Chapter 25

Mommy!

Allison started awake, her heart beating like she’d run a mile.

Lizzie?

Where had the sound come from? She listened to hear it again. Nothing. Dreaming. She had to be dreaming.

Shane lay beside her, his arm stretched protectively across her. He wasn’t a dream. She could still feel the places where his whiskers had rubbed against her skin. Her heartbeat slowed, and she almost nestled back down into his warmth when a flash of certainty that something was wrong brought her fully awake.

Carefully, she slid away from him and the bed with its tossed sheets and coverlet trailing on the floor. Goosebumps raised up on her arms when the curtains drifted out into the room. She shivered and went to the window, pausing before she closed it. What had awakened her? Why this strange sense of unease?

Could the big cat have returned?

She listened for the horses, but no whinnies drifted up from the barn. Somewhere miles away lightning flickered, and a rumble of thunder rolled in the night. Perhaps that’s what she’d heard. Just a summer storm. She tried to assure herself with that thought.

Nevertheless, a chill raced up her spine and spiked along her shoulder blades. She searched in her dresser drawer for a nightshirt, pulling it on before she went to the other two windows in the room. Another flash of lightning streaked across the night sky, this time closer, and the following thunder vibrated the room.

Eyes straining to watch shadows flit across the yard and shimmy up the barn, she rubbed her forehead. What’s bothering me? She listened for the horses, but the only sound she heard was rain pattering on the roof, and the only shadows were from the long willow fronds and the solid oak’s branches. No creature moved out there tonight, and yet something had awakened her with such a resounding jolt. She crossed her arms against a peculiar chill that had nothing to do with the cool air creeping about the room.

Behind her, Shane stirred in the bed. “Allie? Honey, what is it?”

She turned from the window. “I don’t know. I just woke up, and thought I heard something.”

“The horses?” The bed creaked as he started to get up. “Maybe I should go check—”

“No, it’s not them.” She was certain of that. “It all seems quiet out there.”

Thunder rumbled again, closer still. “Probably just the storm.” He lay back down, his voice still husky from sleep. “Come on back to bed.”

Was it only the storm? She couldn’t say, but just as she turned to join him it was there again.

Mommy!

The sound, the voice, in her head.

“It’s Lizzie,” she said softly, then, as her stomach jolted, she cried louder, “Oh my God, Shane! We have to go! We have to go now!” She began to grab clothes, underwear, jeans, and a shirt, struggling to get the nightshirt off while her heart raced.

This time, Shane leaped from the bed and grabbed her by the arms. “What are you talking about? What about Lizzie?”

Allison pulled away and fumbled with tugging on her jeans. “She needs us. Something’s wrong.” In her mind now, there was no question.

He ran a hand through his rumpled hair. “I don’t understand, how do you know?”

“I shouldn’t have let her go. I knew it didn’t feel right. I’ve known for a while. Why didn’t I listen?” She yanked a shirt over her head and shoved her bare feet into some old clogs. She had to get out, had to find her baby. Didn’t he understand?

Shane’s hand shot out and kept her from leaving the room. “Listen to who? Allison, stop!”

She glared up at him, furious he was just standing there, and desperate to make him understand. “I don’t know. I just know something told me Lizzie’s going tonight was a bad idea. But I didn’t listen, Shane. I didn’t listen and now…something’s wrong. I know it.”

His hands stilled on her as he searched her face, and then he released her and reached for his clothes. As they left the bedroom, Shane’s phone sang out. He pulled it from his jeans pocket.

“Is it a call?” In the stairway, she glanced back at him, dread washing through her veins. No call at two in the morning was ever good.

His mouth tensed. “A text.” He showed her the screen.

Her eyes focused on the simple message.

—Scared Mommy! Plse come get me—

Her legs wilted at the plea. Her baby girl was somewhere…scared. The notion of that tore at her, and she almost crumpled with fear for her safety.

Shane held her up as she quickly typed a reply.

“Come on, Allie. We’ll find her.” He guided her down the steps and through the darkened house to the kitchen. Jagged flashes of lightning lit up the room. “Maybe it’s just the storm scaring Lizzie.”

Allison shook her head furiously at him. “She’s never afraid of storms. She always sleeps right through them.” She grabbed the phone to punch in Ronnie’s cell number. It went immediately to voicemail. Her stomach sank.

He snatched her rain poncho from its hook by the door and pulled it over her head. “Probably iffy signal out at the park.”

Small comfort. She pushed past him and tore open the kitchen door. Behind her, Gypsy whined, and Shane gave her the quick command to stay.

