by Nan Dale
“Here is another entry: My parents are strange. I know nothing about their backgrounds or where they come from. I know more about John and Ruth in less than a year.
“The bait, Patrick, is cuter than I thought. My legs went to mush when I first laid eyes on him. I am sure the feeling was mutual. It was like there was an electricity circuit between us. Wow!
“I have the perfect host family. I love the kids—they could be my younger siblings. It is a dream. I wish I could live here forever and enjoy it indefinitely.
“I am proud that Sam was able to stand up to that bully Nick today in school. My gangsta orphan tactics worked.
“Patrick is the man that you read about in those teenage novels. He is tall, gorgeous, and charming. I am thankful that he has taken to me right away. I cannot fail Frau and Herr Schroeder. He must fall in love with me.
“There is more: A kink in the plan. The Beards have bought a house in Montclair, New Jersey. Patrick must fall in love with me before then.
“I think Patrick is falling for me. All those tips that Frau Schroeder gave me are great. I must keep reading about the experiences that he enjoys. It is crucial that he feels a connection.
“I am falling for him.
“Frau Schroeder suspects my feelings. I have to be less open with her or she will move up the date.
“I have failed—the Schroeders know. I feel like my time is running out with Patrick and the family. Who would have known that a girl from an orphanage from Düsseldorf would suddenly be part of a loving American family and would win the heart of one of the most eligible bachelors in the world? I wish I could hit pause and live in this moment forever.
“Tomorrow is my fake birthday and Patrick is coming over. Ruth is going to cook a German lunch in my honor. No one has ever made me feel this special. I am going to enjoy the day.
“I am engaged, but why do I feel a slight sadness? It’s like the beginning of the end. Herr and Frau Schroeder called me after our brunch. They know that I am in love with him and are afraid that I am going to mess things up.
“And Patrick is not answering his phone or replying to my texts. He should have come home by nine. Did they get to him? If I don’t hear from him tomorrow morning, I will go down and find him. His life is possibly in danger. I am not sure what they plan to do with him, but I am guessing it’s ransom. Patrick needs to know the danger that he is in.
“Monday morning: I am heading to Brooklyn to find Patrick. I am worried.”
Ruth and John listened with bated breath as Katrina revealed the contents of the diary. It was like living in a James Patterson novel. For almost a year, they had entrusted their kids to a young girl who was not at all what she appeared to be. Ruth suddenly felt sorry for Vanessa. “Imagine the weight that she must have had to carry over those nine months. Her only refuge was the kids, us, and Patrick. But her real world is clearly very dark. She doesn’t go into what life was like living with the Schroeders. But clearly, through us, she has finally gotten a taste of what normal life looks like.”
“Yes,” Katrina agreed. “She seemed torn initially. On the one hand, she lamented the reaction of Frau and Herr Schroeder to her falling in love with the ‘bait,’ so to say. On the other hand, her love for Patrick is so overwhelming. She seems a little conflicted between pleasing her parents and betraying them for Patrick.”
“Imagine living a lie. It defies belief.” John was unsympathetic. “Our children could have been in real danger. They could have been the bait!”
“Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Ruth interjected. “Vanessa is a good-hearted woman—she would never have done anything to harm them. Think of her journal entries on her time spent with our family. They appear genuine and heartfelt.”
“That is true,” John agreed. “The big question, though, is where in NYC is Vanessa now? Is she looking to find and warn Patrick? Or has she gone to deliver him to the Schroeders?”
Ruth’s cell phone suddenly rang and everyone jumped up. The speaker on the other end had a strong German accent. Ruth looked up, clicked mute, and whispered, “It is Vanessa’s mother.” She then unmuted the phone and put it on speaker.
“Hi, Mrs. Beard. So sorry to bother you wiz zis call, but ve haven’t heard from Vanessa since yesterday afternoon. Ve are worried. She normally sends us a message every morning and each night. Have you heard from her?”
