Deadly Silence

by Mary Stone

  Elise sniffled, buried her face into the pup’s soft fur, and started to sob.

  Kylie blinked rapidly, trying hard to not break down herself. “So, this woman who babysat…she said your aunt took Daisy, but the woman wasn’t your aunt?”

  “Yeah. Agnes. She’s an old lady. And I don’t got no aunt. My mom was an only child and my dad…” She shrugged. “I never knew him, so it had to be someone pretendin’ to be my aunt, I guess? I don’t know. But she took my baby and disappeared on me. And I didn’t know what to do.”

  Kylie reached over and plucked a tissue from a dispenser, handing it to the girl. “Did you call the police and report Daisy missing?”

  Elise nodded, then blew her nose, long and loud, into the tissue. “Yeah. They looked for her, but not too hard. They searched my trailer and had these dogs search all around.” She sniffed harder, pressing a new tissue to her eyes. “Dogs for dead people, but they never found nothin’.”

  Kylie blew her own nose, still trying to pull herself together. Hormones were no joke.

  “I’m so sorry. That’s awful.” She wrote a few notes and began her line of questioning. “When did this happen?”

  “Two years ago.”

  Kylie froze and just stared at the young woman, her heart sinking down into her toes. “Two…years?” When Elise nodded, all shreds of hope Kylie had harbored over finding this child suddenly fell away. “And you’re just looking into it now?”

  “No, like I said, the police are suppose to be lookin’ into it for me. But they ain’t doin’ much.” She leaned forward, lowering her voice. “They kept askin’ me if I’d killed her or gave her away, but I kept tellin’ them I loved my little Daisy and would be doin’ nothin’ to hurt her. I don’t think they believed me, but they didn’t put me in jail either, so…” Elise shrugged, her shoulders coming up to her ears and staying there for long moments.

  Kylie said, “Ah,” though she was pretty sure that case had to have been buried and filed away in some Unsolved Cases folder months and months ago. As much as she hated to think it, they were probably stringing Elise along because she was low-income and slow. Jerks. “If I can be honest with you, I think they’ve probably stopped looking, if it was that long ago.”

  Elise nodded, her eyes flooding with tears again. “Cody says it’s cause we’re white trash and nobody cares about white trash. He told me that if I was the governor’s daughter, they would’ve found her by now. Because I’m not the governor’s daughter, I thought I better save up and get myself a real investigator but getting the money for that wasn’t workin’ out. So, I told myself I should just get over it. That’s what Cody said to do.”

  She was smiling, but it was the most miserable smile Kylie had ever seen.

  “So I tried to,” the girl went on, “but it’s like there’s a hole inside me, just getting wider and wider with each passin’ day, you know? Every time I see a baby, I swear, for a minute or two, I think it could be Daisy. And I think I won’t be able to get past it and get some real, good sleep unless I figure out what happened. When I saw your ad, I…I…”

  She buried her face in her hands and cried softly, dabbing her face with the used tissue.

  This time, Kylie brought the box of tissues close, and joined in. She didn’t care if it cost her money to investigate this case. She was in; ready to bring out the contract and sign her name on the dotted line, no matter what.

  5

  Linc shivered as he walked the stalls of the modest little barn he’d recently had rebuilt after a devastating fire. As he did, introducing his two llamas to the newest guest, the dogs swarmed his legs, putting him off-balance.

  Wiping his hot forehead, he sneezed. His head ached with the action, making his teeth hurt. He braced himself against the wooden gate to avoid pitching himself into a stall. Over the course of the morning, he’d felt more and more like shit.

  Damn sinus infection coming on. At least that was what it felt like. Nothing infectious, at least he didn’t think so.

  Cody, Elise’s boyfriend, was nice enough, a little jittery, but damn. Linc had never been much of a conversationalist, but now his tongue felt thick in his mouth. Yeah. He felt definitely shitty, and damned if he hated being sick.

  But he’d deal. If it meant Kylie getting a new case and helping her business grow, then he’d stand out in the rain for a week talking to this moron.

