Safe and Sound

by Fern Michaels

  “It’s not Connor’s house, Ben. It’s yours,” Isabelle gently corrected him. “The court just allowed him to live there with you till you come of age.”

  “That is true. Sometimes I forget stuff like that. Thank you for bringing me up short,” he said solemnly. Ben turned around and opened the door where the dogs were lined up and waiting patiently. The sisters all ran to the kitchen window when they heard all the whooping, hollering, and barking coming from the backyard.

  Annie swallowed hard. “I love seeing what we’re seeing. At heart, he is still a little boy. I don’t care if he’s already in college or that he’s some kind of genius. Right now, he’s just a little boy doing what little boys do, having fun.”

  “Amen,” the sisters said in unison.

  The sisters continued with the preparations for breakfast, which consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and warm biscuits out of a can that only had to be warmed up.

  Three different conversations were taking place. Annie explained that Avery Snowden could only offer two days’ worth of work because he had to go across the pond to take care of some top-secret work for, as he put it, “you know who.”

  “Two days is better than nothing, I guess, so I told him to dig into finding Ben’s biological father. I have to call him back now that we have a name. It will make his job a lot easier. I also told him to run a check on Connor’s wife. Anything else I think we can handle on our own. And don’t forget, we have Ben’s twenty-nine ninety-five background checks on Natalie and Connor,” Annie quipped.

  “Do you want to know something else?” Annie asked, her dander rising. “If someone called me a freak-snot-nosed kid, I’d scratch their eyes out on the spot or shoot them between the eyes. Or maybe I’d peel the skin right off their face.”

  Nikki grinned. “Why don’t you tell us how you really feel, Annie?”

  Alexis, who was in charge of the scrambled eggs, shifted them onto a platter. Isabelle piled crisp, crunchy bacon on another platter, while Yoko transferred the sausage patties onto a third platter. Myra slid the biscuits into a cloth-lined bread basket.

  Kathryn opened the door and let loose with a shrill whistle. One little boy and five dogs raced to the door. “Treats first, then wash your hands and head for the dining room. Ben, do you want milk or orange juice?”

  “Milk, please. I sure am hungry. I love bacon,” he said, as he handed out treats to the dogs before heading off to the powder room off the kitchen. He stared at himself in the mirror, especially at his unruly hair, which was beginning to look like Maggie’s curly locks. His cheeks were bright pink. He smiled at himself. “Someday, you are going to be one handsome dude.” He giggled at the thought that someday, girls would be interested in him, and not for his money.

  Ben raced to the dining room and sat down next to Isabelle. Annie said grace. He dutifully bowed his head the way his grandmother had taught him.

  And then it was time to eat, and eat he did, occasionally slipping pieces of sausage and bacon to the dogs, who were clustered at his feet.

  Breakfast over, the table cleared, the kitchen sparkling, Myra got down to business. “Ben, Isabelle talked to your grandmother this morning. She’s going to be calling you sometime today. Isabelle, you spoke to Mrs. Lymen, so you should explain.”

  Ben bolted upright. “Did you really talk to her, Izzy? What did she say? Where is she? When is she coming home? Are Rita and Irene with her?” he asked, peppering her with questions, his excitement rising with each question.

  “Yes, Ben, your grandmother called me this morning. Yesterday, Nikki and I went to see your grandmother’s attorney, and he said when your grandmother called in, which she has been doing on a weekly basis, he would give her my number to call me. We lucked out because today was the day she happened to call in.”

  “What did she say? Did you tell her I just found the letter she left for me? She isn’t upset with me, is she?”

  “Not one little bit. I think, though, she was relieved that you finally found the letter. She said she thinks about you every hour of the day. She said she knows all of us here in this room will take care of you, but she needs just a bit more time to do what she started out to do. This is just a guess on my part, but I think you’ll be seeing your grandmother in a few more days.”

  “Where is she, and what is she doing that takes six months to do?” Ben asked fretfully.

  “Right now, she’s in Mississippi. I don’t know what she’s doing there. I would assume taking care of whatever business needed to be attended to. I’m sure she will tell you when she gets back. That’s all I know, Ben.”

