Chapter 7 Mitch
MITCH
Piper launched herself at Mitch the moment he and Lori stepped through Debbie Louwe's front door, carrying a duffel bag packed with her clothes and favorite stuffed animals.
Her small arms wrapped around his waist with the fierce intensity only an eleven-year-old could manage, and she squeezed hard enough that Mitch had to steady himself against the doorframe.
"Thank you, Grandpa!" she squealed, her voice muffled against his shirt. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise I'll be good and I'll do all my chores when I get back, and I'll even clean out the gutters if you want!"
Despite everything weighing on his mind, Ryan still missing, Tessa still missing, Dr. Simons still missing, that threatening note taped to his door, Mitch found himself smiling.
He wrapped his arms around his granddaughter and held her close, breathing in the familiar scent of her strawberry shampoo.
"You don't have to clean the gutters," Mitch told her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Just have fun and be safe. That's all I ask."
Piper pulled back and looked up at him with those eyes that were so much like her father's, bright and full of life and innocence. "I love you so much, Grandpa," she said, then stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
Mitch's chest tightened. "I love you too, sweetheart. More than you know."
Debbie stepped forward with a warm smile, her hands folded in front of her in a gesture that seemed both maternal and reassuring.
"I promise you again, Mitch, Piper will be very well taken care of.
My parents are looking forward to meeting her, and they've already stocked the cabin with everything two pre-teen girls could possibly want.
Board games, art supplies, fishing rods, and life jackets for the lake. We've got it all covered."
"I appreciate that," Mitch said, and he meant it.
Under normal circumstances, he might have felt guilty for essentially shipping his granddaughter off to Maine while a crisis was unfolding.
But these weren't normal circumstances. Piper was safer away from Pelican Bay right now, away from whatever was happening with the kidnappings and the threatening notes and the people who seemed to be watching his every move.
"Come say goodbye to Misty!" Emma called from the driveway, where the German Shepherd was waiting patiently by Mitch's truck, her tail wagging as both girls rushed over.
Mitch watched as Piper dropped to her knees beside the dog, wrapping her arms around Misty's neck. "I'm going to miss you," she told the dog seriously. "You be good and don’t miss me too much."
She gave Misty one more squeeze, then stood up and moved to Lori.
"Thank you for packing my stuff," Piper said, hugging Lori with the same enthusiasm she'd shown Mitch. "I hope you're still in Pelican Bay when I come home in a few days. It's been so nice having you here."
Lori returned the hug, her arms tightening around Piper in a way that made Mitch's heart do something complicated in his chest. "I have another month or so before I head back to Florida," Lori told her, her voice warm. "So don't worry. I'll still be here when you get back."
Piper beamed. "Yay! That's awesome!"
But Mitch felt his stomach twist at Lori's words.
Another month or so. The reminder hit him harder than he'd expected.
Lori's time in Nantucket was temporary. It was a reminder that she had a life in Florida, and a house in the sunshine.
That once this summer was over, once they found whoever was behind these kidnappings, and everything returned to normal, Lori would leave.
The thought of Seabird Cottage without her in it, of not seeing Lori at the kitchen table in the mornings or hearing her laugh at something Misty did or catching her eye across the yard, it made something in Mitch's chest ache in a way he didn't want to examine too closely.
The girls disappeared inside the house in a flurry of excited chatter about what they'd do first when they got to the cabin, and Debbie turned back to Mitch with that same reassuring smile.
"I mean it, Mitch," Debbie said, her tone gentle but firm. "Between my parents and me, we’ll take excellent care of Piper. She'll be safe with us."
"Thank you," Mitch said, and he was surprised by how rough his voice sounded. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."
"Of course. I should be thanking you. Emma gets so bored at the cabin with just us adults," Debbie said. "Now go. We've got this."
Mitch nodded, gave one last wave toward the house where he could hear Piper's laughter echoing, then turned and walked back to his truck with Lori at his side. Misty hopped into the back seat as they climbed in, and Mitch had just started the engine when his phone rang.
The sound made both him and Lori jump. Mitch pulled the phone from his pocket and frowned at the screen. Unknown number.
His first instinct was to ignore it. It could be a spam call, or someone trying to sell him insurance or solar panels. But something made him stop the truck before he pulled out of Debbie's driveway. Something made him answer.
"Hello?"
