Zach pulled into a convenience store, ignoring her question as he got out and came around to her side.
“I hate to do this, but I have to knock you out so they’ll think it’s legit.”
Zach held out a light sprinkled tissue, but instead of putting it under Kristi’s nose, he leaned in and kissed her.
He pulled back with a grin and held the tissue to her nose as she started to protest.
As her body relaxed, he whispered in her ear, “I’m going to be undercover for a long time, but when I get free, I’m coming to find you and take you out on a date.”
Zach knew it might be months, or if things went well, years, while he made his way up into the well-organized group. But Kristi had intrigued him enough to make him hope it was over sooner rather than later.
Chapter 15
Sunni woke up to a face looming over her head, its body curled up in the windowsill directly above her headboard.
“Good Morning. We were wondering when you were going to get out of bed.” A voice spoke from the side of her bed, startling Sunni enough that she sat up, bumping heads with her window crawler.
“Flynn, why are you in the windowsill?” Sunni rubbed her head, hoping this was not an indication of the way her day was going to go.
“We’ve been waiting foreverrr.” Lilly drew out the last word to accentuate how long forever really was.
“Dad made us breakfast, but we’re hungry again,” Flynn whined from his perch just above her head.
“What do you mean, Dad made breakfast?” Sunni glanced frantically at the clock and blinked twice when she saw the that the clock read ten a.m.
“Snapping peas! What have you two been doing since he went to work?” Sunni pulled the covers off and shivered as she left the warmth of the bed.
She dressed quickly while Flynn explained the rules her husband had given them.
“Dad said if we let you sleep and stayed out of trouble, he’d take us out for a pizza tonight for dinner, and give us arcade money.’” Flynn scrunched up his face as he climbed down from his perch.
“We didn’t cause any trouble ’cause Daddy said you needed lots of love and sleep since you was missing Aunt Marie.”
“Thank you, kiddos, but I need just a minute to get dressed and I’ll come out and see if we can have brunch. How does that sound?” Sunni smiled as both children nodded, disappearing as silently as they had entered.
She rubbed her eyes as she tried to wake up fully.
Phone first. Where did Daniel put it? She spotted it on the dresser, but when she hit the button, her phone was dead.
“Green beans! Really?”
Sunni found the charger and plugged it in, hoping that it would charge enough for her to use it after she finished in the bathroom.
The door opened again, just as Sunni placed the toothbrush in her mouth.
“Yes?” she mumbled.
“Mom, will Aunt Marie ever come home?” Lily asked quietly, watching her mom brush her teeth.
“Yhfov…” Sunni spit the toothpaste out. “Let’s try that again. Yes, we’ll find her. She knows where she is, so when she thinks about it, she’ll call and let us know.”
“Okay. As long as she hasn’t lost herself, then we can go find her,” Lily agreed, satisfied.
“Where’s your brother?” Sunni questioned as she finished up in the bathroom.
“Oh, he’s working on his project.”
Sunni went to respond when her phone turned on and started dinging with text messages and voicemails.
Immediately forgetting Flynn’s project, she grabbed her phone and started reading the messages.
Olive: Kristi’s Missing!
Miles: Sunni, please answer. Why is your phone shut off?
Olive: I called your husband and he said you’re alive, but call us as soon as you wake up.
Olive: Asap! How can you still be asleep its nine in the morning?
Miles: Sunni, get some rest because today is going to be a long one. Perri is still missing, and so is Kristi. Call us when you can.
Sunni’s voicemails were all from Olive and Miles, so she deleted them and hurried to send a group text to both of them.
Sunni: I’m up and alive. I’m at home. Why do you think Kristi is missing?
Olive: She was supposed to be at work at eight. She’s over two hours late.
Miles: I went to her house and her car is there because Carolina checked for me. The driveway is shoveled, but it looks like she never left.
Olive: Miles found her thermos in the snow. It had melted the snow and made a strange hole, which is why we think she’s been kidnapped.
Sunni: I don’t see how we can keep the police out of this any longer. Does anyone have a lawyer that could go with us, just in case we need one?
Olive: I can have one meet us, but what are we going to do with the children?
Miles: There’s a babysitter we use sometimes when we can’t take Ivy with us. She could watch the twins as well, if it was only for a few hours.
Sunni: Do you want me to meet you at your house, Miles?
Olive: You can’t bring the kids here because we have a closing today. I’m sorry.
Miles: The sitter replied. She can be here in twenty minutes.
Sunni: I have to get them dressed and grab something for them to snack on. I’ll pick you up in a few minutes.
“Kids, get dressed. We’re going to Miles’ house to play with Ivy.” Sunni didn’t have to wonder if they had heard her because screams erupted.
She threw on some warm pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Boots were a must if they went out looking for the missing women.
As she finished up, Sunni went to check on the children to make sure they had on warm clothes.
Flynn was almost ready and was struggling to get his coat on, while Lily was standing in her closet, eenie meenie miney moing between dresses.
“Lily Bell, it’s too cold for a dress unless you wear pants with it. So let’s pick a dress that isn’t sheer.” Sunni walked over to look at the choices.
