Lost Innocents

by MacDonald, Patricia

  “You might not believe this, but I didn’t really plan to kill her. I kept telling myself, I won’t kill her if I don’t have to.” Bonnie chuckled, and Maddy’s scalp prickled at the sound. She forced herself to watch the road.

  “At first she was too shook up by the pervert to notice anything, but then she started asking questions about my baby. How come he wasn’t in a car seat and all? She wanted to see him. She got real pushy about it. Then she wanted me to let her out. She kept saying, ‘Pull over, pull over. Let us out, now.’ That pissed me off,” Bonnie recalled indignantly. “She had no reason to think badly of me. She started yanking on the door handle and kicking at the door, making great big scuff marks on everything. I’d gotten that car all spruced up and shined for Terry’s big day. I told her to stop, but she was a pain in the ass. Finally, I pulled out the gun and I shot her. She keeled right over on the dashboard. I had to hightail it out of there, and drag her into the state forest. I didn’t know where else to put her.

  “I regret it now,” Bonnie cried. “I swear I do. I wish I could just take it back. You know, once one of these things starts, it just snowballs. I did everything for him, for Terry, so he could have his son…”

  Bonnie’s voice trailed off as she remembered how all her efforts had been for nothing because Terry didn’t love her after all. Maddy felt a sickening twist in her stomach as she wondered again if it had been Doug there in the park, making a pass at Rebecca Starnes. Obviously he had not killed the girl. She thought that should make her feel more kindly toward him, but all she felt was numb. She looked in the rearview mirror and saw that Bonnie had rested her head on her forearm and was staring blankly out into the darkness, even as she held the gun to Maddy’s neck.

  She’s insane, Maddy thought. She sees nothing wrong in what she did. Murdering that young girl seems to carry about the same amount of moral weight for her as if she had pinched a candy bar from a corner store. You’ve got to do something, Maddy told herself, do something now. But what could she do that would not endanger the children? She felt useless, unable to find a way out of this mess.

  A car sped by her in the other lane, its taillights disappearing into the night. After a few moments she saw the flashing light of a state trooper’s car in her rearview mirror and heard the whine of its siren. For a moment her heart lifted with hope, then fell again as the trooper’s car whizzed by her in hot pursuit of the speeder. At the sound of the siren Bonnie sprang to attention.

  “He was chasing a speeder,” Maddy said, but even as she said it, she realized that somewhere up ahead he would catch the speeder and might even be standing by the side of the road. Maybe there was something she could do. Please, God, she thought. Give me a chance.

  “Mommy, I’m hungry,” Amy whimpered.

  “We’ll get you something,” she said, trying to sound as if she were in control of the situation. “Bonnie,” she said hesitantly, “we probably have to think about stopping for the night somewhere.”

  “Why?” said Bonnie.

  “Because I’m going to nod off at the wheel. That’s why,” said Maddy.

  “Just keep driving,” said Bonnie. “I don’t want to stop.”

  Bonnie’s response did not surprise her. She didn’t even know why she had asked. Just to distract her from any thoughts of the trooper, perhaps.

  “I’m a widow,” Bonnie said incredulously. “I’m a widow now.”

  Whose fault is that? Maddy wanted to ask. The statement sounded perversely funny to her ears, and she almost wanted to laugh, although she was at that moment very close to tears. All right, she thought, stay calm, pay attention to what is up ahead.

  A mile later she saw them. The speeder was pulled over to the side, and the trooper was leaning into the window of the offender’s car. Please look up at me, Maddy thought.

  “How about a little music?” she said, reaching for the dashboard.

  “I don’t want any music,” Bonnie said. “I need the quiet, to think.”

  Maddy wasn’t really thinking about music. She just wanted an excuse to press the button for the emergency lights. She turned them on and hoped, desperately, that the trooper would look up and see them before Bonnie noticed the flashing on the dashboard. She could not tell what was happening. She did not dare look in the rearview mirror.

  At that moment Justin awakened and began to cry, knocking the pacifier out of his mouth. Bonnie picked it up and shoved it back between the fussing child’s gums. Thank you, baby, Maddy thought.

