Not sure if it was simply a comment or an opening to a conversation, Bryce elected to leave her remark alone for now. “What do you want to do when this is over?” he asked.
“Celebrate. A party at Cue’s maybe, or Falcons. Good food. Friends. Laughter. I may let you drag me home at two a.m.”
Bryce smiled, nodded. “I can put that together.”
She finished her ice cream and her smile faded. “I used to sit near a window in the house where I was held, look at the thin slice of the river I could see, and pray for a day in the future that would simply be one where I could wake up and go on about life and not have to care about who these men were or what their mood was going to be or what they would do when they wanted—” She abruptly stopped. “I’ve wanted this day for nineteen years. To wake up and not have to think about someone out there who could hurt me or my sister.”
Bryce grieved over that sliver of memory she had just offered. She needed to give him a hundred more of those slivers if the pain was going to fade. “It’s going to be over—in days, maybe weeks. It’s not going to take years now to get this finished.”
She looked over at him. “I’m scared to death that if I’m asked to see him in person, do a lineup, that I’m going to remember more. I feel at times like I’m living in two worlds.”
“You’re safe, Charlotte. Your mind is finally starting to accept the layers of what that means, to relax its grip on the past. Some of it you may have to remember in order to get closure.”
“I’m so afraid the memories will drag on for years.”
“You can’t heal to some kind of schedule; it happens a piece at a time and on its own timetable. Expect this to take as much time as it needs to take. I’ll listen, Charlotte. Whatever you want to share, whenever you want to talk, I’ll listen. I can do that much for you.”
“Thank you for that.”
He reached for her hand.
She sighed. “You’ve gotten the difficult side of this marriage.”
“That misses the fact that being part of your life is worth a great deal. I like that we’re married,” Bryce replied. “I like it a lot. I can’t imagine life without you around. I’d like you to let go of the idea you have to get better on your own. We do this together.”
“And if five years from now I’m still where I am today?”
He smiled. “I will have enjoyed those five years with you. Baby steps, Charlotte. We’re building a very good marriage. Rushing forward to be somewhere by a certain date just topples what we’ve already built. You need to enjoy the process more. I like sunny days sharing ice cream with you.”
“I’m impatient.”
He shrugged. “It’s not a bad trait to have. You want to move forward. Just choose your steps and risks carefully and see what the terrain is like. I promise to catch you if you fall. I think the next twenty years are going to be a good journey. I just think you need more time than you’re giving yourself. You don’t have something to prove. You’re a good wife.”
“I am?”
He laughed. “Yes, you are. You are so hard on yourself.” He tugged her hand. “Come on, let’s walk. It’s a beautiful day and I want to enjoy more of it with you.”
“Go ahead, John, we’re both here.” Bryce set the phone on speaker and placed it on the kitchen counter.
“This is going to take a few days,” John said. “We know he headed east out of Seattle, but we lost the trail about a hundred miles out. I don’t think he’s going to hunker down quickly. I think he’s going to run fast and far, then stop and burrow in somewhere under a new name.
“The FBI has his friends from the California days well covered, and they’re working the ones who knew him as Simon Legard in Seattle. Paul’s going to focus in on his family’s ties in Chicago. I’m going to spend a few days here to see if I can find a source for his new name. If I can’t find it in a few days, I’ll head back. Christopher is going to need ready cash to keep running. He’ll make contact with his old life somewhere. I’m betting he goes back to his old friends in Chicago.”
Bryce looked at his wife. “It will be good to have you back here, John.”
“Charlotte, John and Ellie are here,” Bryce called.
Charlotte didn’t let John get more than two steps into the house. She reached him at nearly full speed. John caught her with a laugh and a very long hug.
“Thank you,” Charlotte whispered.
“You’re welcome.”
The man had spent the night flying from Seattle and looked in need of some sleep and a good meal. Bryce could understand his urgency to get back.
John finally set Charlotte in a chair, since she wouldn’t release her hold on him, knelt and studied her face. He smiled. “We know the name he’s running under now is Allen Crimson. It’s only a matter of time before they locate that name on a rental car, a bank account, or spot it at a border crossing. All it takes is one call from a hotel clerk who says ‘I checked in someone who looks like the guy you’re looking for’ for us to have him.”
John glanced over at Bryce. “Nice touch, by the way, to have his photo run at the top of every hour on all three networks with the reward for information and phone number posted.”
Bryce shrugged. “A lot of money can buy a lot of airtime.”
“He’s going to find it very difficult to hide.”
“Thank you for meeting me, Charlotte.”
“I appreciate you being willing to let this be a private conversation, Paul. I’m meeting with Gage tomorrow, so I’m considering this discussion as practice for it.” Charlotte watched John take a seat on a bench by the fountain. She could feel her growing nerves threatening the calm she had struggled to achieve. “Would you mind if we walk while we talk?”
“No.” Paul matched his stride to hers as they took the path around the park. “Does Bryce know you’re here?”
“He thinks I’m shopping, which I will be when I leave here.”
Paul slipped his hands into his pockets. “I’m glad to hear Gage accepted your offer and will leave Christopher out of the book.”
