The Missing Twin, page 14
Sara shook her head. “No, the back where you puts stuff.”
“You mean the trunk?” Madelyn said unable to keep the horror from her voice.
Sara bobbed her head up and down. “He slammed the top and closed Cissy in, and it’s really dark and she’s scared, and she’s crying.”
Madelyn shook with anger.
“What kind of car is he driving?” Caleb asked. “Can you see what color it is?”
Sara pressed her fist to her mouth. “Black.”
“Does it have two doors or are there doors in the back?” Caleb asked.
Sara shrugged. “I don’t know. Cissy can’t see the doors. It’s too dark in the trunk.”
Madelyn ached for both of her girls. Apparently Sara saw everything through Cissy’s eyes. And she felt her emotions. Her fear.
“Did the man say where he was taking Cissy?” Caleb asked.
Sara shook her head. “No, but the man killed her mama, and now he’s taking her away.”
Madelyn exchanged a worried look with Caleb. He knelt by Sara’s bed. “Sara, you said once that Cissy shared her secrets with you. Can you tell us about those secrets?”
Sara’s traumatized gaze flew to Caleb. “You’re not supposed to tell each other’s secrets.”
Madelyn chewed her bottom lip, then gathered Sara’s hand in hers. “You’re right, honey. But Cissy’s in trouble. And if there’s something about her secrets that can help us find her, I don’t think she’d mind if you told us.”
“Your mom is right,” Caleb said in a soothing tone.
Sara studied them both for a moment, indecision in her eyes. She was loyal to her twin, but she was terrified for Cissy’s life. She clutched her teddy bear under one arm and clung to Madelyn’s hand, squeezing it for dear life. “Cissy said no one’s supposed to know.”
“Know what, Sara?” Caleb asked.
Sara heaved a weary sigh. “That we gots the same daddy.”
CISSY ROLLED INTO A BALL, hugging her blanket to her chest. Tears leaked from her eyes and dripped down her face. Her breath hitched. She’d screamed so much already that her throat hurt and her voice sounded like a frog.
But nobody had heard.
Unless Sara had….
The car bounced over the rough road, tossing her back and forth. It was so dark she couldn’t see anything. It smelled awful, too. Dirty and greasy, and she felt a spider crawling up her leg.
She swiped at the spider with her hand and felt along the inside of the trunk for something to help her get out. But her hand hit something sharp. A shovel.
She jerked her hand back.
Her mommy’s face flashed in her mind. Her mommy lying on the floor in all that red. The red was blood. Her mommy’s blood cause the mean monster man had cut her throat.
The monster man had killed her. And now he’d left her mommy behind.
Where was he taking her now? To her daddy? Back to Sara?
No… He was going to kill her, too. That’s why he had that shovel. He was going to kill her, then he would bury her in the ground and no one would ever find her.
And she would never get to be with Sara.
Chapter Fourteen
Madelyn’s mind raced as Sara’s words sank in.
Cissy knew that she shared a daddy with Sara. Had she actually met her father?
If that was the case, then her ex-husband knew that Cissy had survived. He might have even seen her. He might even know where she was.
Pain knifed through her. No… Tim would not have betrayed her like that. He couldn’t be involved in Cissy’s disappearance, in her adoption.
He wouldn’t have given away one of his own children….
Would he?
“Thank you for sharing with us.” Caleb patted Sara’s shoulder. “You’re a brave little girl and a big help, Sara.”
Panic mushroomed inside Madelyn. “Sara, is the mean man who hurt Cissy’s mother—is that man Cissy’s daddy?”
Sara scrunched her nose. “No… Her mama says it’s her uncle. But he don’t like Cissy. And he and Cissy’s mama was yelling at each other and then…the knife…”
A horror-stricken look filled Sara’s eyes again, and Madelyn pulled her into her arms. “It’s okay, honey. It’s over. We’ll find Cissy. I promise.”
Caleb stood, indicating his phone, then left the room as if he was on a mission. She laid down beside Sara and comforted her until she finally drifted back to sleep.
