Taken

by Debra Lee

  “It proves Carol hates kids.”

  “I’m guessin’ a psychiatrist will come up with an all together different diagnose. But I’d say you’re right on the money.”

  Reilly was already on his feet pulling on his coat when he said, “Well I’m not waitin’ around for no psychiatrist’s evaluation. I’ll get the truth from Carol myself.”

  “You know where she is?”

  “Where she always is.”

  Chapter Thirty One

  Carol was locking up her car when she spotted Mary coming out the door from work. “Hey lady, need a lift?”

  Mary would’ve preferred to walk the five blocks home since the sun had heated up the bitter cold of earlier. But she didn’t share this with Carol and crossed the street and slid in on the passenger’s side of the sports car.

  “Any luck today?” Mary asked as she pulled the door shut.

  Carol gave her a discouraged look as she steered the car away from the curb. “I’ll tell you, Mare. I was all over again today. Nobody’s hiring. And the ones who are give me the same lame excuse. I’m either under or over qualified.”

  Mary stopped listening to her the second she turned left instead of going straight at the light. “Where are you going?”

  “You don’t expect me to spend the night in this, do you?” Carol answered, making reference to her business suit. Then she glanced over at Mary seeing her instant panic. “Don’t worry. I’ll stop home, make a quick change and we’ll be on our way.”

  Carol saw her words didn’t erase Mary’s worry. But then that look had been in her eyes for weeks now. As a matter of fact, Mary’s entire appearance would let even a stranger know she had enormous troubles.

  She guessed Mary had dropped twenty pounds in these last weeks. Her clothes hung on her. Her eyes looked too big for the rest of her face, which was way too thin and pale. If she looked close enough, Carol knew she’d find a few gray strands in the jet black hair that had lost its shine.

  Mary twisted her bony fingers together when Carol turned onto the highway jammed with holiday travelers. If she hadn’t overslept this morning she wouldn’t have gone off and left her cell phone Reilly bought for her on the nightstand. And if Carol had paid her bill on time, she’d still have her cellular privileges and Mary could call police headquarters to check in. But since that was no longer possible, Mary was on the verge of a panic attack.

  “Can’t you turn off up here and take that side street? It’ll be quicker.”

  “What, you have a hot date to get home to?” Carol quipped.

  “Funny.”

  Carol knew she had gone too far, but she didn’t care. She had had enough of Mary wanting to hibernate in her apartment when she wasn’t at work. It was time she stopped living solely for the sound of the phone or the knock on her door.

  A car stopped on the opposite side of the highway ahead of her so the hitchhiker could get in. Carol took the opportunity to speed up then whip her car in front of the stopped car and turn onto the side street Mary had suggested taking. The long route to her apartment but quicker than getting through the traffic congestion.

  Mary glanced at her watch as Carol pulled into the driveway next to the decrepit big house. Fifteen minutes had passed, too long to be away from a phone. At least from Mary’s point of view.

  Okay if I use your phone?” Mary asked as they climbed the outside stairs attached to the house that had been converted into several dinky apartments.

  “Sure,” Carol said as she opened the unlocked door and was followed inside by Mary.

  Mary saw the place hadn’t changed since her last visit months before. A one room dump is the best way to describe it.

  Today Mary wasn’t interested in why Carol lived in a place like this when she knew she could afford something much nicer. At least she could have when she was working. Carol never made it a point to boast about her salary, but Mary knew it had been twice what hers was.

  Once before when Mary asked her why she didn’t move to a bigger place Carol simply said she couldn’t afford one, confessing money always seemed to burn a hole in her pocket, which in turn forced her to live from payday to payday.

  Mary often wondered if that was completely true. She sensed the money went for something other than Carol just blowing it. What that something was eluded Mary.

  “You know where the phone is,” Carol told her as she went around the curtain that separated the living room and bedroom.

  Mary reached for the phone on the counter that separated living room and kitchen. She was about to poke in the numbers to police headquarters when she saw the red button on the answering machine flashing.