Dashing out into the night, she found it had turned from a sweet summer dream into a savage torrent, much like her life. Sheets of rain driven by gusts of wind slammed against her, as her heart slammed in her chest. She was soaked before reaching the truck. Shane pulled the driver’s door open, and rather than run to the other side, she scooted across the front seat.

Once inside, she had to clench her teeth to keep them from chattering. Water poured off the poncho’s hood. When Shane joined her, his hair was plastered to his head. He slicked it back with one hand and shoved the key in the ignition with the other. The truck engine roared to life.

“They were going to the state park. Which one? This county or—”

“Yes, this county! Please, we have to hurry.” She clutched his phone in her hand, praying for another text message. Had Lizzie somehow gotten lost in the park? But why would she go outside? She must be terrified…especially if she’s thinking a big cat might stalk her. The thought stuck a knife of fresh fear in her pounding heart. If I thought facing the cougar was terrifying, this is a million times worse.

Shane jerked the truck into gear, and they pulled from the driveway onto the road as lightning lit up the sky again. “What do you think is wrong? Why is Lizzie afraid?”

Allison stared out into the crow-black night, watching how the wind whipped the trees, trying to push the image of the cougar—and her daughter wandering alone in the woods—from her rattled mind. “I…don’t know. Maybe Ronnie left her alone. Or…or maybe it’s the Potters. Maybe they went to the park and got her. Maybe they hurt Ronnie and Jerry. They hate all of us.” It was a wild idea, but all sense of normality seemed lost. All that mattered was finding her baby girl. She pressed her face to the window and hung on desperately to her sanity.

Shane stepped on the gas, holding tight to the steering wheel and praying the truck didn’t hydro-plane on the rain-swept pavement. The state park was twenty miles west, closer to Lake Michigan. Did he remember how to get there? He and Matthew had gone a few times to fish in the creek that wound through it, and once he’d gone with Jason on a hike.

Help me get through to Lizzie now, he asked the friend who had cared for his daughter like his own. Help us find her!

Water dripped from his wet hair into his eyes. He swiped it away, concentrating on maneuvering around some downed branches in the road while every scenario of what could have happened played out in his mind. Would Ronnie leave Lizzie alone? He’d wring her neck if she did. Could the Potters have done this? Did their hatred for him go so deep they would harm a child? He’d thought the incident in the alley had ended it all…but he couldn’t think about the Potters now. He could only drive into the fierce night.

“M-maybe we should go by the Potters’ house first, s-see if the car is there.” Allison’s voice shook. “If it’s gone…” She couldn’t finish and wrapped her arms around her body, shivering beneath the poncho.

Shane cranked up the truck’s heat and tried to be logical. “How would they know where she’s at? Would they really go up against Jerry and Ronnie?”

She paused, then said, “Maybe they followed them. Maybe after your fight with them the Potters know this is the only way to get back at both of us.”

Does she blame me?

He gripped the wheel harder and gave the truck more gas. When they reached the crossroad, he hesitated. To turn toward the east would take them to the Potter’s house but add at least twenty minutes to the way to the park. If he went straight to the park, without knowing the whereabouts of Duane and Darren, they might lose precious time.

In two seconds, he had the truck driving east. They reached the brothers’ house just as the first wave of the storm abated. He heard Allison groan at the sight of the decrepit buildings, and eased the truck into the muddy drive. Was the rusted sedan there? Yes, it sat next to the cement building.

“You stay here.” He threw the gearshift into park and leaped out, sprinting for the house’s screen door that sagged from its hinges. Pounding on it, he yelled out Duane’s name. A few seconds later a light came on, and he could hear the man stumbling and cursing.

Potter glared out the window, and when he yanked open the door, his face twisted in anger. “McBride! What in hell do you want? It’s two-thirty in the damn morning!” A bandage still covered his broken nose, and, in stained sweatpants and T-shirt, he looked more rough than usual.

“I know what time it is,” Shane ground out, “but you need to tell me where my daughter is. If you’ve done anything to hurt her, I swear I’ll kill you both!”

“You’re crazy. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He attempted to shut the door in his face, but Shane stuck his foot in the way and stepped in closer. Naked fear flared in the dark eyes.

“I’m tellin’ you, man, I don’t know nothing about your kid. Why’re you askin’ me where’s she’s at anyway?”

For some insane reason, Shane believed him. He stepped back down. “We got a text message from her saying she’s scared and wants us to come get her.”

“And you don’t know where she’s at?” Duane scratched his head. “Kinda your own stupid fault then, ain’t it?”

