might have.
“How tall were they?” Wyatt asked. “Did they reach up to the art on the walls in the foyer or low by the doorknob?”
“Ummm.” Chase tapped his finger against his chin-a move Wyatt had seen Charley do on a number of occasions. “Almost to the top of the door.”
Between five and six feet, given Chase’s height and perspective as he looked up at them.
“And then they yelled for Charley, but Sophie told them you weren’t here, so they grabbed her. I tried to help.” He turned in Sophie’s arms. “I tried to help you.” His little voice cracked.
Sophie snuggled him even tighter. “You did a good job.” She winced over his shoulder as she hugged him.
“Are you sure? They didn’t break you?” he asked.
“Nope, nothing that can’t be fixed, and Mister Stuart and Lily are helping me feel better.”
Chase turned back to Charley.
“They only took Sophie with them in their big black car, but I followed them all the way down the road.” Chase dropped his head. “I’m sorry I went in the road.”
Sophie rubbed his shoulders. “That’s okay, big boy. You were just trying to help, like you said.”
“That’s when they came back and told me to get in the car so I could take care of Charley.” His eyebrows squished to the center. “But I kept telling them she wasn’t Charley, and they kept saying ‘yeah, right’, but I said they weren’t right.” Chase ran a finger under his nose. “Why did they think I wasn’t right?”
Cael chuckled. “Because they were bad guys. What happened next?”
Chase tilted his head back up but turned to James. “They didn’t make me buckle up.”
James chuckled. “Another okay, buddy-boy. You were there for Sophie, and that’s what counts the most.”
Wyatt couldn’t help the smile. The boy had clearly learned, but like a typical eight year old, he hadn’t grasped the point of the rules.
“Um… so, since Sophie was sleeping, they drove and drove and kept on going all the way over the river. I remembered the bridge-that’s why I knew where to go. You remember the bridge, Cael? When we went fishin’?”
“I do,” Cael said, his own grin mirroring Chase’s.
Wyatt mouthed to Cael, “The bridge?” Cael nodded. The kid had provided a fantastic geographic marker.
“They carried Sophie away and took me to a room with two beds and one Mickey Mouse light. There weren’t any toys, but they did bring me a samwich. Ooh! So, then there was this cute little mouse in my room, like Pops. He ran across the room a couple times, and one time the people came back to check on me, and the mouse ran in front of them. I was hiding under the bed, and they didn’t see me. They screeched like you do, Charley, when you see a mouse.” Chase’s giggle infected them all.
“The people just kept bringing me food and a couple toys, but they didn’t let me out. I was gettin’ bored, so I decided… um… to try what Cael showed me.” He tweaked his gaze to Cael again.
“Keep going. It’s okay. Charley knows I showed you.”
Chase bit his bottom lip. “So, I focused really hard on the mouse. Thought all about him and how he might walk and ’bout his whiksers-his whik-his whiskers… I tried to keep real still and think about it.” He turned to Cael. “Like you showed me how to get out of ropes and things.”
Cael nodded him forward.
“So when I was thinkin’, I did it! I got really hot, but I just kept thinking about being the mouse ’cause there was nothin’ else to do. I walked all around the room but got real tired. I think I fell asleep.”
“When did you change back to you?” Charley’s voice held a calm softness, but Wyatt could see the burn in her eyes.
“In the dark. I was kinda cold, so I thought about bein’ me again. It kinda hurt, but not as bad.” He cocked his head at them as if to say ‘it was no big deal.’
Wyatt tilted his head.
“Transformation is a very tough process,” Charley said. Her voice sounded supportive, not angry or judgmental. “Especially when you change into an animal. People are easier because you’re already one of them, but animals- very little is the same. You’re very special to be able to do that, Chase. Very, very special.” Her gaze tracked to James.
“It makes you extra sleepy, and you have to rest for a while,” James added.
“I know!” His exclamation came with excitement. Chase slid off Sophie’s lap and stood, nearly bumped her in the chin as he did. “So I did it again the next night when they told me to go to sleep, and then I stayed under the bed like the mouse-alllllll night!” He all but jumped with giddy elation.
“Didn’t they see you the next morning?” Cael asked.
“Nope!” He stood with his little arms crossed against his chest. “They looked everywhere. While they were finding me, I went out the front door!” His smile would have warmed polar bears in a pond of freezing water.
The sound of the phone cut their conversation short. Charley whipped around to Wyatt. He flipped his cell open to speed-dial Detective Bland, who they’d not yet told about Chase’s reappearance.
“Go ahead,” Wyatt said.
She grabbed the handset from the base on the side table. Answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Is this Charley?” A flat voice, masked by the robotics of a computer, asked.
Charley’s entire body shook. “This is.”
“We will offer you a trade.” The caller took in a deep breath.
“Play along,” Wyatt mouthed.
Charley pressed a hitch in her voice. “Anything. You can have anything you want if you give me back my son.”
“Ah yes, the boy. We’ll return him-”
“Unharmed,” Charley interrupted.
“We’ll return him if, and only if, you meet uh-me, alone, at the arboretum as the night turns to morning of the last week day.”
Charley flipped her phone over so she could see the time. “Why not now? Why not right this fucking instant?” She pitched her voice up as if in hysterics.
The voice laughed. “You always get what you want, don’t you?” The sound turned to a sneer. “Well not this time. Friday. Midnight and no sooner. Nor later.”
“Where exactly?”
“By the gazebo, under the stars. Rain or shine, Charley. There will be no further instruction. Come alone.”
“You don’t know anything about him. He’s just a baby. Send him home, and I’ll meet you, now.”
“Friday!” the voice blasted in monotone and hung up.
Despite the fact the entire conversation had been faked, Charley’s body vibrated with tension, rage and worry. “What do they want from me?”
She balled her hands into fists, pounded them against her thighs.
Wyatt stepped toward her but hesitated. “I don’t know, but I think we need to backtrack a bit.”
“What do you mean?” Charley took deep breaths in the hope of calming her need to throw something.
“I need to know everything there is about you.”
18
Wyatt wanted to yell at her, to tell her that the secrets she kept put her in her predicament. He realized, before
