Lost Innocence

by Jannine Gallant

  Coco strained against her leash and growled.

  “Hush.” Hauling the dog up the walkway, she knocked on Stella’s door. When it swung open, she stepped inside. “Stella, are you here?”

  Silence echoed back at her, interrupted by Coco’s whining. Uneasiness filled her as she walked farther into the house. When her foot slipped on the hardwood floor, she fell to one knee and put her hand down to press back upright. Something sticky and damp coated her palm. Turning it over, she swallowed hard.

  “Stella!” Surging to her feet, Nina rounded the corner into the kitchen and found the woman sprawled on the tile. Blood stained her pink terry-cloth robe.

  Dropping the leash, she pushed Coco out of the way and felt for a pulse. Faint and thready. When Stella moaned, she touched her cheek.

  “Oh, God. What the hell happened? Who did this?” Pulling her phone from her pocket, she dropped it when Stella opened her eyes and grabbed her wrist.

  “Keely,” she whispered.

  “What about Keely?” When her eyes rolled back, Nina raised her voice. “Hold on, Stella. Talk to me.”

  “Next door. Go.”

  Nina didn’t argue. Grabbing her phone, she rose to her feet and ran toward the entry. A car door slammed as she reached the yard. Moments later, an engine started.

  “No!” Running full out, she reached the sedan as it pulled in a circle to turn around at the end of the court. Coco leaped against the driver’s door, barking frantically, as Nina reached for the handle.

  When the door opened straight into her, she sprawled against the pavement. Dragging herself to her knees, she met a hard, determined gaze.

  “You won’t stop me. I won’t let you!”

  Before she could scramble out of the way, the woman stepped on the gas. Rolling hard to her side, Nina smacked her head against the pavement. Exhaust fumes fogged her brain as the trees above her wavered, and the world faded.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  When his cell rang, Teague stopped short at the end of the walkway to a white bungalow-style home and yanked his phone out of his pocket to glance at the display. Not Nina. A number he didn’t recognize. “Hello.”

  “Teague, it’s Paige. I’m so sorry about your daughter.” Her voice was filled with angst. “Nina told me what happened, and I came over to stay with her, but she isn’t here.”

  “Did you try my place?”

  “Yes, but no one answered the door there, either, and it’s locked. Nina said she was walking over to talk to the woman who watches Keely, but she should have been back by now, and she isn’t answering her cell. Did she contact you?”

  “I haven’t talked to her in the last hour or so. I’m not too far from Stella’s house now, so I’ll go see if Nina’s still there or if Stella knows where she went after she left.”

  “I’d appreciate that. With everything that’s going on, I’m a little freaked out. Are the police making any progress finding Keely?”

  His lips flattened, and he had to blink back tears. “Not yet. I’ll either call you back when I know more or tell Nina to contact you if I see her.”

  “Thanks, Teague.”

  Crossing the street, he waited for Art Cantrell to finish questioning the neighbor and then waved him down. “I’m going over to Stella Lange’s house down at the end of Pine.”

  The officer frowned. “Isn’t she the woman we took in for questioning last night?”

  “Yeah, she babysits my daughter.” He clenched and unclenched his fists. “Nina was supposed to go talk to her, and now she’s not answering her phone. I need to find out why.”

  “I’ll finish this block. Check in with me before you go anywhere else, okay?”

  “Will do.” Teague headed toward his truck and started the engine. A couple of minutes later, he parked in front of Stella’s house, got out, and slammed the door. As he hustled up the walk, his gut tightened. It wasn’t like Nina to keep her friends waiting or ignore calls.

  The front door was wide open when he reached it. “Stella.” The hair on the back of his neck prickled when only silence echoed through the house. “Stella!” Raising his voice, he walked through the entry, glanced into the empty living room, then turned toward the kitchen.

  “Holy shit!” Dropping to his knees beside the unconscious woman lying on the floor, he felt for a pulse. Faint but detectable. His hands shook as he pulled out his phone and dialed nine-one-one.

  “Nine-one-one operator, what’s the nature of your emergency?”

