Читать книгу For You I Will - Donna Hill, Donna Hill - Страница 9

Chapter 5

Anthony nearly tore the door off the hinges when he saw the black-and-white police car pull up in front of his house. He ran out to meet them as they walked up the path.

“Have you heard anything?” he lobbed at them the instant they were within earshot.

“Let’s talk inside,” the middle-aged officer suggested.

Anthony looked from one to the other. A wave of panic rose up in his stomach. “What aren’t you telling me?” he demanded.

“Son, we’re not telling you anything ’cause we don’t have anything to tell.”

The air was sucked out of him.

“Let’s talk inside,” the officer said again, more gently this time.

Anthony lowered his head for a moment then led them inside.

The younger officer, who looked more like a Boy Scout than a cop, closed the door behind them.

“I’m Officer Cobb. This is Officer Monroe,” the older of the two said.

Anthony nodded impatiently. “Yes, we spoke on the phone. Now will you please tell me what you’re doing to find my daughter?”

Officer Cobb waved his hand in the air as if to calm him down. “Easy. I know this is upsetting. My team is rounding up volunteers as we speak. I want to get a few more details from you, and a picture...of your daughter.”

Anthony’s stomach knotted. A picture. The very idea brought on a wave of nausea. No, this wasn’t the Big Bad Apple, where terrible things happened every day and kids went missing like socks in the dryer. It was a small town where everyone knew everyone else, but as chief assistant district attorney who’d seen all kinds of depravity, he knew it happened in these Happy Hollow towns, too. Only, when it did, it was all the more shocking. But he couldn’t allow himself to go down that road.

“You mind if Officer Monroe looks around while we talk?”

“No. No, of course not.” He knew the drill. Monroe would be looking for any signs of a struggle or indications that there might have been a break-in. He also knew that he was their first and prime suspect. When children went missing right out of their own bedrooms, the parents were the usual suspects.

Officer Cobb took a seat at the kitchen table. He pulled out a notebook and a pen, flipped the pages and stopped when the one he wanted caught his attention. “So you said you put her to bed at ten last night.”

“Yes. Ten. Then I came downstairs to watch some television. I must have fallen asleep. When I woke up it was about three. I went to check in on Jessie and she was in her room sleeping. I went to bed. When I got up this morning to wake her she wasn’t in her room. She wasn’t in the house!”

“And what time was that?”

“Seven, seven-fifteen.” His impatient hand ran across his close-cut hair.

Officer Cobb slowly nodded his head, as if somewhat assured that the words in his notebook matched the ones coming out of Anthony’s mouth. “And her mother?”

“I told you, she’s out of the country. She left yesterday.” He had no idea what he was going to tell Crystal. He’d tried her cell phone nearly a dozen times with no luck. Half the calls wouldn’t connect and the rest either rang busy or went to voice mail. Maybe it was best. The last thing he needed right now was Crystal being hysterical hundreds of miles away.

“Did you say you had a picture of your daughter, Mr. Weston?”

He did. He had dozens of pictures of Jessie and they were all taken with his cell phone. “I have to print it out from the computer.”

Officer Cobb gave him a look as if to say, Young people, no wonder.

Anthony excused himself and went into the next room where he’d set up a mini office with his laptop, printer and a box of files from the office. He sent the most recent picture that he had of Jessie to his email and then opened the picture in his email account.

Jessie’s cherubic face filled the screen. Her smile dimmed the sun. Anthony’s eyes stung. If anything happened to her... The knot in his stomach tightened. He pressed the print key and slowly the image of Jessie slid out. He clenched his jaw, got up from his seat and returned to Officer Cobb.

“Here’s a picture of Jessie,” he said, his voice thick.

Officer Cobb took the picture. “We’ll get copies out to the other officers.”

“How many officers do you have working on this?”

“The entire office. Five.”

Anthony’s stomach swam.

Officer Cobb stood and tucked the photo in his notebook. “As soon as we hear something, we’ll call you.”

“I’m going with you. I need to be out there looking for my daughter.”

“You need to stay here in case she comes back.”

Cobb’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket. “Cobb.” His eyes widened for an instant. “I see. We’ll be right there.” He disconnected the call. His gaze jumped to Anthony’s. “They think they’ve found your daughter.”

* * *

“Do you want some more soup, Jessie?”

Jessie bobbed her head as she slurped up the rest of the thick soup. Kai had gotten her out of her damp clothes and put her in an oversize T-shirt and pink sweat socks that pooled around her ankles. But at least she was warm and dry. She’d groomed and towel-dried the thick hair.

While Jessie played with Jasper, Kai had placed a call to the local police office only to be told by the secretary that the officers were out on an emergency—missing child. But when Kai advised her that she’d found the girl they were looking for, she was told that the police would be there right away.

Kai hung up the phone, only mildly mollified. They should be there any minute and Jessie would be reunited with her very irresponsible parent. Just thinking that anyone could have been so careless as to let a four-year-old get out of the house caused her head to pound. Anything could have happened to her. It was only by the grace of God that Kai had found her and not some stranger that could have... She didn’t want to think about it. Jessie was safe. No thanks to her father, whoever he may be.

Not more than ten minutes later, the sound of cars pulling into the drive drew her to the window. She pulled the curtain back. A police car and a black SUV.

