Chapter Twenty-Eight.
In seconds Gus was in his daughter's bedroom. Andie and Morgan were right behind. He snatched up the phone from the pink rug beside the bed, where Morgan had dropped it. The dial tone hummed in his ear.
"Does Morgan's line have caller-ID?" asked Andie. She was standing in the doorway.
"No"
"Hit star sixty-nine, then."
Gus had used the memory-call service before. It automatically dialed the number of the last incoming phone call. He punched the buttons and waited.
A young girl answered. "Hello."
"Who is this?"
"Hannah."
Confused, Gus covered the mouthpiece and asked his daughter, "Did your friend Hannah call you this morning?" Morgan nodded slowly.
Gus returned to the phone. "I'm sorry, Hannah. This is Morgan Wheatley's father. We dialed a wrong number." He hung up and gave Morgan a stern look. "I thought you said your mother called."
"She did!"
He appealed to Andie, not sure what to do. Andie sat on the edge of the bed, at eye level with the six-year old. "Are you sure it was your mom who called?" "Yes. It was her. It had to be her."
"This is very important. If she called, your daddy and I want to talk to her."
"She called. I know it was her!"
Gus took her hand gently. "What did she say, sweetie?" "She didn't say anything."
The adults shared a moment of skepticism. "You never heard her voice?" asked Gus.
"No"
"Then how do you know it was Mommy who called?" "The numbers."
"I don't understand. What numbers?" "Nine-five-three-four-eight-eight-nine."
Andie asked, "Is that Beth's cell phone number?" "No. Sweetheart, what are you talking about?"
Morgan picked up the phone and put it to her father's ear. "Listen." She punched out the numbers. It made a tune. Gus looked at Andie. "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Morgan said, "That's what I'm telling you. Mommy showed me how to do that, long time ago. She called me and hit the numbers. Just now. And then she hung up." Gus felt a chill. "Did you ever tell Hannah about those numbers? Did she know how to play that tune, too?"
"No way. That was me-and Mommy's secret."
He looked quizzically at Andie. "Why did I get Hannah when I dialed memory call?"
"People can buy devices to beat any of those phone-company services--memory call, caller-ID. We see it all the time with creeps who make obscene calls."
"So, it could have been made from a telephone that was outfitted with one of those electronic gizmos?"
"That would explain how you got Hannah when you dialed star sixty-nine. You would have pulled up the secondto-last call rather than the last call."
"Then it's possible it was Beth."
"It was Mommy. I know it was!" Morgan was so frustrated, she was about to hit him.
Gus was silent, but he sensed Andie had the same exact thought. She sprang from the bed. "I'll get one of our technical agents to see if he can track the call."
He tossed her the phone.
"Let's not use Morgan's anymore. I don't want to screw anything up."
"The kitchen," said Gus, leading the way. He spoke as they hurried down the hall. "If it was Beth who called, why didn't she talk?"
"I can't answer that."
They stopped at the kitchen counter. Fear was in his eyes. "You don't think this was some kind of prank?" "That's what I hope my techies can tell me."
"But if it wasn't a prank--why the numbers?"
"I don't know. Maybe your daughter can help us with that."
"I don't think so. It's more a matter of thinking it through logically. A woman disappears for nearly a week. She's finally able to get to a phone. She's able to dial the numbers. But she doesn't speak. There are only a couple possibilities. Either she doesn't want to speak, or .. ."
"She can't."
The words chilled him. "Can't speak? Meaning what?"
Their eyes met and held. It was as if she were telling him there were any number of possibilities. None of them pretty. "Let's get the technical agents on the trail, all right? Then we can brainstorm."
Gus nodded, then swallowed the lump in his throat. "Okay," he said quietly as she dialed the number.
Andie was on the phone with technical agents when Carla rang the doorbell. In all the confusion Gus had almost forgotten he'd called his sister before Andie's arrival. He'd wanted her there to watch Morgan, just in case the FBI visit ended up taking all morning or required him to leave the house. Good thing he'd called--though he certainly hadn't anticipated this.