by Rose, Willow
I nodded, sipping my coffee, wondering about this news, when I realized it was getting late. I had to get back. I rose to my feet, thanked Todd for his time, then walked to the door, where I stopped.
"She had a coach, right?"
"Oh, yes. I couldn't get her to where she was on my own."
"Who was he?"
"Thomas Price. He's a local boy. Was on the World Tour for two years before he was injured. He could have been big too but never made it any further. It was his back. Too bad. It's a story you'll hear a lot around here. Lots of broken dreams walking around this town."
Chapter 22
I made it to Publix and, while I pushed my cart through the aisles, pulling down milk—getting two gallons this time—and eggs, I called Matt.
"This is a nice surprise."
I smiled. "I thought I'd check in on you. How are you holding up?"
"Eh."
"That well, huh?"
"This isn't exactly a trip to Disney."
"I spoke to the mother today. I went to check in on her," I said. "See if she was all right. Pay my respects."
"Are you doing police work?" he asked. "I thought you were done with all that?"
"I am. I just…well, I was curious, and then I wanted to make sure…"
"You do realize we’ve already talked to her? I’m a highly trained detective. I don't have much experience, but I know how to perform an investigation."
"Of course, you have. And, of course, you do. I didn't mean to…imply that…I just asked a little about Sophie and the divorce and all that."
Matt sighed. "I've been over that…"
"Did you know there was a stalker?" I asked, cutting him off.
"Of course," he said. "He was the first person we had in."
"And?"
"He had an alibi for the day she went missing. He was in south Florida visiting his aunt at a nursing home in Ft. Lauderdale. Lots of witnesses saw him at dinner."
"He could have driven back. She was taken late at night," I said.
"He spent the night there. In his aunt's room, sleeping on a sofa."
I nodded, grabbed a pack of sliced American cheese, and put it in the cart. "I’m not completely convinced, but okay. How about the claims that Sophie was molested?"
"Wow, you've been busy," Matt said. "Yes, we talked to her mother about that. She made the claims in court, but no charges were ever made. There was no investigation into the matter. She withdrew the claims while the custody case was still ongoing."
I stopped. "She withdrew it, why?"
Matt sighed. "I don't know, listen…"
"I know. You're tired. You sound awful, Matt. Have you slept at all? I know how cases like these can take a toll on…"
"Eva, stop, will you? I've got this. I can do it. The chief has given me the case and wants me to solve it. As much as I appreciate your involvement—and I do—I need to get back to work."
"Are you working on it alone?" I asked, startled.
"No. I have a partner, but the chief put me in charge."
"Who is your partner?"
"Nosy much, are we?" he said.
I grabbed a pack of freshly baked glazed donuts and put them in the cart, telling myself I'd diet next month.
"I…well, yes. I just thought I might know him, that's all. Is he from around here?"
"As a matter of fact, he is," Matt said. "And you do know him."
"I thought so," I grinned.
"It's Chris Cooper."
I stopped right in front of the candy aisle. "You're kidding me, right? Cooper who used to pick his nose in class? Who couldn't run ten feet without having an asthma attack?"
"The very same. But he's different now. Grew out of the asthma, I guess," Matt said. "Listen. I gotta go. Chief's calling my name."
"She's not. You're just trying to get out of this conversation," I said.
He chuckled. "Okay, yes, I am. I have tons of work to do."
"Before you go. What about the autopsy?" I asked.
"Should be in soon. I’m waiting for it."
"Okay. Well, good luck, and Matt?"
"Yes?"
"I’m rooting for you. Catch that bastard, so we can all sleep safely at night again, will you?"
He chuckled again. "I’m doing my best."
Chapter 23
I loaded the car with all my groceries, then drove home and unpacked it all. I looked at the filled fridge and Jenna's lasagna on the counter with great satisfaction. I had bought all the kids’ favorite things. I had forgotten how much I loved taking care of them and making them happy.
It hadn't been Chad who did all the work constantly. When they were younger, we had split it more evenly. He was at home and did most of it, but every now and then, I would come home early and cook or shop on my way home. I would even read stories for the children before bedtime and tuck them in. But as my workload grew and I traveled more, those precious moments stopped occurring, and Chad took over more and more. Suddenly, I no longer did any of those things, and I guess it was around then that we stopped talking as well. There was so much about my work I could never tell him, and since that was such a big part of my life, I just stopped telling him anything. On weekends, I would try and spend as much time as possible with the children, taking them to soccer or volleyball games, and slowly Chad started to resent me for always coming in from the sidelines and sweeping away the kids with my presence, only doing all the fun stuff. I guess I just thought being with the kids was more important and this was the only way I would get to. I neglected him and our marriage in the process. I guess I assumed he would still be there once the kids had grown up, that they were the ones I needed to cherish because, sooner or later, they would be gone. I had never imagined it would be the other way around.
The door swung open, and Olivia came in, still listening to music on her headphones. I smiled victoriously.
"Hi, hon. You hungry?"