  The sisters watched every emotion there was wash over the little boy’s face. Then he grinned from ear to ear. “I think that’s the best news I have ever heard. My grandmother never says anything she doesn’t mean. I can wait. I assume you all want to talk and discuss this latest development without me present, so can I go to the family room with the dogs?”

  He’s only eight years old, Isabelle told herself for the hundredth time. She nodded. Ben tried to whistle but just made a funny sound until he pulled out the whistle Isabelle had given him. He blew gently; just enough sound came through to alert the dogs. All five got up and followed him out of the room.

  “That has to be the most endearing child I’ve ever met. I just want to hug and squeeze him,” Kathryn said. The others agreed that they were having the same feeling.

  “I had the early news on this morning to see if the Ryans had reported Ben missing. So far nothing,” Myra said. “No word of any Amber alerts, no search parties forming. Nada.”

  “They have to know by now that Ben is gone. Surely, someone checked on him yesterday. Or last night or even this morning. It’s already eleven-thirty. Ben is home on Tuesdays,” Maggie said.

  “I think they’re winging it right now because they don’t know what to do. They’re smart enough to know if they go to the police, the cat is out of the bag, and the courts might place Ben in foster care. They don’t want that. They know he can take care of himself, so they aren’t worried about his well-being. Not that his well-being has ever been one of their concerns. What they’re worried about is who is helping him or where he’ll go and to whom he will tell his tale,” Nikki said.

  “I think Nikki is right,” Annie said.

  “So what do we do now?” Isabelle asked.

  “Speaking for myself, I was sort of, kind of, thinking I’d give Ben a haircut if he’s agreeable,” Alexis said. “We don’t want him looking like a little girl, now, do we?” The sisters shook their heads from side to side.

  “I was thinking about heading to the village to buy him some clothes. It’s cold out right now, and it will get colder as the days go on. His clothes are skimpy at best,” Maggie said.

  “I’m thinking of calling Peter Olsen Junior again and letting him know how things are going. He asked us to keep him informed, so he could keep his dad up to date,” Nikki said.

  “How about if Yoko and I go to the Institute and see what, if anything, we can find out?” Kathryn asked.

  “That leaves Annie and me,” Myra said unhappily. “How about if Annie and I go to the Circle and poke around. We know where the key is to the Lymen house, so we could start there. If Connor and his wife somehow got in, I’m thinking they wouldn’t be too careful about disturbing things the way we were when we did our search.”

  “I think it all sounds doable. I’ll stay here with Ben and give him his haircut and keep an eye on things. If I get even a sniff of trouble, we’ll head downstairs to the war room,” Alexis said.

  “Sounds good,” Annie said. “Let’s do it, ladies!”

  Kathryn and Yoko were the first to leave. Yoko drove, with Annie and Myra behind them on their way to the Circle and Eleanor Lymen’s house.

  “Do we have a plan, Yoko, once we get there? I know you can handle any questions they pose and ask the pertinent ones because you have a child. I know nothing about children, sad to say,” Kathryn said.

&n
bsp; Yoko grinned. “I thought we’d just sort of wing it. From what I’ve read, the people who run the Institute are a bit different from your run-of-the-mill educators. Let’s just see how it plays out. I like that little boy, I really do. What I don’t like is that he has not had a normal childhood. Yes, I’m all for education, but how sad is it that he has no friends and has probably never climbed a tree or played in a muddy ditch the way most kids have.”

  “I hear you. Maybe we can change all that for him. I simply cannot wrap my head around the fact that if he continues his studies, he will graduate from college in December. Then what does the kid do? Go for his MBA, then his PhD? That just tells me he has no life. I sure hope his grandmother gets back here and takes control.”

  Annie, by now driving her car in front of them, turned on her signal light, gave a soft tap to her horn, and peeled left, while Yoko tapped her horn and kept going straight to visitor parking at the Institute.

  “The lot is empty,” Kathryn said.

  Yoko grimaced. “It probably means they discourage visitors. Well, we’ll see about that!”

  “I think you should take the lead since you know more about kids than I do,” Kathryn said as she climbed from the car to follow Yoko, who looked like a mother with a grim mission in mind.

