Mama reached into her handbag and pulled out a square envelope, then slid out a greeting card. There was a picture of a child on the front.
Aubrey sucked in a sharp breath. An innocent-appearing greeting card. Someone’s idea of a cruel joke? Who would do such a thing?
Her mother took a small piece of paper out of the card and handed it to Aubrey.
She read it, her pulse accelerating like a Geiger counter approaching radiation.
WE HAVE ETHAN. HE IS SAFE.
WE WILL RETURN HIM UNHARMED IF YOU DO ONE THING.
KILL JONATHAN WOODWARD.
Seeing the threat in print, holding the piece of paper—it wasn’t just her mother’s words.
It was real. Terrifyingly real.
Her mother mumbled something.
“What?” Aubrey couldn’t hear anything over the pounding in her ears. “What did you say?”
“Turn the note over.”
“There’s more?” Aubrey looked at the other side of the paper. In smaller, lower-case letters was written:
you have until midnight tues. if we don’t have physical proof of jonathan woodward’s death, ethan will die.
if you talk to the cops or fbi, ethan will die.
Her mother had said they might hurt Ethan, but kill him? Kill a six-year-old boy who had just lost his first baby tooth and liked to make jokes about boogers? Then Aubrey reminded herself—Ethan wasn’t their ultimate target, Jonathan was.
Or was he?
“Oh, God,” Aubrey said.
“What is it?” her mother said.
Aubrey tried to formulate her thoughts, to make sure she got it right. “Why would someone go to the trouble of kidnapping Ethan if what they really want is to kill Jonathan?”
“I’m not following you.”
“Kidnapping a child, planting an extortion note—it’s very complicated. And when a child’s life is threatened, look at all the publicity and law-enforcement involvement. Wouldn’t it have been simpler for them to have killed Jonathan themselves?”
Her mother frowned. “That’s true. Whoever is doing this can’t be sure I would kill him.”
“Which means killing Jonathan may not be their ultimate objective.”
The last rays of sunlight fell on her mother’s face, reflecting the recognition in her eyes. “Someone wants to hurt me by making me choose between my grandson and the man I love.”
“Not just hurt you.” Aubrey glanced down at the greeting card on her mother’s lap, then met her eyes. “I think someone’s trying to destroy you, Mama.”
CHAPTER 11
Diana was numb. She was the real target of the kidnappers’ ultimatum.
“Let’s get out of here, Mama.” Her daughter rose from the bench and tugged on her hand. “It’s not safe to stay here.”
“It wouldn’t serve their purpose to hurt me,” Diana said. “Not after they’ve gone to the trouble of kidnapping Ethan and sending me the note.”
“Maybe, but we have to go back home. We need to figure out who put that envelope in the mail.”
“You go.”
“I’m not leaving you here alone. We don’t know who these people are or what they’re capable of.”
“Please let me stay awhile. I need to think. If someone’s out to get me, I must know this person.”
Aubrey’s brow formed a deep frown. “You think you know who it is?”
“I’m just being logical.”
Aubrey seemed to hesitate. “Dad could have left the card.”
Diana was glad the sun had gone down so Aubrey couldn’t read the doubt on her face. She kept her voice even. “We’ve been through this. A lot of people could have left it.”
“Are you protecting him?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I protect him?”
“I don’t know,” Aubrey said. “Why would you?”
“I wouldn’t. I told you that already.” She took a breath to calm herself. “Now, please, leave me be for a little while. I have my phone. You and the police are on speed-dial if there’s any kind of problem.”
Her daughter looked around, as though considering what to do. There were lights on along the paths, and some brightness in the sky that would probably last for another half hour or so. A woman sat alone on a bench inside the dog park with her small dog.
“Please, Aubrey. I need a little time.”
“Okay,” she said, her tone skeptical. “If that’s what you need.”
Diana watched her leave the park, then turned back toward the boats bobbing in the grayish light.
Why had Aubrey asked whether she was protecting Larry? Neither she nor Larry ever talked about the past, so Aubrey had no way of knowing about the unspoken agreement between them. Yet, her daughter had asked the question as though she had some sixth sense.
Diana stared at the gray-black ripples tinged with red from the setting sun.
The same setting sun, the same bay, but so much was different.
They had moved here from New York when she was thirty-two, right after Kevin had been born. She’d wanted to be near her mother, who had been eager to watch the baby while Diana continued practicing medicine. In those first few years, she and Larry would often sit at the edge of the bay at sunset with a bottle of wine. Larry had liked to talk about the exciting adventures ahead of them. But maybe, even then, he could see through her fixed smile and know she didn’t buy in to his programs the way she once had. Not that she hadn’t loved him—she had. That was one thing that had never changed. Even after their charade almost disintegrated twenty years ago.
She hated thinking about it, but whether she acknowledged it or not, the appearance of a man claiming to be Jeffrey Schwartz and the terrible reminder of their college years had redefined their marriage.