by Debra Lee
Reilly’s foot caught on the one leg of Jena’s swing when he jumped up to go in search of a tissue. He did a belly flopper across the carpet. But he scrambled back on his feet and dashed into the bathroom.
He reappeared in a flash with a fistful of toilet paper. As he held out the paper to Mary he said, “Couldn’t find your tissues. But this feels pretty soft.”
In spite of how serious he was and how awful Mary felt, she couldn’t help but look at him and smile when she accepted the paper. “Thanks.”
While she dried her eyes and cheeks Reilly straightened the swing and sat back down on the edge of the end couch cushion.
“Thanks for coming back too, Reilly.”
He reached over and took her hand in his. He sort of expected her to pull free the second his fingers began sliding between hers. She did not. Instead, she folded her fingers over to tighten the hold.
“I thought maybe Carol would spend the night.” He paused thinking she might want to say something. When she didn’t he continued. “I’m glad she’s not though.”
“Reilly, I know how you feel about me.” Reilly’s hand went cold when she suddenly let go of it and pulled back. “Sometimes when someone loves someone they do strange things.”
“What are you tryin’ to say here, Mary?” Reilly asked because he hadn’t a clue what she was getting at.
“Carol suggested you have a lot to gain with Jena out of the picture.” At first her words had come out slow and soft. Toward the end of her statement they were quick and louder.
“You think—”
“I didn’t say I thought you took Jena. I was just—”
Reilly did care if she tried to pull free when he took her hands in his and held them firmly. He was going to hold on until she heard him out. “Mary, I won’t deny I was plannin’ for us to be alone for a while. I thought maybe without any interruptions you’d see how much I really care.”
Mary tried to pull free. Her blue eyes widened with fear. It hurt Reilly to see her fear. But he couldn’t let go until he finished.
“Not time alone like this, Mare. I worked it out with Ellie. She said she’d keep Jena next weekend so the two of us could go away somewhere. All I had to do was convince you.”
Mary’s hands slowly relaxed. “You wouldn’t have you know?”
Reilly nodded. “It was worth a shot though. We’d probably end up takin’ Jena along. And we still can, you know. Go away next weekend. The three of us.”
Wanting to believe it possible a smile found its way to Mary’s mouth. The minute she stopped believing she knew she would die.
Reilly lowered his voice when he said, “All four of us if you like.” He looked into Mary’s eyes that were filled with uncertainty. “For you I could handle Carol comin’ along.”
“She wouldn’t come. And to tell you the truth, it wouldn’t be much fun spending the whole weekend listening to you two put each other down the way you always do.”
Reilly shrugged. “What can I say, the woman hates me.”
“Hate is a pretty strong word.”
“It’s the right one. I don’t know if she told you but we went out a few times a while back.”
This was news. Carol hadn’t mentioned it. But why? Then Mary had to wonder if Reilly wasn’t telling her just so he could say he was the honest one of the two. There was also that slim chance Carol hadn’t told her because Reilly was making the whole thing up. If that was the case, Mary would have to ask why to that too.
“The chemistry wasn’t there,” Reilly went on to say. “Not for me anyway.”
“Why are you telling me all this, Reilly?”
“You’re not the only one Carol is tellin’ that I took Jena. Even if she knew who really did take Jena, she wouldn’t say if she could convince you and everyone else I did it.”
Mary didn’t like what Reilly said. As a matter of fact, she hated it. And she knew why. Carol would be delighted if it was discovered Reilly was the one who took Jena. But it hurt to know Reilly believed she’d keep the true identity of Jena’s abductor to herself if it could be pinned on him.
Carol was her very best friend. Mary would bet her life Carol felt the same way about her. That being the case, there was no way Carol knew who took Jena. If she did she would tell Mary. After all, best friends tell each other everything. Don’t they?
Chapter Twenty Five
Kyle had come full circle. He started in the nursery and ended up there. Even though Lisa’s window lock was the first of the twenty he had checked, he checked it again.
Losing another daughter would be more than he could handle. Nobody was coming through Lisa’s window and carrying her off to God knows where like they had Jena.
“Kyle what are you doing?” Elaine asked softly as she tiptoed into the room.
“Making sure the window’s locked.”
“You aren’t thinking whoever took Jena might try and take Lisa next?”
Kyle turned away from the window. He wanted Elaine to see the concern in his eyes when he said, “We have to consider it a possibility. I’ve made a few enemies in the courtroom these past couple years, Elaine.”
“I won’t let you scare me,” Elaine hissed and spun around and marched out of the nursery, Kyle close on her heels.
In the hallway, he caught up to her and grabbed hold of her arm, spinning her around so she faced him. “Listen to me, Elaine.”
She shook off his grip and stiffened. “No, you listen to me, Kyle Frederick. You’re becoming paranoid. No one is plotting to take Lisa.”
“You don’t know that,” Kyle returned fire with. “Or do you?”
It wasn’t until he said it that he understood the implications of his words. He didn’t want to believe it before. Now he was having second thoughts. Was Elaine the one who crawled through that apartment window and carried Jena away?
