Maybe this was only a warning. What if that woman—she gasped. “Sari! I was supposed to pick her up”—she checked the time on her phone—“an hour ago!”
But Jesse put up a hand. “No, it’s okay. I talked to Kaylee’s mom. They invited Sari to have supper with them. But they’re bringing her home afterwards, so we’d better touch base and see what time that will be.”
“Call her right now, Jesse. What if that woman—” She exhaled. She could not bring herself to use her given name. “What if she goes after Sari too.”
“How would she even know where Sari is?”
“How did she know the girls were here?”
“She probably followed you from the store.”
“That is just creepy, Jesse. If you’re not going to report this, I am!”
He panned the cul-de-sac street as if he’d find a solution there. “Maybe we should talk to some of the neighbors . . . see if they saw anything. Why don’t you and Danae do that, since she knows them. And I’ll see what I can get out of Sadie.”
“No, I think I should talk to her. You weren’t at the store, so you won’t know what . . . Michaela . . . was wearing or what she said to the girls.”
“You’re right,” he said. “Maybe Danae won’t mind talking to the neighbors while we question Sadie together.”
As they headed into the house, Corinne couldn’t help but think that her having told her sisters would be the least of Jesse’s worries now. Once they contacted the police, Jesse’s “secret” would be all over the news.
14
Where are you going, Aunt Danae?” Sadie asked.
“I’m just going next door for a few minutes. I’ll be back, sweetie.”
“Can’t I go with you?”
“No, you stay here,” Jesse said. “Mommy and I need to talk to you.”
“No fair! How’s come Simone gets to go with Aunt Danae and I don’t?” She pooched out her bottom lip.
“Come on, Sadie. Right now.” Jesse grasped her shoulder, more roughly than necessary. “Thanks, Danae.”
With Simone in tow, Corinne’s sister waved and ducked out the back door, looking relieved not to have to be involved in Sadie’s questioning. Jesse couldn’t blame her. The whole scenario was so bizarre he wished he wasn’t involved. In any of it.
But he was. And he was at least partly to blame. He sighed. If only he could go back and turn a cold shoulder to Michaela Creeve the very first time she’d batted her curly eyelashes in his direction. But he’d never dreamed she would take her flirtations this far—to the point of stalking his family. For all he knew, she may have been following him or eavesdropping on his conversations.
That she might have harmed one hair on the heads of his precious daughters . . . The thought took the very breath from him.
He stretched out his arms and pulled Corinne and Sadie into a hug. “Let’s go sit in the living room.”
He and Corinne settled on a sofa and Sadie climbed into the overstuffed chair across from them. She looked so small and vulnerable. Feeling the need to proceed with great care, he took Corinne’s hand and one of Sadie’s. Corinne took Sadie’s other hand, closing the circle.
She wrinkled her nose. “How’s come we’re prayin’?”
Corinne squeezed Jesse’s hand, then leaned across the coffee table. “I know it’s hard to understand what’s going on, sweetie, but we need to help you understand. That woman should not have picked you up in her car. And you know better than to go with strangers!”
“But, Mommy, she wasn’t a stranger. You talked to her. At Schnucks.”
“That doesn’t—”
“Sadie . . .” Jesse gently touched Corinne’s arm. “I already talked to you about that. Just because Mommy or Daddy talk to someone doesn’t mean they aren’t a stranger. You should not have gone with the lady from the store. But we’re not going to talk about that right now. Mommy and I need to ask you some questions and we need you to think really hard before you answer. It is very important that you think about your answers and be sure about what you tell us. Do you understand?”
She nodded soberly, and he despised what Michaela’s actions were putting them through.
“First of all, did the lady tell you what her name was?”
Sadie shook her head.
“What did she look like?”
Sadie huffed. “I told you. Like that lady at Schnucks. The one Mommy doesn’t like.”
Corinne frowned. “Sadie, why do think I don’t like her? I never said that.”
“’Cause you were goin’ like this—” Sadie furrowed her brow and stuck out her jaw.