  “Here goes nothing,” Yoko mumbled as she pressed the button on the outdoor intercom. When nothing happened, she pressed it again. When she pressed it a third time, a voice asked what they wanted. The voice went on to say admittance was by appointment only.

  “Now you see, that doesn’t work for me,” Yoko said. “Eleanor Lymen personally told me to come here, and I would be admitted. She said, and this is verbatim, ‘If they give you any crap, tell them they will be on the unemployment line tomorrow morning.’ End of quote. Now, what’s it going to be?”

  “This is highly irregular. I have to check with Dr. Phillips. I’ll just be a minute.”

  The voice was as good as her word. A minute later, the door opened, and a tall, shaggy-haired man towered over them. Kathryn glared at him but said nothing.

  “My colleague informed me that Mrs. Lymen said you were to be granted admittance. I wasn’t notified, so that’s where the confusion comes in. My apologies. Please come in and tell me what I can do for you. I’m Dr. Evan Phillips. I’m in charge of the Institute. And you are?”

  “Kathryn Lucas, and this is Yoko Wong. We’d like a tour of the facility. Yoko’s daughter knows Ben Ryan. Is he here today? We’d like to say hello and see him in his academic environment.”

  “Ah . . . Mr. Ryan is out with a stomach virus that attacked him yesterday, I believe. I think he’ll return tomorrow if his prediction is right that he had a forty-eight-hour bug of sorts. Sterling young man. We are so proud of him here at the Institute. It’s hard to believe that he began this semester as a college freshman and will be a college graduate in December if he continues the way he has been going.”

  “It is amazing. Eleanor . . . Mrs. Lymen told me you would give me the indoctrination packet for my daughter Lily. She said she will speak with you directly on her return, which should be in the next few days.”

  Dr. Phillips massaged his sparse beard, his eyes suddenly flinty. “Mr. Connor Ryan called a short while ago and left a message. A long, detailed message, which in and of itself is unusual. At the end of the message, he asked if his mother-in-law had been in touch. He said young Ben worries about her. We don’t take calls but let them go to voice mail until the noon hour, when we return all calls.”

  “I would imagine he’s worried about his stepson,” Yoko said.

  “As a matter of fact, he said he was taking young Ben to the doctor’s this afternoon to rule out appendicitis. Feel free to walk around, ladies, but please do not enter any of the rooms. You can observe students through the windows. I’ll get your packet.” And before either Kathryn or Yoko could blink, he was gone, his shiny wingtips slapping hard on the tile floor.

  The moment Dr. Phillips was out of sight and earshot, Kathryn hissed, “That all tells me Ben’s stepfather knows he’s gone missing and is looking for information. He’s got to be running scared. Walk faster, Yoko, so we can get out of this place.”

  Yoko quickened her step, muttering as they peered into window after window. “This place is too sterile, too antiseptic for my liking. Lily wouldn’t last a day here. There is not one smidgen of color anywhere. I wonder why Isabelle designed this to look more like a prison despite the beautiful interior features. I guess she must have had specific instructions, or else she made things bright and colorful, and things have changed over the years since.”

  “Okay, I’ve seen enough. Let’s go,” Kathryn said as she stomped forward to arrive back at the entrance foyer just as Dr. Phillips arrived with a dull brown accordion-pleated folder that he handed over with a flourish. Yoko snatched it out of his hand and headed for the door, calling out her thanks over her shoulder. Kathryn remained mute.

  Outside, in the brisk October air, the two sisters headed for Yoko’s car, Kathryn hitting her speed dial for Myra’s number. Myra sounded agitated to Kathryn’s ears.

  “We’re leaving here now. Do you want us to join you or should we head back to the farm?”

  “We’re about to leave, too. This place looks like a tsunami hit it. Guess the Ryans were here, probably sometime last night. The good news is they didn’t find the safe in the linen closet that Isabelle told us about, even though they tossed the house, including the closet, pretty good. Freddie the bear was on the bed with the zipper pulled down, so they know about sleep bears. They broke the kitchen door to get in. I don’t know if the alarm was on or not. We need to ask Ben when we get back to the farm. Both Rita’s and Irene’s houses were tossed also. Ben was very specific about the alarm at Rita’s house. I imagine the alarm company has been here at some point, along with the police. They probably chalked it up to random burglary.”

