“I colored this picture,” Julie said. “I picked it out because some blood is red and some is blue and I like those colors.”
Slowly, barely hearing what the child was saying, Samantha took the anatomy coloring book and looked at the picture the child had colored. She braved a smile, not wanting Julie to know something was wrong. There was still an ice cube in the pit of her stomach. She could see the phone receiver from the corner of her eye, but she didn’t reach to hang it up.
“Did I do it right?”
“Huh?”
Julie pointed at the coloring book.
“Did I get the colors right?”
Samantha tried to concentrate on the child’s picture, forcing away the coldness she felt inside. For a moment she merely stared at the page without really seeing it. But when at last her eyes focused, her mouth dropped open in amazement. Not only had the child colored an extremely detailed picture without flaw, she had also chosen the proper shades. She’d chosen red for the arteries and blue for the veins, and hadn’t mixed them up!
“How . . . ?”
Julie took the book away from her.
“I’d like to color another picture,” she said. “Okay?”
“Sure,” Samantha said. “Sure, you go right ahead.”
Julie skipped out of the room. Samantha watched her go, wondering what to make of her. She couldn’t begin to figure the child out, let alone the situation in which they had both found themselves. She couldn’t bear living inside a mystery a moment longer. She had to talk to someone!
And if she couldn’t call the police, there was someone she could call: Barbara Huston.
For a moment Samantha hesitated to pick up the fallen receiver. Then she grabbed it, and as soon as she realized it hadn’t burned her, she began to dial Barbara’s number. After a few rings Barbara’s answering machine picked up the line. Samantha left a message.
“Barbara, it’s Samantha and I’m in trouble. I think I was kidnapped last night, and—”
Another voice cut in, more animated than the first. “Hold on! Hold on!”
There was a click, and then the real Barbara came on the line.
“It’s me!” Barbara said. “I was just screening my calls. I’ve been getting a barrage of calls from people trying to sell me things. Now, explain this to me. You think you were kidnapped?”
Samantha related what she could remember, beginning with her ride home and ending with finding Julie in the motel room. Barbara made some thinking noises, then said:
“The last thing you remember before waking up is being in your garage?”
“Sort of,” Samantha said. “I get a feeling something happened to me when I got out of the truck, but it’s not clear.”
“Have you tried calling the police?”
“Of course I have,” Samantha said. “Sheriff Sirtos is a friend, you know. But every time I attempt to dial that number, something terrible happens to me. This overwhelming sense of panic takes hold of me, and for a few moments I’m too frightened to even move.”
“Of what?”
“Of calling the police, I guess,” Samantha said. “I don’t know! I’ve never been afraid of anyone in my life.”
For a moment, thoughts of her mother threatened to make a liar of her. She had been afraid of that woman. But that was beside the point now.
“Anyway,” she went on, “I’m stuck here with a little girl who can’t remember her past. The only thing she can figure is that a man named Mr. Henley brought her to that motel room. Apparently I signed some papers making me Julie’s legal guardian.”
Barbara was silent for a moment.
“Do you still have those papers?” she asked.
“Sure I do,” Samantha said. “I’m holding on to them for dear life, because if this kid’s family ever does show up, it may be the only thing that saves me from a kidnapping charge. Barbara, what am I going to do? Julie can’t remember where she came from, and every time I try to call the police, something stops me.”
“Samantha, can I say something to you?” Barbara inquired. “As a caring friend?”
“Sure . . .” Samantha was doubtful.
“Well, you know you’ve had problems in your life,” Barbara said. “Considering the kind of childhood you had, couldn’t it be possible that something has . . . well ‘snapped’? Could it be possible you did kidnap this child?”
“Barbara, I would never . . . !”
She could almost see Barbara holding up a hand. “Wait. I’m not making accusations. It’s just something to consider. For lack of a better phrase, maybe there was a moment of ‘temporary insanity’ that made you snatch this kid.”