Corinne glanced at Jesse and cringed.
He ignored her and turned back to Sadie. “Tell us what the lady looked like.”
Sadie launched into a detailed description, right down to a spangled watch Jesse had seen Michaela wear to work often. One glance at Corinne told him Sadie had it spot-on. Of course, they’d seen Michaela earlier today, so the grocery store encounter might be where she’d gotten her accurate details from.
“Did she come up to the fence and talk to you, or did she come into Aunt Danae’s yard?”
“She’d better not have!” Corinne huffed under her breath. “She’d have had to walk in front of the house in broad daylight to go in by the side gate.”
Corinne was right. Other than going through the garage, there was only one easily accessible entrance to the backyard. But he nudged her. He didn’t want to sway Sadie in either direction. They needed to get to the truth here.
Sadie looked from Corinne to him and back. “Me and Simone were just playin’ in the playhouse and she came up and said, ‘Ya wanna go for a ride?’ and so we did.”
“She came in the yard?”
Sadie nodded. “She was smilin’ and talkin’ about how cute Simone was and then she said ‘Ya wanna go for a ride?’ ”
He and Corinne exchanged a look.
“Where did she say she was taking you on this ride?” Jesse asked.
Sadie shrugged with an expression that was quickly growing exasperating.
“She didn’t say?”
“I don’t know. I can’t ’member.” She put her thumb in her mouth, a habit she’d abandoned before Simone was born.
He gave her arm a gentle tug. “Sweetie, take your thumb out of your mouth so we can understand you.”
Sadie complied with her head bowed.
“What did you talk about while you were riding with her?”
“Did she buckle Simone up?” Corinne asked.
Sadie pounced on that, scooting forward in the overstuffed chair. “No, she didn’t buckle neither one of us. That was bad, wasn’t it, Mommy?”
“What did you talk about with her?” Jesse repeated, bracing himself for what the answer might be.
“She just said how Simone was cute and how she looked like you, Daddy.”
“That’s what she said at the store,” Corinne whispered. “How much Simone looked like you.”
“Did she say where she was planning to take you?”
“Just—for a ride.”
“I know, but where to?”
“I dunno.”
“Why did she drop you off across the street?” He pointed through the front windows in the direction where he’d found the girls wandering. “Did you go anywhere first?”
Sadie shook her head.
“Did you ask her to drop you off?”
“No. She just did.”
“Did she show you how to get home?” Corinne asked. “Did she point toward Aunt Danae’s house or give you directions?”
“No. She just drove off.”
Jesse floundered to think of questions that would help them decide what to do. “What color was her car, Sadie?”
“Um . . . I think it was . . .” She looked at the ceiling. “Do you mean inside or outside?”
“Either one.”
“It was . . .” Again, she looked at the ceiling as if the answer might be up there. “It was white. Y
eah. It was white.”
Corinne raised her eyebrows in question at Jesse. He gave a half nod. Michaela drove a cream-colored Chrysler sedan, but Sadie might consider that to be white.
“White on the outside?”
“Uh-huh.” Her thumb headed toward her mouth, but she caught herself and put her hand back in her lap.
“What color was the inside?”
“I don’t know. I think . . . I think it was . . . pink?”
Jesse frowned. “The inside of her car was pink? Are you sure?” He’d never ridden in Michaela’s vehicle, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t pink.
“Sadie, where did you sit in the car? And where did Simone sit?”
“Um . . . I sitted in the backseat and Simone sitted in the front.”
“And Michae—” He stopped himself. “The lady didn’t buckle either one of you in?”
“Well, maybe she buckled Simone in. I can’t ’member. She got the ribbon out of her hair.”
He and Corinne exchanged looks.
“What do you mean, sweetie?”
“Simone’s ribbon was fallin’ out and she got it. So it wouldn’t get lost.”
“Who got it? Do you mean the lady took the ribbon out of Simone’s hair?” Corinne pressed.
