She heard voices. She used her left arm, scrambled to her feet, and hurried up the hill. She knelt down to grab her purse. The cell phone had fallen out along with some of her play makeup. She picked up the phone and stuffed it into her purse. She reached for her makeup scattered about on the rocks.
A loud crash came from the bathroom. She looked up at the window at the same time Angus poked his head out.
“Don’t you go anywhere, you little shit.” he said through clenched teeth and then yelled over his shoulder. “Callie, she’s behind the cabin. Get your ass out there and get her before she runs off.”
Emma looked back down, scanned the rocks, and found one the size of a baseball. She grabbed it, stood up, and threw it at the window. Angus turned back. It hit him between the eyes.
“Son-of-a-bitch!” he squealed and tried to push away from the window sill, but the back of his head hit the window frame. He blurted out a stream of obscenities.
She left her play makeup and took off back down the hill and into the woods.
93
A minute later, Callie rounded the corner. She tried to tiptoe in her spiked heels.
“I can’t see shit back here.” She held her arms out to balance herself as her ankles kept turning. “Angus? Angus?”
“What?” He yelled back as he rounded the other side of the house.
“I can’t see anything. Did you bring a flashlight?”
“No, I don’t have a flashlight.”
“Well, how are we supposed to find her in the dark?”
He cursed under his breath.
“Are you cursing me?”
They met where the bathroom light shone through the window on the ground.
Callie bent down and picked up a plastic lipstick.
“What’s that?” Angus asked.
“Toy makeup.” She straightened up, tossed it down, and looked at him.
The light from the window shone on his face.
She reached out to touch the pump knot on his forehead. What happened—”
He slapped her hand away. “She beaned me with a rock.”
Her hand stung. She rubbed it and squinted towards the woods. “Which way did she go?”
“She took off that way.” He pointed toward the bottom of the hill.
She fisted her hands on her hips. “Well, have fun. I’m not setting foot in there. If I can’t see out here, I sure as hell can’t see a blasted thing in there.”
“She can’t either, so she didn’t go far.” He motioned with his hand. “Come on.”
“I said I am not going into those woods. I lived in a wooded area before. There are ticks, snakes, and all kinds of nasty creatures in there.”
“You want to split that money or not?”
She dropped her arms to her sides, drew her brows together, and whined, “Ah, crap.”
She followed him. He walked sideways down the slope. When he got half way to the bottom, he turned and looked up at her. She had her arms out for balance as she inched her way down.
“Would you hurry up?”
“I can’t in these shoes.”
“Take them off. I don’t know why you wore those blasted things anyway.”
“I can’t take them off, I’ll ruin my pedicure and besides, there maybe stickers out here.”
He gave his head a slow shake. She was a quarter of the way down when her ankle turned. She flung her arms in circles, leaned too far one way, and fell to the ground. She rolled and then tumbled head over heels. He stepped aside and watched her tumble by all the way to the bottom.
“If this ain’t some shit,” he said. He made his way to the bottom of the hill.
She lay motionless and moaned.
“Are you all right?” Angus asked.
“No, I think I broke something.” She looked up at him.
He pulled his gun out of his pants pocket.
Her eyes grew wide. “What are you doing?”
“If you can’t get up and help me find that kid. I’m going to put you out of my misery.”
“Angus?”
“Get your ass up.”
“Okay!” She pushed herself up on all fours and then onto her feet. “I’m up.” She brushed grass and dirt off of her pants and then her top.
He pocketed the gun and peered into the woods.
“We could wait until morning. She couldn’t have gone far.” Callie scanned the woods too.
“If we can’t find her tonight, we’ll just go on with the plan. They don’t have to know that we don’t have her.”
A coyote howled.
“If that keeps up, she maybe beating down the door before morning.” Callie rubbed her hands over her arms.
He took a step toward the woods. A bright light flickered across the tree line. He turned toward the source.
“Get your hands up over your head where I can see them!” Cal called out.
“Shit!” Angus said.
“You heard me. Get your hands up—now!”
“Cal? Is that you?” Angus asked as he raised his hands.
Callie raised her hands. “Cal, thank God you’re here. Angus kidnapped me.” She took a step up the hill.
“Don’t move,” Cal said.
“But you’ve got to get me away from this mad man.” She took another step.
“Callie, you take one more step, and I’ll shoot you.”
She stopped, shielded her eyes with one hand, and raised the other. “Well, that’s just mean.”
“Cal, you wouldn’t shoot your father.” Angus eased his right hand down.
“You disowned me. I don’t have a father. So do you really want to take that chance?” Cal asked. “If I was you, I’d get my hand back up in their air and keep it there.”
“If he won’t shoot you, I will,” Hendrix said.
“And if he misses, I won’t,” Porter said.
Angus raised his hand back up.
Callie sucked in a breath. “Is that that woman deputy?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Porter called out.
Callie thinned her lips.
“Where’s Emma?” Cal asked.
“Who?” Callie asked.
“Emma, the little girl you two kidnapped.”
