Chapter Ten

Cynthia had put fresh clean sheets on the bed in the ground floor master bedroom of the cottage, but Fitz refused to even consider taking a nap.

“I’m a reformed drunk, not an invalid,” he insisted, his eyes sparkling with pleasure at being in his own home after so long in the nursing home. “Now tell me all about this trouble of yours, and about my grandson going missing.”

Kathryn cast a nervous glance at Cynthia, who gave her a reassuring look and discreetly left. Once she heard the front door firmly close behind the housekeeper, Kathryn began to tell her story.

She started with the real reason why she married Ket Morgan, prompting her father to blurt: “I knew there was something more. I never figured you for a fool or a gold-digger, and you’d have had to be one or the other to get in with the Morgan family.”

“But you encouraged me, Daddy, you said Ket would give me and the baby a good home.”

The old man flushed. “I can’t even remember that. I was drunk all the time after your mother died, you know that. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I guess I was thinking there was no way I could take care of you and a child…you’d have lost your job at the bank and I’m ashamed to say, I was afraid of what would happen to us without your income.” Tears stood out on Fitz’s cheeks.

Kathryn patted his shoulder, handed him a tissue, and went on to tell him about Alex’s disappearance and her husband’s confirmation that the boy had been kidnapped. She wept as she described Ket’s cold indifference, and her fears that Ben Asher would stick by his refusal to help them.

At one point during the telling, her father reached across and gently traced the line of the cut on her upper lip, his eyebrows raised questioningly. She couldn’t meet his eyes. She could tell by his expression that he guessed at the truth, but shame prevented her from voicing the words. Her throat constricted at the memory of her husband’s terrible rage and the threats that had accompanied the blows, but this was one less burden she wanted on her father’s shoulders.

Ket’s angry and frightened now. He thinks maybe I’ve hidden Alex away, trying to get the ransom and clear out with my son. He knows the only reason his father keeps patience with him is that he believes Ket has provided him with an heir. If I were to ever tell the truth, Ket’s world would come crashing down.

“Daddy, I’m afraid. Not just for me, but for Alex. I believe Ket when he says he doesn’t have him, but it’s almost worse, wondering who has taken him and what…what Alex is going through. He must be so frightened…”

****

“Why the hell didn’t you call me?” Ket Morgan yelled into the telephone. “I’ll see to it that you’re looking for a new job before the end of the day.” He slammed the receiver down on the high-pitched squawking from the other end.

“What’s the matter, Ket?” His secretary, Andrew’s raised eyebrows telegraphed his shock at Ket’s furious outburst.

“The stupid effing matron at the nursing home just let Kathryn walk right out of there with that old drunk of a father of hers!” Ket’s face was red and his fists clenched.

Andrew rose from the leather seat he occupied and crossed the room to lay a hand on Ket’s shoulder. “Don’t get yourself all worked up—what can old man Fitzgerald do to you? Everybody knows he’s a drunk, and he’s not likely to know anything about this business with Alex, anyway.”

Ket shrugged his lover’s hand away. “It’s not what he knows, it’s that Kathryn dared to go against my expressed wishes, and the Matron disobeyed my orders. That bitch of a wife of mine knows I don’t love her, but she’s done as she’s been told up ’til now for the sake of her bastard kid. The Lord alone knows what she’ll do now that she’s desperate to get him back. I’ll be damned if I’ll have that slut and her father embarrassing my family name one minute longer!”

He strode from the room, leaving Andrew standing by the desk, pale-faced and anxious.

****

Cynthia had returned with take-out food from the local Thai restaurant, a special request from Fitz. “All the time in that nursing home, I’ve been fed on muck, stuff you wouldn’t feed a baby let alone a grown man. And I’ve been daydreaming about a big plate of spicy food,” he declared.

They all sat down to eat in the tiny dining area just off the cottage kitchen, and with tacit agreement began brainstorming what to do next.

“If Alex has been kidnapped, then it’s by someone who has a grudge,” Kathryn declared, pushing Tai Green Curry around on her plate. “It’s like someone has thought about this for a long time, brooding, and then suddenly saw the opportunity when Ket stopped for gas and left Alex alone in the car.”

Fitz wiped his mouth on a paper napkin. “I think you’re reaching for reasons, Kathryn.” His hand trembled as he raised the coffee cup to his mouth. Some of the dark liquid spilled over the rim, and he carefully placed the mug back down on the table. “You know, even in backwater places like Lobster Cove, there are people who… men who…” He didn’t finish the sentence, couldn’t look at his daughter’s stricken face.

