Finding laura, p.24
Finding Laura, page 24
Dorothy clutched her handbag. “I can imagine Miranda’s in shock. I’m shocked.”
Robert nodded. “I am too. Come on, I’m checking on Laura now.”
Dorothy followed her son-in-law down two corridors. She gasped and pointed to a security officer guarding Laura’s room entrance.
“Oh my! What’s … What’s he doing?”
“Don’t worry. It’s a precaution. I’m glad he’s here.”
The guard scrutinized the pair before voicing his command. “IDs, please.”
After Robert and Dorothy surrendered their driver’s licenses, the guard located their names on the approved visitors list. After documenting the time after their names, he returned their identification. “You can go in. Thanks.”
They entered the room and saw a woman at Laura’s bedside, assisting her with her breakfast.
Dorothy remained close to the door and pressed her fingers against her lips. Her eyelids brimmed with tears. “Robert, I can’t.”
Robert guided her with his hand on her back. “Sure, you can. Say hi.”
“It’s not that. I can’t … I can’t believe it’s her.”
Laura stopped chewing. Her eyes widened at the couple staring at her. She pulled the blanket to her chest.as a protective barrier.
“Laura, honey,” the woman said. “Don’t be afraid. That’s your daddy. You remember your daddy, don’t you?” She turned to Robert. “Hi. I’m Beth Landon. I’m a social worker evaluating Miss Laura here.”
Robert acknowledged Beth with a nod. “Laura, I’m Daddy.” He pointed to Dorothy. “And this is Grandma Knox.”
Laura dropped her gaze when Dorothy smiled at her. “Mama Libby.”
“Did she just say ‘Libby’, Robert? Who’s that?” Dorothy asked.
Beth placed the spoon on the tray. “Let’s visit outside, shall we? Laura, I’ll be right back, honey. See if you can finish that milk all by yourself, like a big girl, okay?”
Beth motioned for Robert and Dorothy to follow her to one of the nearby conference rooms. After they sat, Beth spoke. “You’re aware that because of Laura’s developmental delays, she speaks very few words. For that reason, trying to get her to disclose where she has been and who’s been caring for her is difficult. Very difficult. She’s mentioned this Mama Libby a few times. I’m not sure who this person is.”
“But Sally took her,” Robert said. “She knows Sally. She calls her by name, but it sounds like Salwy.”
“From what I’ve gathered from the police, Mr. Melton, is that Sally Eckerhart did not act alone.”
“And to think we trusted Sally. She lived in our home. “I just wonder … who helped her and where she hid Laura?”
Dorothy piped in. “Why did she hide Laura?”
“That’s for the police to solve,” Beth said. “My job’s to work through her emotional distress. Do you know when Laura’s mother will visit? I understand there’s some conflict with her.”
Robert scoffed. “Conflict? She was blamed for killing Laura; although she insisted she didn’t.” He glanced at Dorothy. “None of us believed her. None of us.”
“You have a lot of things to work out, Mr. Melton. It’ll all take time. But right now, for Laura’s sake, keep your visits short. Upbeat. Let her warm up to you. Don’t push her. Do you understand?”
“I still … I still can’t believe, well, I honestly can’t believe any of this,” Dorothy added. “Robert, I need to go home and speak to Gerald. He believed this was all a mix up. I’m afraid I did too. That’s why I had to see Laura for myself.”
Beth stood. “So, Mr. Melton, let’s give Laura a few days before her mother visits. Your daughter’s still fighting that touch of pneumonia and may not be feeling the best. Besides, she’s still processing everything that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours.”
“Sure, I understand.” He shook her hand. “Thank you, Miss Landon. Thank you for everything you’ve done so far.” Robert turned to his mother-in-law. “Dorothy, do you want to stop at Miranda’s room for a minute?”
Dorothy fretted. “No, Robert. Not just now. This is all so much to take in.” She wrung her hands. “I need to tell Gerald. I need to talk to him.”
