The House on Candlewick Lane

by Amy M. Reade

  I was too tired to resist any longer. I reached for the pill and swallowed it quickly, then settled my head on the pillow as Dottie left the darkened room quietly. How odd to escape a nightmare by going to sleep was my last thought before the medicine started to work.

  CHAPTER 4

  I was jarred awake by the sound of my bedroom door opening. Dottie peered into the room. For a moment I was confused. Had I overslept? Why was she here?

  But all too soon, the day’s horrors came rushing back.

  “Greer? Are you awake? Phone call for you.”

  I jumped out of bed, swaying with grogginess. Dottie hurried in and grabbed my arm, steadying me, then handed me the phone. I clutched it as if it were a lifeline.

  “Hello?”

  “Dr. Dobbins, this is Officer Boyd. Just checking in to let you know I had a look at Neill’s car. It’s been dusted for prints, but since we already know Neill and Ellie were in it, I suspect we won’t get any more information from it. There was nothing else in the car to give us a clue as to their whereabouts. Have you heard anything?”

  “No, no one has called. Is there something I can be doing to help you?”

  “No. Just sit tight and wait for me or Detective West to call. Let me know if you hear anything.”

  I looked at my wristwatch. I hadn’t slept very long. Now that I was awake, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again. I couldn’t sit around and do nothing. I reached for my purse.

  “Where are you going?” Dottie asked.

  “Over to the school. I have to talk to Ellie’s teacher.”

  “I’m sure the principal and the police have already done that.” I knew Dottie wasn’t trying to keep me from staying active and involved, but that’s the way it sounded.

  “I know,” I replied crossly. “It’s just that there might be something she forgot to tell them. Maybe I can get her to remember.”

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “Can you stay here in case Neill or the police call? I’ll have my mobile on, but the reception at the school is bad. If you hear anything from anyone, call the school and have them page me.” With that, I ran out the door.

  When I got to Ellie’s school, there were two police cars in the parking lot. Maureen was back at the front desk. “Any word?” she asked anxiously as I walked in.

  “No. I was hoping I could talk to Mrs. Dennis for a few minutes.”

  “Sure. Let me call her down. The police have already talked to her. They’re in her classroom now.” She dialed Mrs. Dennis’s classroom and spoke fora moment. She hung up and said, “Mrs. Ravell is in the room with the officers while they’re talking to the kids, so Mrs. Dennis can come to the office now. You can go into the conference room where you talked to the police earlier and have some privacy.”

  I thanked her and paced the office while I waited for Mrs. Dennis. When she arrived, she swept over and hugged me. “How are you doing, Dr. Dobbins?”

  “Please call me Greer. And I’m not doing too well, as you can imagine.”

  She studied my face. “I’m so sorry about all of this. I don’t know what I can tell you that I haven’t already told the police, but let’s go sit down and talk.” She led the way to the conference room, and we sat down opposite each other at the table.

  “What would you like to know?” Mrs. Dennis began.

  “You can tell me everything you know about Neill.”

  “I’ve only talked to him a couple times,” she replied, folding her hands on the tabletop. “I think all of our conversations have been about Ellie’s progress. He seems very involved.”

  I nodded.

  “I’m so sorry you’re going through this,” she repeated. “It’s every parent’s worst nightmare,” she added unhelpfully. Maybe it was because we were talking about Neill, but Mrs. Dennis was starting to get on my nerves.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Does Ellie ever talk about her father?”

  She was silent for a moment, then said, “She has mentioned him a couple times. I think the first time she said she doesn’t see him very often, then another time she said he’s from Scotland.”

  “But she never said that he tried to contact her?”

  Mrs. Dennis shook her head immediately. “No. I’m sure of that.”

  “Did she ever say she had plans I might not know about?”

  “Not that I’m aware of.”

  I tried another avenue of questioning. “Has Ellie ever spoken of her family in Scotland?

  She thought for a moment before answering. “She’s spoken before of ‘Granny,’ but I wasn’t sure which set of grandparents she was talking about. I don’t even know if there are two sets of grandparents.”

  “There are. Ellie doesn’t really know Neill’s parents, but we’ve spoken of them before. We call Neill’s mother Granny and my mother Mimsy.” Mrs. Dennis gave me a strange look. “It’s what my mother wanted,” I explained. “What did Ellie tell you about Granny?”

  “Only that Granny has cows and sheep.”

  “That’s right,” I said, thinking back to the last encounter I had with my mother-in-law. “Has she ever spoken of any other family?”

  Mrs. Dennis shook her head slightly. “No, I don’t think so. If I remember something, I’ll surely let you know.”

  “How about her artwork?” I pressed. I knew from anecdotal research that children often revealed themselves in astonishing ways through art. “Is there any indication in the artwork she does at school that would suggest that she had a secret? That she was going on a trip? That there was something I didn’t know about?”

  “I don’t think so. Her pictures are very much like the pictures of most of the other children—sunshine, trees, families holding hands. That sort of thing.”

  “How many people are in Ellie’s pictures?”

