Chapter Seven
I was answering emails on my laptop and watching Judge Judy emasculate this deadbeat dad when my cell phone rang. I picked it up from the coffee table and looked at the faceplate: Caller Unknown.
I almost didn't pick up. By nature, I don't like Caller Unknown calls. What are people hiding?
The phone rang a second time. And as it did so, an electrical sensation crackled along the length of my spine. As if a ghost had run an ethereal finger down the center of my back.
I shivered. I knew to pay attention to such sensations. Such sensations were strong indications that something important was going on.
The phone rang a third time. Yes, I use old school rings, even for my cell phone. Phones are supposed to ring, dammit. Not sing Christina Aguilera's failed national anthem attempt.
Now Judge Judy was really laying into this asshole again. Reminding him he was the child's father. That he had responsibilities. She also let him know what she thought of him. Trust me, she didn't think very highly. I loved every second of it.
The phone rang a fourth time. My phone will ring five times before it goes to voicemail. The buzzing along my spine continued to crackle. The fine hair on my forearms was also standing on end.
Something's wrong, I thought.
My email was unfinished. Judge Judy continued her verbal berating. I looked at the time on my phone. I had to pick up my kids in a few minutes. Normally, I would have let the call go to my voicemail.
Normally.
"Answer the phone."
The words came from behind me. Except behind me was a wall. I jumped off the couch, screaming and gasping. The voice was soft and whispery and it scared the shit out of me.
I answered the phone, still scanning the room, still scared shitless. Who had spoken to me?
"Hello," I said, feeling my heart beating somewhere near my throat. I was alone in the house. I was sure of it. I would have heard someone enter. I would have sensed someone entering.
There was no response from the other end of the line. I headed for the hallway. Scanned it. No one was here. Now from the line I could hear faint breathing. And as I searched the bedrooms and bathroom, I said hello again. And when I got to my own bedroom, a voice finally answered.
And it was the tiniest voice I had ever heard.
"Hi." A girl's voice. Maybe five. Maybe less.
I paused, doing a quick mental rundown of all my nieces and nephews. Although I was not as close to some of my sisters and brothers as I wanted to be, I rarely received a call from any of their children. Still, I could not think of a niece this young.
"Well, hello," I said. "And who is this?" I asked, my own voice rising a friendly octave or two. I glanced in my room. My house was completely empty.
So who had spoken to me?
I didn't know. But I let it go and wrote it off to stress. After all, these past few weeks had not been without their trials. And last night....
Yes, last night.
Last night still had me reeling. Had it really happened? Had I really met Fang?
I had. Oh, yes, I had.
The little voice spoke again over the phone. "I'm Maddie."
"Hi Maddie," I said, switching my focus from the strange voice to the little girl. Just about all the hair on my body was standing on end.
Something's wrong, I thought.
"Where's your mommy, Maddie?" Near my bed, my alarm clock registered exactly 3:00 p.m. I had to leave now to pick up my kids. I had been missing my kids all day; or, rather, ever since I got up a few hours ago. I had an overwhelming need to see them, to hold them, to pull them in close and keep them safe. The feeling seemed particularly poignant and slightly irrational. But now I wondered if something else was going on. I wondered if my sixth sense had picked up on this call long before it had come.
"My mommy got kilt."
Kilt?
My heart stopped. Killed. A strong and now not-so-irrational panic had completely replaced any subtle sixth sense I was feeling. A mommy instinct was kicking in, and it was kicking in hard.
"Where are you Maddie?"
"A bad man's house."
"Maddie, baby, where's your dad?"
"I don't have a daddy."
"Who's the bad man, Maddie?"
And now the little girl lowered her voice to a soft whisper and it broke my heart. "He's very very bad," she said. "And he hurted me."
I was standing, pacing. Tears appeared in my eyes. Sweet Jesus. What the hell was going on?
"Maddie, please, honey...where are you?"
"I don't know." More whispering. "It's dark. And cold."
I covered my face. This was real. And my alarm system was ringing off the hook. This was real. This wasn't a prank.
Get information. Get all the information you can.
"Maddie, honey, what's the name of the bad man?"
"He kilt my mom. He shot her. He shot her dead."
"Baby, where are you?"
"I scared."
