by Jenn Vakey
Rilynne scribbled them down before looking back up to Lori. “Has anyone been in the house? Maybe a repair man or exterminator?”
She thought about it for a moment before nodding. “There was a cable guy named Bob right after we moved in, and I had an installer come out a couple weeks ago to set up the new television I got Joe for his birthday. Kim wasn't home at the time, but he was upstairs working in Joe's 'man cave' which is right across from her room. Oh, and Joe has a poker night every Friday. It's always the same five guys that come. Kim likes to pretend to be a waitress and take them drinks.”
Tears started rolling down her cheeks.
Not wanting to lose her attention, Rilynne quickly continued. “What about before you moved here? I know her public exposure was more limited up there.”
“Yeah, um... She went to the daycare in the station and really didn't spend time with anyone outside of the people we worked with and their families. She had the same pediatrician from the time I brought her home until we moved. I'm sure there were repair men over the years, but I can't remember anyone right now.”
Rilynne sat back and thought. They had several work related events that Kim attended, but she never noticed anyone paying special attention to her. Lori had always been very protective, not really letting strangers around her after she was born.
I'm so stupid, she silently berated herself.
“What about her biological family?” She couldn't believe the thought hadn't occurred to her before.
The spark in Lori's eyes said she felt the same.
“I couldn't find anyone in her mother's family. Kimberly's father passed when she was a child and her mother was killed in a car accident about six month before Kim was born. Her birth father was young and seemed relieved to sign over his rights. His name is Dustin Fore. The last I knew, he was still in Bodker. We haven't heard anything from him since he signed the papers,” she stated. “I honestly don't see him having anything to do with this, though. He was a very smart kid with a bright future ahead of him. More than him just not being ready to be a parent, he said he knew he wouldn't be able to provide her with everything she deserved. I just really can't picture him coming and taking her out of the blue like this.”
Rilynne sat her notebook down and placed her hand on Lori's. When she did, tears started rolling freely down her face.
“Where's my baby?” she asked. “Rilynne, where's my baby girl? How could this happen? How could someone have just taken her?”
Rilynne gave her hand a gentle squeeze and looked her in the eye. “We're going to find her,” she said. “The fact that she was taken from a room filled with officers is actually a good thing.” Lori gave her a puzzled look. “He wanted her enough to risk taking her with all of us only a few feet away. What that tells me is he doesn't want to hurt her.” That wasn't entirely true, but she knew she had to say something to reassure her friend. She wasn't one for false hope, but she had to give it now. She couldn't just sit back and watch Lori hurt the way she was without trying to help her.
After finishing the list, she sat with Lori in silence for close to an hour before Joe walked back out. Though his nap had been short, it appeared to have done the job. He looked incredibly more alert than he had before.
“I'm going to head back to the station,” Rilynne said as she walked over to meet him. “I'll start running down the names Lori gave me and also have all of your neighbors looked into.”
“I'm going with you,” Lori said. She stood up and took a step toward them.
Rilynne looked from her to Joe, trying to find the right thing to say. Before she could, though, a deep, groggy voice sounded beside them.
“You need to stay here,” Wilcome said. With him sleeping on the couch, Rilynne had completely forgotten he was there. “You have to be here if a ransom call comes in.”
Lori shifted her gaze to the equipment on the table. After a few seconds, she nodded and sat back down.
Rilynne gave her a kind smile before walking to the door. Joe followed close behind. “Call me immediately if she leaves,” she whispered. “You know as well as I do that she won't sit on the sidelines for long. Just do what you can to keep her calm. I'll be at the station if you need anything. Hopefully we'll find an answer somewhere in this list.”
“Just find her,” he pleaded. “Please find her and bring her home.”
* * *
“Did you have any luck?” Matthews asked when she walked in. She held up the list and nodded. “Good. We'll start running them down and see if anything turns up.”
Rilynne handed him the list and dropped down into her chair. “I'm going to start with the biological father,” she said. “His name is Dustin Fore. Maybe he changed his mind about signing over his rights, or perhaps he knows someone in the biological mother's family who wants her.”
Matthews peered up from the list, a look of bewilderment on his face.
“Kim was adopted,” she said, baffled by his confusion. “You knew that, didn't you?”
“No,” he said shortly.
She hadn't considered the fact that, unlike in Bodker, no one here would have known unless Lori mentioned it. Though she never hid Kim's past, it wasn't something that normally came up in conversation.
“Her birth mother was killed in a shooting a little over a month after Lori made homicide. She responded to the scene and stayed with her all the way to the hospital. The girl managed to hold on until they got there, giving the doctors time to perform a cesarean and save the baby. Lori adopted Kim when she couldn't find any family to take her. Both of the birth mother's parents were dead, and she wasn't able to find anyone else in her family. Fore was young, eighteen if I remember correctly, and willingly terminated his rights,” she explained.
“And it's not unheard of for biological families to change their minds and want the kids back,” he continued. “Since there are not legal ways about it, they could be desperate enough to resort to kidnapping.”
