BACK ON THE ROAD HOME, she was about a half hour from Copper Mill when her cell phone chimed. Checking for traffic, she pulled off to the side and answered the call.
“Kate! The children are gone!” Renee’s shrill voice announced in a state of panic. “I came to school to pick them up. I’ve looked everywhere for them. They’re not here!”
“Where are you now?”
“I’m still at the school. Kate, I don’t know what to do. Umpkins is so worried.”
“Call Sheriff Roberts. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
Dear Lord, please let the children be all right.
Chapter Twenty
Breaking every speed law in Tennessee, Kate reached Copper Mill Elementary School in twenty minutes. She pulled up to the curb behind Sheriff Roberts’ police cruiser and leaped out of the car.
“Have you found them yet?” she asked as she hurried toward Renee and the sheriff. Skip Spencer was there too, his expression as grim as the others.
“Nobody has seen them,” Renee wailed. “I asked everyone. They’ve vanished. Gone. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Those sweet little children.”
“Calm down, Renee,” the sheriff ordered. “Hysteria won’t get us anywhere.”
She sobbed and hiccuped, her eyes frantic.
“Renee, when you brought them to school this morning, were they acting any different than usual?” Kate asked.
“No, no, they were fine. I watched them all the way into the school.”
“Skip, go check with the principal,” the sheriff said. “Ask her if they made it to all of their classes today. Maybe they ducked out early to go someplace on their own.”
As conscientious as Megan was, Kate didn’t think the girl would let her siblings ditch school unless there was a compelling reason.
“I’m on it, sir.” Skip trotted away.
Sheriff Roberts lifted his hat and resettled it squarely on his head. “The kids have had a pretty upsetting time lately. It’s possible they decided to run away.”
“They didn’t have any money,” Kate pointed out.
“Megan wouldn’t have left,” Renee insisted. “She was so excited about selling her cornhusk dolls at the Old Timer’s Day event. She spent all afternoon yesterday working on the cutest little doll. She even made the doll a fancy hat and a sparkly necklace. Said it reminded her of me. Wasn’t that sweet?” Renee lost it again and started sobbing even more loudly than before. She was so distraught, she’d left Kisses in his tote in her car. The poor little thing yipped, trying to get his mistress’ attention.
“Sheriff, I really don’t think Megan would run away with her brother and sister. She tried to support them before and found out how difficult it is to earn enough money to keep them fed.” Worry and fear burned in Kate’s stomach. “I’m far more concerned that the diamond thieves kidnapped them.”
The sheriff shook his head. “I know you’re worried about those crooks, but let’s not jump to conclusions too fast.”
“The thieves want those diamonds,” Kate insisted. “They think, wrongly, that the children know where they are.”
Skip came trotting back. “Mrs. Walner said school let out early for a teacher’s-training thing. All the kids went home at two o’clock.”
Renee’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that. No one told me to pick them up early.”
“Maybe the kids decided to walk home,” the sheriff suggested. “Or go to Emma’s for an ice cream. They’ll probably turn up.”
Kate wasn’t so sure. “It’s only a few blocks to Renee’s house. Try calling your mother, Renee. See if they’ve shown up at your house.”
Renee’s hand was shaking so badly, she had to punch in her home number twice. Her mother reported that she hadn’t seen the children.
“Your house is closer, MizHanlon. Maybe they walked there,” Skip suggested.
Digging her phone out of her handbag, Kate called Paul. He was at the church and promised to run over to the house to check for the children. He’d let her know if he found them.
“Tell you what, Kate.” The sheriff rubbed at his cheek. “Skip and I will check here in town, including Emma’s Ice Cream.”
“Steve’s gift shop too,” Kate added. “Megan might have wanted to talk to him about Old Timer’s Day.”
“Good idea,” he agreed. “And I’ll check their old place in Smoky Mountain Hollow. They might have decided to go back to their old trailer for some reason. You and Renee can go on home. We’ll let you know just as soon as we find them.”
Kate wasn’t happy with that decision. She planned to look for the kids everywhere she could think of in town. Still, her instinct told her that they’d been kidnapped by Perry Weller and Curt Smedley. She sincerely hoped she was wrong.
Driving slowly, she wove her way up one street and down another through town, hoping to catch a glimpse of the kids. On a hunch, she stopped at the library.
Livvy was at her desk poring over what appeared to be a computer printout.
Kate rapped on her open office door. “Livvy, have you seen Megan Maddock this afternoon? The girl I was in here with last week?”
The librarian looked at Kate over the top of her reading glasses. “I haven’t noticed her. You might ask the boys in the back. They’ve been eyeballing every girl that’s come in today. Is something wrong?”
“I’ll tell you later.” Kate quickly walked to the back of the library, where three young adolescent boys were pretending to study, one of them the young man who’d done a double take of Megan after her beauty-shop makeover.
“Have you fellows seen Megan Maddock this afternoon?” Kate asked.
Two boys shook their heads, but the third spoke up. “I saw her out front of school after we got out.”
“Yeah, Boyd’s got a crush on Megan,” one of the other boys teased, wiggling his eyebrows.
“This is important, please. Boyd, when you saw Megan, was she with anyone?”