"Everything's going to be okay, Maddie. Please, honey, do you have any idea where - "
And now the little girl must have pressed her mouth hard into the phone, because her next whispered words were barely discernible. "He's coming!" I heard shuffling, and now I heard her whimpering. "He's coming. I scared. I so scared."
"Maddie - "
And then the line went dead.
Chapter Eight
I stared at my phone, completely rattled. I heard again and again the little girl's tiny voice: "I scared. I so scared."
The iPhone soon drifted to sleeper mode, then powered down. I inhaled deeply. There were tears on my cheeks. I relaxed my grip on the phone. Any harder and it would have broken. The call had gone straight to my heart. It would have gone straight to the heart of any mother. Hell, it would have gone straight to the heart of anyone with an ounce of humanity.
I wiped the tears from my eyes and cheeks.
Someone killed her mother. And now someone was keeping her in a dark and cold place. A bad man who was hurting her.
I inhaled. I was rattled, totally shaken. The call had caught me completely off guard. Hell, it would have caught anyone off guard. I found myself, perhaps for the first time in a long, long time, completely unsure what to do next.
I heard the fear in her voice. I heard again and again her childish attempt to keep her voice quiet.
Who was she? Who was her mother?
And, perhaps the biggest question of all: How had little Maddie gotten my number?
I didn't know. But I was going to find out.
Knowing I was incurring the wrath of my kids' principal, a man who already didn't look very kindly on me, I briefly put off picking them up and called my ex-partner, Chad Helling. One time, not so long ago, I was a federal agent. Now, because of circumstances very much out of my control, I had gone private.
Chad picked up on the fourth ring. I said, "I'm only a four-ring gal now, huh?"
"Be glad I answered on the fourth ring, Sam. I happen to be a very busy federal investigator."
"Uh huh, and whatcha doing now?"
"Waiting in line at Starbucks."
"And it took you four rings to pick up?"
"It took me four rings to hang up on my mom and take your call."
"You hung up on your mom to take my call?"
"Yes. So this better be good."
I told him about the phone conversation with little Maddie, reciting it nearly word for word since it would be forever seared into my memory.
Chad was silent, digesting this. Finally, he said, "Brave little girl. And savvy."
"Brave and savvy aren't going to be enough," I said. "She's with a monster."
He took in some air, inhaling sharply. "I can look into recent murders. See if anything involves an abducted child, too."
"The mother was murdered recently. There's a good chance she hasn't been found. And may never be found."
"An abduction, then."
"Yes, look for a missing mother and child. There won't be a murder reported. At least not yet."
"And you know this how?"
"Call it a hunch."
"Fine." He paused. "Any chance the child was playing a prank on you?"
"Not a chance in hell."
"Don't hold back, Sam. Tell me what you really think."
"Smart ass."
He said, "My question is: How did Maddie find your number?"
I had been thinking that, too. I bit my lip, and looked at my watch. Shit. I was already seriously late. "Hard to know, but my guess is that the number was already programmed into the phone."
"Her mother's phone? Or the killers?"
"The million-dollar question," I said.
"Maybe Maddie hit redial. Who was your last call?"
I could have smacked my forehead. I told Chad to hang on as I quickly scrolled through the iPhone.
"A creditor," I said.
"Keep scrolling."
I did. "Nothing unusual. Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Keep looking," said Chad. "Perhaps a past client."
"Nothing," I said. "But I'll go through it again when I'm not in a hurry."
"When you're not in a hurry? Hey, I was the one jonesing for coffee."
"Just please find out what you can," I said. "And tell your mother sorry."
He said he would and before he clicked off I heard him ordering an iced venti vanilla latte...and my mouth watered.
God, I missed coffee.
Still shaken, I quickly scrambled around my house, grabbing my sunhat and my purse. I had already slathered my cheeks and hands with a heavy application of the market's strongest sunblock, although that did little to stop the searing pain as I now dashed out of the house and crossed the small patch of grass that separated my house and the garage. Oh, how I envied those with connecting garages!
I was gasping by the time I reached the minivan. There had to be an easier way to get my kids. Maybe there was, but for now, no one was picking my kids up but me.
When my hot, irritated, inflamed skin had calmed down, I started the minivan, turned on the AC, and headed out to my kids' school.