  It all happened quickly on the highway. Once they were past the trooper Maddy reached out and pushed the button to turn off the flashers. Bonnie did not seem to notice. Maddy drove on, holding her breath and not daring to look behind her.

  Chapter Forty-three

  There were five passengers on the commuter plane that Nick Rylander took to the Taylorsville County Airport. Nick usually disliked people who rushed to be first off the plane, but tonight he didn’t care whom he offended. He was out of his seat and first to the door, ignoring the reproving look of the stewardess, whose only job on this tiny flight seemed be to informing busy people of what to do in a disaster. Nick was busy thinking about other disasters.

  “Excuse me,” he murmured. “Excuse me!” as he rushed past the baggage handlers who were approaching the plane on the runway. He had come without even a bag, only his wallet. He’d left the rest in his car at the Maine airport. He’d found a flight that connected from La Guardia to Taylorsville with very little breathing room, and he wasn’t going to miss it for the sake of a suitcase. It wasn’t important, anyway. Nothing mattered but getting back. Nick pulled open one of double glass doors to the terminal and hurried to the rental car desk, only to find it unmanned. He looked around frantically. A ticket agent was walking back to his counter, balancing a paper cup of coffee and a piece of pie.

  “Excuse me,” said Nick.“Do you know where the rental car person is?”

  The fellow nodded pleasantly. “She’s over in the coffee shop.”

  “Thanks,” Nick said. He ran across the terminal, found the coffee shop and went inside. Two women were sitting at the counter, one dressed in a similar uniform to the ticket agent, the other was a blond-haired woman in a red blazer with the rental car logo on the pocket.

  “Excuse me,” he said. “I need to rent a car right away.”

  The blond woman was visibly annoyed at being summoned on her break, the anxiety in Nick’s pale face softened her attitude.

  “All right,” she said.

  “I’m sorry about your break. This is an emergency. It’s terribly urgent.”

  The blonde got up the from counter stool. “Okay, I’m coming,” she said. She picked up her cup of Coke to carry with her. “Catch you later,” she said to her companion.

  The woman walked slowly and deliberately back to her counter. Nick had to grit his teeth not to yell at her to hurry, but once she got behind her desk she was quick and efficient. In only a few minutes Nick was in a compact rental car, driving the dark, twisted roads toward Taylorsville.

  He tried turning on the radio, but the music only made him more anxious, so he turned it off. This is probably stupid, he told himself. This is probably insane. He didn’t care. He had get to her and was going find out for himself what was going on, make sure Maddy was all right. She has a husband, he reminded himself, but that didn’t really matter to him either. Doug Blake was selfish. You could see it in his eyes. If that was what she wanted, well then, all right, but right now Nick believed that he himself had inadvertently put Maddy in harm’s way, and it was up to him to help her.

  Fortunately the roads back to town were familiar to him, because the drive, especially along the River Road, could be treacherous. He forced himself to slow down as the roads became steeper and more winding. It wouldn’t do to someone hurt else in his zeal to protect Maddy.

  As well as he knew the roads, he made two wrong turns before he was able find the way to her house from the direction of the airport. Including
yesterday, he had been to her house only twice. Their other meetings had been on his territory one way or the other. He probably could have made excuses to visit her more often, but he disliked the idea of going there, of seeing where she lived and ate and slept with her husband. He didn’t want to be reminded that the woman he loved so hopelessly was the wife of another man. Nothing has changed, he reminded himself. Once this nightmare is over, you are going back to Canada. And she is staying here, with Doug. He realized that people would think this impromptu trip back was strange. That it showed an inordinate interest in Maddy welfare. So what, he thought. You’ll be leaving again, and you won’t have to deal with the snide remarks and the whispers. And, he thought grimly, if you’re right about Bonnie Lewis and the baby, whatever actions you take will be justified by the result.

