LITMIR.BIZ

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was behind this? It was possible Remy had made the call the moment he’d left the office. He probably possessed more than one cell phone that could be used to make the anonymous calls.

      Lucas believed Remy hadn’t been completely forthcoming, especially when Lucas had questioned him about why he’d been seeing Jenny. Although Remy had professed that he wasn’t seeing Lucas’s sister, Lucas hadn’t believed him. Remy had avoided his glance when he’d answered and blinked one too many times, like liars usually did.

      It bothered him that a ransom demand hadn’t been made. That meant this was about something more than money. That meant it was something personal. And with both Jenny and Billy taken, it was impossible to know who was the real target.

      The park was empty when they arrived, probably due to the intense heat and humidity of the day. Mariah was out of the car almost before Lucas had brought it to a complete halt. She raced across the parking lot toward the gnarled tree that rose up near the swing set. He ran after her, his hand on the butt of his gun.

      “Mariah, wait,” he called. Dammit, he didn’t know if they were walking into some sort of a trap again or not. She didn’t slow down.

      He caught up with her when she halted in front of the tree. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the ground. “What are you doing?” she asked.

      “Have you forgotten what happened the last time we followed the caller’s clue? Just stay down for a minute and let me assess things.” He held on to her arm with one hand and kept his other on his gun.

      He gazed around the area, not liking that the south side of the park was flanked by a wooded area that provided plenty of cover if somebody wanted to hide there.

      “Lucas, if he wanted to kill us, we’d be dead,” Mariah said softly. “If we’re dead, the game ends and we both know that doesn’t seem to be what the kidnapper wants.”

      As much as he hated to admit it, she made sense. The kidnapper was obviously getting off on running them around town, feeding their fear and anxiety. If he killed one or both of them, his game would be over.

      Mariah stood and began to search the tree. She looked up into the branches, then walked around it, checking out the trunk. Lucas looked as well, but found nothing. “‘Where the flowers bloom you’ll find something rare,’” Mariah said, and her gaze focused on the flower bed in the distance. “It’s not the tree, it’s the flower bed,” she exclaimed.

      A deep weariness overtook Lucas. “Let’s see if he really left us something or if this is just another step in his sick game.”

       Chapter Eight

      Mariah raced toward the flower bed, her heart pounding with the rhythm of hope … of fear … and a million other emotions. Surely he wouldn’t send them out for nothing again. Nobody could be that cruel.

      There had to be something here, something that would feed the small glimmer of hope that still existed in her heart. As each hour passed, in the deepest, darkest places inside her, hope was becoming more and more difficult to sustain.

      She’d somehow believed that if Billy were dead she’d know it in her heart, in her soul. But over the past couple of days she’d realized that wasn’t true. It was possible Billy and Jenny had been murdered in the first hours of their disappearance, and she hadn’t felt the loss.

      As she stared at the flower bed, she refused to consider that scenario. They had to still be alive. Any other possibility was too horrific to contemplate.

      “It doesn’t look like any of the flowers have been disturbed,” Lucas said as he stood next to her.

      “There’s got to be something here,” she replied. She stepped into the flower bed and sank to her hands and knees and began to pull at the flowers to see if any of them had been uprooted, then just set back in the ground.

      A note, a piece of fabric, something, there had to be something buried beneath the flowers. That’s what the caller had implied. It was a treasure hunt and she was desperate to find the treasure.

      She pulled and tugged, more frantic with each minute that passed. It had to be here. Something had to be here. She couldn’t come away from here without anything and continue to maintain her sanity.

      She scrambled at the dirt, unmindful of the flowers she destroyed in her efforts. Flowers could be replaced, but Billy couldn’t. Jenny couldn’t.

      A clawing, frantic desperation built inside her as she dug in the hard dirt with her fingers. She ignored Lucas, who stood just behind her. He wasn’t digging, and she knew it was because he didn’t believe anything was here. But she had to believe.

      “Mariah, there’s nothing here.” Lucas’s voice was flat, without emotion.

      She ignored him, moving to a new place in the flower bed. Her fingers hurt from the contact with the hard earth, but she ignored the pain, scrabbling against the ground, uprooting flowers as her breaths came in frantic gasps. She felt half-demented with her need.

      “Mariah, you need to stop.” Lucas’s voice seemed to come from very far away.

      “No. Something’s here. I know it is.” She continued to dig, tears starting to blur her vision. She needed to find it. The clue. The caller had said there was a clue.

      “Mariah.” Lucas grabbed one of her arms. She jerked away from him, moving to yet another area and continuing her search. Tears became sobs as she dug.

      Lucas grabbed her once again, this time more forcefully. “Mariah, dammit, stop. You have to stop! There’s nothing here. He’s yanking our chain.”

      As Lucas pulled her to her feet she fought him, slamming her fists into his chest as deep, wrenching sobs exploded from her.

      “Let me go,” she cried, mindless with anger, with a new kind of grief. “I have to find it.”

      “There’s nothing here to find,” he exclaimed, and he pulled her tight against him, holding her so she couldn’t move, couldn’t escape.

      Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew he was right, that there was nothing to find, no clue that would magically lead to Billy. She quit fighting him and instead leaned weakly against him, sobbing as she broke completely.

      He held her tight, rubbing her back as she clung to him. “Shh, I know,” he whispered.

      She cried harder, tears that had been trapped deep inside her since the first night of the disappearance.

      “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Let it out. Just let it all out.”

      Her tears weren’t just for herself and her son, but also for him and his sister. And she knew he understood better than anyone the utter despair she felt. Surely he felt the same bitter disappointment that she did. They were no closer to finding Jenny than they were to finding Billy.

      They stood in the embrace for a long time as slowly, painfully, Mariah cried herself out. When her tears were finally gone, there was nothing left inside her.

      She was depleted … of emotion, of life. First the interview with Remy and now this, all for nothing. She was completely empty, numb.

      “Come on, let’s get you home,” Lucas said gently.

      Home, she thought. That place wasn’t a home. Not with Billy gone.

      He led her to his car, and she slid into the passenger seat. She’d never felt so numb, as if she were dead. She closed her eyes and only opened them again when the car stopped in her driveway.

      She stared at the house that she’d thought would be the place she and Billy would find happiness. They were finally free of Frank, and she’d been filled with such hope when she’d rented the house.

      She’d hoped that Conja Creek would be the place where she could work a decent job and raise Billy with the kind of stability and joy that had been missing in the first years of his life.

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