“Think about it, Kyle. As far as we know there hasn’t been a ransom note. So that rules out kidnapping. But even if it was a kidnapping, only a few people knew she was your daughter.”
Elaine couldn’t end there when she had set up the perfect opportunity to remind him of the most important point of all. “The truth is Mary’s the only one who knows for certain whom Jena’s father is.”
What she said made sense to Kyle. Maybe he was being paranoid. At least in thinking Lisa was next to be taken. But was he wrong in thinking Elaine might have taken Jena?
He wanted to believe the woman he married had not become so jealous that she’d do harm to a child. He had to stop this. Next he’d have himself convinced Elaine was a cold blooded killer.
“Kyle,” Elaine’s soft voice penetrated the insane thoughts he was beginning to have. Then when she reached for his hand, slipping her fingers between his, he wanted to kick himself for getting so carried away with his thoughts. “Maybe we should go to bed now,” Elaine suggested. “Try and get some sleep. Hopefully by morning we’ll hear some good news about Jena.”
Kyle squeezed her hand. “I’m really worried about her.”
“I know. I am too.”
“Really?”
“Of course. When I put Lisa to bed tonight I gave her an extra big hug. All I could think of was how I’d go crazy if I didn’t know where she was.”
Kyle began to cry when he slid his arms around her. Elaine held him close. She allowed him to let it all out. She almost cried too.
Her tears were more for herself. For how proud she was to have been able to put aside her jealousy. And she had when she held Lisa in her arms earlier, grateful she was the safe one.
Elaine couldn’t deny Jena’s being gone for good would make her life much easier. There would be more money to spend. No fear of Kyle going back on his promise and seeing her. But in Elaine’s heart she didn’t want Jena to be out of their lives in this way.
***
It was either the painful sensation in his neck or the smell of fresh brewed coffee that had Reilly stirring from sleep. A few arm stretches, a yawn and his eyes flickered op
en. It took him a few seconds to focus properly. Once he did he realized he was on Mary’s couch.
He and Mary had talked off and on most of the night. Between conversations there would be long periods of silence. It must have been during one of those times when Mary got up and went to sit on the windowsill that he had dozed off.
The dull light filtering through the window alerted him it was morning. A typical Monday filled with ominous gray clouds. But he couldn’t let the dreary weather stand in his way of putting on his best glowing smile when he headed into the kitchen in hopes of finding Mary.
The minute he got sight of her he was unable to keep smiling. She sat at the table, huddled over her coffee mug. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.
Reilly went ahead and grabbed a cup from the cupboard and filled it with the steaming black coffee. Not enough time though to figure out what to say that might encourage Mary to take a moment to think of something other than what he knew consumed her thoughts.
“Hope it wasn’t my snorin’ that chased you out of the living room.” Was what he came up with, which appeared to be a good choice when he saw Mary’s lips move into what looked almost like a smile.
“You were getting a little carried away,” Mary said.
Reilly joined her at the table, suddenly all serious. “Were you able to get any sleep?”
“Why don’t they call? I mean I’ve sat here thinking someone had to have seen something, you know. So why haven’t the police called?”
This time when she began to cry, Reilly didn’t jump up in search of a tissue. He reached across the table and latched onto her wrists. “You have to stop beatin’ yourself up with the why, who and where, Mary. If you don’t, you’ll never make it through this.”
Mary glared at him. “You want me to just go on with my life pretending nothing is wrong?”
“Of course not. We both know that’s impossible. All I’m sayin’ is it might take time to get Jena back. You can’t just sit here watchin’ the clock and listenin’ for the phone to ring.”
Mary sat taller. “I should be out looking for her.”
Now Reilly was the one confused. “I don’t think that’s what I was tryin’ to say. I mean, where would we start? The police already questioned everyone. The radio, television and Internet continue to run the Amber alert. The flyers are going out all over town. What else can we do?”
“I don’t know,” Mary answered with depressing frustration.
The knock at the door had them both scrambling to their feet and racing to answer it.
Chapter Twenty Six
“Mornin’,” Kelly Rogers greeted, standing at the door with his pen and notepad in hand.
As much as Mary wanted to fire that all important question at him she hesitated. The man looming at her door wasn’t smiling. He looked upset. Had he come to give her bad news?
Then, as if it were just yesterday, Mary remembered the man who had come to tell her parents Michael had been found. The detective had the same mournful look in his eyes.
“She’s dead. Jena’s dead.”
“No,” Kelly insisted when he saw Mary start over the edge, on the brink of a horrendous scream. “I’m not here with news about your baby.”
Mary’s breathing slowly returned to normal. But she wasn’t sure if she was happy or upset by what he said.
“So what are you doin’ here, Kelly?” Reilly beat Mary to the question.
“Came to talk to the woman in 2B.” He glanced at his notepad. “A Mrs. Webber.”
“She’s out.” Mary saw Reilly give her a curious look. “Ellie stopped in while you were sleeping.” Then to Kelly she said, “She had to do some banking and shopping. She said she’d be back by lunch time.”
“Guess I’ll check back then.”
Mary couldn’t just let him turn and leave. “Has there been any news at all about Jena?”
