Loved by Darkness

by Autumn Jordon

  “Yeah. She did. Maybe Martha is an employee of one of the other stores.”

  “Wouldn’t Tessa at least have seen Martha at some point though?”

  “Depends when Martha might’ve worked. Tessa is in the bakery from four a.m. to noon. They might never have crossed paths.”

  “It’s possible, I suppose,” Jolene agreed.

  “Once we get Martha’s sketch from Tessa we’ll make the rounds again. We’ll question the store owners about their policy on employees entering the store from the back door and also check who has access to their store’s back entrance keys.”

  So far there had been a lot of footwork and probing done in this case, Jolene mused, but finally Norris had found a solid lead. “So where are you headed now?”

  “Back to the office. I need to catch up on a few things. Then once Tessa arrives, I’ll talk to her some more and see if she remembers anything else about the woman.”

  “I’ll join you there.”

  “I thought you were watching the gang?”

  “Until my parents come back from my dad’s doctor appointment. They should be back very soon. The plan is they’ll stay with the kids until Martina comes back from the hospital from visiting Simon.”

  “Then you’re free later? Tonight?”

  She wanted to say yes, but she knew if she spent another night with Norris it would be much harder to say goodbye to him later. She couldn’t deny she was beginning to have strong feelings for him. She had to keep things on a professional level going forward. “I can help you with the case if you need me.”

  “The case?”

  She heard the questions in his voice. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she knew if they continued on the way they had been, stealing heated glances, touching each other in passing and sharing each other’s pasts and thoughts, when it came time for her to leave she would hurt him much more. “Can I call you when I get home? The kids are getting anxious.”

  “Sure.” The phone went silent. He disconnected the call without saying goodbye. She’d already disappointed him.

  “Aunt Jolene can we go play on the pirate ship some more?” Angel, her second oldest nephew, asked.

  “Sure. We can stay for another half-hour.”

  Angel hooted and most of the children raced toward the playground once again. Sofia and Lia however headed toward the sandbox where a few other children played.

  Jolene took a seat on a bench between the two spaces. While she watched over the children, her mind remained on Norris. There was so much she wanted to say to him and yet she knew she couldn’t. It was best if she concentrated on the case and forgot about the amazing time she’d had last night.

  Suddenly the old woman across the way screamed. She shot off the bench, shouting at the younger woman, accusing her of abuse. The younger woman tried to calm her but the older woman cried out louder, claiming the younger woman was a stranger to her. She slapped away at the hands trying to restrain her.

  Jolene checked on the child who was with them. Sadness made the child wrap her arms around her belly. She had obviously seen this scene play out before.

  The old woman broke loose of the woman’s grasp and ran toward the street. Jolene darted in front of her. She held out her hand but didn’t touch the woman. “Madam, do you need help?”

  Wide cloudy blue eyes, the woman studied Jolene oddly for a few seconds. Then they rounded and brightened with recognition. “Yes. Yes. Thank God you found me, Anna,” she said, throwing herself into Jolene’s arms. “Where have you been? That woman you left me with hates me. She loves the brat more than she does me.”

  “Shhhh.” While she tried to calm her, Jolene felt the curvature of the woman’s spine under her hand. “It’s all right. I’m here now.”

  The younger woman came into her view. The apologetic, stressful expression she wore melted Jolene’s heart. Would she or Martina be in similar shoes in years to come with their parents? If her parents’ mental capacity began to fail, she didn’t want Martina to shoulder the whole responsibility. She wanted to be there for them too.

  Jolene signaled the woman with a sly dip of her head that she understood the situation. With a raised index finger she asked for a few moments and continued to talk to the older woman as if she’d known her all of her life. When the older woman calmed down Jolene waved to the other woman to join them.

  Miraculously, the older woman lovingly recognized the younger woman this time and after a minute of chatting, the younger woman led her mother back to the bench. Over her shoulder, she mouthed a silent thank you to Jolene.

