windows, slowly got out, and locked the doors. She came around the car, then stood several feet away from Carrie, leaning on the car, not moving nearer.
“Okay?” she asked.
Carrie nodded.
“Good. Tell me about yourself, Carrie.”
CHAPTER 42
Tuesday, May 2
10:18 A.M.
NORTHBOUND ON THE 55 FREEWAY
NO one had said a word. Genie had never known the boys to be so quiet for so long. Dad wasn’t looking at anyone. Genie was relieved that the boys hadn’t been forced to join her in the lie she originally planned — to say that Carrie was asleep beside her in the far back of the SUV — because she could see now that wouldn’t have worked well. It just would have made Dad really mad later.
The pressure to do something like that was off now. It would take them too long to get back to the house. By now Carrie would be talking to Ms. Kelly. Even if they turned around right this minute, it would be too late to stop Carrie from finding out more about her other dad.
Genie was happy for her, but she was also pretty sure that Carrie would have to leave their family. Her hope was that Mr. Ives would see that it would make Carrie miserable if her mom went to jail. Maybe everything could be worked out so that Carrie could visit them.
She felt tears welling up and quickly rubbed her eyes. She would not cry. She would not.
The boys looked back at her anxiously from time to time. She would smile at them and sign, It’s okay. They wouldn’t look convinced. They were too smart to think everything was okay. Any minute now…
“Excuse me, Daddy,” Troy said, as if he had read her thoughts.
Dad made no response.
“Excuse me, Daddy!” Troy shouted.
Dad looked up in the rearview mirror, as if surprised to see them in the back of the SUV. “Yes, Troy?”
“You should turn the GPS on.”
“What?”
“You’re going the wrong way.”
Dad didn’t answer.
“You’re going the wrong way, Daddy. This isn’t the way to Grandfather’s house.”
Genie had known they weren’t going to Grandfather’s from the moment they got in the car. The SUV had an ice chest and groceries and a lot of sleeping bags in it. There were also duffel bags, although she didn’t get a chance to look inside them. In a way it was good, because when she piled the blankets and the big doll in the back, hoping she could say it was Carrie, asleep, she realized that the back of the SUV would look cluttered if Dad glanced in the mirror.
“You’re right, Troy,” Dad said. “I changed my mind.”
“But how will Mommy and Carrie find us?”
Genie thought of a lot of words she would have been punished for saying aloud.
“They’ll — Wait!” Dad looked in the mirror, almost as if he was just now noticing them. He cussed and then pulled to the side of the freeway, in the lane you were only supposed to use if you had a flat tire.
“You’ll get a ticket!” Genie said.
He frowned but kept driving. He took the next off-ramp and parked the car at the first curb where he could safely do so. He turned around and looked right at Genie. He was furious. As angry as she had ever seen him. It frightened her.
“Where’s your sister?”
Genie swallowed hard. “She’s at home. She was worried about Mom.”
He turned white and made a horrible sound, like a growl, but almost like he was hurt. “Goddammit!” he shouted.
The boys started crying.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he said.
His hands were shaking as he took out a cell phone and made a call. Genie, sure that he was calling home, knew that she had just gotten Carrie in big trouble.
“Hi,” he said. “God, I’m so glad I reached you. Listen, call it off. The whole thing. Carrie’s at the house.”
He listened for a while, then said, “Giles?”
He glanced back at the children, then got out of the car. Genie saw him grab his forehead. He looked really, really upset.
He held the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he hurriedly pulled a little notebook and a pen out of his jacket pocket. He wrote something down. He read whatever he had written, hung up, then leaned against the side of the SUV and put his head in his hands. Genie said, “Stay here, boys,” and unfastened her seat belt. She opened the door nearest her and climbed down to the curb just as a car pulled alongside the other side of the SUV.
The woman driving the car rolled down her window and said, “Are you all right? Do you need me to call nine-one-one?”
“Oh, I’m fine, thanks,” Dad said, looking up. “I’m afraid I allowed myself to get too frustrated over getting lost.”
The woman smiled in understanding. “Do you need directions?”
He held up his cell phone and the notebook. “Just got them from my cousin. Thanks. Very kind of you to offer to help.”
The woman said it was no problem and drove on.
Genie put her arms around him. “I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to make you so upset. I know you’re mad at me….”
He hugged her back. “It’s okay. Everything will be okay. I’m not mad. I’m sorry I yelled. Let’s get back in the car before some other Good Samaritan stops to help us.”
They got back in the car and he apologized to the boys, who stopped crying. He asked the boys to sing a song, and they picked “Bingo.”
He started the car, turned the GPS on, and entered an address. He made a U-turn, getting back on the freeway going north. Genie looked out the window as she listened to the boys sing and clap, their voices sweet and high.
