“I was just getting ready to leave the study when the front door opened, and I heard Natalie call Connor’s name. When you open any of the doors in the house, this thing on the door says, ‘Front door opening’ or ‘Kitchen door opening.’ She’s not very observant, or she would have noticed that Connor’s car was gone. Actually, the car is my mother’s car. Anyway, I could hear her getting madder by the minute. I hid behind the sofa and prayed she wouldn’t find me. She didn’t. The minute she went upstairs, I ran to the laundry room, where I was drying the clothes that I had washed. I figured if she found me there, it would be okay.”
“You do your own laundry?” Nikki asked.
“I’m quite good at it. I usually separate the whites from the colors, but yesterday I just threw it all in together. I was nervous.
“Then Connor came back, and the two of them went at it all over again. It was all about the money. That’s when Natalie said they had to take drastic measures. She said Connor promised her the moon and the stars if she would marry him so he could get full custody of me and all of my mother’s money. It was a business arrangement. Connor kept saying there was nothing he could do, that my grandmother had gotten rid of all of her money. And that’s when Natalie said they needed to get rid of me. Connor balked, but she said he was a wuss and she’d do it herself. They were planning on killing me. I didn’t know what to do, so I stayed in the laundry room until Natalie went back upstairs. I came out of the laundry room just as Connor walked into the kitchen. I think I gave a stellar performance. I pointed to the dryer and said I was waiting for it to go off. He had Chinese food. I think he believed me and didn’t think I heard them. Thinking that the best defense is a good offense, that’s when I told Connor that I needed new clothes.”
Myra gasped. “What did you do after that?”
“I went upstairs and sat down to think. I knew I had to leave. I figured I’d wait till it was really dark and go to the Circle. I picked Rita’s house. But first I went to Rite Aid and bought a burner phone, a Maglite, and a quart of milk. I left around ten-thirty. I had to take the gizmo off the door, so it wouldn’t talk when I opened it. I know how to turn off the alarm. I only took a few clothes, the credit card, the money, and the reports. I went right to Rita’s house, broke the window in the cellar, and climbed through. I stayed there all night until this morning, when I tried calling Isabelle.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what reports?” Maggie asked.
Ben giggled. “I went online and found one of those search and find out anything about anyone Web sites for twenty-nine ninety-five. I could have signed up for the deluxe package for fifty-nine ninety-five, but I didn’t. I have them right here. One for Natalie, one for Connor, and one for Isabelle.”
Isabelle’s jaw dropped. “You little stinker! You actually ran a check on me?”
Ben turned in his chair and looked Isabelle in the eye. “If you were in my shoes, you would have done the same thing. We did meet strangely. For all I know, you could have been cultivating me. Besides, you know what President Reagan said, don’t you?”
“No, what did President Reagan say?” Isabelle snapped.
Ben smiled. “He said, ‘Trust but verify.’ ”
The sisters hooted with laughter. “Okay, you got me on that one,” Isabelle said. “How’d I come out?”
“Double vanilla. Connor was plain vanilla. Natalie was rocky road. Here,” he said, rummaging again in his backpack for the reports. “There’s not all that much there. Maybe I should have gone for the deluxe fifty-nine ninety-five package. The reports are not up to date, either, so I probably made the right choice.”
The sisters perused the reports but made no comments. Annie took the lead. “Then what happened?”
“I tried calling Isabelle, but it kept going to voice mail. Then I called her office, and finally, we connected. I told her where I was and we made a plan to get me here and here I am. Oh, I called the Institute before seven this morning to tell them I had either a twenty-four-, forty-eight-, or seventy-two-hour virus and wouldn’t be in today to collect my new assignments and most likely not tomorrow, either. I figured we would need that much time to make a plan.”
All the sisters leaned forward. Kathryn took the lead. “But, Ben, what happens when you don’t return from school today?”
