The River Rolls On (Bellingwood Book 10) (12 page)

"She sure is." Polly sat back, startled at the unexpected turn of conversation. "She'll live in her room across the hall full-time."

"Stephanie bought me a real bookshelf. We went to a store in Ames where they have a lot of cheap things. We bought some clothes and we're going to see if they have a table for the dining room. But we don't have a truck to bring it back."

"Maybe Henry could help you with that when you're ready."

"That's what I told Steph, but she said that you already do too much for us, so we can't ask for anything more."

Polly put her arm up on the back of the sofa. "Kayla, you are part of our family now. There's no such thing as too much. When you find the table you want, we'll be glad to help bring it back."

"I told her that, but she said no."

"Your sister is doing her best to take care of you. She'll figure it out. Don't worry."

"Can I tell you something else she's worried about?" Kayla scooted closer to Polly as her voice dropped to a whisper.

"What's that?"

"She's worried about when school is over. I don't want to stay in the trailer alone all day. There aren't any nice kids my age there. Steph said I could sleep late in the morning and then she'd come for lunch. She said she'd find things for me to do in the afternoon until she came home after work, but that sounds boring."

Kayla came to Sycamore House every day after school and when Stephanie helped with a weekend wedding reception, she came to spend time with Rebecca. Polly was proud of her young charge when she discovered that Rebecca had just made it happen. There hadn't been any question of where Kayla would be. She would be with her friend and Stephanie hadn't protested.

"Do you want me to talk to your sister about spending days here with Andrew and Rebecca? There are things the three of you can do. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Eliseo, Sylvie and I might find jobs so you can earn money."

"Really?" Kayla scooted the last few inches in and tucked herself under Polly's arm. "What kinds of things? Can I work in the barn and help with the donkeys and horses?"

"Yes you can. And Obiwan and Han will need to be walked several times during the day. Eliseo would like more help in the garden out back and Sylvie will need help while she's putting the bakery together."

"You'll ask Steph if it's okay?"

Polly lightly dropped her arm around Kayla's shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "I will. There's no reason for you to stay home by yourself when there's so much to be done here. Besides, last fall when Andrew and Rebecca went back to school, I got lonely. I like having kids here." She leaned in and said, "You know that Rebecca is going to be sad when her mother dies, so it will be even more important for you to be here. She's going to need a friend."

"She has Andrew."

"You're right. She does." Polly let out a chuckle. "But sometimes girlfriends understand things that boys just don't get. Am I right?"

"Maybe."

"Like how cute is that bodyguard of mine?" Polly asked.

Kayla looked up at her in surprise. "You're married."

"And Henry is the love of my life, but sometimes a girl just has to appreciate a fine lookin' fella, doesn't she?"

Kayla giggled and scooted back on the sofa. "He is cute. Is he married?"

"Nope, he's not ready to settle down yet. And honey, you should see his older brother." Polly fanned herself.

"He's cute too?"

"He's gorgeous."

"Is he married?"

Polly shook her head. "No, he's not ready to settle down either. They travel around the world taking care of people like me and don't want to leave families at home wondering if they're okay."

"Do you think they'll ever get married?"

Polly lifted her shoulders and her eyebrows, "I don't know. Neither of them has found the right person yet. Maybe someday."

"Maybe one of them would take Steph out on a date."

She'd walked right into that one. Rats. "I suspect that they'll be too busy making sure Joey doesn't find me. And I don't think Stephanie would appreciate you trying to set her up, do you?"

Kayla frowned. "No, she'd be mad at me. She tells me that I get up in her business too much."

"I never had a sister, so I don't know what 'too much' is, but I'll bet that Stephanie loves you even when you do that."

"Yeah," Kayla said. "I know. She worries all the time about stupid things. If she would let people help her, it would all work out. I keep telling her that she should talk to Jeff, but she tells me to keep my nose out of it."

