by Willow Rose
Maddie looked at her T-shirt. It had a big stain on the front, but it was the best she could do. There were no clean ones this morning, and this was the one that looked the best. The other kids were going to laugh at her and point it out, but she didn't care. She had to not care. It was the only way of surviving. Rosa, her pit-bull, was barking from the window, and that made her laugh. Rosa was her best friend and the one who protected her when her mom was working at night. She could sometimes be gone for days, but luckily, Maddie had Rosa to keep her company. They would eat cereal from the box or toast waffles in the toaster and eat them together. The neighbors were often fighting at night and yelling loudly, but then Rosa would jump into Maddie's bed and lie close to her, making her feel safe, and she would be able to fall asleep, even if they threw stuff out the windows, which sometimes happened. During the daytime, the neighbors were nice enough and sometimes the lady, Matilda, would give Maddie a cookie if she sat out on the stairs when Matilda came home from grocery shopping. But once darkness fell, the yelling started all over again. Maddie's mom had once told her it was because that's when they had too much to drink and then they would fight over something stupid. Maddie didn't understand why they just didn't drink all those beers. Then they wouldn't fight, and everyone would get better sleep.
But it wasn't as simple as that, her mom had explained, then added that she would understand once she was older.
Maddie wasn't sure she wanted to grow older if it meant drinking too much and staying up all night yelling at one another. Or if it meant she'd have to work all night like her mother, getting beaten up by strangers because she didn't do her job well enough.
No, Maddie was very happy being a child, she thought to herself as she began to walk down the street in the direction of her school. She had only taken a few steps out of the parking lot before a car stopped by her side and the window was rolled down.
"Hey there, little girl. Where are you going?"
Maddie couldn't really see the face of the person talking to her because of the strong sun coming from behind the car, but she was certain she knew the voice and moved closer.
"To school," she said.
"Are you walking all the way to school from here? You'll be late," the voice said.
Maddie shrugged. "I missed the bus."
"Again? Someone's gotta learn how to get up earlier in the morning. How about I take you there, huh?"
Maddie looked at the face, then hesitated. She stood for a few seconds, contemplating what to do. Then she remembered her teacher's face the last time she had been late. Maddie smiled widely, then ran to the passenger seat and opened the door, yelling, "That would be awesome. Thank you!"
Chapter 19
When leaving Jenna's house, I should have gone home and continued unpacking. It was my plan to, it really was, but while driving down Jenna's street, I couldn't stop thinking about the dad and what Jenna had told me. Ever since I had heard about Sophie's disappearance, I had been wondering about the father and why they didn't seem to consider him a suspect.
So instead of going home, I grabbed my phone and called my dad. If anyone knew where Sophie's dad lived, it was him. He knew everything around here, and I was right. A second later, I had an address, and I hung up after my dad had reminded me that I was no longer working for the FBI and that it was time for me to rest and lick my wounds.
I knew he was right, but still, I couldn't just leave this alone. I was curious and needed to know.
So, I went. After all, it was only a few blocks away and would hardly take long. I drove onto his street and parked. I knew these condos very well. When growing up, they had been the place our parents told us to avoid. It was the type of place where the rent was cheap, and the owners didn't do background checks, so anyone could live here, even if they had a record. Growing up, I had been taught to ride my bike on the other side of the street and to never talk to anyone here. All us kids were terrified of the people living there. There would always be these men standing outside on the grass, with big dogs that would growl at you when you passed them.
Now, as I came here as an adult, the place didn't seem so terrifying anymore. More tragic than anything. There was an old man sitting on a chair outside, his old dog lying beneath him. He barely looked up when I walked past him and inside the building.
I rang Todd Williams’ doorbell, but there was no answer. After ringing the second time, I decided it was time to go. I had nothing much to do there anyway. This wasn't my case, and I had my plate full as it was. I turned around to walk away, when someone came up the stairs, a golden retriever walking up a few steps ahead of him. I recognized his face from the pictures I had seen in the papers and on Jenna's fridge.
His red eyes spotted me, and his lips started shivering. "Who are you? If you're a reporter, you'd better get the hell out of here."
I shook my head. "No. No. I’m not."
His eyes grew milder. "Oh, okay."
The puppy sniffed my legs, and I reached down to pet him. "He's gorgeous," I said. "How old?"
"Four years. He's a rescue."
I knelt next to the dog and petted him, then let him lick my cheek. "A rescue, huh? Golden retrievers aren't that common as rescues, are they?"
"No, I got lucky."
I giggled as the dog got playful. Todd walked to the door and opened it with his key.
"Say, haven't I seen your face somewhere before?" he asked. "I know where. You're that FBI lady."
I looked at him, startled. "You heard about me?"
"I read one of your books," he said. "I'm a geek when it comes to stuff like that. You know with serial killers and all that. I like the real stuff, not all the fake stuff on TV like CSI this and CSI that, but the real true crime. I read all of it."
"Really?"
"Yes, say, could I get you to sign my book? That would be so cool."
