Missing Child

by Patricia MacDonald

  ‘That’s my next stop,’ said Sam.

  ‘Mind if I come along?’ said Noah.

  ‘No. I don’t want you at that hospital. Dan’s family has been through enough,’ said Sam. ‘If they see you walk in there, no explanation will be good enough to mollify them. Let me handle it. I know what to ask.’

  ‘I know you’re right,’ said Noah. He sighed as they left the building together. Standing on the sandstone steps of the station house, he scrolled through his missed phone calls, hoping to have one from Caitlin, and saw a whole series of calls from Naomi. He pressed a return call on one of them.

  ‘Noah,’ Naomi cried. ‘Are you out?’

  ‘I’m out,’ he said.

  ‘Thank God. I have to talk to you.’

  ‘I’m going to go,’ Sam interrupted him quietly. ‘Talk to you later.’

  Noah nodded and returned his attention to his sister. ‘What’s the matter?’ he asked.

  ‘Are you with Caitlin?’

  ‘No,’ said Noah. ‘Why?’

  ‘She brought Travis and Champ over here to the free bookstore about an hour ago. She told me not to let Travis out of my sight for any reason. She said that the police were going to come and talk to Travis. She didn’t say why. She even asked Ed, the guy in the booth at the entrance, not to leave us alone with anyone in the free bookstore. What is going on? Do you know? Travis refuses to speak. He’s clammed up completely, but I can tell that he’s really upset.’

  ‘I don’t know, Naomi,’ said Noah.

  ‘Why would she do that? She’s scaring me.’

  ‘I’m sure she had a good reason,’ said Noah. ‘Do you know where she went?’

  ‘I don’t,’ said Naomi.

  ‘Does Travis?’ Noah asked.

  ‘I’ll ask him again, but he’s not answering me. Travis,’ she said, her voice muffled but audible. ‘Do you know where your Aunt Caitlin was going? Travis?’

  There was a silence and then Naomi got back on the line. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Let me talk to him.’

  ‘Travis, your uncle wants to talk to you.’ Naomi waited a second. Then she said, ‘He’s shaking his head.’

  ‘Put the phone to his ear.’

  Noah could hear rustling and then the sound of adenoidal breathing.

  ‘Travis, this is Uncle Noah. I know there’s something the matter. You have to tell me what it is.’

  ‘Are you in jail?’ Travis asked.

  ‘No, I’m out of jail. Tell me about Aunt Caitlin. You were with her today?’

  ‘She said she could protect me,’ Travis said ruefully. ‘Me and Champ.’

  ‘Protect you from what?’ Noah asked. ‘Protect you from who?’

  ‘She made me tell her everything and now she’s gone,’ said Travis.

  ‘Tell her what?’ Noah asked.

  Travis was silent.

  ‘Look, Travis. I’m worried about Aunt Caitlin. I’m afraid that she might be in some kind of trouble. Do you know where she was going after she left you with your mom?’

  Travis remained silent.

  Noah tried to remain calm and think, though all his instincts were on high alert. ‘Who was she going to protect you from? Maybe that’s where she went. To beat that person up.’

  ‘She couldn’t beat him up. He’s too strong,’ said Travis scornfully.

  ‘Who, Travis?’

  ‘Ask Caitlin.’

  ‘I can’t, Travis. She’s not answering her phone.’

  ‘When she does . . .’

  ‘What if she can’t?’ Noah asked.

  Travis was silent for a moment. Then he said, in a defeated tone, ‘Mr Bergen,’ he said.

  ‘Geordie’s Uncle Dan?’ Noah asked.

  ‘No,’ said Travis. ‘The other one.’

  THIRTY

  Caitlin came to, her face and hair sweaty, her mind groggy. She blinked her eyes and saw . . . nothing. She was seated on a chair, her wrists fastened tightly behind the chair back with some kind of thin wire, her upper arms burning with pain. Her ankles were joined with the same wire and anchored to the chair legs. She inhaled sharply, overcome by fear, and then understood, as it was sucked into her mouth, covering her teeth and tongue, that a black plastic bag had been tied around her neck. She could feel the wire cutting into her airways when she moved her head. Her head was pounding where he had struck her. How long had she been here? He had left her here to die. He might never come back. It was impossible to breathe and her heart was racing.

