I hopped up on tiptoes to peer over shoulders into Sandy’s room. She wasn’t inside.
“Maybe she went to the bathroom,” Edna suggested, trying to alleviate Ida’s fears.
Ida shook her head. “She took those pills Aly gave her. They knock her out for hours.”
“Then where could she be?” Sylvia said.
“Wade has her,” Ida said.
“We’d have seen him,” Mrs. Janowski said. “I didn’t even hear any cars come or go except for when Mars and Jack arrived.”
“There’s a back door with a trail nearby,” Ida said. “I bet he used that.”
“Let’s go look,” Mrs. Janowski said.
We all raced back downstairs and followed Ida to the back door. From upstairs you couldn’t see the trail. Too many trees blocked the view. But once we were outside, we could see the wide trail as it snaked down the hill.
“Where does this trail lead?” I asked.
“Town is on the left. Right would lead you up to the top of the hill.”
“We were just at his gas station,” I said. “I don’t think he was planning on going back. Do you?” I asked Jack.
“I don’t think so.”
“But he could use the trail to get to town and then leave,” Mrs. Janowski said.
“Is there anything at the top of the hill?” I asked.
“Aly lives up there,” Ida said. “She bought the place when she started about ten years ago.”
“Anything else?” I asked.
“Not that I know of.”
“Then he must have gone to town,” Mrs. Janowski said. “Let’s get to the car. We might be able to catch him if we hurry.”
“Hang on,” I said, looking at the path. “Wade would’ve had to carry Sandy.”
“We know that,” Sylvia said.
“And he had Hank with him too,” I said. “This trail might be wide and paved, but Hank would never make it up here. And I doubt that Wade would be able to carry Sandy and control Hank at the same time.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Wade drove here in Jack’s truck. The path is wide enough to allow it.”
“Which means he’s long gone,” Jack said.
“Where would he go?” I asked.
Ida shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“We need to split up,” Mrs. Janowski said. “Edna and I will run to town. Ida, you call the police again. Sylvia, you find out where the guards are. We need them to start searching as well. Mars and Jack, you follow the trail to town. There might be another way out of here that they took. Call me as soon as you find something. And call Rand too. Have him check at the lot, just in case.”
We all scurried in different directions.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked Jack as we jogged down the hill. The jostling had to be extremely painful.
“I’m fine,” he said, gritting his teeth.
I left him alone. He wouldn’t stop even if his arm fell off. He was stubborn like a couple of other men I knew. Speaking of which . . .
I pulled out my phone and poked it, trying to call Rand as I ran down the trail, my calves already burning.
“Rand, are you at the lot?” I asked when he answered.
“No, I’m trying to shake off a leech.”
“I’m not a leech!” I heard Emily pout in the background.
“I need you to check the lot to make sure Hank or anyone else isn’t there.”
“There’d better be contractors there,” Rand said.
“Yes, the contractors, of course. Just no one else.”
“There shouldn’t be anyone else there anyway. It’s a construction site.”
“Rand, please, just go check.”
“Why are you out of breath?”
“I’m running.”
“Why?”
“Hank and his daughter were abducted. I can’t explain everything right now. Just go check the lot.”
“Gladly.”
“No!” Emily said in the background. “You can’t go yet. I need your help.”
“Mars needs my help.”
“I asked for help first.”
“You’re a pest.”
“You’re a jerk!”
“You’re a b—”
I hung up. I had to concentrate on breathing.
“The end of the trail is up ahead,” Jack said.
Thank goodness. I wasn’t prepared for this type of a workout. Had it just been me, and there were no abductions, I would have collapsed in the leaves that blanketed the ground.
After a few minutes, we reached the end of the trail. It spit us out at the edge of town. Mrs. Janowski screeched to a stop next to us.
“Any luck?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Jack said since I was still puffing.
“Nothing at the gas station either,” she said. “Is Rand checking the lot?”
I nodded.
“Edna and I are going to search some more. You two go back to the house and regroup. The guards should be available any minute now. We’ll need them stationed around town. Find a map.” She took off down the road.
“Do you think Aly has a map?” I asked Jack.
He shook his head. “No, but I know where there is one.”
I followed him down the road to the gas station we had just escaped. A gas station would have a map. But I didn’t want to go inside.
Jack must have sensed my hesitation. “Stay here,” he said. “I’ll just be a minute.”
Even though I was terribly chicken, I followed him in anyway. It’d be faster if we both searched.
“I was just thinking,” I said after an initial scan of the stocked items, “he might have business or personal information here. It doesn’t look like there’s an office, but maybe behind the counter there might be something useful.”
“Go ahead,” Jack said. “I’ll keep looking for the maps.”
As soon as I stepped behind the counter, a woman walked in. She plunked down forty dollars. “Put it on pump two.”
I had no idea how to operate a cash register, nor did I want to help Wade with his business. I slid the money back to her. “It’s on the house.”
“What do you mean?”
“Fill it up. You’re a winner.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Feel free to take a soda or water too. Whatever you want.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
She looked around. “Am I on some funny TV show? Is there a secret camera watching us?”
