Then the rain came in sheets, and Detective Wilkerson called a halt to the search. With their work unfinished, the forensic team scrambled for the truck. The five police officers struggled up the rain-drenched embankments on either side of the driveway. They slipped and pushed each other to reach the top as the heavy raindrops pelted their faces, and then they disappeared down the road toward their cars.
Wilkerson’s umbrella was no defense against the continuous wall of water that furiously swept through the air. By the time the detective dashed from his car parked in front of the Riley home to their front door, his once smartly-pressed linen suit, oxford button-down shirt, and Bill Blass silk tie, were all drenched and malformed.
Adam swung open the front door and Wilkerson stepped into the foyer, his black wingtips squishing with each step.
Adam offered a white envelope. “Here’s a recent picture of Sara Ann.”
“Okay.” With diligence Wilkerson opened the envelope and slid out the photograph. “Who’s the boy?”
“That’s Brad Richards, Sara Ann’s boyfriend.”
Wilkerson shoved the picture back in the envelope and tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket.
A puddle of water quickly formed on the tile floor around the detective’s feet. “Would you like a towel?” Adam asked.
“No thanks.” Wilkerson’s lips continued to roll and pucker, unaware of the missing toothpick. “I’m sending someone over here later this evening to place a wiretap on your phone line.”
“A wiretap?”
“Yes, just in case your daughter’s been abducted.”
Adam’s stomach knotted and churned. “But you don’t know that.” He felt light-headed.
“Yes, that’s correct, Mr. Riley, we don’t know. But in the event that she was kidnapped, maybe someone will call. We need to be ready.”
Adam shoved his quivering hands deep into his pockets. “So then, this is a missing person case?”
“Yes, we’re calling this a missing person case. Given your daughter’s medical condition, we’re bypassing the normal twenty-four-hour waiting period.”
Adam’s knees went weak and the room seemed to spin. “What should I do with my daughter’s car?”
“You can drive it back to the house and park it. If forensics needs to go through it again, they’ll call. Just don’t drive it after it’s parked.”
“When will you continue the search?”
“When I get back to my office I’ll call a special briefing to form a search party. We’ll ask for volunteers—civilians—to assist. I’ll try to get them out there as soon as possible.”
“Thank God,” Adam breathed. “Please call me with anything, anything at all.”
“I will, Mr. Riley.” Wilkerson struggled to fish his wallet out of his saturated pants pocket. “Here’s my card. It also has my home phone number on the back.”
“There’s something I forgot to mention.”
“What’s that?”
“After I called 911, I heard Sara Ann’s cell phone ring. It was in her car.”
“Who was it?”
“Don’t know. I answered it but they wouldn’t say anything. There was definitely someone there, but they wouldn’t talk. Then a few seconds later it rang again, but the same thing, silence.”
“Does she have caller ID?”
“Yes, but whoever called must have their number blocked. The display showed Unknown.”
“Where’s the phone?”
“I have it here.” Adam reached into his back pocket.
Wilkerson rubbed his narrow chin. “I can understand you wanting to answer it, but I wish you wouldn’t have.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s evidence. Anyway, I’ll have it checked for prints. Would you get me a plastic bag? Wait, let me take the phone.”
Wilkerson took the phone and held it by the small antenna with his fingertips while Adam retrieved a plastic sandwich bag from the kitchen.
Adam watched as Wilkerson meticulously placed the phone in the bag and sealed it. “Do you think Sara Ann has been kidnapped, Detective?”
“I don’t know. It’s hard to say.”
Adam rubbed his eyes like he’d just woken up from a long night’s sleep. He didn’t want to think about a kidnapping. “Thanks for your help.”
Wilkerson checked his watch. “I need to get back to the station. I want to get a search party out here ASAP.”
“Please call me if you hear anything.”
“I will.”