  “You have some messages,” she called to Carol.

  Carol was already stripped out of her suit when she hollered. “Play them, will you?”

  Mary pushed the play button hoping for hang-ups. Time was slipping by and the police didn’t know where she was in case they had news of Jena to give her.

  “Teddy it’s Betty. I finally found your number in one of my old address books. Anyway, Jim had a heart attack. So we can’t take care of her anymore.”

  “Can’t take care of her,” Mary repeated softly.

  “You’ll have to come and get your baby. In case you lost our number, it’s—”

  Mary stopped listening to the woman’s recorded voice when she saw Carol come out around the curtain. She was pulling on her sweatshirt, but not for a second did she take her eyes off Mary’s horror stricken ones.

  “My God, Carol, tell me it wasn’t you.”

  No matter how much Mary wanted her to say it wasn’t so she knew she wouldn’t, couldn’t. For that brief moment Mary waited for Carol’s verbal response her insides exploded with a combination of painful disbelief and anger. Lots of anger.

  Chapter Thirty Two

  “You do always park here,” Kelly commented from his front passenger seat when the car came to a sudden stop in the parking lot outside the Murray woman’s apartment building.

  “Your point?” Reilly asked.

  “Did I tell you our k-9 lost Jena’s scent right outside your door? Between your car and where Sanders always parks.”

  “She’s not parked there now,” Reilly declared and quickly hopped out. Then he glanced back inside to Kelly. “Come on, this is our chance to tell Mary before Carol gets here.”

  Kelly crawled out but didn’t race to catch up with Reilly who’d already disappeared inside the building. By the time Kelly reached the second floor landing he saw Reilly outside the Webber woman’s door, pumping her for information.

  “She hasn’t come home from work yet, Reilly. Is something wrong?” Ellie asked, sensing trouble when she spotted the detective.

  “If she does come in please don’t leave her alone with Carol,” was all Reilly had time for when he rushed back to the stairs, Kelly panting to keep up as he followed him down.

  “Where’s the fire, Jackson?”

  “It’s gettin’ dark.”

  “So what?” Kelly had raised his voice to be sure Reilly would hear since he was already exiting the building.

  Reilly was in his car by the time Kelly stepped outside. Kelly jumped in on the passenger’s side as Reilly backed the car around.

  “Mary wouldn’t walk home in the dark. She has to be with Carol,” Reilly finally explained.

  ***

  “If you want Jena back put down that phone,” Carol threatened when Mary picked up the receiver and said she was calling the police.

  Mary put the phone down, her eyes fixed on this stranger she had called her friend. “Phone’s down, now tell me where she is.”

  “I didn’t hurt her, Mare. I just wanted her to go away. You know, so things could be like they used to be.”

  Mary feared what Carol might do if she told her their relationship would never be the same again. The truth could make her decide to keep Jena’s whereabouts from her. “Things can’t be the same until I know for myself Jena is safe. If you take me to her so I can s
ee, then I promise things will be like they used to be.”

  Carol needed to think. Nothing was going like she had planned. Mary was supposed to get over the loss of Jena by now. That hadn’t happened. Now Carol wondered if she could trust her to keep her word. Would she run to the police the minute she saw Jena was safe?

  The long drive to the backwater New York town should be plenty of time to convince Mary she took Jena for Mary’s own good. Maybe even convince her once Jim recovered from his heart attack Jena would be better off staying with Carol’s former foster parents forever. Yes, that’s what she’d do.

  ***

  “Damn?” Reilly exclaimed, slamming a fist into the dash when he pulled into the driveway where Carol’s car should have been parked.

  “Got any other bright ideas?” Kelly asked calmly. But his calm quickly left him when he saw Reilly staring at the big old house in front of him. Kelly’s gut told him he wasn’t going to like whatever Reilly was thinking about doing.

  “What do you bet there’s somethin’ up there that will give us all the answers, Kelly?”

