Not by Sight A Novel

CHAPTER 29

Abby was on the verge of collapse but kept moving along the creek bed at the insistence of Isaiah’s rifle at her back.

“That’s it up ahead,” Isaiah said. “I brung you back a different way so them trees’d hide us from the whirlybird.”

Abby craned her neck and spotted a rather crude-looking log house nestled in the trees about fifty yards in front of Jay. And several small outbuildings, including what appeared to be a chicken coop and a smokehouse. She had never really seen the outside of the place where they’d been kept prisoner. But somewhere nearby was the root cellar. She glanced beyond the buildings to a pen—and spotted pigs. A chill crawled up her spine.

“You gonna throw us back in the hole?” Ella’s voice was filled with dread.

“I already said what I’m gonna do with you.”

Ella stopped and turned around, her arms folded resolutely across her chest, her jaw set. “I ain’t lettin’ you feed me to them pigs!”

“Too late. You shoulda thought ’bout that before you went up against me.”

Abby shot Jay a knowing look. Without giving it a second thought, she swung around and kicked Isaiah in the gut, then grabbed Ella’s hand and ran for the woods.

“Run!” Jay hollered. “Run!”

Abby, breathless with fear but fueled by determination, raced across the property toward the tree line, clinging tightly to Ella’s hand.

A rifle shot ran out. Terror seized Abby, but she kept running faster and faster until they were hidden in the trees. She finally stopped, panting, and looked over at Ella.

“He killed him!” Ella cried. “Pa killed Jay! He’s gonna get us, too!” The child’s eyes were wide and brimming with tears, her body trembling.

Abby wanted to keep running. But she had to know. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

Abby moved closer to the edge of the woods and looked out, her heart pounding so hard she could scarcely take a breath, shocked and relieved that Jay didn’t appear to be shot. He and Isaiah were rolling on the ground, engaged in a fistfight, the rifle not far from either.

“Jay, get the rifle!” she shouted. “Don’t let Isaiah pick it up!”

Lord, help him!

Everything in her wanted to run out there and snatch the rifle. But if she failed, there was a good chance Isaiah would end up killing all three of them.

Ella came up next to her and clutched her arm.

“Father, we need You,” Abby said aloud. “Help us. You’re all we’ve got.”

Jay, his nose and T-shirt bloody, struggled to his feet, only to have Isaiah get up and knock him to the ground, flat on his back.

Isaiah reached down and picked up the rifle, pointing it at Jay’s chest. “You stupid kid! You shoulda left well enough alone!” He cocked the rifle. “That’s the last time you’re gonna give me grief!”

“Nooo!” Abby cried.



Kate opened her eyes, her heart pounding wildly, her head still ringing with the sound of Abby’s scream. She must have imagined it. How could it have been so real? So chilling?

She got up out of the porch swing and stood at the railing, her pulse racing faster than a doe that bounded across the driveway and disappeared into the woods.

She listened intently to the quiet, which seemed to taunt her. The only sound was the distant reverberation of the helicopter, a haunting reminder that another member of her family might never come home.

There was a time when she might have felt some satisfaction in shaking her fist at God. Now she had neither the passion nor the energy nor even the assurance that there existed a God to blame. The more she suffered, the more convinced she was that nothing happened for a reason. It was all by chance. Chance that had victimized her again with no warning and no higher purpose.

She heard the screen door open behind her.

“You okay?” Elliot’s voice was as soothing as his touch.

Kate had loved being held by him and was disappointed with herself for relishing the arms of a man other than Micah. “I’m fine. I must have dozed off and had a dream. I thought I heard Abby screaming. It sent a chill right through me.”

“I’m sure it did. You haven’t heard anything more from the sheriff?”

“Nothing. I’m so afraid he’s going to be too late. That Abby …” Kate’s voice failed.

Elliot came up behind her and put his warm hand on her shoulder. “Don’t say that. Don’t even think it.”

Kate turned around and looked into Elliot’s understanding eyes, grateful he didn’t tell her that she needed to have faith. Or hit her with meaningless platitudes. Instead, he simply pulled her into his arms and comforted her.



