Roric slipped a hand behind her head, twirling the stray hairs around his fingers.
Bel shivered in revulsion, but forced herself to stay put.
He must have mistaken her gesture to be one of enjoyment. He smiled. “You seem uptight.”
“It’s just”—her gaze strayed to Mia—”been a rough day.”
He followed her glance. “Ah, yes. I understand. I can help, you know.” His fingers traced circles up the side of her neck, with just enough pressure to untie knots and relax muscles.
If it had been anyone but him, Bel would have turned to jelly. She got up to avoid his fingers on her skin. “I’ll put the kettle on.”
He followed her to the kitchen.
She filled a glass from a bottle of water in the fridge.
“Here, this will help.” He dug in his back pocket and held out a capsule. It was half-pink and half-white.
“What is it?”
“Just a little something to take the edge off. It will help you relax.”
“I don’t think I need...”
Isobel watched as his eyes flashed with...was it suspicion?
Isobel gulped. Finding Melindi’s kids might hinge on playing along. Or at least appearing to.
“Isobel?”
Her fingers trembled as she took the pill out of his palm. She’d been down this road before. She knew exactly what was coming. The capsule was different. The palm of the man offering it to her was too—but the intent was the same. It took every scrap of self-control to take it calmly and not scream at him.
She slipped the capsule into her mouth—not down her throat, but neatly under her tongue. Two great mouthfuls of water seemed enough to convince him she’d swallowed. At a guess, she had two minutes before the gel dissolved.
“There you go. You’ll start feeling better soon.”
Not wanting to risk talking, she smiled. Hanging on to her everything’s-normal face by a thread, her emotions curled up tight inside—a screaming ball of fury and fear.
Mia was still engrossed in her toys. Her back faced firmly toward them, no doubt on purpose.
I am right there with you, my little girl.
Dear Jesus, Mia…
“I’ll be back in a mo.” She locked the bathroom door behind her, remembered Liam, and took the key out the lock and pocketed it. Opening the toilet, she ran water in the basin to cover the sound and spat the soggy pink and white mess out into the open loo. Just in time, she thought, by the bitter snap on her tongue. Everything inside of her wanted to curl up in a corner in never come out. This was too much to face.
She flushed, unlocked the door, and went downstairs. By the time she got to the lounge, her feet were tingling with a lameness that snaked up her legs.
That was some potent stuff in the capsule. Why was the couch spinning?
She sat heavily. Someone turned the light off in her head and soft blackness fell like a stage curtain on a final performance.
****
Liam stepped out of the booth to answer his phone. Kez-Lyn.
“Kez. What’s up?”
Her voice was high, panicked. “I’m here with Sav, outside Bel’s house. He’s just left with Mia. She was either sleeping or drugged. No sign of Bel. What do we do? He’s backing the car out of the drive. Liam?”
Liam’s throat pulled tight. “Stick with him. We can’t afford to lose Mia.”
“What about Bel?”
“I’ll get over there as soon as I can. Go now!”
The line went dead. His vision swam. Desperation tore through Liam. A room full of broken bodies stood between him and Bel’s safety. Shutting down emotion, he became a machine. He stitched gashed flesh, bandaged wounds, and set broken limbs. He worked tirelessly, energized by the increasing urgency that pounded in his chest.
Bennett and Slade—the two doctors on call—arrived twenty minutes later.
Liam could have kissed them.
They fell into a rhythm and an hour after Roric had left Bel’s house, Liam left the hospital.
He checked his phone. The last text he’d received from Kez had them southbound on the R102, fifty minutes ago. Nothing from Isobel.
God, what do I do?
He sent a quick broadcast to the group—update please? He punched in Isobel’s number, then unlocked his car and got in while it rang unanswered. That was his starting point. He reversed out the car park and turned towards Isobel’s house.
****
Heavy blackness clung to Isobel’s eyelids, her mind. Far away, she could hear someone calling her. Liquid lead ran through her veins, making it impossible to sit up. Then out of nowhere, the feather-light touch of lips on her hers. Her eyes flew open. “Liam…”
He stood over her, framed by twinkling blackness at the edge of her vision. He grinned at her, though it seemed to stop short of his eyes. “I thought that would get you going.”
Her lips were tingling furiously. With no energy to retaliate, all she could manage was a single eyebrow arch. It all came flooding back. Roric, the pill. Mia…
“Liam, he’s got her!” Sitting took every scrap of effort. Sluggishness clung to her like sodden quicksand.
“I know.”
“We have to go.”
He didn’t answer but leaned across, took something out of her hand, and studied it. An empty pill bottle.
What?
“Come. Moving will help get this out of your system.” He slid in next to her, pulling her arm around his shoulders and slipping his arm around her waist.
“I didn’t take those. He gave me something else. I spat it out. I think some of it got to me, though.” She leaned heavily on Liam, her legs buckling under her.
He shook his head. “Same set up as Melindi. This guy is getting careless.”
“Is Melindi…”
“She will be fine. Still in hospital. We haven’t said anything about her kids yet. I’m having the contents of her stomach analyzed to check what he gave her.”
