In the Shadow of His Wings

by Pamela Wells

  “Jim I’m sorry but we can’t take Miss Alvarez to the Falls Mist Hotel. This is not as much of a lead as you think it is, as a matter of a fact, I’m not convinced it’s a lead at all.” Don told Jim reluctantly. He knew this was not what the man wanted to hear. He hated to dash his hopes. He felt strongly that this was a dead end and he didn’t want Jim’s hopes building up any higher than they already were.

  “What are you talking about? Didn’t you hear her explain about how rare that book was? I know Laura was using this as a way to let me know that she is still alive.

  I’m sure of it! Listen to me,” Jim begged, “Laura has been with her kidnapper a few months by now. She’s probably been working on him, figuring out how to gain a measure of trust with the guy. He’s starting to soften towards her so she asks him to go buy her a book to read. She asks for this one, knowing that the guy won’t have a clue how rare it is and she sends him here to get it. Laura probably hoped Sandy would pick up on the ploy and Sandy would have him come back in a couple of days. That’s your chance to nab him! Or, even better, when he comes back to get the book, we can follow him back to where he is holding Laura and rescue her. Yeah, that’s an even better idea!”

  “Jim I’m not so sure this guy will ever come back. I’m still not buying that he had anything to do with your wife’s disappearance.” Don shook his head, hating to shatter Jim’s hopes, he could see why Jim was so excited. “Listen, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’ll put a plain clothes female officer in the store for the next few days and have her work along side Miss Alvarez or whoever else is on duty and if someone comes back in looking for that book the officer can follow him. I can only do that for three days. If he doesn’t come back, then that’s it.”

  “What about going to the hotel then? Sandy could identify if it was Gerhard Bloone who came into her shop or not. Couldn’t we try that?” Jim was grasping at straws, he was desperate and he didn’t want to let any possible lead slip through his fingers.

  “Absolutely not! I’m sorry Jim, but Mr. Bloone is not a suspect.” Don led Jim towards his car and the two got back inside where the detective started up the engine to get the heater going. The December air was turning colder and their breath was freezing in the air as they talked. Once they got settled in the car Don continued talking.

  “At the time we searched his home and business we also did a thorough investigation on the man. We found nothing, Jim. The man is totally clean. I told you back then, he had no police record of any kind. We didn’t stop with that. We interviewed his staff and friends as well. Everyone seems to love the guy. Turns out he’s a great boss who treats his employees with fairness. He has a gentle nature and is soft spoken, they even said the guy has a great sense of humor and throws great staff parties at Christmas time. They are looking forward to it this year and apparently he’s quite generous with the bonuses too. Jim, I have to tell you that normally I wouldn’t tell you all this. The only reason I am is because I truly don’t think Mr. Bloone is the man who took your wife. He just doesn’t fit the profile. I talked to some of the women he’s dated to see what type of guy he is. They all agreed that he was terrific guy. The one thing that turned them all away and stopped each one of them from ever considering marriage with the guy, was his mother. Gerhard Bloone is so devoted to his mother that if a woman were to marry him she would, in a sense, be marrying the mother as well. Gerhard dotes on her.

  He tends to her each day before he goes to work and goes straight home from work each night to spend the evening with her. It’s very rare that he will ever vary from that routine, and for that reason his relationships don’t last. He has always refused to put another woman first. That seems to be his only flaw. Other than that, he’s a prince of a guy and everyone, even the women who used to date him, like him.” Don paused, thinking about how much information he should be sharing with Jim. He then decided he might as well tell him everything.

  “One other thing Jim, I had the guy followed. For three days after we searched his house I had him followed, just in case he had your wife captive in another location. I wanted to be sure before I ruled him out as a suspect. It was just like the women who dated him said. He went straight home from work every night. Gerhard Bloone does not have Laura, Jim. I’m sorry, I wish it were that easy, that we could go pick her up, but it’s not.”

  Jim sat in the police car quietly. He was not a man that cried easily but he found himself struggling to hold back the tears. He was so sure this was a major lead. He still wasn’t totally convinced it was not, but the detective’s somberness definitely dampened his enthusiasm.

  “I would appreciate you putting that officer in the store just in case. I’m sure Sandy will cooperate with you completely.” Jim said quietly.

  “No problem. I will get on that right away.” Don started up the car and headed back towards the station. Jim was quiet all the way back and Don felt bad for the guy.

  Over the past few months they had had little contact since there hadn’t been many developments in the case. Don had tried to stay in touch with the family and let them know that the police hadn’t given up. He was still keeping an eye on Jim but by now he was totally convinced that this man had nothing to do with his wife’s disappearance. Don had been a detective for several years and he thought he had seen it all. Not too much surprised him anymore.

  When he first met Jim Reid he strongly suspected the man had something to do with his wife’s abduction. Through the weeks, and now months, of observation and investigation he was convinced of Jim’s innocence. On three different occasions he had to pick up Jim and take him down to the city morgue to identify an unknown female body that had been washed up on the shores of the Niagara River. He had watched Jim’s reaction carefully as the sheet had been pulled back and the man had looked to see if it was his wife. Each time Don could see the raw emotion on Jim’s face as the tears of relief would pour out. His body would shake when he realized it was not his Laura.