  Jolene glanced at the sand box and realized the girls weren’t there. Her heart kicked up a notch. She looked toward the pirate ship and saw Sophia running up the gangplank. Ahead of her was another child. It wasn’t Lia. Above the sail’s railing she saw the top of a head with hair the color of Lia’s and she relaxed.

  She called to the gang it was time to go. Slowly, one by one, they appeared on the deck. All of the Gomez gang—minus Lia.

  “Is Lia down below?” She bent over at the waist and peered through the window into the lower portion of the ship. She saw no movement inside.

  “I didn’t see her,” Diego responded.

  Jolene spun toward Sofia. “Sofia, where’s Lia?”

  “Her daddy came for her.” Sofia skipped down the gangplank. “He talks funny.”

  “Her daddy?”

  “Ah, ya.”

  Jolene stooped and looked directly into her niece’s eyes. “She knew him? She went with him?”

  “Yes.” Sofia’s ponytail bobbed.

  Jolene’s chest tightened around her heart. She stood and scanned the park. And then the area bordering it.

  Touching the pocket where she’d placed her cell phone, she hesitated for a split second, knowing she had to call Norris and let him know she’d lost Lia, and likely to the person who tried to kill her.

  ***

  We were blocks away from the park when I heard the sirens wail. I tightened my grip on Lia and lengthened my steps. We’d put another half block between us and the woman who had made my baby part of her family. Then I realized Lia had to run to keep up with me. The oversized, matching sunglasses I’d brought to conceal our features slid down her nose and teetered there for a step and then fell to the sidewalk.

  Quickly, I stooped down next to Lia, picked up the glasses, wiped them off with my T-shirt and plopped them on her nose. She giggled back at me and I can see how happy she is that I found her.

  A police car sped by, reminding me we need to keep moving. I’d hoped for more time and to be a little closer to the town’s edge before the woman noticed Lia was gone.

  I brushed my thumb over Lia’s soft cheek and then rose to my full stature, feeling confident. No one had or would give me and Lia a second glace. We were simply a mother and daughter out for walk on a beautiful day, wearing matching teal-colored T-shirts and similar ball caps covering our hair.

  Ahead, flashing lights catch my attention. It’s the chief of police’s Jeep heading our way. Behind my glasses, I close my eyes. I hear the sound of my heart clearer when I do. The steady beat, even though its pace has quickened, is reassurance I’m alive and in control.

  Lia and I watch the chief speed by and then we resumed our walk. According to the mayor, who Mark had breakfast with this morning, the chief of police still had no clue who Lia was or where she lived. It seemed the relatively new chief of police was chasing his tail. Or the tail of the beautiful U.S. Marshal who had first sighted Lia floating in the ocean. I wonder if the woman with Lia today was the U.S. Marshal. She was certainly pretty in a pixie type of way.

  There was no time to ponder trivial things. Once we reach the house, however, I will need to act fast and gather our belongings and leave before Mark breaks out. It took everything in me to overtake him earlier. I don’t know if I have the strength to do it again.

  We need to disappear again if Lia is to remain safe.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN


  Norris saw anguish on Jolene’s face when she glanced his way. He knew the pain causing her to pace back and forth between the entrance to the park and the toddler swing set. Her arms were dead-locked around her mid-section and her fingers worked over the charms on her bracelet.

  He knew her well enough already to know that when she played with her bracelet, she worried about something She blamed herself for Lia’s disappearance.

  Child snatching happens in the blink of an eye. The witnesses’ descriptions of the moments before Lia disappeared had to make Jolene realize she wasn’t to blame. If she hadn’t intervened and stopped the elderly woman from leaving the park, the old woman could’ve run out into traffic.

  But how had the man found out where Lia was being kept? They’d had no idea Lia’s father—if he was indeed her father—had been watching Lia and perhaps the Gomez home, waiting for the opportunity to snag her.

  Norris tapped his pencil against the pad in his hand. How had he found Lia? Why would he want her back? He’d tried to kill her. Did he intend to accomplish what he’d set out to do? If so, why would he want the child dead? Had she witnessed something she wasn’t meant to? The list of questions rattled off in his brain.

