Reece had Hannah.
No doubt in his mind. But how to find them? He’d tried her cell phone half a dozen times, but she had it switched off. Reece had been a detective. He knew how to evade law enforcement. Chances were, he’d ditched his truck and gotten other wheels. Matt drove to the jail and went to his office. He checked the list of stolen vehicles. Most would likely turn up once the kids who’d taken them for joyrides sobered up. But one stood out. An old red pickup. It had been taken two days ago. About the time Reece would have been making his plans.
Matt put out an alert for the vehicle, but it was a long shot. Several hours had already passed. Parke County was only minutes from Illinois. Reece could have taken Hannah and Caitlin and crossed the state line already. He sat at the desk with his head in his hands. Think! He knew Reece well, knew his likes and dislikes, his way of looking at the world. There had to be some clue he was missing.
He wanted to bang his forehead against the desk. Ajax whined and pressed his nose against Matt’s leg. “I’m okay, boy.” Matt rubbed the dog’s ears. Reece had no family. Like Matt, he was a throwaway kid. Reece’s mother had given him to Irene, who had raised him for a time. When she couldn’t handle him anymore, he’d gone to Trudy. She’d be sorely disappointed in Reece. Most kids who passed through her doors went on to live decent lives. Reece was fond of Irene too. Maybe she’d have an idea where he could look. He and Ajax hopped into the SUV and drove out of town.
Reece used to go see her once a week. Maybe he resumed that tradition when he returned. It couldn’t hurt to run out and talk to her. She might have some idea where Matt should look. Something had happened between his grandmother and his aunt, and rather than ruffle his grandmother’s feathers, he’d avoided Irene. It was just easier that way. Keeping his grandmother pleasant could be a full-time job.
He rolled to a stop in front of the big old Victorian house. Irene’s yellow dress was a bright splash of color against the red of the rose garden she labored in. The fact that she wore muddy Wellingtons ruined the perfect picture. Her hair was unkempt as well, and when she turned around, her gaze was foggy. It must be one of her bad days.
Most days her medication held the darkness at bay, but once in a while, the fog rolled in and took her into its murky depths.
He let Ajax out of the SUV, and his aunt came to meet him. “David, what are you doing here?”
It was worse than he thought. “It’s Matt, Irene. Not David.”
Her gaze drifted away from his face and out over the fields. “Of course it is. I should get the meadow tea in and make you some. You’ve always loved my meadow tea, David.”
Matt gripped her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Listen to me, Aunt Irene. I need your help. Caitlin’s in trouble.”
“Your mother?”
“No, Caitlin. My daughter. Remember her?” He folded his arms over his chest. “Have you seen Reece O’Connor?”
Her hazel eyes clouded. “A few days ago. He’s not a good son.”
Who did she think he was talking about? When she was like this, it was almost impossible to get any sense out of her. “Did you take your medicine today?”
Her hand went into her pocket, and she withdrew a pill bottle. “No medicine, all gone,” she said in a singsong voice.
“I think Reece has taken Caitlin. And maybe Hannah Schwartz,” he said. She stared at him as though she’d been expecting something like this. “Did he tell you he planned to take her?” She wouldn’t meet his gaze. She rocked on her feet, picking petals off a rose like some lovesick girl from the turn of the century. “Did he tell you?” he repeated.
“Caitlin puts me in mind of Hannah,” she said. “You made me lie to Hannah the other day. She’s Caitlin’s mother, isn’t she?”
“Yes. Look, I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to find my daughter before he disappears with her. Or hurts her.”
“Reece can’t be trusted. That’s why I turned him out.”
Matt didn’t have time to try to decipher her ramblings. “I think he killed the Schwartz family. And he threw Hannah down the steps so she’d lose the baby. Only the baby didn’t die. And he left Caitlin on my doorstep.”
She still showed no real reaction. He’d thought his accusation would incite her to protest or something. “Things aren’t always what they seem. Mother knows everything, sees everything, punishes everything,” she said in a singsong voice.
“Trudy knows all about it. Reece took Caitlin from her front porch. She didn’t hear a thing. She didn’t even know Caitlin was gone until she tried to call her for breakfast.”
“Mother knows. Don’t worry.”
He clenched his fists. “She’s five years old! Not worry about it? We’ve had a doozy of a storm all morning too.”
Still plucking petals, she exhibited an unnatural serenity. He wanted to rip the roses out of her hands and fling them to the ground. She would tell him what he needed to know if he had to drag her to her feet and shake it out of her.
“I’ve got work to do.” She tossed the flowers to the ground. “I hope you find her.”
He blocked her path. “Where would Reece take her?” Her eyes cleared, and he saw sharp intelligence gleaming in their depths.
She shook her head. “This isn’t about Reece, David. It goes much deeper than that. Much further back. You’d better start with Mother.”
“You’re not making any sense. Trudy doesn’t know anything about this.”
“No?” She smiled, a grimace that only made her eyes look sadder. “Everything that goes around comes around. This evil goes on and on. I think there’s no end to it. At least none that I can see.”
“Start with the truth.”
“The truth? It depends on how you look at it.”
Matt couldn’t make heads or tails out of her babbling. He jerked his thumb toward the SUV. “Let’s go,” he told Ajax. “There’s no help for us here.” He’d do what she said, go talk to his grandmother. Just in case he’d missed something. He had to find his daughter. The urgency rumbled in his chest like thunder, but he took the time to call Gina and asked her to go check on Irene and make sure she got her meds.
REECE HUNCHED OVER the wheel as the truck zoomed along at breakneck speed. He had said nothing for the last fifteen minutes. Hannah huddled on her side of the seat. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
Some of the area looked familiar. She vaguely remembered picnicking once at the top of the hillside the truck climbed. This part of Parke County had steep hills and hidden ravines. It had been all their horses could do to pull the buggy up here. Those were happy days, filled with love, discipline, and godly training. She hadn’t appreciated it fully at the time.
The truck left the gravel road and turned down a cow path, a faint depression in the grass that led through a break in the raspberry bushes. She thought they might be taking a back way into Turkey Run State Park. The truck bogged down in mud several times, but Reece managed to power it on through. Vegetation brushed against the side of the vehicle and tore at the side mirrors. The trees blotted out the light, and the thick foliage made it as cool and dark as midnight, cocooning them from the world. The tires rumbled over fallen logs and muddy ruts in the ground before coming to rest in a small clearing.
A cliff covered with vines and weeds loomed over them, blotting out even more light. “Honey, we’re home,” Reece said. His chuckle fell flat.
“Wh-where are we, Reece?” Hannah didn’t want to get out of the truck. Menace coated the air.
“You’ll see. Hop out, hon.” He got out and removed her suitcase from the back.
Hannah shoved open her door and stepped out into the clearing. No birds sang here. A twisted tree raised dead branches into the air. No frogs croaked, no wind ruffled the leaves, and Hannah could not even hear the hum of insects.
She tightened her grip on the shoulder strap of her purse. “Now what?”