Found With Murder

by Jenn Vakey

  “See,” said Ben. “It hasn't rained. It's not even supposed to rain all week. Maybe, and I know this doesn't make it any better, but maybe it was another little girl. He could have taken someone before and something happened to her.”

  “You're right,” she said. She wiped her eyes. “That doesn’t make me feel any better. If he took another girl and she died, chances are the same will happen to Kim.”

  “Well, what did you feel?” He was almost hesitant as he asked.

  Rilynne was glad he did. She was so stunned by what she had seen that she didn't stop to think about what she had felt. “Sorrow,” she said. “He was sad. He didn't take any pleasure in seeing her dead. That doesn't mean anything, though. Even if he kills her by accident, or kills her and feels bad about it later… she'll still be dead.”

  For once, he didn't seem to know what to say. He just stared up at her helplessly as she looked up to the stars. Rilynne concentrated on them instead of the images dancing through her mind. She searched the sky until she found what she was looking for, the star she had dedicated to her father.

  Rilynne had inherited not only her eyes from him; she had gotten his visions. After he was killed, she found herself turning toward that star every time she felt like she needed some guidance. Though it was just a star, even looking upon it would calm her and help her to see things more clearly.

  “There's still time,” she muttered several minutes later. “He couldn't have gotten her out of town. We haven't had rain for months and there wasn't any forecasted for anytime soon. That means there's still time for us to find her before anything happens.”

  If Ben found fault in her logic, he didn't mention it. Instead he moved his hands up to her waist and lifted her off the boulder. “We should head back,” he said.

  Rilynne nodded, her head in a haze, and followed him back through the trees. She was so lost in thought that she didn't realize she was back home until Ben reached up to unlock the backdoor.

  “Are you going to stay?” she asked. She didn’t know which answer would make her happier. Though she always missed him when he was away, part of her just wanted to be alone.

  “I have friends staying at my place tonight.” He reached up and gently brushed the hair away from her eyes. “I should go fill them in on what's going on and let them know we'll have to postpone the wedding.”

  The words stung. Although it was an obvious move given the current situation, she hadn't thought about the fact that they would no longer be getting married tomorrow. Her disappointment must have shown on her face, because Ben reached out and pulled her into his arms. He didn't need to say anything. The feel of his arms around her made her feel like everything was going to be all right.

  “I'll see you at the station tomorrow,” she said.

  Rilynne shut the door behind him and walked straight to her bedroom. She didn't even bother to turn off all of the lights before pulling her pajamas on and climbing into bed. She couldn't believe how much had happened over the last several hours. It felt so unreal, like a horrible dream she was having trouble waking from.

  After pulling the blankets up around her, she stared up at the ceiling fan spinning above, afraid to let her eyes close. It would be impossible for her to see anything that could help find Kim if she didn't, but she was afraid. If anything bad had happened, or was going to happen, she would inevitably see it. It was more than she would be able to handle.

  Rilynne held her eyes open for as long as she could. After close to an hour, she couldn't do it anymore and she drifted into a deep sleep.

  The breeze flowing through the trees warmed her as it passed. Her bare feet crunched the leaves that littered the ground with every step she took. She liked the way it felt, even with the occasional jab from a fallen twig. She didn't want to leave.

  She was late, though. Rilynne couldn't imagine what she could possibly be late for, but she could feel it deep within her. As much as she wanted to continue enjoying the day, she knew what would happen if she didn't get back, and it frightened her.

  She ran, not caring that the rocks scattered along the path were digging into her feet. Anticipation and dread both built within her as she approached the tree line ahead. She was almost there.

  When she stepped out of the trees, her feet sank down into the hot sand. It burned, but she didn't mind. As she walked out onto the sunny beach, all of the ill feelings she had been almost consumed by disappeared. This was her favorite spot in the world. Nothing could bother her here.

  “Auntie Rye, Auntie Rye!”

  The little voice warmed her deep within, even more than the bright sun above.