Something was wrong with Dad. Whom had he called? What did he want to call off? He’d never tell her. When she got a chance, she’d have to do some snooping.
She watched the scenery without really seeing it, all the while repeating to herself, “Be safe, Carrie. Be safe.”
CHAPTER 43
Thursday, May 2
10:20 A.M.
HUNTINGTON BEACH
I KNEW even as I pulled up that this was Blake Ives’s missing daughter. Until that moment, I had only focused on getting to the intersection of Playa Azul and Vista del Mar. Now, seeing her, I realized that I was with a frightened child who was probably about as confused as a person could be. My own thinking wasn’t exactly clear, either. Now what?
When she allowed me to stand near her, I decided that it would be a good idea to get some idea of her history as she knew it.
She told me about her family. It didn’t take long to realize that she felt loved, was attached to her mother and the man she called Dad, was both bright and articulate. She didn’t look undernourished. Her clothes were of good quality and clean. I saw no bruises or easily discernible signs of physical abuse.
Her story was also one of isolation, though. She was home-schooled, and the only other children she interacted with were members of her family.
“It’s a big family,” she said, “but I don’t even see my cousins more than a few times a year. Really, the only people I see a lot of are Uncle Giles, Uncle Dexter…” I
wasn’t sure what the pause after his name meant, except that something about him upset her. But it was the next statement that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“…and, of course, Grandfather Fletcher.”
“Fletcher?” I took a guess. “Graydon Fletcher?”
“Oh yes, do you know him?”
“I know of him,” I said. “I haven’t met him yet, but I hope to do so soon.”
“He’s the best grandfather in the world. I mean, I don’t know a lot of other grandfathers, but he’s kind and good to us. That’s where the rest of my family is today. Everyone except my mom.”
“And you.”
“Yes. I was supposed to be with them, but I wanted to talk to you, so Genie and I played a trick on everyone, you might say.”
“THE garage door is open,” Giles said in disgust. “That idiot didn’t close it.”
Cleo had planned to look things over, to check out the level of activity on the street and then circle the block and park some distance away. Seeing the open garage door and the utter absence of life along the street, she changed her mind.
“What the hell are you doing?”
She pulled into the garage, quickly got out of the vehicle, and hit the control that shut the door. She found the light switch as the door closed.
Giles got out of the car, angry.
She was already taking off the suit jacket, putting on the coveralls. Seeing the look on his face, she held up a halting hand. “Don’t you dare shout in here.”
He drew a hard breath but said nothing. She straightened, hands casually at her sides.
“Do you plan to draw on me? Go ahead, let’s see who’s faster.”
He shook his head. “No, of course not.”
“Good. Now you listen to me, Giles, and listen well. This is what I do. It’s what I’m best at. You, on the other hand, aren’t even an amateur. You’re a tourist. So you are going to do what I tell you to, and you are not going to question shit. When this is all over, you can go back to calling the shots. But not until then. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now go into the house and call Victoria.”
“What?”
“Giles, you’re doing it again.”
He swallowed hard. “She’ll be asleep. Roy drugged her.”
“You also told him to close the damned garage door, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” he said, with a meekness that made her feel a little shiver of excitement.
“So, if she happens to still be awake, she knows you and won’t react the same way she would to a stranger, right? Coax her downstairs, and bring her out here to meet me. That way there will be a little less evidence inside the house, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
He reached for his weapon, and she stopped him by quickly grabbing his wrist.
“For God’s sake, don’t do that. What’s gotten into you?” She smiled. “Don’t be afraid of her, Giles. She’s drugged, and she has no reason to suspect why you’re here.”
“Right.”
As he reached the door into the house, her cell phone rang. Giles jumped, and it was all she could do not to laugh at him.
The ring tone let her know that the caller was Roy. Good. She had been meaning to call him. But she didn’t want to talk to him in front of Giles. Still, she’d better find out what he wanted. She made a shooing motion at Giles as she answered.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” Roy said. “God, I’m so glad I reached you. Listen, call it off. The whole thing. Carrie’s at the house.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible. Hang on.”
She said to Giles, “Giles, hurry up!”
“Who is it?” Giles asked.
“The movers. I have to settle this now. I’ll be right here if you need me.” She gave him a hard stare.
He went into the house.
GILES was tempted to go right back into the garage and demand that she hang up and—
His attention was caught by a high-pitched whistling sound. What the hell was that?
“Victoria?” he called. Then more loudly: “Victoria!”
The whistling continued as he moved toward the sound. Some kind of — Oh, Jesus Christ, it was an alarm.
“Victoria!” he shouted desperately.