“No camera. Just a good day for you.”
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “I’ll grab a soda from the case.”
I nodded. As soon as she turned her back, I ducked down to search the shelves and counters. There were receipt rolls and cleaner. Keys for the bathroom hung on a hook.
I almost gave up my search until I stumbled upon a sketchbook. Opening it, I discovered it filled with drawings of the necklace, of Sandy and the necklace, and of the necklace again. While it was Sandy’s face, it wasn’t her name scrawled on every page.
Nhung.
In fact, in the beginning of the book, Sandy’s face was distorted. At first glance I thought it was just a practice drawing. But maybe it had something to do with the repeating name.
“Jack, come and look at this.”
He walked over with a map in hand. “What is it?”
“It’s a sketchbook with your mom’s face and necklace, but a different name.”
“Nhung,” he read.
“And look at this sketch,” I said, pointing to the earlier drawing. “She has an Asian tilt to her eyes. It’s like he’s purposely changing Sandy’s features. Either that or he’s horrible at sketching.”
“Maybe he’s confused.” Jack frowned. “He’s definitely crazy. I have a ruined arm to prove it.”
“You need to go to the hospital.”
“I will. After we find everyone.”
“Well, this is the only clue I found, and it’s not much help.”
“It might be,” Jack said. “Grandpa said he was a war veteran. Perhaps he was stationed in an Asian country. There could be a record somewhere.”
“How would that help?”
“I don’t know.” He tossed the map onto the counter and attempted to open it with one hand, which proved difficult. After fumbling with it, I finally took it and opened it for him. “Thanks.”
He searched the map while I continued to flip through the sketchbook. The same name continued throughout, yet the drawings, always with Sandy in them, morphed from beginning to end. I scanned each one. Some were perfect, others had exotic eyes or some other feature that didn’t belong to Sandy.
It didn’t make sense. Was this how he saw Sandy? Or was it how he wanted to see her?
“It’s almost like he can’t remember Sandy’s features and is replacing them.”
“But the name is Nhung,” Jack said. “Maybe he can’t remember Nhung’s features and is replacing them with Sandy’s.”
That made more sense. In fact, it sparked an idea.
“Hand me the scissors,” I said, pointing to a hook near Jack.
He used his good arm to pick them up and hand them to me. “What are you doing?”
“Each picture has a different feature. I know what Sandy looks like. If I cut out all the features that I know aren’t hers, I can reassemble them and hopefully we can get a picture of Nhung.”
“How will that help?”
“I don’t know,” I said, making my first cut. “But this has to be driving him crazy. It’s driving me crazy.”
“Can I do anything?”
“Grab me a water. And tape.” When he came back with the requested items, plus a water for him too, I asked, “Did you find anything on the map?”
“No, I have no idea what I’m looking for.”
“Do you have your phone?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Search for veteran services, maybe a hospital or clinic. Someone has to know about Wade.”
“They won’t give me information.”
“No, but you can tell them that their services are required.”
Jack nodded and pulled out his phone. By the time he placed a couple of calls, I was finished with an interesting rendition of Nhung.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I think it looks like a Picasso.”
It did. None of the features were aligned quite right. The left eye was gigantic compared to the right. Her mouth was lopsided. But there was a glimpse of a young Asian girl.
“What ethnicity do you think Nhung is?”
“No idea,” Jack said. “Grandpa never told me what war Wade served in.” He fiddled with a few of the extra pieces that were abandoned on the counter. “Why did you cut these out?”
“They didn’t belong to Sandy.”
“But they aren’t Nhung’s either.”
He was right. If they didn’t belong to either woman, who did they belong to? Was there a third woman?
Quickly placing them in order and taping them, I stared at the woman. She looked familiar.
“I know her,” Jack said, frowning. “But I can’t place her.”
“I think I know her too.”
Jack sighed. “This is pointless. Let’s get back to the house with this map. Hopefully the ladies had better luck.”
“I’m taking the sketches. Maybe one of the ladies will know who this third person is.”
On our way out, I grabbed another water bottle for the hike back. If I was huffing and puffing on the way down, the trek up would be brutal. I almost thought about calling Mrs. Janowski to come pick me up. But after disabling Jack with my thunder thighs, I figured I could use the exercise.
Jack, not at all fatigued by the climb, continued calling various veteran resources. He didn’t have any luck. By the time we reached the top, I was covered in sweat and gasping for air, while he cursed and shoved the phone back into his pocket.
“Nothing! I can’t get any help. No one will talk to me. It’s like a maze trying to figure out who to call. Then once I do, they tell me to call someone else.”
I nodded since talking wasn’t an option.
Trudging after him, we knocked on the back door to be let in. I was surprised when Sylvia opened it. I thought for sure some of the newly appointed security guards would be on duty by now. It was something I’d ask about after I caught my breath.
No more cheesecake. Never will I ever eat cheesecake again.
Aly hurried over. “Did you find them?”
I stalled the same time Jack did. We looked at her, then each other, and then back at her.
“Take out the sketch,” Jack said.
Once produced, we knew exactly who the third woman was.
Aly Darby.