“From a hundred miles away?”
“I can’t explain that,” Barbara said. “All I can suggest is that you keep her to yourself until you do some research. Look, the kid herself doesn’t seem to remember where she came from. So she may be as much of a victim of a hoax as you. But you have to be certain.”
“I don’t want to go to jail,” Samantha said, almost to herself.
“Then find out where Julie is really from,” Barbara said.
Samantha thought for a few moments.
“This may sound crazy,” she said, “but I’m growing very attached to this little girl. She’s so much like me! It’s almost like we were meant to be together, and yet I know she’ll eventually have to go back to her own family.”
“And that bothers you?”
Samantha began to twist the phone cord.
“A little,” she said.
In truth, it bothered her a lot, though she couldn’t say why. After all, Julie wasn’t her child, not even a relation or a friend. She hardly knew her. But somehow she felt protective of her.
“Julie is too intelligent to be lost in the shuffle of the system,” she said at last. “They’d put her in some institution until her family was found. I don’t think it would benefit her. No, I’m going to have to handle this in some other way.”
“When do you plan to do all this?” Barbara asked. “When’s your next shift?”
“Monday afternoon,” she said. “So you can see I don’t have a lot of time to deal with this. I certainly can’t bring Julie to the hospital with me.”
“Why not?” Barbara asked. “The way you described her, she sounds like a miniature doctor already. A sort of female Doogie Howser.”
Samantha laughed. “Well, I guess I’ll do what I have to. It’s my last day before vacation, so I’m sure no one will mind her being there. Oh, I hear her coming back now. I’ll have to hang up. Good-bye, Barbara.”
She set the receiver back on its hook and turned to Julie with a smile. The smile quickly faded when she saw the look on Julie’s face. Her face was drawn, her eyes glazed over. Beads of sweat had broken out on her forehead.
“Julie!”
“I . . . I had another bad dream,” Julie said. “I fell asleep drawing.”
Samantha went to take the child in her arms.
“You shouldn’t be falling asleep so much,” she said. “You’re too young.”
Dear Lord, she thought, on top of everything else don’t let this child get sick on me!
She felt her forehead and took a close look at her.
“You don’t seem to have a fever,” she said. “But let me check you out. Come back to my office. I’ve got my medical bag in there.”
In the office she sat Julie down on a comfortable chair and began to check her over very carefully. By now the child’s color had come back to her and her eyes had cleared. Everything else about her was normal, as far as Samantha could tell.
“Maybe you’re just worn out from this ordeal,” Samantha said, tucking her stethoscope back into her bag. “But if this happens again, I’m taking you over to the hospital for further tests.”
Julie looked up at her, wide-eyed.
“Tests? I don’t want to have any tests! They’ll hurt!”
“Well, maybe there’ll be a little prick for the blood test,” Samantha said h
onestly. “But it won’t be too bad. I’ll be right there, and—”
“No!” Julie screamed, jumping up from the chair. “No! No more tests!”
She ran from the room, then from the house, screaming this over and over. Samantha watched her through the window as she headed toward the path to the playhouse. Chills ran through her as she wondered what sort of hell the child had been through to make her so terrified.
Out on the path, Julie raced toward the relative sanctuary of the little adobe. She didn’t know what she was going to do there, or why it made her feel safe. Lady and Sunday, thinking it was a game, barked playfully and followed her to the building. Julie seemed unaware of them. She huddled up against the toy chest and buried her face in her knees. Her whole body shook with fear. She didn’t want to go to any hospital! She didn’t want anyone doing more tests on her!
Befuddled, wondering if the running game was over, the dogs whimpered and nudged her. Absently Julie began to stroke Lady’s fur.
For a few moments she just sat there, her mind a flood of unconnected thoughts. But after a while she began to calm down, and to think as reasonably as a young girl could. She was afraid of tests, so that meant someone had actually done tests on her. But why? Who had done them? Was it the man she kept seeing in her “dreams”?