  “I found an unconscious woman in her home at the end of Pine Drive in the eight hundred block. Her name is Stella Lange, and she’s bleeding from what looks like a serious laceration. Please send an ambulance and the police. My name is Teague O’Dell. I’m an EMT, and this woman needs immediate transport to the hospital. There’s a second woman missing from this location who may also be in trouble. I need to go look for her after I get some compression on this wound.”

  “Thank you, Mr. O’Dell. Help is being dispatched now.”

  “I’m hanging up.” He rose to his feet and pushed his phone back into his pocket. “Nina, are you here?” Grabbing a dish towel off the counter, he peeled back Stella’s robe and placed the folded towel against the bleeding wound, then tied the robe belt around it to hold the makeshift pad in place.

  Leaping up, he ran from the room. “Nina! Nina!” A frantic glance into the dining room then laundry revealed no sign of her in the front of the house. Tearing down the hallway, he threw open the doors to the bedrooms and bathrooms. Nina’s body wasn’t sprawled on the floor anywhere in the home. Thankfulness flooded through him, followed by a chill that shook him to his core. If she wasn’t here, then where the hell was she?

  Teague hurried back to Stella’s side as the distant wail of a siren grew closer. Trying not to contaminate the scene, he knelt beside her and checked the towel. She’d lost a considerable amount of blood, but he’d slowed the flow. He glanced up when Cantrell entered the room. The older officer’s gaze went to Stella, and his face lost some of its color.

  “She’s still alive, but barely.”

  The cop knelt beside him. “I heard the nine-one-one call. Hey, it looks like she’s coming around.”

  Teague turned back and picked up Stella’s hand to squeeze it. “Can you hear me, Stella? Where’s Nina?”

  Her eyelids fluttered, and she blinked twice, but her gaze was unfocused. Outside, a siren cut off, and the roar of the ambulance engine quieted.

  “Stella, tell us what happened. Help is here now.”

  When she mumbled something incoherent, he leaned closer. “What was that?”

  “Next door.” Her voice was a whisper. “Help Keely.”

  Before he could respond, her eyes rolled back in her head. Behind him, Captain Barker and Rod ran in with a gurney and a bag of gear.

  “Out of the way, Teague.” His boss nudged him aside. “Let us see to the patient.”

  “She has what looks like a stab wound in her side. I tried to stem the bleeding. She was unconscious when I arrived and came around just now, but she’s passed out again.” He backed out of the way and clenched his fists. “She mentioned Keely, and Nina is missing. If she talks when you get her to the hospital . . .”

  Barker met his gaze. “We’ll let the staff know she may have crucial information. Let’s just hope she pulls through.”

  “She has to.”

  “Looks like this is what cut her.” Wearing plastic gloves, Cantrell held up a carving knife with a bloodstained tip. “Whoever sliced her threw it into the sink.”

  Rod glanced up. “What the hell is going on in this town?”

  Teague couldn’t wait another moment. “I’m going across the street. I’m almost positive Stella said next door before she mentioned Keely’s name.”

  “Hold on, son.” The cop slid the knife into an evidence bag he took from a pouch on his belt. “You stay back and let me call this in first. Obviously the perp is dangerous, and if there’s a hostage situation you could e
ndanger your little girl.”

  Teague gritted his teeth while the older man spoke into the radio at his shoulder. The urge to run across the street and tear open the front door was overwhelming. If Keely was there . . .

  “Backup is on the way. I won’t tell you to stay here since I know you won’t listen, but keep out of the way and let me assess the situation first. It’s possible the injured woman wasn’t lucid, and I’m not about to burst into someone’s home with guns blazing without more information. Got it?”

  “Yes.” Teague bit off the word. Time was wasting. When tires sounded on the pavement outside and doors slammed, he followed Cantrell to the door. Chief Stackhouse and Chris Long approached them.

  “Give me an update.” Stackhouse met Teague’s gaze briefly before focusing on his officer.

  The man explained in a few brief words.

  Long narrowed his eyes on the house next door. “It doesn’t look like anyone is around.”

