Chapter 13
Thirteen
Zoe Murphy was inconsolable. Alicia Perry had been a good friend of hers since preschool, and even though Alicia was a year older than Zoe, the two had remained close over the years.
As the disappearance stretched into a second day, Zoe’s family rallied around her, doing what they could to keep the girl’s spirits up.
Carly found her on a swing in the backyard of Cate and Tom’s house. As Carly took the swing next to Zoe’s, she noticed her niece’s cheeks were wet with tears. Carly reached for her hand.
Zoe wrapped her fingers around Carly’s. “Thanks for coming by.”
As they sat in silence for several minutes, holding hands and swinging slowly, Carly was filled with longing for everything and everyone she’d lost in the accident.
Being with Zoe, in good times and bad, made her yearn for the things that were missing in her life, especially the husband and children she should’ve had by now.
“My mom and I were talking earlier,” Zoe said. “She told me what happened to you when you were a senior. I’m so sorry, Auntie Carly. I never knew those crosses on Tucker Road were for your friends. I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like for you.”
With a squeeze, Carly released Zoe’s hand to pull a pad and pen from the back pocket of her jeans. “Alicia is going to be fine.” She underlined the word fine several times.
“He’s hurting her,” Zoe said, breaking down again.
“She’s strong,” Carly wrote.
Zoe nodded.
“You have to be strong, too.”
“I’m trying.”
Carly got up and reached for the girl.
Sobbing, Zoe fell into her aunt’s embrace and held on tight.
By the third day, Alicia’s disappearance had brought the town to its knees in a way that reminded long-time residents of the week that followed the Tucker Road wreck.
Other than a candlelight vigil for Alicia on the second night, people kept their kids inside and limited their outings to essential trips only.
The local churches held daily services, and counselors were available for students at the high school.
Miss Molly’s was as quiet as Carly had ever seen it.
The few customers they did have were members of the local and national media that had lined the town common with their satellite trucks.
The story had been carried by most of the national news channels, and one show had devoted an entire hour to Alicia and the case, including an interview with Chief Westbury.
“If you want to take off early, feel free,” Molly offered.
Embarrassed to be caught staring out the window when she was supposed to be working, Carly shrugged. There was nothing she particularly felt like doing. Worrying about what that poor girl was going through had left Carly feeling drained and listless.
“Suit yourself, honey,” Molly said, patting Carly’s shoulder.
“Hey, Carly,” Debby said. “Chief Westbury called. He wants you to meet him by the willow at the lake when your shift ends. He said he’s got something he wants to show you.”
Carly’s cheeks grew hot at the idea of meeting the chief in the place where she used to make love with his son.
What could he possibly want to show me there?
Her stomach knotted with anxiety. The willow was the one place from her old life she had never returned to.
The memories were just too painful. But if the chief needed her for something, she would go.
Since there wasn’t much cleaning up to do at Miss Molly’s, she left at the stroke of two and set out for the lake.
With the police on a desperate search to find Alicia, Carly noticed with uneasiness the absence of officers on Main Street that afternoon.
She reached into her pocket and wrapped her fingers around the ever-present can of pepper spray.
Twenty minutes later, she arrived at the appointed spot but found no sign of the chief. Several hundred yards down the beach, a few scattered families were enjoying a warm day at the lake, despite the crisis unfolding in town. Carly supposed the kids couldn’t be held captive inside forever.
Where is he? Tugging the slim cell phone from her back pocket, she sent him a text message. “Where R U? I’m at the lake waiting 4 U.”
While she awaited his reply, she wandered over to the willow and was assailed by a flood of memories and feelings.
What would it hurt to step inside just for a minute?
Fingering the delicate shower of leaves, she summoned the nerve to part the curtain.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath for courage, and walked through the branches.
When she opened her eyes, she found Alicia Perry’s lifeless, naked body in the very spot where she and Brian used to make love.
Carly opened her mouth and screamed.
Michael wore a path in the conference room rug as he heard an update from the patrol officers and detectives who were finishing their shift. “Nothing new,” they reported for the third straight day. “There’s no sign of her anywhere.”