“Vanessa? Yes she is doing fine,” Ruth lied. “She wanted to spend today with her boyfriend, Patrick, who I am sure you know,” she added ominously.
“Ah so, yes, yes, yes.” Herr Schroeder feigned forgetfulness. “I am so sorry. Silly me. She had mentioned zis to me. Great. Well, can you let her know that ve are looking for her? It is very important.”
“Sure, I will. You know, I don’t believe that I have your phone number. Can you share that with me again?”
Chapter 21
“Isn’t this the point at which we get the police involved?” asked Ruth. “I mean, we have enough evidence from her diary that the Schroeders are not good people and that they are planning to put Patrick into danger. What more do we need?”
“But how do we know if she is telling the truth?” John asked. “What if the journal is fabricated and we lead the whole police force along on a wild-goose chase?”
“What about your friend that used to work for the police? What’s his name? Fred or Frankie or something. Isn’t he a detective now?” Ruth asked.
“Good idea,” John noted, pulling out his phone and dialing him.
“Hi, Frankie. It’s John. How are you? Listen, I have a job for you. Do you have a quick second? I am looking for a young man called Patrick Yates or Patrick Farley. He is British. I am texting you a photo of him and our au pair. He has either gone missing or is about to go missing. Would you be able to do a background search on him? There is no trace of him on the web, so I am guessing that he has been using an alias. Maybe a facial recognition test? Thanks, Frankie. I appreciate it. We need that information pretty quickly. He could be in danger.”
“Sure, John. You caught me at a good time. I happen to be in my office, so I can run that facial recognition scan for you right now. It should take me a couple of minutes, if you hold on.”
John, Ruth, and Katrina held their breath as Frankie continued, his voice booming through the speakerphone: “That was easy. I am scanning a news article which has his father in it, and he is in the background. His real name is Patrick Yates. He is the only child of Tom Yates. Mr. Yates was the founder and CEO of the largest steel company in the UK, and Patrick was his sole heir. His father had him late in life. I’m guessing Tom Yates is somewhere around seventy-five years old.”
“Wowee. Vanessa really hit the, how do you say, jackpot!” Katrina squealed.
Ruth shot her a warning glance. “She did, but her intentions are questionable.”
“Thank you,” John said, feeling validated about his initial doubts about Patrick’s identity. “We are also looking for information on our au pair, Vanessa Mueller. An orphan. Supposedly adopted by a couple, Herr and Frau Schroeder who are currently residents of Düsseldorf. Anything on them?”
“Well,” said Frankie, “that may be a little harder to determine, since they are international. But … if they have been accused of anything untoward, then they should be in an international database. Let me check and give you a call back. If you have any photos or anything, pass them over. I will see what comes up.”
“Vanessa has a family photo in her room. Katrina, can you run and grab it?” asked Ruth.
Chapter 22
Vanessa opened her eyes to a dimly lit room. Where was she? How did she end up here? She tried to stand up, but she immediately fell back onto the sofa, the pain at the back of her head unbearable. She touched it with her hands and found a nasty bump. She looked around the room. It was tastefully furnished with an off-white L-shaped sofa, a sheepskin rug, and fresh flowers on an oval glass table. The room smelled of lavender. Was she being held captive?
Or did someone bring her here?
The last thing she remembered was unlocking the door to Patrick’s apartment and softly calling his name. She’d turned on the light and was struck by the clothes strewn on the floor. The photo of her and Patrick by the side of the bed was missing. It was as though someone had broken in. She’d suddenly felt as though she wasn’t alone in the apartment. The Schroeders came to mind and her heart began to beat uncontrollably. As she’d turned to leave, a shadow had jumped out from behind her and something painfully hard had smashed into the back of her head. …
She was no longer in Patrick’s apartment, so someone must have moved her to a different location. She stayed seated but had a burning urge to use the bathroom. She got up slowly again, the back of her head throbbing and overwhelming her with dizziness. She heard footsteps and then a man’s voice.