Jessie was busy playing with Jasper.

“You wait right here.” Kai went to the front door and pulled it open in unison with the car doors opening and slamming shut. She stood beneath the overhang to keep dry from the rain that had gone from a light shower to a steady downpour. Fog hung heavy over the trees and settled around the homes and rolling hills like a scene from an old English movie.

She recognized Officer Cobb from town, who was trudging up the walk through the rain and was nearly pushed aside by the man who’d come up behind him breaking through the fog.

Kai’s chest constricted and held her breath in its grip. It was him. Him, the man in the photo, the man she’d seen walking the streets, then that night at the gallery. The one who’d invaded her thoughts and her dreams. Her lips parted but no words came out as he took the steps two at a time and was right on top of her.

Anthony’s gaze ignited with hers and his forward motion froze. He blinked, started to speak.

Kai found her voice first. “She’s...in the kitchen.” She stepped out of the doorway, turned on shaky legs and led him into the house.

“Is she...is she all right?”

“She’s fine. Sneezing a bit, and she has some bites on her legs. I put some ointment on them. Got her dry and cleaned up.” She came to a stop at the entrance to the kitchen and turned to him. Her breath drew in sharply. Her heart pounded. He was staring right past her and into the depths of her soul. A shiver fluttered along her spine and for an instant they were locked in an invisible embrace.

“Daddy!”

The spell was broken.

Jessie scrambled up from the floor and leaped against her father’s thighs. He snapped to attention and snatched her up in his arms. He pressed her against his heart, covered her cheeks and hair with kisses until she giggled.

“Jessie, Jessie,” he breathed as relief swept through him. He looked over her head into Kai’s wide gaze. “Thank you,” he said on a rough whisper.

Her skin heated at the sound of his voice. “I’m not sure how long she was out in the weather.” Her voice took on a chastising tone that Anthony didn’t miss.

He momentarily glanced away. “Thank you, Ms....”

“Dr. Kai Randall,” she offered.

“Anthony Weston.” He smiled.

Her stance softened. “Take care of her.”

“I intend to.”

“Dr. Randall, I’ll need to get a statement from you,” Officer Cobb said from the doorway while he shook the water off his hat and broke the tenuous thread between Kai and Anthony.

Kai folded her arms. “Sure.” She led Officer Cobb over to the kitchen table and provided the details of how and when she’d found Jessie.

“Is it okay if I get Jessie home?”

“Of course, Mr. Weston,” Officer Cobb said, closing his notebook. “Thank you again, Doctor.”

She nodded and led them to the door. A crack of thunder seemed to shake the foundation of the house. Kai took an umbrella from the rack by the door and a jacket that she kept hanging there. She put the jacket around Jessie and handed the umbrella to Anthony.

“She doesn’t need to get wet.”

Jessie sneezed as if to confirm Kai’s statement.

“And you behave yourself, young lady. No more leaving the house to follow squirrels. Promise?”

“Promise,” she chirped then buried her face in the curve of her father’s neck.

What would it be like to press her lips against his neck, inhale his scent?

“Thank you...again.” The hint of a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.

Kai ran the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip. She held the door open. The trio stepped out into the rain. Anthony glanced back once, then darted to the SUV.

She stood in the archway until the cars were only memories. It was then that she realized she’d been holding her breath or, at least, it felt as if she had. She pushed the door closed. Her thoughts tramped through her head as she tried to make sense out of the chaos that had come when she saw the man who’d only been something fleeting become real flesh and blood and stand in her house.

Back in the kitchen, she pulled out a chair and sat, her chin propped up on her palm. How incredible was that? If someone had told her this had happened to them, she wouldn’t have believed it. It was the kind of thing that happened in Lifetime movies...no those were the ones where the woman always killed the husband or boyfriend. But...anyway, it was just hard to believe.

As if stung, she sprung up from her seat and darted upstairs to her attic. She flipped thorough the photographs that she’d mounted in a large book. Her pulse kicked. There was the picture that she’d taken that rainy afternoon....

She slipped the black-and-white photo out of the plastic sleeve and held it up. Anthony Weston.

* * *

“Crystal, she’s fine. I swear to you. No...there’s no reason for you to come back. Apparently she went out of the back door, wandered off and got lost. She wound up at a doctor’s house of all places.” He squeezed his eyes shut against his ex-wife’s barrage. He deserved it. He still couldn’t wrap his head around how it had happened. “As soon as she wakes up, I’ll have her call you. Yes. She’ll call. All right.”

Anthony heaved a breath and disconnected the call. At least that hurdle was over with. Crystal had every reason to be furious, hysterical and accusatory. If he was hundreds of miles away and received that kind of call from her, he would have reacted the same way or worse.

He ran his hand across his face, then went into the room to check on Jessie. He stood over her sleeping form and slowly shook his head as the events of the day ran in his mind like an endless reel. His gaze lifted from his sleeping daughter and the image of Kai Randall emerged in front of him. His gut flexed. Jessie stirred, moaned softy.

Anthony shook off the sensation, tucked the light blanket around Jessie and eased out of the room, leaving the door open. The last thing he needed to have on his mind was a woman, even if she was the woman that rescued his daughter. What he needed to be thinking about was never letting what went down that morning ever happen again. He was going to have a long, serious talk with his daughter when she woke up.

* * *