“Come with me, please, Mrs. Parrish.” She led Brook through the door into the inner sanctum, down a hallway, and into a conference room. The detective nodded at the other people who waited by the door. “Get Marco down here. Bring me the Parrish file. And shut the door.”
Once they were alone in the room, the detective simply stared at Brook for a long time.
“Well,” she said, her face impassive. “I guess the first question is where have you been?”
“It’s a long story, Detective,” Brook began.
“I bet it is. And I can’t wait to hear it,” Detective Conroy said. “You have no idea how happy it makes me when a missing person turns up alive and well. But, on the other hand, I'm going to need some answers. How about something to drink? Coke okay?” At Brook’s nod, she picked up the phone and asked someone to bring a couple of drinks.
“Okay, I’m all ears.” The door opened and a woman brought in two cans of soda and set them on the table, staring at Brook with unabashed curiosity. From under her arm, she pulled a file which she placed into Randi’s outstretched hand. Still ogling Brook, she backed out of the conference room and closed the door behind her.
Randi handed Brook a can of cola and took one herself. The phone on the table rang and Randi picked it up, listened for a moment, and then hung up.
“My partner, Marco, is on his way in. It’ll be a little while. You’re going to get tired of telling your story before it’s all said and done. But, this first time through, just give me the basics, okay?”
Brook pulled out her drawings and spread them on the table.
“These people abducted me and held me captive.”
As Brook told her tale, Randi picked up the sketches and looked them over. She raised her eyebrows when she reached the one of Gina but made no comment.
Brook wanted to protect Lance. When she reached his part of the story, she skirted around the identity of her rescuer. She would only say she was kept safe until the weather permitted her return. Randi looked skeptical but didn’t push the issue at this point.
“You know, your husband was frantic when you disappeared. He was convinced early on that you had met with foul play. I wasn’t so sure. At least not until this young woman,” Randi tapped the sketch of Gina, “showed up on an ATM camera trying to use your credit card.”
“She did? Did you catch her?” Brook exclaimed.
“No, but we’re still looking.” She paused a moment, gathering her thoughts. “Your husband had no idea where you’d gone so he wasn’t much help at all. In fact, he was so upset we thought we might have to hospitalize him.”
“He said you had probably gone shopping but he had no idea where. We didn’t even know where to start looking. I’m telling you, the man was a basket case.” Randi didn’t seem to notice Brook’s rigid posture or frozen expression. The phone rang, and Randi took the call. When she hung up, she turned her gaze to Brook once again.
“Now, I’m sorry to make you start all over, but we need to record this. Let me get things set up and bring Marco up to speed. I promise we’ll try not to keep you too long.” Randi left Brook alone in the room. Inside, Brook’s mind was flipping switches and making connections, veering from disbelief to rage and back to disbelief again. Finally, shock descended and held her in its numbing grasp.
Randi returned with a slender young detective in tow, his dark hair neatly parted and combed, and his tanned face wearing a serious expression.
“This is Marco,” Randi said. “My partner. Marco, meet Brook Parrish.” They shook hands and Brook saw compassion in his brown eyes. Marco removed his suit jacket and draped it over the back of the chair. As he sat, he loosened his tie.
Another officer entered with a video camera and set it up on a tripod while Marco explained the process to Brook.
“Mrs. Parrish, we want to videotape your statement for the record and get as much information from you as possible so we don’t have to drag you through this too many times. I know it’s difficult, but try to relax and just answer the questions as best you can.” Brook nodded.
Somehow she made it through the next few hours. As Randi walked her to the door she gave Brook a sympathetic smile. “I know you’ve been through a horrible ordeal, and I assure you I will do everything in my power to track these monsters down. What you need to do is go home and put to rest your family’s worries. Let them know you’re safe now. We’ll be in contact.” Randi turned back into the station with a purposeful step as Brook stepped outside.
Brook carried photocopies of the sketches and her journal writings. The camera she left behind in the capable hands of the detectives. Now, she just wanted to get home. She needed to see Clark; she needed her suspicions allayed. Until she had answers, she wasn’t willing to tell the police that Clark had misled them. She could still give him the benefit of the doubt. She hoped in his panic he had simply forgotten he had sent her for the book. She hoped to find he had a good reason for misleading the authorities and effectively sabotaging the search. But she didn’t really believe it.
She settled into the back of the cab with a weary sigh. The long bus ride, the hours at the police station reliving the details of her abduction and captivity, and the suspicion churning in her mind had turned her nerves raw. And, she missed Lance. At the heart of it all, there was that yearning.
At the guard house, Brook rolled down her window and spoke quietly to a surprised Jerry. He agreed to protect her privacy and not to mention to anyone that she had returned. Brook knew she could trust him; she knew he wouldn’t jump on the phone and spread the news. When she reached home, she stepped from the taxi, weary and torn by conflict.
Brook reached the front door and keyed in their security code. She half expected it to be changed, but it wasn’t. She walked into her home for the first time in months. Breathing in the familiar smell, she was surprised to find it held no comfort. Nor did she find solace in the surroundings as she looked around her. Moving through the house, she touched one thing after another, feeling nothing for any of the items. This had always been Clark’s home, the place they had gone to get away from the memories of their lost baby, the place where they would supposedly heal their grief and reconnect to each other. Now, Brook suspected they had only put up fronts. Artificial bright facades to hide the emptiness. Sadness filled her as she waited for the encounter with her husband.
She thought about taking a shower and changing her clothes, but discarded the idea. If she put her arms to her nose, she could still discern, very faintly, the scent of Lance’s cologne.
She went to the kitchen and fixed a sandwich from some leftover ham in the refrigerator. Sitting at the kitchen table, she looked out the patio doors over the lawn as she ate. The last remnants of snow shrank against the fence where it was shady. She felt her eyes glaze with tears. This homecoming was not as she had imagined it would be.
The mechanical whine of the garage door opener warned her Clark was home. She took a final sip of her beverage and stood. Nervously, she waited for Clark to appear in the doorway, her heart pounding in anticipation of this long-awaited moment.
The door opened and then there was Clark. He stopped in his tracks when he saw her and his face paled. The briefcase fell from his hand and landed with a dull smack on the tile floor. He reached one hand to his cheek and his mouth dropped open.
“Brook? Oh my god! Brook?”
Chapter 51
Lance went directly back to the cabin after watching Brook disappear from his life. He parked in his usual spot, haphazardly covered his truck, and walked with determination up the mountain. He would get on with his life;