"Mitch?" The female voice on the other end was breathless and urgent, crackling with poor reception or adrenaline or both.
Mitch's eyes widened. He turned to meet Lori's gaze, saw his own shock reflected in her face. "Dr. Simons?" he asked, his heart suddenly pounding. The line crackled with static. "Jackie?"
"We need help," Jackie said, and Mitch could hear the tremor in her voice, the barely contained panic. "Urgently. Ryan... he's in a bad way."
Mitch's heart lurched so violently he thought for a moment he might be having a heart attack. His hand tightened on the phone until his knuckles went white. "Where are you?"
"We're at a roadside diner," Jackie said, the words tumbling out fast and shaky. "On the outskirts of town, heading toward the highway. I thought—" Her voice broke slightly. "I thought we were closer to the main hospital than we are. I'm sorry. I thought we were closer..."
"Jackie," Mitch said, forcing his voice to stay calm even though every nerve in his body was screaming. "I'm on my way. I know exactly where that is. The old Route 6 Diner, right?"
"Yes," Jackie confirmed. "Yes, that's it."
Mitch wanted to ask a hundred questions. Why were they at a diner? How did they escape? What happened to Ryan? But before he could get any words out, Lori grabbed his arm.
"Tessa," Lori said, her voice cracking. "Mitch, ask about Tessa. Is Tessa—"
"Is Tessa with you?" Mitch asked, holding his breath as he waited for the answer.
"Yes," Jackie said, and Mitch felt relief flood through him so intensely he had to close his eyes for a moment. He nodded at Lori and saw tears well up in her eyes as she pressed a hand to her mouth.
"Thank goodness," Lori whispered.
"I'm on my way," Mitch repeated into the phone. "Can you stay on the line with me? Talk me through what's happening?"
"I need to go help Ryan," Jackie said, and now Mitch could hear the tears in her voice. "I called because Tessa... uh... she fainted at the sight of all the blood when we got here and—"
"Blood?" Mitch's stomach dropped. "Jackie, what—"
"I have to go," Jackie said urgently. "I have to help Ryan. Please hurry."
"Wait, whose number is this?" Mitch asked quickly, not wanting to lose the connection.
"The diner owner's phone," Jackie said. "Please hurry, Mitch. Please—"
The line cut off abruptly, leaving nothing but dead silence.
"No, no," Mitch hissed, pulling the phone away from his ear to stare at the screen. He punched redial, but it went straight to a generic voicemail. He tried again with the same result.
"What happened?" Lori asked, her hand still gripping his arm. "Mitch, what's going on?"
"Tessa and Ryan are at the diner," Mitch said, his voice tight as he threw the truck into gear. "Ryan's hurt. We need to go. Now."
He didn't wait for Lori to respond before he gunned the engine and peeled out of Debbie's driveway, tires squealing on the asphalt. His hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly he could feel his pulse pounding in his fingers.
All the blood, Jackie had said. Tessa fainted at the sight of all the blood.
How much blood were they talking about? How badly was Ryan hurt?
Mitch's mind raced through possibilities, each one worse than the last. Gunshot wound.
Stab wound. Internal bleeding. Head trauma.
The list went on and on, and every scenario ended with Ryan lying pale and still on some diner floor while Jackie desperately tried to keep him alive with whatever limited supplies a roadside restaurant would have.
"Mitch," Lori said quietly from beside him. "You need to slow down. If we crash, we can't help them."
She was right, but Mitch's foot didn't ease up on the accelerator. If anything, he pressed harder. The speedometer climbed past sixty, then seventy, then eighty on a road where the speed limit was forty-five.
"I can't lose him," Mitch said, the words torn from somewhere deep in his chest. "Lori, I can't! I already lost Grady. I can't lose Ryan, too."
"You won't," Lori said firmly. Her hand came to rest on his knee, warm and steady. "We're going to get there in time. Jackie's with him. She's a doctor. She knows what she's doing."
Mitch wanted to believe that. Wanted to hold onto the certainty in Lori's voice. But all he could think about was another hospital, another frantic drive, another son bleeding out while Mitch raced against time.
Eight years ago, his eldest son, Piper's father, Grady, and his wife, Charlotte, had been in a car accident.
By the time Mitch got to the hospital, it was already too late.
The doctors had done everything they could, they'd said.
Sometimes there's just nothing anyone can do, they'd said.
Would you like some time alone with him?