  He recognized Decatur Street and turned in, crawling slowly down the street until he came to Maddy’s driveway. A couple of lights were on upstairs inside the house, but the first floor was dim. Maddy car sat alone in the driveway, and Lewises’ car was gone. Nick sat in the driver’s seat, his face aflame. Gone. The Lewises were gone. Oh, this is great, he thought. You are going to look like such an ass. She’s not going to be fooled for one minute. The first words out of her mouth are going to be, “What are doing here?” Maybe with her husband right there by her side. And you will stand there looking like a perfect fool and try to explain why you had to personally swoop back into town to save her. He reminded himself that Maddy was not the only reason he had come. An innocent child was involved, a baby who, at the very least, belonged to someone other than the woman claiming to be his mother.

  Focus on that, he thought. A person could fly around the world for a child in danger and no one would find it strange. Nick nodded as if in approval of his actions and opened the door of his car. He got out and strode the up walkway to the house. His heart was pounding as he reached the door and knocked, anticipating the sound of her footsteps, the look on her face as she threw the door open.

  No one came. He waited a few minutes and knocked again. No one was home. Nick frowned. Maybe Maddy and Amy had gone off to celebrate with Doug once the Lewises were gone. He stood on the step, uncertainly wondering what to do next. It was undeniably anticlimactic to rush back like this, only to find an empty house. He felt a little knot of a headache forming over his left eyebrow. He felt more angry than weary. He stood with his hands on his hips, wondering what to do next. The Lewises may have disappeared, but they still had be to stopped. Regretfully he thought of Terry. Well, he’ll have to take his lumps, he thought. The child is more important. He’d have to drive to the police station and tell them in person. That was all there was to it.

  As he started down the walk, he thought he heard something. A noise that sounded like a moan. He turned around and looked at the house. It must be the wind in the trees, he thought. This time of year was spooky, no matter who you were. Even he, a priest, wouldn’t want to walk through a graveyard on the night before Halloween. He hesitated, then started off again. When he heard the noise a second he time, he was sure it was not the trees.

  Nick walked back to the house and tried the doorknob. Locked. It’s locked, he told himself. Nobody home. But he could not bring himself just then to walk away. He looked at the door, at the glass panels that surrounded it. Maddy had put stained glass into them. You’ve already of made a fool yourself, he thought. But you didn’t come this far to be fainthearted.

  He looked around the doorway. Over in the corner, just beneath and beside the doorsill, were three garden statues of verdigris frogs squatting beside a juniper bush. Nick picked up the largest frog. After a silent apology to the homeowners, the frog, and the window, he hauled off and smashed through the panel nearest the knob. He replaced the frog on the step, then reached carefully through the jagged hole where the glass panel had been, and curved a hand around until he able was to unlock the door.

  He retracted his hand, turned the knob, and let himself in.

  The foyer was dark and gloomy. “Is anybody here?” he called out loudly. There was no answer. He stepped farther into the house, then he heard the moan again. Nick felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. The sound was weak but distinct. It was coming from upstairs. He took the stairs two at a time.

  A dim light was on in upstairs hallway and he called out again. “Is anyone here?” The moan was more urgent this time, meant lead him. For a brief instant he thanked God that he had come back. He had not been a fool to come. There was someone in need.

  Nick saw two rooms had lights on. He walked in to the first one and looked in. It was Amy’s room, and it was a shambles but empty. It had to be the other room. His mouth was dry, his heart hammering, as he approached the second room. He said a silent prayer and looked in. The sight was horrible. Terry Lewis lay in pool of blood on the floor, his skin as gray as cardboard. His eyes glimmered through narrow slits.

  “Terry, my God, what’s happened?” Nick knelt beside the wounded man. “What’s happened to you?”

  The sight and smell of all the blood was sickening, but Nick forced himself to look. “You’ve been shot.”

  Terry nodded ever so slightly.

  “Oh, my God,” said Nick. Clearly Terry’s life was seeping out of him. Nick searched the other man’s feeble gaze. “Listen, Terry, you need a doctor right away. I’m gonna go call 911, okay? Then I’ll come right back. You need help.”

  As Nick tried to lower the man’s head and get up, Terry raised one large tattooed forearm and gripped Nick’s wrist with a strength that was amazing in one weakened. All the years of weightlifting in the prison yard came to bear on that iron grip in which Terry held his would-be rescuer.