I nodded, thinking this was easier than I had expected. I didn't even have to lie.
"Sure. If you have a pen?"
Todd's face lit up. "Yes, yes, of course. Come on in."
Chapter 20
THEN
The boy stood by the window. As a car drove onto the street, he winced, thinking it had to be her. But as the car continued past his house, his heart sank again.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. It was his dad. He smiled at the boy.
"She'll be here, son. Soon."
The boy looked at his backpack on the floor. He had packed it the night before, knowing he was going to spend the next five days at his mom's place. His sister sat on the couch, playing with her dolls. She too had her coat on and her backpack packed, but other than that, she didn't seem to care much about what was going on. Didn't she know that Mommy was late?
"What if she forgot?" the boy asked. "Like last time?"
His dad shook his head. "She won't. Last time was just a misunderstanding, remember? She thought it was next weekend instead. Your mom gets busy, you know. Sometimes, she gets the days mixed up."
The boy nodded. His dad had explained to him that it was just a misunderstanding. It wouldn't happen again. Last time had been horrible. The boy had waited and waited all weekend, but his mother never came, and then the following weekend, his dad had taken him camping, and when they came back, they had found their mother sleeping in her car in the driveway. She had been angry and yelled at his dad for taking the boy away on her weekend, and they had ended up yelling at one another and the boy hadn't been able to spend time with his mom at all since, during all the yelling, his dad had told her to leave because she was crazy and too upset for him to trust her with the children. Then, right before he shut the door, he had called her high. The boy had meant to ask him what that meant, but he hadn't dared.
Another car drove up the street, and the boy turned to look, flocks of butterflies fluttering in his stomach. Maybe this time it would be her; it had to be, right? His dad had told him she would be there at eight o'clock in the morning, and last time he asked his dad for the tim
e, he had said it was ten. The boy didn't know much math or about time in general, but he did know that ten was way past eight. And that meant she was late. Again.
The car drove close to the house, but it passed too. The boy sighed and looked up at his father, who smiled again.
"She'll come, son. Don't worry."
But he was worried. He was very worried that she wouldn't come. Not just for his sake, because he really missed his momma, but also for his little sister. She had cried several times this week because she missed her mom.
"Momma?" she said from the couch, looking up from what she was doing. The boy had told her all morning over breakfast how wonderful it was going to be to see their mom and spend five days with her again, but now he was regretting it.
The boy shook his head. "No Momma. Not yet."
His father sighed and sounded tired. He was worried too, the boy could tell, and grabbed his hand in his.
"Why doesn't Mommy want to be with us, Daddy?" he asked.
His dad let out a heartfelt sigh. "I don't know, son. I just don't think we're good enough for her anymore."
The boy nodded and glanced at his baby sister while biting his lip. Then he shook his head.
"We don't need her, Daddy."
His dad chuckled and ruffled his hair. "You're so right, son. We have each other, and that's all that counts."
Chapter 21
"We came to Cocoa Beach when Sophie was just three years old," Todd said and looked at his daughter's picture. "That's when she tried surfing for the first time…on one of those big soft-top boards that you can rent by the beach. I pushed her into the wave, and she stood up. On the ground, she would stagger around and often fall, but on that thing, she was steady as a rock. She was a natural, and I saw it right away. I had grown up surfing myself, with Kelly and the boys back then, but never made it very far. I could just see that she had a gift, and I signed her up for surf camp that same summer. In the beginning, it was all just fun and games, but she developed her skills so fast we couldn't ignore it. By the time she was five, she surfed better than I did. Her learning curve was amazing."
I nodded and sipped the coffee Todd had served me. I had signed his book and slowly led the conversation onto his daughter and, luckily for me, he was more than willing to talk about her. It was something I had experienced lots of times in my line of work. People who had recently lost someone often needed to talk about them, talk about how amazing they had been.
"This is from her first contest," he said and showed me a picture on his phone. "I was the one to push her into the waves back then. And she won, of course."
I smiled. "You look very proud," I said and studied the picture of him holding the big trophy.
"Proudest moment of my life. Since the birth of Sophie, naturally." A shadow moved over his face as the memory faded and he returned to the harsh reality. "I thought she would make it on the World Tour one day; I really did. I thought she would be the next Kelly. I mean once she was ten and everyone talked about her, all the magazines and so on, they started saying it. Never had this town seen such a big talent since Kelly Slater. Of course, I wanted her to reach her full potential."
"You and your wife had a falling out, I understand?" I asked.
He chuckled. "That's very diplomatically put. She was the one who wanted the divorce, not me. Suddenly, she decided to throw me out and keep me away from Sophie. I never fully understood why. My best guess is she wanted to keep the money for herself. It was all Jenna’s mother's doing if you ask me. She never liked me and kept telling Jenna to take the money and run. She thought Jenna did all the hard work because she homeschooled the girl. But I sacrificed myself too, you know. I was a chef, but once Sophie started to really get serious, and we traveled constantly, I couldn't keep it up. They sacked me, and here I am. No job and no daughter. Can you blame me for at least trying to get some of the money? I had worked hard to get Sophie to where she was. I was broke, and I only thought it was fair that I got my cut. Jenna just took everything, and I wasn't even allowed to see the girl. In court, she told the judge that I had molested the child. She even had some blood in Sophie's underwear to prove it, she said. It was so messed up. She would do anything to keep the girl to herself. And then look what happened."
