by Tolsma, Liz;
R.D. placed the box on the floor in front of the little girl. “What do you say to Mr. Vance?”
“Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome, Millie.”
As the evening dew dampened and chilled Cecile’s skin, she hunched behind a forsythia bush across the street from Angel’s Home, an orphanage, waiting, watching, wondering. She pulled down the sleeves on her sweater against the cool air.
Day after day during the past week, Cecile followed Miss Tann, always at a discreet distance. Until tonight, she hadn’t gotten any answers.
That all changed late this afternoon. Instead of going home, which was Miss Tann’s usual practice, she came to this three-story brick Georgian home. Her black Cadillac gleamed in the hazy moonlight, half-hidden by building storm clouds. In the front seat, her chauffeur dozed.
Cecile clutched her chest as if to still the frantic beating of her heart but to no avail. This might be it. Her daughter could be inside this very house.
Light spilled from each of the first-floor windows and a couple of the second-floor ones. The third floor remained dark.
More than two months had gone by since Millie had been kidnapped. With each day that Cecile didn’t find her, the chances grew that she would be adopted. Perhaps even out of state. She had to find her. Now.
Overhead, the street lamps flickered. A boy and girl, brother and sister, judging from their identical ginger hair, out walking their dog, stopped beside her. “Whatcha doin’?”
“Playing hide-and-seek. Now be quiet and get going before you give away my spot.”
The children moved on, and Cecile resumed her vigil. What could Miss Tann be doing in there?
Enough of this. Cecile was done waiting; she had to know what was going on. Of course, she couldn’t march right to the door and waltz in, but she could peek in the windows.
In her mind’s eye, she pictured Percy, lying on the street, battered and bloodied. Yes, she knew the cost of crossing Miss Tann. Knew it all too well. She said a prayer for his recovery. In the end though, he was better off without her. Safer. Out of harm’s way. When you cared for a man, sometimes you had to make sacrifices. No, it wasn’t always easy, but it was right. And with the crushing pain in her chest, this wasn’t easy at all. But it was right. She was on her own now, following her daughter’s trail by herself.
Keeping low, she crept from behind the bush and, making sure the way was clear, darted across the street and onto the home’s brown lawn. The dry grass crunched under her feet. For a moment, she paused. No, they shouldn’t be able to hear such a soft noise inside.
She first peeped into what appeared to be a dining room. A crystal chandelier hung above a polished table. This wasn’t a room dedicated to children. Still squatting, she maneuvered to the next window. Between the lace of the curtain, the light of a couple of art deco table lamps silhouetted two women. Judging by the size of one, it was Georgia Tann. The other woman, much smaller in stature and girth, gestured.
“You should have had them ready by now. I’m not patient. I have things to do.” Georgia’s words were loud and impatient.
Dressed in a white nurse’s uniform, the other woman answered, but Cecile couldn’t make out the words.
“Get those babies now. You can’t miss the train.”
The nurse hustled from the room and returned with three wicker baskets, carrying two by the handles in one hand and one in the other. The baskets were big enough to hold infants.
Cecile covered her mouth to stifle her gasp.
“Let’s get out of here.” Miss Tann led the way through the door.
Before Cecile could make a move to hide, the door creaked open. Cecile dropped to the ground and held her breath. Miss Tann and the nurse she’d spied through the window emerged from the home, both holding three baskets. A mewling came from one. Just as she suspected, there were babies in the baskets. Cecile dug her fingernails into the soft ground to keep from crying out. They were smuggling babies under cover of darkness. Did they also take out the older children? Or was it possible Millie was inside the home?
The pair made their way down the walk and to Miss Tann’s waiting black Cadillac. The car rolled away.
Maybe this house held the answers she needed. There could be others Miss Tann used, maybe many of them. But it could be a first step. She wouldn’t know until she got inside.
Once the street sat silent for several minutes, only the cicadas singing their songs, Cecile rose and took three steps in the direction of the front door. And then someone grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth.
Chapter Nineteen
Cecile screamed, but the hand over her mouth stifled it. It clamped so hard, she couldn’t bite down. Though she wriggled and squirmed like Millie, she couldn’t break free.
She swung, her breath ragged, but hit only air. Tried to kick but missed again.
What were they going to do to her?
God, help me! I’m sorry, Millie. I’m sorry. Lord, don’t let them hurt me.
“Just where are you going?”
At the sound of the smooth, familiar voice, she relaxed. Percy released her. Like a top, she spun around and whispered furiously at him. “What are you doing?”
“I asked you a question first.”
“I’m going to get my daughter.”
He mumbled something about a stubborn dame.
“And just what are you doing here? How did you find me?”
“I had the same hunch as you. To search the orphanages Tann uses. Imagine my surprise to find you lurking in the bushes. You didn’t go to Massachusetts, did you?”
“Please leave. Let me handle this on my own.”
“Why, suddenly, won’t you let me help you find your daughter? What changed?”
“There’s already been one attempt on your life. I couldn’t stand it if you were hurt again. Or worse.” She gasped at her own words. She’d all but admitted her feelings for him.