“It’s like she vanished, Chief,” one of the younger patrolmen said, his eyes wide with dismay.
“She did,” Michael snapped, annoyed by the stupid statement. “Anyone who can stay for second shift is requested to do so.” His department’s overtime expenses were threatening to bankrupt the town, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. “That’s all.”
He stormed into his office and slammed the door, feeling impotent and exhausted at the same time.
Except for quick runs home to shower and change clothes, he had worked around the clock since Alicia’s disappearance but was no closer to finding her today than he’d been three days ago.
For at least the tenth time, he stood in front of the TV to watch the video they had taken at the candlelight vigil.
Every face was familiar to him, but they’d captured nothing out of the ordinary on the film, no sign of a monster in their midst.
The frustration settled in his chest as he collapsed into the chair behind his desk. He popped two more antacid tablets and rested his head against the soft leather. Matt had called to check in from out of town, and was cutting his vacation short to get back tomorrow.
In his absence, Michael had found himself relying more and more on Nathan Barclay, who’d turned out to be a pretty good guy—for a fed.
If Michael were being honest, he’d have to admit that Barclay had been tremendously helpful and supportive.
That the feds were equally stumped by the case also made Michael feel less like a loser.
A week before Alicia’s abduction, Barclay’s request for additional agents had been denied. Since the abduction, four more agents had been assigned to the case. He prayed it wasn’t too late for Alicia and hoped the extra manpower would result in an arrest this time.
With his eyes closed, Michael released a deep breath.
They had nothing. Not a scrap of evidence, not a clue to follow, and nothing they could do but wait.
Bloodhounds had followed Alicia’s scent for a quarter mile to where it had abruptly disappeared.
So they knew she had been transported in a car.
A complete sweep of her neighborhood hadn’t yielded a single witness, nor had multiple aerial searches by helicopter told them anything new.
When Michael imagined the torture that girl was suffering through, his stomach began to ache as badly as his chest did.
Too much time had gone by. They should’ve found her by now.
He never kept them this long, so Michael was further tormented by the image of Alicia injured, naked, and alone in the woods hoping someone would find her.
“Damn,” he whispered with a hand on his chest. “This frigging heartburn is killing me.”
His cell phone chimed with a text message.
“What the hell?” He read Carly’s message a second time.
“Why’s she waiting for me at the lake?” A heartbeat passed before panic set in.
Leaping to his feet, he bolted for the door, stopping short when a sharp pain ripped through his chest. Bent in half in the doorway, he tried to breathe his way through it.
“Chief,” the dispatcher called to him. “They found her. They found Alicia.”
“Carly!” Michael cried, gripping his chest.
“Chief!” The dispatcher tossed his headset aside and ran to Michael. “What’s wrong?”
Michael collapsed. “Find Carly Holbrook,” he gasped. “At the lake.”
Brian was hammering out a plea agreement in the conference room when Sally, one of the administrative assistants, came in with a message from his mother. He took one look at the pink slip of paper and said, “I’m sorry, we’ll have to do this another time.”
“Where’re you going?” the defense attorney sputtered.
In the hallway, Sally handed Brian his cell phone and held his suit coat for him. “Run home and pack a bag. I’ll get you a flight out of LaGuardia.”
Thirty minutes later, his cab inched along FDR Drive in the late afternoon traffic, leaving Brian with far too much time for recriminations.
He should’ve gone home when his mother first told him she was worried about his dad.
He should’ve put aside his own selfish concerns and done what was best for his parents.
After all, he was their only child. And now, if his father died .
. . Collapsed at work, collapsed at work .
. . What did that mean? Was it is his heart? A stroke? What did collapsed mean?
After Sally called with his flight information, Brian dialed his mother’s cell phone again.
Mary Ann still didn’t answer, which only added to Brian’s anxiety.
Why isn’t she answering her phone? He tried unsuccessfully to reach her numerous times before he boarded the five thirty shuttle to Providence.