“Ah, you are awake. My apologies for the thud earlier. I had to make it look convincing.” The voice belonged to a rugged balding man in his early forties, heavyset and about six feet tall, wearing jeans and dark-rimmed glasses. “Water?” He offered a glass and she took it from him, taking a long drink.
“Wo ist die Toilette?” she asked. Not sure whether she was speaking in German or English. He pointed to a door down the hall.
She got up and hobbled down. The toilet was clean with white embroidered towels and an expensive-looking liquid hand soap. A normal person lives here.
When she was done, she returned to the sofa and lay down.
“You probably have a headache and a bruise,” said the man in a distinct British accent. “Here, swallow two of these. It will help.” He handed her two pills.
Vanessa normally wouldn’t have taken pills from a stranger, but something about the man and the homely location seemed trustworthy. She heard the front door unlock and the sound of a few footsteps. An elderly-looking man walked in with Patrick. She almost melted in his arms when she saw him. He was safe.
Eventually, Patrick let go and said, “Vanessa Mueller, there is someone I would like you to meet. This is my father, Tom Yates.”
Chapter 23
Vanessa felt giddy. Why was Patrick’s father here in New York? Her heart was pounding with anxiety. How much did Patrick and his father know about her? Who was the other man? Why had they brought her here? Did they know about the Schroeders? Could this be the happy ending that she had prayed for time and time again?
“Vanessa, you look pale,” Patrick said. “Why don’t you sit down? I know you are quite shaken by what’s just happened. My sudden disappearance and then now, all this … I have some explaining to do.” He took a deep breath before continuing. Vanessa thought that this was her chance to come clean. If she didn’t do this now, she would lose him forever.
“Patrick, I also have something to tell you,” she said.
Patrick looked at her suspiciously and seemed caught off guard by her comment. “OK,” he said slowly. “Should I go first, or would you like to?”
Vanessa was at a loss for words. Seeing the look of dismay on his face and wanting to hold on to her fairy tale for a minute longer, she whispered, “You first.”
Patrick proceeded to reveal to Vanessa that he was the heir to a very successful business and how he had been disowned for pursuing an acting career. He paused for a moment, noticing she didn’t appear to be too surprised. Unbeknownst to him, his father had been keeping tabs on him for the last year and had even bought an apartment in Brooklyn Heights just to be close to him. The gentleman that was in the room when she woke up, he explained, was called Charles Curry. He was a former MI6 and now his informal body guard, given his status as an heir.
Last night, on his way home, Patrick had been abducted by Charles for his own safety. Apparently, someone had vandalized his apartment and Charles believed that Patrick was the target. Somebody was out to get him.
“The Schroeders,” Vanessa whispered.
Patrick looked taken aback. “What is it that you wanted to tell me, darling?”
Vanessa hung her head and spoke in a low voice as she explained her past as an orphan, her release into the real world at sixteen, the Schroeders, and her journey to Brooklyn Heights as an au pair. She could feel Charles’s eyes upon her as she talked. In contrast, Tom Yates kept looking at Patrick, carefully studying his reaction.
Patrick seemed intrigued and sympathetic about her rocky start in life and held her hand throughout.
“And then you met me,” Patrick said, “and your life is forever changed. I don’t care about anything that happened before that. The main thing is that we are now together.”
Tom shifted uncomfortably and said, “Son, I think you need to hear the rest of what she has to say.”
Vanessa stammered to get the next part out. This was the nightmare she had been replaying in her mind over and over again. Her fairy tale as she knew it was about to come crashing down.
“Patrick … when I came to Tazza with Ruth and her kids, I was mesmerized. I could barely say hello when I saw you. You were everything that I had ever dreamed of and more. I have fallen in love with you.” Patrick practically melted beside her. But … Vanessa looked down abashedly. “Patrick, I have not been completely honest with you.”