Boyd shrugged and tried to look like he didn’t care. “Her little sister and brother, like always.”
“Was there anyone else with them? Someone in a car or a van she could’ve gotten into?”
He slanted a glance toward his buddies. “Maybe there was a van. One of the moms picking up their kid, probably.”
Kate’s chest tightened. “What color was the van you saw?”
“I dunno.”
One of his buddies gave Boyd an elbow jab. “Boydie-boy only has eyes for Megan,” he sing-songed.
Boyd jabbed his friend back. “Light colored. Maybe like a really light brown or something. I dunno.”
Her heart sinking, Kate asked, “Did you see her get into the van? Or who was driving it?”
“Naw. Me and my friends were coming over here to the library. We’ve gotta wait here till our moms get home from work. I wasn’t paying that much attention, you know?”
His buddy snorted at that and smirked.
“It’s all right, Boyd. Thank you for your help.”
Kate hurried back outside. While standing on the sidewalk, she used her cell phone to call the sheriff. The operator agreed to put her through to Sheriff Roberts’ cell phone.
While she waited for him to answer, Kate looked up and down the street in the futile hope that she’d spot Megan strolling along, oblivious that everyone was looking for her.
The sheriff answered. “Kate, did you locate the kids?”
“No.” She told him about the van that Boyd had seen.
“I’ve already got an APB out on that van. I’ll get some of my men from the other district offices searching this part of the county.”
“They have a two-hour head start on us.” Kate’s voice shook with anxiety. “They could be all the way to Knoxville by now. Or Chattanooga. There are a million places they could hide out where we’d never find them.”
“If it’s Weller and his buddy, they want something. They’ll get in touch. You can count on it.”
That thought did little to reassure Kate.
As she scoured the streets of Copper Mill in her car, she prayed that she was wrong about the kidnapping. Even responsible kids could do crazy things, like go home with a friend and forget to tell anyone, or decide to play at the park and let the time slip by.
As much as she prayed for the best, she kept her eye out for a light-colored van.
With each passing minute, she grew more and more anxious, as though the heavy beat of an anvil were marking time. Having a child kidnapped was a parent’s worst nightmare, and it was no less frightening for Kate even though she hadn’t given birth to Megan, Gwen, and Beck.
To the West, the setting sun speared the sky with streaks of red and orange like fiery daggers. In mere moments, it would be dark. Thoughts of them, frightened and hungry, pummeled Kate, but she sought solace in the knowledge that the Lord would look after them.
With little awareness of where she was, she pulled into the Faith Briar Church parking lot and got out of the car. A pair of bats darted through the twilight sky, and a bird sang his evening song.
Inside, the church was dark. Kate didn’t bother to turn on the lights. Instead, she slipped into a pew in the back. Tears of fear and fatigue slid down her cheeks. “Our Father, which art in—”
Her phone chimed.
Frantically, she dug her phone out of her handbag and flipped it open. The screen glowed brightly in the darkness but gave no clue as to the caller.
“Hello?”
“MizHanlon. It’s me. Megan.”
Thank you, Lord! “Where are you, Megan? Are you all right?”
Megan screamed.
“Megan? What’s happening?”
“She’s fine.” A deep male voice cut in. “Her kid sister and brother are too. But they won’t be for long if you don’t do exactly as I tell you.”
Kate forced herself to remain calm. “What is it you want?”
“Only what’s ours.” The caller’s voice seemed to sneer at her through the satellite connection. “We want our diamonds.”
“I have no idea where—”
“Find ’em, or these kids will end up at the bottom of the lake with a rock tied to their ankles. You got that?”
Kate swallowed hard. How could this be happening on the very day she had located the children’s father? “I understand.”
“Good. Now listen carefully. Tomorrow at noon, I want you to deliver the diamonds to the public park in McGhee. You know where that is?”
“I know where McGhee is.” Her voice shook. “Halfway to Knoxville. But I don’t know where the park is.”
“You’ll find it. There’s a trash can outside the restroom. Drop the bag of diamonds in there, then get back in your car and drive away.”
“But I’m telling you, I don’t have any idea where the diamonds are,” she protested. “And I’m not going to deliver anything to you unless—”
“If you want the kids back safe, you’d better find the diamonds, lady. If you don’t deliver the goods by noon, my partner will drop the first kid into the lake.”
“Please. The children are innocent.”
“Noon tomorrow. Come alone, and no cops. I’ll be watching, and if I see anything that looks like a cop, these three brats are goners. Got that?”
“I understand, but please—”
He broke the connection.
Kate stared at the glowing screen, trying to figure out what to do. She couldn’t give the robbers diamonds she didn’t have and didn’t know how to find. She and Sheriff Roberts had searched the same trailer the thieves had. And if the children knew where the diamonds were, surely they would have told Weller and his partner in order to save themselves.
Snapping the phone closed, she stood on legs as wobbly as those of a newborn filly.
Kate drove her car the short distance home and parked in the garage. Paul met her at the door into the house.
“Have the kids turned up yet?” he asked.
She walked past him into the living room.
He followed her. “Kate, what’s wrong? You’re as pale as a ghost, honey.”
