Taken (5 page)

They all went together to the open garage and set the books among the shelves of baby clothes. Jessie hung Sunny’s beautiful wool coats—one red, one navy blue—on hangers for display. They put the baby dolls in the infant car seats that were for sale. “What size are the coats?”

Sunny was quiet a moment. “I wore them when we lived back east. I think I was about three years old.”

Jessie pulled out the price stickers. “What do you think they should sell for?”

“We don’t need them, Jessie. And it’s for a good cause,” said Bryce. “Price them low. Someone can use them this winter.”

They were all back on the front porch steps, waiting for customers, when Mrs. Adams, Tina’s mom, trudged up the street pulling a child sled with the twins strapped in the little seats. Tori and Pam wore matching red snowsuits with red-and-white striped stocking hats tied under their chins.

Sunny ran to the sled to admire the twins. Mrs. Adams put her hand to her lips and said to the babies, “Do you want a drink?” Then Sunny did the same thing. The twins touched their own lips. Mrs. Adams and Sunny laughed.

“What the heck are they doing?” asked Bryce.

“We’re teaching them some simple signs,” said Tina. “So they can tell us what they want.”

Bryce studied the action between Mrs. Adams and the babies.

“You know what?” said Jessie.

“Uh-oh,” said Tina. “I cannot
wait
to hear this.”

They all laughed. “You guys know me a little too well.” Jessie lowered her voice. “We’re having this event today, Bryce, so we can check out people who might want or need baby things for little stolen Andel. How about if we make our own secret signs? Then we can communicate with each other without speaking?”

Bryce stared at her. “The garage sale is a way to check out the possible kidnappers?” asked Bryce. “I had no idea.” He was quiet, thinking. “Well, then the code signs make real sense.”

“I was trying to think if we already have signs we can use. But they’re mostly baby words,” Tina said. “What would be words for this situation?”

“Well,” said Jessie. “How about ‘danger’? Is there a sign for that?”

Tina thought a minute. “There’s a sign for ‘afraid.’ You spread your fingers out and place your hands on your chest.”

They all three tried the sign for “afraid.”

“Okay,” said Jessie. “That will work to show ‘danger.’ How about a sign for ‘woman’ or ‘man’ meaning a suspicious woman or man?”

They were all quiet. “We could stroke our chin for ‘man’ as if he has a goatee,” said Bryce.

“And pull our right earlobe for ‘woman,’” said Tina. “As if she had on an earring.”

“Those are good,” said Jessie. “Better not have too many or we’ll forget which is which. Are those three enough? Oh, one more. A sign for ‘follow.’”

“What about one with your hand cupped and waving toward yourself?” said Bryce. He demonstrated. They all made the signal. “And sort of jerk your head toward the person to follow.”

“Danger, man, woman and follow.” That’s enough, I think,” said Tina. “But don’t tell anyone else and when we do them we should try to make it look natural. You know, as if we’ve kind of developed a nervous habit.” They all laughed.

A car door slammed. “Look,” said Bryce. “Here comes your first customer.”

Chapter Ten

More car doors closed and a young family of four walked up the driveway. Bryce sat at the money table with Sunny and Jessie and Tina let the customers roam around the shelves. A small boy of about four spied the toys and picked up a wooden hammer and peg toy. Jessie’s heart gave a little start.
Phillip loved that toy. He banged away on it and drove us all crazy.
She was relieved when the boy’s mother said, “You’re too old for that toy, Jim. Let’s find something else.” He put it back on the shelf and immediately picked up a shiny metal car. “Alright,” said his mother. “That’s a better choice. Let’s see how much it costs.”

Mrs. Adams and the twins were in the driveway watching the new arrivals. Her mother beckoned Tina to come to her. In a low voice, she said, “The little coats are beautiful. Am I allowed to buy anything?”

“I don’t know,” said Tina. “One person’s money is as good as the next. But the coats look good up there. I’ll ask Jessie.” She went to Jessie with the question.

