Chapter 11 #2
In the center, shaking and wailing, was Hadley.
Two feet away was a young man in a wheelchair, and Gina could only guess who that was.
McCaskill’s was a popular hangout for the kids after school, and Hadley usually walked down with friends and sat around until Gina picked her up and took her home after work.
They actually worked on their homework together, plus they bought candy, chips, and drinks, so the McCaskills had always welcomed them and offered them the little haven as a safe spot to meet. “What the hell’s going on?”
“Mom!” Hadley screamed and threw herself into Gina’s arms.
“What happened?”
“These guys, they … they …”
“Ma’am,” a deep voice said from behind her, “I’m Deputy Carver. We’ve got a situation—”
“Situation? Situation? What happened?”
“Two men tried to abduct your daughter.”
Time stopped as Gina stood there, trying to process what the deputy was saying. Someone tried to abduct Hadley? “Whaaa … Did you catch them?”
“Yes, ma’am, at least one of them, thanks to that young man over there.” She turned to see who the deputy was talking about, and he pointed to the boy in the wheelchair.
Nothing was making sense. “What? Why would someone do that?”
“We don’t know, but we intend to find out.”
“Mom, please, take me home? Please?” The crying hadn’t stopped since Gina had wrapped her arms around her daughter. “I just want to go home!”
“We need to have her come to the station to give a statement. We can’t do it here. Too many people and too much confusion. Would that be okay?” Gina appreciated the kindness and courtesy Deputy Carver was obviously trying to offer Hadley.
“Sure. Baby, let’s go. It’s okay. I’m here now. You’ll be fine.” Gina wasn’t sure she would be fine. Someone had tried to snatch her daughter! That was the most terrifying thing she could think of.
“Can Anson come too? Please, Mom? He saved me. I want him to come too.”
The deputy smiled. “We need his statement anyway. We’ll get him to the station.”
“Okay.” Hadley sniffled a little and clung to Gina. “I just want to go home.”
The ride to the sheriff’s department offices was quiet, with Hadley holding Gina’s hand the whole way. Gina didn’t bother to ask questions. Those would come. For the moment, her daughter needed a quiet, safe place to decompress, and she hoped the short drive would offer her a little of that.
Even though there were a lot of people milling around in the office, the sheriff’s department was fairly quiet and calm, and everyone who looked up as they walked through nodded and smiled politely.
For some reason, that didn’t make Gina feel one little bit better, but at least it didn’t make her feel worse.
They took a seat in the conference room. “Need anything? Something to drink?” Deputy Carver asked.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” Hadley whispered through her tears.
“Please, go ahead.” As soon as she was out of the room, Deputy Carver’s attention turned to Gina. “Any idea who might’ve done this?”
“Oh, I’ve got a really good idea.” The fear had worn off, and Gina was fuming. “If I had to take a wild stab, I’d say it’s my ex-mother-in-law.”
“The men?”
“Who knows? The bitch is crazy. She’s harassing us. My ex even called from prison and—”
“He’s in prison?”
Gina nodded. “Yeah. Eddyville.”
“You don’t think this was him?”
“No. I don’t. He called me the other day and sounded really worried about us because of her.”
The deputy wrote something on his scratch pad. “You’re sure he wasn’t bluffing?”
“Positive. I heard a side of Nate Ivitts that I didn’t know existed. Trust me. That sumbitch isn’t that great of an actor. If he was acting, I would know, and he wasn’t. He’s really concerned.”
“Have you reported her for harassment?”
“No. Won’t do any good. But the police have a record of what she’s done. She sent them after my boyfriend. I got the impression they’re sick of her too.”
“What’s her name?”
“Margie Ivitts.” Something on the deputy’s face almost made Gina laugh. “Oh, I see you know her too.”
“Unfortunately, yes. She’s your ex-mother-in-law?”
“Yeah.”
“God have mercy on you, ma’am.” Hadley had just stepped back into the room and taken a seat. “So, miss, can you tell me in your own words what happened?”
“Yes, sir. So I was at McCaskill’s and Anson had to leave, so I walked to the front door with him.
Told him bye and all that. He rolled out the door toward home—he just lives down the street—and when he got to the street, he dropped something, so I ran out to pick it up for him.
I was standing there talking to him when this car pulled up real fast and this guy got out and grabbed my arm.
There was another guy driving. So the guy holding my arm tried to drag me toward the car, but Anson rolled his wheelchair straight into the guy and it hit him in the shin, and he turned loose of me, and Anson yelled, ‘Run, Hadley!’ so I ran as fast as I could to get back inside. ”
“Then what happened?”
