Chapter 51
Thirty minutes later,Arrow, Kaylee, and I walked around the strip with a McDonald’s. Nothing was open on Christmas except the drugstore, gas stations, and two Chinese takeout restaurants. I didn’t know if we’d find this stranger with the Patriots’ hat, but I didn’t want to miss the chance.
What if he’d spoken to Aimee? Maybe she’d given him another message. Maybe he saw the kidnapper.
For all I knew, he could be the kidnapper too. But intuition told me otherwise.
The weather was cold, and the sun had a few hours before dipping below the horizon. Arrow clasped my gloved hand in his as we walked up and down the street, looking for a stranger. People were out and about. Some had joy on their faces, while others looked tired and worried.
What did I look like? Probably a combination of all three.
Today had been a wonderful day spent with people I cared about. I got to cook for the man I loved—the man transforming me from the inside out. A man who knew the chances of us finding a stranger were minimal, yet he didn’t object to driving here to search with me.
Magic was in the air for me. But fear and danger also lurked, diminishing the joy I would’ve felt if I hadn’t been worried about finding Aimee.
This was the first hopeful clue because it proved she was cognizant enough to reach out to us. I had feared she was drugged and locked up somewhere. I shouldn’t think about those things, but I wanted to be practical.
Glancing around, I said, “Look for the guy with the Patriots hat.”
We searched for about ten minutes with no luck and returned to the area around the McDonald’s.
Disheartened, I dropped down on the iron bench and released a sigh. “I don’t think we’ll find him today. We can check back tomorrow.” I looked toward the McDonald’s entrance. “Maybe an employee saw her.”
“I’ll have a look at the recordings.” Arrow offered me a nod.
He could hack into the cameras inside the McDonald’s, including the traffic cameras in the vicinity.
“Thanks.” I smiled at him.
Kaylee stood on the sidewalk with her bunny knit hat, looking for the man. She and Aimee had gotten to know each other when Kaylee had moved in to live with me. They’d connected instantly. Kaylee had cried for days when Aimee first went missing.
I could only imagine what she was feeling now. Hope and fear—the same mix of emotions whirling inside me.
“There he is!” she shouted, waving us over. “Hurry!”
We crossed the street, speed walking up to a man who looked at us with fear on his face.
“Excuse us, sir. We need your help.”
The man with brown hair and a beard looked at us with suspicion. “Not sure I can help you with anything. I’m trying to find dinner.”
“We can help with that,” Arrow suggested.
The man’s face beamed with hope. “Been tough lately. Shelters are full. Those guys in there are ruthless. It’s better to be out here, you know?”
“I’ve got some food for you. I’ll be right back,” Arrow said. “If you can help these ladies, that would be great.”
Arrow crossed the street, heading to his car.
“What’s your name?” I asked. “I’m Vivian, and this is Kaylee.”
“Fred Rugg.” He smiled, and I noticed a chipped tooth. He probably hadn’t gotten a cleaning in a while. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“We saw you on the news holding a sign,” I said.
His eyes sparked. “It worked? A little girl was looking for a friend. She asked if I could make a sign and join the crowd. They were with a news station nearby.”
“Is this the girl?” I swiped to a picture of Aimee.
Fred nodded. “Yeah. Sweet girl.”
Kaylee looked up at him. “Did she say anything else? Who was with her?”
“Are you the friend she’s looking for?”
“I am.” Kaylee beamed.
“She was with a well-dressed man. He bought her a lot of food and stepped away when he got a phone call. I sat near her with my single hamburger. She offered me her fries and some nuggets and asked me to write those words on the sign.”
“She said if someone came looking for her, to tell them she was going to visit the Mount Centauri Museum soon. Then the man returned, and they packed up the food to go.”
“What did the man look like?” I asked.
Fred shrugged. “Tall. Dark hair. Intense look in the eye. You could tell he was rich and educated.”
That could also be Arrow’s description.
“Did Aimee look terrified?”
“No. Maybe a little nervous. She didn’t talk to him much.”
Arrow approached and gave Fred some food he’d purchased from the drugstore.
“Thanks, man.” Fred beamed and dug into the pack of muffins.
“Fred was very helpful,” I said to Arrow.
“Good.” Arrow studied Fred and gestured to the word Army splashed across his sweatshirt under his unzipped coat. “You were in the Army?”
“Eight years. Got injured and came home to work for a warehouse. They closed down, then the apartment building I lived in burned down a month ago.” He shook his head. “Hard to bounce back.”
“Thank you for your service,” Arrow said without mentioning his military background. “What did you do in the warehouse?”
“Forklift driver.”
“Want a job?”
Fred stopped chewing. “Yeah! Where?”
Thirty minutes later, we dropped Fred off at a hotel in Providence, where he had access to the bus route. Arrow had a warehouse that needed help. He paid for Fred’s one-month stay at the hotel until Fred could get back on his feet. Arrow also scheduled an interview for Fred with the hiring manager the following week. On top of that, he gave the man some money to get decent clothes for the big day.
The things that went on in Arrow’s mind amazed me.
On the ride home, I said, “You just changed Fred’s life.”
“You’re Santa Claus today!” Kaylee said. “You gave Fred the best gift ever.”
I was falling more in love with him every time I witnessed his kind gestures. He gave more to others than what he got credit for.
“Fred needed help, and he gave you the best clue to finding Aimee.”
“It was nice of him to help Aimee.” Kaylee popped her head between the driver and the passenger seat. “He could’ve taken her fries and nuggets without doing anything.”
“That’s why he deserves the help.”
“When are we heading to the museum?” Kaylee asked.
“Not today. It’s closed. Let’s go home and enjoy the rest of Christmas, and we’ll figure out when we can go find her.”