"For now that's probably the right thing to do." It was killing Polly not to press Kayla. There were so many things that would be easy to fix, but she knew enough to realize that wouldn't help Stephanie establish her own independence. People made life so hard for themselves sometimes.

Andrew stuck his head in the door. "Can we come back in now? Henry said we should wait, but I wanted to get my notebook."

"Is he back there?" Polly asked.

"No. He and Jon are still downstairs talking. They didn't know I came up."

Polly laughed. Henry had no idea he'd lost the boy. "Go tell them that we're done talking and Kayla made me feel much better." She looked at Kayla. "What do you think about helping me make brownies? I have everything we need in the kitchen."

"Yes!" Kayla said, jumping up. "I love your brownies."

Andrew went to the back steps and shouted down. "It's okay. You can come up now. Polly says the girly stuff is over." He ran back to the couch and picked up his notebook, then carried it across the room to the dining room table.

When Polly looked at him with her eyebrows raised, he said, "It's easier to draw here."

"You just want to be close to the batter bowl, you don't fool me," Polly said.

He winked at her and flipped the notebook open to the page he'd been working on. Henry and Jon came into the room and Polly grinned up at them.

"I'm much better now," she said. "We're making brownies. You can do whatever you want. Andrew is waiting to scrape the bowl."

"I am not," Andrew protested.

Polly cracked an egg into the bowl and smiled at her crazy little family. She never knew who was going to be in her house from day to day, but it was never boring and it was never without love.

CHAPTER TWELVE

"I'll let Ray in," Jon said, responding to a buzz on his phone. " You guys go on."

They were playing a rather raucous game of "Pit" at the dining room table, the kids picking up on the trading game quite quickly.

When the two brothers came back into the dining room, Ray looked grave and Jon went on in to the kitchen to pour another cup of coffee.

Polly felt ill. Whatever Ray had to tell her, it was going to be bad. She wasn't sure what to do with Andrew and Kayla, but desperately wanted to know what he knew.

"So," Jon said to Andrew. "Has Polly made you watch Star Wars yet?"

"It's my favorite movie!" Andrew exclaimed. "But Kayla's only seen it a couple of times."

"I've seen all of them," she said, rolling her eyes. "All of them a couple of times. I've even watched the Clone Wars shows. You're addicted."

Andrew shrugged and laughed. "I'm addicted. Do you watch Star Wars?"

"I'm more of a Trekkie," Jon said, "but I could be convinced to see it again."

"Polly has the Star Trek shows and movies too. It's been forever since I watched the movies." Andrew ran over to the cupboard where the DVDs were stored and pulled one out. "Let's watch this one. Come on, Kayla."

She gave a dramatic eye roll and dragged herself off the chair, slowly walking to the media room. "Someday you have to watch something other than space stuff, Andrew," she said.

"I got this," Jon said to Polly. "You three go somewhere so Ray can tell you what's going on. I know enough and we'll talk later."

"Thank you," she breathed and stood up. She was nervous about what was to come and felt her stomach roil. Her knees trembled and she stopped to take a deep breath.

They sat in a small grouping in the living room. The wedding reception on the main level of Sycamore House had kicked off and the noise filtered up the steps. Polly didn't want to have to go downstairs, face people and answer questions.

"How long will this reception last?" Ray asked.

"I don't know. People are usually out of here by one or one thirty. They dance and party late into the night."

"I don't like it. Anybody can come in that front door. If I'd put this together, I would have had my team here today."

She looked at him. His face was drawn and worried. "I don't know what to tell you."

"And Joey knows that you live on the second floor, right?"

Henry nodded. "Sure, but when he was here, Polly was living only on one side. This was all open. He doesn't know we've closed it off."

"Jon and I are staying with you until the reception is over. We'll clear the entire building before leaving you alone."

"Do you think they'd try to come in with you two here?"

"We don't know what they know or what they'll do."