  She spun around so fast that she nearly lost her balance. She didn't have time to steady herself before the bouncing child jumped on her. They both tumbled to the ground, laughing as they hit the soft sand.

  “I missed you, Auntie Rye. Can I wear my pretty dress now? I really want to wear it so I watch you marry Uncle Ben,” she said, lying on top of Rilynne. “You told me I could. Can I?”

  “Of course you can,” Rilynne said. She wrapped her arms around Kim and held her tight. “We just need to find you first.”

  “I'm here with you silly,” Kim giggled. “Can't you see me?”

  Rilynne sighed and sat up. Kim scooted off of her and onto the sand. She was just as happy as she always was, playing with the sand beneath her. Rilynne couldn't take her eyes off of her. The smiling child didn't have any of the fear or worry that everyone else did.

  “Can you help me with something, jellybean?” Rilynne asked after several minutes. Kim nodded without looking up at her. Her attention was focused on the small crab walking between them. “When we were at the big party last night, a man came and took you. Can you tell me who the man is or maybe where he's keeping you?”

  Kim shrugged and poked the crab with her chubby little finger.

  “Your mommy talked to you about strangers and what to do if someone ever tries to take you away from her,” she continued. “Do you remember that?”

  Her head bounced up and down. “I did just what she told me to. I kicked him and bit his hand and scratched him with my fingers. It didn't hurt him, though. He said he knew I was just scared and he wasn't mad at me. Then he gave me ice cream to show me I wasn't in trouble. It was my favorite, strawberry with sprinkles.”

  “That's great, honey.” Rilynne had to struggle to keep her frustration from sounding in her voice. “Do you remember anything about where you went after the party? Did you see what kind of car he was driving?”

  “This is a really pretty crab,” Kim said. Her focus was waning. “Do you think my mommy will let me keep it? I really want to.”

  Before she could answer, something in the distance caught Kim's eye. When Rilynne turned to see what it was, Kim jumped to her feet and started running.

  “Wait,” Rilynne called out as she started after her. As fast as she ran, she couldn't keep up with Kim. After a few moments, Kim turned and ran into the trees. When Rilynne stepped in after her, the beach disappeared and she found herself standing in a large dress shop. She had been there before, several times. It was the shop where she bought her wedding dress.

  “So nice to see you, Ms. Evans,” the pleasant woman behind the small counter said. “I was very sorry to hear about your wedding. As we discussed, I can't give you a full refund for the dress. As it was never worn, I am able to give you seventy-five percent, though. Now, you said that you would be needing cash, correct? Usually we wouldn't but given the circumstances…”

  Rilynne was confused. She opened her mouth to tell the woman there must be some kind of mistake when she noticed the garment bag in her arms.

  “It was just delayed,” she mumbled to herself, looking down at the bag. “We didn't call off the wedding. We just had to put it off for a little while so we could look for Kim.”

  If the woman heard her, she showed no sign of it. Instead, she started typing away at the computer before reaching out and taking the bag from Rilynne.
<
br />   “I've already pulled it together for you,” she said sweetly, sliding an envelope across the counter. “And again, I'm very sorry. I'm also sorry I couldn't give you the full amount back. I would like to offer the remaining twenty-five percent as a store credit, though. You can use it whenever you're in need of a dress again.”

  Rilynne nodded numbly as she picked up the envelope and turned around. She didn't understand what was going on. Her wedding hadn't been cancelled. Why would she be returning the dress?

  Chapter Four

  Rilynne pulled a pillow over her face, refusing to admit the day had begun. She closed her eyes tight and begged her mind to go back to sleep. After fifteen minutes, she resigned to the fact that it was a hopeless thought and sat up. Like they had every morning for the past week, her eyes instantly moved to the garment bag hanging on the back of her bedroom door.

  Her heart ached when she thought about what it held.

  She sat in bed staring at it until the silence was interrupted by a knock at the door before it slowly creaked open.