She felt Patrick’s body go rigid beside her. She closed her eyes and had a flashback to a recent conversation. Patrick had been betrayed by so many people, all pretending to be his friends. Just the other night, he had said he loved her and that, for the first time, he had found someone who didn’t care or know about his background and who encouraged his dream of acting.
“Becoming an au pair in Brooklyn Heights and living just one block from the café where you work on Henry Street was also not an accident,” Vanessa continued. “Meeting you, Patrick, was not an accident.” As Vanessa spoke, she had an out-of-body experience. It was as though the story and the voice belonged to someone else. It sounded so calculating. Her eyes caught Charles’s for a second, and she immediately looked away, feeling the intensity of his accusing glare.
“Getting you to fall in love with me was my ultimate goal,” she said. “My adopted parents researched and followed you. You were the target. I would either au pair in the UK or in the US, wherever you were. For a year, I studied you. I was told that you were my ticket to a life of freedom. I was under the impression that the goal would be to marry you. For an hour every day for a year, Herr Schroeder gave me private lessons in art, dance, theater, and British history. I learned how to hold my fork, what to read, and what dinner conversations were most suitable for people like you. Herr and Frau Schroeder knew that breaking into your world was going to be a stretch in the UK—a world where friendships were made through families, schools, and between folks from the same social circle. When you moved to New York, they leapt at the opportunity and found me a family in Brooklyn Heights.”
Vanessa took a break. She felt sad but also lighter. The weight that she had been carrying had lifted and Patrick could finally see her for who she was. However, when she looked at him now, his face had transformed and he appeared angry and closed. He suddenly stood up and walked out of the room. She exchanged looks with Tom and Charles, who nodded at her in approval. She had done the right thing. Patrick walked up and down the hallway of the apartment a few times. He then returned and sat down on the love seat opposite her, his head in his hands. The room was quiet for some time.
Vanessa felt nauseous watching him like this and made herself break the silence. “Patrick, I … was an orphan. I was only sixteen. This couple saved me from a life of prostitution. And I really didn’t think I was doing anything wrong. What is wrong with finding someone to fall in love with? It was only after brunch when I told the Schroeders that I was engaged and their reaction was odd.
Patrick held his hand up to silence her. “Vanessa., it’s too much for me to hear right now. I just need to know one thing: Who am I being protected from? You or your fake parents?”
Chapter 24
Back in Montclair, John’s phone started vibrat
ing. He picked it up. “Frankie, hold on, I am putting you on speaker so Ruth can hear.”
Katrina had left to go pick up her host kids from their after-school activities. Ruth had been playing snakes and ladders with the kids to distract herself. “Boys, keep playing without Mommy for a bit, OK? I will be right back,” said Ruth as she followed John into the kitchen.
“I don’t have good news about the Schroeders,” Frankie said. “They have been accused of kidnapping for ransom once. It’s possible they have succeeded a few times, but only one incident has been recorded. There was not enough evidence to indict them at the time, so they moved from a small town in East Germany to Düsseldorf. This is not the first time they have used a young girl to do their dirty work. They used to host another girl, similar story to Vanessa, about ten years ago. She also was an au pair in the UK. Interestingly, there is no record of what happened to her. She seemed to have ended her year early, returned to Germany, and then gone missing. This occurred at the same time that they were accused of ransom. Given that these girls are orphans with minimal social connections, they literally disappear and then they’re forgotten. I am guessing that your Vanessa will share a similar fate.”
John and Ruth took it all in while he continued, “There is another thing you should know. The Schroeders are in the US. They landed at JFK about a week ago. I will have to do more digging to figure out where they are based. They are very careful, so I don’t see any credit card transactions or phone usage. I am guessing they pay for everything in cash. They bought a one-way ticket, so if they are here to kidnap Patrick, they will likely collect the ransom and then disappear domestically for several months.”
