“They didn’t send anyone to watch the house?” I asked, distress rising in my voice.
I knew he wasn’t ignoring me, but he didn’t respond because his cell phone was pressed up against his ear once again, and he was already talking to someone else.
“Yeah, this is Storm,” he barked. “I need ta’ get a BOLO out on Felicity O’Brien right now…”
CHAPTER 32:
“Yeah, ya’ got that? Yeah, Victor, X-Ray, November… That’s right, black Jeep,” Ben said into his phone.
My friend had made a circuit through the house while calling in the “Be On The Lookout” but hadn’t come up with anything he felt necessary to share. He was now standing back in the living room with his cell still firmly planted against his ear.
“Yeah… She’s about five-two, around a hundred and five pounds,” he continued. “Long red hair. Really long, like waist length. Yeah. Green eyes. Uh-hmmm… No… Right now we aren’t sure. We have reason to believe she’s being stalked by a woman fitting the same physical description. Yeah, no kiddin’. No, there’s no evidence of it being an actual abduction, but we might wanna treat it as a possible. She was last seen at the house in Briarwood, and that was about an hour ago. Maybe an hour and a half… Yeah, by a coupl’a crime scene techs who were goin’ over the yard… Yeah, had ta’ do with the possible stalker… Yeah. Thanks. Call me at this number if ya’ get anything.”
My friend folded the device and shoved it into his pocket then simply stared across the room at me. I was sitting on the edge of the sofa, making a concerted effort at remaining calm. So far I had been keeping myself on an even keel, but I wasn’t sure how much longer that would last.
“What did they say?” I asked after a long pause.
“In about two minutes, every cop on duty in the metro area is gonna be keepin’ an eye out for ‘er and the Jeep. It’s all good. They’re gonna find ‘er and she’s gonna be just fine.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Look, Row,” he said. “I know you’re worried, but it’s gonna be fine. I’m tellin’ ya’ we’re pro’bly overreacting as it is.”
“I’m all about overreacting when it comes to my wife’s safety.”
“Believe me, I know that. Hell, ta’ be honest I’m impressed your head hasn’t spun all the way around yet.”
“Give me a minute,” I replied. “It could still happen.”
“Did ya’ check her schedule? Maybe she had an appointment or somethin’.”
I shook my head. “There was nothing on the calendar. But, I will admit that she sometimes forgets to write them down where I can find them.”
“Well, ‘er purse is gone. Could ya’ tell if she took any equipment?”
“No,” I replied. “I looked, but I couldn’t begin to tell you what all she has down there, so she could walk out with a case full of stuff and I’d never be able to tell. Besides, she usually keeps a case in the Jeep as it is.”
“Don’t worry. It’s gonna be fine,” he offered again.
I simply nodded then got up from my seat and walked over to the open door. I wiped my hand across the opaque condensation that had formed on the glass of the storm door and silently watched the world continuing on about its business outside.
“You’re thinkin’ about it, aren’t ya’?” Ben asked after a long silence.
I knew all too well the “it” to which he was referring. It was something that haunted me every December, especially on the anniversary, which was only a bit over a week away on Christmas Eve. “It” was the night I had returned home from working an investigation with Ben only to find Felicity missing because she had been abducted by a serial rapist. Given the situation, it was hard not to draw a few disturbing parallels.
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “Yeah, I am.”
“This ain’t the same, Row,” he told me.
“Of course it isn’t,” I replied. “He wanted to rape her. Annalise wants to kill her.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” he huffed. “There’s no real reason to believe Annalise has anything to do with this. For one, Felicity’s vehicle is gone. For two, like I said, so is her purse. For three, there’s no sign of a struggle. And finally, the dogs weren’t locked up. Firehair had to have left here willingly, you know that.”
In reality, I knew he was correct. There was absolutely nothing to indicate that Felicity hadn’t simply climbed in her Jeep and left of her own accord. But, even if that was fact, something still didn’t feel right about it.
“Shouldn’t we be out looking for her?” I asked, surprising myself at how even my voice was remaining.
“We can if ya’ want,” he replied. “You got an idea where ta’ start?”
I shook my head. “No. Not really.”
“Okay,” he replied then waited a measured beat before continuing. “Lemme ask ya’ somethin’… You absolutely sure the hocus-pocus with the doll worked?”
I turned to face him. “Yeah, why?”
“Just askin’.”
I thought about what he’d asked, and my muddied brain managed to match up the pieces. With an obvious accusatory tone infecting my voice, I spat, “You think she might be heading for that bondage club again, don’t you?”
“Calm down, White Man. I was just askin’,” he replied.
“I broke that connection,” I continued, intent on making sure he understood. “Miranda isn’t able to use her as a horse any longer.”
“Okay, so what if Annalise did somethin’? Maybe that thing with the candle. Didn’t ya’ say you thought that’s why Miranda brought ‘er back here?”
“I don’t even want to entertain that thought.”
“But, didn’ t you…”
“No,” I spat. “Don’t even go there.”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay. I was just askin’.”
I’m not sure if I was being so insistent for his benefit or my own because whether I wanted to admit it or not, the very same thought had already crossed my mind. My friend had simply been the first to vocalize it.
“Actually, there’s something else that worries me,” I finally said.
“What’s that?”
“Shamus.”
“Firehair’s dad? What about ‘im?”
“When Felicity first got arrested, he blamed me. During one of his calls to berate me, he said he had made arrangements to have her deprogrammed once she was out of jail.”
“Yeah, I remember you sayin’ that. But, I thought I remembered somethin’ about your mother-in-law sayin’ she’d put the kibosh on that?”
“That’s what she said, but I still try not to underestimate Shamus.”
He shook his head. “But there’s nothing here to indicate she was abducted, Row.”
“Maybe he set it up differently,” I speculated. “Maybe he called her and she went over to their house and he had them waiting for her.”
“With their black helicopter?”
“Dammit, Ben, don’t make jokes!” I snapped.
“Look, I’m sorry, but you’re soundin’ like one of those conspiracy nuts. Besides, your father-in-law didn’t call ‘er.”
“How do you know?”
“‘Cause there’s nothin’ on your caller ID since well before we left the house, and the only incomin’ call on ‘er cell for the past two days is the one you just made a little while ago.”
“You checked that?”
“I’m a cop, Row. Remember? It’s what I do.”