  “Terry, let go. I’ve got to call for help,” Nick pleaded.

  “Bonnie,” Terry whispered. “Kidnap.” His voice so was so faint that Nick had to put his ear to Terry’s mouth to hear it. The words sent a chill through him.

  “The baby,” said Nick. “She kidnapped the Wallace baby, didn’t she?”

  Terry’s nod was almost imperceptible.

  “I know about Sean, Terry. I know he wasn’t yours. I’m so sorry.”

  Terry tried to lick his to lips. “Didn’t know,” he insisted.

  “I know about you didn’t. She fooled everyone. What about Maddy? Is she all right? Are she and Amy with her husband?”

  Terry’s tongue peeped out from between his cracked lips again. Then he swallowed. “Gone,” he whispered. He was clearly agitated.

  Nick’s heart froze. “Gone where?” he asked. “Gone with Bonnie?”

  Terry nodded.

  Nick felt the man slump with relief in his arms at being understood.

  “Okay, listen, Terry,” Nick said in a low, urgent voice. As he spoke, he worked to release the iron grip from his arm. “Let me go now, because I have to call the police. I have to alert them to find Bonnie, and I have to get help for you.”

  Terry’s eyelids fluttered and he shook his head.

  “Please, Terry. You need a doctor right away.”

  Terry wet his lips. Nick wanted to tear free of him, but there was a plea in the man’s gaze that held him.

  “Twenty…third…Psalm,” Terry whispered.

  Tears rose to Nick’s eyes. He had forgotten about faith. It might be too late for a doctor, and Terry knew it. But it was not too late for comfort. Nick grasped Terry’s rough, hairy hands in his own and held them as tightly as he could. “I’m right here with you, my friend,” he said.

  The faintest hint of a smile glowed briefly in Terry’s eyes. Nick made the the sign of cross, then grasped his hands again. “The Lord is my Shepherd,” he began. “I shall not want…”

  Suddenly he heard the sounds of car doors slamming and radios crackling from the driveway. Heavy footsteps thundered to the door and voices identifying themselves as police as police shouted for Mrs. Blake.

  Nick looked questioningly at Terry, who seemed to be beyond all curiosity. Had they finally decided to resp
ond to his call? Had they figured it out, too?

  “Up here!” Nick shouted. “We need help.”

  Terry tugged weakly at the lapel of his jacket, like a child whose favorite story had been interrupted. Nick saw innocence in his rugged, scarred face. “I’m sorry,” said Nick with a deep regret for far more than the interruption. He looked sadly at this man, this child of God, who had dreamed righteous dreams of starting his life over.

  “Let’s begin again,” Nick said gently. “The Lord is my Shepherd…”

  Chapter Forty-four

  Police and lab men swarmed over Maddy’s house, collecting evidence and making calls. An ambulance waited outside, lights flashing, as four EMTs lifted Terry Lewis gingerly onto a stretcher and hurried him out, an oxygen mask over his ashen face. Frank Cameron had put out an APB on Bonnie’s car, and Pete Millard had called Donna and Johnny Wallace to tell them that there was news of Justin, that he was still alive and well, and that, with any luck, they would find him soon.

  Nick leaned against a counter in the kitchen, having fielded questions from every detective in the house. Frank Cameron hung up the phone and looked at the clergyman’s drawn face. “So, Father, why didn’t you just call us when you found out about Bonnie Lewis?”

  “I did call,” said Nick. “Check your hot line tips.”

  “We’re up to our eyebrows,” Frank said apologetically.

  “I just can’t believe Doug Blake is dead,” said Nick. That, he had learned, was the reason the police had shown up at Maddy’s house in first place. To tell her about her husband’s fatal fall from the fort’s tower.

  “Good riddance to bad rubbish,” Chief Cameron said pitilessly. Then he remembered whom he was talking to. “Sorry Father. I had a personal grudge against the man. He did a lot of damage to my daughter. I can’t say I’m sorry he’s gone.”