“Baby Connor is too big a story for him to pass up. Gage can mention he believes a third man was involved in my case without naming him. It will protect Tabitha—that’s my priority.”
“Christopher Cox is going to be found, and he’ll be tried on the California matters before I ultimately decide what to do about his involvement in your case and in the baby Connor case. Hopefully he gets life in prison and the question is moot.”
“Thank you for that.”
They walked in silence for a minute. “Charlotte, I’m going to ask the hardest of the questions first. Did they hurt anyone else? Is there another baby Connor out there? Another girl like you and Tabitha?”
“No. My memories are fragmented, but I have to think that if there was someone else, I’d remember with the same vivid clarity that I do baby Connor.”
“We’ve searched the records for cases from those four years and didn’t find something that looked like it might be an overlap.”
Charlotte felt some of her tension ease away. “Thanks again.”
“Two men grabbed you, a third man whispered to you. Was there anyone else you can remember being involved?”
“I only remember the three of them. But I can’t remember that photo. I don’t know for certain, Paul.”
“When we locate Christopher, do you want me to pursue the question with him? He would be in a position to know if anyone else was involved, and he’s the kind of man who would go for a deal in return for a lighter sentence.”
“I’d rather he never know he’s been connected to my case unless you have to bring it to trial.”
“Understood,” Paul said. “Christopher met the two cousins during a six-month window he spent while going to public school during the seventh grade. His parents separated, he went to live with his mom who didn’t have the money to continue a private school, he met the two cousins during the most turbulent six months of his life, and fit r
ight in with them. His father had to do a lot of cleanup to keep an otherwise serious juvenile record from being built on Christopher. The parents got back together before the next school year, and he returned to the private school. But he was still seen with the two cousins at the Dublin Pub on enough occasions that people in the neighborhood considered him a local.”
“I didn’t know how they had met. That’s useful to me.” Charlotte looked over at him. “Gage writes that the task force nearly found me the first week after the abduction.”
“We were working a tip you had been seen by the river, officers were canvassing homes, knocking on doors, looking for two men that fit the description from Tabitha. The address where you were held was on the list. A bad car wreck at the train crossing that day pulled officers off the canvass to help with the injured. The next day the first of several news specials on your case ran, and the tip line flooded with sightings. Manpower got diverted to work them. You were two addresses away from an officer knocking on the door. I can’t tell you how sorry I am it didn’t end that day for you.”
“Life would have been so different if it had.” Charlotte pushed her hands into her pockets, mimicking his. “I know cops did their best over the years.”
“Did the cousins talk about planning a kidnapping in the days before they took baby Connor?”
She shook her head. “They didn’t plan the crime. They went out to buy some beer, four hours later returned with a screaming baby boy bundled up in a blanket. They were yelling at each other, making the baby cry even louder. They thrust Connor at me and a sack of things they had bought and told me to make him be quiet.” Charlotte went silent. “I thought that first evening—the cops are going to be searching for this baby, they’ll find the boy and they’ll find me at the same time, and so much hope welled up inside at that thought. I already loved that little boy, but I thought he might also be my way out of the nightmare.”
“I’m so sorry he wasn’t, Charlotte.”
“After he died, I gave up. I stopped eating, stopped caring, grieved. I willed myself to die too. Baby Connor had escaped their grip, not as I hoped with his freedom, but with his death. I figured maybe it wouldn’t be so bad being dead compared to what reality was.” She looked over at Paul. “They were going to try again. I could hear it in their voices, see it in their frustration over not getting the ransom money they wanted. They were going to snatch another baby like Connor. I couldn’t go through it again.”
“I’m glad it took a different turn, for your sake, Charlotte, but also for every cop involved. You being found alive was the one bright moment in the case.”
They walked in silence.
“How much of this have you told Bryce?” Paul asked.
“Enough.”
“You can trust him for whatever you need to say.”
“I know. He’s a good husband, Paul.”
“Ann and I know in a small way the terrain you’re on. Her abduction lasted eight days, broke some bones, caused some medical complications. She still has trouble sleeping. If you want someone to talk with, you can trust my wife to keep your confidence.”
“I appreciate that. You’ll talk to Bryce if he needs a sounding board?”
“Of course.”
Paul shifted his briefcase to free his right hand as the elevator doors opened on the private fourth floor. Black was waiting for him. The dog promptly sat, lifted his paw. Paul grinned and took the handshake. “You’re getting fast at the greeting,” he whispered, and slipped the dog a piece of jerky. Black headed at speed toward the living room with his reward.
Ann appeared, smiling and shaking her head. “He’s not going to need dinner if he keeps this up. He got a double out of me, added a flourish of shaking hands, then rolling over and playing dead.” She took Paul’s briefcase, leaned in to share a welcome-home kiss. “I gather Charlotte kept the appointment.”
“We took a thirty-minute walk, and she answered every question I asked.”
“Anything else we need to worry about?”
“No. We find Christopher Caleb Cox, we can safely consider the baby Connor case closed.”
“How’s Charlotte holding up?”
