by Tolsma, Liz;
“You’re right. They aren’t about to tell you anything.”
“Then we need your help. Cecile is waiting in the car outside. We don’t have any time to lose. If Tann figures out that I know, and I have a feeling she does, then she’ll do whatever she has to do to stop us. We have to get to Millie first.”
R.D.’s head hurt so much. How could he decide what was right with this pounding in his temple? To help rip away a child from her adoptive parents. Was that the thing to do? If Pearl’s birth mother showed up on his doorstep, demanding her back, and she was a decent woman, how would he feel? The answer to that question was clear. It would devastate him. Maybe even kill Darcy. They’d run once. They would run again.
R.D.’s skin prickled, and he glanced behind him. Landers stared at him. He had to decide. Now. Shut out Vance for good. Save his job. And his family. Or get out of his chair. Go with Vance. Change his life forever. Lose his job. Possibly his daughter. Nothing would ever be the same. He glanced around for Landers. No sight of him.
As R.D. stood, his hands trembled.
Percy held his breath as the expressions on R.D.’s face changed as fast as the weather in summer. One moment, he almost smiled. The next, he frowned. His eyes lit then dimmed.
Percy had put him in an impossible situation but a vital one. Without R.D.’s help, they may never find Millie, even in a town as minuscule as Memphis. Gossip got around. People would know who had just adopted a girl. But they weren’t likely to share that with the son of the town’s most hated man, even if that man was now cold in his grave.
To go, however, would cost R.D. everything. How well Percy understood that dilemma. Like he’d told Cecile in the cafe, just like the men in the Bible parable, without the right type of foundation, nothing in this life was secure. He was doomed from the start when he aligned himself with Tann and the Crump cronies. He shouldn’t have been surprised when his life imploded.
Okay, Lord, You have my attention. I need to rebuild on Your foundation. Right now though, we need R.D. to help us. Cecile won’t be able to reconstruct her life without his aid.
If R.D. walked out of this office, he could never return.
Percy could do nothing more than pray. In his entire life, he had never prayed harder. Cecile needed this. And for them to make a life together, he needed this too. But more important than anything else was Millie’s welfare.
R.D. rose from his chair, stiff like an old man. Would he turn away or come with them?
Sweat broke out on R.D.’s brow, much as it did on Percy’s. Taking baby steps, R.D. moved toward the exit. Left the office.
Percy released his pent-up breath.
R.D. joined him in the hall.
“Thank you.” Percy choked out the words. “You’re doing the right thing.”
“Let’s get out of here.” R.D. hustled toward the door.
Once outside, they ran for the car idling on the side of the street. When Cecile spied them coming, she clasped her hands together. A wide grin, the biggest Percy had ever seen from her, broke out across her face.
Oh, she was beautiful when she smiled. Lovely all the time but especially gorgeous when her face shined like the sun.
Both men jumped into the car, and Percy roared away from the curb. He had urged the other women to remain in Memphis, and they had complied.
Cecile turned in her seat to address R.D. “Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. You’re doing the right thing.”
R.D. cleared his throat. “I have to stop and telephone Darcy. She has to get out of the city immediately. While I’m willing to help you locate Millie, I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to Pearl.”
Percy nodded. In the same situation, he might feel as conflicted as R.D. must. “Wait until we’re on the edge of the city. Then we’ll find a telephone booth.”
“No. We don’t have time to waste. We can’t stop.” Cecile fidgeted beside him, squirming like her daughter.
“We owe him that much.”
“But—”
“He’s willing to help. We have to give a little.”
She slumped in her seat and turned her attention to the passing city.
They paused for a short time to allow R.D. to make his call then continued their race to Mississippi. Behind them in the distance, a cloud of dust appeared and gained on them with amazing speed. Then it passed them. A black Cadillac.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Was that …?” Cecile stared at the dark vehicle passing the Packard in a ball of dust. She coughed. Her throat swelled closed, but not from the dirt swirling through the window.