Dorothy’s heart swarmed with mixed emotions as she sat in her car. Processing the astonishing revelation that Laura was alive required strength after embracing the memory of her burial. She had whispered her final goodbye to her granddaughter at Woodhaven and had never allowed herself to revisit memories of happier times.
“Laura. Alive.”
Although she had witnessed her granddaughter’s presence, saying the words aloud made it real. Her mind jumped forward to the next conclusion.
She also confirmed that fact by saying it aloud.
“So, Miranda didn’t …”
Dorothy licked her dry lips and swallowed hard. She squinted away the beginning of tears.
For the past year, she had rejected her daughter and dismissed her amnesia as a sympathetic ploy. Dorothy had disowned her only child, because she had believed everything Gerald had told her about that fateful night. She had trusted him. After all, he was there.
Dorothy cupped her hands over her mouth. The view from her windshield blurred as tears flowed over her fingers. The realization delivered a devastating blow.
He was there.
After crying for what seemed like an unmeasurable length of time, Dorothy composed herself. She blotted her face with her handkerchief, exhaled her anguish and drove home. Dorothy was disappointed when she did not spot Gerald’s Chrysler parked in the driveway.
“Oh, darn it!”
When she unlocked the front door, she was surprised to hear movement in the kitchen. Cautiously, she placed her purse and keys on the entry table. As she neared the kitchen, relief replaced her anxiousness when she saw Gerald pouring a cup of coffee.
“You’re home,” she stated. “Where’s your car?”
“Hid it in the garage so people quit badgering me. Unusual for you to be out so early. Where were you?”
“At the hospital.”
Gerald raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“To see for myself. It’s true, Gerald. Laura’s alive. She’s at the hospital. I saw her.”
Gerald set down his cup. “You saw her?”
“Yes. I met Robert, and we visited her.”
“So why didn’t he call us? That clown.”
“He explained that he was in shock, understandably. Miranda fainted when she heard the news, and he had to attend to her. Plus, dealing with the police—”
“Police sniffing around there too? What clues have the geniuses discovered? I still need to contact the mayor and chief this morning.”
“Not sure what they know, Gerald. But when Robert and I were in Laura’s room, a social worker was there too. She says Laura refers to someone as ‘Mama Libby.’ Might be the person who kidnapped her.”
“Dorothy, don’t get your hopes up. And I’ll say this as respectfully as I can, but Laura’s never had her full … what? Mental capacity, let’s just say. So, who’s to make sense of anything she manages to mumble?”
Dorothy stared at the man she had wed forty-two years ago. After four decades of living together, how had she never grasped his callousness? Had he always been this despicable?
She fired back. Her disgust caused her voice to rise two octaves higher than her normal speaking tone. “You’ve not mentioned anything about being happy that Laura is back and alive. Nothing!”
Gerald sipped his coffee. “What’s there to say? Robert and Miranda are the ones to be happy. Let them rejoice.”
“You were there, Gerald.”
“I haven’t been to the hospital since this fiasco started.”
“No. I mean you were there the night Laura ‘died.’ You wouldn’t allow me to go. You answered Sally’s call and raced over there. You took care of everything, Gerald, because that’s what you do. What did you do, Gerald?”
Gerald locked eyes with his wife.
“What did you do?” she shouted.
Gerald lunged forward and squeezed Dorothy’s jaw. “I took care of it. That’s what I did.”
Dorothy stumbled backward from the force of Gerald releasing his hold. She braced herself against a chair to steady herself. She rubbed his finger impressions from her chin and stared at him. She shook her head defiantly from side to side. “A child. A child, Gerald! I pity you. I hope to God—”
Gerald sneered. “Save your prayers, darling. I don’t need them.”
Dorothy ignored the telephone ringing and fled to the solitude of the guest bedroom.
Gerald lifted the receiver. “Senator Knox.”
“Jerry? You gotta help me. The cops were here.”
“Liv, I told you never to call here.”
