chapter 94
IT WAS 8:00 P.M. Morgan was in her bedroom pacing, worried about Jake. Since the Dummy Line incident, it was extremely unusual, even when he was hunting, for him not to respond to calls or texts. Jake never went anywhere—not even the toilet—without his BlackBerry. If he couldn’t take a call, he would at least text a reply. Morgan always received some type of response within a few minutes. She sensed that something was very wrong.
Katy was sitting at the kitchen table, diagramming sentences for her English class, but she couldn’t concentrate. Plus, she could hear her mom on the telephone in the bedroom, calling people, looking for her dad. The more people Morgan talked to, the more upset Katy became.
As she walked back into the kitchen, Morgan saw Katy quietly crying. She realized that Katy had heard her frantic conversations. “Katy, honey, don’t cry. Dad’s probably at a meeting and forgot to tell me about it, that’s all.”
“Why won’t he answer his phone?”
Morgan squatted in front of Katy and put her hands on her arms. “Maybe he forgot to charge the battery. You know how forgetful Dad is. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
Katy wanted to believe what Morgan was saying. She took several deep breaths and began to calm. Morgan knew too well that the last several days had taken a toll on Katy and brought up all of the memories of the killings a year and a half earlier.
“Momma, kids at school are saying that there’s a man tryin’ to kill us.”
“Who’s saying that?”
“Jenna said it, and so has Haley.”
“Honey, that’s just talk. Ya know, sometimes people like to say things…even when they don’t know what they’re talkin’ about.”
“Jenna said her uncle told her, Momma.”
Morgan tried to think who that might be and didn’t know. In a small town like West Point, it was difficult, if not impossible, to keep anything secret. She wondered just how much to tell Katy. “Honey, there’s this one man from that gang that night in the woods who the police are watching. They promised that they would keep an eye on him.”
“There was a policeman at school today, and Jenna said he was there to watch over me to make sure nobody got me.”
Morgan had been to countless counseling sessions for her own issues, so the first thing that popped out of her mouth was the ambiguous “How does that make you feel?”
“Safe. Someone, besides you and Dad, is concerned about me,” Katy replied.
“Honey, we wanna make sure you’re safe…always. And having that policeman there—well, that’s good. Isn’t it?”
“I guess so.”
“Katy, honey, everything’s gonna be okay. Please finish your homework. I have to make a few more phone calls, okay?”
“Okay, Mom. Thanks.”
Morgan gave Katy a hug, kissed her forehead, and headed toward her bedroom.
“Mom?”
Morgan turned around and said, “Yes, dear?”
“Where’s Scout?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart. We’ll find her,” Morgan replied, trying to hide her own escalating emotions.
Scout was part of the family. She had been Jake’s puppy when Morgan and Jake had gotten married. Now Morgan had to find their dog and her husband. She walked into their bedroom and pulled out the local phone book. She leafed through it until she found the chief of police’s home phone number. She knew his wife from Junior Auxiliary. She exhaled deeply and dialed. A tear dropped onto the open book.