“I don’t know for sure. They won’t realize I’m gone till it starts to get dark. Or they might just assume I’m up in my room. I think they might panic at first, then Natalie will come up with something that will calm Connor down. By the way, she recorded and played a recording she made on her phone of the deal she made with Connor to get control of me and my mother’s money. I heard it all. Connor was livid. But in the end, he always does what she tells him to do.”
“Will they go to the police?” Kathryn persisted.
“I don’t think so. They will probably call the Institute, then the cat is out of the bag. They will see that my bike is still there, so they will know that I couldn’t have gone far. They will assume, and this is just my opinion, that I went to the Circle, so they’ll go to the Circle and break into the three houses to see if I’m in one of them. They won’t want to call attention to the fact that I’ve gone missing. Natalie had a plan to go to their lawyers and demand money, either today or tomorrow.”
“I think we’ve got it down pat,” Annie said. “I have an idea, so why don’t you go into the family room with the dogs and get acquainted with them. They love to play, and they really love to have their bellies rubbed. There’s a nice fire going, and they like to nap there. Can you see yourself doing that, Ben?”
“Oh yes, ma—Annie, I can.” He was off his chair and headed for the door, Lady and her pups yipping and yapping as they shooed him ahead.
“He’s only eight years old,” Isabelle whispered loud enough so the others could hear.
“I know, dear. But he’s safe now. That’s all that matters at this moment in time,” Myra said.
“We forgot to ask him if he had any idea where his grandmother and her friends might have gone,” Yoko said fretfully.
“I think I know,” Annie said quietly, so quietly the others had to lean forward to hear what she had to say. “The letter she wrote to Ben. Think about it. She said she did something terrible, and she had to make it right, and she was the only one who could do that. I think, and it’s just my opinion, that she had something to do with her daughter’s friend, Ben’s father, leaving before Ben was born. I’ve been sitting here thinking and thinking, and nothing else makes sense to me. Eleanor Lymen and her friends are looking for Ben’s biological father. I would also bet my tiara that whoever he is, he has no idea that he has a son.”
The sisters looked at Annie with wide eyes as they processed all that she had just said about why Eleanor had left.
“Speaking strictly for myself, I think you are dead right, Annie,” Myra said.
“How are we going to help? We don’t even know his name,” Yoko said.
“Someone has to know his name. Maybe someone at the Institute knows.”
“But Diana didn’t want to have anything to do with the Institute. How likely is it that someone there would know?” Kathryn asked.
“Maybe we should call Avery Snowden to help us out, or has he been commissioned by the boys? Does anyone know?”
No one knew.
“It’s a place to start, so let’s call him,” Myra said.
Chapter 8
It was a diner just like any other diner the world over. A huge, colorful sign high above the eatery proclaimed in bright neon that it was DAVE’S DINER. Underneath the owner’s name in smaller letters it read, BEST EATS IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI.
The interior was also just like every other diner. There were bright red vinyl booths patched up with gray duct tape. And there were condiments on Formica tabletops that were chipped and cracked and full of stains that were impossible to remove.
Dave’s Diner was always full to capacity, with a waiting line that stretched outside.
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More than one regular, trucker or someone just passing through, said you got a lot of bang for your buck, and the food was homemade and good. Plus, Dave only charged for the first cup of coffee; refills were free. Even a refill to take on the road.
Eleanor Lymen and her two best friends, Irene and Rita, waited their turn for a booth. All three women looked tired and weary and badly in need of their first cup of coffee of the day.
A waitress who looked as tired as the three women approached and led them to a booth in the back. She smiled. “I’m going to turn you over to my replacement because my shift just ended. Enjoy your breakfast, ladies.”
Eleanor handed a twenty-dollar bill to the woman. Waitressing was hard work, and the smile she received in exchange for the bill was worth the twenty dollars so early in the morning. To the waitress and to Eleanor.
All three women guzzled their first cup and waited for Irene to refill their cups from the decanter on the table. “Now we can talk,” she said.
“Talk now before we eat or after?” Eleanor asked. “Also, today is the day I have to call Peter Olsen. I say we eat first.”
“Works for me,” Irene and Rita replied agreeably.