  “If that’s all, Chief, I want to take my granddaughter and mother home,” the woman who stood in front of him said, bringing him back to their conversation.

  “Sorry. Yes. I have your information. Here’s my card. If you think of anything else which might help us locate the girl, please give me a call. Maybe you saw someone before your mother darted away.”

  The woman accepted his card and quickly pocketed it in the bag slung over her shoulder. “I will. Thank the Marshal again for helping me. I’m sorry my mother’s actions caused—”

  Norris lay a hand on her forearm. “The only one to blame for this situation is the person who kidnapped the little girl.”

  Relief softened the woman’s face before she turned and took the hands of both her charges and rushed them from the park.

  Norris turned around, slid his pad and pencil into his breast pocket and watched Jolene again for a few seconds. She didn’t look as if that truth would ease her pain so easily. If she was going to be any good to him and help him nail the bastard, she’d need to let the anger and guilt go and concentrate on the facts.

  There were three paths leading into to the park. Both Pickett and Frank who responded to the location immediately took up posts at two entrances while Jolene covered the third, sealing off the park. It wasn’t a tight seal however. The grounds were lined with fencing on two sides where the traffic was heavier, and the other two sides were bordered by shrubbery. Not impossible to push through.

  All of the occupants in the vicinity had been interviewed immediately and then dismissed, including the Gomez gang. Jolene had called Martina who arrived at the playground a minute after him. Now the entire area, including the sandbox Lia had been playing in, had been photographed. They found no useable footprints near the sandbox. It appeared the man never stepped close enough to lift Lia from the box. Apparently, she’d known him. He’d called Lia and she simply went to him. But why would she do that if he’d tried to kill her before?

  Jogging toward Jolene, he was intercepted by Pickett and Frank. “Did you learn anything?”

  Pickett shook his head. “No. Everyone I interviewed said they were focused on the old woman and Jolene. They said the old lady fought Jolene like a tom cat, but Jolene hung on.”

  Norris looked at Frank.

  “Same story here, Chief. All eyes were on them.”

  “How about the little girl who was playing in the sandbox with Lia?” Norris asked, knowing she was probably their best witness.

  “Her mother let me talk to her,” Jolene spoke behind him.

  Turning, he looked down at her and immediately sympathy softened his heart. He’d seen her tired before, and stressed, but now she appeared beaten. Her tan skin appeared grayish and her bottom lip was blood red from her teeth’s assault. She was literally sick over losing Lia to the bastard.

  He longed to draw her into an embrace, tuck her head under his chin and comfort her with the beat of his heart, but for the sake of their professional reputations he wouldn’t. It was best if she remained focused on the job and not something personal.

  “What did she say?”

  She notched her chin a little higher. “That he was a giant. His shadow covered both of them.”

  “That’s pretty perceptive for a child. How old is she?”

  “Six. Her mother says she is a student in a summer art course. She notices details that way.”

  “Smart kid,” Pickett mumbled.

  Norris looked back to Jolene after scanning the “scene gawkers” who stood outside the park’s perimeter. He’d hoped to spy someone who had deception curling his lips so they could end this nightmare quickly. It was a foolish wish. Whoever had Lia was long gone. But where? “Anything else besides a shadow?”

  “He had mousey brown hair, long, pulled back into a ponytail and he was clean shaven,” Jolene answered.

  Pickett’s normally lazy gaze flashed disbelief. “She said that?”

  “Her exact words were, ‘He had hair like my brother’s mouse and he didn’t have a hairy face like my dad.’ Her dad’s whiskers tickle her. I took it to mean he was clean shaven.”

  “Clean shaven... Right.” Pickett scratched on his pad and then in good humor added, “Did she say his eyes were chocolate drops or the color of the sky.”

  The deputy quieted his chuckle when he glanced Norris’ way.

  “She couldn’t say. He wore sunglasses.”

  “Tattoos or scars?”

  Jolene stuffed her hands into her pockets. “No, but he wears a ring. Gold with a black stone.”