“She’s…with Ronnie,” he murmured and ran a hand through his slicked back hair. “Ronnie and Jerry took her camping in the park.”

“That crazy bitch? She’s who’s watchin’ your kid? Then you better get your butt out there and find her before—”

A deep fear he’d never known in his life formed in the pit of his stomach and clawed its way upward, along with sudden terrifying memories…of Ronnie’s anger when, years ago, he’d pushed her away and she’d come at him and dug at his arms with those nails…of his own certainty even then that she was unbalanced…of the way she’d doted on her brother and blamed Allison for Jason’s death. In a moment of clarity, it all added up and he knew Duane was right.

Shane lit out for the truck. Allison watched him with wide questioning eyes when he jumped back inside.

“What did he say?”

He started the truck and threw it into gear. “Lizzie’s not here, and we need to get to the campground.” Before something happens we’ll all regret.

The next half an hour dragged by with few words passing between them…and no new texts. He knew Allison was terrified and nothing he could say would help. Only finding Lizzie would take away her fear.

Water rushed over the road into Big Pine State Park. Shane didn’t have a choice but to slow the truck to a crawl as he drove in, feeling the water lapping against the tires.

“Creek must have gone over.” He knew how fast it could happen—he’d once seen a dry bed turn into a rushing torrent in a matter of minutes. “Luckily the campsites are on higher ground.” Which didn’t mean they, too, couldn’t flood.

He drove them deeper into the park until they found the campground. Many of the campers were packing up and getting ready to leave before the next storm hit.

Allison sat forward and scanned each site they passed. “I don’t even know what their trailer looks like.” She pressed her face against the truck window and stifled a sob. “How could I let Lizzie go? Why didn’t I trust it was a bad idea?”

He reached across the seat and put a hand on her quaking shoulder. “Let’s hope they’re here and everything is fine. Maybe it really was just the storm scaring her or a bad dream.” But in his heart, he feared it was more than that, too.

“There! Look!” Allison pointed to a campsite just ahead of them. “Is that Jerry, out walking around?”

He recognized the heavyset man, who just hours ago had laughed at their wedding and shaken his hand. Now he appeared to stumble toward the road, holding onto his head. Shane swung the truck into the nearest opening.

As soon as he stopped, Allison jumped out and ran. When she reached Jerry, she grabbed him by the arms and shook him. “Where is she? Where is Lizzie?” she shouted above the wind that had started to pick up again and blew through the pines.

Jerry stared at her and then at Shane as he approached. “What are you two doing here? What’s going on?”

The blank look in the older man’s eyes told him Jerry wasn’t quite with it. He took his elbow to steer him back toward the trailer at the rear of the campsite. The silver SUV wasn’t there.

Allison followed, throwing out questions one after the other. “Where is she, Jerry? Where is my daughter? Lizzie texted me she was afraid. Why? What is going on?”

Shane opened the door to the trailer and let Jerry go inside first. He turned swiftly to Allison. “Did you see his eyes? Something’s wrong with him. I’ll look around inside, and you just watch him.”

“But I need him to tell me where my daughter is!”

Her eyes blazed, and even in the dark he saw the gold fire in them.

“Our daughter,” he reminded her and let her go inside ahead of him. In the trailer, he pushed Jerry into a chair at the dinette table. “Stay put,” he ordered and strode to the bedroom at the back. It was empty, but clothes lay on the bed in disarray, some hanging out of the built-in drawers. Another small bedroom held bunkbeds that hadn’t been slept in. There was nothing of Lizzie’s in here.

Had their daughter even been here tonight?

He scanned the room for anything, anything to give him a clue. There was nothing.

Back at the dinette, Jerry held his head in his hands and moaned.

“He won’t tell me anything. I think he’s drunk.” Allison went to peer out the tiny window above the sink. “We need to just go out and look for her.”

Shane held up a hand for her to wait and crouched next to the older man. “Hey, Jerry? Hey, man, what happened here? Where are Ronnie and Lizzie?”

“I…don’t know,” he muttered. “I must have fallen asleep early, right after we got here. Lizzie…I remember she wanted a snack. Ronnie fixed her something and made us drinks. Then I…must have blacked out. But I only had the one…”

“You don’t know when they left?”

“I woke up when the wind started, but I was so groggy. I looked outside but couldn’t see anything with all the rain. I don’t know when they left or…or why. Damn, my head hurts.”

