LAST SEEN...

by Carla Cassidy

  There was no way Adam intended to live what his aunt and uncle had lived, no way in hell he would ever put his hopes, his dreams on a child who would probably only smash them all in the end anyway.

  He opened his eyes and stood from the sofa, his thoughts drifting from Maggie to her mother. Who would have thought that in just a little over a week a woman would have managed to get so deep beneath his skin?

  Kurt's woman. The words played through his head, taunting him. Breanna had fallen in love and married a man who had been bigger than life, filled with energy and excitement.

  Adam couldn't compete with that. He was an accountant, a man who always played it safe, a man who always did the right thing. And the right thing now was to leave Cherokee Corners, leave Breanna and Maggie to their wonderful family, their rich culture and the full life they had here without him.

  * * *

  It took Breanna a very long time to fall asleep that night. She stood at her bedroom window in the dark, watching the moonlight play on the leaves of the big oak tree just outside.

  Thoughts of Adam filled her heart, filled her soul as no man had ever done before. How was it possible in just the brief time she'd known him? And how was it possible that she felt as if she'd known him forever?

  Her physical attraction to him had been instantaneous and her trust in him, in his good character had quickly followed.

  Sharing the day with him at the Cultural Center had held its own special brand of magic. He'd seemed eager to learn about her people, their customs and beliefs and unlike with Kurt, she'd wanted to share it all with Adam.

  She'd watched him interacting with people and found herself admiring his easygoing nature, his openness and friendliness that drew others to him.

  It had been while watching Adam interact with Maggie that she had decided to trust his judgment about Anita and Edward Randolf. A man as naturally gentle as Adam, a man as affectionate with Maggie wouldn't do anything to put her at risk either physically or emotionally. She trusted Adam enough to believe his sentiments about his aunt and uncle.

  She turned away from the window and got into bed, wondering how long it would be before the Randolfs contacted her. Had Adam already called them to tell them the news? Maggie would never know her father, but hopefully she would know the love of his parents.

  She'd known in telling Adam that he could tell Kurt's parents she was effectively sending him on his way. It was the final loose end he had to clean up. Now there was nothing to keep him from getting back to his real life.

  She'd known all along there would be a goodbye. She just hadn't realized how difficult that goodbye would be. Was he packing already? Maybe preparing to leave with dawn's light? A sharp pain pierced through her.

  She'd told him she didn't want a relationship, but she hadn't anticipated failing in love with him. She'd thought she could handle a casual affair with him and not be touched emotionally. She'd been so wrong.

  It had been ill-fated from the beginning. He had come to Cherokee Corners to clean up a mess. She and her child had been that mess. His job was done here and it was time to say goodbye.

  She was surprised by the tears that burned hot behind her eyes … unexpected tears, unwanted tears. She had sworn to herself that a man would never make her cry again. But she hadn't counted on Adam and the tears that she shed were for the life they'd never have together, the dreams she'd never build with him.

  She'd thought she was just on the verge of falling in love with him, but she'd been wrong. She'd fallen head over heels in love and the ache of knowing there was no happy ending for them ripped her up inside.

  She fell asleep with tears still staining her cheeks, and awoke with the sun shining full in her face. When she looked at the clock she was surprised to realize it was almost nine. It was unusual for Maggie not to awaken her long before now.

  A peek into Maggie's room showed the little girl still sleeping soundly. Apparently the festivities the day before had exhausted her.

  Breanna pulled on a robe and went downstairs, eager for coffee. She studiously refused to think about Adam Spencer, but she did notice his car was still in the driveway of the cottage.

  No more tears, she told herself firmly. Her life would return to exactly the way it had been before she'd met Adam Spencer. She had a job she loved, a child she adored, a terrific nanny and a wonderful family.

  She'd just sat down at the table and started sipping her first cup of coffee when the child she adored bounded down the stairs.

  "Good morning, sweetness," she said.