Madelyn closed her eyes, too, sleep pulling at her.
They had to find Tim.
And if he’d had any part in Cissy’s adoption, she would kill him.
CALEB COULD BARELY CONTAIN his rage. Had Madelyn’s husband sold their daughter?
And what was this about an uncle killing the mother?
He strode to Madelyn’s kitchen table, the scent of her still lingering on his skin and tormenting him. Making love with her had been a mistake. He’d thought it would sate him, but now that he’d tasted her, touched her, felt her body join with his, he couldn’t shake the need for her.
He checked his watch—too late to call Ben. So he stretched out on the couch and closed his eyes. He dozed for a few hours, but woke with a start, adrenaline pumping through him. He retrieved his duffel bag from his car and hurriedly showered in the downstairs bath, not wanting to disturb Madelyn and Sara.
His mind spinning, he grabbed a pad and began to jot down the leads they had so far as he punched Ben’s number.
“Hello. Camp here.”
Caleb winced. Ben sounded half asleep.
“Ben, I’m sorry. I know it’s early, but I think Madelyn’s ex may have had something to do with her daughter’s disappearance. Do you have a current address on him?”
“Hang on and let me pull up his file.”
Caleb heard computer keys clicking, and continued to make his list, trying to pinpoint a connection. Emery had sold babies. Mansfield had helped arrange the adoptions.
Madelyn had a car accident—or had it been an accident?
Out of the couples who’d adopted through Emery, Pedderson was the most suspicious, and his beard matched Sara’s description.
The last couple, the Smiths—probably a phony name—had disappeared, making them jump to the top of his suspect list.
Also, the two people who might have known that Cissy hadn’t died had been murdered.
The killer was still at large. He’d sent Madelyn a threatening text and attacked her mother.
And he might not be working alone….
“Last address for Tim Andrews is a small town in the mountains of Tennessee,” Ben said, interrupting his thoughts. “555 Trinity Lane, Bear’s Landing.”
Caleb jotted down the address, then Tim’s name and drew a big question mark beside his name. “Anything else?”
Ben cleared his throat. “I ran his financials. Guy’s in debt up to his eyeballs. He seems to have a pattern of big deposits, then equally large withdrawals. I’d say investments, but there’s no evidence of a portfolio.”
Son of a bitch. “Gambling,” Caleb suggested.
“Sounds like it to me, too,” Ben said.
Caleb glanced at the stairs, grateful Madelyn was still with Sara. “If the guy was in trouble five years ago, maybe he was desperate enough to sell his daughter to pay off his debt.”
Ben whistled.
“Sara said something else disturbing. She said the man who killed her mother is her uncle.” He paused. “See if any of the mothers or fathers on our list have brothers, then dig up everything you can on them. Maybe one of them has a police record or we’ll find another connection.”
“That’ll take time, but I’m on it.”
Caleb spotted one of Sara’s sketches on the refrigerator. “Oh, and see if there are any greenhouses that specialize in sunflowers near Bear’s Landing.”
“Okay, hang on.”
“I don’t see any commercial greenhouses,” Ben said a moment later. “That doesn’t mean someone might not own a private one, but there are no wholesale ones in the area.”
“It was a long shot,” Caleb said, although he wanted to curse.
“Do you want me to ask Gage to send another agent to Andrews’s place?”
“No,” Caleb said. “I’m heading up there myself.” He had a feeling Madelyn would insist on going, as well.
As much as he hated to put her through such an ordeal, they both needed to see her ex’s face when they confronted him.
SUNLIGHT SHIMMERED THROUGH the blinds in Sara’s room, but Madelyn had barely closed her eyes. Each time she did, images of her husband trading their baby for money taunted her.
She had to be wrong. Surely Tim wouldn’t do something so horrible….
Madelyn slipped from bed and tiptoed to her room, then showered, closing her eyes and willing the images to fade, but they refused to go away.
She shampooed her hair, rinsed and dried off, then blew it dry and dressed in jeans and a loose sweater. She headed downstairs for coffee, wondering where Caleb was, if he’d slept on her sofa.