“Oh,” Callie said. “I didn’t know what her name—”
“Shut up.” Angus mumbled and glared at her.
“Where is she?” Cal asked.
Callie looked at Angus.
“Get them up here.” Cal kept his weapon aimed at them.
Hendrix and Porter headed down the hill. When they got to the bottom, they holstered their weapons, and pulled out the handcuffs. Neither one was gentle when they slapped the cuffs on their wrists and then patted them down.
“Got a weapon!” Hendrix called out to Cal as he pulled the gun from Angus’s pocket.”
“Nothing here,” Porter said and then nudged Callie’s back. “Come on, get up the hill.”
Angus and then Hendrix followed. Callie wobbled her way up. They led them over to stand in front of Cal.
Cal holstered his weapon and then in one quick move, grabbed Angus by his shirt collar, spun him around, and slammed his body against the back of the cabin. He got in his face. “Where’s Emma?”
Angus shook his head. “I don’t know anything about a little girl. You know a real son doesn’t treat his father this way.”
“You will tell me where she is, or you’ll wish you had.”
“You can’t manhandle me. You’d lose your job.”
“I care more about Emma than I do my job. I’ll remove my badge and beat an answer out of you if that’s what it takes.”
“Cal?” Callie said. “Is that necessary? Can’t we just go? I’m hungry.”
“Shut up!” Porter said.
Angus’s face grew tense as he watched Cal step back, and undo his holster, and then pass it off to Hendrix. Cal took a stance in front of Angus and then reached for his badge.
“She’s in the woods,” Angus blurted out.
Cal looked back over his shoulder toward woods.
Angus continued. “She took off running into the woods.”
Cal turned back toward him. He drew his fist back. Hendrix grabbed his wrist before he could nail Angus.
“Boss, let me take care of him. I’ll get him in the car. We need to start searching for your daughter.” He let go of his wrist and handed him his holster.
94
The coyote howled again. Emma squatted down beside a large pine tree. She listened for them—the people that had taken her—but all she heard were crickets and tree frogs. The sounds she’d heard the many times she’d stayed at John and Sarah Higgins for summer camp. However, she’d never been alone in the dark woods before now.
The scrape on her knee stung and her wrist throbbed. She had run as far as she could go in the dark and then had stumbled around, deeper into the woods, until she could no longer see the light from the cabin.
She fumbled in her purse for the cell phone. She latched onto it and took it out. Too dark for her to see, she felt for each button and pushed it, but none lit up the screen. She thought it must be broken from the fall—maybe it needed plugged in the way her mommy did sometimes to make it work.
Why had these people taken her? When she had heard the doorbell, she’d thought it would be her daddy. She’d had her mother’s cell phone in her hand when she’d opened the door. A large man had stood there in the doorway. Before she could say anything, he’d reached down, yanked her off her feet, and covered her mouth with his big hand. She had kicked him all the way to the car. He had opened the driver’s side door and tossed her inside like a rag doll. She’d never lost her grip on the cell phone. He sped down the driveway and out onto the highway. When she’d realized what was in her hand, she slipped it into her purse.
He had taken her to the motel room. There had been a woman and another man there, but she could tell the man didn’t want to be there either, because he was tied up. The woman had said ugly things to her about her mother, so the first opportunity that arose, Emma took it out on the woman’s shins.
Emma had prayed as her mother and her Higgins family had taught her. She’d never seen God, but she knew He existed, and He listened. For years she had never seen her father, but knew she had one. She had prayed that she would meet him one day. There was no doubt in her mind her mother was worried about her and prayed for her safe return. She was certain that her mother was searching for her, and her daddy was also searching. He will find me. After all, she thought, he’s the sheriff.
The coyote howled again. Closer this time. Not a breeze blew to stir the muggy night air, but she shivered. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin there. She stared into the darkness.
Think happy thoughts, her mother had told her to chase away the grumpies. So she thought about her mommy and daddy. They had thought that she’d been asleep, and she had been, but after her daddy had tucked her into bed, she had awoken from voices in the hallway. She had crawled out of bed, went to her doorway, and saw her daddy kiss her mommy. She had hurried back to bed and thought about that for hours. She hoped to have both a mommy and daddy in the same house with her one day. A family.
She liked him. He made her laugh. He’d told her he would take her to where he worked one day, let her meet his deputies, and see his office. She thought she would like it. She had asked him if she could ride in his car with the lights and sirens. He had said, maybe, we’ll see.
Her eyes grew heavy with sleep. Past her bedtime. Her stomach growled. She had missed supper. Miss Mavis made her something special for dessert every night. She liked Miss Mavis. She had let her help her in the kitchen.
I wanna go home.
Tears streamed down her cheeks and her chin quivered. She dropped her forehead onto her knees. Her eyelids grew heavy. Soon sleep had overtaken her.
The coyote howled. It was much closer. Her head popped up. Leaves crunched and twigs snapped. Her eyes widened as she listened. Her body trembled.
Snap! Pop! Crunch!
