Missing in Texas, page 4
“We have to find her,” Edie said, her voice fierce.
“Yes, we do.” He reached over and briefly touched her arm. He couldn’t help but marvel at her soft skin. “And we will. That’s a promise.”
A lot of farmland lay between Getaway and Abilene, as well as the occasional small town. These places mostly had one-or two-block downtowns, eerily similar with their boarded-up vacant storefronts interspersed with cute antique shops or cafés. In his search for Noel, Jake had traveled through so many towns just like these. He didn’t expect to find the white Honda Accord in any of them—there simply wasn’t anywhere to hide.
“Abilene is a lot bigger,” Edie said, almost as if she had read his thoughts. “Do you think it’s too early to call Rayna and see if she has any news?”
“I’d give her a few.”
“Okay.” She took another long drink of her coffee. “What method did you use to track Noel? Do you think it would work again?”
“Yes.” They’d left the small town and were once again driving past endless fields of cattle and crops. “I have a dedicated website with an email address that I check daily for tips. Now that I have a more recent photo, I can update that.”
When she didn’t object, he continued. “I also used to work in law enforcement, so I have contacts all around the state. If whoever took Laney is in Texas, there’s a decent chance he or she will be found.”
His refusal to settle on a pronoun for the abductor had her frowning. “You really think there’s a possibility that a female might have taken her?”
“Anything is possible,” he said, deciding not to share any grim statistics with her. Hell, he’d tortured himself enough with too much knowledge. Better if Edie remained unaware of how truly awful other human beings could be.
“True. Because if my cousin was the one who took Noel, I guess another woman could have decided she wanted Laney for her daughter. Though at five-years-old, it’ll be a lot more difficult to convince Laney of that.”
“Though it’s been done.” And quite frankly, someone wanting to pretend Laney was her daughter was the least terrifying of the various possibilities. Again, he kept those to himself.
“I’d like to see your website,” she said, her phone out. “What’s the web address?”
He gave it to her, keeping his eyes on the road except for occasional glances at her. She went quiet as she studied it, no doubt scrolling through all the baby pictures he’d posted.
“I’ll get you more photos,” she finally said. “All of these need to be updated.”
“Thank you.”
She took a deep breath and put her phone down. “I’m not trying to be nosy, but it’s weird to me that you’re out searching but your wife isn’t. What’s up with Noel’s mom?”
For the first time in forever, he didn’t feel that punch in the gut of guilty agony when he thought of Marina. For years he’d felt as if he were somehow responsible, that he should have been able to see it coming and manage to prevent it.
Except he and Marina had both been wrapped up in their own grief, neither fully present in the other’s pain. He couldn’t even possibly have helped his wife navigate her emotions because he’d been drowning in his own.
Blinking, he realized Edie was waiting for him to answer her question.
“She passed away in an accident a little over three months after when Noel was taken.” Simple but true. He saw no need to include the gory details of the horrific car crash or the fact that he suspected Marina had intentionally driven into that tree at fifty miles an hour and taken her own life.
Since then, he’d felt like he’d failed her. She hadn’t been able to live without Noel. And Jake hadn’t managed to find her. Until now. Only to lose her once again.
Chapter 3
Hearing him recount his heartbreaking loss, on top of having his daughter abducted, Edie’s heart squeezed. “That’s awful,” she said, grimacing. “I’m so sorry. That must have been like a never-ending nightmare.”
“That about sums it up,” he agreed. Then he changed the subject. “What about you? How’d you come to live in a small town like Getaway? Do you have family there?”
“I grew up in Getaway,” she told him. “My aunt and uncle adopted me when I was two. My birth parents died in a house fire in Idaho. My cousin Gina, the one who was Laney’s mom, was the last relative still living up there. She passed away from a brain aneurysm. And I carried on the family tradition of looking after our own. I drove up to Pocatello and got Laney.”
His expression revealed none of his thoughts. “I’m guessing you and Gina weren’t close.”
“Not particularly. Why do you ask?”
“Because if you were,” he said, his voice hard. “I think you might have found it a little suspicious that Gina was never pregnant, didn’t send a birth announcement or have baby photos, yet managed to have a one-year-old toddler.”
About to open her mouth and protest, Edie realized he was right. They’d heard nothing about Gina’s daughter until she’d called to tell them she was fatally ill. Clearly aware of the seriousness of her brain aneurysm, she’d called and asked Edie specifically to look after Laney.
Of course, Edie had instantly agreed. And the second she’d laid eyes on her little blonde munchkin, she’d fallen deeply, irrevocably in love.
She said none of this to Jake. He’d fallen silent, eyes on the road, apparently lost in his thoughts.
They were coming up on the outer boundaries of Abilene, according to the sign. Was Laney here, alone with some stranger, scared to death and crying out for her mommy?
“Hell no,” she muttered, managing to remain sitting upright despite wanting to double over from the pain. “We’ve got to find her.”
“We will.” Continuing to watch the road, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “You need to start looking now. I will, too. If either of us spots a white four-door Honda Accord, we’re stopping.”
“Okay.”