  “I made breakfast,” Amber said. Her eyes moved over Rilynne's sullen expression and she walked into the room. “You can't stay in bed all day.”

  “I know,” mumbled Rilynne. She forced back the tears she felt building inside. “I was kind of hoping last night was just a bad dream.” A low sigh escaped her as she ran her fingers through her hair. “Today was supposed to be a happy day. The only thing I feel right now is dread. I'm afraid to even look at my phone because I might have a message waiting for me.”

  Amber climbed up on the bed next to Rilynne. “If anything had happened, good or bad, you would have heard about it. At the risk of sounding cliché, sometimes no news is good news.”

  Rilynne let out a shaky breath as a tear pushed its way out. “You know the odds, Mom. No matter how much reassurance I give Lori, the chances of finding her unharmed… You know what I saw, what I felt.”

  Amber reached up and gently wiped the tear from Rilynne’s cheek. “There can be many reasons for him to have felt that way,” she said. “But dwelling on that isn't going to help you find her and bring her home. You need to be strong for Lori and for Kim. They need you right now and you can't help them if you fall apart.”

  “Okay,” Rilynne nodded. She wiped her eyes and tried to push the horrible images in her head aside. Her mom was right. She would be no help to anyone if she couldn't clear her mind and focus. “You know, I'm supposed to be getting married in six hours.”

  “Use the anger you feel from having your day stolen,” Amber said, “Replace the sorrow with anger and use it to be strong. Now, pull yourself together and get out of bed before your breakfast gets cold.”

  Rilynne stared at her mother in disbelief as she slid off the bed and left the room. No matter the situation, no matter how bad things got, Amber always seemed to know exactly what to say to get her motivated.

  After taking one last look at the garment bag, Rilynne walked out after her.

  The whole house smelled good when she stepped out the door. Though she’d had no desire to eat anything when she woke up, now her stomach was screaming at her.

  “So are you going into the office?” Amber asked as she placed a plate down on the dining room table in front of Rilynne.

  She took a bite from a piece of bacon and shook her head. “Not right now. Wooldridge is in working with the major crimes unit. I'm going to go over to Lori's and see if we can pull together a list of anyone who might have been in contact with Kim,” she said.

  “Shouldn't that have been done last night?”

  Rilynne nodded. “Wilcome tried, but Lori was too upset to do anything. Apparently after they got her home, she just sat down and stared out the window. I'm hoping her shock has eased enough for her to be able to help now.”

  “I can only imagine what she's going through,” Amber said. “I remember when you were three, I found the front door of our house wide open and you were nowhere to be found. I panicked, thinking someone must have come in and grabbed you.”

  Rilynne looked up curiously. “Where was I?”

  “Sound asleep in the bottom of the hall closet. I guess the door hadn't been latched all the way and blew open with the wind. And you-” Amber shook her head, “-said you didn't want to be blown away so you went in the closet. During the few minutes it took me to realize the door was open and the time I spent frantically searching for you, you apparently just fell asleep.”

  Rilynne grinned. She wondered why she had never heard the story before, but decided not to ask. “How did you find me?”

  “I opened the door to grab my shoes so I could go out knocking on doors while I waited for the police.”

  Although Rilynne didn't remember the event, it didn't surprise her at all. She didn't know why, but she always felt safe in the bottom of the closet. That was until she found a shrine to Ben's late brother hidden in the back of one. Now every time she stepped into her closet, she felt a little creeped out.

  “Well, I told Katy I would go back over this morning and stay with her while her husband is at work,” Amber said. “Call me if anything turns up.”

  “I will,” Rilynne said.

  She finished her breakfast and walked back to her room, intentionally avoiding looking at her dress. After changing, she walked out the front door and down the street to Lori's house.

  When she walked in, she found Lori sitting just where Wilcome had left her the night before. Unsurprisingly, she was still wearing her dress from the rehearsal dinner.

  “Has she moved at all?” Rilynne asked Joe. He looked over at his fiancé and shook his head. There was a hurt in his eyes that made Rilynne ill. She tried to look away from it but she couldn't.

