by Joy Ohagwu
She smiled as well. But some sadness etched her smile, likely because of the missing person in their family’s newest joy. “Five weeks.”
Robert nodded and continued the dance. “Five weeks and counting. Thank You, Lord Jesus.” His heart sang with joy. He held her, and they danced for a while longer.
“Robert, I wanted to be happy when they told me. But without Ritz home, it felt wrong… as though it would be rejoicing about a new child at Ritz’s expense. I felt guilty. That’s why I didn’t tell you right away.”
He tipped her chin. “I know how you felt, because I feel the same way. But let’s remember, the Lord is adding to our family, not subtracting or replacing.” He kissed her. “Now I believe Ritz will come home, and we will have two children alive, not only one.”
Ruby nodded as he swung his arms around her waist to keep her warm while his insides thumped this time with excitement. However, he was glad their joy hadn’t diminished their wish for their first child to return home safe and sound. If anything, now they wanted her home more than ever.
Once more, he prayed again in his heart the one prayer he had gotten used to praying since yesterday. Please return Ritz, Lord. We need our baby girl back. Our family isn’t complete without her. Please, Lord Jesus.
One hour later, Ruby sat on one of their kitchen stools, shifted on her side, and ran a gentle hand over her belly. So that was what the nausea and stomach upset had been about. She had been relieved it wasn’t something worse, and so was Robert. Nothing was showing yet, but a baby was growing inside her. Laughter from deep within rose in her and spilled out of her lips in thanksgiving. “Thank You, my Lord Jesus, for making me a mother, again.”
Well, prospective mother. She glanced at her tummy. “At forty-something years of age.” She chuckled. Who would’ve thought? She had been so busy the past couple of weeks that it just now occurred to her she missed her time the prior month. When they reached home and she’d glanced at the calendar in their bedroom wall next to the bedding closet, a circle was missing from where she typically recorded dates every month.
She rubbed her tummy again, and her heart sank when she realized what day it was. She and Ritz made a commitment to attend the orphanage’s monthly prayer gatherings after Robert’s disappearance. With so much going on, she could not attend as she needed to be home and by the phone in case the kidnappers called.
She’d have to call them and excuse their absence. She exhaled, rose, and made her way to search a cabinet, intent on making herself some food. She needed to eat, if not for herself, for the baby. Outside, Robert was busy, but she wasn’t sure what he was up to. She opened the back door, catching a glimpse of him. “Robert, please don’t forget you need to be at the station in one hour.”
He met her at the door with an apron hung over one hand and a set of prongs clutched in the other. She frowned. “Are you grilling something?” He wouldn’t grill on this day, at this time, considering all they were up against, would he?
CHAPTER TEN
“Now the just shall live by faith.”- Hebrews 10:38
Ruby followed as Robert took her by the hand and led her to the kitchen patio. Out there, their grill was dusted up, freshly cleaned, and ready with a stack of dry wood encased in transparent plastic, and a lighter perching by the edge.
“What on earth have you gotten yourself into, Robert?” She wrapped a hand around herself as a shiver ran through her. “It’s cold out here. Come on inside before you catch a cold.”
But he took her by one hand and led her closer to the grill. At the edge, he pointed at it. “I took a step of faith now. With this pregnancy, I figured God was telling us something,” Robert began.
“He’s giving us another child, in addition to Ritz, not instead of. So, as we search for her and fight to get her back, we need to take a moment and thank God for this incredible gift. And celebrate it in faith, knowing He is in charge. I also needed to take a step to show that she would be back home. I set up this grill for us to celebrate when she returns.”
He kissed her forehead. “I prayed hard on our drive home. And I believe that somehow, God will lead Ritz back to us. I believe that with all my heart now, and that was not easy at first. And setting up this grill was something I could do to show my faith rather than worry.”
Robert took her hand and walked back inside the house, setting the apron onto the kitchen island. He’d left the prongs at the edge of the grill.
Ruby squeezed his hand, so happy he had sorted out his heart’s resistance with God, just like she had done earlier. This trial was testing both their faiths, but they each needed to be strong and defeat the devil’s lies whispered in their hearts first, before they could be in good standing to fight externally. Knowing the church prayer team was holding them up in prayer personally encouraged her.
She sat on the stool she had vacated. “When you were missing, Ritz had said her main fear was losing either of us. Whether through divorce or such.”
Ruby was sure her eyes gleamed with the memory. “She didn’t know my own fear was ever losing either of you.” Ruby clenched the island with white knuckles. “And now that I’ve lost you both at one time or the other, I feel…”
She tried to find the right words while scanning his dear face. “Free. I feel free from fear, from not knowing how I would react.” She rubbed her belly. “Even if I wasn’t pregnant again, and Ritz didn’t make it home—but God forbid—I would still be at peace now, trusting God completely. No more fear.”
Robert took her hand in his again. Then he hugged her. “No more fear. By the Lord’s mercy, we won’t lose any of us.” He parted from her and peered into her face. “But even if we ever do, and like you said, God forbid such, we know that we loved each other truly and wholly from the depth of our hearts, and that we each love Jesus. That right there yields peace of mind to me, and I assume, to you as well.”