Now he glanced at her. “And since that’s a pretty common car, we might be stopping a lot. But that’s all right, because we’ve got to do whatever it takes.”
As it turned out, they saw lots of white four-door sedans, though none of them were Honda Accords.
They had just pulled over to investigate one parked outside of a fast-food restaurant when Rayna called.
“It’s Rayna.” Edie’s hands actually trembled when she reached for her phone.
“Put her on speaker, please,” Jake said.
“Where are you?” Rayna asked. She sounded weary, as if she’s been up all night. Knowing her dedication, Edie suspected she probably had.
“Jake and I are in Abilene. And I’ve got you on speaker,” Edie replied.
“Abilene? Why?”
“Looking for Laney.” Edie swallowed. “Have you gotten any leads?”
“Yes, lots of them. Unfortunately, none of them have panned out. But between law enforcement and the media blasts that are going out, everyone should be ready to alert us the instant she’s spotted.”
Edie’s stomach twisted. “Okay. Since we don’t have much to go on, we’re out here hunting down white four-door Honda Accords.”
“I see.”
Jake spoke up for the first time. “It’s better than doing nothing. Neither of us has been able to get much sleep. We decided to join forces for a bit and do what we could.”
“Okay. But you need to be careful. You can’t go around accusing innocent people just because of the kind of car they happen to drive.”
Now Edie and Jake exchanged a look. “Surprisingly, we haven’t run across a lot of those particular vehicles so far,” Edie said. “It’s a little bit discouraging.”
“Why don’t you two go on home and try to rest?” Rayna suggested. “We’ve got every state and local agency working on finding your daughter. She will be brought home safe and sound.”
“When?” Edie cried out, unable to keep her anguish and fear locked inside any longer. “I can’t stand to imagine how terrified she must be. She needs her mother.”
“I understand.” The sympathy in Rayna’s voice reassured Edie. Rayna, too, was a mother. If anyone could understand how Edie felt, she could.
“Go home,” Rayna repeated. “Rest. I promise that I will call you the second I learn anything.”
Once again Edie exchanged a glance with Jake. Clearly understanding, he shrugged. “Up to you,” he mouthed.
Though her bone-deep weariness made her thinking a bit fuzzy, Edie wasn’t ready to give up yet. “Thanks, Rayna,” she said. “But I won’t be able to really rest until my Laney is back home.”
And then she ended the call.
“I take it you want to keep looking,” Jake said. “Let’s go and make contact with the owner of this car.”
Though they knocked on several doors and spoke to numerous people, by midafternoon it felt as if they were wasting their time. There were a couple of instances when Edie stepped out of the truck and the entire world spun and went gray around the edges, but she managed to grab onto the door handle or the tailgate and keep herself upright. So far, she didn’t think Jake had noticed.
“We need to eat something,” he announced after talking to an eighty-something-year-old man who seemed perplexed they were asking about his vehicle.
“I’m not hungry,” she replied, though her empty stomach chose that moment to growl, belying her words.
Ignoring that, Jake pulled into the parking lot of a small burger place. Only once he’d killed the engine did he turn and face her. “Edie, you’re about to topple over. While I’m guessing that’s mostly from lack of sleep, you also need to fuel your body if you want to keep going. I know it’s hard to even think about food when your child is missing, but you’ve got to.”
Tamping down the urge to argue, even though she knew he was right, she finally nodded. “Fine. Let’s go grab a burger.”
“And fries.”
“Or a salad,” she countered.
This made him laugh. “I doubt they serve salads in there, but I guess we’ll see.”
He was right. After they ordered, she grabbed a booth and sat while he waited for their food.
She couldn’t help but notice the way other women noticed him, but she couldn’t blame them. When he’d first walked into her bakery, she’d been unable to tear her gaze away, too.
Now, none of that mattered. Thinking of the very real possibility that he might have legal rights to her daughter made her wish she’d never laid eyes on him.
When he returned carrying their meal on a tray, she had to admit the food looked delicious, even if the smell made her feel slightly nauseous.
“Here you go,” he said, sliding her plate over toward her.
“Thanks.”
Though she had to force herself to take the first bite, once she did, she couldn’t stop eating. When she finally looked up, she had one single fry left, which she quickly popped into her mouth.
“You inhaled that,” he commented.
“So did you.” She pointed at his equally clean plate. “I ate so fast I didn’t really taste anything.” She sighed. “You were right, though. I was starving.”
“Me, too.” He took a drink of his unsweetened tea. “Now what?”
“Do you mind if we keep looking?” she asked. “At least for a little bit longer? Then we can head back to town and maybe take a short nap.”
He agreed and they grabbed their drinks and went back out to his truck. “We haven’t searched the north side.”
Barely stifling a yawn with her hand, she nodded. “Let’s try that.”
Though she tried to keep her eyes open, somehow they kept drifting closed. She’d wake herself up every time she started nodding off, but honestly, she didn’t know how much longer she could stay awake. “That’s the problem with getting no sleep and having a full belly,” she muttered.
“Go ahead and rest,” he said, encouraging her. “I promise I’ll keep looking.”
