"I was afraid of that," Stephanie said. She sat on the edge of Henry's desk, bracing her hands on her thighs, as if it were an effort for her to hold herself upright. "It's the right thing to do, but it scares me to death. I never wanted to see that man again. I thought I was done with him."
"Come on in," Polly said. "Do you two need something to eat or drink?"
"I can't eat a thing. My stomach feels like it could revolt at any minute." Stephanie looked through the doorway. "Are there a lot of people here?"
"There were, but most everyone has gone home. It's just Lydia and Henry's parents. Andrew and Jason are here and then some other law enforcement."
"Okay. That's good."
"Jeff's downstairs. Do you want him to come up?"
It was the first light Polly had seen in Stephanie's eyes, but then it faded. "He's probably busy with the reception."
"Honey, you're more important than a reception to him." Polly took out her phone and sent a quick text. "He'll probably be at the front door before you get to the living room."
When they went into the media room, Polly smiled at the sight of Kayla seated between Heath and Andrew. She was telling them what had happened during the week and asking questions about all of the events in Bellingwood.
"Can I help with anything?" Hayden asked.
"She hasn't eaten supper," Polly responded. "If she's hungry or thirsty, maybe you could take care of that."
"Thanks. I will."
Polly took Stephanie's arm and walked with her into the living room, then released her and got to the front door before Jeff knocked. He shook his head when she opened it.
"I was just getting ready to knock," he said.
"I knew you'd be here. Come on in."
Jeff strode over to Stephanie and gathered her in his arms. "Don't you ever leave me like this again," he said. "I have been so scared and I'm so pissed at you and I missed you so much and..." He took her upper arms and held her at arm's length. "Don't ever do that to me. You're too important. We can take care of anything."
"I hope we can take care of this," she said. "I'm sorry for running out. I know you had a lot of work around here."
"It's not about the work. It's about you and me. We're a team. We needed each other this week and you were gone." He pulled her close again. "Have I made you feel guilty yet?"
"A little bit," she acknowledged.
"It's after nine o'clock," Aaron said, interrupting. He handed Stephanie her old phone with cords hanging out of one end of it. "Make the call. We'll be able to listen and record it, but the only thing he'll hear is your voice." He plugged the cords into a box that was sitting on the table, with more cords and headsets weaving in and out of it. Polly hadn't noticed any of that earlier, either. She hated to admit how out of it she was.
Aaron, Lenore Hart, and Stephanie, who kept Jeff close, stood in a huddle for a few moments, talking quietly. Polly sat down beside Henry and took his hand. His mother had his other hand clasped tightly in her own lap.
"It's going to work out," Polly said.
Henry squeezed her hand. "You almost have me believing," he said.
She leaned around him and said, "I'm so sorry we messed up your parent's dinner tonight. How long are they going to be in town?"
Marie smiled and shook her head. "No one was thinking about dinner. They'll be here for a few more days. Mom and I were planning to drag our husbands down to Des Moines tomorrow morning for a Mother's Day extravaganza. She chuckled. "They won't think it's that exciting, but they'll go along to make us happy." Tears filled her eyes. "Of course, we aren't leaving Bellingwood until your little girl is home and safe."
"It's okay, Mom," Henry said.
Aaron pointed to one of the chairs and Stephanie sat down. She put the headset on that he handed to her and adjusted it. They checked volume and she made a test call to Aaron's phone. When they were certain that everything was in place, he nodded.
Stephanie closed her eyes, took a deep breath and pressed the button to re-dial the call that had come in earlier.
Polly put both hands on the back of her head and rubbed her scalp, worry and fear driving themselves to the forefront of her mind again. She looked around the room. Stu had stepped into the dining room and spoke quietly to the kids while Bert, with another headset on, stood back from Stephanie.
Polly looked up at Aaron and he gave a quick nod. She didn't know whether to be grateful or upset that she wasn't listening to the phone call, but chose grateful.