  Kelly glanced over at Reilly staring at the narrow set of outside stairs. “Too bad we can’t go in and have a look around.” He saw Reilly reach for the door handle. “Where you goin’ Jackson?”

  “Forgot to tell you Carol wanted me to take a look at her fridge. It’s not workin’ right.”

  Kelly could only roll his eyes and turn his head away so he wouldn’t witness what Reilly was about to do. After all, breaking and entering was still against the law.

  There was no need for Reilly to try and figure out how he was going to pick the lock. When he turned the doorknob and inserted a little pressure the door opened.

  He slipped inside only to be taken aback when he saw the dirty cramped quarters. Then he was on to search. He didn’t know what he was looking for but there had to be something in the place that connected Carol to Jena’s disappearance.

  He started in the small area used as a living room, rifling through books and magazines, lifting couch cushions and pillows. Nothing of interest caught his eye until he looked up anticipating where to look next.

  The telephone wasn’t all the way back on its hook. Could be nothing. Or could be someone left in a hurry.

  He started to put the receiver back on its cradle properly when the red light on the answering machine grabbed his attention. He poked the play button to listen to the two messages that hadn’t been deleted.

  Kelly threw a burnt up cigarette out the window and was reaching in his pocket for a fresh one when he saw Reilly come barreling out the upstairs door and run down the steps. He missed half of them and wound up catching his foot as he came off the last step. He managed to keep from splattering face first on the ground and was off to the races again.

  He was gasping for breath when he dove in next to Kelly and fired up the engine. “She did it, Kelly. Carol Sanders took Jena.”

  Tires squealed and smoke flew as he burned rubber backing the car out of the driveway before speeding forward.

  “I have a number.”

  Kelly caught the piece of paper Reilly tossed him. The one he’d torn from a used envelope to jot down the telephone number the Betty woman had left on the answering machine.

  Kelly gave the number a quick look. “The last number’s missin’.”

  “I couldn’t understand what the woman on the answerin’ machine said.”

  “The area code looks familiar. I’m thinkin’ New York State.”

  Reilly’s eyes were bigger than usual when he glared over at Kelly.

  Chapter Thirty Three

  Mary blinked when the windshield wipers slashed away the fine flakes of snow landing on the window and blocking her view.

  “Better buckle up,” Carol suggested from the driver seat. “The road’s starting to get a little slick.”

  Mary pulled her seat belt over and buckled it. Not for the safety reason which was the farthest thing on her mind. She did it to appease Carol. Anything to keep her happy until she had Jena safely in her arms again.

  “So how much longer till we’re there?” Mary asked for the second time since they started out over thirty minutes ago.

  “Patience, Mare.”

  Last time it was, plenty of time for us to talk. Now she was telling Mary to be patient. Well how could she be? How could she be anything but a mass of raw nerves when she had no idea where Carol was taking her or if Jena would be there when they arrived?

  “Betty and Jim were my favorite foster parents,” Carol suddenly said. Actually, finally answered one of Mary’s questions from earlier she had evaded then.

  Mary pleaded with herself to remember. Almost miraculously, her memory served her well. “Then it was Jim who was transferred out of state?”

  Silence until Carol began playing with the radio. She tuned in a popular song and cranked up the volume as if to say the conversation was over for now.

  For one brief moment Mary forgot her earlier decision to do exactly what Carol wanted and pressed on. “So what’s with the name Teddy? I never heard anyone call you that before.”

  Carol laughed, throwing her head back against the headrest. A chill of fear coasted up Mary’s spine as she witnessed this display of obvious madness. Who was this woman in the seat next to her? Certainly not the Carol Sanders she had considered her best friend for the past several years.

  The laughter ended as abruptly as it began and Mary watched out of the corner of her eye as Carol stared straight ahead into the darkness of the night being speckled with white.

  Carol reached down and turned off the radio. “My previous foster parents hated little girls. The boy they had in their care was treated like a prince. Me, well—”

  “I’m sorry, Carol,” Mary said and meant it.