  "Hi, Mommy. I'm hungry." Maggie slid into the chair across from Breanna and smiled winsomely. "I think it's a nice morning for pancakes."

  "You do?" Breanna smiled at her daughter. "And who do you think should make these pancakes?"

  "Maybe you and me?" Maggie looked at her pleadingly.

  This is what's important, Breanna thought moments later as Maggie stirred the batter for the pancakes and chattered like a magpie. This was all that was important in life, her daughter. Not a man, not a relationship, not love or sex, just quality time spent with Maggie.

  They ate breakfast, then while Breanna was cleaning up the kitchen, Maggie ran upstairs, dressed for the day, then came back down stairs with a blanket in hand and announced she intended to play house in the front yard.

  "But it won't be the same without Mr. Bear," she said.

  Breanna leaned down and gave her a hug. "I'll call Uncle Clay and ask him if later today we can go pick up Mr. Bear."

  "Since I don't have Mr. Bear, would you play house with me?"

  "Sure, just let me get dressed and I'll be happy to play with you."

  It was a perfect way to spend some of the time on her day off, playing house with her daughter, Breanna thought moments later as she changed from her nightshirt and robe into a pair of shorts and an old T-shirt.

  As she brushed her hair and carefully braided it into one thick braid down her back, she heard Maggie running up and down the stairs and knew she was taking half her stuffed animals and toys out to the blanket on the front lawn.

  Before she went back downstairs, she placed a quick call to Clay and made arrangements to meet him at his lab at two that afternoon to pick up Mr. Bear. She should have gotten the bear the day after Clay had told her it had yielded no information. Mr. Bear had been with Maggie since the day she'd been born.

  She went back down the stairs, poured herself a fresh cup of coffee and was about to go outside when the phone rang.

  "Your father is annoyed with me," Rita said the moment Breanna said hello.

  "What is it this time?" She walked through the kitchen to the living room window and peered out to see Maggie busily setting up her "house" on the blanket.

  "He wants to take me on a cruise." Breanna laughed and walked back into the kitchen for her coffee. "I wish somebody would get annoyed with me and offer to take me on a cruise."

  "He's annoyed because I don't want to go," Rita exclaimed.

  "Why ever not?"

  "He wants to go next month. He knows how busy I am in the summer months at the Cultural Center."

  "Mother, I'm sure somebody could take over your duties there for a week or two." Breanna shut off the coffeepot and emptied the last of the coffee down the sink.

  "That's beside the point," Rita replied indignantly. "The fact that he would even think about going then shows his utter lack of respect for my work."

  "I'm sure you two will work it out," Breanna replied. "I've got to go, Mom. Maggie's waiting for me. We're going to play house."

  "All right. Give her a kiss for me and tell her I'll do my best not to kill her grandfather."

  Breanna laughed. "I'll give her a kiss for you." The two women said their goodbyes and hung up.

  Breanna walked through the living room and out the front door, surprised to see that Maggie wasn't in the front yard. Thinking she must have come back into the house while Breanna had been on the phone, she went back inside and stood at the bottom of t
he stairs.

  "Maggie, I'm ready to play. There's no need to bring out everything you own."

  She waited a moment, then two for a reply. When there was none, she walked up two of the stairs. "Hey, kiddo, what are you doing up there?"

  Still no reply. Breanna walked up the stairs and peered into her daughter's bedroom. There was no sign of Maggie.

  I must have missed her outside, Breanna thought as she ran lightly back down the stairs and out the front door. But there was still no Maggie anywhere visible in the front yard.

  "Maggie!" Breanna yelled as she started around the side of the house, thinking perhaps her daughter had gone around to the back for something.

  She ignored the quickened pace of her heart, telling herself not to panic. Maggie was probably playing with her, giggling as Breanna walked within inches of her hiding place.

  "Maggie, answer me! Where are you? Honey, you're scaring me. Come on and let's play house."

