Chapter Fourteen
T he long day wound to a dispiriting close. This time of year the sun set early, and by four o’clock Jodi could see the long shadows of afternoon falling across the park.
She shivered, wishing she had taken the time to go home and get a heavier coat. Her linen pants looked like rags after tramping through multiple large and small parks in Temple Mountain.
“Judah! Joshua!”
Jodi’s voice was hoarse. A dog barked somewhere in the distance and she heard the high, excited cries of children playing in the school playground. Her stomach rumbled but she had had to force herself to eat the sandwich slapped together by a silent Hattie back at the rectory. Jaime and Alma had shared a bowl of Cheerios into the corner of the family room.
Silas had barely stopped to eat. He was glued to his cell phone as congregation members checked in.
No news.
So grim and sad was the atmosphere that in the end it had been a relief to get back to Jodi’s solitary hunt, stomping through dirty snow and drifts of conifer needles. Prairie grass, sedge, groundcovers, and even ferns had left their slushy mark on her trouser hems, and bare raspberry canes had snagged her jacket.
“Come on boys! Just come back home, please. We can sort this out!”
Jodi bit off an unladylike and unprofessional curse. She looked around at the silent, dank shrubbery and stark trees, and knew that she was wasting her time here.
“Of all the bull-headed stiff-necked teenagers in the world, you boys really take the prize,” she muttered.
Didn’t the twins understand that their foster parents, that Jodi and Ricky and most everybody in the Temple Mountain Community Church and the retirement home...were on their side? That the people who loved them were desperately anxious?
Of course they didn’t. And why should they?
Jodi sat down on a grubby park bench. She pulled out her cell. Dougie, who seemed to be holding the fort remarkably well at The Monitor, was anxious for an update.
Jodi fired off a text. Nothing yet .
But how long could she hold the fort, she wondered, keep resisting Dougie’s appeals to broadcast the news of the missing boys through their social media channels.
Not yet, Jodi had said, ruthlessly abandoning the golden opportunity to position The Monitor at the edge of breaking news. They would wait with all the other media outlets for Chief Browning’s scheduled press conference this evening.
Heads would roll. Her head would roll.
She gazed at a crushed beer can, quickly looking away when she spotted a used condom. Her cell vibrated. Her finger hovered over the graphic of a firefighter.
I’m just about done. Def no signs of kids anywhere. They must have slept somewhere last night.
Jodi leaned back and closed her eyes.
She thought about the destroyed backpacks and the charred shoes.
She thought about cats, and about two boys who were so allergic that their foster mom had to give away the kitten they’d been given.
Her heart began to race. Jodi stood up. The uneasiness at the back of her mind hardened into suspicion.
She composed her message with trembling hands.
Meet me at the retirement village. And bring Silas and Jaime .
The sun chose that moment to drop below the tree line.
***
R icky drove with the exaggerated care of a man who knows that time is running out. A man who ought to be doing his duty and standing next to his boss before a major press conference got underway. A man taking a risk on a woman’s hunch—and her heart.
Jodi was waiting in the parking lot, leaning against the Miata, when he pulled in. Her hair whipped around her face as the breeze picked up. Her coat was patchy with damp and grit.
A stray twig had lodged in her scarf and her pants were streaked with mud. The tip of her nose was red with cold and her lips were chapped and dry.
Ricky thought that Jodi had never looked more beautiful.
She strode toward him, eyes flashing.
“Are they coming? Silas and Jaime?”
He nodded, shoving his gloved hands deep into his pockets. The temperature had dropped again. By tomorrow, the muddy drifts and snowy slush would be frozen into hard icy puddles, slippery as heck.
Jodi’s expression was strained and she couldn’t quite manage a smile. She would know that persuading Hattie and then Silas to bring the unhappy toddler out into the cold on a wild goose chase had been a big ask. And that Ricky was putting his job on the line by being here instead of at Chief Browning’s media conference.
“The Chief...ah...didn’t take my advice to reschedule the press conference.”
She nodded. Their eyes met. With or without his New York City firefighter hero at his side, Leroy Browning was about to throw a national spotlight on the missing foster kids. Boys who were a danger to society and to themselves.
After that, there would be no going back to the cheerful chaos of the Beecham family for the twins. No more foster homes.
Ricky rubbed his chilled hands together. His leather gloves were all but useless in this climate. His eyes drifted across the familiar landscape of Temple Mountain. Lights twinkled in the growing gloom.
No going back, he reminded himself. He was done chasing dreams.
He glanced at his phone. Nearly five. Right about now, the Chief would be checking that his uniform was pristine and that his hat was at the correct angle, while Sally Lett would be taking him through the final version of the media release.
