All the Shiny Things: A Kate Reid Novel (Kate Reid Series Book 1) (6 page)

4

S
pencer sat on
the edge of their bed, listening as Katie retold the events that occurred at Dr. Reyes’ office.

“You think you may have been kidnapped as a child? Don’t you think you’d remember something like that or at least that your parents would have said something to you?” Spencer appeared tense, almost as frightened as she had been.

“Look, I know this must sound crazy, but you don’t know what it felt like inside that dream. I’m telling you, it was more like a memory, Spencer. I don’t know how else to describe it. When I woke up, I swear my arms were still stinging from the branches that scratched me.”

“I’m sorry, Katie, but it does seem a little bit out there. What did the doctor say?”

“She said I should talk to my parents so I could ‘rule it out’ and continue with the treatments.”

“So she’s not entirely convinced something happened to you?”

“Well, no, but it would make sense. I’ve told you how miserable it was at home for me, but it wasn’t always like that. We used to be happy; we used to have fun. I don’t remember when all that changed, but it did. Why are you having such a hard time believing me? It’s like I’ve been missing this piece in a puzzle my whole life and now finally I have it.”

“You’re convinced of this? That you were taken from your family, escaped, and no one ever told you and you didn’t remember before now?”

He didn’t believe her. The doctor didn’t believe her, but she knew it was fact. How could Spencer not stand by her now when she needed him the most?

Katie pushed herself off the bed feeling the anger well up inside her and began pacing the room. “Look, I don’t know what I believe right now. I’m beyond freaked out. All I’m saying is that something bad may have happened to me when I was a kid and I’d like to find out the truth so I can move on with my life; with
our
life. For God’s sake, Spencer, why can’t you be on my side?”

“Because it scares me, okay?” He pounded his fist on the mattress. “You think I want to know that someone might have hurt you a long time ago? Don’t you see? I can’t help you with this. I can’t fix this for you.” He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. “Katie, I just want you to be okay and for us to be okay. What good is it going to do if you try to start digging up something from the past? If this really happened, you didn’t remember and no one told you probably for very good reasons. You need to let it go and move on.”

“You don’t get it. I need to find out what happened so I
can
move on.” Katie walked toward the bedroom door, ready to end this discussion. “I’m going to book a flight home as soon as I can.”

» » »

Katie wasted no time and was on a flight that evening. Worn out and exhausted from the journey, her argument with Spencer made the situation even more difficult. He wasn’t happy with her decision to go home, but in the end, he did not try to stop her. Instead, he merely stood by and watched her pack a bag. There was nothing he could say that would alter her decision. She was going to go with or without his blessing.

Those last moments before leaving home was all Katie could think about until she noticed Sam waiting for her in baggage claim in the Eureka airport. Her welcoming smile and warm embrace was comforting and made Katie feel safe. She was back home, which to her meant back home with Sam.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.” Sam helped her with her bags.

Katie didn’t say much on the drive and was grateful her friend didn’t push the issue. The weather was only slightly warmer than it had been on her last visit and maybe a little drier, but still cold by Katie’s standards. She untied the sweater from her waist and pulled it on. “Hasn’t warmed up much since I was here last month.”

“Did you forget what it was like here in April? You have been gone too long, spent too much time in the SoCal sun,” Sam replied.

It was early morning when they arrived at Sam’s house. The tall oaks loomed over her home, casting odd-shaped shadows against the covered porch. Katie thought how lucky Sam was to have such a perfect little house in a perfect little neighborhood. It was similar to Sam’s parents’ home, where Katie had spent so much time.

“Come on in,” Sam opened the front door. The scent of blooming flowers was everywhere. Sam took pride in her rose bushes that stood majestically along the front of the home and always had them freshly cut and in vases throughout the house.

“You know where the guest room is. I’ll put some coffee on, if you’d like.”

“That’d be great, thanks. I’ll go put my stuff down.” Katie walked up the stairs through the hallway to her room. She hadn’t expected to be back here so soon and certainly not for this reason. She would have to tell Sam everything.

Katie freshened up, threw on some clean clothes, and followed the scent of coffee toward the kitchen.

Sam held two mugs, placing one in front of Katie on the breakfast table. “So, are you ready to talk yet? I’m guessing you’re not here to talk about your wedding plans?” Sam pulled out a chair and sat across from Katie, taking a sip of coffee.

Her mind raced as she tried to figure out the best place to start. “No, not exactly.” She took a sip as well and began retelling all the events of the past several weeks.

Sam exhaled with some despair. “So, what do you think now? You think maybe someone really did take you when you were little? Why wouldn’t your parents have told you?”

“I don’t know, Sam. Maybe because I didn’t remember anything, they decided not to tell me. I mean, I couldn’t have been more than what five, maybe six?”

“I guess, but you need to sit down and talk to them. I know that’s not easy for you, but you have to know what happened. It could have been anything and, maybe it just appeared as dreams of you trying to escape from someone. Did Dr. Reyes suggest that you could have been kidnapped, or did you?”

“I did. She said not to rush to conclusions.” Katie wrapped her hands around the warm mug.

“Exactly. You can’t just jump to conclusions like that. It could be anything that your subconscious is trying to deal with. The best thing you can do is speak to your parents. Whatever it is, I’m sure they can shed some light on the situation. After that, you can go back home to Spencer.”

Katie’s half-hearted smile wasn’t going to convince anyone. “You’re right. Thank you.” She finished her coffee and a short while later, stood up to leave.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you to your folks’ house? You’re still welcome to take my car. Jarrod’s going to be home all day, so it’s not like we’ll be without a vehicle.”

“I appreciate that, Sam,” Katie began. “I’ll just borrow your car, if that’s all right. No point in you driving me and picking me up again.”