Wilkerson raced for his car, and Adam mopped the tile floor with a large beach towel. He stood over the soppy towel and thought about calling Valerie but couldn’t make himself do it. What would he say? The force of swirling emotions finally burst open the floodgates, and tears began flowing freely. He stared at the tile floor through his tears, wondering where his baby girl could be.
4
FIRST IT WAS Burdine’s. Dillard’s was next. From there they hurried to Sephora. The next stop was Saks Fifth Avenue, then to Bailey, Banks and Biddle, back to Sephora, and finally it was time for lunch. They split an order of sesame chicken and fried rice at the Asian Chao. Their shopping marathon hit its grand finale with brief visits to Bath & Body Works, the Sharper Image, Sunglass Hut, seven more designer stores and one last stop at Sephora. And finally, it all ended back at Burdines, where they had started. They were exhausted.
Valerie and Dawn returned home at 5:45 pm, an hour later than planned. They had missed the thunderstorm that roared across central Florida, ensconced in the mall in Orlando.
Adam heard the front door close but didn’t budge from the couch. A few seconds passed, and he saw Valerie peering into the dimly-lit living room.
“Sorry I’m late. Dawn and I found some really nice outfits for her.” She held up two large bags and smiled. “And I bought some things for me, too.”
Adam was silent. What will I tell her?
“Why are the lights off?” Valerie asked, her smile fading.
Dawn popped her head over her mother’s shoulder. “Hi, Daddy.” Without another word she swept herself upstairs with bags in both hands.
Valerie reached for the wall switch and flipped it on. The lamp on the end table flooded the room with light. “Why are you in your robe?”
Adam’s face was drawn. Valerie’s bags hit the tile floor and she rushed to his side. “What’s wrong, Adam?”
Adam stared at her with watery eyes. “Oh God, Val, Sara Ann’s missing.”
“Missing? She’s right here.” Valerie pointed toward the driveway outside the living room window. “Her car’s parked outside.”
He lowered his hands onto her lap, and she took them in hers, squeezing firmly. “Listen, remember, Sara Ann and I were supposed to have lunch together?”
She gripped harder. “Yes. What happened?”
Adam watched Valerie’s eyes grow larger.
“I don’t know. On the way home from Brad’s soccer game she stopped to get the mail, and she was gone.”
Her grip tightened more, and Adam winced. “No, this can’t be.”
Adam broke his hands loose and wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his terrycloth robe. He shifted on the couch to directly face her. “We can’t find her, Val. She left her car running in the driveway by the mailbox. I checked at the Clevelands’ and the Alcotts’. The police have been here and they checked the woods around the driveway. There’s no sign of her. She’s gone.”
“No, she’s not. She’s in her room. She’s listening to music in her room. I can hear the music. I can hear the music!” Valerie shouted.
“That’s coming from Dawn’s room.”
Adam reached for her shoulders, but his attempt was denied with a quick outward flick of her arms. Valerie jumped to her feet and darted out of the room.
“Stop, Val.”
Adam tried to catch her as she frantically ascended the staircase. On the way up, her elbow jarred loose one of the framed pictures, sending it airborne. It flew pa
st Adam and first bounced on the carpeted stairs before hitting oak on the next bounce. Adam looked back and saw the fractured glass and the picture of his family cut across its center, slicing Adam’s forehead in the picture just above his eyebrows.
Suddenly the wailing R&B stopped, and Adam saw Dawn step out of her room.
“Mom, Daddy, what’s wrong?”
Now both Adam and Dawn chased after Valerie to the end of the hallway.
When Valerie reached Sara Ann’s room, she flung the door open and flicked the light switch. Adam and Dawn caught up and joined her in the center of the brightly-lit room. The three stood motionless. Adam’s eyes scanned the room, and he felt swallowed up by the silent space. Sara Ann’s room felt cold and surreal.
“Val, come on,” Adam said. “Let’s go.”
Valerie stood in the middle of the room, frozen in place. Suddenly she screamed and fell to her knees, covering her face with both hands. As she sobbed, she struggled to breathe.