“It was fallin’ out,” Sadie repeated.
“Did that lady tie it back in Simone’s hair?”
“I don’t know.” The thumb went back in her mouth.
Simone was constantly losing hair ribbons. Jesse remembered Corinne putting Simone’s hair in a ponytail this morning—with a lime green ribbon to match her outfit. “Did she have the ribbon in her hair when you got here to Danae’s?” he asked Corinne.
She pursed her lips, thinking. “I don’t remember. I think I would have noticed if it had fallen out, but I couldn’t be sure.”
He made a note to look for the ribbon.
“Did the lady talk to you?” Corinne asked Sadie gently. “Did she ask you any questions?”
Jesse couldn’t tell from her tone whether Corinne was beginning to doubt Sadie’s story, but he certainly was.
“Did she ask about me and Daddy . . . ? While you were in her car?”
Jesse cringed. She was making this too personal. He wished Corinne would just let him ask the questions. Poor Sadie was confused enough as it was.
“I don’t know,” Sadie said. “I think she did.”
“What did she ask?”
The shrug again.
Jesse patted Corinne’s hand. “That’s probably enough for now, babe.”
“Jesse, we have got to—”
“Corinne, that’s enough.” He saw in the taut line of her jaw that he would pay for speaking to her that way—but she was just complicating things, and he was starting to think Sadie was inventing things as she went.
Corinne shot him daggers, then rose and went to Sadie. “If you think of anything else—anything the lady said or did—you need to let us know, okay?”
Again, that shrug.
Corinne knelt in front of her daughter. “This is important, Sadie. Do you understand?”
“Can I go play with Aunt Danae now?”
“Sadie, look at me. This is very important. Do you understand me?”
“Yes. Can I go play now?”
Jesse stepped in. They’d grilled her enough. “Yes, go play, but you stay in the backyard—”
“I’ll get the crayons.” Corinne looked at Jesse like he’d just suggested their daughter go play in traffic. “You can color at the kitchen table.”
“Mommy and I will be right in here if you need anything, okay?”
Sadie nodded and followed Corinne into the kitchen.
When she came back a minute later, she was in full attack mode. “What are you doing?” she spat. “Why did you stop ask—”
“Grilling her?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He didn’t want to fight. This was not the time. He made an effort to soften his tone. “It seemed like she was just—making things up.”
“What? You don’t believe her? Seriously?”
“I don’t know what to believe. But I’m pretty sure the interior of Michaela’s car isn’t pink.”
“Could it be—tan? Sadie might call that pink. And you know . . . she was wearing a pink shirt. Michaela, I mean. Maybe that’s where Sadie got the pink.”
He shook his head. “Exactly. Except for the car, all the details Sadie is ‘recalling’ could apply to your encounter with Michaela at the grocery store. I’m starting to think she just pulled someone out of the hat to blame, and Michaela was the most convenient—most recent—person she remembered. Especially if she sensed you didn’t like Michaela.”
“So how did the girls get all the way out there?” She punched a finger in the direction of where they’d had been found.
“They probably walked.”
“Sadie maybe, but could Simone have walked that far?”
“Are you kidding? Twice.” He gave a humorless laugh. “You’ve said yourself that you couldn’t catch her if she got too much of a head start on you. I hate to say it, Corinne, but I’m starting to think our sweet daughter made up an elaborate story to keep from getting in trouble for running off.”
Corinne seemed to consider that. But then her expression turned resolute again. “But you were leading her with your questions, Jesse. She felt threatened. Shoot, I felt threatened.”
“If anyone was leading her, it was you. I was just testing. Trying to catch her in her lies if indeed they were lies. I haven’t been in Michaela’s vehicle, but I can tell you, it’s not pink. And why would Michaela put Simone in the front seat? And not buckle them in? Too many things don’t add up.”
“The question is, why would she kidnap them in the first place?”
He glanced toward the back of the house. “I’d be careful throwing that word around.”