  Joe leaned against the kitchen counter and rubbed his face. “I tried to get her to eat something, but she didn't seem to be able to hear me at all,” he said. He had dark circles under his tired eyes. He hadn't slept at all. “She was watching the news all night. I finally had to turn the television off.”

  “Good,” Rilynne said. She knew from personal experience that they would report anything, no matter if there were facts to back it up. The last thing Lori needed was to hear speculations.

  She looked around the house. There was a feeling of sadness about it that was almost sickening. Wilcome was sound asleep where he sat on the couch. Jerkins, half asleep himself, was setting up equipment on the dining room table. Lori was staring blankly out the window in the living room, dried makeup runs covering her face. She didn't appear to have even noticed Rilynne's arrival.

  “Where's Harper?” she asked.

  “I had my mom come pick him up,” Joe said. He poured her a cup of coffee and sat it down on the island in front of her. “She lives just an hour outside of town, so we can bring him back if you need anything. I just thought it best to get him away from all of this. He blames himself for Kim being taken.”

  “He shouldn't,” she said, thinking back to the flash she had seen. “We had Kim's shoe printed. While we didn't find any belonging to the abductor, we did find Harper's. He grabbed on to her and tried to pull her away from the man. He was incredibly brave. If he hadn't been there, the man may have been able to get her out of town before we were able to set up the roadblock.”

  He seemed both thankful and relieved by her statement. “Do you really think he's still here?” he asked after a few moments. “Do you think Kim's still in town?”

  Rilynne nodded. “Yes, I do.”

  After finishing her coffee, Rilynne walked into the living room. “Lori,” she said softly. She sat down beside her and placed her hand on Lori's knee. Lori jumped and turned toward her. Her eyes had a look of confusion in them. “Why don't we go get you changed, then you can help me out with something.”

  Lori blinked quickly. She looked almost as if someone had just shaken her awake in the middle of the night and she was trying to register her surroundings. Rilynne sat quietly and waited. After several long seconds, Lori nodded and pushed herself
up.

  Neither of them spoke until they walked into her bedroom at the top of the stairs. Rilynne hadn't been in it since Joe moved in a few months before. Unlike the almost excessive level of cleanliness it had before, it was obvious a man now shared the space. After pushing the small pile of discarded clothes off the chair in the corner, Rilynne lowered Lori into it and opened the closet.

  “Have you found anything?” Lori's voice cracked as she spoke. Her normally sweet tone was rough, no doubt from crying. “You can tell me. Even if it's not… good.”

  Rilynne pulled a sweater and jeans out of the closet and handed them to Lori. “The roadblock went up within minutes of Matthews making the call,” she said. Lori stood again and Rilynne unzipped the back of her dress. As soon as Lori slipped out of it, she dropped back heavily into the chair. “He didn't have time to get her out of town. Everyone here and in Bodker are working on finding her. I don't think Wooldridge even left the station last night. We could really use your help with something, though.”

  Lori pulled the sweater over her head and nodded. Though she was speaking to her, she still hadn't met Rilynne's eye.

  “We need a list of everyone who's been in contact with Kim,” she said. “Even her doctors, or maybe someone who's come in to the house.”

  Lori's body was stiff as she nodded again. Rilynne reached down and helped her to her feet after she pulled her pants on and they walked back down to the living room.

  “Why don't you go get some sleep,” she said to Joe when he met them at the bottom of the stairs. He opened his mouth to argue but she stopped him. “I'll be here with her. We'll come get you if anything happens.”

  He let out a resigned sigh and walked up toward the bedroom. When he disappeared at the top of stairs, Rilynne pulled out a notebook and sat down next to her. “Okay, let's start with your time here in Addison Valley. Who's been in contact with Kim?”

  “There's her pediatrician's office and her preschool,” she said numbly. “Joe also takes her to a group play date on Thursdays, and she has karate on Tuesdays.”