The reborn, p.27
The Reborn, page 27
“Any news?” he asked.
“No.” Everything in my gut churned that I couldn’t do more, that the truth had been right under my nose the entire damn time. “I can’t believe I fucking missed it.”
He stared me down from behind his aviators. “Some people are born deceivers. You know that, Ashford. Plus, she’s just a college kid. I wouldn’t have put her top of the list either, and I for sure wouldn’t have suspected she might be the secret big sister. Jesus, man, that’s like out of a movie. Give yourself a break.”
I huffed out a big breath, not quite ready to let myself off the hook. “Still. I should’ve looked harder. She was always skittish around me. She was the only one who took the studio key for a weekend—”
“To teach, then gave it right back. Not the biggest of red flags.” He yanked off his glasses. “And looking back, sure, skittish because she had something to hide. In the moment, what did you think?”
“That she was a nervous kid.”
He shrugged as if to say there you go.
I couldn’t believe Kade the badass was not kicking my ass harder.
“You keeping Camden in the loop?” he asked.
“Yeah. She asked me to. And he’s keeping up with the rest of the family. She’s not up for having everyone over here making her more nervous, though I think she needs their support.”
He glanced back at the house. “I think she just needs yours.”
I turned to find her looking out the window at us, her eyes haunted and red, her face pale. It was like a mule kick to the center of my chest right then . . . I’d known for a while that I loved her, but today it felt like we were a real family. I no longer worked for her. I simply loved her and that little girl. They were mine and I was theirs, and that was the most humbling thing I’d ever felt in my life—because I now knew that God was not ignoring me when I’d pleaded and prayed with him all those years ago. He had answered me . . . by saying no. He had something so much better in store for me when I got to the other side of that pain and bitterness.
“You’re right,” I murmured. “Let me get back in there.”
I spun to go back inside and wrapped her back up in my arms, letting her borrow whatever strength she needed as she faced the rest of the detective’s questions while Kade made himself scarce in the dining area with my laptop. We’d worked together long enough that I knew he’d be stepping in to help me lock down security on all other fronts since we had no idea what else Sofia might be capable of at this point.
That left me free to focus on Olivia, who was barely holding it together, as she dug out a recent photo of Elizabeth for the police.
“Thank you,” a kind-eyed detective said. “We’ll use this to put together the Amber Alert bulletin, which should be going out within the hour.”
“Oh God.” Olivia turned to me, everything in her screaming silently in pain. “We’ll find her, won’t we?” she whispered.
I’d seen the looks on the cops’ faces. They all thought it was hopeless. I’d sworn to her I would always protect them . . . and I would give my life for either of them . . . but even I didn’t have a crystal ball.
And I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
So I told her a lie.
“Yes.”
Twenty-Nine
Olivia
Three hours later and nothing.
Sofia’s car had been found in the parking lot of student housing with no sign of Elizabeth. The police had brought in their scent dogs to look for her, starting at the daycare, but the trail had apparently run cold about a mile south.
I had never felt more helpless in my life, and my panic was bubbling just under the surface, ready to overflow to outright hysteria at any moment. Only Justin’s calm presence, as he handled all the details, kept me somewhat together, though even he couldn’t fix this. Nothing could fix this. I only wanted my baby back and nothing else.
My gut churned with relentless worry. What was happening? Was my little girl safe? Where was she? Was she scared? Had they hurt her?
God, what if—?
I couldn’t let my mind go there. I just couldn’t. I would go crazy if I did.
I finally relented and let Camden and my parents come over, mostly because they wouldn’t stop calling Justin for updates, and I knew they were as scared as I was.
Justin intervened to get them past the cops, and my parents rushed in to hug me, my dad looking me up and down. No words, just all fatherly concern, as I burst into a fresh wave of tears. I’d never cried so much in my life.
“Oh, honey,” my mom said, pulling me close again.
In true Cam fashion, he got to work immediately and jumped in where he could. He pulled out his phone and ordered food to be delivered, then asked Kade to have more security brought in to keep nosy neighbors and the news vans away.
A few minutes later, my mom sat next to me. “You should try to eat something,” she said, rubbing a hand down my back. “You’ll pass out if you don’t.”
I glanced over, my vision watery. “I can’t.”
“Try.” She offered me a paper plate with a few crackers and slices of cheese. “You’re no good to anybody, especially Elizabeth, if you don’t take care of yourself.”
Like a robot, I took the plate and tried to nibble a cracker, but I couldn’t taste anything. I managed to get one down, and she handed me a glass of lemonade, which I dutifully sipped before handing it back, unable to do more.
She seemed to understand so she set it aside and simply sat next to me, my hand clasped in hers. “I love you,” she said quietly.
I glanced over, something in my chest warming the tiniest bit at those words from my mother. “I love you, too.”
She gave me a tiny, understanding smile, as if to say she would take my pain away if she could, and I squeezed her hand as we shared a moment of motherhood.
Cam joined us, crouching in front of me, his blue eyes concerned as he took in my face. “You ladies need anything?”