She pulled out her headphones, then shook her head.
"No? I bought donuts. I thought we could make a cup of coffee and talk a little. How was your day?"
My daughter stared at me, eyes wide.
"I just ate. Literally. Me and Brooke just had an acai bowl at Café Surfnista."
"Oh. Really?"
"Yes, really."
"I thought you had volleyball practice this afternoon?" I asked.
"It was canceled. Coach had a thing."
"Oh, okay. So, no donut?"
She shook her head and walked to the stairs. "I have homework."
"Wait," I said.
She stopped at the foot of the stairs.
"Where's your sister? Don't you get out at the same time? If you went to Café Surfnista with a friend, then where is she?"
Olivia shrugged. "You don't know?"
"I know I’m probably supposed to, but no, I don't know. Enlighten me, please."
"She has choir. They're rehearsing for the concert."
"Ah, I see."
Olivia smiled. She was about to walk up to her room, then stopped herself at the foot of the stairs.
"It's okay, Mom. You know that, right?"
"What is?"
"That you can't keep track of our lives. It's normal. All the other moms are clueless too. Don't be too hard on yourself."
I swallowed and sent her a smile. "Okay. I'll remember that. Thanks."
"No problem."
Feeling good about myself for once, I sat down and sunk my teeth into a donut alone, when the door slammed open again, and Christine stormed inside. Her eyes gleamed with excitement. Seeing my daughter happy for once made my heart skip a beat.
"Is it fixed?"
I froze. "Is what fixed?"
"The computer. Did they fix it?"
My heart dropped, and my eyes fell on the laptop on the counter in the same spot where it had been since Saturday when she asked me to get it fixed.
Uh-oh.
Christine's eyes grew wide. "You didn't take it?"
I swallowed, th
en grabbed the computer under my arm. "You know what? I'll do it right now."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Christine asked.
I looked at her, then remembered. "Alex! Shoot. It's Monday, and he is doing reading club and has to be picked up." I smiled, looking at my watch. I still had fifteen minutes before he was done.
"You know what? I'll just take him with me. I'll have that computer fixed in no time. Meanwhile, grab yourself a donut, do your homework, and then I'll be back in about an hour or two. Your sister is upstairs."
Christine smiled again. The sight made me relax.
"Thanks, Mom. You're the best."
I smiled and rushed out the door, feeling like I was finally getting the hang of this being a full-time mom thing. It wasn't about being perfect; they never expected that of me, but they did expect that I did the best I could.
Chapter 24
She was being pulled by her hair and dragged across the floor. Maddie was screaming her heart out. Her scalp was hurting, and every bone in her body was aching from bumping against the stairs. She tasted blood in her mouth from the many punches she had received in the car. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire and her heart was thumping in her chest.
At first, she had cried and asked for it to stop, but the person wouldn't. The punches kept falling on her, and she had covered her face with her hands. Then they had stopped, and the car had started to move. Maddie had cried when they passed the road she knew led to the school and tried desperately to open the door, but it was locked. She had cried and kicked it, then received another punch, one so hard everything had gone black.
When she woke up again, the car had stopped in a strange place she didn't recognize. Then the door was pulled open, and she had been grabbed by the hair and dragged across the hard ground.
Now the pulling of her hair suddenly eased up, and she plopped down on a carpet, crying and spitting out blood.
"Please," she said. "I just wanna go home."
She looked up at the perpetrator, her eyes pleading for mercy. But as their eyes met, she knew there was no pity to receive. There was hardly even humanity. She had seen that look in the eyes of the men her mom sometimes brought home. The ones that left her mom with bruises, even though Maddie could hear her pleading with them not to since she wouldn't be able to work if she was beat up.
"I want my mommy," she said, nevertheless.
For years, Maddie had been alone with her mother. It had been just the two of them, getting by the best they could. She had a dad somewhere, but she could hardly remember him anymore. They used to be together, her parents. The first couple of years of her life, they lived in a house, her mother had told her—not a big one, but one good enough for the three of them. It was a real house with a small backyard. Maddie had always dreamt about living in a house with a backyard she could play in.
"Did we have a swing?" she had asked her mom.
"We could have had one," her answer sounded. "If we had stayed there."
"Why didn't we, Mommy?"
"Because your dad left. I couldn't afford to keep it alone. I didn't have a job. I never had an education. That's why I always tell you to get an education, okay? I worked where I could, but never managed to keep a job very long. Then I met Tommy. And now I’m making a lot more money than I ever did. Enough to take care of you and make sure you get a proper education, okay? So, you work hard now, you hear me? It's hard out there, baby. Life is tough. Always remember that."
Her perpetrator looked down at Maddie with those dark eyes, then tied her hands and her legs together using zip tie strips. He then put a blindfold over her eyes and pressed a dirty, bad-tasting cloth into her mouth. He almost choked her when taping her mouth over so she couldn't move her lips. The feel of the cloth inside of her mouth made her gag. She was left lying on her side with the carpet rubbing against her pounding cheek.