Forty-five minutes later, their plates clean of the waffles, sausage, and brown gravy Dave’s Diner was known for, the women settled back with fresh cups of coffee while Eleanor called her longtime lawyer for her weekly report on young Ben.
Both women leaned forward to listen more closely. The only problem was that Eleanor was listening and not talking. The look of pure panic on their friend’s face told them something troubling had happened.
The call lasted a full ten minutes, with Eleanor jotting down a phone number on a clean paper napkin.
“I . . . I didn’t expect . . . I should have . . . I must have been out of my mind to start on this venture, which has gotten us nowhere in close to six months. Peter Senior is still in rehab because his body rejected his second hip replacement. He never told me. Peter Junior answered the phone.”
“Will you please get to the point, Ellie,” Irene said.
“Ben ran away from home. Isabelle Flanders, the architect who designed our houses, as well as the Circle and the Institute, went to see Peter yesterday. It seems she and Ben struck up an acquaintance, and she has been trying to help him. What Peter Junior told me was that on good-weather days, Isabelle goes to the little park across from the Circle at lunchtime. Ben would ride through the park on his bike, and at first, he would wave, then it was ‘hi,’ then they started having conversations. Ben was comfortable with her, especially after he found out she knew me, and you two also.
“Mostly they met up on a Tuesday. Ben, as you know, goes to the Institute on Mondays. Anyway, their meetings finally progressed to lunch that Isabelle provided, and Ben opened up to her. Ben asked her if she could help find me. She told him she had friends who were experts in finding people. They were supposed to meet up today.”
“Are those . . . those miserable people mistreating Ben?” Rita asked, a catch in her voice.
“Isabelle didn’t think so. She told Peter Junior and Senior that she never saw a mark or bruise on him, and he was usually cheerful. But on Sunday, Ben packed up and ran away. Peter Junior didn’t find out that part until yesterday. It seems Ben left late at night, bought a burner phone, a flashlight, and a quart of milk at the Rite Aid near his house. I know he stayed the night in one of our houses. He had the foresight to buy milk. We all left staples in our pantries when we left, so he probably thought he could eat cereal. He would feel safe at the Circle. He would consider it a safe haven.
“Flash forward. Yesterday, he finally managed to get hold of Isabelle. Isabelle and her friend Nikki went to the Circle, looking for him. He was staying in your house, Rita. The boy is safe and sound. Right now, that’s all that matters. Ben is safe and in Isabelle’s care.”
Irene looked at Eleanor, who had tears in her eyes. “Don’t cry, Ellie, the boy is safe and sound, you just said so. What made him run away in the middle of the night? Did Peter Junior say?”
Ellie tried to clear her throat several times before she could get the words out. “Ben overheard Connor’s wife telling Connor that the only way they were going to get Ben’s money was to do away with him. Those words mean to me they were planning on killing Ben. That little boy heard that. Because he is as smart as he is, Ben understood what they were saying. Another child his age might not have put two and two together. Can you imagine what Ben must have thought or felt? I will say, he acted quickly.”
“Insurance money would go straight to Connor. Diana’s money in trust would go to Connor if something happened to Ben. Am I right on that?” Rita asked.
“Right as rain. Connor legally adopted Ben, so he would inherit. Right now, the two of them must seriously be hurting for money since all payments stopped three months ago. After Isabelle and her friends found Ben, Isabelle’s friend Nikki called Peter Junior to bring him up to date. She told him that Ben called the Institute first thing yesterday morning to tell them he had either a twenty-four-, forty-eight-, or seventy-two-hour virus and wouldn’t be in but that he had completed all of his assigned work and was advancing on his own. That tells me he needed the time to reach Isabelle and get to safety. The Ryans must be pretty lax as to his comings and goings not to notice he was gone,” Ellie said, doing her best not to cry.
“We need to pack up and go home,” Irene said. And Rita agreed.
Ellie stared at her two best friends in the whole world and nodded.
Irene poured more coffee.