“Yes, it does.” Ruby nodded. “I’m glad we had this conversation.”
As though on cue, they slid into adjacent side stools, grabbed an apple each from the fruit basket centered on the kitchen island, and ate in silence—a comfortable silence, based on trust in God. Not like when they’d eaten the blueberry muffins that first night, wishing that either of them were the one taken and not Ritz. Wanting to blame God for allowing unknown assailants to snatch their only child. Wishing they could dial back the clock and stop Ritz from leaving home.
Today, they had faith in God and quiet confidence in Him. That made all the difference, and the atmosphere in their home was peace and calm fueled by hope.
“How is Christiana? Is she feeling better? I wanted to go see her a second time, but things got busy.” She looked up as they washed a few dishes minutes later, a chore they hadn’t done either together or on their own for a while since Grace took care of such. It felt soothing, like they were allowing it to occupy their time while they mulled over their next steps in search of their daughter.
When their hands met over Ritz’s favorite pink bowl, which Ruby had used to heat up some soup earlier, they stopped and stared at each other. Robert swallowed and his face reddened, like he was holding back the tears.
He set the drying towel down slowly. “We’re almost done here, so I’ll go up to ping Charlie in case he’s got some news for us.”
Overcome by emotion too, she could only nod. As soon as he left, she leaned over the edge of the sink and bowed her head. Lord, I miss my baby girl. I miss her smile, her irksome pranks, and…I just want her back, please. She waited for His voice—like in times past—but heard nothing. Sighing, she leaned up. I choose to trust You.
She finished her task and returned to the living room where Robert was pacing while speaking with Charlie.
“Thank you, Charlie. I appreciate that.” He planted a hand on his hip and crossed the other arm around his middle. “According to Randolph, electronic evidence indicated Christiana had left home at about the same time Ritz did. And Ritz’s missed call to me and text message to you sh
owed she had gone to the mall at about the same time. So, whatever happened to Christiana, happened between the time she left her parents’ house and when she got attacked in the alley.”
Ruby sank into a seat. “I see where you’re going with this, Robert,” she interjected and inched a hand up her jaw. “If Christiana knew her assailant, then—”
Robert nodded and put the call on speaker. “There would’ve been a call from her phone to show a connection, but there wasn’t.”
“Meaning,” Ruby met his eyes again, “she didn’t know him. He was a circumstantial acquaintance…” She gasped and threw Robert a glance, sure he was coming to the same conclusion. “Or she wasn’t the primary target.”
“She was, perhaps, secondary to their interest or got caught up in something criminal unknowingly,” he added, perching on the same seat and curving a hand around her shoulder.
“That is all a probability, but we have no solid proof for any of those speculated scenarios, whether for Ritz or for Christiana.” Charlie’s voice vibrated over the speaker.
Robert asked a question none of them wanted to consider. “Could Ritz have been the original target, you think?”
She looked at him and shook her head. “There’s no way to tell, but I doubt it. I mean, Ritz didn’t appear to be in trouble. She and Christiana sometimes meet up at the mall first if they need to chat privately since it’s not far from their school, before heading for classes. I checked with the school as recently as a few days ago, and they said she was in good standing, both academically and otherwise. So…”
“That’s what I was told when I went there yesterday about the running app too.” Robert scratched his chin. “Then it could be something else.”
Robert scratched the stub of beard on his jaw. “I just can’t figure out why I still haven’t recalled where I saw the kidnapper’s face before. Maybe it’s from an old case I worked years back or something.”
He stood, and a frown creased his forehead. “Mind if I go to the station for a bit, Ruby? My thought process works better on graphics when I’m figuring things out in the lab while looking at the drawing. I’m sure Randolph has it hanging up there while he’s running facial recognition.”
Ruby was well aware that, being SSPD captain, he didn’t really need to be in the lab, but she nodded. “Of course. Anything to get our baby girl home.”
He kissed her and held her hand for a moment. “Please rest up and take care of…everyone.” He clearly didn’t want to let Charlie in on the fresh pregnancy news yet.
She nodded again. “I will, Robert. Thanks, Charlie. You both be careful out there.”
Robert shrugged on his coat and grabbed his keys, heading to the door. “I love you, Red, and I’ll see you soon. If I’m delayed tonight, I’ll see you in the morning. Please don’t forget to lock the doors behind me.”
Ruby smiled. “I love you too, Robert, and I will.”
At about seven p.m., Robert arrived at the Windstar Building and hopped up the steps to the SSPD. He reached his office, opened the door, and narrowly dodged an object aiming for his face. He automatically pulled out his gun, leaned over, and stared at the mess in front of him.
His entire office had been turned over. Files, sheets of paper and stationery carpeted the floor and littered the desk. He glanced back for what had aimed at him. A paper plane. It looked familiar, like the paper planes Ritz and Charlie’s son used to make. Charlie’s son had played with Ritz here in his office whenever they each came over, making paper planes and darting them toward the door. But that was a long time ago.
He turned around, pocketed his gun, and willed his heart to calm down. He slid out his cell phone and dialed. “Hey, Charlie. Was your son in my office?”