“No, thank—” our mom started.
“How had I missed it?” I said, blurting the thought that had been circling my mind like a vulture since Justin and I had been in the dorm. “I hired her. I let her into my home. I trusted her with my baby!” I let the angry tears fall. “It’s my job to protect my daughter. How did I not see it?”
Camden tilted his head like my words confused him. “Nobody saw it, sis.” He reached over and brushed away a tear with his thumb. “I know you’re hurting, and I’d give anything to fix this and get our little princess back, but please don’t beat yourself up over something you had no control over. We had every precaution in place; you did everything right. There was no way you could have predicted this.”
“He’s right, sweetheart,” our mom said. “People have a way of only showing us what they want us to see, and you had no reason to suspect bad intentions, did you?”
I thought back to our first meeting, when she’d applied to my open dance teacher position. Fresh-faced and sweet, she’d told me she was a dance major at the university who wanted the experience, and she didn’t require much pay. She’d said she was raised by her Sicilian grandmother in New York—clearly a lie.
But when I had her dance for me? She was a natural on the dance floor. Now I knew why.
“No,” I admitted. “She was so quiet, but she was great with the students and a wonderful dancer.” Zero red flags other than the weird boyfriend situation, which, looking back, I’d probably been more than willing to believe because of my past with her father. How screwed up was that?
One of the police officers’ radios crackled with static before a voice broke through. I didn’t understand the code, but it sounded like something was happening.
I looked to Justin, whose gaze was locked on the lead detective as they exchanged quiet words.
I jumped up and ran over. “What? What is it? Did they find her?”
The detective glanced at me, then back to Justin as if to silently ask if he should say anything.
“Tell her,” Justin said, putting a firm hand at the small of my back as if to hold me steady with whatever I was about to hear.
The other man’s eyes softened a bit. “As you know, the dogs lost your daughter’s scent not too far from the daycare.”
“Yes?”
“We started our search grid from that point, keeping the dogs as well as a team of officers on foot to start looking for Elizabeth.” He paused, letting his words sink in.
They were looking for Elizabeth. That was good.
Wait.
They were looking for Elizabeth. They were looking for her body.
I refused to let myself fall apart until he finished. Until he said the words, there was still hope. “And? Did you find her?”
His eyes flashed again to Justin, making me suddenly angry.
“Well?” I insisted, my voice raised. “Did you? Did you find my baby girl?”
“No . . .” Disappointment wilted my spirit. “But one of the dogs found this . . .” He pulled out his phone to open a photo for me to look at.
So innocuous, you could barely even see it, but I’d know it anywhere. In some tall weeds was one of the little red ladybug barrettes I had put in her hair just that morning.
“Where did you find this?” I whispered, not sure how to process the fact that I was seeing something that was probably now in evidence and not in my daughter’s beautiful curls.
“So it is Elizabeth’s?”
I shoved the phone back at him. “Yes, it’s hers. I put two of them in her hair today.” I looked to Justin, whose pained expression must’ve mirrored my own because he knew what she was wearing as well as I did. “They matched her t-shirt.”
He nodded his thanks, then sprang into action, spinning away and speaking back into his radio.
Justin collected me close and ushered me into a quiet corner. “What can I do, baby?”
“Find her.”
The agony that sliced across his face at my words was palpable.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know you would if you could. I’m just . . . this waiting is killing me and I feel useless just sitting here.”
“How do you think I feel? It was my job to keep you both safe, and now . . .” His eyes dropped as if the words were too heavy.
I cupped his jaw. “You didn’t do this either, you know.”
He shook his head. “I’m not—”
“Ashford,” Kade interrupted him from his spot at the dining table with the computer. “A word?”
“Go,” I said. “I need to go freshen up in the bathroom anyway.”
He nodded and joined Kade, where they spoke in hushed tones about whatever was on his screen.
I slipped out unnoticed as my mom washed dishes and my dad and brother chatted with the officers in the living room.
I shut myself in my bedroom and let the quiet surround me. I wanted so much to pray, but the words were stuck in my hollowed-out heart, so I could only hope that God knew what was there and would fill in the gap for me.
I didn’t have the energy for a shower, so I made do with washing my face in cold water. As I studied myself in the mirror, I barely recognized the pale woman with dark smudges beneath her red-rimmed eyes staring back.
On autopilot, I brushed my hair and pulled it up into a hasty bun, then changed out of my work clothes that I still had on, into joggers and a Hollow Point Security t-shirt I’d stolen from Justin. It was too big, so I tied it around the waist and let his scent that still clung to the fabric soothe my weary soul.
Hoping against hope, I checked my cell phone. Maybe Christoph or Sofia had reached out. I’d take anything at this point if it was contact about Elizabeth.
Nothing.
I tucked the phone in my pocket and padded down the hall, eager to see what Kade may have found.
I stopped short at the sound of my father’s hushed voice. “I have a whole new level of understanding for my brother. My God, if this was even a fraction of what poor Jack and Lorraine went through when Claire went missing,” he said, “I can’t even imagine . . .”