“Who is tailing?” They had managed one lap around the lounge. Isobel could feel strength returning to her limbs.
“Kez and Savannah. Though it’s been a while since I heard anything.”
“So what do we do now? I should have been there. Mia…” Her voice broke.
He checked his mobile once more—still nothing. He took her cold hands in his warm ones. “Until we’ve heard from them, the only thing we can do is wait. Wait and pray.”
They sat together for what seemed like an eternity in the dark, not wanting to turn on the lights just in case Roric was nearby.
The long silence was broken only by the sound of a message arriving.
Liam opened it, paling at the words.
Lost them.
23
Isobel could tell by the Liam’s face that the news was bad. “What now?”
He shook his head. “They lost the trail. We have no leads.”
When he turned to Bel, she saw the pain in his eyes.
“Come. We are going to find them.” He held out his hand and she put hers in it without a second thought.
They drove toward the edge of town, passing from inky blackness into the puddles of light thrown down by streetlights. The sea curved along the left of the road, a restless turning of waves crashing and retreating, each surge gaining ground on the expanse of bleached sand between them and the water.
Ten minutes into the drive, Isobel broke the silence. “Do you have a plan?”
He was quiet for so long, she thought he hadn’t heard.
As she plucked up the courage to ask a second time, he spoke.
“We‘ll head in the direction that Kez and Savannah were going. We’ll find them. After that? I don’t know.”
“Why? How can we just drive, not knowing where they are?”
“My heart tells me this is a good idea.”
Bel could find no suitable answer to that, so she said nothing. The moon peeped over the horizon, casting sparkling light over the expanse of the water.
“I got the results of Melindi’s stomach contents.”
“Tell me.”
“A potent cocktail of oxycontin and diphenhydramine.”
“Which is? Rat poison?”
“No, that happens in movies. The capsule he gave her didn’t come from the bottle he left in her hands, that’s for sure. One is a narcotic used for pain, and the other is an antihistamine that is also used as a sedative. The dosages he mixed were off the charts. I think I got to Melindi just in time.” He shot a glance at her and reached for her hand. “And you. Grief, Bel. I can’t get my brain around the what if.”
Bel blanched at the thought of the bitter aftertaste on her tongue. Too close. It was enough to make her feel sick.
They drove the streets in silence.
Isobel fought rising panic with each minute that ticked past.
Streetlights gave way to tall trees, the forest thickening around them like an army closing rank. The road veered inland leaving the crashing hiss of waves behind them.
By the time they reached Kez and Savannah, Isobel was so tightly wound it felt as if her head might explode.
The two ladies rested on the bonnet of the car, pulled off the road beneath the sprawling umbrella of a coral tree, its fiery flowers glowing in the moonlight.
Savannah had her arm around Kez, who was weeping softly. No tears for Savannah, but she looked grim, as if every drop of life had been sucked out of her.
Bel got out the car.
Kez ran to her and threw her arms around her, whispering apologies nonstop. “It was all the cows’ fault. They started crossing the road just as his car drove by. We were stuck. We couldn’t risk driving until they were all well across the road. By that time, we’d lost sight of him. The road forks and splits, there are many turn-offs. They could be anywhere.”
Savannah’s phone rang. Checking it, she frowned. “It’s Maggie.” She moved away from the others to answer. They watched her expression cycle from grim to disbelief to wonder. By the time she ended the call, her face was beaming.
“That woman! She is something else.”
Isobel tugged her arm. “What now? Spit it out.”
“She couldn’t sleep after your first message came through. So she tagged along. She picked us up along the R107, got a bit lost—which is why the cows didn’t affect her.”
“And…?” Isobel could scarcely breathe.
“Maggie is parked in the bushes outside the house Roric is in with all three kids. She wants to know where we are.”
Liam grabbed Savannah by both shoulders. “How do we get there?”
“Follow me.”
The two cars snaked through the quiet roads in the dark, headlights on dim. Less than ten minutes later, after a series of rights and lefts, they pulled up along the side of the road, as far into the bushes as their cars would fit.
Isobel found a path and would have been halfway down it, but Liam caught her by the shirt.
“Wait, Bel,” he whispered, “we need a plan.”
“My baby…”
“Just one minute. Stay with me.” He felt for her hand and held it in both of his. Under a living canopy of ancient trees too thick to let the moonlight through, they drew close, whispering in the stifling heat. “I’ve been thinking this through while we were driving. These people have influence in the police and social services. Who knows how far that influence spans? We need irrefutable, documented evidence if we are going to put an end to all this.”
“But he has the kids. Surely—”
“He has Melindi’s kids, but right now, because of the so-called suicide attempt, she’s considered a mental patient. Her testimony…” He spoke to them all, but the gleam of his eyes sought out Bel’s in the dark. “And we have no legal claim to Mia. I don’t want it to be our word against theirs in a bought-off courtroom. It would be terrible if all the trauma you are going through now was for nothing.“ He squeezed her fingers and she nodded, blinking away hot tears.
He took a moment to collect his thoughts. “We need to be absolutely quiet. Leave your phones in the car. We cannot rescue them just yet. We’ll split up and get in and out as quickly as we can. If you see them, don’t let them see you. For now let’s just make sure they’re alive and together. Got it?”