  Breanna's heartbeat boomed like thunder in her chest as there was still no sound of Maggie's voice, no sight of her anywhere.

  She ran back to the front of the house, a sense of panic welling up inside her. The blanket was there, the stuffed animals were there, the little plastic dishes were there, but where was Maggie?

  Dear God … where was Maggie?

  * * *

  Chapter 13

  «^»

  Adam had slept late, having tossed and turned all night until dawn streaked the sky.

  He got out of bed, showered and dressed and was seated at the table having his first cup of coffee for the day when somebody banged on the front door.

  He hurried to the door and peeked through the peephole. It was Breanna. He pulled the door open and was about to greet her when she slammed her fists against his chest. "Where is she?" she demanded. "Where have they taken her?" She drew back her fists, her eyes wild. He anticipated her hitting him again and grabbed her by the wrists.

  "Calm down," he exclaimed.

  She struggled to get free of his grip. "Don't tell me to calm down. Where's my daughter … where have they taken her?"

  "Where has who taken her?" Adam asked in bewilderment.

  "The Randolfs," she practically screamed as she managed to wrench her wrists from his hold.

  "Breanna, what in the hell are you talking about? I haven't even told my aunt and uncle about Maggie yet."

  "Oh … I thought … maybe…" Her eyes were stark with panic. "I can't find her, Adam." She grabbed one of his hands and squeezed tightly. "I can't find Maggie."

  Quickly, in halting words, she explained to him that the last time she'd seen Maggie, she'd been in the front yard setting up for a game of house.

  "Come on, let's go look again," Adam said, refusing to panic until there was a good reason.

  Maggie wasn't in the front yard as they hurried to the house. "Maybe she's hiding," he suggested. "Why don't we check out the house first. You take the downstairs and I'll take the upstairs."

  As he took the stairs two at a time he could bear Breanna calling for her daughter in the downstairs. There were four bedrooms in the upstairs of the old Victorian. He checked Maggie's first, peeking into the closet, under the bed, anywhere a little girl could squeeze into.

  From Maggie's room he went into Breanna's, trying not to remember the near-love scene that had taken place on her bed the day he'd plugged in her caller ID box. He also checked in the closet and beneath the bed, all the while softly calling the little girl's name.

  He was trying not to panic, trying not to feed off the sheer panic he heard in Breanna's voice as she checked the downstairs.

  Children hid from their parents all the time, didn't they? Hide-and-seek was one of their favorite games.

  From Breanna's room he went down the hall to a bathroom, then into the next bedroom which apparently belonged to Rachel. Across from Rachel's room was a spare room containing only a couple of boxes of what appeared to be Christmas decorations.

  He hurried back downstairs and met Breanna in the foyer. Never in his life had he seen such desperation on anyone's face. Her eyes were black with it and her entire body appeared to be trembling.

  "Come on, let's look outside again," he said, trying to remain as calm as possible. "Would she have left the yard?" he asked as they stepped outside.

  "No. She knows never to leave the yard," she replied emphatically. "It's one of our rules and Maggie doesn't break the rules." She gazed at him beseechingly, as if pleading with him to make everything all right.

  "Check under your porch and mine," he instructed. "I'll go around the back and check my shed. Maybe she decided to do a bit of exploring."

  She nodded, as if relieved to have something, anything constructive to do. Adam hurried to his backyard, his heart double-timing it with anxiety.

  Maybe she decided to check out the shed and something fell and hit her on the head. The shed was nothing more than an accident waiting to happen.

  Where else could she be? What could have happened to her? Alyssa's words of foreboding echoed sharply in his brain as he ran toward the old ramshackle shed behind his house.

  She didn't break the rules, Breanna had said, but as he checked the shed and found no sign of Maggie, he told himself that even the best of kids occasionally broke the rules.

  He hurried back to Breanna in the front yard. The expression of hope that lit her features fell as she saw him returning empty-handed. It broke his heart.