Abby hid Ella’s face in her chest and closed her eyes, waiting for Isaiah’s rifle to fire. Would she ever feel joy that she had found her sister if Jay was killed because of it?

A single shot rang out, echoing across the Arkansas sky. She was pierced to the heart and paralyzed with dread, unsure whether it was she or Ella who was shaking.

Someone shouted a string of obscenities, and Abby’s eyes flew open. Isaiah had dropped the rifle and was shaking his hand, shouting vile words that made her cringe.

A second later, a young man wearing a camouflage T-shirt and matching cap marched boldly out of the woods like a soldier on a mission, his hunting rifle pointed at Isaiah.

Hawk! Abby wasn’t sure whether she had spoken his name or merely thought it.

“Don’t you dare move,” Hawk said, sliding the fallen rifle to Jay with his foot. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Jay said. “Am I ever glad to see you! Abby and Ella are safe. They ran into the woods.”

Abby glanced over at the log house and saw someone close the curtain. She stood at the tree line, waving her arms. “Hawk! His wife’s in the house! Be careful!”

Hawk turned sideways so he could see the house, his rifle still pointed at Isaiah. The front door opened slightly, and a broom with a white cloth hanging on the end slowly emerged through the crack.

“Don’t shoot,” Otha said. “I’m comin’ out now, me and my babies. We’s the only folk in here. Ain’t got no firearm. I ain’t gonna hurt nobody.”

Otha came out, her hands in the air, her twins crying and clinging to her long dress.

“Don’t you betray me, woman!” Isaiah shouted.

“You lied to me from the start,” Otha retorted. “You stole that child from her kin. Whatever happens to you now, you’re deservin’ of it.”

Abby looked at Ella, who seemed dazed. “It’s okay, sweetie. No one can hurt you now.”

But even as Abby said the words, she knew that the emotional hurt was immediate and deep, possibly even irreversible, as her sister was about to be separated from the only family—the only life—she had ever known.



Virgil turned off his siren and got out of his squad car. He spotted a bearded man in the back of Kevin Mann’s car, and Hawk and Abby standing with Jay and a little girl in the shade of a huge hickory tree.

Kevin jogged over to him. “Hey, Sheriff.”

“Fill me in,” Virgil said.

“Everything’s under control. Hawk Cummings took care of business.”

“Anybody dead?”

“No, sir. He shot the rifle right out of the perp’s hand. The guy’s name’s Isaiah Tutt. He’s a backwoods hick with his own mind-set—a real piece o’ work. The bullet grazed his hand, but he’s all right. I’ll have the paramedics take a look at it when they get here.”

“Has he asked for a lawyer?”

“Doesn’t want one. He doesn’t trust anyone connected with law enforcement.”

“How’re the kids?”

“Plenty shook up,” Kevin said. “Cut and bruised. Dehydrated and hungry. Sore. I think Jay’s nose is broke, and Abby’s got a nasty gash on her head that needs stitching. Ella took a mean slap to the face. I gave them each a Gatorade, and they gulped it down right quick.”

Virgil saw Billy Gene talking with a young woman clad in a long dress, her hair tied back, who sat on the porch steps with her arms around two little boys. “Is that Tutt’s family?”

“Unfortunately for them.” Kevin arched his carrot-red eyebrows. “Wife’s name’s Otha. The twin boys, Ronny and Donny, are three years old. The young’uns have been real quiet. I think they sense something bad happened.”

“Was the wife an accomplice?” Virgil said.

“I don’t think so. Abby and Jay said she rescued them from a hole beneath the root cellar and told them how to get off the property. She surrendered on her own after Hawk showed up. And judging by the way she lashed out at Tutt for telling her the girl was his, I think she was clueless. We’re taking her in for questioning. An uncle is coming to pick up the twins and keep them until we sort this out.”

“Good work.” Virgil lifted his Stetson and wiped his forehead, then walked over to Hawk.