  “I told her it was damn stupid comin’ up here,” the kid muttered as he kicked at some straw. He had on a backwards baseball cap, a t-shirt for a band that Linc had never heard of that clung to his wiry frame, and jeans that were dangerously close to puddling at his feet. He also smelled like tobacco, mixed in with a little pot, and Linc was pretty sure those were track marks on his skinny inner arm.

  Which was sad, considering that the kid looked to be all of twelve. Seriously. Was Cody a tween, or was Linc just getting old?

  He felt old. He actually felt like his head could pop off, and he’d praise the idea of being rid of it.

  “But you still drove her. That was nice of you,” Linc said, rubbing the back of his sweaty neck. He was burning up. And he needed another haircut. He’d do that…whenever. After Kylie’d nearly shaved his head bald the one time he’d let her get near him with some clippers, he knew he’d never trust her again with a pair of scissors, so he’d have to find the time to get down the mountain and get to the barber…somehow.

  For the first time, he found himself agreeing with Kylie. Sometimes, it was a pain in the ass being so far away from everything.

  Cody shrugged and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. “She’s schitzin’ over this thing that happened to her years ago. If I hear her nag me on it one more time, I’m gonna go mental, you know? Move on, you know?”

  “Yeah? What happened to her?” Linc reached for a pitchfork and dug the forks into the dirt, leaning on the wooden handle to keep himself upright.

  “Eh. I dunno. Somethin’ about a kid she lost.”

  Linc raised an eyebrow. A kid? Lost? That sounded serious.

  “It could be bullshit. It was before my time, so who knows? Lise is always tellin’ stories. She ain’t all there.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “This whole place yours?”

  Linc frowned at the insensitivity of the man but accepted the change of subject with a nod.

  The kid whistled as he looked around, eyeing another pitchfork on the wall. He picked it up, hefted it for a few seconds, put it back. “Must be nice. So, what? You a farmer?”

  “No. I train search and rescue dogs,” Linc said. He’d normally have said it with pride, but now he couldn’t infuse any emotion into his voice.

  “Cool. You mean for like, finding cadavers in the woods and shit? That’s hardcore. You ever find anyone like that?”

  “Like…what? You mean, dead?”

  Cody nodded, super-interested now.

  Linc had, many times. More times than he could count, but he was already feeling like shit. He didn’t need to recall those times and feel even shittier. “Yeah. What do you do for a living, Cody?”

  “Little of this. Little of that. My dad works at the garage downtown, so sometimes I help him out, doin’ oil changes and shit,” he said, reaching into the pocket of his jeans and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Linc hoped to hell he wasn’t thinking of lighting it, not considering he’d spent most of the summer rebuilding the barn. Instead, the kid just tapped the pack on the rail and sighed. “Elise and I have it pretty good. She works hard. Gets really good tips because she’s hot. Sometimes I wonder if she’s giving her customers a little something else on the side, if you know what I mean, ‘cause they’re so good. But nah. She’s just good at what she does. Takin’ care of people. She’s a good girl. Keeps me honest. That’s why I look out for her.”

  It was the first thing he’d said that didn’t smack of immaturity, and Linc found himself warming to the kid.

  Or maybe that was the fever.

  He opened his mouth to ask the kid if he
wouldn’t mind sitting down on the porch, since he was having a hard time standing on two feet, when they heard the screen door slam. They walked together to the barn doors. Suddenly, Linc felt even sicker.

  Elise was standing there, cradling little Britt in her arms. “And you’re sure I can have her?” the slip of a young girl was saying. Her limbs were all bare and as pale and thin as skeleton bones.

  “Him. It’s a him,” Kylie was saying, nodding. “Britt. Yes. Of course. He’s all yours. I can see he really adores you.”

  What. The. Hell.

  “Aw, shit!” Cody groused as he fixed his baseball cap down on his head. “I told you, Lise. No pets. What the hell are we going to do with that little monster? Guess I’m gonna be the one looking after his little ass, picking up his shit and stuff while you’re at work.”