Jodi’s face glowed with intensity in the fading light.
“Thanks for doing this, Ricky.”
She took a breath and then the words tumbled out, as though she had been keeping them inside for too long. “Forgive me for asking this, but...I know why I’m dragging myself around this town looking for a couple of runaways, even though everyone says they’re long gone.” She shrugged her shoulder. “I know these kids. I know their foster parents. But why are you doing this, Ricky Sharp? Isn’t there a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere you should be rescuing?”
Her gentle words struck him to the core. Browning had asked the same question, only not so politely.
“I care,” Ricky said roughly. Her eyes were fixed on him, waiting. “I care about that family, of course I do. They’re good people.”
She nodded, still waiting.
“And those boys are lost.” He forced himself to keep going. “Their foster parents—and let’s call it how it is—their mom and dad who love the very bones of them—don’t know where they are. They can’t protect their children. Do you know what that feels like, Jodi?”
His throat was raw, his breath ragged. “I have to find them.”
Like a shadow, Jodi glided towards Ricky and he wrapped his arms around her like it was the most natural thing in the world. She was the port in his storm.
He felt the next words forming in his mouth. About Chrissie and Lioba and how he couldn’t look after his own child, but by God, he was going to look after Josh and Judah.
A horn sounded. Jodi and Ricky leaped apart like guilty teenagers.
Silas wound down the window. His expression was thunderous.
“We’re here,” he said tightly. “But nobody has told me why.”
Ricky peered through the window and saw the small figure of Jaime in the car seat. She had fallen asleep, still gripping a scruffy soft toy. Her cheeks were stained with tears.
Jodi opened the car and leaned inside as Silas climbed out.
“Hello baby,” whispered Jodi.
Jaime’s long lashes fluttered briefly. Her eyes immediately filled with tears, and she let out a low wail.
“Oh dear.” Jodi bit her lip and pulled back.
Silas reached in and fiddled with the seat harness. “Daddy’s here, love.” Jaime glared, rubbed her nose, and hiccupped. His voice was gentle. “Come on sweetcakes, let’s go find Joshie and Judy.”
Jaime’s small, dirty face broke into a reluctant smile, and she obediently held out her arms and scrambled into her father’s embrace.
“This better be good,” said Silas quietly, cuddling the child against his chest. “Hattie hardly got a wink of sleep last night, what with worry and Jaime waking every hour. And today, well you can see for yourselves what state she’s in.”
Jodi crossed her arms over her chest defensively. She looked cold and a little uncertain.
“Jodi has excellent intuition, and I trust her judgment,” Ricky said firmly.
She threw him a grateful smile.
“This place has already been searched from top to bottom.” Silas kept his voice low so as not to startle the sleepy child on his shoulder, but the words were ground out through clenched teeth. “Our first thought was that the boys might try to hide around here. They know this place like the back of their hands.”
“I don’t think they are sleeping in the stairwell or behind the mower.” Jodi glanced at Jaime as she spoke. She met Silas’ glowering gaze with steady eyes. “I think they are sleeping in a nice warm room, probably eating pizza and drinking soda right now.”
“Someone’s hiding them?” Ricky shrugged. “Could be. I guess we could do a door-to-door search, but that would upset a lot of folks,” he said reluctantly. “And frankly, it’s almost impossible to keep a secret in a community where people don’t have much to do other than keep their eyes on their neighbors.”
“Joshie!” Jaime’s voice was loud and petulant.
Ricky’s heart clenched as he watched the big man’s hands sooth the child.
Ricky cleared his throat. He raised an enquiring eyebrow at Jodi.
“We don’t need to search,” she said crisply. “Because I think I know where they are.”
She set out across the pavement towards the reception center and after a few moments the two men followed. It was almost night now, a few minutes before five. The buildings glowed with light.
Jodi stepped through the front door and marched behind the reception desk.
“I don’t think Bonnie is on duty now,” said Ricky. He really didn’t want to face boss’s daughter right then.
Jodi ignored him. She banged loudly on the door marked “Office”.
She folded her arms, waited a few moments, and banged again.
“Answer the door Bonnie,” she called. “You got visitors!”
Another minute passed. Jaime moved restlessly on her father’s shoulder. Jodi had her fist raised to try again when the door swung open.
Bonnie, looking more curvaceous than ever in a pair of tight jeans and a startlingly low sweater, blinked in surprise.
“My goodness!” she breathed. “How nice to see you Ricky, you should have called and let me know you were coming! And Reverend. And...er...that dear little foster girl.” Her gaze moved to Jodi. “And why am I not surprised to see you, Jodi Ruskin?”
Bonnie turned back to Ricky. She fluttered her impressive eyelashes. “And what can I do for you folks? Sorry but reception is closed for the night. I’m just catching up on some work.”