  Palm trees, she told herself. Don’t lose it now. Someone will find you. She had left a message for Sam. And Travis had revealed his secret to her. She told herself that it would not be as difficult for him to reveal it a second time. Someone would know where to look, she thought. They had to. She needed to keep calm and try to breathe as shallowly as possible so she did not suffocate from the bag.

  Now that it was too late, she realized that she should never have come here on her own. She should have waited, let the police take care of it. She had been too eager to confront him. She had done this to herself.

  Between her regrets and the lack of air, Caitlin’s heart beat painfully in her chest. She wondered if she was still in the workshop and thought that she probably was. Westy had surprised her with his strength, but he was probably not strong enough to move her inert body out of the workshop. Not in daylight. Not without being seen.

  She tried to move around, to budge the chair, but all around her feet were objects which brushed against her ankles. Her head and shoulders also were also draped with something. She forced herself to be calm, and try to think. Heavy fabric, empty sleeves. She was in the closet. She kicked the objects around her feet. Boots or shoes. He had left her in the closet.

  Who would look for me here, she thought? But that was the kind of thought which led to despair and she didn’t dare think it. She sat still, trussed to the plastic chair, and tried to keep breathing. She thought of Noah and of Geordie. She had the awful, unbearable thought that Geordie might have been held captive like this. Had Westy taken him? Kept him somewhere? Forced on him the same depraved acts that he had visited on Travis? Geordie would never be able to understand. He would panic, hyperventilate. Die.

  Caitlin felt tears rising to her eyes but she knew that sobbing would be the worst possible thing to do. Sobbing could hasten her death. She forced herself to stop thinking of anything but those goddam palm trees. She pictured them and felt her heartbeat slow down a little bit. She refused to imagine the face of her beloved boy. She couldn’t. Not if she ever hoped to see him again.

  She tried to work her hands and feet free, pulling them apart a millimeter at a time. It was exquisitely painful as the wire cut into her skin, but she didn’t really care. What would be the worst that could happen? Her skin would be flayed and she would bleed. So be it. She had to do something to try to save herself. But he had tied her tightly and her progress seemed negligible. She tried to jerk herself forward in the chair, but the piles of boots impeded her and she felt herself end up somewhat off balance, one leg of the chair caught on the open top of a boot. Angrily, she tried again, and this time felt herself stuck at an angle, trying to keep her balance.

  All of a sudden, she froze. She heard the muffled sound of voices somewhere outside of the closet. Her heart seized in fear. Was he back? Had he come back to kill her?

  As the door to the workshop opened, she sagged forward in relief. It was a woman’s voice. Caitlin could barely make out the words.

  ‘He’s not here. There’s no one in here,’ the woman said. ‘I told you that.’

  I’m in here, Caitlin tried to cry out, but when she inhaled the plastic bag filled her mouth, and the wire around her neck conspired to keep her voice muffled. She tried to grunt, to make explosive sounds, but the sounds she made were so strangled that she could barely hear them herself.

  ‘He wanted me to rest. He went back to the hospital.’

  Caitlin recognized Paula’s voice. She was talking about Westy. He had
gone to the hospital. To see Dan. Caitlin thought about Dan and then, with a sickening sensation in the pit of her stomach, she put it together. It was Westy. He was the one who had attacked Dan. Had Dan somehow found out the truth about his father? Had he confronted Westy?

  A man’s voice murmured something which Caitlin could not understand.

  Don’t try to listen, she thought. It doesn’t matter what they are saying. There are people in the workshop and they aren’t going to be here for long. What could she do? She had to attract attention. Make enough noise for them to hear her.

  She had nothing to rattle, nothing to bang. The only thing she had, she thought, was her own body. She had made a start. She needed to go the rest of the way and hope she didn’t strangle herself in the process. She shifted her weight to the tilting side of the unbalanced chair. She leaned over the arm as far as she could, the wire cutting grooves into her skin, and she felt the chair tipping. She was helpless but there was no other choice. She threw all her weight in the direction of the tilt and let the chair, with her in it, fall over.