“None of us can,” my mother agreed, her voice hoarse with emotion.
I sagged against the wall, gutted all over again. Another little girl in my family was missing. I hadn’t even considered that.
Claire.
My sweet cousin from over a decade ago now, taken at the hands of a madman.
Claire . . .
My dream from the other night came back to me in a flash as if I’d just woken up from it.
She had Elizabeth with her.
We don’t have much time.
My heart began to pound fast and hard, my intuition screaming at me to listen. But listen to what? My dream?
She’s safe . . .
But where was she? Where?
I closed my eyes and tried to focus, focus, focus.
Then it came back in crystal clarity. The weeds, the small grove of trees, the stone bench. The lake.
My eyes popped open as a conversation I had with Sofia came to mind from weeks ago.
There are some hiking trails behind my dorms . . . I found this pond with some cute benches and stuff . . . it’s quiet . . .
It wasn’t a lake.
It was a pond, and that was where she’d taken my baby.
I just knew it like I knew my own name.
Without another thought, I spun back to my bedroom and yanked on socks and tennis shoes. With all the cops coming and going, the alarm was disarmed, and I was never more grateful. With a single-minded focus, I grabbed my keys, then slipped past everyone toward the back door and out, running to the back gate.
I did not look back as I zipped out of the driveway and down the street. I glanced in the rearview mirror once after I’d hit the main road, surprised no one was following me.
A part of me knew I should’ve said something to Justin or the police officers, but what was there to say?
I had this dream . . .
Yeah, they’d probably think I was crazy.
I needed to follow my gut, see if I was right, then call for help if I was. I just didn’t want to waste time answering dumb questions. Not today. Not after she’d already been gone this long.
I flew onto campus and skidded to a stop back in front of student housing, where we’d been earlier. I jumped out of my car and sprinted down the path behind the building, following nothing but my mother’s instinct, praying it would lead me to the right hiking path and a hidden pond.
“Please, God,” I managed as I ran, my breaths coming hard and fast, panic nipping at my heels. “Please don’t let me be too late.”
There was a clear walking path to the left, but a magnetic force pulled my feet to the right, down a small, weed-filled path that was barely visible. I was forced to slow my pace as the brush smacked my face and stung my exposed flesh.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, but I ignored it, pressing on until I proved myself right or wrong.
Eventually, the path took a turn, and I could see up ahead where it spilled out into an open area. I slowed almost to a stop, my heart in my throat when I heard voices.
“Please,” the female voice said. “Let’s just get some help.”
“Don’t be so weak,” the man snarled.
Something in that voice was familiar, pushing me silently forward, especially when I heard a small whimper.
“She took everything from us,” he continued, the sound of water splashing making me rush on. “She took everything from me!”
“I know,” she said. “You’re right—”
Before she could say more, I stepped out into the light beyond the path, my eyes temporarily blinded by the sun on the water, so much like my dream, it was startling. “Christoph!” I shouted, making them both turn to me in surprise.
But I was the one shocked into silence.
Because it wasn’t Christoph wading out into the water with my terrified daughter in his arms.
Thirty
Justin
“Where’s Olivia?”
I glanced up from the security plans on Kade’s computer screen to her mother’s concerned face. “She went to her room to clean up.” I suddenly realized that had been a while ago. “Maybe she decided to lie down for a bit?”
She was shaking her head before I could finish my words. “She’s not in her room. She’s not anywhere in the house.”
I snapped up straight. “What do you mean?”
“Just that,” she said as her husband and Camden rushed up behind her.
“Her car’s gone,” Camden said.
“What?” I bolted to the front window and peered outside to see for myself. Sure enough, her little blue sedan was no longer in its spot next to my truck.
She’d sneaked out on me and gone . . . where? More importantly, why?
“Mr. Ashford?” The lead detective walked over. “Is something going on?”
“I have no fucking idea,” I said, my cool very much rattled.
I turned to find Kade standing behind the laptop, his expression silently asking me how he could help.
I yanked out my cell phone and dialed her number. It rolled to voicemail.
“Baby, it’s me. Where are you? Call me back. Please.” I did not care that I sounded desperate in front of all of these people.
I texted her a similar message, then called again. Still no answer.
“Damn it!” I raked a frustrated hand through my hair, desperate and unable to think for the first time in my life. I was no longer professional, I was all man who was lost in that moment, his woman and little girl’s lives on the line. I needed to get it together, but I was having a hard time grasping that line.
Her father turned to the detective to explain the situation while Kade approached and pulled me aside.
“Justin.” He shook me by using my given name. “Think. Where would she go?”
“I have no idea, man. She wouldn’t leave here unless it was for Elizabeth.”
“You think he contacted her? Arranged a meeting without the cops or something?”
If he had, she probably would’ve gone along with that, if she thought it was the only way to guarantee Elizabeth’s safety. But why wouldn’t she have found a way to tell me first? Surely she knew I’d protect her.