She remembered those sounds when she and her mother would walk in the woods at the Higgins’s place. Sounds of fallen twigs, acorns, and dead leaves underfoot.
The sounds grew louder. Her eyes caught sight of a flash of light on the trees nearby. It flickered back and forth. She drew her knees closer to her body. Uncontrollable shudders went through her. Her teeth chattered.
The light flashed on the tree across from her.
“Emma?” a voice called out.
Her eyes darted back and forth. The voice sounded familiar.
“Emma?”
The light flickered at her feet and then shone in her face. Her hand went up to her face to shield her eyes.
“Emma!”
The flashlight landed on the ground at her feet. Large hands wrapped around her and lifted her as he stood up. She was pressed tight to this strong warm body.
“Emma,” the voice whispered.
The strong body began to quake. She had no strength to fight him. She wanted to sleep. She dropped her head onto his shoulder. The swaying of his body lulled her into a shallow sleep.
“I’ve got her!” the voice yelled and startled her awake. She popped her head up.
The man’s hand cradled the back of her head and then he kissed her face several times. His face was wet.
“Thank God, you’re okay. I’m going to take you to your mommy.” He bent down, picked up the flashlight, and then began to walk.
My mommy? “I wanna go home,” she mumbled.
“I’m taking you to your mommy, Emma.”
She thought on that voice. That wasn’t the mean man’s voice. Her body quivered. Tears filled her eyes.
“Daddy?”
“What, sweetie?”
“Daddy?” Her little arms wrapped tight around his neck. “You found me. I knew you would.” She cried. “But … I lost my ribbon.”
95
Ted had examined Emma and took care of her scraped knee. She had suffered a sprained wrist. He put it in a sling. Raven had put an ice pack on Emma’s swollen lip. After a bath, she fell back asleep and slept in her bed with Raven cuddled up beside her. Raven doubted that she’d ever be able to have her out of her sight again.
She had stood at the entrance to Suzanne’s driveway and waited for Cal to bring her back after she’d gotten the call from him, and he’d told her she was safe. She couldn’t thank him enough, but she knew that she didn’t have to thank him. He’d done this for Emma. The very thought that she could have lost her daughter was almost unbearable. Raven had come to know that night that she couldn’t live without Emma in her life—or Cal.
Cal had left to go to the sheriff’s department not long after he’d brought Emma to her. She hadn’t wanted him to leave but knew he had a job to do. He wanted to check on Justin too. The funeral had been scheduled for later that afternoon. Cal was to be a pallbearer.
Raven had only imagined what kind of woman had raised her. She had thought she knew Callie, but she didn’t know her as well as she’d thought. Emma had been in the same room with that woman. Callie had thought Raven had gotten an abortion. In the beginning, she’d had no intentions of her ever finding out about Emma. While she was pregnant, she’d made up her mind quickly, that neither Callie nor Virgil would ever touch her again, let alone see her child.
She had never felt as much anger before as she had when she found out that Callie had backhanded Emma. She had never wanted to hurt a person before until then.
The hallway light shone through the crack of the opened bedroom door. Raven watched her child sleep. Every-now-and-then, with a gentle touch, Raven would stroke Emma’s cheek. Although tired and sleepy, Raven didn’t want to take her eyes off of her baby girl. She’d been in bed beside her for hours.
The early morning sunlight peeked through the opened curtains that hung over the window and began to overtake the light that came from the hallway. The smell of fresh brewed coffee drifted up the stairs and into the bedroom. M
avis had arrived.
The crack in the door grew wider. She lifted her head off the pillow and looked. Cal stood there and watched them.
“Is she okay?” he whispered.
Raven nodded. Her gaze fell on the bandage that was wrapped around his left hand.
“What happened?” she whispered and pointed toward his hand.
He shrugged. “I did what Emma couldn’t do.” He raised his wrist. “This was for her busted lip, bruises and scrapes, and her sprained wrist.” He gave her a sly grin and dropped his arm to his side. “Witnesses say Angus was resisting arrest.”
“Angus? I thought Callie hurt her.”
He nodded. “He let it happen, and it probably wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t taken her. Callie got hers though. She tried to kick Porter’s shins but broke her own nose when she ran into Porter’s elbow.”
He walked over and stood beside the bed. Pride and joy covered his face as he looked down at his daughter. Raven swallowed back a sob. She eased off the bed, afraid she’d awaken Emma if her emotions took over. She walked around the bed, stepped out into the hallway, and leaned against the wall.
A minute later, Cal stepped out. She turned, threw her arms around his neck, and fell into him. With her face buried in his shoulder, sobs racked her body. He led her further down the hallway away from Emma’s room. He leaned his back against the wall and held her close.
After a few minutes, she said, “I’ve missed you every day since I left Cypress six years ago. And now I know that I never want to be away from you again.”
He leaned back, placed his fingers under her chin, and lifted her face up toward his. “Likewise.”
As she wiped away the tears from her cheeks, she giggled.
He smiled down at her. “What?”
“You.”
He shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
Diana Anderson - Entering Southern Country 01 - Famous in a Small Town Page 31