Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sadie’s breath hitched when she ran back to the various baskets of different yarns she and Ellen had just looked at. She was certain that Ruby had been there the whole time, had she not?
“Ruby!” Sam’s voice echoed through the large space cluttered with boxes, crates and the store’s inventory. “Let’s not play now, Sweetheart!”
“Ruby! Come out, darlin’!” Sadie joined him.
They both stopped to listen. There wasn’t even the slightest giggle or rustling. No footsteps or running. The silence was deafening.
Sadie spun around and saw the panic in Sam’s eyes.
“Where is she?” he yelled. Sadie looked past him and saw Ellen stare at a spot halfway down the long hallway.
“Did she go through here?” Ellen asked and disappeared behind a tall stack of crates. Sam spun around and followed her. Sadie ran after them, though a little slower, still hoping to find Ruby hidden among the crates or boxes.
“Ruby? Come out, Ruby!” she tried again and again. Then she reached the spot where Ellen and Sam stood outside, calling for her from behind a hidden side door.
Mrs. Jameson came up from behind her. “This door is usually locked! Why is it open?” Sam turned and looked at the lock. It had been broken open. The were splinters around the doorframe and a chain was laying on the ground outside.
“We had a break-in?” the young owner exclaimed. “This must have happened recently, because I was back here and it was still locked the last time I saw it!”
Sam’s face turned pale and Sadie couldn’t control the sudden trembling of her entire body. If this had happened recently… exactly as they couldn’t find Ruby…
“No!” Sadie whispered. Sam’s wide-eyed stare turned stone-cold. He ran back outside and kept calling his daughter’s name as he darted down the side alley off toward the main road.
“I’ve got to go and tell my father!” Mrs. Jameson announced. With that, she disappeared, yelling down the hallway for Mr. Jameson to call the sheriff.
Sadie stood there, shaking uncontrollably until Ellen reached her.
“Sadie! Where is Sam?” she asked with a fearful voice. Her eyes reflected the panic Sadie felt in that moment.
“We need to find Ruby!” Sadie said, still hoping that the little girl was hiding in the storage room somewhere.
“Dear God, let us find her quickly!” Ellen prayed as she ran outside.
She turned the opposite direction Sam had gone.
Sadie sprinted down the hallway deeper into the storage room, continuously calling Ruby’s name until she reached the back door, which was unlocked.
Stumbling outside, she saw Ellen running ahead of her behind the main buildings, looking behind every box, crate, and inside every overhang.
Sadie ran toward the main road. Sam’s booming voice echoed somewhere in the distance. Reaching Main Street, a significant crowd had started to assemble near the general store. Sadie stopped at the corner, trying to gulp some air into her lungs.
“What happened?” random people asked around, while others already reported a break-in and a missing child.
“Sadie?” an older woman in a long gray coat approached her. Sadie was almost certain that she’d seen her in the store earlier.
“Yes?” she asked the woman, still very much out of breath.
“I wished I’d said something earlier,” she told her with a worried face. “My name is Mrs. Thomas. I think I saw someone take the little girl before I entered the store.”
Sadie’s hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened in utter shock.
“Where? When? Who?” she asked, bewildered. A pit the size of a boulder sat inside her stomach. She felt nauseous. “She’s been taken, you say?”
Mrs. Thomas nodded.
“I saw her with an old woman, who was also in the library,” she explained. “The one wearing all black, talking about her puppies, do you remember?”
Sadie remembered her looks only vaguely, though the story about the puppies was vivid in her mind. Ruby had been so excited.
“What about her?” Sadie asked with a heaving chest. This time, part of her breathlessness was caused by the rising panic. People started to surround them as they were openly listening in.
“She followed you all the way from the library in a dark carriage,” Mrs. Thomas told her. “I mean, so did I in my buggy, but I actually have to get supplies today.”
Sadie looked up and saw Sam coming back, pushing his way through the crowd toward her. His sweaty face was white as a sheet and he was just as breathless as Sadie had been.
“Have you found her?” he asked, hopeful. When Sadie shook her head, he broke down, bending in the middle. “Oh God, no!” he half sobbed. Sadie had never before seen him cry, much less in front of a crowd of people. It shook her to her core to see him so destroyed. She put her hands on his forearms.
“This lady, Mrs. Thomas, saw her,” Sadie told him. Sam’s head flew up and his hopeful stare focused on the older woman.
“You were at the library!” he said to her, his voice harsher than it should have been. He had a wild look in his eyes. Sadie was unsure why he was acting so strange. “And then in the store! You followed us!” he yelled.
Mrs. Thomas was intimidated by his unhinged presence when he towered over her with an almost mean glare. She backed away and before Sam could follow her, Sadie had to step in between them.
“Sam!” Sadie yelled at her husband, pushing hard against his chest to stop him, but his body was like a solid stone wall. He didn’t budge an inch. “She’s got important information about Ruby! You need to listen!”
Sam slowed the second Ruby’s name was mentioned. His face changed from aggravated to hopeful and nervous again.