  She landed against the closet door with a thud, her cheek and shoulder smashed against the wood.

  ‘What was that?’ the man said, and she knew the voice.

  Noah, she tried to gurgle. I’m here.

  ‘I didn’t hear anything,’ said Paula.

  ‘I could have sworn,’ he said.

  ‘Look, Noah, I’m just exhausted. I’ll tell Westy you were here. What do you want with him anyway?’

  Noah did not reply.

  ‘I’m sorry there was a misunderstanding about Dan. But you couldn’t blame us for thinking you were responsible.’

  Noah murmured something that Caitlin could not understand. The angle that she was now at was causing the wire around her throat to tighten. She could feel black spots popping up in her consciousness. Almost as if she were about to fall asleep.

  Was that how death felt? she wondered absently. Like falling asleep. The thought was almost soothing and then it jolted her awake. Her heart was beating wildly and it seemed like it would burst from the lack of oxygen. Noah, she thought.

  She heard the door to the workshop close. They were gone.

  They were gone, and all her hope was gone.

  She tried to take a deep breath and the plastic bag filled her mouth and cut off all her air. She thought of Geordie’s face and began to let go.

  Haley was dozing in a chair beside Dan’s bed, having repetitious dreams of someone chasing her through the hospital corridors, calling out for her to wake up. Finally, she felt the hand shaking her, and opened her eyes. She had a headache and her eyelids felt gritty. She looked up at Sam Mathis, trying to place him. And then she remembered. She felt a little surge of fear.

  ‘Detective, what’s the matter?’ she said.

  ‘I didn’t mean to startle you,’ he said.

  ‘That’s all right,’ she said.

  ‘How’s he doing?’ Sam asked, frowning at the inert figure on the bed. Dan’s complexion remained a yellowish ivory color. He was still attached to several monitors.

  Haley looked at him sadly and pressed her lips together. ‘We’re still waiting for him to come around. He opened his eyes a while ago, but he didn’t seem to understand anything I said to him. Then he fell back asleep.’

  ‘Have you been here for a long time?’

  Haley rubbed her eyes and nodded. She shifted in the chair and arranged her rumpled clothing. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Caitlin told me not to leave him. I decided to . . . take her advice.’

  ‘She thinks Dan knows where Geordie is,’ said Sam. ‘She’s terrified that he won’t be able to tell us in time to find the boy unharmed. I have to agree with her.’

  ‘You blame Dan too?’ Haley asked. ‘Dan would never hurt that boy.’

  ‘I don’t know about that. But we are pretty certain that Geordie was with him. And Dan had no way of knowing he would end up unconscious in the hospital. So, what happened to the boy? That’s the question.’

  Haley sighed and studied her ex-husband’s features. ‘The doctor came by this morning. He said that even if Dan wakes up soon he may have some amnesia. It’s not uncommon with a head injury.’

  Sam walked around to the side of the bed and bent down. ‘Dan,’ he said. ‘Dan, can you hear me? This is Detective Mathis.’

  Dan’s eyelids fluttered.

  ‘Dan, you have to wake up. You need to tell us where Geordie is. We have to find the boy before it’s too late. Can you do that, Dan? Can you tell us?’

  Dan’s eyes opened and he looked at Detective Mathis with a puzzled expression on his face. Haley jumped up and joined Sam at Dan’s bedside.

  ‘Dan. Honey, are you all right? What happened to you? Who did this to you?’

  Dan frowned at Haley, and his monitors reacted to his agitation, their crooked lines jumping up and down. Sam spoke quietly to Haley.

  ‘Miss Jordan. Right now the question we need answered the most is about Geordie Eckhart. We have to get Mr Bergen here to tell us.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Haley.

  Sam leaned down again so that Dan could see him clearly. ‘Mr Eckhart. Dan. Did you take Geordie from his school?’

  Dan licked his lips and stared at the detective. Then, slowly, almost imperceptibly, he nodded.

  Haley let out a cry. ‘No!’

  Sam straightened up and glared at her. ‘Get out of here. Right now,’ he said.

  ‘No, please, let me stay,’ said Haley.

  ‘Absolutely not,’ said Sam. ‘Go.’