  Each time Don knew it was a good thing he had picked Jim up for the trip to the morgue for the man was in no shape to drive himself. This was a man who clearly loved his wife.

  Another thing that helped convince the detective that Jim was still waiting for his wife to return home, was that Jim had not once called the insurance company to check into his wife’s insurance policy. This was something the police checked into right away, and kept an eye on.

  Over the months the two men had developed a respect for each other, even a type of friendship. Don certainly hoped that one day he would be able to call Jim up with good news about his wife. He had to admit that after all this time it was highly unlikely.

  In his experience on the force, after this amount of time, chances are the woman was dead. They would certainly have heard something by now otherwise. That’s one of the reasons he was so quick to discount the possible lead that Jim was so excited about today.

  In his heart he knew it was nothing and would only give Jim and his children false hope.

  They needed to move on with their lives. They pulled up to the police station and before they got out of the car Don turned to Jim and gave him a bit of advice.

  “Jim, I strongly advise you to keep today’s events from your children. There’s no point in getting their hopes up when this could very well be nothing. If something does come of this in a few days, well, we can tell them then. For now why don’t we just keep it between you and me?”

  Jim just nodded. He wanted to run home and tell Lacey and Josh but at the same time he recognized the wisdom of the detective. Jim thanked Don for his help and got into his own car. He sat there for awhile, in no rush to start the car and head back to his office. He stared out at the winter sky, full of snow clouds that looked like they were ready to burst. There was no snow on the ground at the moment. By the looks of those clouds and also judging by the weather forecast, they should be getting some before the day was over. Jim grasped the steering wheel with both hands, leaned his head forward until his h
ead was resting on his hands and he began to pray. He didn’t know how long he sat there, he didn’t really care. He prayed for Laura until he thought his heart would burst. He still refused to accept the thought that she could be dead. He knew that’s what the detective was probably thinking, but his mind refused to go there. The church held regular prayer meetings just to pray for Laura the first month she went missing. Jim knew that many in the church still prayed for her daily, even amongst the congregation hope for her return was fading. Some even referred to Laura in the past tense, like she was already gone. That angered Jim but he didn’t say anything. Lee and Janice were still supportive and put on a brave front for Jim and the kids but sometimes Jim thought even they were beginning to doubt that Laura was still alive. He really couldn’t blame them and he didn’t love them any less because of it. He wished he could prove to everyone she was still alive. He knew she was, he could feel it deep down inside.

  Laura’s parents had returned to Saskatoon in November. They couldn’t stay in Niagara Falls indefinitely and it was with heavy hearts they left for home. They stayed in touch daily through email and phone calls. His wife disappeared, his world comes to a standstill, but for everyone else life goes on. Jim knew that wasn’t exactly true for his kids, and not for his in-laws either, he felt so miserable and at that very moment, incredibly sorry for himself. I’m sorry God, I know it’s wrong but right now that’s exactly how I feel. I’m full of self pity. Then God brought to Jim’s mind the same verse He had used to comfort Laura, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”v Jim leaned over, opened the glove compartment and dug out a small package of tissues. He wiped his eyes and nose and looked up to see his windshield covered in a light dusting of fresh snow. He paused for a moment, over the self pity, and prayed for Laura’s protection. He was concerned that she would also be consumed with depression. He prayed the Lord would lift her up and above all, bring her home.

  Chapter 15

  Gerhard spent a couple hours at the gym that morning, trying to work out his anger. There was a gym on the lower floor of his hotel for his guests. He made it a practice to use it regularly himself as well. He used it most often during his lunch hour each day. On this particular morning he it was pointless to even try to work. It was mid-December and a quiet time for the hotel, he had the gym all to himself. At first he lifted the weights fast and furious, his face red with anger. Gradually he slowed down as his mind began to form a plan as to how to best deal with Christine.

  His mind went back to that first day he brought her home, the threat he made to her in regards to her daughter Lacey. He felt that this would be a very good time to remind her of that threat in a very real way. He had followed the newspapers, knew all about Lacey, Josh and the hunt for Laura Reid. It wasn’t hard for Gerhard to find out exactly where the Reid’s lived. With just a little digging, he had been able to find out where Lacey went to school. Today would be a good day to pay a visit to Miss Lacey.

  He was going to have to be very careful how he handled this. Gerhard was fully aware that the police had watched him carefully after his house and hotel had been searched last October. He hadn’t worried about it back then. He knew they wouldn’t find anything, he also knew he still had to tread carefully with Jim Reid. The man had put Gerhard’s face up on posters all over the city. He won’t have forgotten Gerhard’s face and neither will his children. Gerhard had a quick shower, dressed, went to his office where he thought and planned what he would do that afternoon.