“The cops, Jerry! Asking questions about Laura. Stupid Sally called an ambulance while we—”
“Stop! I already know all of that. You’re taking a risk by contacting me. Don’t you have a brain in that head of yours? Don’t tell them anything. You think they’ll believe a colored over you?”
“The ambulance came to my address, Jerry. How am I supposed to explain that?”
“Tell them you hired Sally to sit with Timmy, and you didn’t know she had arranged for the girl to come over. It’s really quite simple to think of an explanation when you don’t panic. For God’s sake, don’t mention my name. Not at all. You got that?”
The silence on the line tired Gerald’s patience. “Olivia, are you still there?”
“I’m here.”
“Did you tell anyone about me? Did you?”
“No.”
“You better not. Not if you want a future for you and the boy.”
“Your son, Jerry.”
“Not now. Don’t call here again. I’ll contact you when the dust settles.”
“When will that be?”
“When the damn dust settles!” Gerald slammed down the receiver.
Dorothy flinched at the disconnecting click sound in her ear, pressed the clear plunger on the guest room’s telephone and gently replaced the receiver in its cradle.
Chapter 33
“I’m sorry, dear,” Dorothy said. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Pushing with her elbows, Miranda raised herself in the hospital bed. “Sorry for what, Mother?”
“For not believing you about Laura.”
Miranda focused on her cotton gown. She picked at one of the blue snowflake-shaped motifs. “What about Laura?”
“I know now you didn’t hurt her, Miranda. I’m so sorry. I should have listened. Maybe if I had been a little bit more emphatic, a little more understanding, then none of this would have happened.”
Miranda tugged at her gown. When she failed to remove the design, she scraped her nail against the fabric.
“Miranda, are you listening? Remember when you were about five—about Laura’s age—and we were baking sugar cookies? You asked if I loved you. Do you remember my answer?” Dorothy grinned. “I said, ‘Yes. Forever and a day.’ You wanted to know how long that was. Well, shortly after that, you became daddy’s little girl, and our times together just stopped.” Dorothy snapped her fingers. “Stopped just like that.”
Miranda remained fixated on her gown’s pattern. She pinched the fabric and released it. When the blue snowflake remained embedded in the fabric, she frowned.
“Well, I’m just trying to say that I’m sorry we were never close. But you don’t need to make the same mistake with Laura. You can bake cookies, go shopping, and do all the fun things we never did. It’s not too late.”
Miranda smoothed her gown and pulled up the sheet. As she stared at the wall, she murmured, “It’s too late.”
“Why, no dear. Don’t you see? You get another chance. A second opportunity to spend time with Laura.”
“Laura’s at Woodhaven.”
“No. No, Miranda. You’re confused. Laura is alive and well. You can see her in a few days, when the doctor says it’s okay.”
“Robert took me to Woodhaven. He showed me.”
Dorothy lowered her head in defeat. Her struggle to reason with Miranda ended when Robert entered the room.
“Hi, honey. Dorothy?”
Dorothy motioned toward the door. “Robert, may I speak to you?”
Miranda remained stoic and ignored him when he promised he would return in a moment.
Dorothy wasted no time expressing her frustration to Robert. “She’s not responding to a single word I’ve said, except to tell me that Laura’s at Woodhaven. My God, Robert! What’s happened?”
“I’ll try to explain it the way it was told to me. Miranda’s suffered a lot of trauma. Not remembering Laura’s ‘death,’ then blamed for causing it. It was quite a burden to carry, to say the least. None of us believed her. Then, when Laura was found, the psychiatrist said the news should have been revealed to her slowly, give her time to accept and digest it.”
“Well, yes. It’s stunning to us. Imagine what it sounded like to her.”
“Exactly. But that overzealous detective just barged in her room and blurted it out.”
Dorothy gasped. “Oh, for God’s sake!”
“I’d kill him if I could. Believe me. Well, the doctor said Miranda’s mind has retreated to what he calls a ‘safe place.’ Back to what she knows as the truth. To force her into reality just isn’t the answer. She needs long-term care.”