  “Well, then, Connor and his unholy bride came up empty. I’m certain they thought he would go to one of the three houses. No telling what they’ll do now. But we aren’t going to solve this yakking like magpies. We can do that when we meet up. Okay, we’ll see you back at the farm,” Kathryn said.

  “Drive carefully, ladies,” Myra said.

  “You, too, Mom,” Yoko drawled.

  Chapter 9

  Ben Ryan watched Alexis in the bathroom mirror as she snipped at his curly hair. He watched it fall to the floor, his eyes wide in shock. “I didn’t think my hair had gotten so long. I guess I should have realized how fast it grows over the summer months.”

  “If it’s okay with you, Ben, I’m going to send all this hair to a friend of mine who makes wigs for cancer patients.”

  “Oh, absolutely, that is okay. I wonder why I never thought of that. Probably because . . . because I never . . . that’s sad,” he finished up, just as his cell phone gave off a zippy little ditty. “Someone is calling me! My first phone call on my new phone! Do you believe that?” Ben asked as he rummaged in his pocket for the phone Isabelle had bought him. Thinking it was Isabelle, Ben grinned, and playfully said, “How’s it hanging, Izzy?”

  A second later Alexis heard the happiest squeal she’d ever heard in her life. She laid down the shears when she heard, “Granny! Is it really you? Are you okay? I’m okay! I’m getting a haircut, and we’re going to donate my hair to someone Alexis knows who makes wigs for cancer patients. Where are you? When will I see you? Can I live with you again? It’s really you! I’m sorry I didn’t catch on sooner. These ladies are all nice, and there are five dogs here! Five, Granny, and they like me. They sleep with me, and boy, are they warm and cozy. The food is so good, and there’s lots of it. I’m not one little bit hungry. Maggie is buying me some new clothes. When you come back, you will have to pay her back. My underwear was too tight,” Ben babbled, breathlessly but happily.

  Alexis walked to the kitchen door, the dogs in tow, just as Myra, Annie, Kathryn, and Yoko drove into the courtyard. She quickly explained that Eleanor L
ymen was on the phone with her grandson. “I wanted him to feel free to be who he is with her,” Alexis said as she crossed her arms over her chest to ward off the brisk wind. “You should have heard him. He was just like a normal little boy, all excited about talking to his granny. He sure does love her,” Alexis said as she remembered her own granny and the special bond they had growing up on the farm where she was raised.

  The women all nodded as they remembered their own grannies. “The houses on the Circle were trashed, especially Mrs. Lymen’s. Obviously, the boy wasn’t there, so they, the intruders, were also looking for something besides the boy. They didn’t find the safe in the linen closet, however. All three doors to all three houses were broken, so we need to see about their getting repaired as soon as possible,” Myra said. “So, to sum it all up, we have to assume the Ryans know Ben is gone, and they thought, correctly, as it turned out, that he would head to the only place he thought he would be safe. But they arrived much too late to find him still there. So, by now, they have to be in full panic mode.” Myra looked at Kathryn and Yoko and asked how they had made out at the Institute.

  Kathryn bristled as she reported on their findings. “The professor we met, apparently the guy who runs the Institute, had, in my most humble opinion, a very high, as in very high, snoot factor. It was like he thought he was talking to two idiot women, meaning Yoko and me. An elitist for sure. There was no way we would have gotten in without bandying about Eleanor Lymen’s name. That was key. He told us that Ben was absent with a bug of some sort. Then they said that Mr. Connor Ryan had called and said he was taking Ben to the doctor to rule out appendicitis. I guess that was Ryan’s way of finding out if Ben was there. Stupid is as stupid does,” she announced, glaring at the three women next to her.

  “I hated that place!” Yoko cried passionately. “There wasn’t one ounce, one smidgen of color anywhere. It was a sterile, gray, antiseptic environment. Extremely depressing. Lily wouldn’t last a day in such a place. You couldn’t hear a sound anywhere. When we looked in the various room windows on our quick tour, none of the kids even looked up. They all looked like robots to me.”