“I think so.” Percy stepped on the gas. The car lurched forward but didn’t match the Cadillac’s speed.
“They’re getting away. Hurry. They’ll beat us there.” Her heart pounded faster than the tires turned.
“I’m going as fast as I can. They have a bigger engine.”
Griggs grabbed the back of the front seat and leaned forward. “Give it all you have.”
“I am. I can’t push it anymore. We’re going to lose them.” He smacked the steering wheel.
“No.” Cecile couldn’t allow that to happen. “We can’t let them out of our sight.”
“I have the gas pedal to the floor. There’s nothing more I can do.”
They hit a bump, and all three of them flew from their seats. Cecile knocked her head on the car’s ceiling, and pain shot down her spine. “Oh!”
“Sorry. The road isn’t the best.”
“Don’t worry about me. Just keep up with that Cadillac.”
She stared at the car ahead of them, willing it to slow, praying for something, anything, to stop it. Though Percy did his best, the car grew smaller on the horizon.
Then a puff of white came from the Packard’s hood followed by several more white clouds. Then a steady flow of either steam or smoke bellowed from underneath the hood. The car sputtered.
“No, God, not now!” Cecile hugged herself and rocked back and forth.
The car continued to sputter.
“It’s not going to make it. I have to pull over.”
“You can’t. Millie.” She went to rub the ribbon on her wrist. It wasn’t there. Where had it gone? No, oh no. The last piece connecting her to Millie. Missing just like her daughter.
“He’s blown the engine.” Mr. Griggs’s words were flat.
Percy steered to the side of the road, green grass swaying in the wind. From behind a fence that ran parallel to the street, a cow peered from her munching, her eyelashes long, and lowed at them.
The car halted.
A cicada screeched.
Cecile leaned against the sun-warmed dashboard. “Now what? How are we going to get to Memphis? To Millie? Miss Tann is going to beat us, and no telling what she’s going to do or where she’ll take Millie.” She worked to push away the images of that woman’s hands on her daughter.
Percy hopped from the driver’s seat. “Let me see what I can do.”
She exited the vehicle as did Griggs. The three of them stood over the car’s engine, staring at it. She glanced at the men. “Do either one of you know anything about automobiles?”
Both men shook their heads. Percy slammed the hood shut. “Even if I did, I doubt there would be much I could do. I imagine it needs a mechanic.”
Cecile banged hard on the hood, bruising the side of her hand. “We were so close. I could almost feel Millie in my arms. So close.”
Percy pulled her into an embrace. “They would have passed us anyway. My car doesn’t have the ability to keep up with theirs.”
“No, no.” The world spun around her.
“We aren’t about to give up. Not yet. Not ever. I promise.” Percy’s breath was warm on her neck, his arms strong.
She leaned into him. “Is it close enough for us to walk?”
“No.”
“Then how will we get there?”
A car appeared in the distance, another puff of dust on the horizon. Percy ran into t
he street, waving at the approaching motorist.
The car came closer and closer but never slowed. As it was about to zoom by, Percy jumped out of the way to avoid being hit. He gave Cecile a stiff smile. “We’ll flag down the next one.”
But car after car went by without stopping, no matter how hard they waved, no matter how loud they shouted. The sun crossed the sky and headed toward the western horizon.
Would no one help? Had all kindness left the world? She paced in circles. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. They needed water. Food. But most of all, Millie. “By now, Miss Tann must be to Memphis.”
“This next one. I promise you.” Percy rubbed her shoulders, his touch strong and sure. How could he be so positive? He’d said that for the past fifteen minutes.
A short eternity went by before another vehicle appeared on the horizon. This one, a farm truck, so covered in dust it was impossible to discern its color. The three of them scrambled into the middle of the dirt road, jumping, waving, yelling. Never moving out of the way. Forcing the truck to slow then stop.