  “No, but we have enough for probable cause to enter the home.” The chief glanced back at Teague. “Stay outside until we know what the situation is in there.”

  Frustration rose to the boiling point as the three cops headed toward the neighboring house. He kicked a piece of loose gravel and prayed they’d find Keely and Nina both safe. Taking slow breaths, he rounded the patrol car Long had left parked in the middle of the cul-de-sac and frowned when a flat pink object caught his eye. Nina’s cell phone case. He scooped it up and stared down at the cracked screen while his heart pounded in his chest.

  Ignoring instructions, he ran over to the house as the men disappeared inside.

  “Clear.”

  “Clear.”

  The words echoed back at him as Teague paused for several long heartbeats in the entry.

  “Clear up here, too.” Long appeared at the top of the stairs. “Looks like someone packed everything up and left in a hurry without taking all of their belongings. There are boxes stacked in two of the bedrooms.”

  “In the kitchen, as well.” Stackhouse returned to the entry and frowned at Teague. “You don’t listen very well, O’Dell.”

  “I found Nina’s phone on the street. She must have dropped it.” His hand shook as he held up the pink case. “I don’t know why she wouldn’t have picked it up again unless—”

  “Unless someone stopped her.” Cantrell came out of the living room. “There are children’s books in here, left out on the coffee table.”

  “I found adult women’s clothing in an open suitcase in one bedroom and a few stuffed animals in another.” Long descended the stairs. “Oh, and one of those Disney Princess dresses.”

  Teague’s heart nearly stopped before racing on in a frantic rhythm. “Which one?”

  Chris frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Which princess?”

  “I don’t know. It’s yellow and shiny. Plus there’s a stuffed cat and a monkey.”

  Teague grabbed the doorframe and held on tight. “Those belong to Keely. They disappeared from our house a couple of weeks ago. Whoever took her must have planned this well in advance.”

  Stackhouse cleared his throat. “Could be the neighbor saw the perp with your daughter and confronted her. That obviously didn’t end well.”

  “Maybe Stella sent Nina over here to look for her.” Teague pressed a hand to his chest. “Maybe she saw the kidnapper, possibly recognized her.”

  “Then where the hell is Nina now?” Chris reached the bottom of the stairs and smacked his hand down on the railing.

  Teague braced himself in the doorway. “The psycho who took Keely has them both.”

  * * *

  Nina woke slowly, feeling a little nauseous with her skull pounding. She let out a groan as she opened her eyes and blinked in the darkness. A single ray of sunlight streamed through a crack in some sort of wooden platform overhead to create stripes on the dirt wall in front of her. Beneath her was hard ground that had a musty smell. A hint of smoke in the air irritated her lungs, and she coughed.

  “Wake up.” The high voice trembled slightly before a hand touched her cheek.

  “Keely?” Nina pushed upright to a sitting position despite the throbbing in her head and pulled the girl into her arms. Her whole body ached as she hugged her tight. “Oh, thank God. Are you hurt, sweetie?”

  “No. That mean woman made me breathe something nasty, and when I woke up I didn’t know where I was. Anna-Banana, Trudy, and my Belle dress were there, but when she hurried me to her car, she said we didn’t have time to take them.” Keely pressed her face against Nina’s neck, and tears dampened her skin. “She told me Daddy died in a fire. She called me Lynette.”

  “Sweetie, your dad is fine. He didn’t die. He’s looking for you right now.” Nina’s heart ached as the girl broke down, sobbing. “He’ll find us soon. I know he will.”

  “She said there was a big fire and—”

  “There wasn’t. That woman lied. She’s very sick and needs help. I promise your dad is just fine.”

  Hysteria tinged her voice. “The lady said she would take care of me, but the way she looked at me was creepy. I just wanted my daddy.”

  “I’m so sorry you were scared and upset, but you don’t have to worry anymore. I’ll make sure nothing else happens to you.” Nina stroked Keely’s hair until her sobs quieted and wondered how she was going to make good on her promise. “Do you know where we are?”

