CHAPTER SIX #2
“I’m Isabella, and I’m eight years old.” She gave him a big smile that showed off her missing front tooth.
Okay, was it bad that she was jealous of the smile he’d bestowed upon her daughter?
“Miss Blanca is really your mom?”
“Yes, ma’am, she is.” He was so comfortable with her, which made sense. After all, he grew up surrounded by younger sisters.
Isabella leaned sideways to see Mark.
“Hi, Mr. Mark.” She gave him a little wave and climbed off of Lucia’s lap.
“Hey, kiddo.” Mark squatted down in front of her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He ended the hug, took her hand in his, and gave it a little waggle. “Want to tell me what happened?”
“I was sitting on my bed, playing with my new Barbie that I got for my birthday. Remember when I opened it at my party?”
“I do remember.” Mark nodded.
“Well, I was putting some boots on her ’cause she was going camping in her motor home, and all of a sudden, something came flying through my window.
” She tried to imitate the sound and was really getting into her retelling.
Her daughter had a definite flair for the dramatic.
“And it scared me, so I ran out to get Mom.” She added, “But I’m not scared anymore. ”
“Well, that’s good,” he said.
The whole time Isabella was talking, Lucia could almost feel Eddie’s eyes on her. Too bad she was too much of a chicken to look at him. She couldn’t survive seeing the disgust and disappointment that might be on his face again.
“Lucia, where were you when this happened?” Eddie asked.
“I was in the living room folding clothes.” It was a glamorous life, but someone had to live it. “I heard a crash, Isabella screamed, then tires squealed out front. I just grabbed her and my phone and headed over here.”
Her only thought had been to get away from that house and get her daughter to safety.
“There wasn’t a detail watching her house?” Eddie directed his question to Mark.
The detective glanced at her and hesitated.
Lucia lifted her chin. “He wanted to put an officer by the house, but I told him that wasn’t necessary.”
What a mistake that had been.
“Why would you tell him that?” Eddie sounded angry. “You are aware of what’s happening around here, right?”
“Am I aware of—” She popped up off the couch. “Yes, I am very aware of what’s going on, because one of my students—” She stopped short and glanced down at her daughter. “Elizabeth Flannery is one of my students.”
She would not speak of the abductions in front of her eight-year-old daughter.
“Hey, Isabella.” Bart stepped over to her. “Would you like to come help me work on that Indian Vintage I’ve got out in the shop?”
“Really?” Her eyes widened, and she turned to her mother. “Can I, Mom? Please?”
“Of course,” she said. “But I want you to be a good listener.”
“I will. I promise.” She took Bart’s hand.
“I’ll take care of her.” Meaning, he would do whatever it took to keep her safe.
“Thank you.” She patted her daughter on the top of her head and watched them walk away.
She waited for the click of the back door closing, then turned and opened her mouth to confront Eddie, but he beat her to it.
“I apologize.” His features softened slightly, though there was still a tightness around his eyes. “I didn’t mean to sound accusatory.”
“And yet you did.” Lucia was spitting mad and didn’t need him judging her.
She was fully aware it had less to do with the current situation and more to do with her simmering feelings about what happened years ago. At some point, they would need to clear the air between them, but today was not that day.
“The reason I didn’t want a police car outside my house is because I knew my incredibly inquisitive daughter would have a million questions,” she said.
“And I am not comfortable exposing her to the ugliness of what’s been happening.
Being at the house when someone tried to take Violetta was scary enough.
If she thought she was a target, it would be even worse. ”
There was a knock on the back door, and she flinched.
“It’s probably the officers I had checking out your place.” Mark headed toward the kitchen, leaving Eddie and Lucia alone in the front room.
The space between them felt like a mile-wide chasm strewn with years of painful memories, and there was a heaviness in the room that felt like an anvil on her chest, making it difficult to breathe.
She resented that he looked so unaffected.
Then again, she didn’t know him anymore, so she could be totally wrong.
“She’s a cute kid.” Eddie broke the awkward silence.
“Thanks.” She looked in the direction of the shop, then back at him. “She’s only eight but sometimes thinks it’s her job to look after me.”
“Is her dad around?”
“Lately?” She scoffed. “Not much.”
“Why not?”
“That is none of your business,” she snapped. “Sorry, but I don’t know you well enough to talk about my personal life just to satisfy your curiosity.”
“It’s not curiosity. It’s me wanting to eliminate him as a suspect.” His matter-of-fact tone grated on her nerves.
“A suspect?” She was stunned. “You can’t seriously believe that Curtis is involved in the disappearance of those missing girls, can you? He’s an accountant, for pity’s sake.”
“I’m not ruling out anyone.” He started to move toward her.
“Look, my team and I are going to be in town until this thing is resolved.” There was a strange stillness about him even as he closed the distance between them.
“And you and I will probably be seeing each other from time to time. So I think we need to set aside what happened in the past and focus on keeping you and your daughter safe.”
There was so much to unpack in that statement.
“Not to sound like a bitch, Eddie, but I’ve spent the past almost seventeen years trying to figure out what happened between us.” Lucia crossed her arms and cocked her hip. “So, tell me, why is my daughter in danger?”