Polly needed to be finished with small talk. "Just spit it out. What did you learn today?"

"Marla Lane is a smart woman. She's been part of the task force looking for Marcus Allendar for the last three years. They tracked him to the Midwest, which was what took her to Omaha. As soon as she saw your sketch, she drove over to Boone. This guy is scary, mostly because he uses someone else's obsession to drive him. That means that his patterns don't always establish themselves until later in the process. He allows his partner to choose the victims."

"How does he find these partners?" Polly asked. She couldn't help that she sounded breathless. Everything had been sucked out of her. "How did he find Joey?"

Ray looked down and slowly turned his face back up to look at her. "He posed as a psychiatrist. Actually, he
is
a psychiatrist. But he hasn't been able to practice legally in the last seven years. He forges documents, gets a job in a facility such as the one which housed Joey and then takes on patients. Once he finds one that is obsessive in a manner that will satisfy Allendar's needs, he helps the patient escape and they spend the next few months on a hideous spree."

Henry reached over and took Polly's hand. His warmth engulfed her and a sense of calm settled over her. "I guess they know his alias and how he got Joey out," she said.

Ray nodded.

"But that isn't important, is it?"

He shook his head.

"How bad is this going to get?"

"It could get bad unless we catch a break. Joey jumped the gun by wanting you at the beginning. Allendar usually has his partner practice until they take the person's true obsession. Then, Allendar waits until his partner kills the victim and ends that person's life."

"Joey is too crazy to be controlled by anyone," Polly said. She sat back on the sofa and put her hand on Henry's shoulder, not wanting to lose contact with him. "But since I escaped, does that mean this Allendar guy is going ahead with his normal plan?"

"We think so."

"Do I dare ask if he uses the same method of killing?"

"That's where it gets difficult. Because they kill using what the partner knows, it's never the same. We need to find the first girl's body in order to determine how she died."

"What does Allendar get out of this?" Henry asked.

"It is assumed that he likes having power and control over the two characters in his little scenario."

Henry shuddered, "Is it sexual?"

Ray shrugged. "It could be. That wouldn't surprise anyone, but it's more about controlling the partner. If it's sexual for that man, then Allendar encourages it. If it's different, Allendar encourages that."

"I just can't believe he's in the middle of Iowa," Polly said. "I mean, there's an entire country out there. What are the odds? There can't be that many serial killers, can there?"

"Actually, Polly," Ray said. "There are believed to be between thirty-five and fifty serial killers operating in the country at any given time. And that number is on the low side."

"That means anyone could be a target."

"It's not that frightening. You're right in the middle of this one, but do the math. There are three hundred million people in the United States and fifty of those are serial killers."

"But there are only fifty states. If there were one in every state..." she let out a shuddering breath. "There's one in Iowa right now and he's after me."

"I have a team flying in tomorrow night. We're going to do everything we can to protect you."

She shook her head. "What about girls who look like me?" Polly stopped. "See, that's what doesn't make sense. How is he talking Joey into accepting these other girls as substitutes? Joey knows better. He's obsessed with me, not someone who looks like me or has hair like mine."

Henry interjected, "Is this FBI agent okay with having you on the team?"

"I bring a lot to the table," Ray said with a slight smile. "We'll just leave it at that."

Polly sat forward again. "You won't let me go outside ever again until you catch these two, will you."

"Maybe," Ray said with a wan smile. "Knowing who the man is helps. It makes him less frightening to me. Now I know who I'm dealing with and he's not an amorphous scary person who could do something crazy out of the blue. We can be better prepared to protect you." He looked at her and smiled. "But I'd feel better if you never set foot outside until this was over."

"Are my friends safe?" she asked. "Has he ever focused on extended family or anything?"

"Never," Ray said, shaking his head. "Not once."

Polly let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "That makes me feel better."

"I want to make sure you do get outside once in a while, though," Ray said.

"What?" Henry demanded. "I thought you said..."