Percy ran around to the driver. “Please, sir, we need a ride up the road just a bit. To Memphis. It’s urgent. A matter of life and death.”
“Well, son, I wasn’t figuring on going all the way to Memphis, seeing as my farm is half a mile down the road, but if’n you want to jump in, I figure I can take you there.”
Not giving the man a chance to change his mind, Cecile climbed aboard. Percy joined her, and she had to sit on his lap for the three of them to fit. Even then, they crowded close to the sweat-soaked, dirt-smelling farmer, only the stick shift separating them. R.D. climbed in the pickup’s bed.
She leaned against Percy’s chest, willing some of his strength to flow into her.
Percy tapped the dashboard. “We’d be obliged if you’d go as fast as you could. I’ll make it worth your while.”
The farmer wiped his damp brow. Spit a stream of tobacco out the window. “Well then, let’s see what this old girl’s got left in her.”
They sped down the road, the windows wide open, the dust gagging Cecile. But they were moving once more, and she couldn’t complain about that.
God, just don’t let it be too late.
Percy held tight to her but directed his words at the farmer. “Do you know anything about a brown-haired girl of three or so who just came to the area?”
The man shook his head. “Nope, sure don’t. Ain’t heard nothin’ about new folks.”
“Not new people. The girl would have been adopted by a family.” Maybe they could jog his memory.
“Don’t know about no adoptions. Word gets around. If’n there was, I might’ve heard about it. But I don’t go to Memphis often. Not much there.”
The ride might as well have been ten hours instead of ten minutes, but at last they rolled into Memphis. Or what they called Memphis. Did the small collection of a dozen or so homes constitute a town? Finding Millie should be easy here. They only had to knock on a few doors. One of these broken-down places, most of which needed a coat of paint, held her daughter.
The farmer braked to a halt at the edge of the settlement. “Here y’all are. Don’t rightly know what y’all want, but I hope y’all find it. Memphis ain’t nothin’ much.”
Cecile leaped out of the car, just about sprinting to the first house.
“Hang on.” Percy pulled his wallet from his pants pocket and peeled a few bills from the cash inside. “We’re mighty grateful to you.” A drawl tinged his speech.
She couldn’t wait for him. Had to get to Millie. Now. If she was still here. She raced for the first house. White clapboard yellowed with age. Up the rickety steps. Across the uneven porch. Pounded on the weathered door. No answer. Banged again. Nothing but the call of bullfrogs. Peered into the dirty, cracked window. Empty.
She raced next door, almost bowling over Percy and R.D. This one was a shop. A few items displayed in the plate-glass window. A shovel. A woman’s hat. And a bonnet. A pink bonnet. One with frills on the brim. And a white flower on the side.
As Cecile peered into the shop window, her face blanched, and her knees buckled. Percy caught her just before she hit the ground. She trembled in his arms. An ache to protect her, take care of her, almost overwhelmed him.
“What is it?”
Shaking, she pointed to the bonnet in the window. “That’s Millie’s. I’d know it anywhere. When I was waiting for her birth, I took it out of the box every day. I memorized each stitch. It was the only thing of her own she had with her when Miss Tann kidnapped her.”
“I remember it too.” Percy took a deep breath in and blew it out little by little. “We’re in the right place.”
“So it would seem.” Griggs pressed his nose to the glass. “Let’s see if the proprietor knows where it came from.”
A tinkling bell heralded their entrance into the dim, dingy store. A bent plow sat in the middle of the room. The shelves behind the counter brimmed with Mason jars of rusty nails and screws, empty oil cans, and frayed engine belts. Brown cardboard boxes, all unmarked, lined the other three walls and spilled onto the floor. Even the glass display case, which constituted the counter, was stuffed full of broken children’s toys.
No one answered the bell. Upon spying a doorway in the middle of the boxes, Percy threaded his way there and opened the door. “Hello. Anyone here?”
“Hello,” came the scratchy reply from the back.