“Afraid not,” Kelly admitted reluctantly. “Most everyone’s been questioned. Your friend, that Sanders woman was answerin’ questions for the chief when I left the station.”
“Carol was in the Pocono’s when Jena was taken,” Mary quickly offered.
Kelly nodded. “We’ll be checkin’ that out too.”
Reilly didn’t know why, but he had a feeling Kelly had something else. If he did he didn’t say and went on his way.
***
As Kelly left the building there was a brief exchange of nods when Carol Sanders whipped past him on her way inside.
Kelly headed for his car in a state of bewilderment. He knew the Murray baby didn’t just vanish without a trace. He felt bad to have to face the kid’s mother without anything new to tell her. But he didn’t have anything new. Except for what the k-9 had made him aware of yesterday. He made note again today when he saw Jackson and the Sanders woman’s car parked in the same stalls as the day before.
***
Reilly allowed Carol to get away with another one of her cheap shots aimed at him as he prepared to leave Mary’s apartment. He tried to talk Mary into leaving with him as he planned to check in at the paper to see if they finished the second printing of the flyers in time to be inserted in today’s edition of the paper.
Mary declined. She wanted to stay close to the phone even though he offered to pick up a cell phone for her. Now she had to listen to more of Carol’s grumbling about the unnecessary line of questions Chief Daniels had put her through.
As it turned out, Carol left shortly after Reilly. She had her day planned down to the minute. She stayed up half the night updating her resume and listing the companies she planned to deliver a copy to in person.
“I’ll check back with you around noon,” she told Mary at the apartment door and headed down the hallway to the stairs.
Mary watched her go until she couldn’t see her anymore and went back inside and closed the door.
She thought about calling her parents to tell them there wasn’t any news but she didn’t want to tie up the phone. Mostly though, she couldn’t handle their pain as they went back through hell.
Mary watched them go through it before, the waiting, jumping at the sound of the phone, racing to answer the doorbell. Freezing with fear at other times like Mary was doing now when she heard the footsteps in the hallway.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Mary heard the rapping on the door across the hall and opened her door a crack. The instant she saw who stood outside Ellie’s door she yanked her door fully open.
“Louise.”
“Hello Mary,” the spry elderly woman greeted as she walked on over to Mary. “Say, do you know where Ellie’s off to?”
Mary found herself unable to answer right away. The woman’s skin looked almost like she had been sunning herself. If Mary didn’t know better she’d swear Louise just returned from a tropical vacation instead of suffering an early case of influenza.
“Looks like you’re feeling all better, Louise.”
“The Florida sunshine got the old ticker running like a young one.”
Mary temporarily was speechless while a dozen questions swarmed inside her head. Finally the one big one flew out. “You didn’t have the flu over the weekend?”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“Ellie didn’t spend Saturday night with you?”
“I was in a big bingo game in Florida Saturday night.” She tossed Mary a big smile. “Had bingo three times too.”
Mary shook her head no while she listened, not wanting to believe what she was hearing or thinking. If Ellie hadn’t spent the weekend looking after her sick friend, where had she spent it?
Mary left Louise standing in the hallway rattling on about her trip to Florida and dashed back inside for the phone. She still couldn’t believe it as she poked in numbers.
“Chief Daniels is out of his office,” is how Mary’s urgent demand to be put through to the chief was answered.
“This is Mary Murray. You have to find him. I know who took my baby.” The words flew from Mary’s m
outh in one quick breath.
“Mary. You home?”
Mary slammed the receiver on its hook and rushed toward the sound of Reilly’s voice.
“Your door was hangin’—” The second he got a look at her he knew something was wrong. “What is it?”
“Ellie. It’s Ellie, Reilly. She took Jena.”
Reilly latched onto her arms in an attempt to calm her hysterical rambling. “Take it easy, Mare.” He waited a few moments for her to catch her breath. “Now tell me what this is all about.”
Mary’s breathing remained irregular. “Louise was just here to see Ellie. She just got back from a trip to Florida.” As her voice began escalating again so did her breathing when she tried to explain as rapidly as possible. “Ellie didn’t spend the night with Louise Saturday. Reilly, she lied.”
“Okay. But that doesn’t mean she took Jena.”
“But why else—”
The sound of Ellie’s apartment door closing cut Mary off immediately. Her eyes widened. In the next moment she took a few leaps toward Ellie’s door before Reilly latched onto her arm to stop her. “You can’t just run over there and accuse the woman.”
“She has Jena.”
“Even if she does, do you think she’s gonna tell you where she is if you start jumpin’ on her? We have to let the police handle this.”
Mary used every ounce of strength she could summon to aide her in trying to listen and abide by what Reilly had said when all she wanted to do was go shake the truth from the woman.
“I already called. The chief is out.”
Reilly let go of her and reached into his pocket for his cell phone. “I’ll see if I can get a hold of Kelly. He’ll get the truth out of Ellie.”
Mary watched Reilly poke in numbers, then jerked her head to the right so she was looking at Ellie’s apartment door. She heard Reilly begin talking and made a mad dash into the hall.
She had her fists in the air, inches from plowing forward into Ellie’s door when it opened.
“Mary, I was just comin’ over to check on you,” Ellie told her with a kind smile.