“Hey, Sheriff,” Hawk said.

“I hear you took care of business.” Virgil smiled and extended his hand.

Hawk clasped Virgil’s hand and shook it, a twinkle in his eye. “I’d have waited for your deputies, but Tutt was about to kill Jay and I couldn’t let that happen.”

“How’d you know where to go?” Virgil said.

“I didn’t really. I watched what was going on with your deputies and saw the direction the dogs were running. I remembered seeing a log house on this side of the property when I was out hunting over yonder. So I got in my truck and headed over here. I nosed through the woods around the property and didn’t see any sign of them. I was about to leave when the dogs stopped baying. I wasn’t sure what was going on. Next thing I knew, Jay, Abby, and a little girl came out of the woods. Some mean-looking dude prodded them with a rifle, so I hid in the trees and followed them. I saw everything. Tutt threatened to kill Jay.”

“Where’d you learn to shoot like that?” Virgil said.

Hawk shrugged, his cheeks flushed. “It happened so fast I didn’t have time to think about it.”

“Hawk saved my life,” Jay said. “Well, all of our lives. If Isaiah had killed me, he’d have gone after Abby and Ella.”

Abby nodded. “He killed Daddy. And kidnapped Ella, I mean Riley Jo, and he admitted—”

“Hold on a second.” Virgil held up his palm. “You say Tutt killed your father?”

“Yes,” Abby said. “But Jay thought he did it by accident, and that was a lie. That monster let him believe it all his life, and he would’ve killed us all to keep the truth from coming out. He stole Riley Jo to get a wife, and—”

“Abby, wait.” Virgil held up his hand. “Obviously this is complicated, and you kids have been through the wringer. After you get checked out at the ER, I’d really appreciate it if you’d come to the sheriff’s department so we can get your statements.”

“I’m ready to tell everything,” Jay said. “I want that creep locked up.”

Abby pulled her sister closer. “Me, too.”

Virgil bent down next to the girl he had been trying to find for five years, surprised at the sudden surge of emotion that tightened his throat. “I’m Sheriff Granger, honey. There’s no need to be scared.”

Ella looked at him with the eyes of an abused puppy. “Are you gonna make me go live with strangers?”

“Well,” Virgil said softly, “we have to take some tests that prove you really are Abby’s sister. So for a little while, you’ll need to stay with some very nice people. But I’m sure you’ll be able to see Abby anytime you want.”

“And my real ma?”

“Her, too. I can tell you this: she loves you very, very much. We’ve all been looking for you a long time.”

“Can I see Otha and my brothers when I’m with the nice people?”

“I don’t see why not. But let’s take one thing at a time.”

Ella’s gaze was wide-eyed and disarming. “Mister Sheriff, is Pa goin’ to jail?”

“I’m afraid so.” If I had my way, we’d throw away the key.

“Good. I ain’t never goin’ back to him,” Ella said.

“You don’t ever have to worry about that. I promise.” Virgil stood and looked at Abby. “Would you like to call your mother?”

“Yes!” Abby’s face lit up. “Does she know?”

Virgil smiled. “She knows.”



Kate hung up the phone after talking to Abby and stared out the kitchen window, unable to say anything.

She turned to Elliot, fell into his embrace, and wept. She couldn’t yet grasp the cruel truth that Micah had been murdered the day he disappeared—and by a madman who abducted their daughter. Or that Jay had been saddled with false guilt much of his young life. That Hawk was a hero. And Abby was alive. And Riley Jo was finally coming home. None of it seemed real.

Finally Kate’s tears turned to a trickle, and she pushed back from Elliot and looked up at him. “Did you catch everything Abby said?”

“Most of it. She was talking pretty fast.” Elliot wiped her tears with his handkerchief. “Good news and bad news.”

“I need to embrace the good news,” Kate said. “I’ve feared for a long time that something awful happened to Micah and Riley Jo. I never expected to see either of them again. And I was beginning to wonder about Abby. So for now, I’m going to let my heart rejoice in the good news. And deal with bad news later.”