Dawn was now crying as well, but she managed to help get her mother to her feet. “Daddy, what’s going on?”
Adam didn’t answer. He motioned for Dawn to take her mother’s arm.
The two slowly moved her limp body toward the master bedroom and placed her on the king-size brass bed.
Adam turned to Dawn. “Get the white blanket out of our closet.”
“Where—where’s Sara Ann?” Valerie said, choking out the words.
“Try to relax,” Adam said, stroking the side of her face with the back of his hand.
“Daddy, where is Sara Ann?”
Adam put his finger to his lips, and Dawn said no more. He shut the bedroom door and pointed down the hallway. Dawn followed him to the study.
“Sit down.”
She slowly lowered herself into the leather reading chair in the corner of the study, her teary eyes were glued to her father’s face. Adam knelt on the floor beside her.
“Daddy, what’s wrong? Something’s wrong.”
Adam clasped both of her hands. “Sara Ann’s missing.”
Dawn shook her head. “Missing?”
“I found her empty car in the driveway with the door open and the engine running.”
Tears flowed down both of Dawn’s checks and formed glistening streams on her soft skin. “We need to look for her.”
“We’ll let the police do that. They’ve been here and searched the woods around the driveway before the storm. They’re forming a large search team to go back out later.”
Leaning toward the desk Adam extended his right arm, clutching a square box of Kleenex. “Here,” he said, offering the box.
Dawn slowly pulled out two tissues and wiped away the tears, then stared at her father. Her eyes widened into ovals of denial. “Maybe she’s with Brad.” She shifted in the leather chair to directly face her father. “Yes, maybe they had a fight and they’re out somewhere making up, or—”
Adam reached out for Dawn’s forearms, shaking them gently as if he were trying to tow her back to a logical state of mind.
“No. She’s not with Brad.”
The optimism quickly faded from Dawn’s eyes, leaving them dark and hollow. Her head slumped until her chin nestled on her chest. “When will they start looking for her again?” she asked softly.
“Soon. It had better be very soon.”
5
ADAM CLOSELY INSPECTED the ID cards tucked in leather bi-folds held out by the two men standing outside his front door. They both read:
Criminal Investigations Division-Special Investigations Section
Orlando Police Department.
There were several pieces of equipment at their feet.
“I’m Detective Robert Averly and this is Detective Peter Carillo,” the blond-haired man stated with resonating authority. “We’re here for the wiretap.”
Adam finished his inspection of the IDs and nodded his acceptance. The two men flicked their ID bi-folds shut and stuffed them into their inside coat pockets. Beside Averly stood a stocky, bald man sporting a thick, salt-and-pepper mustache. He was the shorter of the two men, standing poised like a boxer, his dark brown eyes darting about.
“Come in,” Adam offered.
The two men carried in the equipment, which included what appeared to be a small suitcase. They placed the gear on the tile inside the door.
Averly explained how they would set up the wiretap, punctuating almost every word with some sort of hand gesture. His wavy blond hair shook loose as he spoke, dusting his forehead. Occasionally he smoothed it back into place. As he leaned forward pointing toward the equipment at their feet, his sportcoat stretched to the limit, and his steel-framed glasses dug into the sides of his large head. Leaning further, his already rosy face transitioned to a rich crimson.
“Why’s your police department doing the wiretap?” Adam asked. “I thought the sheriff’s department or the FDLE would do this.”
“Good question, Mr. Riley,” Detective Averly said, looking in Detective Carillo’s direction then back toward Adam. “The answer is simple. Our section of the Criminal Investigations Division specializes in missing children.”
Adam nodded. He definitely wanted the specialists handling this.
Averly walked over to an arched entrance leading out of the foyer and peered inside. “This your living room?”
Adam joined him at the entrance. “Yes.”
Like the rest of the house, the living room was warmly decorated in earth tones: various shades of beige, cobblestone brown, light olive green, and what the decorating consultant, Priscilla Barrymore at Ethan Allen, referred to as natural eggshell. Adam couldn’t resist asking her during the in-store consultation: “Do you have an unnatural eggshell”? A polite but unamused smile was offered as a reply.