Lily tapped her finger on her chin thoughtfully. “I think it comes down to this one. I don’t want to freeze my little legs off.”
Even in such a stressful situation, Sunni couldn’t help but laugh at her daughter.
“That is very wise, young lady.”
Lily was dressed in no time, and they hurried to get bundled up.
Thankfully, Daniel and Dusty had shoveled the driveway when they left that morning. Otherwise, leaving would have been overwhelming.
The drive went quickly with only anticipation at seeing their friend Ivy again. Sunni thought some reminders might be in order.
“Remember that Ivy doesn’t always think like you do, but if you’re patient and nice, then you can work things out. Her brothers are older, so most of the time she doesn’t have to share. Make sure that you’re giving her a chance to play, because they’re her toys.”
“Yes, ma’am. She’s one of my bestest friends, and we just ignore Flynn.” Lily gave a sideways glance at Flynn.
“It’s okay. I don’t want to play Barbie’s with girls anyway. The boy toys are much cooler.” Flynn tried to top his sister.
“I don’t really care about the toys, but make sure that you’re gentle with Ivy, even if she’s not as nice to you. Got it?”
“K,” Flynn answered, while Lily responded with a “Duh, Mom.”
“Lily!”
“Yes, ma’am?” Lily tried again.
“Better.” Sunni could only hope that they would behave so that Miles’ sitter would continue to babysit for him.
Sunni had only unbuckled when the door was opened by Miles, and the children were headed for the house where Ivy was waiting at the glass door with her sitter.
Miles closed the door and walked around the car, leaving Sunni no choice but to stay in the car.
“Don’t I need to check in with her or something?” Sunni protested at abandoning her children, having never met the woman before.
“I explained we were in a time crunch so she knows to call us if there are any problems,” Miles assured her.
“Where are we going, since Olive’s office is occupied?” Sunni hadn’t moved the vehicle yet.
“We’re still going to Olive’s, but we’re using her back room. She just didn’t want to have all the children there. Even if the deal wasn’t going through until tomorrow, she would have said that the kids couldn’t come.”
“Oh, all right then.” Sunni pulled out, heading toward Olive’s real estate office.
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Dusty hadn’t really been on speaking terms with Charlie over the past few weeks, so he was really surprised when Charlie invited him to come and study for exams in the library.
He was hoping they could reconnect and go back to being friends.
The library had more kids hanging out today than normal because so many classes were gearing up for exams, and the teachers and students were ready for a break from each other.
Dusty and Charlie joined their normal group of friends, but Dusty quickly realized that studying was the last thing on their minds.
“Try on one of these.” Eric opened up a classic and passed it to Dusty. “The best way to cram for an exam is to open up your brain for the possibilities.”
“Um, no thanks.” Dusty didn’t want any part of the drugs these guys used. He picked up his backpack to leave when a large hand grabbed his arm.
“I think you should come with us.” The large bouncer from the barn stood behind him.
“No. I’m not going anywhere with you.” Dusty shook off his hand and took off running out of the library. There was nowhere to hide that this group wouldn’t find him.
He found his way to the nurse’s office.
“Hi. Can I come in?”
“Sure. What seems to be wrong?” the nurse asked, since there were no visible signs of illness that normally accompanied a visit to the nurse’s office.
“My stomach doesn’t feel so good. Is there any way I can go home? I don’t want to upchuck during an exam.” Dusty held a hand over his stomach area, hoping to emphasize his illness.
“How many exams do you have today?” The nurse inquired as she motioned him to a seat and proceeded to take his temperature.
“Just one more, algebra. I’ve studied for it so I’m ready, but I don’t feel so great.” Dusty tried to be a little more convincing by groaning as well.
“What time is your exam?”
“One o’clock.”
The nurse glanced at her watch. “That’s only thirty minutes from now. Go ahead and sit here in the office, and if after your exam you still don’t feel good, then I’ll make the call to your mother and you can sign out. That way, you don’t have to do a makeup test.”
Dusty shook his head in agreement. There was no way he was coming back to this school tomorrow or ever again.
He waited until the last possible second and raced for his test, only making it in the room with seconds to spare before the teacher locked the door to late entrants.
Algebra was one of his best subjects so he filled in the answers and worked the problems quickly, finishing with several of the class’s math whizzes.
The nurse’s face displayed surprised when she saw him back so quickly. “You really want to go home, don’t you?
“Yes, ma’am.” Dusty nodded respectfully.
“Is someone bothering you? You’re not one of my regulars.” The nurse watched Dusty closely to see if there was a sign that something else was going on.
“Well, I don’t really see any point in keeping you, since you seem determined to go home. I want you to make an appointment with the counselor tomorrow if she’s back.” When Dusty didn’t respond, she continued. “I’ll call your mother. You can go wait in the office until she can come and get you.
Dusty went to the office with the note, but his mother never came to pick him up.
Tired of waiting, Dusty called her himself, hoping the nurse had just forgotten.
When he only got her voicemail, Dusty lowered his voice as he left a message.
“Mom, Charlie and his gang have it out for me. I got a note from the nurse so I can go home. Please, come pick me up,” Dusty pleaded.