“Well, it’s what she did, Jesse. For all we know she had no intention of bringing the girls back. Or maybe she was going to use them as a bribe. Who knows what she’s capable of?”
“I’m just saying we need to be sure before we make any accusations. This is already a sticky situation. If we take our four-year-old daughter’s word for this and accuse Michaela of ‘kidnapping’ our daughters—and it turns out not to be true?” He blew out a long sigh. “That could have serious implications, Corinne.”
“And this doesn’t?” She stood looking at him as if he were out of his mind. “Why would Sadie lie about this, Jesse?”
“Why did she lie about the poison ivy, down at the creek? She’s afraid she’s in trouble. We’ve both yelled at her. Not that she shouldn’t be in trouble. Remember how she told you she didn’t go near the water, and then when you caught her in her lie, she changed her story to ‘Huckleberry could have saved us’? She’s a pretty creative little storyteller, Corinne. Especially if it will get her out of hot water.” He found great comfort in the realization.
“Yes, but what if you’re wrong, Jesse?”
He opened his mouth to respond, but the back door opened just then, and Danae came in with Simone, shaking her head. “Nobody saw anything. All but the Hodges were at work when it happened.”
“Mommy!” Simone lurched for Corinne.
“Hi, sweetie.” Corinne took the toddler from her sister’s arms.
Jesse looked at his watch. “I’m not sure what to do. We can’t accuse somebody of kidnapping on the word of a four-year-old. Especially when the girls are safe with us.”
“We can’t just do nothing either, Jesse.”
“I know. I’m not saying do nothing. But I don’t think it’s quite so urgent since the girls are okay.”
“Then what do you propose we do?”
He scrambled for an answer. The truth was, he didn’t have a clue what to do. If the whole mess with Michaela’s charges against him hadn’t been an issue, he would likely be, at the very least, questioning her. But that mess was an issue. A big one.
He scrat
ched his head. “Maybe I should talk to people farther up the street between here and where I found the girls. See if anyone might have seen them walking.”
Danae’s puzzled look reminded him that she didn’t realize his doubts about whether Sadie was telling the truth. He filled her in.
“You could take one side of the street and I’ll take the other,” Danae suggested. “Or I can stay with the kids if you’d rather go, Corinne?”
“No. I’m too emotional.”
“Of course you are,” her sister said. “I’ll go. I’m glad to. I don’t know many people on down the street, but it’s a pretty friendly neighborhood.”
“Okay,” Jesse agreed, dreading having to explain the situation to strangers. But it was better than risking a false accusation—and having to make the news public.
Corinne put her hand on Simone’s head and gave a little gasp. “Jesse, look.” She brushed Simone’s hair back from her face and pivoted so Jesse could see where she was pointing. She turned to her sister. “Danae, do you remember if Simone had a ribbon in her hair when we got here?”
Danae closed her eyes as if trying to recall the image. “I really don’t remember. What color was it?”
Jesse looked at his daughter’s flyaway hair and knew exactly what Corinne was getting at. The thin strand that was left of her ponytail was barely held in place by a tiny covered rubber band. No green ribbon. No ribbon at all.
A chill went through him. But he tried to reassure Corinne. “It doesn’t really prove anything, Corinne. She’s always losing her ribbons.”
“Maybe. But are you willing to just dismiss it? This scares me to death, Jesse.”
“I know.” He pulled her and Simone into a hug. “I know, babe. It scares me too. But the girls are okay. They’re safe. And we’re going to get to the bottom of this. I promise you.”
15
Jesse went in to the office the next morning to make up for the work he’d missed yesterday, and Corinne decided to drive out to the inn and let her parents know what was going on, in case things escalated with Michaela.
She kept her eyes on the familiar country road that led to her parents’. In the seats behind her, the girls giggled and chattered at a high-decibel level. But that wasn’t the source of the confusion that nearly paralyzed her. A quiet, peaceful vehicle wouldn’t have changed things, since she and Jesse could not seem to agree on what their next step should be.
Two Roads Home Page 10