  Jolene continued to scan the area, hoping to spot the guy. Norris had no doubt if she did see a man fitting the six-year-old’s description she’d chase him down and hogtie him. He couldn’t deny he might look the other way for a moment if it was their man. Anyone who treated a child the way Lia had been treated deserved an ass-kicking session. But, he highly doubted the guy and Lia were still within a mile of the park.

  “Jeans?” Pickett rapid fired questions and Jolene shot back information.

  “No. Shorts. Brown, similar to the lady’s hat over there.”

  They all looked in the direction Jolene pointed and saw a woman wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat.

  “Okay. Tan. How about his shirt?”

  “White with some buttons.” Jolene unconsciously touched her breast bone with a long, painted nail.

  The tip of Pickett’s right sandy brow peeked above his sunglasses dark frame. “Maybe a golf shirt?”

  “That’s my thought,” Jolene said.

  Pickett’s smile made Norris want to pull Jolene close and let his deputies know she was his.

  Frank whistled softly. “That kid was a gold mine.”

  Norris could see his deputies were dancing in place, anxious to comb the town for the guy.

  “You were right to get permission to talk to her right away, Jolene,” Pickett said. “Often times, parents don’t want their children involved in any way for fear of retaliation from the perp. Her description is going to help us find this guy. How about his shoes?”

  “Sneakers. White. They had letters on the side.”

  “Nike?”

  “No. She said the first letter was an L.”

  Norris cleared his throat. “An L?”

  “Lake. They’re cycling sneakers,” Pickett said.

  Jolene looked at Pickett. “Do you know the brand?”

  “I have a pair.”

  “Where did you buy them?” Norris asked.

  “At Cycle Haven.”

  “Cycle Haven?” Norris clenched his jaw.

  “What’s wrong?” Jolene asked.

  “Cycle Haven happens to be in the same mall as Tessa’s bakery.”

  “Did she see him leave the park?” Pickett continued on with his questioning
not noticing Norris had gone silent.

  “No,” Jolene said, not taking her eyes from him. “The older woman’s screaming frightened her and she ran to her mother.”

  Norris slid his cell phone from his pocket.

  “What are you thinking?” Jolene asked.

  “It’s nearly two,” Norris said. “Tessa should be at the station with our sketch artist. I need to look at the sketch.”

  “Do you know who took Lia?” Jolene felt hope thread around her heart.

  “I might...”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Thank goodness an available cab had stopped at the intersection just as Lia and I reached it. I knew time was of the essence the moment I saw the chief of police heading toward the park. I don’t think anyone in the park recognized me, but I can’t be sure. If someone at the park had known who I was and we walked all the way home, we would’ve been greeted by the chief and his deputies. That hadn’t happened. Not yet. But something prickled the nerves under my skin and in my head I heard this tiny voice urging me to get out now before it was too late.

  I stuff my favorite dress, sweater and some personal items into my overnight bag and zipper it closed. From Lia’s room, I hear her giggle. She is so happy to be home. Thank goodness he hadn’t had time to remove her belongings.

  The whip he uses to keep his power over me still lies on the bedroom chair. I quickly check the lock to the secret room where he’s trapped. It’s intact and I only hear silence beyond it.

  Quickly, I race down the hall to Lia’s room and see her little suitcase overflowing with stuffed animals and dolls.

  “Honey, there’s not enough time to take everything.” My heart swells with love as I look down at the child. I dump the contents of the suitcase onto the bed and quickly proceed to fill it with a couple of changes of clothing and shoes for Lia. It might be a day or two until we find a new home and I can shop for us both. “Pick one. We need to leave now.”

  “But I want all my friends. I missed them.”

  I kneel down beside her and smooth her soft hair away from her face. I missed her so much—but now isn’t the time to cuddle. “I know. They missed you too. I’ll tell you what. I’ll send for them and they’ll join us in a few days.” I lie which I hate to do to my daughter, but we really have to leave before the police stop us. Once we are settled I’ll buy her dozens of new friends.