“No.” She sat up straighter. “I’ll sleep once I’m back home. For now, I want to make sure I do everything I can to help bring my daughter home.”
Though she caught an almost imperceptible tightening of his jaw, he didn’t comment. She’d been steadily trying to brace herself for when he finally brought up the need to talk about the likelihood that his Noel was in fact her Laney, but so far he hadn’t. Probably because he understood she was already freaking out about Laney’s disappearance and couldn’t handle anything else at the moment.
That didn’t mean she thought all of this mess would go away. She knew it wouldn’t. But right now, all her focus had to be on finding her missing child.
She must have finally fallen asleep. When she opened her eyes again, they were on I-20 headed west. Her mouth felt dry and her tongue thick. She took a long drink of her tea from lunch. “How long was I out?” she asked.
His sideways smile encouraged her to smile back. “Maybe an hour. Not very long. We’re on the way back to Getaway.”
“I figured.” Her throat felt tight. “It kind of feels like we’re giving up.”
“Except we’re not.” The fierce note in his voice made her blink. “Never think that. I’ve been searching nonstop for four years. I refuse to get this close and then lose her again.”
The raw emotion on his face made a knot twist in her stomach. When he turned his attention back to the road, she tried to sink back into her seat, wishing she could will this entire situation away. Bad enough to have a man show up at her bakery who likely had rights to her daughter. She’d been struggling to process that when Laney had been abducted.
The entire thing qualified as a bad dream, a nightmare of epic proportions. If only she could wake up and have everything back to normal.
“Are you sure you don’t know anyone who might have a reason for snatching your Laney?” he asked, his voice tight. “An angry ex-boyfriend, or maybe your boyfriend’s jealous former girl?”
Surprised, she shook her head. “No. I can’t think of anyone.” She didn’t want to tell him she hadn’t dated since before she’d adopted Laney, preferring to focus all her attention and energy on her child first, and the bakery second.
“Are you sure? Because this is really bugging me. A random perp shows up and grabs one child out of a group of three. Why her? It has to be personal. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Maybe.” Crossing her arms, she considered his words. “Or maybe this person was driving by, saw three little girls get off the bus and acted on impulse. Laney might have been the closest one, the easiest to grab.”
Hearing herself, she winced. The image she’d just painted seemed too vivid, too real. “I don’t really care why this person took Laney. I just want her back, safe and sound.”
“I agree.” He turned his attention back to the road. “Go ahead and rest if you want. We’ve still got awhile before we’re close to Getaway.”
Since she was familiar with the route, she knew he was right. Since continuing to hold a conversation felt like too much effort, she figured if she at least pretended to be asleep, she wouldn’t have to talk.
Except every time she closed her eyes, all she could see were images of her little girl’s terrified face.
Despite that, she managed to fall into a fitful sleep.
The ping of a text message startled her awake. Groggy, it took her a few seconds to figure out where she was and with who.
“Sorry,” Jake muttered. “I’ll check my phone later. We’re almost at the Getaway city limits.”
“And our famous sign,” she murmured back. “Tourists are always stopping and taking selfies with it.”
Sure enough, two different vehicles had pulled off the road. A young couple posed in front of the sign, while a small group of others waited their turn.
“You weren’t kidding,” Jake said as they drove past.
“Nope.” She glanced back. “Everyone finds the name of our town amusing. But it could be taken two ways. Get away to beautiful Getaway, Texas. Or get away from our town.” She made a small, dismissive sound. “You should have heard some of the ones we came up with as kids.”
“I can imagine.” Jake hesitated, and for a moment she thought he might ask her to share the childish nicknames. Instead, he looked at her. “You never wanted to leave here?”
“No, why would I?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know? Broaden your horizons or something. I thought most people who grew up in tiny towns migrated to the big city.”
“Is that what you did?”
“Not me,” he replied. “My parents moved around a lot. We’d lived in a lot of places by the time I graduated high school. Denver, Oklahoma City, Dallas, college at UT Austin, and I finally settled down in Houston.”
“A Longhorn?” she snorted. “If I’d have gone to university, I’d have been a Red Raider .”
“Texas Tech? You didn’t go there?”
“Nope,” she said, keeping her voice light. Any other time, she would have gladly entered into a spirited debate over the merits of the various competing state colleges, but not tonight. “I went to culinary school instead.”
They’d turned on her street. The sight of her cute little house made her throat ache. She’d bought the fifties-style brick ranch with Laney in mind, wanting her daughter to have a stable place to grow up in. Her parents had helped with the down payment, and Edie had gradually repaid them.
Over the years, she’d made the house into a home, a welcoming place of refuge, full of comfort and love. Now though, knowing Laney wouldn’t be there, Edie didn’t even want to go inside.
But Jake pulled up to the curb and parked, leaving her no choice.
“Thanks,” she said, opening her door. She hopped out with more energy than she had, and put her shoulders back as she strode toward her house. He waited, truck idling, until she’d unlocked the front door and opened it. Stepping inside, she turned and watched as he pulled away. Only then did she gather up enough courage to close the door behind her and move into her empty house, missing Laney more than anything.