“How about if your mom buys the coats and we’ll put a ‘sold’ sticker on them but she leaves them up until the sale is over?”

“Oh, that’s good,” said Tina. She returned to her mother who then went to the money table and paid twice what was being asked for the coats.

Sunny smiled as Jessie attached the Sold stickers. “Now I’ll be able to see the twins wearing my coats!”

People kept coming and soon the garage and driveway were crowded with interested buyers. Jessie decided to stand next to the newborn clothes and check out the lookers.

For an hour, the only people sorting through the tiny baby things were young women, and every one of them was carrying a small baby. Jessie had never seen so many blond children in her life.
Thank goodness little Andel is dark or this would be impossible.

Finally an older couple approached the infant shelves. Jessie took a deep breath and tried to act casual. The man carried a baby all wrapped up in a big blue blanket.

“Hi,” said Jessie. “What size are you needing for the baby?”

“We’re just looking,” said the woman.

How am I going to get a peek at that child if it’s all wrapped up?
thought Jessie. She was getting nervous. She had never seen these people before. The woman took off her gloves and reached for some undershirts. Jessie looked at her hands. No burn or scar was visible. Suddenly the blanket wiggled and a small arm poked out. But not small enough. Jessie could see that the baby was not a newborn.

“Those shirts are for newborns. Each pile is for a larger baby,” said Jessie.

The couple moved up to a larger-size stack.

Everyone else who came to the newborn section was familiar to Jessie. She was getting discouraged. She glanced at Bryce. He was stroking his chin.
How odd
.
Oh, wait a minute. That’s a code sign. What’s it mean? Suspicious man!
Then Bryce tugged at his right earlobe. She looked at the people speaking to Bryce at the money table. It was an older couple. Both had gray hair and no baby.

Jessie eased over nearer to Bryce. He glanced at her and nodded.

“We have a baby visiting us for a while and need some supplies for him,” said the woman.

Jessie tried to see her face and especially her eyes. But people blocked her and Jessie couldn’t exactly knock them aside. And besides, the woman wore dark glasses. She watched and listened.

“How old is the baby?” asked Bryce.

The woman glanced at the man? “He’s real small. A preemie,” the woman said.

“Here’s Jessie,” said Bryce. “She can help you in that department.”

The woman smiled and said, “Thank you.” She turned to Jessie and the smile disappeared. “I forgot. We have to meet someone.” She pushed through the crowd with the man following close by. They hurried to a car parked down the street.

Tina was watching. Jessie stroked her chin, pulled her right earlobe and spread her fingers out on her chest. Then she made the “follow” signal with her cupped hand and pointed to the retreating couple. Tina turned and followed the man and woman.

Bryce stood up from the table and left Sunny in charge of the money. He moved to the open garage door where Jessie stood and watched Tina.

“I think she recognized me from the hospital,” whispered Jessie. “Or at least I guess that’s why I scared her. But I didn’t get a look at her eyes because of the glasses. Did you see a scar or mark on her hands?”

“She had on gloves,” said Bryce in a low voice. “But it’s good that Tina followed them because they would recognize Sunny and me now but not Tina.

“Why did they seem suspicious to you?” whispered Jessie.

“Well, they didn’t know much about babies and were pretty old to have one,” whispered Bryce. “Actually what really made me suspicious was how nervous they were.”

Tina was back. “They’re driving an old pickup. I memorized the license number. Wait, I’d better write it down. She made her way to the money table, took a pen from the holder, wrote on a price sticker and stuck the sticker in her coat pocket.

Back with Jessie and Bryce, Tina quietly reported all she could remember. “The pickup is yellow. I walked past it and couldn’t see inside because the windows were tinted. I figure she was about five feet ten—anyway less than six feet. He was about six feet and heavyset. She had on black snow boots and a gray parka and black pants and gloves. He wore a navy blue parka and black wool gloves and dark pants. His hair was black and thick and kind of wavy. I couldn’t really see much of her hair because of her hat—black knit. What I saw was gray. They were in a big hurry and moved pretty well. They bumped the car parked in back of them trying to turn to get out on the street. That’s about it.”