"I know what I said, but the truth is, these two aren't going to go away. We can protect Polly, but they'll keep killing and wait for us to get tired and let our guard down. Jon and I can't stay forever and Allendar has all the time in the world."

"You're going to use my wife as bait?" Henry moved forward on the sofa, his fists clenched.

Ray leaned in and said, "You have to trust that I will never let anything happen to Polly. I am more committed to her safety than anyone I've ever protected. But this siege can't continue. If they see that Polly is trying to live a normal life, they will make attempts and those attempts will expose them."

Polly slowly rubbed the palm of her hand up and down Henry's back, waiting for him to process this. She needed him to come to grips with it all so she could fall apart later.

"I don't like it," Henry said.

"I don't like any of this," Ray said agreeably. "This is the worst possible thing I could ever imagine having happen. But here we are. The best thing we can do is stay calm, think intelligently, and not lose focus."

They all jumped at a knock on the front door. Ray was up and moving before Polly and Henry registered the sound. Jon came running in from the other room.

"Ask who it is," Ray said under his breath.

Polly swallowed, stood up and walked over to the door. "Who is it?" she asked.

"Sam and Jean Gardner," came a familiar voice. "We heard you have some trouble and figured you might be stuck inside. Jean made pie."

Polly grinned. The universe just laughed at her some days.

"Can I open it? They're friends from down the street."

Ray nodded slowly. He took a position on one side of the door and Jon stood behind Polly as she unlocked and opened the door.

"Come on in," she said. "Thank you. You're wonderful."

Sam came in the door and turned to look at Ray who was doing his best to not look menacing. He glanced at Jon and then at Henry, still on the sofa. "Did we interrupt something?"

Jean pushed her husband on in and after putting a basket on the floor, wrapped her arms around Polly. "We would have been here earlier, but Sam thought you might be nervous about having people just show up. I told him he was being preposterous, but I didn't want to wait any longer than today to tell you how worried we've been. Sam's been working with Eliseo in the garden, so we know a little of the story."

She let Polly go, picked up the basket and pushed her husband forward another step. "Let's take this into the kitchen. We brought enough food for everyone for tonight. I know how much you like my barbecue pork, so I made up a big pot of that. Sam bought what he always buys, which means you have plenty of ice cream to go with these pies. I made a strawberry rhubarb and everybody's favorite." She looked at Jon. "Your favorite is apple, isn't it? I can always tell an apple pie lover when I see him."

Ray's eyes had grown big once she started. He checked the area outside the front door, then closed and locked the door.

Polly helplessly followed the Gardners into the kitchen, watching as Jean unpacked the basket and two bags that Sam carried.

"Hi there, kids," she said to Andrew and Kayla. "I knew there would be at least a few of you here today, so I made something special for you, too." She took a plastic container out of the basket and put it into the freezer. "Those are homemade strawberry popsicles whenever Polly tells you that you can have one."

She looked around the room. "Where's your Rebecca? I know she loves strawberries. That's okay. She can have one later. Sam, where's that ice cream? We need to put it into the freezer right away. Polly has plenty of room in there." She winked at Polly. "I guess Henry hasn't been out buying ice cream sandwiches for you lately. If I'd known that, Sam could have picked some up."

Sam Gardner handed her two containers of ice cream and she caught sight of the brownies on the counter. "Ice cream and brownies will work just as well as ice cream sandwiches. You're all set."

"Jean," Polly interrupted. "You didn't have to do this."

"Yes she did," Sam said. "She's been a wreck all week, thinking about you and not feeling like she could just bust in to take care of you. It was easier for me to let her take a walk today. We knew the place would be unlocked with that wedding happening downstairs."

He handed his wife the bag the ice cream had come in and turned to walk out of the room. "She wears me out," he said before leaving.

Henry, Ray and Jon had all been standing in the doorway to the living room and when Sam walked toward them, they split apart to let him through.