"You say she believed she was molested?" I asked.
Todd sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, but you can't believe anything that woman says. She's such a liar. I don't even think she knows what’s true and what isn't anymore. She told the judge all these lies about me and, of course, he ended up giving her full custody. I didn't even get to say goodbye, and now…she's…well, it's all her fault. If she hadn't told Sophie to go on that Girl Scout trip. What was she even doing there? You can't surf in the middle of the country. She was wasting her time. She should have been training for her next competition." Todd sighed and leaned back in his worn-out leather couch that he told me came with the fully furnished condo he had rented. "Ah, what does it matter anyway? It's all too late now. We'll never know what she could have amounted to."
I nodded, sipping my coffee, wondering about this news, when I realized it was getting late. I had to get back. I rose to my feet, thanked Todd for his time, then walked to the door, where I stopped.
"She had a coach, right?"
"Oh, yes. I couldn't get her to where she was on my own."
"Who was he?"
"Thomas Price. He's a local boy. Was on the World Tour for two years before he was injured. He could have been big too but never made it any further. It was his back. Too bad. It's a story you'll hear a lot around here. Lots of broken dreams walking around this town."
Chapter 22
I made it to Publix and, while I pushed my cart through the aisles, pulling down milk—getting two gallons this time—and eggs, I called Matt.
"This is a nice surprise."
I smiled. "I thought I'd check in on you. How are you holding up?"
"Eh."
"That well, huh?"
"This isn't exactly a trip to Disney."
"I spoke to the mother today. I went to check in on her," I said. "See if she was all right. Pay my respects."
"Are you doing police work?" he asked. "I thought you were done with all that?"
"I am. I just…well, I was curious, and then I wanted to make sure…"
"You do realize we’ve already talked to her? I’m a highly trained detective. I don't have much experience, but I know how to perform an investigation."
"Of course, you have. And, of course, you do. I didn't mean to…imply that…I just asked a little about Sophie and the divorce and all that."
Matt sighed. "I've been over that…"
"Did you know there was a stalker?" I asked, cutting him off.
"Of course," he said. "He was the first person we had in."
"And?"
"He had an alibi for the day she went missing. He was in south Florida visiting his aunt at a nursing home in Ft. Lauderdale. Lots of witnesses saw him at dinner."
"He could have driven back. She was taken late at night," I said.
"He spent the night there. In his aunt's room, sleeping on a sofa."
I nodded, grabbed a pack of sliced American cheese, and put it in the cart. "I’m not completely convinced, but okay. How about the claims that Sophie was molested?"
"Wow, you've been busy," Matt said. "Yes, we talked to her mother about that. She made the claims in court, but no charges were ever made. There was no investigation into the matter. She withdrew the claims while the custody case was still ongoing."
I stopped. "She withdrew it, why?"
Matt sighed. "I don't know, listen…"
"I know. You're tired. You sound awful, Matt. Have you slept at all? I know how cases like these can take a toll on…"
"Eva, stop, will you? I've got this. I can do it. The chief has given me the case and wants me to solve it. As much as I appreciate your involvement—and I do—I need to get back to work."
"Are you working on it a
lone?" I asked, startled.
"No. I have a partner, but the chief put me in charge."
"Who is your partner?"
"Nosy much, are we?" he said.
I grabbed a pack of freshly baked glazed donuts and put them in the cart, telling myself I'd diet next month.
"I…well, yes. I just thought I might know him, that's all. Is he from around here?"
"As a matter of fact, he is," Matt said. "And you do know him."
"I thought so," I grinned.
"It's Chris Cooper."
I stopped right in front of the candy aisle. "You're kidding me, right? Cooper who used to pick his nose in class? Who couldn't run ten feet without having an asthma attack?"
"The very same. But he's different now. Grew out of the asthma, I guess," Matt said. "Listen. I gotta go. Chief's calling my name."
"She's not. You're just trying to get out of this conversation," I said.
He chuckled. "Okay, yes, I am. I have tons of work to do."
"Before you go. What about the autopsy?" I asked.
"Should be in soon. I’m waiting for it."
"Okay. Well, good luck, and Matt?"
"Yes?"
"I’m rooting for you. Catch that bastard, so we can all sleep safely at night again, will you?"
He chuckled again. "I’m doing my best."
Chapter 23
I loaded the car with all my groceries, then drove home and unpacked it all. I looked at the filled fridge and Jenna's lasagna on the counter with great satisfaction. I had bought all the kids’ favorite things. I had forgotten how much I loved taking care of them and making them happy.
