The waitress was about to leave when Kennett held up a finger.
“Hold on a sec,” he said. He sent her a flash of his badge. Michael watched some color slip from her face.
“My partner here is a trainee. Doesn’t quite have the moves down yet. We’re looking for someone,” Kennett said. “Wondering if she might have stopped in here with a couple of kids.” Kennett shifted his attention over to Michael. “Waitresses and waiters see more people and things than anyone, Mike. They know what’s up, so you should always make it a point to ask them.” To the waitress Kennett said, “ABT—always be teaching, that’s my motto.” He sent her one of his trademark playful winks before switching his focus back over to Michael.
“Got that picture, Mike?”
Michael pulled up the picture he knew Kennett was referring to and gave his phone to their waitress. She studied the image of his family intently for several moments while Michael studied her eyes. There he saw what he’d hoped for—a look of recognition.
“Yeah, she was in here at the start of my shift,” she said. “I didn’t take their order. Jeannie did, but she’s gone for the night.”
Michael’s whole face lit up, but Kennett maintained a neutral expression. Nothing could faze him.
“But the kids had dark hair,” said the waitress. “I noticed because it wasn’t a great dye job. I’m studying to be a hairdresser and I said to Jeannie, who the heck does that to their kids?”
“Someone who doesn’t want to be found,” Kennett answered dryly. “When did your shift start?”
“Five hours ago,” the waitress said.
“Okay, so we’re pretty far behind her. Did she happen to say where she might have been headed? Maybe said something to Jeannie?”
“My guess is they went to the hospital.”
Michael let out a gasp.
“Hospital? What was wrong?” he asked. A current of anxiety barreled up inside him.
The waitress returned a shrug. “I dunno,” she said. “It looked to me like the girl was having a hard time breathing.”
“Addie,” Michael whispered to himself.
“Thanks,” Kennett said, “you’ve been extremely helpful.” He was already looking at his phone instead of the waitress. “Pretty sure she’d have gone to Nationwide Children’s. Let’s go, Mike.”
Twenty minutes later, Michael and Kennett were face-to-face with the doctor who had treated Addie.
“They said they were going north to Toledo. I’m sorry, officer. We’re happy to help law enforcement with runaways and missing persons, but we don’t always get notified.”
“Right, not a worry, you’ve been really helpful,” said Kennett, parroting what he’d told the waitress not long ago.
“So what now?” Michael asked Kennett as the two made their way out of the hospital.
“Now, I guess we go to Toledo,” Kennett said. “I can give the police a more focused area to search. Maybe we get lucky.”
“Right,” said Michael, who wasn’t feeling nearly as optimistic. “Why the hell would Natalie go to Toledo? And why wouldn’t she take I-80 from New York? It’s more direct. Columbus is quite the detour.”
All Kennett could do was offer up a shrug.
“She told the Statie she was headed to Indianapolis, but she’d have to know that detail would get back to you. Could be she’s still trying to throw us off course, or maybe she has her reasons for heading north. Either way, it’s the best lead we got, so we gotta follow it.”
“I’m just glad Addie is okay.” Michael breathed out his relief. “But damn.” He shook his head in dismay. “Nat’s putting too much stress on the kids. We’ve got to find her before something really terrible happens.”
“We will, Mike,” Kennett said assuredly. “I’ve got confidence. Natalie’s been pretty slippery, I’ll give her that much, but the sun doesn’t shine on the same dog’s butt every day.”
Michael came to a hard stop, a quizzical look on his face. “What the hell does that mean?” he asked. “Is that cop talk or something?”
Kennett sent Michael a crooked smile, staring him hard in the eyes.
“It’s a Southern expression, Mike,” Kennett said, his voice carrying a hint of menace. “I had an aunt who lived outside of Atlanta, I’d go there most summers. It’s a pretty common phrase down there. It means sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I’d think a Southern boy like yourself would know that, but I guess you’ve moved around a lot. Right, Mike?”
Kennett patted Michael on his shoulder in a patronizing gesture.
Holy shit, thought Michael, a burning in his belly. He knows. Kennett knows.
And with that, the game got a whole lot more dangerous.
CHAPTER 30
NATALIE
BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED
Natalie, Tina, and Sarah Fielding gathered at La Hacienda. It was good for Natalie to get out of the office. She was having a hard time focusing at work—a hard time doing much of anything, really, including being at home. Michael had been acting like all was normal, which made everything he did feel even more sinister. His every action, from taking out the trash to doing the dishes, seemed layered with menace. He’d smile at her, kiss her on the cheek, on the mouth, and she’d see a knife in his hands; could almost feel him plunging the blade into her body instead of Audrey’s.
* * *
“What’s wrong, babe?” Michael asked one evening after dinner. According to him, she was being cool and distant again.
“Nothing. I’m fine,” said Natalie, sounding anything but.
“Yeah?” Michael’s eyebrows rose. “The kids are asleep. Why don’t we head upstairs and you can show me just how fine you really are?”
Natalie pulled away from his pleading touch.
“Not tonight,” she said, turning her head.
Michael grunted in disgust.
“You know, we don’t have much of a marriage anymore,” Michael said. “I’m trying here, I really am. I want to blame all our problems on your sleep troubles—your irritability, your distance and forgetfulness, the lack of sex or touch of any kind, but you know what? This is destroying both of us. We may live in the same house and parent the same kids, but there’s nothing between us anymore. This isn’t what I signed up for.”
“Yeah, well, maybe if you weren’t getting your needs met elsewhere I’d be a little warmer.”
Natalie delivered her assessment with cool indifference.
“You just won’t let it go, will you?” Michael seethed. “Maybe I should go and do just that so you can be right about me for once.”
“Please have the decency to divorce me first before you do.” Natalie tried to leave the room, but Michael lunged, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back toward him with force. He put his face close to hers. She felt an anxious flutter in her chest.
“I’m not going to blow up my life over your damn delusions about me,” he said. “Honestly, I’m worried you are not in your right mind. Let me ask you, Nat, where’d you really go that night Scarlett came back here? Maybe you were getting something somewhere else. Got a receipt for the peanut butter you bought? Oh, I bet you paid cash.”