  “What’s to be sorry about? I learned a valuable lesson when I was with them.”

  Mary was lost. What was so valuable about being treated badly? But she didn’t probe Carol for an answer. Instead she waited in hope Carol would proceed. She did.

  “When I was sent to live with Jim and Betty then, I decided I was going to be a boy. I was to be called Teddy. That was the little prince’s name.”

  “Jim and Betty didn’t mind your sex change?”

  Carol’s eyes had a glossy, almost ominous look when she glanced over at Mary and smiled. “They let me get away with it for a while. But the name stuck.”

  Mary wondered what other strange happenings in Carol’s past had stuck.

  ***

  Reilly and Kelly had gathered in Daniels’ office with other officers coming and going with pieces of information pertaining to the partial telephone number Reilly gave them and the possible location of Carol Sanders.

  “A trooper just spotted the Sanders car on the Interstate,” Officer Brown burst inside Daniels’ office to announce.

  “The state police chopper is grounded until the storm lifts,” another officer came in the crowded room to inform.

  “I say we have that trooper on the Interstate pull her over and bring her back here,” Kelly suggested.

  “No way,” Reilly shouted. “Till we get a location in New York on that Betty woman we can’t. Our only chance of gettin’ Mary and Jena back safe is to follow Sanders.”

  “State troopers all the way to the Canadian border have been alerted,” Daniels reminded.

  Kelly stubbed out his cigarette in the overflowing ashtray that sat in front of a no smoking sign on Daniels’ desk. Then he eyeballed Reilly. “We let the state boys take it from here, Jackson.”

  “I don’t think so,” Reilly declared and jumped up.

  “I know what you’re thinkin’, Jackson and the answer is no.”

  “I’m goin’ after her Kelly and you can’t stop me.”

  “Goin’ in what? That puddle jumper you drive won’t make it to the state line the way it’s snowin’. Probably won’t even get out of the parking lot by now,” Kelly quickly pointed out.

  It was Daniels turn to ge
t up. As he stood from behind his desk his hand dove into his front trouser pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He tossed them across the desk to Reilly. “Take my SUV.”

  A quick, thanks came from Reilly before he turned toward the door.

  “Bring it back in one piece, Jackson.”

  Reilly was already out the office door, but not too far that he hadn’t heard the chief or the heavy footsteps coming up his rear.

  A look over his shoulder confirmed his suspicion it was Kelly following him out.

  “You don’t think I’m lettin’ you go alone, do you?” Kelly said.

  Reilly had hoped he’d come along. When it came to outwitting Carol Sanders Reilly welcomed any backup he could get, especially from Kelly who Reilly believed could match Carol in any maneuver she might throw their way.

  Chapter Thirty Four

  Mary continued to focus straight ahead on the snowy highway. Spending the last hour listening to Carol remind her of how nice it was when it was just the two of them nauseated her.

  “It was never just the two of us, Carol. Before Jena I had Kyle and you always had your one-nighters.”

  “And where’s Kyle now, Mary Murray? And where was he when you needed a shoulder to cry on? Or when you needed to share good news with someone?”

  Mary glanced over at her just in time to see her threatening eyes before Carol looked back to the road.

  “You have to know it was me who was there for you, Mare.” She paused. Her voice was soft and sincere when she continued. “And always will be.”

  Mary could not repute what she had said. Carol had been there for her through the good and bad times. But she didn’t want her to be anymore, especially since it meant giving up Jena.

  That’s what Carol hinted at earlier when she commented about how much better it would be for everyone if Jena remained with Jim and Betty. Carol had insisted Betty would be delighted to have Jena back with them once her husband recovered from his heart attack.

  Not being a mother herself, nor planning to be, Mary knew Carol had no way of knowing that when it came time to choose, there was no contest. Mary suddenly remembered all those months ago when her nana told her the fascinating story about her best friend Vera.