“Can we come in?” Jodi’s smile was cool. In the harsh interior light, the damage to her outfit was laid bare; muddy hems, rips in her pants, and a long streak of something brown on the shoulder of her coat. Her hair was like a bird’s nest and her face was pale and set.
Ricky clamped his lips together. This was Jodi’s show.
The seconds ticked past.
“Why?” Bonnie flicked back a long curly lock, drawing attention to her cleavage. Both men immediately looked away.
“Because we think that Joshua and Judah are in your office.”
Bonnie’s eyes flew open. Her glossy red lips formed an “O” of shock.
“That’s...outrageous, even from a bottom-feeding reporter like you!” Her eyes moved to Ricky, and she pouted, disappointed. “If you all don’t leave right now, I’m calling 911 and my lawyer.”
Silas made a low sound deep in his chest. Now that he was here, he seemed ready to stand there the whole night. His hand stroked Jaime’s small back in a long slow rhythm.
Ricky dredged up some of that old authority. His folded arms and steady stance said that he wasn’t going anywhere soon, either.
A vaguely unpleasant smell of disinfectant, soiled laundry, and air freshener hung in the stale, warm air. Wheels squeaked in the corridor and a television briefly blared the opening notes of the news before it was cut off.
Ricky hoped Jodi had a Plan B.
Bonnie rolled her eyes. “For goodness sake,” she muttered ungraciously. She opened her office door with a flourish and stood to one side.
Ricky followed the others into the empty office. There was a pizza box on the desk, and a bunch of files. He glanced at Jodi, whose face had drained of color, and then at Bonnie's triumphant smile.
“While you are here, do have a look in the bathroom,” Bonnie purred.
Ricky braved her withering glare. He poked his head inside the small and rather untidy bathroom which smelled of cosmetics and deodorant.
Nothing.
Jodi shook her head numbly. Her eyes drifted around the office. A couple of visitor chairs, a small television on the wall, a large desk. That was it.
Ricky’s heart thumped loudly in his chest. He couldn’t stop himself glancing at the wall clock. Five o’clock.
“Satisfied? Then leave. I’m sure Daddy will be in touch. And probably the owners of that Monitor rag as well.”
Ricky took a deep breath, trying to gather the words to soften the humiliating exit which must now follow.
Later tonight he would compose his resignation text, but for now, his thoughts were focused on Jodi. And on the two boys who were still missing. Most likely drifting through the underworld of New York City, just like the Chief had said.
Silas sighed. He shifted the heavy soft bundle that was Jaime onto his other shoulder, startling her from her doze.
The curly head lifted. Jaime looked around, outraged at the deception which had been practiced on her. Where was her mother and her bed?
“Joshie!” she yelled into Silas’ ear. “Judy!”
A moment of silence. Then the closet door, which had been set into the wall so cleverly that it was hardly visible, burst open. Out tumbled two large, rumpled boys.
***
I t took some time for the uproar to die down. Time during which Ricky contacted the local police to call off the hunt and sent a text to Sally Lett which effectively cut short Chief Leroy Browning’s opening remarks mid-sentence.
Silas Beecham gathered up his children and took them home.
Jodi and Ricky sat silently on the visitor chairs.
Bonnie Browning had refused pointblank to utter a word until her rather bewildered father turned up, loaded for bear.
“What the blazes?”
Chief Browning walked in. His beautifully cut and pressed uniform was crumpled, and his thin hair had been flattened by his hat.
His eyes flicked across the group; first at his daughter, furious and sullen behind her desk, and then at Jodi, who met his gaze with a cool stare of her own. And finally, his employee.
The Chief looked at the open cupboard, and the tangle of sleeping bags which had tumbled to the floor. A soda can lay on its side, dribbling pink liquid onto the carpet, and there was a strong smell of pizza and unwashed teenager.
Browning inhaled deeply. He swiveled to Jodi and pointed a large stubby finger. “This conversation is private and personal, Ms. Acting Editor. One word, and you’ll never crawl out from under the lawsuits.”
Ricky stiffened. He opened his mouth to give Browning a piece of his mind but felt Jodi press her hand gently on his arm. She threw the Chief a calm, measured look that made the large man pause.
The Chief’s eyes narrowed. His breath whistled through his nostrils as he fought for control.
Ricky sighed. At this minute, he was still an officer of the Temple Mountain Fire Department and this man was his boss.
“Here’s what I think happened,” Ricky said carefully. “Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, Bonnie.”
Bonnie’s eyes were chips of ice. She wasn’t giving out a thing.