He drew her close. “And I couldn’t bear to have any harm come to you.” He brushed a kiss against her cheek. The kiss was innocent, yet it sparked a flame deep inside her.
“Then we’re at a stalemate.”
“So it seems.” Again, she saw him lying broken and bloodied in the street. No, she couldn’t continue to put him in precarious situations. She backed out of his embrace. “I don’t want your help.”
“You’re right. We have to widen our net.” He wasn’t even paying attention to her protests. “Before, we searched for information specific to Millie. Since we haven’t located her that way, if we can get more details on the operation, that might help.”
“There is no we.” She crossed her arms and stared him down.
“Keep quiet.”
A shadow moved behind the filmy curtain upstairs.
She fought to whisper. “I can do this on my own.”
“You won’t get inside without me. Were you just going to walk right in?”
She ground her teeth. She didn’t have a plan, but that wasn’t something Percy needed to know. “Why not?”
“Ever heard of trespassing? And they probably lock the doors to keep the kids in.”
She sighed. He was right. “Do you have a plan?”
“I’m her lawyer.”
“You said she fired you.”
“She did, but I doubt the nurse in there knows that.”
“No. We’ll find Millie another way.” If she dissuaded him, she could return later on her own.
“All right. My guess is that one of Tann’s associates knows we’re here anyway. She has spies everywhere. It’s probably safer to leave.”
“Separately.”
“Exactly.”
“Good night, Mr. Vance.”
“Good night, Mrs. Dowd.”
They parted, each heading in different directions. Cecile rounded the block and continued for several paces before stopping. And waiting. After fifteen minutes or so of standing near a row of bushes along a driveway, twisting the ribbon on her wrist the entire time, sh
e rounded the corner once more and marched toward the house. And in a pool of porch light, there was Percy poised to knock. That sneaky, deceptive man.
Then again, hadn’t she done the same thing? She scampered up the walk and joined him. “You gave it a go.”
He hissed at her. “Get out of here.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Steps sounded from inside. Good. All she had to do was stand her ground until the door opened.
He narrowed his eyes. “I can make up a reason to be here. They’ll report you, and Tann will know it’s you. You have to stay away. Hide around the corner. I’ll let you know what I find.”
Cecile sighed. “Fine.” She hustled down the steps and out of sight, but she peeped around the corner and listened in.
Before long, another woman dressed as a nurse answered the door and drew her brows together.
“I’m Percy Vance, legal assistant to Miss Tann. She wanted me to check out some of the children for adoption. We have several requests to fill.”
“Miss Tann was just here. And why would she send you at this time of day?”
Only Swiss cheese had more holes than Percy’s story. “Yes, I know she was just here. But she had to take the children and leave right away. You understand. And these requests are urgent. We need to get these adoptions completed.”
The nurse moved to the side to allow Percy to enter. Cecile crept to the front door. Little by little, she turned the knob until she pushed the door open a crack.
A strange odor assaulted her, and it was not a pleasant one. It was more like Millie’s diapers when she was an infant. Cecile choked back a gag.
“Are the children upstairs?” Percy motioned to the flight of steps to his left.
“I’ll show you.” The nurse went ahead of him as they climbed to the second story.
Cecile slipped inside and crouched behind a davenport. The putrid smell intensified. Cecile’s eyes watered.
From upstairs came weak whimpers and lustier cries.
“All these babies in a single crib?” Percy’s question carried down the stairs.
Cecile’s heart pounded. What kind of conditions was he discovering?
Footsteps creaked above her. “Aren’t there other caregivers here?” Percy again. His voice carried.
“Others? No, I’m the only one.”
“For all of these kids?”
If the nurse replied, Cecile couldn’t make it out.
“Let’s move along.” Percy must not have found what he was looking for in that room.
More floor squeaking, but they must have moved far away enough that Cecile could no longer hear them.
The footsteps came closer again, and then Percy and the nurse descended the stairs.
Percy cleared his throat. “Thank you for your time. Please let me know if you can recall anything about the girl named Millie I told you about. Miss Tann has a special place she’d like her to go. At any rate, Miss Tann will inform you which children we’ve selected.”
“I’ll show you out.”
Percy left, and the nurse made her way across the living room and through the door into what Cecile had seen was the dining room and probably into the kitchen beyond it. Time for her to get out of here and discover what Percy had found.
As she approached the stairs, a child tugged on her sweater. “Miss?”
Cecile turned to find a sweet, freckle-faced girl of about seven or eight. She motioned for the child to remain quiet. “Yes?”
“That man lookin’ for Millie?”
“Yes. She just turned four, has brown hair and green eyes.”
“I know her.”
“You do?” All the air rushed out of Cecile’s lungs. “Where is she?”
“Adopted. A while ago.”
No. No. They were too late. Cecile willed her knees to hold her upright. “Tell me everything. Fast.”
“She was taken by a pretty blond lady.”
“Who was she?”
“I never seen her before.”
“Where?”
The girl shrugged. “Something about Memphis. And said her name was gonna be Pearl. That’s all. I told Millie to be brave. I always looked out for her.”