“Why don’t I drive you to the emergency room?”

Kate nodded. “I’d appreciate that. I’m not sure I could figure out how to get the key in the ignition at the moment. I’m so disappointed that someone from the Division of Children and Family Services has already taken Riley Jo. I would’ve loved a glimpse of her.”

“They’ll let you see her soon. Poor thing’s been through so much.”

Kate exhaled through her mouth, her nose stuffed up from crying. “I can’t believe how cold and angry I was that Abby wouldn’t let it go. Thank God she didn’t.”

Elliot smiled. “Amen.”

Kate felt her cheeks get hot. “‘Thank God’ was just an expression.”

Elliot didn’t say anything.

“Do you really think this is going to make me trust God again? My husband was murdered, my baby’s lived with a monster for five years, and my girls have just been through a reign of terror that my son ended by shooting the man’s rifle out of his hand. Do you think that, just because Hawk found them in the nick of time, I should forget all the anguish it caused and simply thank God because it’s ‘all better now’? Well, I’m not. I’m thanking Hawk. And Virgil. And the teams who tracked them down.”

“We may not agree on the Source of the miracle,” Elliot said, “but you have to admit it’s a bit miraculous how it came together.”

Kate pursed her lips. “Well, it certainly defies coincidence that Abby and Jay ended up friends, neither of them knowing that Jay held the key to the truth about what happened to Micah and Riley Jo. But stranger things have happened.”

“Come on,” Elliot said. “You need to go talk to Buck and Jesse before I take you to the ER.”



Abby waited with Hawk in a curtained cubicle at the emergency room of Foggy Ridge Medical Center, the gash on her head stitched and dressed. She took a big gulp of her third Gatorade.

“Guess you were right after all,” Hawk said.

“I knew the first time I saw Ella that she was Riley Jo. Something just wouldn’t let me give up finding her.”

Hawk cracked his knuckles. “Sorry I came down on you. I said some pretty mean things.”

Abby looked over at her brother and smiled. “You saved our lives. That’s all I care to remember.”

“Good. So what’s she like?”

“Much different than she was at two,” Abby said. “But she still has a sweet personality. She talks like she’s from the backwoods. That’ll change over time.”

“Was she abused?”

“I don’t know. But seeing Isaiah throw that child down in the hole like she was garbage was about the worst kind of abuse I’ve ever seen.” Abby blinked to erase the image that popped into her mind. “Any man that could do that is dead inside. I can’t imagine the deep wound that must’ve caused.”

“What a creep.” Hawk shook his head. “He’s not gonna get out of jail anytime soon.”

“He can deny killing Daddy all he wants,” Abby said, “but I know he wasn’t lying when he admitted what really happened. He just didn’t think we’d be alive to tell about it.”

The curtain opened, and Abby looked up.

“Mama!”

She slid off the examining table onto her feet and threw her arms around her mother.

“Oh, baby,” Kate said. “I thought I’d lost you, too.”

“We got her, Mama! We got Riley Jo.”

“You sure did. It doesn’t seem real yet. I’ve been so worried about you.” Kate motioned for Hawk.

In the next instant, it was hard to say who was hugging whom.

“Hawk, you were so brave,” Kate said. “It’s a miracle you found them in time.”

“I have no idea why I decided to drive around ahead of the dogs,” Hawk said.

I do. Thank You, Lord. Abby enjoyed the emotional reunion, feeling no need to comment further.

But even as she celebrated the victory, something remained unsettled within her. Nothing would ever be the same. Life had changed again. One set of unknowns had been replaced with a whole new set of unanswered questions. There was no guarantee that Riley Jo would be able to adjust to the huge change in front of her. Or that she would grow to love her family the way it was obvious she loved Otha. And everyone remembered the adorable two-year-old. Would the seven-year-old Riley Jo live up to everyone’s expectations?

Abby dismissed all the negative thoughts. She could not allow what she didn’t know to spoil everything else. God had answered her prayer, though not entirely the way she had hoped. But this was not the time to stop having faith.