Kathryn spoke around the fear that lodged in her throat, threatening to choke her. “We…I…have to consider that possibility, though God knows, I don’t want to. I want to believe Ket has Alex somewhere safe. He’d never hurt the boy, because Alex is his ticket to power and a big fat inheritance from his father.

“But if we were to consider that some…some pervert is involved,” her breath hitched on a sob, and she pushed away her scarcely touched meal. “If we have to consider that, let’s think that through. How reasonable is it that a predator would just happen to be hanging around a service station out in the middle of nowhere at some unearthly hour of the morning when Ket stopped for gas? Remember, it was barely dawn, so why would someone be hanging around on the off chance a child would fall into his grasp? Maybe if we were talking about a big city mall, or even a busy street when the schools were letting out…but on a country road on a wet, cool spring morning? I think it’s just too far-fetched. No, I think we should consider the grudge angle.”

The three of them sat at the table, their meals going cold while they digested the logic of Kathryn’s statement.

“If you don’t mind my saying so, I think the Morgan family has more than a few enemies in town. It’s said the old man runs with a nasty Mob from out of the state, and rumours are that your husband has taken things a step further. The joke in town is the old man does the laundering and the son is into pharmaceuticals,” Cynthia said, glancing apologetically at Kathryn.

At some level, she had known that not all Morgan business dealings were on the right side of the law. But she’d never imagined organized crime. Suddenly, all those late night visits by well-dressed businessmen who had that hard-boiled look about them made sense.

“What do you know about the factory, Dad?”

Fitz made a great show of wiping naan bread over the curry sauce that remained on his plate, taking his time to answer. When he replied, the words came slowly, reluctantly. “I’ve heard rumours, just like Cynthia. But I couldn’t say for sure about what when I was into the drink, things tended to pass me by.

“But one thing I do remember, the thing that stuck in my craw the most was when Ket Junior brought in all those thugs to break the union. It turned our town into something from the Wild West. Guys had some real complaints, safety, pay, all sorts of legitimate reasons for unionizing. The Morgans have some dangerous friends, Katie girl—you need to be very, very careful. These people are lacking in ethics or morals or any human attributes.”

“And these may be the men who have my son? Dear God, Dad…what am I going to do?”

She was all too aware that the look on their faces was one of pity, but her mind refused to accept all the red flags they were putting up. Even if Ket had sent some of his hired thugs to take Alex, he would surely have warned them not to hurt the boy.

Then she remembered the little information Ket had offered and her hand flew to her mouth. A water glass fell over, its contents drenching her skirt. “I just remembered, I think I was blotting this out because I was convinced Ket had Alex. Ket told Ben Asher, the acting sheriff, that he’d had a phone call from a man, asking for a ransom.”

“Oh, well, there you are…good news! Ket can pay the money, and Alex will be back with us and…” One look at Kathryn’s face stopped Cynthia’s happy speech.

“Ket won’t pay for the ransom. He told me that.”

“He won’t pay…? Why ever not?”

This time it was Fitz who answered. “Alex isn’t Ket’s son. And he knows it.”

****

The boy woke up from a fitful sleep, his face wet from tears that had soaked the thin sheet covering the makeshift bed. Ashamed, he angrily scrubbed his face with small fists. Big boys don’t cry. Isn’t that what his father always told him when he cried? Once he even slapped him because he cried over something. What was it his father slapped him for? He couldn’t remember now, no matter how hard he tried. It seemed like this was all he’d ever known, this damp, dark room. All the other things, like his Momma’s hugs, his toys, and the warm house, seemed like a part of some dream life.

Alex knew his father didn’t like him, was always angry with him, but he didn’t know why. I must be a bad boy, he thought, struggling to sit up. That’s why I’m here in this dungeon. I’m a bad boy and my daddy doesn’t like me.

But then he thought about his Mommy. Mommy loves me. Mommy will make Daddy come and find me and take me away. Maybe Daddy will hit the man who brought me here. Alex thought how much he would like that. He imagined his daddy sweeping him up onto his shoulders like he’d seen other daddies do with their little boys, and then turning around and punching the man for being mean to Alex.

His tummy rumbled loudly and he shivered. It was cold and dark down here, and the walls felt slimy and wet. Would the man remember to bring him something to eat, or would he just forget about him? The man seemed very old, and old people did forget things. His granddaddy, his momma’s daddy, had forgotten all about Alex. His daddy had told him so one day when he’d asked why Momma’s daddy never came around to visit.

He couldn’t help it. Alex started to cry all over again.