“Isabelle wants me to call her. I think I should. You both know what a lovely person she is, and Ben is in good hands if he’s with her. I’m sure she has him somewhere safe. Peter Junior agreed, but he also said I need to get home.”
“Call her,” Rita and Irene said in unison.
Ellie placed the call, and the moment Isabelle clicked on, her first words were, “Is my grandson okay?”
“Yes, Ellie, he is,” Isabelle answered, knowing instantly whom she was speaking with. “He’s with friends of mine. Where are you? Why did you leave without telling Ben? He thought you had abandoned him.”
“I know, I know. I . . . I left him a letter,” Ellie said, her voice tormented.
“I know, but he didn’t find it until the other day. When he sneaked into your house right after you left, he said he was crying so hard he left and didn’t go to his room. Something like that. He just found the letter on Saturday. Anyway, he has your letter now, and we have the contents of Freddie the bear. Where are you?”
“Outskirts of some place in Mississippi. It’s rural. My friends and I have been searching for Ben’s father. I have to find him, Isabelle. He doesn’t even know about Ben. That’s on me, and I’ve regretted sending him away every hour of the day since I did it. It’s a long and complicated story for another time. He’s here somewhere in Mississippi, and we’re trying to find him. He’s a doctor. He travels around in two big buses loaded with medicine, food, water, and blankets and ministers to those in need. And I thought he wasn’t good enough for my daughter! What a stupid, foolish old woman I am. I can’t go home till I find him. If you assure me Ben is safe, then I need to do this, more for Ben than me. I think we’re close to finding him.”
“Ben is fine, Ellie. He’s in a very good environment for now. Don’t wait too long. I’ll tell him I spoke to you, but you can call him yourself. I bought him a phone, you know the one that has the 5* to call for help. And a whistle. That was before we found out the Ryans were planning to . . . to . . . harm him.” Isabelle rattled off the number of the cell phone, and Ellie scribbled it on the same napkin on which she’d scribbled Isabelle’s number.
“Ellie, how do you know where Ben’s father is and what he does?”
“Social media. Where else? He has a Web site, a blog, and a few other things. People get in touch if they need help. He doesn’t charge for his services. And we’ve talked to people whom he has helped, but he’s always
been one step ahead of us. This is the closest we’ve come to finding him after six long months of searching.”
“Then you need to stay and complete your mission. We’ll take care of Ben. Once you call him and talk to him, I think you’ll realize he’s in good hands.”
“But will the boy forgive me for what I’ve done?”
Isabelle struggled for the right words. “I don’t know the answer to that, Ellie. What I do know is, he loves you with all his heart. And he loves Rita and Irene, too. I will tell you this—when he read the letter you left for him, he said that when you do something wrong, and if you make it right, that’s all that matters. He said you taught him that.”
Ellie started to cry. Irene reached for the phone, identified herself, and gave her Ellie’s phone number. “We’re going to leave now, we have a seven-hour drive to where we think Ben’s father is going next.”
“What’s his name?” Isabelle asked.
“Jonathan Philbran.”
“The Philbrans of Boston?” Isabelle asked, awe ringing in her voice.
“Yes. Of course, when he was in Diana’s life, we didn’t know that. We assumed, and wrongly so, that he was a grifter preying on Diana. Like Ellie said, it’s complicated.”
“Uh-huh. Well, I won’t say anything about his father to Ben. That’s Ellie’s job. Good luck.”
Irene ended the call and handed the phone back to Ellie, who stuck it in her pocket.
“We should leave right now. We’ve occupied this table long enough, and the line is still pretty long. Be sure to leave a big tip,” Rita said.
* * *
The kitchen at Pinewood was bustling with activity as breakfast got under way. Ben was loving every minute of it. Rather than stay and get in the way, he volunteered to take the dogs out for a good long run. “I just love these dogs!” He laughed excitedly. “They all slept on my bed last night. They were so warm and cozy. It’s a good thing the bed was big. I only had a twin bed at Connor’s house,” he babbled as he tried tickling each dog behind the ears.
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