“The thing that makes me think it’s the kidnappers,” whispered Jessie, “is that she freaked out when she saw me.”

“We’d better keep looking at the buyers,” said Bryce. “This doesn’t really prove anything.”

By five o’clock closing time, many of the shelves were empty. The moneybox was overflowing and Phillip’s toy box was packed with coins. Several people who came were strangers and the team repeated the arrangement of signing and sending Tina to follow them out to get descriptions of their cars and other details.

Phillip and his father returned and looked at the shelves. When Phillip saw that his sale toys were gone, his eyes filled with tears and his lower lip quivered.

“Phillip,” said Jessie. “Look at your money box.” She picked him up. “Now you can go shopping for new toys!”

“Okay,” he said sadly.

While Jessie, Bryce and Sunny closed down the garage for the night, Tina went inside to detail the suspicious shoppers in a notebook. Then she ripped out a clean sheet and made a sign with a marker. It said: “Weekday Hours For The Sale are 4:00PM to 6:00PM by Appointment” and included the Hanson phone number. She took the sheet to the sign in the front yard and attached it securely with tape.

Chapter Eleven

Upstairs, Jessie sat at her desk and studied Tina’s notes on the suspects at the garage sale. She had followed four candidates:

1. Suspect ONE: The older couple who hurried off when they saw Jessie

a. Man about 6 feet tall

1. Heavyset, dark wavy hair, 50 or 60 years old

2. Wearing navy blue parka, dark pants and black-laced work boots

3. Driving old yellow Ford pickup with tinted windows—Nebraska license plate #28-D131

4. Said “newborn infant visiting,” seemed nervous

b. Woman about five feet ten inches tall, saw Jessie and hurried to pickup truck (Tina followed suspects)

c. Woman had on wool hat but could see gray hair on forehead, wore dark glasses, black knitted gloves, black pants and black snow boots

d. Clueless about little babies, sizes, needs

e. Unfamiliar faces

2. Suspect TWO: A woman alone, age around 30 years, about five foot five inches, blonde hair cut short, green pea coat with green and blue scarf, black pants and snow boots. Wore dark glasses. Tina followed to gray two-door car with no baby stuff inside. License plate covered with mud—couldn’t read.

a. Unfriendly, in a hurry, nervous, bought nothing

b. Drove off fast headed toward Town Square

3. Suspects THREE: A couple

a. Man about forty years old, under six feet, slim, wearing suit, dark tie, gray overcoat and black loafers. Blond hair and blue eyes. (Kinda cute, Tina says)

1. Carefully looked at newborn shelf. Seemed to know what to look for. Bought six small nightgowns, one-piece white snowsuit and cap, four blankets and an infant car seat.

b. Woman around forty or forty-five. Long brown hair, dark glasses, about five feet three inches, black leather gloves, black leather high boots

c. Tina followed to car with Omaha license plate #1-98544; silver Mazda—newer, no baby stuff in car

d. Woman seemed “out of it” or sick. She looked pale and said nothing, just followed the man around while he picked out baby things and paid for them.

4. Suspect FOUR: A man alone. He was over six feet tall, dark hair, about fifty years old, kind of pushy and demanding (shoved up to shelves and knocked over pile of clothes). Picked out a stack of larger-size baby clothes (labeled 3 to 6 months). Insisted on buying the navy blue dress coat that Tina’s mom had already paid for. Got mad when Bryce said the coat was already sold. Not nice. I hope
he
doesn’t have baby Andel.

a. Tina followed rude man to car: older brown Jeep local license plate #28-G761

b. Couldn’t see into car. Windows were tinted.

End of Notes for Sunday- T.A./J.H.

“Jessie,” called her mother. She was so deep in thought with the notes, it startled her. She slipped the notebook into her desk drawer and flopped onto her bed.

Her mother appeared at her bedroom door. “I was calling you. Didn’t you hear me?”

“Sorry, Mom,” Jessie said. “What’s up?”