“Look at me.” Shane stood and tipped the man’s head back, studying his bloodshot eyes for a second. Then he picked up a short glass from the table. A whitish puddle still sat in the bottom of it. He glanced around the tiny kitchen and spotted a brown prescription bottle sitting on the counter. Reaching past Jerry, he snatched it up and read the label. A common but strong painkiller. He shook the bottle; only two pills remained. “I think you’ve been drugged, and with the booze, it’s no wonder your head hurts, but you’ll be okay once it wears off.”

“But…I don’t understand.” Jerry rubbed at his eyes. “Did Ronnie do this? Why would she?”

“Good question. For the same reason she’s done a lot of crazy stuff, like poisoning the horses?” Shane met Allison’s stunned gaze, silently conveying a truth he hated to accept but which now made too much sense to ignore.

She stared at him in disbelief, but then her expression changed as all the pieces started to come together, and fear flared in her eyes.

“Because she thinks it’s my fault Jason died?” Turning to Jerry, she spoke in a trembling voice. “Because she will hurt me any way she can? Because she’s always thought I’m a terrible mother and wants my child? Take your pick.” She swiped a hand across her face, then jumped when the trailer creaked against the wind’s assault.

The rain started again. Car doors slammed and campers shouted as they evacuated the park.

“We need to get out of here before the road is impassable.” Shane took the man’s arm and pulled him up. “C’mon Jerry, you better come with us. You can help us figure out where she’d take Lizzie.”

“I told you, I don’t know where she’s gone. I don’t know why—” The older man sagged a little when Shane started for the door.

“Well, we need to figure it out pretty quick, or should I call the state police and ask them to issue an Amber Alert?” He took his phone from Allison’s hand. “Maybe that’s just what I should do.” His thumb pressed the first number for emergency.

“N-no,” Jerry moaned, shaking his head. “She’d never hurt Lizzie. She’s always wanted a child. Ronnie’s just…”

“Just what? Jealous? A little crazy?” He pressed the second number just as a flash of lightning and crack of thunder joined together to shake the trailer.

“There’s no time!” Allison snatched the phone back from him. “Let’s just go. I’ll call them from the truck.”

Shane hauled the older man to the door and opened it into the wind that once more lashed the trees and howled overhead. A small pine went down just a few feet away from the truck but thankfully didn’t block the road out. Outside, he pushed Jerry into the back seat and waited until Allison slid across the front. She was shaking again, and Jerry groaned from behind him.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and hesitated turning the truck key. What should he do? Where did they begin to search for Lizzie?

His phone sang out, and he snapped his head up. Allison leaned over so he could read the text, too.

—Ringer off so she can’t hear. Where r u? Plse, hurry. I’m scared—

“I’m going to answer her.” Her trembling fingers tapped out a reply.

—We r coming but don’t know where to look. Where do u think u r?—

A few painful seconds passed.

—So dark. Think going north? At gas station. Connor’s Quik Mart. She’s coming back. Hurry—

Shane threw a glance at Jerry in the rearview mirror. “Connor’s Quik Mart—any clue where that is?”

The heavyset man leaned forward a little, still holding his head. “We…stayed at a cottage last summer, about seventy-five miles north, off Hwy. 31 on Mirror Lake, town of the same name. I remember passing the gas station on the way.”

“Why would she go there?” Shane started the truck and painfully eased it through the flooded campground and around other campers trying to leave.

“She liked it, and I thought we were doing okay, but there…was…”

“Was what? Speak up, Jerry,” Allison practically yelled.

“Someone. A man. We…almost separated then but she promised me she wouldn’t see him again. But…she did. I found out Ronnie went back without me in the fall.”

“And you think that’s where she’s headed now?”

“Ronnie doesn’t know I found out about her meeting him again, but the gas station isn’t far from the lake.” Jerry sighed and leaned back. “I love her and didn’t want to lose her.”

Shane ignored his muttered ramblings. From the corner of his eye, he saw Allison tap in 9-1-1.

“It keeps dropping the call.” Desperation laced her voice. “Now it says ‘no service.’ Stupid phone.”

Once on the highway, he glanced at her as she tried again to no avail. Her fear and anguish were palpable, and he had to force himself to keep his focus on the road ahead.

So this was it. They were on their own to find Lizzie. He figured they were at least an hour behind Ronnie, if she indeed was heading for Mirror Lake.

He could only pray she didn’t leave again once she got there.

A quick glance to Allison found her staring out the truck window.

“How could I have let Lizzie go with Ronnie all those times?” she murmured on a sob. “I only wanted her to have the things I couldn’t give her. I wanted her to have a better life. But how…?”

“Don’t do this to yourself, Allie.” It was all he could say to try and calm her. “We will find her. I promise you.” It was as solemn a vow as he’d spoken hours earlier.