“The man tried to hit Anson, but his arms are really strong from the wheelchair, you know, and he stopped the man’s fist, then hit him in the belly. The guy was coughing and bent over, and he ran back to the car and they drove off. And Anson memorized their license plate number.”
The deputy flipped up two sheets of the paper on his pad and pulled out a picture. “Is this one of them?”
“Yes! That’s the one who grabbed me, not the one who was driving.”
“We’ve got this one in custody. Apparently the car belonged to the other one, and they’re looking for him right now.
They were driving like maniacs through town, hit a traffic light pole, and it knocked this guy out for a little bit.
The other one ran. The young man in the wheelchair had given us enough information for our officers to know who and what they were looking for.
It only took them a minute or two to recognize the car and find this guy.
” The deputy quirked up one corner of his mouth and squinted one eye. “Criminals. They’re not real bright.”
“That’s a good thing,” Hadley said, her arms folded across her chest.
“We’ll put him in a lineup and let you pick him out. After that, you’re free to go home with your mom, okay?”
“Okay. Yeah. Thank you.”
Gina was touched when the deputy reached out and patted Hadley’s forearm.
“You’re welcome. That’s why we’re here, to keep you safe.
If you think of anything else you think we need to know, don’t hesitate to contact me.
” He pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Gina.
“Let me get that lineup set up and we’ll go from there. ”
An hour later, Gina pulled into the driveway and sighed as she turned off the ignition. “Home. Finally. You okay?”
Hadley nodded. “Mom, what was that about?”
“Your dad called the other night.”
The girl’s eyebrows shot up. “Why?”
“Because he’s worried about us. Because of your grandmother.”
“That crazy bitch isn’t my grandmother.”
“Hadley!”
“Well, she’s not!” Hadley yelled. “I hate her! She’s horrible!”
“I know. But at least we—” Her words were interrupted by the sound of tires screeching behind her.
Kyle was running toward the house, so she threw the truck door open. “Hey!”
He spun and headed straight toward them. “Is Hadley okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Hadley answered as she opened her door and got out, but instead of closing it, she trotted around the back end of her mom’s truck and straight into Kyle’s arms. “I was so scared.”
Gina stepped around to close Hadley’s door before she joined them. “How did you know?”
“Your dad called me. He was pretty damn upset and he still doesn’t know what’s going on.”
“Yeah, well, I am too. I guess I should call him and tell him what happened.”
“Guess you won’t mind me listening in so you don’t have to repeat it?” Kyle asked.
Gina tossed her head toward the house. “Not at all. Come on.”
The three of them stepped into the house and straight into Briley. “Where the hell has everybody been? I’ve called and called and I didn’t—”
“It’s been a bad afternoon, son. Come sit down with us while I call your grandpa.” Gina pressed her hand into his shoulder and all four of them took the walk into the den.
Fifteen minutes later, Hadley had gone to her room to lie down, Briley’s eyes were still as wide as basketballs, but Kyle was furious. “You should’ve called me,” he grumbled.
“I was dealing with her and the police. I didn’t have a chance.”
“It took me too long to get to you, babe. I don’t like that. You needed me to be there with you, and I wasn’t.”
“Kyle, I’ve been taking care of these kids for a long time by myself.”
He frowned. “You don’t have to anymore.”
Gina took a deep breath, sighed it out, and looked at the man sitting there with her.
For the first time, she noticed that he was still wearing his dirty work clothes, his work boots, and his hair was a mess.
There was a big swipe of dirt down the side of his face, and his hands were grimy.
He’d literally stepped out of the cab of a tractor and raced to be there, and he had no idea how thankful she was.
“I know. I keep forgetting, but I’m trying to remember. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just always remember that I’m here for you—all of you. I’m just glad your dad called me.”
“Me too. Where’s Myla?”
“Constance is picking her up. I’m going to need to go home and clean up, but I’ll pick her up and come back, and we can—”
“No. Try to keep things normal for her. We’ll talk on the phone a little later. I want Hadley to be able to stay quiet and still for a few hours and try to relax. We’ll be okay, I promise.”
Those piercing hazel eyes locked on hers from under his furrowed brow. “You sure?”
“Yeah. I’m sure. I’ll lock all the doors and turn on the alarm system.”
“You’d better. Walk me out. Bye, Briley,” Kyle said, but before he could move toward the doorway, the boy stood and threw his arms around Kyle’s neck, and Gina’s heart melted as the big man wrapped him in a bear hug. “It’ll be okay, son. Watch out for your mom, okay?”