THE moment the door closed, Cleo said in a low voice, “Yes, Giles is with me! Listen to me, Roy, and get out a piece of paper and a pen while I’m talking, because we have maybe one minute to save your life and that of the kids. Remember what I told you this morning, about not taking that SUV because he’d have some kind of locator on it? Well, sure as shit, Giles is setting all of you up. Do not — repeat, do not — go to the meeting place he arranged. Go to this address.” She gave him the address of one of her cabins. “That’s my place — you’ll be safe there. The door opens with a keypad combination.” She gave it to him. “There’s also a booby trap that’s not on the alarm system.” She told him how to disarm it. “Now, I’ll do all I can to bring Carrie with me, but I have more to tell you about that when I see you. Don’t contact anyone from the family. You understand?”
“Yes,” he said weakly.
“Read the address, combination, and disarm instructions back to me.”
He had just finished when the alarm sounded piercingly from inside the house. “Christ! Giles has set off the fucking alarm. What’s the code?”
GILES cringed as the alarm howled at a painful level of decibels. He reached the keypad and madly entered Roy’s birthday, to no effect. Apparently that wasn’t the code.
He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up the stairway. Victoria stood on the upper landing. “Victoria!”
She frowned, said something he couldn’t hear over the noise, and took a lurching step forward. She missed the first step entirely and tumbled down the stairs, her body pitchforked against stairs, railings, wall, and finally the marble of the foyer, coming to rest at his feet.
He stared in shock.
“OH,” Carrie said, “before I talk any more about myself, I have a really important question to ask you.”
I was trying to absorb all the implications of a connection to the Fletchers, so maybe I wasn’t concentrating as much as I should have been when Carrie took a deep breath and said, “Do you know someone named Mason who is missing a little girl?”
“Mason?”
“Yes.”
“My God…”
But I didn’t get to say more than that before we heard a loud alarm going off somewhere down the street.
“My house! That’s my house!” she cried, and began running away from me.
CLEO was inside, pressing buttons on the keypad almost before he was aware of her presence. There was an instant silencing of the alarm, although he was sure some echo of it was still ringing in his ears. She looked down at Victoria, felt for a pulse, and said, “That was quick if noisy work, Giles.”
“I didn’t—”
“Yes, I’m sure. Now grab her ankles and carry her out to my car. Now!”
He obeyed, too numb to do otherwise. Victoria was surprisingly heavy. When they reached the Beemer, Cleo opened the trunk, then said, “Wait a minute.”
She lifted a set of clothing on hangers covered in a dry cleaner’s plastic bag and hung it in the back of the car.
“That’s a Las Piernas Police Department uniform!” Giles said.
“Put her into the trunk. We have no time to waste.”
As they lifted the body, the phone on the wall of the garage began to ring.
They unceremoniously dumped her on top of a thick piece of plastic inside the trunk. Cleo closed the trunk lid.
“Answer the phone. It will be Fletcher Security. Tell them who you are and that the code word is Graydon, and that there is no need to send a police unit here. Tell them you agreed to look in on the house while Roy was on vacation and accidentally set off the alarm.”
He did as she said.
He wa
tched her clean up drops of blood on the outside of the car.
When he hung up, she said, “I talked to Roy when the alarm went off. He told me Carrie isn’t with him.”
“What?”
“Yes. So you are going to wait here and intercept her.”
“What if she’s already in the house?”
“With that alarm going off? Now listen to me, will you? You keep her from going into that entryway by any means necessary. You get her into that van and meet me at the rendezvous point. We’ll hand her off to Roy there.”
“You’re leaving me alone here?”
“For now, yes. You can handle one little girl, can’t you?”
“Perhaps you—”
“I’m a stranger,” she reminded him.
“Yes, of course.”
“And Giles? If you harm one hair on that kid’s head, I’ll saw your balls off with a dull knife. For starters.”
“I’d never hurt Carrie!” he said indignantly, but she didn’t miss seeing his hand flinch protectively toward his crotch.
“Follow instructions. That’s all I ask.” She reached into her jacket and tossed him a set of keys. “I’m getting out of here. Hit the garage-door opener.”
He did, looking forlorn as she pulled out of the garage and sped down the street.
CHAPTER 44
Tuesday, May 2
10:36 A.M.
HUNTINGTON BEACH
I CAUGHT up to her in a few strides, grabbing hold of her arm.
“Let go of me! Let go of me!” she screeched, pulling hard against me.
“Carrie, wait! If someone has broken into your house, it could be dangerous for you to go back there!”
“My mom’s in there! He might hurt her!”
“You can’t help her by getting hurt, too,” I said.
She relented a bit.
“I’ve got a cell phone,” I said. “Let me—”
Before I could finish the sentence, the noise of the alarm abruptly cut off. Carrie looked up at me.