“Joshua and Judah spent a lot of time out here at the retirement village. In fact, they spent more hours outdoors roaming around the town parks than they spent indoors or at school. Maybe it’s because the twins feel safer outside, considering how they grew up. And they did set those fires last year.”
Chief Browning gave a huff of satisfaction. “Like I said—”
“—and I think that Bonnie here caught them at it one time. Gave them a piece of her mind like a good citizen,” Ricky continued smoothly. “Made the boys empty their pockets and then confiscated their matchbooks too.”
The small room had begun to feel close, stuffy. The crackle of tension was almost audible. Both Brownings glared at him.
Ricky kept going. “And then Bonnie had the brilliant idea that these apprentice firebugs would create a perfect public safety issue for her father’s election campaign.”
“What!” The Chief’s outraged voice bounced off the walls. His face turned an alarming shade of puce. “What the f—, I mean, goddamned blazes do you mean by that? You think that my daughter encouraged those boys to light fires in trash bins and then...” His voice went up a notch. “Stood by and watched as they lit a fire right here in the village, with all these old folks around? I ought to horsewhip you son!”
“No, I don’t think that.” Ricky’s words took all the steam out of the older man.
Leroy Browning’s mouth dropped open. He glanced at Bonnie, who was staring at a mediocre print of Washington Crossing the Delaware as though skeptical of the general’s chances of success.
“This next bit is a guess,” said Ricky. Jodi sat silently at his shoulder, her coat smelling of damp wool in the warm air. The twig was still tangled in her scarf.
“The boys refused, so you did it yourself. You knew they would keep their mouths shut, whatever happened. It’s not hard. There’s nothing you can’t find on the internet, right Bonnie?”
She shrugged. “A couple of pizza boxes, a bit of smoke. Anyone could have done it. Nothing to say it was me.” Her smile was sly.
Her father jerked back to life. “That’s enough Bonnie. Not a single word more.”
Ricky could almost see the calculations running through the Chief’s mind.
“I’ve heard enough of your bullshit, Sharp.” His tone dropped. “I’m not surprised that your employers sent you on compassionate leave. You lost the plot in New York, son. And now you’re done in Temple Mountain too.”
Browning marched to the door and wrenched it open.
Ricky rose to his feet. He held out a hand to Jodi. Pale and composed, she slipped her hand into his. He encased her long pale fingers in his scarred palm and turned back to Bonnie.
Her face wore the smooth, satisfied expression of a person whose cleverness remains unsurpassed.
“Would you like to know how we knew that Joshua and Judah hadn’t torched the old shed?” he asked conversationally.
Bonnie shrugged. Ricky took a small step towards the desk, still gripping Jodie’s hand.
“Because that was the boys’ secret place, their bolt hole. The place they stored their backpacks, a few supplies in case their father finally tracked them down and they had to run. The man who had abused and neglected them. There is no way they would burn that stuff.”
Bonnie’s face whitened. She looked away.
“You planted enough clues to point straight to the twins, and then you frightened them into running. Because nobody in their right mind is going to believe a couple of bad-ass kids with a reputation, and they knew where they’d end up. New York City. In juvenile detention or back with their father. Josh and Judah have been sleeping on the floor here, because you promised to get them out of town.”
Bonnie’s gaze returned. She took a breath. Ricky watched a smug smile creep across her face.
A warning chill ran down his back.
“That’s a fine theory, Ricky Sharp. And you think yourself so clever. Coming home to little Temple Mountain and playing the big hero firefighter. Here to look after your folks, like the good son you are, and to try and find the backbone you lost so’s you could go back to being a hero.” She shook her head. “So sad. Your team at Far Rockaway...everybody knows you lost your nerve.”
Ricky stared back. He nodded thoughtfully. Yup, it stung to hear the truth from Bonnie’s lips. But every word was true. He felt Jodi’s warm shoulder against his, the light pressure of her hand.
Bonnie’s head tilted towards Jodi, and Leroy Browning, who had been looking more and more uncomfortable as the conversation unfolded, cleared his throat. Whatever the Chief was about to say faded before the glittering malice in his daughter’s eyes.
“But wait there’s more...does Ms. Acting Editor know why you’re really here, Ricky?” Bonnie pouted. “I thought not. Ms. High and Mighty wouldn’t be letting you sniff around her if she did know.”
She threw Jodi a cool smile. “It’s my job, you see, to look out for all these dear old folks. And my door is always open to share their problems.”
An icy hand squeezed Ricky’s chest, but he couldn’t speak. There was no point, anyway.
“And you have been stirring up trouble, upsetting people, haven’t you Ricky?” Bonnie continued. “Looking for that sweet little baby that your drug-addled girlfriend gave birth to in some nasty squat, and then gave away like an unwanted puppy. You came home to find your little girl.”