Maddie heard the footsteps of her perpetrator leave and then there was nothing but a deep scary silence.
Chapter 25
Alex was in an excellent mood when I picked him up and, together, we drove the long way to Vieira and the Apple store. The guy behind the counter told me they would take a look at the computer, but they'd have to keep it overnight and then call me with their diagnosis. I texted Christine the news, to make sure she was prepared not to have her computer for yet another day, and she texted back that it was okay.
Then we left the store and drove back. I felt happy and sang along to Bruno Mars, my son screaming his little heart out in the back seat, singing along as well. He wasn't exactly musically talented, and his singing was way out of tune, but boy, he loved to sing. And he loved being allowed to use his voice. I knew he had to keep it down in school all day and that his teachers were constantly on his case to get him to be quiet, so I figured it did him good every now and then to be able just to scream and have no one yell at him.
We drove up A1A and passed the gas station when suddenly I noticed a bunch of police cars passing me and stopping in a driveway a little further down. I drove past slowly and spotted a massive amount of police officers in the same driveway.
"That was odd," I said and looked at Alex in the rearview mirror. He stared at them too, pointing his finger at them. No one loved blinking lights and sirens more than him.
Curious as to what was going on, I parked the car and told Alex to stay there for a few seconds. Then I hurried toward the house, where a few neighbors had already gathered in front of the big beach mansion.
"What's going on?" I asked a random man standing there.
He shook his head. "They say his son is missing. Never came home from school."
"Couldn't he just be with some friends?" I asked.
The man shrugged. "I guess."
"Who lives there?" I asked.
"Senator Pullman."
My eyes grew wide. "So, he's the son of a senator?"
The man nodded. I spotted Matt walking out of the house and rushed up to him. A police officer tried to stop me, but Matt told him I was okay. He could let me in.
"What's going on?" I asked. "Senator Pullman's son is missing?"
Matt wrinkled his forehead. "I…how do you know this already?"
"Does it matter?" I asked. "Do you think he might have been kidnapped?"
Matt exhaled. He nodded. "The senator was sent a video on Facebook."
"Are they asking for a ransom?" I asked.
"It's not like that."
"Then, what is it? What was on the video?"
"I really shouldn't be discussing these things with you," he said. "You handed in your badge. You're like a civilian now."
I lifted both eyebrows. "What was on the video, Matt?"
Matt sighed again. He never could say no to me—not when we were kids, and not now.
"It was a clip. Showing the son sitting in a chair, tied up, crying helplessly."
I stared at him. "And what else? A ransom request?"
He shook his head. "That's it. That was all it was."
"But you are tracing the video, right?"
"I’ve called for help from the county's IT department, but they're all the way in Rockledge."
"But until then, you need to find the boy before it’s too late," I said pensively. "Can I take a look at the video?"
Matt sighed. "I don't know…why?"
"Can it harm anyone that I take a look?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Probably not. Come with me."
I paused. "I kind of have my son in the car. Let me go get him first…"
Matt stared at me, then chuckled. "Of course, you do."
Chapter 26
Matt showed me into the huge mansion. I was holding Alex by the hand, nodding politely at every police officer I saw. Alex stared at them with wide-open eyes and muttered under his breath:
"Cool."
"This is FBI-profiler, Eva Rae Thomas. She's gonna help us find your son, Nathaniel."
Matt presented me to the senator. He was sitting in his massive kitchen w
ith high vaulted ceilings, his wife next to him, her long fingernails tapping nervously on the side of an empty coffee cup.
I reached out my hand and shook the senator's. He looked at me, impressed.
"FBI? That was fast."
"I was in the area," I said.
Alex made a loud noise sounding like a siren, and the senator and his wife stared at him. I sent them both a smile, then looked at Matt.
"Over here," he said and guided me to a laptop.
Alex had his eye on a beautiful Goldendoodle who was wagging his tail and holding a tennis ball in his mouth. Alex whined and started to pull away from me.
Matt was about to start the video when I stopped him. "Can you take Alex, please? Just for a sec?"
Matt looked confused. "Take him?"
"Just entertain him while I watch this. And no matter what you do, don't let him get his hands on that tennis ball in the dog's mouth. He'll throw it, and something will break. Believe me; you don't want that."
Matt held back a chuckle, then stretched out his hands toward Alex. "Hi there, buddy. Say, have you ever seen a real police baton?"
My eyes grew wide. "Don't. He'll break stuff."
Matt smiled. "I’m not going to let him hold it, just show it to him. Now, go watch that clip, and I'll handle him, okay? Don't worry."
I cleared my throat, then walked back to the computer, still keeping one eye on my son. He and Matt were talking for a little while and then Matt took him by the hand, and they started to walk outside to the pool area. I stared in their direction, wondering how long it would take before Alex would begin to yell something or scream, but it didn't happen. The two of them seemed to be deeply engaged in their conversation, and Alex looked up at him with big admiring eyes.
"Well, I'll be…" I mumbled under my breath, then pressed the play button on the computer.