Tears sprang to Cecile’s eyes. She embraced the girl who clung to her. What a gift the child had given Cecile. “Thank you.”
Millie was in Memphis. Right under their noses. Now all they had to do was find her.
Percy took a deep, clean breath of air as he scampered through the door, down the steps, and out of the horrible place. That terrible, awful home where they stashed children and treated them worse than animals in the zoo.
He inhaled. Cool. Fresh. Sweet. To keep himself from collapsing to the ground, he stood against the trunk of the large magnolia in the yard and panted hard.
A few moments later, Cecile tapped him on the shoulder. “Percy, are you okay?”
How could he tell her? How could he explain to her? Images flashed in front of his eyes. Himself locked in a closet. Dark, so dark. For so long he couldn’t control his bladder. The stench had been the same as in the house. He ran to the bushes and vomited.
Cecile held him while he emptied his stomach. Close. Warm. After a while, he stood and wiped his mouth with his handkerchief. “Sorry about that.”
“What was it like in there?”
“Four cribs filled the first room. Each crib held three babies, not lying parallel to the cribs’ sides but perpendicular to them. Red bug bites covered each of the little ones’ faces. And the odor. Indescribable.”
“Those conditions inside are enough to make anyone sick. How can a humane person treat children so?”
Only evil, pure evil.
“And to think Millie lived there.”
At her words, he straightened and peered into her sparkling green eyes. “What? What are you talking about?” He glared at her. “What did you do?”
She scuffed her shoe in the grass. “I snuck inside and hid behind the couch. Once you left, I got up to leave, but a girl stopped me. She told me Millie had been there.”
“What did she say? Tell me everything.”
“Not too much. Only that a blond woman took Millie and that they didn’t have far to go. They would be in Memphis, and her name would be Pearl.”
His stomach, already on an amusement park ride, took another dip. A blond woman. Memphis. His suspicions had to be correct. He had to tell her. And she would be furious when she found out he’d discovered Millie days ago and hadn’t said anything. She deserved to know. And only she could identify the child. He wouldn’t get anywhere in his investigation without her there to either deny or confirm his suspicions.
If it wasn’t Millie, Cecile’s heart would be broken. But if it was …
“I know a man at the courthouse. The clerk of courts.”
“The same one who had the lead about Millie earlier?”
“Yes.” He gazed at the house, now almost dark save for a dim light from one of the first-floor windows. A shiver skittered down his spine. He couldn’t stand in this yard a minute more. He led Cecile down the block until he could no longer see the house.
“Why did we have to come here to talk?”
“I don’t want the nurse in that place spying on us or overhearing our conversation.”
She grabbed him by the upper arms. “Please, please, just tell me what you know.”
“He is married to a blond woman. And they have a little girl who just turned four years old. A girl named Pearl.”
Cecile tightened her grip on Percy. “Where do they live?”
“Don’t get your hopes too high. I’m not sure about this lead. But I’ll tell you, because as much as I hate it, I’m going to need your help.”
“Just tell me before I faint.”
“Like I said, I don’t know for sure. On a hunch, I visited them and brought their child a birthday present. I wasn’t even sure it was the girl’s birthday, but I was close. According to Griggs, she turned four a few days after your daughter.”
>
“Birth dates can be changed.”
“Yes, they can, but they aren’t always. That’s one reason why I’m cautioning you.”
She slouched. “There’s more?”
“As I was leaving, I called the child Millie.”
“Did she respond?” Cecile straightened. “What did she say?”
This was the part that made him question the connection the most. “She scrunched up her little nose and told me in no uncertain terms that her name was Pearl.”
“Miss Tann could have programmed the name out of her. A child can be made to forget.”
Oh, how he had tried to block his childhood from his memory bank. And how unsuccessful he had been. “The girl you spoke to inside. She knew your daughter as Millie?”
Cecile nodded, a frown marring her beautiful face, lines furrowing her brow. If only he could kiss it away and make life perfect for her again.
“There is a chance, but it seems unlikely she would forget her name in such a short time. Still, don’t lose hope.”
“Can we go see her right now? I have to know for sure. Even if my hopes are dashed, at least I can cry myself to sleep tonight. I’ll never get a moment’s rest until I know whether this is Millie or not.”
“I understand, but it’s very late. The entire family is likely in bed.”
Electricity sparked in her eyes. “Don’t call them a family. If that’s my daughter they have, then that’s my family.”
“After my intrusion into their home, Griggs made it very clear that if I ever made contact again with his wife or the child, he would have me arrested. We have to proceed with caution.”
“And how are we going to do that?”
He had no idea.
“If you were a parent, you would understand.”
“I do. I know how much you want Millie back. But we have to go about this the right way. Make sure this is Millie before we make a move.”
“Fine.” She spit the word at him. “We’ll do it your way. But for the record, I don’t enjoy your way of doing things. You hold back information that would be useful. When were you going to tell me about this girl? Never? Did you want to keep torturing me? Maybe you are working for Miss Tann.”
“Of course not. But I didn’t want to break your heart.”