Jeff knelt in front of Stephanie and put his hands on hers when she set the phone down. "You've got this," he whispered.
"Hello?" Stephanie said.
Polly let go of the breath she'd been holding. Some part of her had been worried that he wouldn't answer the phone.
"I know. I'm sorry." She paused and listened. "You're right. I've never been on time. No, you can't expect much from me. I told you I'm sorry."
Polly's heart broke as Stephanie's voice grew more and more childlike. "Please, daddy. I said I'm sorry."
Glancing at Lenore Hart, Polly set her jaw. This wasn't going well. Stephanie didn't have the strength to face down her father.
Stephanie dropped her head. "I'm sorry."
Pause.
"Please let me show you how sorry I am. Just like I used to."
Aaron's lip turned up in a snarl.
"Where do you want me to come?" Stephanie asked.
Pause.
"And the little girl is still okay? Can I talk to her?"
Aaron, Stephanie, Bert and Lenore all cringed and Henry nearly leapt up, but Aaron put his hand out and gave a slow nod, then mouthed, "She's fine."
"Tonight? What time?" Stephanie asked. She listened and said. "I'll be there. I promise. Will you let her go now?"
Pause.
"I know it's not about her. But I don't want you to get in any more trouble."
Pause.
"Of course I'm alone. Kayla's in the other room, but I'm all by myself. No one knows where I am."
Pause.
"I'll see you soon, daddy." Stephanie shuddered and gulped. "I love you, too."
She swiped the call closed and threw the phone at Jeff. "That bastard. That asshole." She stood up, flung the headset off and paced toward the front door. "Thinks he can try to make me feel guilty. Like hell." She spun on Aaron. "I don't care what happens tonight. If he puts up a fight, shoot him. Don't let him get away with this. He either needs to die or else rot in a cold, dark cell for the rest of his life."
Polly sat back. She wasn't expecting that. All of the baby girl stuff was gone. Stephanie was quite an actress. The thought flashed through her mind that she should start up a community theater with her friends as actresses. She pushed it away.
"You did very well," Lenore said. "You even had me believing you were cowed by him."
"How stupid is he?" Stephanie asked. "Does he really think I'm going to show up and turn Kayla over to him and play his little games again?" She turned on Jeff this time. "I'm asking a question. How stupid is this man?"
"Pretty stupid," Jeff said. "And for that, I'm grateful."
Aaron stepped in front of Stephanie, stopping her. "Me too. Now, you have an hour before meeting him. We'll have our people in place long before either of you get there."
"What happened with Rebecca?" Henry asked.
"He slapped her and then she must have kicked him, because he yowled." Aaron said. "She might be a little worse for wear, but she sounds very much like Polly in a bad situation. I recognized that voice yelling. And she said that she was okay."
Tears fell from Henry's eyes and he took Polly's hands again. "She's okay."
"I know," she said, barely able to believe it.
"She's okay?" Hayden asked from the dining room. Stu stepped aside so the kids could all join them.
Polly looked at Aaron, letting him take the lead. "Yes she is. She's mad, but she said she was fine. He wouldn't let her talk to Stephanie, but that didn't stop her."
&
nbsp; "Is she coming home tonight?" Andrew asked.
"We hope so." Aaron beckoned to Kayla. "Come here, honey."
"What's wrong?"
He shook his head. "Nothing. Stand here beside Ms. Hart."
Polly watched Lenore Hart transform herself to match Kayla's height. She slumped her shoulders, just like Kayla and she looked at Kayla's arms, then matched how the girl held her hands. "I can do this," Lenore said. "Can I borrow some of your clothes?"
"What are you doing?" Kayla asked.
"I'm going to be you. We'll put a hoodie on me, a pair of your pants and a sweatshirt. Maybe I can borrow your glasses, too?"
Polly turned to Henry, who was as shocked as she was by what they were seeing.
"Are your suitcases in the car downstairs?" Jeff asked.
"I'll go with you. It's so packed, you'll never find anything," Stephanie said. She looked back at Lenore. "I can't believe you're doing this."