  For a minute, Linc was glad of the kid’s protests. Maybe they wouldn’t want the dog after all. But then Elise stuck her lower lip out and said, “But he’s so cute. Cody, look.”

  Britt did the kiss of death; licking her face. No human with a soul could resist such charm. Cody ran through the rain and climbed the steps to the porch, two at a time. He touched Britt’s nose, and Britt leaned into his hand, clearly in heaven. “Yeah. I guess he’s cute.”

  And…sold.

  Dammit

  What the actual…hell? He thought that he and Kylie had a tacit agreement to discuss things before they went and separated the litter. After all, Kylie was fond of discussing, and would sometimes do it until they were blue in the face. It was her number one hobby. For her to make this arbitrary but major decision on her own? What the hell was his wife doing?

  But Kylie’s eyes were glazed. She didn’t even bother to look at the eye daggers he was trying to shoot her. Actually…she looked more like she was about to burst into tears.

  Who was this woman, and what had she done with the real Kylie?

  Kylie said her goodbyes to the Elise and the puppy and told her she’d be in touch. They hugged like old friends. Linc always marveled how he could know someone his entire life—family even—and always keep them at arm’s distance, but Kylie could meet someone once, and suddenly they were the type of buddies who hugged and kissed and got all touchy-feely.

  The two kids climbed into the Honda and set off down the puddle-filled drive, with his damn puppy, and since the rain had let up, Kylie watched them, waving the entire time.

  “You gave them Britt,” he said, trying to keep his voice even.

  “Yeah. I had to.”

  “Had to?” He blew out a long breath. “Britt was one of the good ones. He was catching on faster than all of them, maybe except Beatrice. He would’ve made a great SAR.”

  Not only that. Of all of them, Britt was his favorite. The runt of the litter. Beatrice, like Storm, knew she was a champion, but Britt had no such attitude. He was also the most mellow. Kind of like Linc.

  Kylie wiped at her face. “Geez, Linc. Life is not all about SAR,” she snapped, whirling and stomping inside.

  What? Okay, life wasn’t all about search and rescue, but it was pretty damn important. It might not have been all of his life, but it was most of his livelihood, the thing that kept a roof over their heads. He thought she understood that.

  Apparently not.

  He stood there for a long time, his throbbing temples and dizziness forgotten. Sure, they fought. But hell, now it seemed like that was all they were doing.

  He took a breath and opened the screen door, closing it quickly behind him so the pups wouldn’t follow him in and trail mud in the house, making her angrier yet. He found her, sitting at her desk, her face in her hands. At first he thought that she might’ve had a headache, but then he heard a soft sob.

  “Kylie.” His voice was gentle.

  She didn’t stop.

  He tried again, louder. “Kylie.”

  When she still didn’t answer, he decided she was just ignoring him, so he went to his desk across from hers and sat down, waiting for her to stop. When she finally did seem to quiet down, he said, “You want to tell me what this is all about?”

  She looked at him through her hands, her eyes red-rimmed, her nose running. “Not really. I’ll be fine. I just need a moment. It’s just…that poor girl.”

  “I get it, Lee. You always get invested with your clients. But I got to tell you, if you get so invested that you put their needs ahead of yours, we’re going to end up in the poor house. You need to draw a line between business and your personal feelings.”

  She lowered her hands to her thighs and let out a moan. “You’re right. But I can’t help it. It was such a sad story. I told her I’d take the case pro bono, and—”

  “Pro bono? Seriously? Lee!” he said, exasperated. “What were you thinking? First, you give up my dog, and then you—”

  “Your dog? I thought they were our dogs.” Her voice was hollow.

  “They are ours. But they were our cushion. You do realize you just gave away twenty-thousand dollars. Right?”

  She looked at him, confused. “What?”

  “Yeah. A trained SAR dog is priceless, but I can usually sell them to handlers for about twenty K. That litter, properly trained, is our future, Lee.”

  She blinked. “Wait. You were going to…sell our dogs?”