  “A room in the ground. I was sure you were going to save me, but then that lady hit you with the car. She said bad words ’cause you’re heavy.”

  “How far did she drive?”

  “Not very far. She stopped by a burned house. There was a trapdoor and steps. The lady said this would be my safe place until we go to our new home. She was mad about you ruining everything.”

  “I bet.”

  Nina’s mind raced, processing the information. Hank Murphy’s burned-out house was just down the street from Stella’s home. It would take nerve to leave them in a cellar so close to the crime scene. Her head throbbed, and her mouth felt like she’d swallowed cotton. Though her stomach churned when she moved, she released Keely and rose to her feet.

  “Did you try to open the hatch up there?”

  “I did after she left, but it wouldn’t move.” She rubbed her arms and shivered. “I don’t know where the other girl is. The one I met on the beach.”

  Nina’s already queasy stomach revolted, and it was all she could do not to puke. She couldn’t think about the blond girl she’d painted. Emma. If this psycho freak had kidnapped Keely, surely she’d taken the other girl, as well. But right now her only concern was getting out of this hole.

  Wincing with each step as pain ricocheted along her limbs, she climbed the rickety stairs, feeling the bruises that had surely already formed on every inch of her body. When she reached the top, she pressed her shoulder against the wooden cover and heaved upward. It didn’t budge even a millimeter. Clearly their captor had locked it shut from the outside.

  Raising her voice, she shouted, “Help! Help us! Help.”

  “The lady said no one would hear me if I yelled.”

  Nina climbed carefully down the steps and sat beside Keely again. “We’ll have to come up with another plan.” She tried to think, but her aching head made concentrating difficult. “Did she tell you her name?”

  “No, just to call her Mama.” Keely’s voice took on a spark of defiance. “I didn’t. She couldn’t make me.”

  “Good for you.” Nina hugged her close. “I wish I knew—”

  She broke off as she struggled to bring a fuzzy memory into focus. She’d run up to the car with Coco at her side, fear giving her speed and strength, then . . . nothing. Reaching up, she felt a second knot on her head. The lump hadn’t split the skin, but she’d be lucky if she didn’t have brain damage after this hellish day.

  Nina let out a frustrated sigh. “If I saw her, I don’t remember.”

  “What are we going to do when she comes back?”

&nb
sp; The way Keely’s voice shook tore at her heart. “I’m not sure yet. Did you see anything in here when the hatch was open?”

  “There are shelves on the wall over there.” Keely’s arm swung out to point. “I think something was on them.”

  “I’ll take a look.” When she stood, her aching body cried out in protest. Nina pressed her hands to her pounding skull and drew in shallow breaths. One thing was certain, in her present condition outrunning even an elderly woman wasn’t an option.

  Holding her hands in front of her, she walked in the direction Keely had indicated until her fingers brushed flat wooden planking about a foot wide. Possibly, Hank had stored food down here. Feeling along each board, she encountered a lumpy bag and cringed a little as she folded back the burlap to reach inside. Potatoes. Not the most ideal weapon.

  She stretched up to a higher shelf and continued her search. When her hand touched cold glass, she grasped the container before it could fall. A pint-sized canning jar that sloshed when she shook it. Careful investigation revealed five more jars.

  “Jackpot!”

  “What does that mean?”

  Nina glanced in the direction of Keely’s voice. “It means I think I know how we’re going to get out of here.”

  Taking two jars with her, she brought them back to a strategic location not far from the stairs. Two more trips completed her arsenal.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to pray I can still throw a decent fastball and that I’m not too dizzy to stand up and take aim.” Once she had her jars in place, she sat back down. “Until then, we’re going to hang out and wait for that woman to come back.”

  Keely wrapped her arms around Nina and held tight. “I’m not scared anymore. You make me feel brave.”

  “I hope so, sweet girl. You’ll always be safe when I’m around.”

  “I wish you could stay with me and Daddy always.”

  Nina tightened her grip as a fierce, protective urge unlike anything she’d ever felt before surged through her. “I want that, too. But after we get out of here, your dad and I need to settle a few things first.”