  “Always three—Ellie and you and her father. You are always standing on either side of her, never together.”

  “That makes sense,” I said wryly.

  “She has mentioned that you and her father are divorced, but she told me in a whisper, like it’s a secret. I already knew, of course,” Mrs. Dennis said.

  “I know,” I sighed. “It never bothered her too much until she started school. I think she’s sad because she hears the other kids talking about their parents and she wonders why her mum and dad don’t live together. It’s actually made her sick several times since school started.”

  “Poor thing,” Mrs. Dennis clucked. “I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.”

  I thanked her and went back home, where Dottie was waiting at the kitchen table.

  “Anything?” she asked.

  I shook my head and sat down across from her. She put her hands over mine. We sat in silence for several minutes.

  I felt like I needed to go somewhere, do something, but I was stuck waiting, not knowing what to do or where to go. I went upstairs to Ellie’s room to look around again and practically ransacked her drawers and closet, rifling through all the clothes Detective West had examined, hoping to find something we both had missed.

  But eventually I had to acknowledge that we had missed nothing—there was no clue to suggest where Ellie and Neill might be.

  I went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. I was drying off when the phone rang.

  “This is Detective West. I’ve spoken to Dottie’s three children, the kids in Ellie’s class, and several teachers. No one seems to know anything about Ellie going somewhere. I’m not surprised. In a situation like this, the non-custodial parent would be foolish to tell the child exactly where they were headed. It’s not unheard of to tell the child they’re going somewhere, but it’s usually presented as a secret, something the child shouldn’t tell anyone, even the custodial parent. Very often it’s even touted as a surprise for the custodial parent, and the child thinks he or she is going somewhere special and that the whole family is going to be involved.”

  “Do y
ou think that’s what happened?”

  “It’s beginning to look that way. Now all we have to do is figure out where they went.”

  CHAPTER 5

  For the next hour, I called Neill’s colleagues in the English department at the university. They all seemed surprised he hadn’t come to work without phoning anyone or notifying his students and his department chair, but no one knew where he was. One or two mentioned they had noticed that Neill seemed rather anxious lately, but couldn’t shed any light on the reason. After I got off the phone, I wandered through the house aimlessly, jumping at every sound and looking through the curtains every time I walked past them, seeing no one. I had never felt so helpless. Waiting for news from the police was agonizing.

  When they finally called, I snatched up the phone breathlessly. “Dr. Dobbins, this is Detective West. I think we’ve got a hit on them.”

  “Where?” I demanded.

  “We think they’ve been spotted on video surveillance at the airport.”

  “Which airport?”

  “Albany, New York.”

  “You think you saw them? Can’t you tell for sure?”

  “No, ma’am. Your ex-husband’s head was down most of the time, and Ellie was dressed like a boy.”

  “But she has long hair. Couldn’t you see that in the video?”

  “The child had short hair, ma’am.”

  “Are you telling me she’s had her hair cut since this morning?”

  “Yes, ma’am. That is a possibility.”

  I closed my eyes, the silence lingering across the telephone line. I’d heard of things like this happening, but always on television. Never to me.

  “Dr. Dobbins? You still there?”

  “Yes, Detective. Sorry. I’m just trying to wrap my head around this.”

  “Can you come down to the station? Airport security in Albany has copied the video and sent it over. I’d like you to have a look at it and tell me if you recognize them.”

  “I’ll be right there. Are there police at the airport to arrest Neill?”

  “We don’t know if he’s still there, ma’am. We’re continuing to piece together the videos.”

  I drove to the police station in a daze of confusion and disbelief. Detective West was waiting for me when I hurried inside the station. He led me to a darkened room with video equipment set up. I waited while he pushed some buttons on a machine in the back of the room. A screen against the wall flickered, and pictures began moving in front of me. People, lots of people, all moving in different directions. Much like the video surveillance at Ellie’s school, this screen was divided into four sections. Each section was apparently footage from a different camera.

  “Watch that lower left screen,” Detective West said. The video slowed. People moved across the screen, slow and jerky. A few seconds passed, and I watched each person intently. Suddenly there was a tall man and a little boy walking hand-in-hand, a big backpack on the boy’s shoulders. “Right there,” the detective said tersely. I could hear him tapping buttons, and the video slowed.

  The man kept his head down, as if he was trying to avoid being spotted on a security camera. The boy with him looked all around, though. At one point he looked directly up at the camera.

  I gasped. It was Ellie.

  “Stop,” I ordered Detective West. The video halted immediately on the frame of the child looking at the camera.

  “You see it, too?”

  “That’s Ellie. I recognize her even with that haircut. Why do you think he cut her hair?”

  “So we wouldn’t recognize them right away on security cameras.”

  “Where are they going?”

  “We haven’t determined that yet,” he answered grimly. “We have to figure out their path through the airport using video from the security cameras, and then we’ll know where they went.”

  “Can’t we just call the airport and ask someone to look up their names?”

  “We’ve started that process with airport security and the TSA, but getting that information requires special clearance and time. It’s quicker to watch the cameras.”

