Joanne raced into the house, threw her coat over the chair and darted down the hall to her bedroom closet. Like a madwoman, she tore into the pile of shopping bags and dragged them onto her bed.
Sitting on the edge of the mattress, she ripped the gifts and boxes from the tissue and spread the items across the quilt. When she pulled out Nita’s tray, something fell to the bed. Her hand trembled as she lifted the white rectangle and turned it over.
A child’s face looked back at her. A blond child with pale blue eyes and Mandy’s features—more mature, sadder, but Mandy’s. A sob rent Joanne’s chest and she clutched the photograph to her chest, her body shaking with uncontrollable tremors.
She had no doubt, not one question. The child in the photograph was Mandy. She would stake her life on it. Joanne recalled school pictures of herself at age six. She and Mandy looked like twins, except that Mandy had her father’s mouth, the generous smile with a hint of dimples.
Pushing the gifts and packages aside, Joanne fell back onto the bed, the photograph clutched against her chest. She struggled to breathe, to believe what she had seen with her own eyes. The truth wrapped around her, strangling her with the amazing occurrence. Mandy was alive. How? Why? She had no answers, and now she didn’t care.
Mandy lived and breathed somewhere. “Oh, Lord,” Joanne cried aloud. “Help me find my daughter.”
Joanne awakened still holding the photograph. Darkness pressed against the windows, and she was startled to think she’d fallen asleep. She pulled her body upward and slid her legs over the edge of the bed, then glanced at the clock. She’d been there for two hours.
She knew Benjamin would call and want to drop by, and she needed to get a grip on herself. Her focus returned to the photograph, and her heart knocked double time while she struggled to breathe. What should she do? Now she had proof, but if she told Benjamin he’d insist on telling the police, and Joanne sensed she’d lose her caller. The woman was already afraid—petrified was more like it, judging by her tone—and if she panicked and ran, then Joanne would be the loser.
She couldn’t lose her daughter again.
Her pulse riffled through her body as reality engulfed her. She had to follow the woman’s wishes. Money was nothing compared to having her daughter back in her arms. Greg had left Joanne well off. She had her job. She had investments. She could get her hands on the sum easily—and she would. She had no choice.
Joanne crossed the room and slipped the photograph into her jewelry box. She couldn’t chance anyone seeing it. Not now. Not until she’d had time to organize her finances and make her move.
She had the third e-mail, too, and she needed to tell Benjamin about that. She should have dropped it off at the police department, but she’d been too frantic to get home.
The doorbell rang, and Joanne answered it, confidant it was Benjamin. He’d become a daily part of her life, so much so that she felt lost without him. Yet now, seeing him caused her grief because of the secret she would keep from him.
“Hi,” she said as she opened the door.
His smile lit the room as he entered, and he slid his arm around her waist and gave her a brief hug. “I’ve stopped calling before I visit. Did you notice?”
She managed to grin back. “It just means we’re best friends. No pretenses—” Her heart surged with the reminder. “No need to impress. What you see is what you get.”
A flicker of concern whisked across his face and caused Joanne to wonder. In a heartbeat his smile returned, and he slipped off his jacket, then hung it on the doorknob.
“What are you up to?” he asked.
The question sent a slither of guilt down her spine. “Nothing much.” She walked ahead of him to the kitchen. “To be honest, I fell asleep for a few minutes.”
“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?” His voice came from behind her.
“No.” She turned to face him. “I woke up a while ago. I’m surprised I fell asleep. I never do that.”
He reached her and rested his hand on her shoulder. “You’re exhausted with everything going on, Joanne. Emotion is the worst for sapping people’s strength.”
She nodded, realizing she hadn’t eaten and knowing she didn’t want to. “I got another e-mail today.”
“No.” He searched her face. “Do you have it here?”
She nodded and headed for her handbag where she’d placed it before she left Solutions. She opened her purse and pulled out the paper, then returned to Benjamin. “Here.”
He unfolded the note and skimmed it. “I don’t like this. ‘You’re about to lose what you want.’ That sounds like a reference to Mandy.”
“I know.” She slid a chair from under the table and sat.
“We have to call Cortezi.” His eyes caught and held hers. “You should have dropped this off at the public safety building.”
“I know, but…” She heard her voice fade. What could she tell him? “I just didn’t.”
“You think it’s a waste of time?”