“Do you use your living room much, Mr. Riley?” Averly asked.
“Not as much as our family room. Is this where you want to set up your equipment?”
“If you don’t mind. But I don’t see a phone. Is there a phone jack in here somewhere?”
Adam pointed across the room. “There’s one over there—by that end table. Go ahead and use the room if you like.”
Averly nodded. Carillo asked where all the phones were in the house. Adam gave him the five locations. Averly said he was going outside to check where the phone line came into the house, and Carillo began setting up the equipment, which included a notebook computer, his own folding table, chair, and telephone, a pair of headphones, a tape recorder, and several other components in gray metal boxes that Adam didn’t recognize. A few minutes later Averly returned, joining Carillo in the living room.
Carillo made the final connections to the equipment and then tested the entire system. Adam and Averly looked on in silence. Finally the bald detective stepped back, surveyed the whole rig one last time, and gave Averly a thumbs-up.
Averly turned to Adam. “Mr. Riley, I need your entire family to join us here in the living room,” he said, as he adjusted his pants at the waist. “I want to go over some procedures, and your entire family needs to be aware of what’s going on.”
“My older daughter and wife are upstairs, but I don’t think my wife’s in any shape to come down right now,” Adam explained. “I put her to bed earlier. She’s taking this pretty hard.”
“Okay then, have your daughter come down and join us. You’ll have to fill your wife in later.”
Adam introduced Dawn, and then the two settled into the beige leather couch in the living room and clasped hands. Carillo sat in the matching chair angled beside the couch. Averly started detailing what was expected of the family, the dos and don’ts for an effective wiretap.
“Now if someone calls, talk in a calm and non-threatening tone, and —”
All four jerked in unison as the phone rang.
Adam froze, and Dawn gripped her father’s arm with both hands. Carillo leapt from his chair and headed for the equipment. He flipped up the notebook screen and donned his headphones. Averly swung his body around an
d faced the small table covered with equipment.
The phone rang again.
Adrenaline surged through Adam’s body, and his head pounded. Dawn’s fingers dug into her father’s arm, but Adam barely noticed.
“Answer the phone here, Mr. Riley,” Carillo said, as he pointed to the phone on the table.
Adam slowly raised himself off the couch. Adrenaline spears were still flying.
The third ring sounded and rattled around inside Adam’s head.
He finally reached the phone. He lifted the receiver to his ear. “Hello.”
Only silence on the other end.
“Hello,” Adam said again.
“Hello, Adam?”
The fear that gripped Adam washed away and was replaced with annoyance as he glanced at Carillo.
“Yes, Jessica,” Adam said, “this is Adam.”
Dawn let out the breath she was holding, and Averly looked puzzled. Carillo motioned to Adam to continue talking.
Adam palmed the phone’s receiver and continued to look toward Carillo. “It’s my neighbor,” he whispered.
Averly snapped his fingers to get Adam’s attention. Adam turned. “Tell her everything’s fine,” Averly said softly.
Adam nodded.
“I was calling to see if everything’s all right,” Jessica said. “I saw the police cars earlier.”
“Sure, Jessica, everything’s okay.”
“Did you find Sara Ann?”
Adam paused a few seconds, trying to dislodge the lump in this throat. “She’s out somewhere.”
“Well, good. You know, I got real concerned earlier when you were here and asked if I’d seen her. You know, the last time I saw her was Thursday. I was walking Mr. Ruggles and saw Sara Ann in the car with that boy she sees—”
“Yes, Jessica, you told me,” Adam interrupted.
“Well anyway, after you left I went outside and took Mr. Ruggles with me. You know he’ll only go outside in the summer when there’s no sun. So since it was cloudy I took him with me and walked down the driveway to the road. But the thunder scared him so we had to go back to the house.”
Dead River Page 3