“Exactly,” said Rilynne. “Especially with Kim's birthday just a week away. It could have definitely made someone nostalgic enough to take such drastic measures.”
“Why didn't we start looking into this last night?” he asked.
Rilynne groaned and dropped her head down hard on her desk. “Because I'm an idiot and it completely slipped my mind. I didn't even think about it until Lori made a comment about not letting strangers around Kim after she brought her home,” she said. “And before you start in on me, I'm already beating myself up enough.”
“You shouldn't be,” he said. He was just being nice; she could hear it in his voice. “There was so much going on last night that it's not surprising that something from four years ago slipped your mind.”
She avoided looking up at him, not wanting to see the look she knew was on his face. Instead, she reached for her phone.
It took less time than she thought for the Bodker homicide unit to track down Dustin Fore. In just under an hour, they had him in the office and ready for Rilynne to interview him. Since he was across the country, she knew it would be a waste of time to either fly up or have him brought down. At the same time, she needed to be able to look at him so she would have a higher chance of being able to see anything. Luckily, the Bodker detectives were more than willing to help her out.
“Mr. Fore, I'm Detective Rilynne Evans,” Rilynne said, sitting back in her chair in the quiet conference room.
Fore looked around him before turning back to Rilynne. He looked confused and perhaps a little worried. “They won't tell me what I'm doing here,” he said. “I don't understand what's going on.”
“Mr. Fore, can you tell me where you were last night around nine?” she asked.
“I already told the guys here,” he said. “I was at work. Now can you tell me what's going on? Am I being charged with something? And why am I talking to you on a computer?”
She studied his young face carefully. She knew he had to be in around twenty-two, but he didn’t even appear to have reached
his eighteenth birthday yet. His eyes, the same shape and blue as Kim's, were filled with fear.
“Last night a little girl was abducted. We were hoping you might be able to help us in locating who might be responsible.” There was no hint of recollection on his face. He just looked more confused. “The little girl is your biological daughter.”
“What?” He leaned forward, eyes wide as he stared at her. “She was adopted by a cop. How can she have been taken?”
“That's what we're trying to find out,” she replied. “It looks like whoever took her was targeting her. It wasn't a random abduction.”
He nodded and looked down. “So you think that I changed my mind about giving her up and decided to take her.” He let out a deep sigh before looking back up at Rilynne. “Kimberly and I had only been together a couple weeks when she found out she was pregnant. I was eighteen and about to graduate from high school. I was looking forward to starting a new life in college, not raising a child. Don't get me wrong, I was still going to step up and be there for Kimberly and the baby. Then she was killed…” His voice cracked. “You have to understand, I wasn't ready when it was the two of us. Then she was gone. I couldn't raise a baby by myself. When that detective approached me about adopting her, I knew it was for the best. She could give her a life I never could. I don't regret the decision I made, detective. I'm still not even ready to settle into a serious relationship, let alone raise a four year old.”
“Can you think of anyone who might have been upset with your decision to give her up, or maybe someone in Kimberly's family?” she asked.
A guilty look quickly passed over his face. He appeared almost like a child who had been caught doing something he knew he shouldn't. “I never told my family,” he said. “At first, I was just scared and in denial. Then as time passed, I didn't know how to tell them. I was eighteen. What was I supposed to do, go home for a visit and say 'Oh, by the way'?”
“So your family didn't even know you got your girlfriend pregnant?” She tried to hide her shock, but was unsuccessful.
Fore just shook his head. He let out a quick laugh at her bewilderment, but his expression quickly hardened again. “Find her,” he said. “Please find her.”
Rilynne nodded. “I'll do everything I can. What can you tell me about Kimberly's family? I know both of her parents have passed, but is there anyone else you can think of?”
He thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “Kimberly was an only child. The only other family member that I knew of was her aunt, but she was with her mother in the accident. They were both killed. I don't think there was anyone else. Kimberly told me that the only thing that kept her going with her entire family gone was knowing the baby was coming and she wouldn't be alone for long.”
It made her sad thinking of just how much tragedy had hit that one family. She tried to push it aside, though, knowing her focus was required somewhere else. She racked her brain, thinking of anything else she needed to ask the scared young man. Nothing came to her.
Rilynne hesitated for a moment and leaned forward. “So you know, she's a very happy little girl. She's loved more than you can imagine.”
“You know her?” he asked. His eyes looked wetter than they had moments before.
“I'm her godmother,” she replied. He looked almost relieved by her statement. While it could have just been that he was glad Kim was cared for, she knew it was something else. In that moment, he knew she wouldn't stop at anything before finding Kim. “I think that's everything I need right now, Mr. Fore. If I need anything else, I'll be in touch. If you think of anything, even if you don't think it's important, call me immediately.”
He was still nodding when Rilynne turned off the screen. She leaned back in her seat and groaned before closing her eyes.
It was the fifth time she had tried to see anything after her initial flash at the rehearsal dinner. Other than the horrific glimpse she received in the clearing and the dream she had with Kim on the beach, her attempts to see anything useful had all been unsuccessful. She let out a frustrated growl. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find that she was no longer alone.