“Oh yes. He said he was sad about Ritz, so he went in there and spent some time during lunchtime. Is everything fine? I will discipline him if he broke something. Well, I can tell him he might get grounded. That would scare him straight. Why, what’s wrong?”
Robert’s shoulders relaxed partway. “A paper plane missile narrowly missed hitting my head when I entered, and my office has been ransacked like someone was searching for something.”
Rustling sounded at Charlie’s end. “I’m so sorry about the paper plane. That was probably his fault. But I don’t think he would go so far as to wreck your office. He’s right here by the TV. Give me one minute to ask him.”
Robert waited, sinking into his office couch and wrinkling up the file folders on the cushions. Why would anyone turn his office over, and what were they searching for?
A moment later, Charlie returned to the call. “He said he’d made the paper plane and he’s sorry for setting it to hit the door. He forgot to remove it when he left. But he left your office the way it was and didn’t touch anything. I don’t like this situation, so I’ll send someone from the tech team over to take a look and see what may have happened.”
Did Charlie think he was at home? “I’m here, Charlie, at the SSPD. Don’t bother trying to send someone or to come down here. It’s getting late, and you didn’t sleep last night. Stay home with your family. Let me get down to the lab. I’m sure I can find someone. And if a vandal is snooping around here for something, I want to find it before they do.”
As soon as he ended the call, he dialed home. “Hey, my Red.”
“Hey, honey. Are you at the SSPD yet?”
“Yes, I’m here. It appears someone came to my office searching for something. The place is a mess. Check our house doors to be sure they’re locked, okay? God knows how grateful I am that our address is unlisted. It’s most likely that I won’t come home tonight while I try to get to the bottom of, well, everything.”
“Wait, someone crashed your office?” Ruby gasped. “Do you think it’s connected to Ritz’s kidnapping?”
Robert scratched his jaw, the stubble grazing beneath his fingers. “I can’t tell right off the bat, but it might be.”
“All right, I double-check the front door. Be careful, okay? I love you.”
“Love you too.” Robert hung up, took another glance, and left his office, heading down the stairs to the lab. Randolph would be there since the man never went home whenever he hadn’t found a lead in an investigation. He tended to hang back more than the rest. Someone had the answers to this wreck, and he would find them before they got away. If it had anything to do with the kidnapping, he would work to uncover it in an effort to bring Ritz home.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Heed [the prophetic word] as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns.”- 2 Peter 1:19
Robert pushed open the lab doors and scanned his ID, which reminded him to request that the tech team find out how someone gained access to his office without a keycard. He swung around the main area and diverted into Randolph’s private space—which hadn’t changed much in the decades he’d worked here—furnished with enough laptops, state-of-the-art tech machines, and equipment to make other state lab teams jealous of him. “Hey, man. You got a minute?”
Randolph looked up from the machine he was leaning over and removed the safety goggles, coming around to shake Robert’s hand. “Yes, sure. What can I do for you, Captain?”
Robert tightened his lips. He’d asked Randolph to treat him like a regular colleague—which they were before Robert became captain, knowing that the man had served in the force much longer than he had.
Clearly, the man wasn’t buying the idea and was intent on respecting him. “I’m not really sure what happened, but my office got…ransacked.” Robert pointed toward the stairs. “Charlie’s son was up there this afternoon, but he said he did nothing more than make toy planes. Do you know what might’ve happened or who may have gone in there? Who else has access?”
Cocking a hip against the nearby desk, Randolph frowned. “That’s serious. You’re our captain, with guaranteed secure access to your office space, so I consider that a security breach. How on earth did someone get into your office and have sufficient time to ransack it wi
thout anyone noticing?” He curled his arms. “How did they even get past the building’s security? It could be that these new guys they hired are not as efficient as the previous team which was really thorough.”
Randolph slid off his white lab coat, mottled by more than a few permanent color stains, and hung it up. He washed his hands and nodded toward the door. “Let me go with you and take a look.”
He grabbed a bag with equipment peeking out of it and led the way. Robert followed, but wasn’t too keen on going back upstairs without certainty about who or what had entered his office. Yet, maybe Randolph’s professional eye might catch something before their tech team went in to inspect it.
They arrived at his office, and before Robert inserted his keycard, Randolph detained him with a hand. “Wait.” He leaned over and studied the lock then frowned. “Odd that there was no forced break-in.” He glanced at Robert. “The door’s fine, meaning someone entered legitimately with a keycard.”
“Was it a duplicate?” Robert asked. Did they even have duplicates? He never bothered looking into such as Randolph typically handled them but had never heard of there being duplicates.
Randolph shook his head. “No, not at all. No keys here have duplicates. I requested them that way intentionally. Every key is coded uniquely so if it gets lost, I can create a different combination using a new keycard but retaining the information from the previous one’s backup in the system.”
Robert squinted as he inserted the gray keycard, unlocked his door, and let them inside. “So, someone had to have taken my card off me,” he paused, “or coded one in your lab with the same combination.”
“Either way, I don’t like this. Right when your child goes missing. Something about it doesn’t sit right with me.” Randolph began pulling equipment from his bag to study the mess in front of them.