The keys were still in the ignition, and without much deliberation 1 decided to drive the taxi home. I'd call Metro once I was there.
But what would I tell them-how much of this strange and disturbing story?
And how much would I tell Nana? She wouldn't be happy to see me like this: driving a cab-taken from the driver, who had wanted to kill me.
Cross Country
Chapter 127
IT TOOK ONLY a few minutes for me to get to the house on Fifth Street.
I parked the cab out on the street. Suddenly I was sprinting toward the house. On the way home, I had started to worry about Nana and the kids.
Was everyone all right? Maybe this was just more paranoia on my part. But maybe it wasn't. The Tiger went after families, didn't he? And someone had just tried to kill me. I wasn't making that up.
I was startled by Rosie the cat, who snuck up behind me on the front lawn.
Who had let Rosie out? She was a committed indoor cat. 1 could see she was highly agitated. Why was that? What had happened? What had Rosie seen?
“Nana,” I called as I ran up the front steps. “Nana!”
I turned the knob-and the door wasn't locked.
That wasn't right either. Nobody left their doors unlocked in Southeast, especially Nana.
“Nana!… Kids!” I called as I let myself in and began hurrying though the downstairs part of the house. I didn't want to scare them just because I was frightened out of my skull.
Still?
I stopped in the kitchen because it was a complete disaster area. I'd never seen it like this. It looked like someone had been making a cake and had stopped in the middle of things.
But that wasn't all that had happened here. Chairs had been turned over. Plates and glasses were broken on the floor.
So was a mixing bowl that looked like it had held vanilla frosting. Nana had been making a cake-lucky for me.
I pulled out the gun I'd taken from the taxi driver.
Then I started upstairs, unable to get my breath. I tried not to trample on Rosie as we hurried up there together.
Quietly.
And quickly.
Cross Country
Chapter 128
I CHECKED ALL the bedrooms on the second floor. Then my office in the attic. Finally I went down to the cellar.
There was nothing, no one, anywhere in the house.
Finally, I called Metro and reported the possible kidnapping of my family.
Within minutes, three cruisers pulled up in front. Their roof lights were flashing ominously. I came outside just as Sampson arrived.
I explained to John what I knew so far. He stood with me on the porch, where I was holding Rosie, holding on to her for support, really. Everything felt unreal and I was numb from my head to my feet.
“It's the Tiger, has to be him. Something about what happened in Africa,” I said to John. “I almost got shot on the way from the airport.” I pointed toward the taxi sitting on the street. “Cab driver pulled a gun on me.”
“They're alive, Alex,” Sampson said and put an arm around me. “They have to be.”
“I hope you're right. Otherwise, they would have killed them here, like Ellie and her family”
“They must think you know something. Do you, Alex?”
“Not very much,” I told Sampson. But it was a white lie.
I heard a woman's scream then. “Alex!… Alex!”
Bree! She was running down the block from where she'd had to leave her car. The police had completely blocked off Fifth Street now. It was starting to look like one of those gruesome crime scenes that I hated to be called in on. Only this time, it was my house, my family.
“What is it, Alex? I just got the call. Saw the address. What happened?”
“Somebody took Nana, Ali, and Jannie,” Sampson told Bree. “That's what it looks like.”