“From her body language I’d say she’s a bundle of nerves. She has an identity for that third man now, and she needs him caught.”
“Anything on the tip line that sounds promising?”
“Sightings are all over the map, most on the West Coast, a couple from here, a few for New York. You want to come in with me tomorrow, read through them? Fresh eyes are always useful.”
“For an hour or two. He’s going to need cash. John thinks he comes back to this area, returns to family and old friends.”
“I tend to agree. And it would be appropriate if what began here could end here.”
THIRTY-TWO
Bryce straightened his tie as he joined Charlotte in the kitchen for lunch, saw she was holding the pitcher of tea. “I’ll take a glass of that while you’re pouring.”
She looked over to him from the television screen, blinked, looked down at her hand. “Oh, sure.” She reached for another glass.
“What is it, Charlotte?”
“A boy was abducted on the way to school this morning. It led the noon newscast. They’ll be giving an update after this commercial.” Bryce watched the news with her. Samuel Gibbs, twelve years old, had been abducted while riding his bike to school. There was an urgent appeal for anyone who saw the boy or a blue sedan with tinted windows seen leaving the area to come forward and help police with what they saw.
“The cops will find him, honey.”
Charlotte bit her lip, nodded. “I just hate when it’s a kid.”
Bryce rested his hands on her shoulders, rubbed at the tension. “John is coming over. You’re welcome to join us.”
“I’ve heard as many details as I can handle for a while. I’m going to go work in the studio if you don’t mind.”
“What’s the latest, Linda?” Paul checked his watch as he took the call. Samuel Gibbs had been missing for four hours and ten minutes.
“The note left taped on the bike’s handlebars said We will be in touch. I’m set up for an incoming call. The father has given us more than forty names of individuals who might have done this. He’s had some arbitration cases where neither side was happy with his ruling.”
“Jacob need anything?”
“The canvass around where the boy was taken is wrapping up. He’s got a partial plate on the sedan from a parent who saw the car turn out of the alley and into traffic ahead of him. Jacob’s working it, and he’s tasking people to check out names on the father’s list. It’s not common knowledge the boy rides his bike to school and even less that he takes that alley behind the diner as a shortcut. It’s possible the boy could have been a target of opportunity—grab the first rich kid who comes along.”
“Are the parents cooperating?”
“Yes.”
“I’m a call away when you need something. Keep me updated.”
“Will do, boss.”
Paul looked again at the time as he hung up the phone. If the boy was fortunate, a ransom call came in soon, they had the money delivered by six, and Samuel Gibbs was home by nightfall. But life was rarely an ideal world.
Bryce selected a book and joined Charlotte in the studio. She was working on a playground scene with dozens of kids enjoying recess. What had been a large, blank piece of paper that morning was now a working sketch with swings, a climbing platform, a slide, rocking horses, and kids playing on all of it.
John came in to join them. “Bryce, Charlotte, I’ve got Paul on the phone.” He set the phone on a tray of pencils. “You’re on speaker, Paul.”
“Charlotte, I need you to listen to something. Ignore the content of the call, just listen to the voice.”
“Okay.”
“Play the call again, Linda,” he instructed.
“I have your son, Samuel. He said to tell you breakfast this morning was a poached egg and he for
got his math assignment on the kitchen table. I want three million, in black gym bags, left at the Haverford Street railroad crossing north of Meadow Park at three p.m. today. Deliver the unmarked cash, non-consecutive numbers, and the boy will be home unharmed tonight. Miss the deadline, the price goes up, and it’s at least another day or two before you hear from me again. If you hear from me again.”
Charlotte’s face tightened as she listened. “Paul, that’s the third man.”
“That’s what I thought too. Christopher Caleb Cox is back on his home turf, needing to raise some fast cash. He grabbed the son of a man he went to college with. Knowing who is holding the boy gives us a lot to work with. Thanks for the confirmation, Charlotte.”
“Paul, we can source you that ransom cash, and do it in the time you’ve got,” Bryce offered.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll take you up on that, Bryce. The father is trying but doesn’t have this kind of cash accessible.”
John picked up the phone and took it off speaker. “Paul, where do you want me to bring it?”
Bryce counted stacks of hundred-dollar bills to reach three million, and John packed them into black gym bags.
“I didn’t know we had that much cash lying around.”
Bryce glanced up as Charlotte joined them at the kitchen table. “There are safes now tucked all around this house. I learned from Fred. You never know when you might need money in a hurry.”
“For Samuel’s sake, I’m glad you have it available. John, would you put this with the cash?” She offered a folded piece of paper.
John opened it, scanned the words, looked at her. He nodded and added the paper to a stack of the bills.
Bryce looked between the two of them, but didn’t ask.
Bryce met their guest at the back door. “Ann, thanks for coming by.”
“My pleasure, Bryce. Paul thought it might be helpful to hear an update with some of the details in person.”
Bryce was slow to close the door, caught off guard by the increased security presence on the property. John had added security dogs. His quiet comment earlier that day, “This changes things,” had been more layered with meaning than Bryce had realized.
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