  He’d always thought that went without saying. Before Kylie’d arrived on the farm, he’d had dozens of litters of SAR dogs, which he’d trained, then happily sold off to other handlers. It was part of his business, the reason he was able to afford nice things.

  But now, looking at the horror in her face, he wished he had another answer. “Did you really think we were going to keep all the dogs around here? This place would be a madhouse.”

  “No, but…yes. Actually. You don’t just get rid of family. They’re family.”

  He couldn’t believe what she was saying. She was always complaining about the dogs being underfoot. “And what’s Britt?”

  She gave him a wounded look. “Elise needs him more than we do. After what she went through…besides, she said she’d bring him back to visit. I was looking at it as an open adoption. We’ll still see him.”

  His vision swam, and he closed his eyes to ward off the dizziness. In the house, with darkness falling, he was starting to feel hot and feverish again. “All right. But, Lee, please don’t bend over backwards for this woman. I know you want to help her, but you’ve got to think of yourself too.”

  “I know. But the baby…”

  He thought of what Cody had said. Something about a kid she lost.

  “Baby?”

  Kylie swallowed, and she looked like she might burst into tears again. “Elise had a baby two years ago. She went to her job at the diner and left her with a babysitter, and then the child just disappeared. She hasn’t seen her since. Can you imagine?”

  He leaned a shoulder against the wall. “Are you serious? Jesus.” Maybe she was right about Elise needing that puppy. But then he remembered the other thing Cody said, about his girlfriend making up stories. “Are you sure she’s telling you the truth?”

  Her eyes flashed to his. “What? Of course.”

  “Cody said she likes to tell stories.”

  “What, like make something like this up? Why?” The disgust was thick in her voice. She pulled out a photograph that Linc could barely see, a photo of a few-days-old baby with a thick mop of black hair. “If you heard her talking about Daisy, you’d know it wasn’t a story.”

  “Okay, but what does she think you can do about it after two years? That’s a lot of time to pass before taking action. Why’d she wait so long?”

  Kylie shrugged. “She had the police looking into it, and then she was trying to save up the money, and then she saw my ad.”

  So, his beautiful and compassionate wife had paid three-hundred dollars for placemat ads so that she could pick up a bunch of free work? Kylie had gone through a lot of majors at UNC, but he got the feeling business wasn’t one of them. He massaged his temples.

&
nbsp; “I’m not sure what I can do,” she continued, scribbling something on her notepad. Probably ideas for the case. “But I can do a little digging. Maybe try and find out if anyone else witnessed this woman leaving with the baby.”

  “Not too much, though,” he warned. “Remember, you have paying clients. They need your attention, especially since they’re paying.”

  “Yeah. I know. It’s a cold case, so it’s not going anywhere. It can just be my hobby. My thing to do when I’m not busy with my other work.”

  He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. He wanted to be the thing she did when she wasn’t busy with the investigations work. But she had that excited “alive” look to her now, the one she only got when she was working a big case. He saw how much it meant to her, so he decided to let it go.

  Besides, he had to help himself to some sinus medicine before he wound up kissing the floor.

  As he climbed the stairs, feeling like shit, it occurred to him that Kylie hadn’t noticed that he was getting ill. She usually was the first to bring him chicken soup and take his temperature when he was feeling low.

  But Kylie wasn’t even looking at him as he went upstairs. No, instead, she was staring at the photograph of a days-old baby, with her dark, spiky hair, a ruddy face, and tiny pink arms spread out like a goalpost. The missing baby.

  The baby that, Linc knew, in the coming weeks, would be the source of many of his wife’s sleepless nights.

  6

  It felt damn good when everything was going to plan.

  Unfortunately, I’d been in this business for far too long to expect that. Half a century of making family dreams come true had proven one thing to me. This business was havoc. Wrenches got thrown my way often in the process, usually in the form of an incompetent hospital worker, or an intermediary getting too greedy. Sometimes, local law enforcement got too close for comfort, which was never a good thing. Just as babies were unpredictable, so was the business of adoptions.