She shrugged. “I know they’re doing what they can.”
“We can’t overlook these e-mails. I’m going to call Hank now.”
He rose and strode to the telephone. Joanne watched him punch in the numbers from memory. Her mind drifted as she heard his voice. She gathered from the conversation that Cortezi was there. Finally, she heard Benjamin disconnect.
“They’re already on it.”
“What does that mean?”
“He said they’ve already contacted the e-mail server to trace the address owner.”
She felt tears growing in her eyes. “It’ll be a relief when this is over.”
Yet panic set in. If the person who e-mailed and the caller were the same, the police’s inquiries could scare her away. Joanne would never find Mandy. Now she wished she hadn’t told Benjamin about the e-mail.
He stood behind her and rested his hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go sit where we’re comfortable.”
She agreed, and rose as he pulled out her chair. They walked side by side into the living room. She felt heavy with tension, and she knew he’d noticed when he lifted his hand and massaged the nape of her neck.
“Feeling better now?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said, enjoying the feeling. But he stopped too soon and crossed the room.
“I hate to bring this up,” Benjamin said, plopping into a chair.
She stiffened. “Bring what up?”
“Things we need to talk about.” His intense gaze shifted, and he focused on the darkness through the window.
She squirmed, wondering if it was about their relationship. She’d been a mess since he’d come back to Michigan. She couldn’t blame him for needing a break.
His attention left the window and returned to her. “I’d like to go back over that night.”
“That night?”
“The night they died.”
Her other concern faded. “We’ve already gone over it.”
“I know, but you’ve suspected all along that something happened, and now I’m beginning to wonder, too.” His lips tightened with his frown. “I admit I doubted your feelings about Mandy for a while, but I was wrong.”
“I can’t be angry at you for doubting, Benjamin. I know I must have sounded like a woman who’d lost her senses.” She placed her hand against her heart. “But it happened in here. I heard her voice as certain as the sun rises. I know it’s off the wall, but it’s what I believe.”
“So let’s go back to that night.” His eyes searched hers.
“If you think it’s important.”
“Can you tell me what you remember?”
Joanne forced her mind back to that horrifying night. “We’d gone out to dinner and a movie. The teen I usually had come to sit had a date, so we asked a lady from the church. She has kids of her own so we dropped Mandy there. She lives off of Moross, not too far from the Coast Guard Pier.”
“So you went to dinner and a movie. Why weren’t you with Greg when he picked up Mandy?”
“It was late, and we passed the house on the way to the sitter’s, so Greg suggested I go inside and he’d go alone.” She felt her stomach churn. “It was the worse decision I ever made in my life.”
“No, Joanne. It was a natural decision, and remember, you would have died, too, and if somehow Mandy is alive, you wouldn’t be here for her. God has His reasons for things happening as they do.”
Sadness darkened his face. “The car went off the road on Lakeshore Drive.”
“Yes. Not too far from the War Memorial. It had been slippery that night. Black ice. It’s dangerous along Lakeshore Drive. The wind comes off the lake and there’s nothing to block it.”
“And according to the police, Greg lost control and skidded off the road.”
Joanne remembered asking them that question, over and over. “They said it wasn’t uncommon. They’ve put up that low curb as a barricade, but it doesn’t stop cars from losing control and going into the lake.”
“No other car tracks?”
“By the time the police got there, a couple of cars had stopped because they saw the headlights reflecting through the water.” The memory caught in Joanne’s chest, and she couldn’t speak. “The snow was falling heavy by then, and they found nothing unusual. The police called it an accident.”
Benjamin stared downward, then raised his eyes to hers. “But you think differently?”
“I don’t know anymore, Benjamin. I can’t imagine how it would have happened otherwise, but I’m not willing to say for sure.”
Benjamin rose and came to her side. He eased down on the chair arm beside her and took her hands. “You said a while ago that you wondered if Mandy had been in the car. Why did you say that?”
Again, she tensed. “I don’t know. It’s the whole situation. The seat belt unbuckled. I said it before—Greg wouldn’t have let her ride without her seat belt, and I don’t think Mandy would unhook it even if she knew how. We explained to her about safety. She was young, but she was—”
“A really good kid,” Benjamin said.
The tremor in his voice took Joanne’s breath away. “Why are you asking me all of this? You heard it all when it happened.”