The ladies nodded.
Liam waited for Bel to look him in the eye and agree before carrying on. “If you see Ben, let me know. I need him. Follow me.” He fiddled with something in his pocket, then held a single finger to his lips. Using two forefingers, he indicated for them to get moving.
The house Maggie led them to was nestled in the woods a stiff hike away from the road. The path to the house was little more than a double dirt track, overgrown from years of disuse.
Walking through thick darkness, The silence pressed in on Bel. Her heartbeat seemed deafening in her own ears. He would surely hear her coming.
They walked in single file, eyes adjusting to the gloom with each step they took.
A dark figure stepped out of the shadows. Isobel bit her tongue to stop the shriek. Maggie. She put a hand to her lips and signaled them to follow her through an overgrown archway.
The garden surrounding the wooden house was overgrown with blackjacks competing with ivy in a tangled mess. Light blazed from the two windows along the front of the house. Paler light shone from those around the right side.
Isobel had been holding her emotions in, holding it all back for too long. She overtook Liam. Listening to her gut, she avoided the brightly lit front window and made straight for those down the right. Isobel found herself praying as she got closer to the window. With her back against the rough wood, she took a moment to calm herself before peeping in.
The curtains were open—or non-existent. Hard to tell from this angle. One window was slightly open, but thick burglar bars stopped any thought of quick rescue.
Isobel’s eyes were still adjusting to the pale yellow light cast by the lamp when she heard Ben’s voice. He was on a grubby blanket on the floor in the far corner of the room.
Lilly was on his lap, her head buried in his neck. So still she could be sleeping.
Please God let her be sleeping.
His other arm was around Mia. The small girl was tucked in as close as she could get, arms around her drawn-up knees.
Every tiny part of Bel wanted to rip through these walls barehanded, scoop them up, and run.
She strained her ears to hear what he was saying.
“And that’s why squirrels have such long tails. You can’t buy umbrellas in the bush.”
He was telling stories. Looking after the two girls in his life in a way that made Bel want to weep. They all looked tired, but Bel could see no obvious injuries.
Mia reached up and patted his cheek “Where mine?”
“Your what?”
“Mine. Want mine.” Isobel could see the quiver in Mia’s lip even from where she stood outside.
“Your mom?”
“Mine. Mine’s mom.”
“I’m sure she is on her way.” He smiled a smile so gentle that Isobel fell apart. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she sobbed wordlessly. Great silent gasps.
“Sleep time, Mia.” He eased his baby sister off his chest, carefully laying her down on the blanket. “Here, come sleep by Lilly. She needs you.”
Mia nodded, gravely accepting her position as Lilly’s helper.
With both girls down, Ben extricated himself and stood over them like a guardian angel, watching until the slow rise and fall of their chests spoke of sleep.
Isobel put a hand against the window and was about to get his attention when the sound of a door swinging open on its hinges broke the silence. She dropped down behind a bush. A sharp branch jabbed into her back and she bit back a scream as footsteps drew closer around the corner of the house.
From the silhouette it was Roric. He carried a torch, sending a bright beam of light carving through the shadows. Agonizing pain burned up and down her spine from the tip of the branch, but
he was so close, she dare not move. She sank lower into the shadow, closed her eyes and dropped her head—willing him not to see her.
Gravel crunched as he came closer. Any moment, his hand would be on her neck. It would all be over.
The torchlight swooped an arc just below her and just above her. He turned away, muttering to himself.
Bel waited until she heard the front door before standing, moving away from the branch.
Liam poked his head around the corner and she pointed wordlessly toward the window.
Isobel shook with fear, a cocktail of hope and horror spiking her veins with adrenalin.
Liam moved alongside, panther-like. He gave the room a quick once-over and ducked to the side next to her. Squeezing her hand, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. His confidence wrapped around her like a blanket.
She snuggled into it, bringing it close.
He pulled her toward himself, speaking a mere fraction above silent into her ear, “Call Ben over, make sure he stays silent.”
Bracing herself, she folded the rawness into a small ball, the ragged ache that would push her over the edge of caution and risk them all. Turning back to the window, Ben had his back to her. She dare not risk calling or tapping, any noise in this silence would be disastrous.
How?
The gravel under her feet… reaching down, she scooped up a handful of tiny stones. Picking out one, she bounced it in her palm—getting used to the weight. Then she threw. It landed just short of Ben. Two more flew silently and the fourth hit him square in the back.
He spun around and saw her.
She shook her head, finger to her lip, and then beckoned him over.
He glanced at the door, back to her, and then crossed the floor quickly.
So much to ask, to say—none of it possible. So she touched fingers with him through the gap, smiling at him through the tears that had formed on her lashes.
Liam moved her aside gently and passed a note to Ben. He read wordlessly, squinting at the scrawl. He passed it back and nodded. Liam took the note, scrunched it into his pocket and passed a round disc, the size of a large cherry to Ben.
He took it, examining it in the gloom, before tucking it safely into the coin pocket on his shorts. His eyes lit up and he nodded once. Scared, but hopeful.
Finding Mia Page 14