  ‘You’re trying to pin this crime on a helpless, injured man,’ she protested. ‘He’s not even responsible for what he’s saying right now.’

  ‘I’m not trying to build a case against Dan. I’m trying to find a six-year-old child who is missing,’ Sam reminded her through gritted teeth. ‘That’s all that matters at this moment. I have two parents desperate to see their child again. If this man has information, I’m going to question him and I’ll hash it out with the attorneys later. Now go. Go wash your face. Go get something to eat in the cafeteria. You look terrible.’

  Tears welled in Haley’s eyes. ‘I’m afraid to leave him.’

  ‘Nothing’s going to happen to him. I’m here with him. Officer Wheatley is just outside the door. Now do as I say and get out of here.’

  Reluctantly, Haley left the room, stopping several times to look back at her ex-husband.

  Sam leaned over the bed again and gazed at Dan. There was a dull, confused expression in Dan’s eyes. Then Dan closed his eyes for a moment and Sam feared that he was losing him to another round of unconsciousness.

  ‘Dan,’ he said, shaking him gently. ‘Don’t go back to sleep. Talk to me.’

  Haley stumbled out into the hallway and turned in the direction of the elevators. She almost collided with Westy, who was getting off on that floor.

  ‘How’s he doing?’ Westy asked her.

  Haley sighed. ‘Detective Mathis is in there with him now. He seemed to be coming around but the detective wouldn’t let me stay. He thinks that Dan knows where Geordie is and he is trying to wrest it out of him, even though Dan is still somewhere in outer space.’

  ‘We’ll see about that,’ said Westy. He raced down the hallway to Dan’s room and rushed inside.

  ‘Hey, that’s enough. Leave my son alone,’ Westy insisted as he entered the room.

  Sam Mathis looked up at him. ‘Your son knows where Geordie is,’ he said.

  Westy shook his head. ‘Look at him. Where do you get an idea like that?’

  ‘He’s trying to tell me,’ said Sam patiently.

  ‘NO,’ said Westy. ‘He’s not in his right mind. I won’t allow you to try to interrogate him while he’s in this condition.’

  ‘Don’t you care where your grandson is?’ Sam asked suspiciously.

  ‘What kind of a question is that?’ Westy demanded indignantly. ‘Of course I do. But Dan doesn’t know anything about Geordie. He doesn’t know what he’
s saying. You can’t question him any further without an attorney present. He may be barely conscious but he still has rights. And while he’s in this condition, it’s up to me to protect those rights, which is what I’m doing. Not one more question till we speak to an attorney.’

  Sam raised his hands in a gesture meant to lower the temperature in the room. ‘All right. All right. I’ll take a break. But I want you to get that attorney here right away. I’m coming back. He’s the only one who can lead us to Geordie. I’m going to try again.’

  ‘We’ll see about that,’ said Westy angrily. ‘Just get out.’

  Sam walked out of Dan’s room and went down to the elevator. As he stepped into the elevator he tried Caitlin’s number again, but there was no answer. He thought about what he had just learned. Dan had admitted to taking Geordie. Only with a nod, but it was good enough. That meant that he knew where Geordie was. Obviously Dan’s plan had never been to end up incapacitated in the hospital. He could have left Geordie alone somewhere, or with some impatient co-conspirator. The child might have only limited food or water. That meant that Geordie’s life could be in immediate peril. Attorney or no attorney, Sam meant to find out where that boy was being held.

  Haley, meanwhile, got halfway to the cafeteria before she realized that she had forgotten to bring her purse. It was still in Dan’s hospital room. For a moment she thought she might forget about eating. Her stomach was in such a knot that she couldn’t imagine putting anything into it. But she needed something to drink. Something with caffeine. So she turned around and went back up to Dan’s floor.

  She got off the elevator and walked down to Dan’s room. Officer Wheatley was talking to someone on his cell phone, but he nodded to her as she started back into the room. She walked in and stopped dead in her tracks.

  ‘What are you doing?’ she cried. ‘What the hell are you doing?’

  THIRTY-ONE

  Westy looked up at her indignantly. ‘I’m rearranging his pillows,’ he said. ‘I’m trying to make him more comfortable.’