Unsure what to do, she simply came to a stop in the middle of the huge room. “They’ve been kidnapped.”
“What?”
He took her into his arms and held her close until she was able to stop weeping and tell him about the phone call.
“You have to call the sheriff,” Paul said when she finished.
She looked up into his clear blue eyes and saw her own fear mirrored there. “They said no cops.”
“Since we don’t know where the diamonds are, they may hurt the children anyway. Sheriff Roberts will know what to do.”
She glanced at her watch. Almost eight o’clock. In only sixteen hours, Weller and Smedley would start drowning the children she loved, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.
She’d have to call the sheriff. But just as important, she had to find the diamonds.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kate barely closed her eyes all night. Though she tried not to disturb Paul’s sleep, she knew he was restless too.
She relived her conversation with the kidnappers and mentally repeated every word Renee and the sheriff had said when they’d discovered the children were missing. Something Renee had said niggled at the back of her mind, but she was so distracted by the need to rescue the children that she wasn’t able to recall it.
As slanting rays of sun crept into the bedroom, she remembered yet again how the kidnapper had threatened to throw the children in a lake if she didn’t comply and bring him the diamonds. But which lake? Tennessee had hundreds of lakes.
Vaguely she recalled the snapshot of Glynis and her boyfriend standing in front of a log cabin. Where had Megan said that picture was taken?
“Tellico Lake!” she said out loud.
Paul mumbled, “What about Tellico?”
“That’s got to be where the children are. I need to go to Renee’s house and look at the snapshots she gave to Megan to put together in a scrapbook.” She rolled out of bed and started to get dressed. Megan might not have put the photo of her mother and Hank in the scrapbook itself, but she wouldn’t have thrown it away.
Paul sat up. “You’re going now? Renee won’t be up at this hour.”
“She will be when I get there.” Pulling on jeans and a sweatshirt, Kate found her sneakers and slipped her feet into them. “I’ll call you if I find out anything.”
She dashed out to the Honda and drove through the empty streets of Copper Mill, coming to a halt in front of Renee’s house.
At the front door, she had to ring the doorbell twice before she heard Renee moving around inside.
Renee looked through the peephole, then threw the door open. “Have you found the children? I haven’t slept a wink all night. Not a wink.”
“No, we haven’t found the children, and I’m sorry to bother you so early, Renee. But it’s important.”
“Of course. If it will help get those babies back safely.”
Kate slipped past Renee. “I think I know where Megan and the other children are being held. I need to take a look at Megan’s scrapbook. Do you know where she keeps it?”
“I suppose it’s in the guest room where she and Gwen are staying.” She pointed toward the back of the house. “She’s a real neat and tidy girl. Gwen too. They’re so sweet—” A sob cut off Renee’s voice.
Not waiting for Renee to show her the way, Kate hurried down the hallway.
The guest room was beautifully made up, with an antique double bed covered in a handmade quilt with a traditional diamond design in shades of aqua and pink. Curtains picked up the colors in a floral pattern, and both the quilt and curtains were striking in contrast to the white walls.
Kate halted in the doorway. “Do you have any idea where the girls are keeping their things?” She didn’t want to go plowing through Renee’s possessions.
“I made room in the closet for their hanging things. They’re using the right-hand drawers of the dresser too. I have to say, for two
little girls, they don’t own much of a wardrobe.”
The distressed walnut dresser—with a fancy cornhusk doll propped in front of the mirror—was a lovely piece of furniture Kate normally would have taken time to admire. But she didn’t have time now to consider anything except finding the children.
She started by opening each drawer and feeling around inside. Brushes and combs. Hair bows. Underwear. Socks. T-shirts. No scrapbook.
Where did you put the scrapbook, Megan?
Kate tried the closet next. There were scuffed tennis shoes on the floor, plus the two suitcases Kate had loaned the children. The box of cornhusks made the closet smell a bit musty.
Please, Lord, help me out here.
Then Kate spotted the scrapbook on the top shelf. She pulled it down and sat on the edge of the bed to look through the pages. She was pretty sure Megan wouldn’t include the photo of Hank Weller on the pages that contained better memories, but when she turned to the back of the book, she found what she was looking for: Hank and Glynis standing in front of a log cabin.
“Is that what you were after?” Renee asked.
“Yes.” Kate held up the snapshot for Renee to see. “This was taken at Tellico Lake. Now all I have to do is find this particular cabin, and I’ll be able to bring the children home safe and sound.”
“Tellico’s a fair-sized lake.”
“Which means there are many miles of shoreline.” Leaving Kate looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. “I think the cabin must be near McGhee.”
“That’s not much to go on.” Renee sat down next to Kate on the bed to get a better look at the picture.
“Would you say this snapshot was taken morning or afternoon?” Kate eyed the shadows cast by the cabin and the trees behind it.
“No way to tell, is there?”
“I’m thinking the cabin faces the lake. The sky is clear. Most of the time, clouds build up around here during the afternoon. These shadows are pretty long, so it’s got to be early morning.”
“You could be right, I suppose. But I don’t know how that helps you find the youngsters.”
For the Least of These Page 16