He resigned himself to waiting under the watchful eye of the school secretary.
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Sunni, Olive, and Miles had met with the lawyer, but by the time they had explained everything to him, they weren’t very happy with the advice he had for them.
“The fact that you’re all in this situation is just an indication of the reason that chasing criminals is left up to the police force. So far, you haven’t done anything terribly criminal, except for stalking these individuals.”
“So there’s no way to help our friends? They’re missing, so how can we find them?” Sunni questioned, frustrated.
“Let me repeat, there’s nothing you can do. We can go to the police station and report your friend, Kristi, who didn’t show up for work. Since this is the third person that you know who has disappeared, we might be able to make a case that there’s something going on in your group.”
“Is there anything special that we need to tell the police so that they’ll believe us?” Miles hated to be the practical one.
“At this point, two of the three people missing have been missing more than forty-eight hours, so that should help your case since they haven’t returned,” the lawyer cautioned, seeing the looks of hope on their faces.
“We need to go to the police now, so they can start looking for Kristi. Her kids! What should we do about her kids?” Sunni exclaimed.
“Does she have anyone on her emergency call list?” Olive questioned.
“I’m her emergency contact, but how am I going to tell her kids?” Sunni put her head in her hands, feeling hopeless.
“Here’s what we’re going to do. Miles and Sunni, you’re going to the police station with the lawyer. Once you’re done, pick up your children and plan on picking up Kristi’s kids. There’s nothing we can do until the police find them.” Olive’s bossy side reared its head again.
“That’s all well and good, but what happens if she doesn’t come home? I mean, Aunt Marie has been missing for six days, and Perri for over two. The police haven’t found them yet.” Sunni felt the world around her unraveling.
“All right, I’ll go with you to make sure that everything goes okay. Should we go ahead and head over there now?” Olive decided to get things started.
“I believe this is the first step to getting your friends back, so shall we?” The lawyer gestured to the door.
Everyone got up and made their way out into the cold and snow, knowing there wasn’t much of a chance that their friends would be found.
Sunni led the procession with her vehicle. “Miles, do you really think this is a good option? I mean, this isn’t getting them back. The police have already shown that they have no idea what to do, and the longer they go missing, well…” Sunni’s voice trailed off, leaving her thoughts unsaid.
Their cell phones both started ringing as they pulled into the parking lot of the police station.
“Holy snowballs! This is from Kristi.” Miles read from his phone.
Sunni pulled in and parked quickly, taking her phone out of her purse to read the message as well.
Kristi: Come to State Road 57 and turn right. Three miles down, there will be a dirt road. Hide behind the fenced driveway and wait for a van to pull out from the driveway across the road. Perri and I will be in the vehicle. When you see the vehicle, call 9-1-1 and follow us. Give them this number to trace and pray they find us in time.
Sunni and Miles exchanged glances.
“The question now is, do we go try to find them, or turn this over to the police?” Miles wondered.
“Olive and the lawyer can take care of this. We tell them something came up, but to go ahead without us.”
“You text her and I’ll drive.” Sunni put the a
ddress into her phone’s GPS and started out of the parking lot, following the voice of Miriam, the GPS locator.
Olive’s face showed her shock as they drove out of the parking lot and away from the police station.
Olive: Where in the world are you going?
Miles: To find Perri and Kristi. Tell the police everything. We will text you when we get to the address. Get the police started so they can help us take these people down.
Olive: Just stay safe.
Miles: Will do.
After twenty minutes of Miriam, Miles cut off the voice directions and took over as navigator. When they reached the State Road, Miles held the phone up.
“Sunni, pull over. The signal just went out on your phone.” Miles took out his phone and tried to find a signal. “Nothing.”
“We can’t just sit here and do nothing. Those were specific instructions, but we can’t take a chance on the police not making it here.” Sunni couldn’t think of a way to insure they wouldn’t get kidnapped as well.
“Wait a minute. The city police have no jurisdiction out here. It would be the sheriff’s office. I’m going to text Olive and let her know where we are and to contact the sheriff’s office.” Miles started to text, but Sunni stopped him.
“No. If we do that, they could show up just as the truck gets here, and then we won’t get Kristi and Perri back.”
“We’re only going to be three miles down this road. We can send the text and call 9-1-1 when we get back to this road. I guess that would work too.”
Sunni inched carefully off the side of the road and toward their designated hiding spot.
“What time did the message say to be in place? Two o’clock? We’re about twenty minutes early.”
“Hey, the message only said Kristi and Perri, right? So where’s Aunt Marie?” Sunni didn’t want to assume the worst, but there hadn’t been any mention of her in several days.
“Maybe they’re holding her somewhere else,” Miles suggested, but he didn’t’ have much to offer in the way of ideas.
“Let’s just hope this works and we can get some answers.” Sunni turned off the car and pulled the hood of her coat up, trying to keep some warmth inside while they waited.
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The door at the top of the stairs slammed open. Zach came down the steps, carrying Kristi.
The Mommy Detectives and the Bingo Hall Mystery Page 15