“Willow?” I went to the hall bathroom, and opened the door. “Baby are you in there?”
Nothing.
I hurried into my room, yanked my covers back, in case she had burrowed in my bed. It too was empty. My heart slammed in my throat. “Willow!” I called her name again and shoved open the door to the bath off the master suite.
“Maggie?” Holly’s voice came from the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”
I ran to the living room. “Willow’s not in her bed!” I said. “She’s not here.”
“Maybe she’s hiding,” Holly said, and pulled open the coat closet door in the living room.
It took only moments to check the cottage, and she wasn’t there.
“I’m going to check outside,” Holly said. “Maybe she walked over to the main house. I’ll call Julian.”
I nodded and raced back in Willow’s room, checking under her bed again. My heart was pounding as I sat back up, noticing for the first time that her bedroom window was open slightly. It hadn’t been open when I’d put her to bed last night.
“Willow?” I rushed to it and pulled up short. Her favorite babydoll was lying face down under the window and on the floor.
I picked up her doll and saw a smear of blood. It trailed over the windowsill and to the outside of the cottage.
And I knew. Someone had taken my baby. Willow was gone.
I dropped to my knees and screamed.
***
I don’t remember too much of the hours that followed. It was Julian who’d held me when I’d first fallen apart. It had been Holly who comforted me later as I cried. Diego, Nina and the entire staff had torn the grounds and the mansion apart on the off chance that Willow was either sleepwalking or hiding.
She wasn’t.
One of the responding officers to our 911 call was Lexie Bishop. I sat numbly on the couch in the library of the Drake mansion, holding Willow’s favorite babydoll, and answering the same questions over and over again.
When was the last time you saw your daughter?
What had she been wearing?
Could her father have anything to do with her disappearance?
Did you leave the door unlocked when you went outside in the morning?
“I got ahold of Dad,” Julian’s quiet voice had me focusing on him for the first time in hours. “He is chartering a private plane. He, Duncan and Autumn will all be home in less than two hours.”
I nodded, remembering that they’d all gone to a big home improvement show in Chicago. “Tell him, thank you,” I said, my voice raspy from crying.
“They’re all coming home as fast as they can,” Julian said, giving my shoulder a bolstering squeeze.
I nodded, not trusting myself. I was afraid if I opened my mouth I’d start screaming. It was brutally hard to sit and wait while the police did their jobs. What I wanted to do was get up and run, or drive around looking all over William’s Ford until I found my daughter.
Forensics had taken over the cottage, and the poppet had been bagged as evidence. We’d all been relocated to the main house and kept out of the way.
At the moment, Ivy Bishop was standing at the teacart that one of the Drake’s staff had kindly brought in and was making a cup of tea. Holly sat beside me on the couch, with her arm tight around my shoulders. Diego and Wyatt were standing, speaking in low voices to yet another detective across the room.
Lexie Bishop pulled a chair up across from me. “Maggie,” she said. “I know it’s hard, but I want you to go over everything with me, one more time.”
Silently, I nodded my head.
“When was the last time you saw Willow?” Lexie’s voice was brisk, business like.
I clutched the babydoll closer to my chest. “When I went to bed the night before.”
“What time was that, Maggie?” Lexie asked.
“Ten-thirty maybe…eleven,” I said.
“You didn’t see her this morning when you got up?”
“No,” I said. “I let her sleep so I could get some work done.” I covered my eyes with my hand. “I didn’t check on her when I got up…What kind of mother doesn’t check on her own child when she gets up?”
“Maggie,” Lexie pulled my hand away from my face. “Stop that.”
“Oh my god. This is my fault.” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I was trying to get some work done.” I heard my own voice as if from far, far away. “I didn’t check on her when I got up, Lexie.”
“That’s not unusual.” Lexie said, briskly. “I creep past Morgan John’s room all the time, hoping he’ll sleep in.”
“I thought she was still sleeping,” I said. “Oh, god. This is all my fault.”
“No, it’s not.” Lexie’s voice was tough. “Maggie, the other detective is finally out of the room. I need you to tell me more about the runes, and how you found that poppet of Willow.”
“I took pictures of them all,” I said, passing Lexie my phone.
“That was when I’d called her,” Holly said, telling Lexie about her part of being at the cottage that morning.
I held Willow’s doll closer to me. It helped somehow, making everything feel far away, or foggy. I was having trouble focusing on Lexie’s questions. Deep inside my intuition screamed at me to figure it out…but I couldn’t.
Lexie rested her hand on mine, “Maggie,” I heard her say. “Maggie, can you hear me?”
All I could do was stare at her.
I flinched when Ivy jerked Willow’s babydoll from me. She pulled it out of my arms, tossed it to the floor, and promptly shoved a mug of tea under my nose. “Drink this,” she said brusquely.
“Oh. Thank you, Ivy,” I said, but couldn’t do anything other than sit there, holding the mug.
“Maggie.” Ivy bent down until she was at eye level. She snapped her fingers in front of my face, and I didn’t even react.
“Julian, are you seeing this?” Holly’s voice sounded alarmed.
“Maggie?” Julian knelt down in front of me. “Maggie can you hear me?”
I could but it seemed like too much trouble