Dorothy closed her eyes. “Tucker?”
“A bed has finally become available for her. I really resent having to send her there, but it’s for the best. She needs care I can’t provide, especially if I want to bring Laura home to a safe environment. In fact, it’s a requirement I’m forced to follow.”
“When?”
“Situate Miranda at Tucker tomorrow. Laura comes home the next day.”
“For the first time …”
“For the first time, what, Dorothy?”
Dorothy hung her head. “For the first time I know what it feels like to lose a daughter, only to find her and lose her all over again.”
“Something you never wanted to share in common with Miranda,” Robert whispered as he hugged Dorothy.
Dorothy released her embrace. “Anything I can do to help, Robert. Please don’t hesitate to call.”
Robert stepped backward. “Appreciate that, Dorothy. I really do.”
Chapter 34
“You need to start talking, and start talking real quick,” Detective Timm instructed Sally.
Sally had sat for hours perched on a metal folding chair with nothing to look at but the four walls that enclosed her like a box. The detective had provided her with coffee and offered her cigarettes, but that was as far as his hospitality reached. He pressed the record button on his tape recorder. Then he lit another cigarette and waited.
When Sally did not respond, he decided to rattle her cool persona.
“Twenty-five years to life for kidnapping. Judge will probably throw the book at a colored stealing a white family’s child, especially a sick one. Just being an accomplice will get you ten. Ever been in prison, Sally?”
Her silence prompted him to continue. “Piss-soaked mattresses, for starters. Food so horrible it makes you wanna hurl just looking at it, because it smells and tastes like puke. But you’ll eat it. Sure will, you’ll eat it with a smile on your face ’cause they’re ain’t no choices in prison. You don’t even get a say on who’s touching your body, whether you want it or not. Sounds like a real nice place, now don’t it?”
He pounded his fist on the table causing Sally to flinch.
“Who was behind this? Had to be someone smarter than you. Did you get paid? Laid? What was in it for you?”
“Ain’t sayin’ nothin’.”
“Here are the facts, Miss Eckerhart. You called the ambulance and showed up at the hospital. That child was once your ward, from the family you still lived with. That apartment is rented to Olivia Duncan. Why were you at her apartment when she wasn’t home? Where was she?”
Sally stared at her feet.
“Maybe you’ll like to know that Miss Duncan is sitting down the hallway in the same type of room as this right now. She already told us that you were involved in this kidnapping. In fact, to prevent her ass from going to prison and never seeing her son again, she’s already told us plenty. Especially about your involvement. So, if you don’t want to be headed up to the penitentiary, you better spill your guts too.”
Sally crossed her arms and sucked her trembling lower lip.
“How much did Senator Knox pay you?”
“Didn’t pay me nothin’, sir.”
“What did he promise you? Money?”
“No.”
“Why? Why kidnap his own granddaughter?”
Sally shrugged.
“You don’t leave this room until you tell the truth. If you lie, I lock you up. Plain and simple, woman. I figured you as a God-fearing woman who loved the children she reared, but that ain’t who I see sitting her today. I see a lying snake who never gave a damn about that little girl.”
“I love Miss Laura. That’s why—”
“That’s why, what? Explain how your glorious love for this little girl justified keeping her away from her mama.”
“I love her. Miss Miranda surely didn’t.”
“So you were punishing the mother, is that it? Teach her a lesson?”
“Was told I could keep the child to raise. That’s what he said.”
“Who’s he?”
Sally turned her head away from the detective.
“Who’s he? Senator Knox?”
Sally nodded.
Detective Timm pointed to the tape recorder. “I need you to say his name.”
“I love her. Givin’ that child a better life ain’t no crime. That’s all I wantin’ to do. Give her some love.”
“Was it Senator Knox who promised that if you helped snatch the child that you could raise her?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sally Eckerhart, you’re under the arrest for the abduction of Laura Melton. Please stand.”