“You scared me,” she said as she jumped in her seat. “I didn't hear you come in.”
Ben grinned and pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against. “I didn't want to interrupt you.”
“You wouldn't have,” she said, not hiding her annoyance. “I haven't been able to see anything since the dream I had last night.” He looked at her almost hopefully but she banished the notion with a wave of her hand. “It wasn't anything helpful,” she continued. “Kim couldn't tell me anything. She was too interested in the little crab crawling around in the sand in front of us. We were at the beach. Your beach.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
She was perplexed by his question until she remembered that she hadn't told him about the beach in her dreams. There was always something more pressing going on whenever she would find herself there, and she'd forget to mention it.
“The beach your father took your mother to right before they died,” she said. “Unless that didn't really happen,” she added, suddenly aware that it was a story told to her during a dream.
“No, it did,” he said. Surprise was battling with the amusement in his expression. “How… I've never told you that. We've never talked about the beach. You dream about it?”
Rilynne grinned and nodded. “Since shortly after we met, actually. I didn't know what it was until earlier this year. I actually forgot that I hadn't told you about it yet.”
“And it's the same beach?” he asked. “Are you sure?”
“I checked the pictures you have in your apartment,” she said. “Besides, you told me it was the same beach. You told me about your parents and about going back out there with Justin.”
He seemed to be taking a moment to absorb the fact that she had a conversation with him in her dreams that was accurate, even though he technically wasn't a part of it. After a moment, he shrugged it off and continued. “So do you go there often?”
She nodded again. “It's like the clearing for you,” she said. “I find myself there every time something is bothering me or if I need to work something out. It's utterly relaxing there, no matter what's going on around me.”
“Do you ever…” he hesitated, as if trying to find the words.
He didn't need them for her to know what he was thinking. “No,” she said gently. “I haven't seen them there. Other than the occasional person from a case that I'm working, the only person I've ever been there with is you. I haven't seen your parents or brother.”
“Maybe someday you will.” He crossed the room and sat down in the chair next to her. “So, how did the interview go?”
“Equally as unhelpful as my attempt to see anything. Fore has an alibi and claims that no one in his family even knew he had a child,” she said. “I don't think he's involved.”
Ben opened his mouth, but something in the office stopped him before he could get a word out. Looking out the window in the door, his jaw dropped as a subtle smirk rose on his face. Rilynne traced his gaze and cursed when her eyes landed on their target. When she jumped up from her seat, Ben reached out and grabbed her arm.
“Don't make a scene,” he said in almost a demanding tone.
Chapter Five
Rilynne took a deep breath to calm herself, knowing he was right, before walking back into the office.
“I can see her now!” A skinny woman wearing clothes straight out of the seventies was standing in the middle of the office. Her curly blonde hair was tied up with a scarf, giving her the appearance of a palm reader at a carnival. “She's scared but safe. She's saying something; I can hear her. She's saying… 'Mommy. I want my mommy.' She's trying to say something else.”
She let out a dramatic gasp as her body relaxed. “I lost it,” she said. “I lost the connection.”
Rilynne looked around the room at the expressions on everyone's face. Aside from
one young officer in the back who seemed genuinely intrigued, everyone had the same amused look.
Ben walked up behind her and gently placed his hand on her back. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Is she a-”
“Fake?” she finished. “Absolutely.”
She was considering stepping toward the woman but was glad when Matthews beat her to it. When he directed her into a chair next to his desk, Rilynne took her own seat. Though she didn't trust herself to say anything to the woman, she still wanted to hear what she had to say.
“Oh, detective,” she said, placing her hands on Matthews'. “Your poor wife. She's so uncomfortable, isn't she? You should pick up something for her at the store on your way home. It will help to ease her nerves about the babies.”
Matthews' gaze shifted quickly to Rilynne. When she rolled her eyes, he grinned and turned back to the psychic. “Miss…”
“Young,” she said. “Selena Young.”
“Ms. Young, what can you tell me about the disappearance of Kim Sibrian?” Although he had a kind look about him, she could hear an almost imperceptible note of mockery in his voice.
Young started rocking in her seat and she pulled her fingers up to her temples. “Such a sweet little girl,” she said. “She's scared, but he's treating her well. She's upset because she lost something… a toy… no, she lost her shoe. He gave her new ones, but it's not the same.”
“And do you know who took her?” he asked.
She rocked for another moment before shaking her head. “No, I can't see his face. He's hiding it from me. I can see something, though. There's a picture… a tattoo. I can't make it out, but he definitely has a tattoo.”
Rilynne looked up at Ben as he sat on the edge of her desk and let out an annoyed sigh. He didn't seem to know whether to laugh or not.
She just dropped her forehead down on his knee and closed her eyes. Unlike when she was trying to see things about Kim, it took no time at all for her to start seeing flashes.
Young was sitting in front of a computer. On the screen, their department website was pulled up. In front of her were several newspaper clippings: Lori and Joe's engagement announcement, a story for a case she and Matthews had solved the month before, and the story that had been done on her and Ben's upcoming wedding.