“Sure. No problem.”

“Thanks. I’d probably better get going. I told my mom I’d be there around lunchtime. Of course, she’s probably laid out some huge spread just for the occasion. You know Deborah, ever the consummate host.”

“All right, I’ll walk you out.” Sam opened the front door. “Here are the keys. No rush; whenever you’re ready to come back.”

Katie hugged Sam and gave her a peck on the cheek. I’ll call you later and let you know how it went.”

“It’ll be okay,” she whispered. “I’m sure everything will turn out fine.”

A thin smile briefly appeared on Katie’s lips as she turned away and walked out into the crisp spring air. The scent of roses lingered as she stepped off the porch. “Beautiful roses, Sam.” She didn’t turn around for a reply, only continued to the car.

» » »

The drive to her parents’ home, Katie’s childhood home, wasn’t long. Within about thirty minutes, she’d arrived and now was unsure of what to do next. She made no mention of the reason for her visit other than that she’d planned a trip to see Sam and decided to swing by.

Her father’s car wasn’t in the drive as she’d expected, although this was no surprise. He knew she was coming. Katie shut off the engine and sat in the car, waiting, staring at the house that used to be her home.

The vision of herself as a young girl, sitting on the front steps, playing with her favorite doll flashed before her. It was a warm summer’s evening and the sun was setting. Her dad pulled onto the circular drive, home from work and he stopped short of her bike that was in his way.

“Katie, how many times have I told you to keep your toys out of the drive?” he shouted.

She dropped her doll and ran over to pick up her bike. “Sorry, Daddy.”

He grunted, pulled forward, and got out of the car. She stood in front of him, waiting for him to greet her, but he only patted her on the head and walked past her and into the house.

The memory was gone and it wasn’t until she spotted her mother peeking out from behind the kitchen curtains that she knew she’d better go in.

A soft knock on the door and her mother was there to greet her. Their embrace felt awkward and forced, as it usually did.

“Come in, sweetheart. I’ve made lunch.” Deborah guided her in and closed the door.

The table was set with flowers, beautiful stemware, and amazing food. Katie had to snicker a little, as this was exactly as she imagined. She politely sat down as Deborah began serving lunch.

“Do you need anything else, Katie?”

“No, Mom. Thank you. Can you please sit down? I’d like to talk.”

“Certainly.” Deborah pulled out a chair. “What is it, honey? I was a little surprised when you said you were coming. I thought you and Spencer were planning on visiting together. Is everything all right? Are you two having troubles? Did he break off the engagement?”

“No, Mom. Spencer and I are fine. I’m here about something else.” Katie thought of the various ways to bring up the topic, but could not find an easy path. “For the past few months, I guess it’s been, I’ve been having difficulty sleeping. To be more precise, I’ve been having nightmares.”

Deborah furrowed her brow as she listened.

“At first, I just chalked it up to stress because I was being stretched a little thin helping Sam with her wedding from San Diego, work…you know.” Of course, she quickly realized that her mother probably had no idea what that felt like.

“But then, they seemed to get worse—more intense. I started losing more sleep. So, Spencer and I talked about it and decided I would try hypnotherapy. People say it helps relieve stress, so I thought, what harm could it do?”

Deborah shifted in her seat and seemed to be hanging on Katie’s every word.

“I started seeing Dr. Reyes, but the hypnotherapy began bringing these dreams I’d been having to life almost. If that makes any sense. They felt—real.” She paused for a moment, giving her mother an opportunity to speak, but Deborah remained silent. “I’d like to ask you, Mom, if something happened to me when I was a child? If maybe those dreams are really memories, at least, to a degree.”

Deborah brushed the crumbs from her placemat into her palm and onto the plate. She then proceeded to dab the corners of her mouth with her napkin and placed it neatly onto the table. She continued to straighten and organize as if Katie had said nothing.

Irritated by her mother’s lack of response, Katie raised her voice. “Mom! Can you please answer me?”

Her mother’s gaze burned deeply into Katie’s eyes. It was as if this was a moment that Deborah had sought to avoid for Katie’s entire life and she was desperately trying to figure a way out. But Katie would not release her; she held onto that gaze as if her life depended on it.

Finally, it broke. Deborah cast her eyes down, pushed her chair back, stood up, and left the room.

Katie was stunned. She watched her mother walk out of the kitchen in disbelief. “What the hell is going on?” she said to an empty room.

Katie dropped her head into her hands, feeling defeated. A few moments later, she heard Deborah’s footsteps and looked up. Her mother held an accordion file. There was no writing or markings of any kind on the folder. Deborah laid it down on the table.

They both stared at it. Katie’s heart was racing at the unknown contents of this file.

“Mom, please tell me what’s going on,” Katie pleaded, her voice barely above a whisper. The passing seconds felt like hours until, finally, her mother spoke and began pulling out the contents of the folder.

“After your father opened his business in town when you were very young, we were so excited. The move from San Francisco was tough, but we knew this was the perfect place to bring up our little girl; such a beautiful and safe neighborhood.”

Katie looked at the papers her mother placed on top of the folder; news clippings, typed papers and photos. The first thing she spotted was a newspaper headline:
Missing Girl Found on Side of Hwy.
She reached for the article and pulled it toward her.

“Thank God that family stopped when they saw you. They were on their way to a camping trip in the Redwoods.”

“That was me?” Katie’s voice trembled. Her eyes rapidly scanned the newspaper clippings spread out before her as her mind tried to reconcile what she was seeing.
Missing girl! Local girl still missing; Community rallies around parents of missing girl.
Her throat tightened as she struggled for breath. Her stomach churned from the dizzying effect of the words she was reading.