It hadn’t really been a dream that sent her out of Samantha’s office. It had been a kind of vision, a picture of being forced into a little box.
Sunday’s warm tongue washed her small hand. But he stopped suddenly, making Julie open her eyes to see what was wrong.
Somehow, she wasn’t in the playhouse anymore. The dogs had also vanished. She stood in a long hallway. It stretched without end into a dark oblivion that seemed to hide all sorts of childish nightmares. Julie looked at the door she was standing before and read “NO ADMITTANCE” on the brass plate. Now she heard footsteps approaching. Suddenly a voice bellowed:
“What are you doing here?”
With a silent gasp, Julie swung around, and found herself nose-to-chest with a strange creature. It was shaped like a man, but all covered up by a helmeted white suit. She backed away in fear, thinking he looked like some kind of outer-space creature.
“I asked you a question,” the man said. His voice sounded strange from behind the black visor of his helmet.
He made a grab for her, but she turned and ran away as fast as she could.
“Get back here!” bellowed the man in white.
And then there was another voice. Someone she couldn’t see was calling to her. He had a young voice, one filled with kindness. Carefully Julie stopped and turned. The corridor was gone now. All that remained was a soft blue light that obliterated any possible view. In the distance she could see a shape that was vaguely like a young person’s.
“Don’t be afraid of him,” a boy said in a kind voice that immediately reassured Julie. “He can’t hurt you.”
“Who . . . where . . . ?”
“The ‘who’ is Marty,” the boy said. His silhouette opened out its arms and turned a slow circle. “The ‘where’ is . . . well, I’m not sure. I don’t remember being brought here, or where I was before. It’s a building of some kind, with labs and strange rooms. They do tests here. They think I’m sleeping now. They don’t know when I walk around.”
Julie gazed at the blueness.
“I don’t see anything at all,” she said.
“That’s because you’re not really here,” Marty told her. “I am, but you’re not. Only your mind is tere. I heard you screaming—”
“I didn’t scream.”
“You screamed in your mind,” Marty insisted. “That’s why I heard you. Somehow, we can talk with our minds.”
“We? Who are ‘we’?”
“I don’t know,” Marty said. “But there are others like us, I’m sure. We need each other, or we’ll never stop what is happening here.”
“What do you mean ‘like us’?” Julie answered. “I’m not ‘like’ anything!”
“Oh, yes you are,” Marty insisted. “You’re special.”
“I am not!” Julie cried, suddenly as fearful of this soft-spoken boy as she was of the creature in white. “And I’m not going to listen to you. You aren’t real! You’re just a vision!”
“I’m as real as you,” Marty said. “You’ll see. You’ll see. You need me.”
“I don’t!”
Instantly the blue dissolved away, like dissipating clouds. Julie found herself in the playhouse once more. For a few moments she studied her surroundings to make sure she was really here. The dogs backed away from her, hackles risen stiffly. Julie regarded them, wondering what they had seen. Then she raced back up to the house, suddenly needing the comfort of Samantha’s presence.
In her office, Samantha had had a sudden feeling that Julie was in danger. She had closed her eyes to bring about a sense of reason, but instead had seen the frightening image of a man in a white cleanroom suit chasing her young friend. Trusting her instincts, she went looking for the child. The moment she entered the kitchen, Julie walked in the door.
“Are . . . are you all right?” Samantha asked uncertainly.
How do you tell a child about instincts?
Julie shook her head.
“I’m scared, Samantha,” she said. “I’m really scared.”
Samantha opened her arms and Julie ran to hug her. At the moment, there was no need for words.
9
AS SOON AS Nina had gone, Rachel left the living room to go upstairs and take a shower. Eric followed her, shaking his head.
“I’m overwhelmed,” he said. “I can’t believe what we just did.”
“We agreed to help a little boy in trouble,” Rachel said, stopping at the foot of the stairs. “I know it was a quick decision, but I feel really good about it. Don’t you?”