The woman smiled. "I do it a lot." She turned toward Polly. "Years and years of acting while I got those psych degrees. My thesis was about transformation of personality in theatrical presentations. The world's a stage, you know."
Jeff preceded Stephanie back into the living room, bearing three heavy suitcases. "I assume they'll be staying with one of us tonight," he said.
"Come with me, Stephanie," Lenore said. "Help me turn into a facsimile of your sister."
They went into the kids’ bathroom and Polly stood up. "Where are they going to meet him?" she asked.
"No," Aaron said, shaking his head. "I'm not telling you. This isn't yours to fix tonight."
Polly took his arm and led him back into the kitchen.
He stopped and said, "I'm not telling you."
"I know," she whispered. "But I have to ask you. Do you believe that Stephanie's father was responsible for that girl's death earlier this week?"
He dropped his head and shook it in the negative. "No. I believe it's something else entirely."
She wasn't expecting that answer. "What does that mean?"
"It means I don't want to get into it with you tonight. We need to focus on bringing Rebecca home."
"What do you mean you don't want to get into it with me? Why would you get into anything with me about that?"
"Not tonight, Polly."
"You're making me nervous, Aaron. Does her death have something to do with me?"
"I hope not." He turned to go back out into the living room.
Polly caught his arm. "You know I'm going to worry about this. I won't sleep because of what you just said."
"Then I didn't say anything. What I am certain of is that Stephanie's father never met that girl and had nothing to do with her death. It's a completely separate issue. Can't you just take that as good news?"
"It is good news. I haven't wanted to voice my fears about that out loud, because I didn't want it to be a possibility. If he was willing to kill her, he'd be willing to kill Rebecca."
"Well, that's not a concern. The only thing we're concerned with tonight is keeping all of these girls safe."
"And Lenore Hart can do that?"
"She's highly trained."
"Where did she come from? I've never seen her in your office before."
"She came in from Ohio. Part of a specialized team there."
Polly smiled. "Kind of like Hawaii Five-O?"
"She's just a specialist with the state police. But she's highly motivated to get this man back. We're lucky to have her working with us."
"It always surprises me that you don't worry about mixing it up with other law enforcement agencies. It always seems like such a battle on television shows."
"I've been around a long time, Polly. If we do things all by ourselves, we might get all of the accolades, but we also take all of the heat when something goes wrong. If we work as a team, we get more information, more cooperation and more good ideas. I don't care how many wins I have in my personal column, but I do care that our people are kept safe."
"Thanks for bringing her in, then," Polly said.
"Like I had a choice," Aaron replied with a laugh. "Let's go see how they've done."
They went back into the living room and Polly sat down by Henry, then pulled him close. "He won't tell me where they're going. Said we need to stay here," she whispered.
He patted her knee. "Makes sense. Can you believe this?"
"No. Not at all." Polly looked up at Aaron, trying to process what he'd inadvertently said to her about the dead woman. How would it have anything to do with her?
Stephanie came out from the bathroom first and stopped at the door, waiting for Lenore to emerge.
"Wow," Andrew said. "She looks like a kid."
Lenore came out with the hoodie pulled forward over her face. Polly didn't know what they'd added to her wardrobe to flesh out her body since Kayla was heavier than Lenore. She swung her body with a lilt that mimicked Kayla's and managed to hold herself tight like Kayla did, as if she were afraid someone might startle her at any minute. Kayla's glasses helped to finish the face, but Lenore had also managed to purse her lips just as Kayla usually did when she was concentrating. The transformation was remarkable.
"Is that me?" Kayla asked.
Andrew looked back and forth between the two. "It really looks like you from a distance. In the dark nobody could tell the difference. That's so cool."
Checking his phone, Aaron stepped forward. "My people are in place. It's time to go."
Stephanie hugged Jeff, then came over to Henry and Polly. "We'll get her back. I promise. I'm so sorry that this happened."