The floors creaked, and several minutes later, a heavyset man in a white shirt, black pants, and black suspenders lumbered through the doorway. The musty smell he emitted reached Percy long before he did.
“What can I do you for?”
Cecile sniffled. She wouldn’t be able to answer the man. Percy stepped forward. “We’d like to inquire about that pink bonnet in your window.”
“Perty, ain’t it?”
Beside him, Cecile nodded.
“You folks from outta town?”
“Do you remember where you got that bonnet? Did someone bring it in for you to sell?”
“Yes, that’d be correct. Either I pick up items I find layin’ around or things folks just don’t want no more. That’s what mostly happens. But every now and again, a body’ll come in here and just wanna get rid of something.”
“And that was the case with the bonnet?”
Cecile leaned over the counter. “Who? Who gave it to you?”
The man stepped back, even though there wasn’t much extra space for him to do so. “Now, I don’t cater to giving out personal information, you see.”
Cecile almost lay across the glass display case. Percy pulled her back so she wouldn’t strangle the man. “It’s very important we find the person who gave this to you.”
“People ’round here don’t cotton to strangers bargin’ in on their business.”
“This is urgent. A matter of life or death. A little girl’s wellbeing hangs in the balance.”
Cecile strained in his arms. “You have to tell us. My daughter was kidnapped. That’s her bonnet. I’d know it anywhere.” Tears streamed down her face.
Griggs stepped forward. “Aren’t you Mr. Edmunds?”
The man nodded.
“You don’t remember, probably, but I’m Henry Griggs’s son, R.D.”
“Well, now, I do recall you as a tyke. Sat across the church aisle from you folks most Sundays.”
“That’s right. So you know I don’t mean to cause any trouble. But this lady here needs this information, and if you could give it, we’d appreciate it.”
The man combed back the few strands of graying brown hair he had remaining. His large belly shook as he spoke. “I suppose it won’t do no harm to tell y’all. Don’t like them people none, anyway. Mrs. Knowles from outta town a ways brung it to me. Said she don’t need it no more.”
Percy shook his head and frowned. Cecile slid in his arms. He supported her and kept her upright.
She burst into blubbering sobs. “She doesn’t need it?”
“No, ma’am. That’s what she done told me.”
They were too late. Something awful had happened to Millie. Percy rubbed his eyes. Now what?
Griggs managed to keep his head, the least emotional of the bunch. “Would that be Willard or Herbert Knowles?”
Good. He knew the family.
“Willard.”
“Still on his daddy’s place?”
“Yep, shore is. But I’d be right careful if’n I were you.”
Percy handed Cecile his handkerchief.
She wiped her eyes. “Why’s that?”
Percy could’ve answered the question, but Mr. Edmunds stepped in. “Willard Knowles ain’t the friendly type, if’n you know what I mean. Best watch your step around him, or he’s likely to set his shotgun on you.”
Griggs sighed. “Still the bully, sounds like.”
“Thanks for the warning.” Still supporting Cecile by her arm, Percy led the group from the store.
Griggs grunted. “It’ll be getting dark before we walk all the way there.”
They needed a ride. Already, they’d wasted too much time. Tann had too large of a lead. Percy spoke in Griggs’s direction. “Stay here with Cecile. I’m going to see about getting us an automobile to use.”
Griggs narrowed his eyes. “How do you aim to do that?”
“Never mind. I have my ways. Just make sure she’s all right.” This had to be a great strain on Cecile. The woman’s words, the one who brought the bonnet, didn’t instill confidence that Millie was alive or even still with these people. If only he could take her in his arms and reassure her. But he didn’t have the words. And he didn’t have the time. Back inside, he called for the shopkeeper. “Hey, mister, are you still here?”
He must not have gone far, because he returned within a few moments. He snapped his suspenders. “Didn’t think I’d be seeing y’all again, least not so soon.”
“I need a favor.”