Eric wasn’t exactly sure how he felt, but he smiled for his wife. Rachel wasn’t given to making snap decisions, so if she felt in her heart this was the right thing to do, well, then, it was.
He followed her up the stairs. Her exercise clothes showed off her body very well, and he couldn’t help admiring her. She was a beautiful woman, with the most perfect face and body he’d ever seen. There didn’t seem to be a single flaw in her. And her beauty was complete, mental and spiritual as well as physical. She’d certainly proved that a few minutes ago by opening up her home to a needy stranger.
“Have a good workout this morning?” he asked.
“I ended earlier than expected,” she said, “but I feel good. Are you going to pick up the girls?”
“I just wanted to comb my hair,” Eric said.
“You just wanted to see me in the buff,” Rachel teased as she got undressed.
He made grab for her, but she laughed and disappeared into the bathroom.
“I’m all sweaty!” she cried. “You go on and get the girls!”
Eric moaned, but turned to leave. It was a relief to see Rachel smiling again, after what had happened last night. Maybe it was a blessing that Nina had showed up on their doorstep that particular morning. With her mind on a new “member” of the family, Rachel might be able to forget about it.
By the time Rachel had showered and dressed, Eric was home again. Tatiana came racing up the stairs.
“Mommy!” she cried. “What’s the news? Daddy says we have news!”
Eric and Olivia caught up with her.
Olivia stood back and observed this with twinkling eyes, keeping as much dignity as an eight-year-old could muster.
“We’re going to get you a brother,” Eric said.
“Oh, my,” Olivia said in awe. “Mama, are you gonna have a baby?”
Rachel laughed.
“No,” she said. “We’re going to take a little boy into our home and care for him for a while. You see, he’s lost his family, and until the police can find them, it’s best he lives in a real home.”
Tatiana frowned worriedly.
“How did he lose them, Mommy?” she asked.
“No one really knows,” Rachel told her. “He has a little trouble remembering. But maybe we can help him. What do you say?”
“I’d like a brother,” Olivia said. “How old is he?”
“Nine or ten,” Rachel said. “His name is Steven. Right now, that’s all I know about him.”
“Nine or ten,” Olivia repeated. “That would make him a big brother, wouldn’t it? My friend Laurie has a big brother and he always teases her.”
“Well, don’t judge Steven until you meet him,” Rachel said.
“When, Mommy?” Tatiana asked. “When?”
Rachel looked at Eric as if to ask the same question.
“Nina said we could pick him up this afternoon,” Eric said.
“I’ll call and make an appointment after brunch,” Rachel said. “Come on, guys. I smell crepes suzette.”
Tatiana got to the dining room first, with Olivia walking just in front of her parents. When they entered, Tati was bounding around the housekeeper and telling her about the little boy.
“We’re taking in a foster child,” Eric explained. “A ten-year-old named Steven.”
Helga gasped, throwing up her arms. “And what am I to do with a boy?”
She exited the dining room, where she’d laid out platters of wonderful brunch food, then came back with a pitcher of orange juice. The Freleng family enjoyed their meal, talking excitedly about the new addition to their family. When they were finished, Rachel got up to make a phone call to Children’s Services, while the girls went off to play and Eric opened a copy of the Dispatch.
A few minutes later, Rachel came back into the dining room.
“We’re set up for one o’clock,” she said.
At one o’clock that afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Eric Freleng sat in an office at Children’s Services, nervously anticipating their first meeting with Steven. The woman who came out to help them had a friendly smile and seemed very pleased with their presence.
“We were expecting Nina Blair,” Rachel said. “She came to our house this morning to talk to us.”
“Nina told me all about you,” Kathy Mayer said. “I’m so thrilled that Steven will be going into such a fine home. But I’m also surprised she went directly to your house. We usually do all our initial work from here. And Nina hasn’t shown up for work yet. That’s not like her.”
Cries of the Children Page 5