Their heated lovemaking the night before flashed back, and she inwardly groaned. That had been wonderful. Then Sara’s cry had reminded her of the reason Caleb was there, that he’d be leaving as soon as they found her daughter.
The scent of coffee permeated the air, and Madelyn found Caleb in the kitchen with a mug, his face stony. No remnants of desire. No heated looks.
No good morning kiss or embrace or a hint that they would repeat it.
“Did you sleep?” he asked.
“Some.” She poured herself a mug, aching to touch him again, but knowing she shouldn’t. She had to put distance between them, couldn’t let herself fantasize about a life with Caleb when she was certain the night before had only been sex for him. “You?”
He gave a nod. “I talked to Ben. I have an address for your ex. I’m heading to his place to talk to him.”
Madelyn’s stomach pitched, but she steeled herself. “Where is he?”
“A small town in the Smokies called Bear’s Landing.”
“I’m going with you.”
Caleb didn’t argue. He simply nodded. “I already talked to Gage. Leah and Ruby are expecting Sara.”
Madelyn stared down into her coffee, tears threatening. “I’m going to owe her again.”
“Leah and Gage are friends who want to help, Madelyn.” Caleb placed both hands on her shoulders and massaged them. “So you don’t owe anyone anything.”
“I owed it to my daughters to protect them.” She whirled around, anguish nearly suffocating her. “What if Tim did this, Caleb? What kind of mother am I if I didn’t see what their father was capable of?”
“You are a wonderful mother,” Caleb said gruffly. “And you trusted your husband. There’s no crime in that.”
Madelyn choked back a sob. “There is if he sold one of my children.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Caleb said. “But we are going to find out. Do you want me to get Sara?”
She sucked in a breath. “No, I need to get her dressed. While she has breakfast, I’ll fill us some to-go mugs and we can take our coffee with us.”
“Good idea. It’s a long drive.”
A half hour later, they drove to Leah’s. “Did you have more bad dreams last night, Sara?” Caleb asked as he parked at Gage’s.
She shook her head. “I think Cissy’s sleeping.”
He prayed the child was right, that her silence didn’t mean something worse.
Madelyn walked Sara to the door, and Sara hugged her so tightly, Madelyn feared she wouldn’t let her go. As much as she hated leaving Sara, she had to spare her the trauma ahead. Sara hadn’t seen Tim in years; she wouldn’t even recognize him. She certainly didn’t need to watch her mother confront him with her suspicions.
“Come on, Sara,” Ruby squealed. “Mommy made playdough for us!”
Sara smiled at Ruby and clasped her hand, then followed her to the kitchen.
Storm clouds gathered as Madelyn and Caleb left Sanctuary and headed toward Tennessee. Caleb concentrated on the road, and she concentrated on not falling apart.
Because with every mile that passed, her sense that Tim had lied to her and done the unspeakable mounted.
FOUR HOURS LATER, CALEB steered the Jeep up the winding road toward Bear’s Landing. The sun had battled to make its way through the ominous clouds, the temperature dropping. Wind rattled trees, shaking leaves and sending them skittering to the ground, the shrill whistle of it roaring off the mountain like a siren screeching.
The small town of Bear’s Landing was barely a blip on the map, a quaint little place with two stoplights, a couple of tourist shops, a diner and a gas station. A Native American reservation bordered the town with signs offering handmade crafts. Signs for a fishing lodge, waterfalls and camping pointed to a dirt road; another sign indicated a group of log homes built along the creek running along the mountain.
Madelyn gazed out the window, but he sensed she wasn’t looking at the scenery, that she was contemplating what her husband might have done.
He spotted a sign for a place called Hog’s Valley, then Trinity Lane, and turned left, then followed it along the creek. The graveled road ended at a split-level log house surrounded by natural woods. A deer grazed in the field to the side, the creek rippling behind the property.
Caleb scanned the drive and surrounding property in search of Andrews, his vehicle, even toys indicating that Tim might have actually taken custody of Cissy himself.