  "Oh God, Adam, where is she?"

  He frowned and drew a hand through his hair in frustration. "Maybe she saw a cat running by, or a dog … or even a squirrel and decided to run after it. A five-year-old wouldn't have to get far from home to be utterly lost."

  Again a shine of hope lightened the darkness of her eyes. "You're right, that's probably it. She loves animals. And just because she's never broken the rule before doesn't mean she didn't now."

  "I'll do a quick canvas of the neighborhood," Adam said. "Maybe one of the neighbors saw her go by."

  "I'll go, too. We can find her twice as fast with both of us looking."

  He shook his head. "No, you need to stay here. She may come back, or maybe she'll stop at somebody's house and tell them she's lost. You need to stay here and by the phone."

  He knew she'd rather be out actively searching instead of passively sitting and waiting and he reached out and squeezed her icy cold, trembling hand. "If I find her, I'll call you immediately."

  He didn't wait for her reply, but dropped her hand and hurried off. There was a bad feeling in his gut … a sickening feeling that he knew wouldn't go away until Maggie was found safe and sound.

  Alyssa's feeling of danger to someone she loved echoed again through his head as the thought of the disturbing phone calls Breanna had received joined in.

  He hoped neither had anything to do with Maggie's disappearance. He desperately hoped that it was as he'd speculated … Maggie had left the yard and was too young to find her way back home.

  He had no. idea which direction to pick and so arbitrarily went in the direction the three of them had walked the night they'd gone into town for ice cream.

  The first two houses he stopped at his knocks on the doors went unanswered and he assumed nobody was home. In the driveway of the third house, a teenage boy was washing his car. He told Adam he hadn't seen a little girl pass by, but he'd only been outside for about ten minutes. Adam hurried on.

  Two doors up from where the boy was outside, Adam saw an older man trimming bushes in his front yard. "Have you seen a little girl?" Adam asked.

  "You got one that's lost?" The old man put down his clippers and approached where Adam stood on the sidewalk.

  "We've got one we can't find," Adam replied.

  "Well, I've been out here working in the yard all morning and I haven't seen any little ones around, but good luck finding her."

  They needed more than good luck, Adam thought as he hurried back the way he had come. There was no point going any farther in this directio
n if the old man had been in his yard all morning and hadn't seen Maggie pass by.

  As Breanna's place came back into view, he saw her seated on the front porch and knew the phone was clutched tightly in her hand.

  She stood as she saw him, her body taut with tension. He heard the deep, wrenching sob that broke loose from her. She ran to him, reaching him on the sidewalk and instantly he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against his chest.

  Her familiar scent wrapped around him, but this time it was tinged with the odor of fear. "We'll find her," he whispered into her ear. "But I think it's time we call the police."

  "I already have," she replied, then drew a deep breath and stepped out of his embrace. "Somebody should be here any minute." She offered him a smile that was aching in its desperation. "I'm sure everything is going to be just fine." She turned to walk back to the porch and wait for the authorities.

  Adam was about to follow her, but stopped, frozen in place as his gaze drifted down and locked on something in the grass by the curb.

  It was something pink … something hot pink. Without taking a single step closer he knew what it was. An icy chill took possession of his blood.

  Thunder. The pink plastic horse that Maggie wore around her neck was no longer around her neck, but rather in the grass by the curb.

  On wooden legs he stepped forward until he was close enough to see that was, indeed, what it was. He started to bend down to retrieve it, but quickly changed his mind, knowing it was important for the police to see exactly where it was … right next to the street curb … right next to where a car might have parked.

  He hurried toward Breanna, deciding not to mention it to her. Time enough for that when the police arrived. Adam didn't have to be a psychic to know that things looked bad … things looked very bad.

  * * *

  Adam had just joined her on the porch when the first patrol car pulled into the driveway behind Breanna's car. For Breanna, time had lost all meaning. One minute was like the next … an agony of uncertainty without her precious daughter.