"No need to apologize, Stephanie," Henry said. "Thank you for doing this, though."
"How can I not?"
Aaron took her arm and led her back through the house to the back steps, the garage and her car.
More waiting, but at least something was finally being done.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Roaming around aimlessly was making everyone else nervous, so Polly finally went out to the kitchen. She fumbled around in the cupboards, looking for anything to do.
"Can I help?" Hayden asked from behind her.
She jumped.
"Sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry. I thought you heard me."
"It's okay." She gave him a shaky smile. "I'm not paying attention." Polly put the can of black beans back on the shelf. "I just need something to do."
Hayden slipped past her and took eggs and butter out of the refrigerator, then said, "What about simple chocolate chip? You can never have too many of those around."
She rubbed her hand across his back. "That sounds good. You warm up the butter and I'll measure out the sugars." Polly reached in front of him and turned the oven on.
In minutes the mixer spun as it creamed the butter and sugar together. Polly leaned against the peninsula. She closed her eyes and tried to settle the jittery feeling that began when Stephanie agreed to meet her father.
Hayden coughed and she opened her eyes. "Do you want to do this?" he asked, holding the measuring cup filled with flour.
"Yeah. Thanks." She gently shook it in and laughed at a memory of Rebecca sending flour everywhere when she poured it right over the beaters. "Bring her home," Polly whispered.
Hayden took the empty measuring cup from her and replaced it with the opened bag of chocolate chips which she poured in, sighing as the mixer beat against them, the familiar sound comforting.
"Do you realize that we all know she's going to be fine because you're here?" he asked, taking her cookie sheets out of the cupboard.
"What do you mean?"
"If you were out looking for her, I'd be worried about you finding a body, but since you’re allowing everyone else to handle this, the rest of us know that she's alive and perfectly fine." He stepped in front of her, turned the mixer off, and tipped the head back.
Polly looked at him, her mouth curving into a slow smile. "As much as I hate to say that out loud, it's true, you know." She lowered her voice. "But I always worry that th
ere is just going to be that one time when it doesn't work."
"Don't even think that way. It's your thing. We count on it." He opened a drawer and handed her the scoop she used. "You know that some of us do actually rely on that, don't you?"
"What do you mean?" Polly took a spoon out and reached into the bowl for a bite of cookie mix. There was really nothing better.
"As long as we have our eyes on you, everybody we know and love is safe."
She rapped his arm with the back of her spoon. "Stop that."
"Okay, I'm exaggerating. But you smiled."
They dropped cookies onto two cookie sheets and he put the first in the oven and turned on the timer. "Now what?" he asked.
"Yeah, that didn't take quite as long as I'd hoped," she said.
He bent over and took out a glass cake pan. "Wanna help me make tomorrow morning's casserole?"
"Isn't that supposed to be a surprise?" Polly asked.
"Nah, not this part."
"You mean there's more?"
He winked at her and opened the refrigerator again, handing her two more sticks of butter and a second container of eggs. "It's Mother's Day. Heath and I haven't had a chance to do this in years." He went back in after sausage, green peppers and onions. Putting those on a cutting board, he reached over and drew her into a hug. "You have no idea how much we appreciate you."
"I wasn't expecting anything," Polly said.
"That’s why it's fun. You wanna crack the eggs?" He put a large mixing bowl in front of her.
Polly opened twelve eggs into the bowl and, after finding the whisk, whipped them together.
"Did Marie talk to you and Henry?" Hayden asked.
"About what?"
"About me and Heath working on the house."
Polly remembered the conversation with Henry, but it felt like such a long time ago. This week had really been tough. She hadn't spent much time at all in the interior of the Bell House. Was it really just last Monday that she'd fallen down into that room?
"Polly?"
"Sorry," she said. "Yeah. Marie talked to us. It's a good idea, but unless you two want to camp all summer, I think you should live here. We have rooms available in the addition or you can sleep in Heath's room."
Reflecting Love's Charms (Bellingwood Book 14) Page 19