A shiny black pickup sat adjacent to the house. But he saw no sign of the man or any evidence of a child.
“This is where Tim lives?” Madelyn asked surprised.
“It’s the address Ben gave me.”
“Odd. Tim never seemed like the outdoors type.” She reached for the door handle. “Then again, I obviously didn’t know my husband at all, did I?”
“Some people are masters of deception,” he said, hating the self-recriminations in her tone.
Instincts kicking in, Caleb checked his weapon as he exited the Jeep, then took Madelyn’s arm. “We have to be careful. If he’s on to us, he might be armed and dangerous.”
“I wish I had that gun we talked about,” Madelyn said. “I’d show him dangerous.”
A tiny smile quirked at the corners of Caleb’s mouth. He didn’t blame her.
They slowly made their way up to the door, the wind beating at the porch rocking chair and sending it swinging back and forth as if a ghost was sitting in it. Dead ferns hung from the rail as if long forgotten, an empty beer can was tipped on its side by a hammock, a newspaper rattled in the breeze.
The paper was an old issue—the front-page story featuring the arrest of Dr. Emery. That event had obviously triggered panic among those involved in the illegal adoptions. Everyone had been scrambling to cover their butts.
And Nadine and Zimmerman were dead because of it.
Madelyn exhaled beside him, and he squeezed her arm, silently offering encouragement. He opened the screen door, then rapped the bear-paw door knocker.
Shadows from the storm clouds darkened the porch, the wind pounding the roof.
Caleb knocked again, then wielded his gun at the ready as he turned the knob. The door was locked so he removed a clip from his pocket and picked the lock.
The door swung open with a screech. He threw up a hand, silently commanding Madelyn to stay behind him.
Slowly he inched inside the house. The rooms were dark, the sound of a clock ticking in the silence. He scanned the foyer, then moved toward the open room spanning the back of the house, a large den with a stone fireplace that adjoined the kitchen. All rustic decor. A plain, beige rug. Brown sofa. Cheap paintings of deer and wildlife. A barrel-shaped lamp had been knocked on the floor, magazines scattered, another wooden chair overturned as if there had been some kind of trouble.
Caleb eased through the room, careful not to touch anything, then spotted a dark reddish-brown stain on the braided rug beneath the oak table.
A stain that looked like blood.
Dammit.
“Stay here, Madelyn. I’m going to check upstairs.”
He hoped to hell he found Andrews alive so they could get some answers. Then he could have the pleasure of killing him.
But that blood wasn’t a good sign. Tim Andrews might already be dead.
If he was, then who in the hell was behind all the murders?
MADELYN SHUDDERED AS SHE glanced across the room. Something bad had happened here. A fight.
Where was Tim?
Her gaze swept across the overturned chair, the broken lamp, then the bare furnishings, the lack of personal touches, the lack of warmth, and she realized Tim hadn’t made a home here.
The cheap watercolors on the walls were probably from a discount store. There were no videos or CD’s, no comfortable throw pillows, no sign of the man she’d known.
Except for the one framed photo on the mantle. Sara.
Had he been watching them?
She picked up the photograph, zeroing in on the details. Sara wore a red bathing suit, and she was standing in front of a kiddie pool in the backyard, her hair in pigtails.
Her breath caught.
Except Sara didn’t have a red bathing suit. And that yard was not Madelyn’s.
Her throat flooded with nausea and happiness and shock.
It wasn’t Sara.
This was a picture of Cissy. The little girl she’d lost. The baby her husband had told her had died.
The extent of Tim’s betrayal hit her like a fist in the gut. She doubled over, the pain and grief so intense her legs buckled and she collapsed on the floor, hugging the picture to her.
Tim had known where Cissy was all this time and hadn’t told her….
Chapter Fifteen
Caleb recognized the signs of a bachelor living in the house. No personal items. No warmth of a woman’s touch. Basic black comforter and lack of pictures on the walls upstairs. There was also a desolate, lonely feel to the place as if it had been a self-imposed prison of sorts.
You should have been locked in a damn cell for what you’ve done, Andrews.