“But I don’t remember. We were all in shock, Joanne. I don’t think any one of us gave the details any consideration. We accepted what the police said without analyzing. It seemed obvious, but now, I don’t know. What bugs me the most is the open window.”
“That never made sense to me.” She felt the pressure of his hand against hers and she longed to be in his arms, to have him hold her and make her memories and fear go away.
Benjamin became thoughtful and Joanne struggled to hold back her secret. He would be angry to know she was considering giving the caller fifty-thousand dollars to find Mandy. He’d tell her it was extortion and a scam—but the photograph made her believe it was real.
She studied his pensive face. If he’d just cooperate with her and not call the police, she could tell him, but she knew him too well. Benjamin was an attorney. He’d probably seen many cases of people being swindled.
Benjamin’s grip tightened on her hand. “Let’s say someone took Mandy from the car.” He shook his head. “It’s sick, but let’s just say it was true. Why? And who?”
“If I knew that, I’d have her back, Benjamin. I have no idea.”
“What about the woman who baby-sat that night?”
“Marti? Never. She had two little ones of her own. She and her family are still members of the church. She was heartbroken just like we were.”
“I’m sorry. It was just a thought.”
He released her hand and rose from the chair arm, then walked to the window. Standing in silence, he stared out at the moonless night. Joanne stood and followed him. She held his arm while resting her head on his shoulder.
“I have two other thoughts,” Benjamin said. “First, that it might have been a random kidnapping, but again, how and why? The other idea is that it was someone who had an association with Greg—an angry defendant or a frustrated client—and if that person abducted Mandy, do you realize what that means?”
He turned toward her and the look in his eyes frightened her. She didn’t want to think about what it meant.
“Someone wanted Mandy enough to kill Greg,” he said.
“Or someone wanted Greg dead, and didn’t have the heart to kill a child.” The thought sent shivers down her spine.
Benjamin faced her and wrapped his arms around her. She nestled against him, drawing from his strength and accepting his comforting concern. Her heart pounded, and her lungs burned with the fiery fear.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you, Joanne,” Benjamin whispered into her hair. “But it’s something that’s been eating at me.”
Tears welled in her eyes and she leaned away from his chest to look into his face. “But who would do that?” Beneath her hands, she felt him shudder.
“Greg was an attorney. We make enemies. People hold vendettas. We’re the butt of society’s jokes and the bane of criminals.”
“Is it possible? Someone kidnapped Mandy and killed Greg to get even? It doesn’t make sense.”
He drew her closer again. “Not to us. We’re sane people. We use common sense, and we have ethics and morals. A criminal doesn’t think as we do. He wants vengeance.” He released a ragged sigh. “I’m only thinking aloud, Joanne, but it’s possible.”
“It’s a guessing game.” She wanted to cry out. She wanted God to give her the answer. “Then what can we do? How will we ever know?”
As she asked the question, she thought of the woman and the photo. If she knew who the woman was, she might have her answers.
“Do you recall if Greg said anything about one of his cases?” Benjamin asked. “Anything that might give us some ideas? I was gone then or he’d have talked with me if he had a problem.”
“He didn’t talk much at home. I think he didn’t want to worry me.” At times, she had resented Greg’s quiet way. She’d wanted to hear what bothered him, but he wouldn’t talk about it. She’d asked sometimes, but Greg wouldn’t respond so she did her best to respect his feelings. “I’ll try to think back, but nothing strikes me. This is a completely new line of thought.”
“We need to consider the possibility,” he said. “I’ll re-study his case notes. I looked through them, but this time I’ll scrutinize them. It’s a long process, but maybe it’ll turn up something.”
She felt his hand tenderly caressing her, moving in a steady, soothing rhythm along her spine. Her eyes grew heavy with the gentle motion, and she faced her growing feeling.
No other man had roused her feelings since Greg died. The thought had never entered her mind. That part of her life had died with him that night, but now something stirred inside her. Benjamin’s touch, his scent, his caring ways had renewed the part of her that had shut down. She longed to know if he felt the same, but she feared he didn’t.
Her thoughts turned to God’s love and she prayed for Mandy’s safety and her own. She ached. She needed wisdom and feared doing something foolhardy. Yet she felt compelled to search for her child.
Benjamin pressed her closer to his heart, and Joanne wondered if he’d somehow heard her prayer.