“Tell us!” he called out, his voice stuck in his throat. Mrs. Thomas’ expression showed the gentle sympathy most people there visibly felt in that moment. Sadie could clearly see it on most of their faces. However, she was still taken aback by his extreme behavior. Mrs. Thomas continued.
“I saw that lady and two young men get out of the carriage,” she explained with more urgency.
“They didn’t come inside the store. They disappeared down the side alley.
I had just parked my buggy when I saw the woman walk back to her carriage, with the little girl.
The two men followed them. It looked like they were in a hurry. ”
Sam released a painful outcry. He doubled over, fighting to catch a breath. Sadie couldn’t bear to see him like that. Her heart was physically hurting.
“She was holding the girl’s hand as she was talking to her,” Mrs. Thomas continued. “It didn’t look forced; the girl was smiling. That’s why I didn’t say anything or sound the alarm when I came into the store. I thought you all knew.”
“A dark carriage, you said?” Sam asked with a shaky voice, wiping his eyes. “Did you see them leave? Which direction did they go?”
Sadie looked at her, full of hope, but Mrs. Thomas shrugged and shook her head.
“I didn’t actually see them leave, so I can’t say where they went,” she said.
“South!” a bystander called out. Sam turned to the man somewhere in the back. “I had to stop walking when they turned, coming out of the alley. They went south on Main Street not too long ago.”
“I need a horse!” Sam called out.
“Take mine!” a middle-aged man offered from somewhere amidst the crowd.
“She’s not the youngest anymore, but she’s very reliable!
” Sam’s head swiveled in his direction and the people stepped aside to make way.
The man handed Sam the reins without questioning it.
“Be good to her, then she’ll be good to you,” was all he said.
“Thank you!” Sam said, quickly squeezing the man’s shoulder, then he mounted the horse.
“I saw that carriage turn at the bank, heading south-east!” another man called out.
“Have you actually seen it?” Sadie asked to confirm. The man nodded.
“Yes! I have,” he replied. “I thought I saw my friend driving it, that’s why I stopped to look…”
Sam rode off in the direction the men had mentioned. Sadie just stood there, watching him leave. She didn’t know what to do.
“Please, God! Please let him find her! Please bring Ruby back to us!” Sadie prayed openly and in front of everybody. Mrs. Thomas put her hand on Sadie’s arm.
“If we all pray, the Lord will make it happen,” she said reassuringly.
“Did you find her?” Ellen’s scratchy voice appeared behind Sadie. That’s when Sadie finally gave in to her tears, wildly shaking her head.
“She’s gone! Someone took her!” Sadie exclaimed in between heart-wrenching sobs. Ellen was so out of breath, she was wheezing. Both women hugged tightly.
“We need to spread out and find that girl!” someone yelled. “We need to help searching!” More and more voices called out, mirroring the same sentiment. The crowd got quickly fired up and suddenly there was movement everywhere.
Sadie watched in bewilderment as men took to their horses and even women rushed to their buggies and carriages. It suddenly seemed as if the whole town started to mobilize. The more people got ready, the more people joined in and asked what was happening—and the word spread.
In less than ten minutes, all of Main Street was filled with folk getting ready to join the search as others were already leaving, calling to each other where to go and what had happened.
Sadie was deeply moved and could barely see through her tears. Mrs. Jameson’s husband and her two sons also joined the search, while she offered Sadie and Ellen to come back inside.
Sadie thanked her for her kindness, but she couldn’t leave her spot just yet. Hugging Ellen tightly to her side, the women watched the miracle unfold right before their eyes.
“Sadie?” the older lady with the very frilly bonnet and a few more of the women who’d been at the library showed up moments later. “We heard what happened! Are you all right?”
“I don’t know what to do,” Sadie said honestly. “I have no idea where I am supposed to be or where to start. I feel like I’m frozen to the ground.”
“Would you all join me in prayer?” the priest’s voice came from behind Sadie. It startled her, but then she was immensely grateful to see him walk up to their little group.
“Someone told me what happened,” the priest said, “and I thought I’d come here to show my support and give you some encouragement through the Lord’s word, if you’ll allow me?” Sadie immediately nodded. She needed all the help she could get.
“We need the Lord’s word right now,” Ellen said with a croaky voice.
They all stood in the middle of Main Street, right outside the general store. They all bowed their heads, as the afternoon sun began to slowly douse the town in soft golden light. And they all joined the priest in prayer.
“Dear Lord in Heaven!” the priest said, as he put his hand solemnly onto his Bible.
“Protect the precious child from harm and all of those trying to find her. Bring her back safely into her parents’ arms. Please provide strength and solace to those who need it right now.
Shine Your light upon us and help us make this world a better place.
For the children are the innocent and blessed in Thy name… ”
Sadie listened to the words he spoke, but the comfort and courage she’d tried to find didn’t come. Her heart felt numb. All she could think about was Sam and Ruby.
Where were they now? What would happen to them? Fear threatened to choke her. Would she even see both of them again?