  “But what if it’s too late? What if they’ve already gotten on a plane and left?” I could hear the panic rising in my voice.

  “Let’s take this one step at a time. First we have to figure out where they went at the airport.”

  “How long will it take?” My voice was high and thin.

  “We don’t know. Why don’t you wait out in the lobby, and I’ll come for you as soon as I know something.” I nodded, unable to say anything.

  I sat in the lobby, my breathing shallow and irregular. The desk sergeant took pity on me and offered to get me a cup of coffee. I declined, figuring I would throw up if I put anything in my stomach. It wasn’t long before Detective West appeared again. I jumped up at the sight of him.

  “Come on back, Dr. Dobbins,” he said.

  I followed him to his cubicle and sat down across from him yet again. “What have you found?” I asked eagerly.

  “The man and child we see on the video are indeed Neill and Ellie,” he confirmed. My heart sank. Until that point, I had held out some hope that we were wrong, that the two figures were really a father and son jetting off somewhere. But now I knew for sure.

  “Where did they go?” I managed.

  “Looks like they went to the Bahamas. A small airport with limited video surveillance capabilities, to be exact.”

  “Why would they go there?”

  “I would guess they’re trying to shake the authorities. If that’s what Neill is doing, he’s done his homework. But they landed half an hour ago, so we’ve got the Bahamian authorities looking around the airport for them. The security footage isn’t available to us yet.”

  “So what do we do now? Should I go there?” I started to stand, expecting him to tell me to get on the first plane to the Bahamas.

  “I would wait. We need to figure out where they went once they got off that plane.”

  “Do you think they flew somewhere else?” I asked, sitting down on the edge of the seat. My leg jiggled up and down rapidly, almost of its own volition.

  “We can’t rule that out. They seem to be staying just one step ahead of us.”

  I sat back. He picked up his phone and punched a string of numbers. After a moment of waiting, he spoke. “It’s West. Yeah. Got anything for me?” He nodded. “Uh-huh.” Another silence while he listened. “Okay. Thanks.” He hung up the phone. “The TSA is in contact with the authorities in the Bahamas. Why don’t you go home and wait there? This could take a while.”

  My shoulders slumped. I wanted everything to happen quickly. I couldn’t stand waiting another minute. But I did as Detective West suggested and went home, where I managed to clean up the stack of documents that I had removed from the safe.

  It was nearing dinnertime, though I didn’t feel at all hungry. When Dottie came over and insisted that I join her family for dinner, I didn’t want to go. But she wouldn’t take no for answer, so to make her happy, I went back to her house with her. Her husband and kids were there. They clearly didn’t know what to say to me. Her husband hugged me at the door and then didn’t say much after that. The kids just stared at me. I felt sorry for them. Any other time they would have been talkative and full of energy, but I seemed to have put a damper on dinner. When my phone rang and I took the call in the kitchen, I’m sure they were relieved. I could hear them whispering and Dottie’s “Shhhh!”

  It was Detective West. He was calling to tell me that Neill had again disguised Ellie as soon as they deplaned in the Bahamas. Their layover was very brief and they had again eluded the authorities. They were now on a plane bound for Edinburgh.

  I was exasperated. “How could security let this happen?” I demanded. “How could they let Neill and Ellie slip by them? How many fathers with five-year-old sons could have been arriving in the Bahamas this afternoon?” I knew my voice sounded thin and angry, but I didn�
��t care.

  He evaded my questions. “All the authorities are doing everything possible. They’ll get him in Edinburgh. The flight is long enough that airport personnel will have time to organize themselves and be waiting for him when he arrives.”

  “I should have known Neill would go there,” I said.

  “He did his homework if he wanted to elude police and airport security, but he’s not going to give anyone the slip again,” Detective West said.

  I breathed a small sigh of relief.

  It would be over soon.

  CHAPTER 6

  When I got home, I realized that I hadn’t called my mother since the morning. She must have been beside herself waiting for news about Ellie. I called her right away. “Mum, they’re on their way to Edinburgh.”

  “Thank God you know where they’ve gone,” she said. “Why did it take you so long to call?”

  “I’ve been dealing with the police all day long. I’m sorry.” I told her the details of the flight Ellie and Neill were on. “Can you plan to be at the airport when they land? I’m sure they’ll take Neill right into custody, and Ellie won’t understand what’s going on. I want a familiar face there for her.”

  “Of course,” she assured me. “Are you coming, too?”

  “Most definitely.” I looked at my watch. There would certainly be no direct flights to Edinburgh from Albany, so it would be quicker for me to drive to JFK. “I’ll be on the first flight out of New York. I’ve got to call the airline now and make my reservation. I’ll talk to you soon.” I called the airline and booked a late-night flight leaving JFK in four hours. The only seats left were in first class, but this was no time to grumble about the cost. I stuffed some clothes in a duffel bag and got in the car. I started the engine and put the car in reverse, then stopped short.

  Neill had my passport.

  I grabbed my mobile phone and dialed Detective West. He had gone home for the day. I left a message for him to call me as soon as possible and left for the airport. I would have to solve this problem there.