  One call to Lacey’s school and Gerhard found out when the students were dismissed. He drove over to the school, parked his car near the main entrance, where the busses were, hoping he would recognize Lacey when she came out. Her picture had been in the paper several times, with her brother and father, in regards to her mother’s disappearance. Gerhard thought he knew what she looked like well enough. At three o’clock the students started pouring out the door. Gerhard strained forward in his seat hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl. A group of three girls came out of the building, he was pretty sure the one in the middle was Lacey. She was dressed a light blue ski jacket, with dark blue gloves. The main reason he knew he had the right girl was her striking resemblance to Laura. She looked so much like her mother and at the same time she also looked a lot like Christine at that age. Looking at her brought a flood of memories back to Gerhard. He remembered picking Christine up from school, how much she hated that.

  How she would rather go to the mall or to a friend’s house. Usually Hilda would insist Gerhard pick Christine up, bring her straight home, where she would be waiting with a list of chores for the girl to do. He remembered how that frustrated Christine! How she often vented her anger out to Gerhard.

  Gerhard wore a hat with sun glasses in attempt to disguise his looks as much as possible. There were a lot of cars coming and going around the high school. With all the students running about with parents picking up their kids no one paid any attention to him. Gerhard watched Lacey, expecting to see her say goodbye to her friends and head for a separate bus that would take her home. Instead the three girls got on a bus together.

  He noticed right away that this bus was not going in the direction of the Reid home. He hoped he would be able to see when she got off. Each time the bus made a stop he watched the kids that got off but did not see that Lacey was one of them. After several stops he was concerned that he might have missed her, but then he saw her. She got off with her three friends in front of the city library.

  “Perfect” he thought, as he parked his car and entered the library. He had to remove the dark glasses once inside so he had to be careful. He knew Lacey would probably recognize him, he didn’t want the girl alert to his presence. This particular branch of the library was the main one for Niagara Falls and therefore a large one. In the children’s section near the entrance, Gerhard didn’t bother to look for Lacey. There was a section with comfortable reading chairs where one could listen to audio books with head phones, Lacey wasn’t there, and she wasn’t in the magazine or newspaper area either. Gerhard slowly and carefully moved through the fiction aisles but didn’t find the girls. As he came out of the non-fiction section and came towards the reference area he saw them. The reference books can be looked at but not signed out of the library.

  Gerhard watched the girls for a couple of minutes. Then realized he had better do something so as not to bring suspicion upon himself. He turned away from the girls, pretended to browse the shelves for awhile, then selected a book not paying attention to what it was.

  There were tables and large plants scattered in an area for patrons to use for quiet study. Gerhard sat at one of the tables where he was partially hidden from the girls behind a plant. He settled down and pretended to read his book. He kept an eye on the girls as they did their research, waiting for an opportunity. He knew this might take a while so he made himself comfortable. The girls pulled out school books, also sat at a table, spread out their back packs and began to work on homework. About an hour passed as the girls worked, comparing notes, reading, occasionally picking up another book, whispering, writing and studying. Then the right moment arrived. All three stood up together. They stretched and walked away from the table. The girls were careful to take their purses but they left their back packs and school books while they went to the washroom together.

  Gerhard casually walked over to their table. He glanced around and no one was looking in his direction. It was getting close to the supper hour and the library was almost empty.

  He quickly looked through the back packs and found Lacey’s. He reached inside, pulled out a school text book. He checked inside the front cover and saw that she had signed her name in it. There were even a few notes of hers stuck inside.

  “This will do nicely” he thought to himself, as he slipped the book inside his coat, quickly making his way to the door. Gerhard drove home through the snowy streets carefully, still angry, but calmer now that he had a plan and a way
of dealing with that anger. He had been unable to focus on hotel business all day. His staff had noticed that something was wrong. He mumbled an excuse to his secretary about not feeling well as he left early to catch Lacey.

  As Gerhard drove home, he reflected on the days events. A new thought occurred to him. He really hadn’t thought this entire situation through in a ‘long term’ sort of way.

  His main consideration had always been for his mother. He only wanted to bring Christine home for her. He wanted to see his mother happy and he had done that. When he first started building the room in the basement for Christine, he was sure they would never use it. After all he knew his sister was dead. However when he walked into the church that Sunday and saw Laura Reid, he saw the resemblance to his sister. He acted so fast, so impulsively, that he didn’t really think it through. Laura escaping had never entered his mind. He realized now, if she did, his life would be over. He would be arrested for kidnapping and he would go to jail for a very long time. The other thing he needed to consider long-term is what happens if his mother passes away. He knew she was not in the best of health, she refused to see a doctor. At some point, she could get so sick that he would have no choice but to take her to the hospital. What would he then do with Laura? That was something he hadn’t thought of.

  Gerhard’s mind wrestled with these thoughts. Some days he got confused himself and thought Laura really was Christine. Sometimes he forgot he had kidnapped this woman and truly believed his sister was at home, chained in the basement. She couldn’t be trusted and that’s the way it had to be. Other days his thoughts were clearer and he knew what he had done was very wrong but he had done it for his mother. She was so much happier now, so didn’t that make it ok? Gerhard loved his mother but he felt like she was sucking the life right out of him. He couldn’t have a life of his own. He wanted to get married, have a family of his own. He couldn’t pull away from his mother. He thought that by bringing Christine home for her, she would finally let go of him a little.