The Way to Yesterday (13 page)

'But you know what he looks like, don't you, honey?"

Hope thought about it a moment, then looked at Daniel and Mary.

'It's okay, honey. Mommy and Daddy want you to help Uncle Reese," Mary
said. "Do you think you can?"

'Yes, I can do that."

'Great," Reese said, and gave her nose a tweak.

'So come sit in my lap and you can watch Kelly drawing, okay?"

'Yes," Hope said, and slid out of Daniel's lap.

'So, this is how we do it," Reese said, as he settled the little girl
in his lap. "I'll ask you questions about what he looked like and Kelly
will draw what we tell him to draw."

'Was his face round like a balloon, or more square, like a box?"

'Round," Hope answered immediately. "Just like his eyes. They were
big and round, too."

Reese's pulse accelerated. Maybe this was going to work after all.

Chapter Eight

Howard Lee took a chunk of raw hamburger from the bowl on the counter, made
a third hamburger patty and then put it in the hot skillet beside the other two
he already had cooking. He turned down the heat, blithely unaware that his
premature meeting with Hope O'Rourke had put himself in danger. A few minutes
later he took the meat from the pan and put them on a platter to cool while he
began to fix the buns.

Amy Anne liked ketchup on her hamburger. Ketchup and nothing else. Justine
like mustard and pickles and wanted her hamburger cut into quarters.

He put the burgers onto the plates and then added a handful of chips for
each girl.

He hummed as he worked, confident that his grow
ing
family was intact. Once the plates were to his liking, he moved to the cabinet,
took out a bottle of over-the-counter sleeping medicine and measured a small
dose into two cups, then filled the cups with milk, adding a dollop of
chocolate syrup to make sure the taste of the medicine was masked. He'd never
intended to use this method of control, but after the first night with Amy Anne
in the guest room, he'd been forced to resort to other measures. A few minutes
later he started down into the cellar. As he did, he heard a scurrying of feet
and smiled to himself, knowing that his girls were aware of his imminent
arrival.

'Daddy's here," he called, then frowned when there was no welcoming
response.

It aggravated him that after all he'd given them and done for them, they
still withheld their affections. Even though their room was technically a
cellar, he had not spared expenses in outfitting it. Besides the large room
that served as living room and bedroom, he'd gone to a lot of trouble to
install their own bathroom with tub and shower.

There was a television, a VCR and more than a dozen children's videos for
them to watch. There were two white twin-size brass beds against one wall and a
wooden table and chairs near the center of the room, piled high with coloring
books, crayons and puzzles. As he came down the steps, he noticed that none of
the toys had been moved, although the
tele
vision was
on.

Refusing to admit that his plan to create his own family was less successful
than he had imagined, he set the tray down on the table and then fixed a place
setting at each chair, carefully laying out their plate of food, a napkin, a
fork and their cups of chocolate milk.

'Look what Daddy's made for you tonight."

'My daddy doesn't know how to cook," Justine murmured, and slipped into
one of the chairs.

Howard Lee frowned. "I'm your Daddy now," he said sharply.

Justine's lower lip trembled and her eyes welled with tears, but she'd
learned early on that arguing with the man just made things worse. Without
saying anything more, she began nibbling on a potato chip as the man took Amy
Anne in his lap and started to feed her.

As usual, ever since she'd been with the man, Amy Anne only sat and stared.

'Eat your hamburger," Howard Lee said. Justine grabbed one of the
pieces and took a big bite, not because she was particularly hungry, but
because she didn't want to make the man angry. "Is it good?" Howard
Lee asked.

She nodded.

'Drink all your milk, too."

She eyed the cup of chocolate milk, wishing she had the nerve to tell him
she didn't like chocolate in her milk, then thought better of it.

'When can we go outside and play?" Justine asked.

Howard Lee's frown deepened. The dilemma of keeping his family intact was
warring with the knowledge that growing children needed fresh air and sunshine.

'After we move. When we get to our new house, then you can go outside, all
right?"

The food suddenly knotted in Justine's stomach. She didn't want to go
anywhere with the man but back to her real home. She thought of Charlie, her
puppy, and her mother and daddy. She wondered if they cried for her like she
cried for them. "I want my mother," Justine muttered, then took
another bite.

Ignoring her discontent, Howard Lee shifted Amy Anne to a more comfortable
position, then picked up the hamburger and offered her a bite. At his bidding,
Amy opened her mouth, accepting the food without acknowledging the giver.

'See, Amy Anne, just like you like it," Howard Lee said. "Is it
good?"

Even if she'd been capable of answering, she would have been hard-pressed to
tell Howard Lee what he wanted to hear. There was no longer such a thing as
"good" in Amy Anne's world.

Hiding his frustration, he dabbed at a dribble of ketchup hanging at the
corner of her mouth and then offered her a drink of milk. She drank without
purpose, neither acknowledging hunger or thirst, but simply acquiescing to his
demands. It wasn't what he wanted, but her withdrawal had left him with no
leverage.

'When you finish your food, we need to take our baths and get ready for
bed," Howard Lee said. Justine looked down at her half-eaten burger and
wanted to cry. She wanted to play in her yard and sleep in her own little bed.
At home, she always slept with her dolly, Freckles. The man had given her a
different dolly to sleep with, but it wasn't the same.

'Drink your milk," Howard Lee said.

Afraid of what he might do if she chose to disobey him, she emptied the
glass. Within minutes, both she and Amy Anne were asleep where they sat. Howard
Lee smiled to himself in satisfaction as he began to take off their clothes. It
was always easier to bathe them and put on their nightclothes when they were
quiet and compliant. He set Amy Anne aside, went into the small bathroom and
ran some water in the tub. Then he turned around, looking from one little girl
to the other and decided. "Justine, tonight you can be first."

It was a blessing for the child that the sedation he'd given her had already
taken effect. She never knew when he took off her clothes, or carried her into
the bathroom and lowered her in the tub. She did not have to suffer the
indignity of a stranger's hands upon her body or wonder about the look in his
eyes.

*

Reese Arnaud stared down at the face on the sketch pad, wondering how
accurate a child's description was going to be in aiding their investigation.
In a way, the image was almost comical. The man Hope described had a wide mouth
and thick lips, with short, blond bangs cut straight across his fore head. His
big, round eyes were set in an even rounder face. And his teeth. Hope had been
adamant about his teeth. The spaces between the teeth were definitely unique.
No wonder she'd thought he was a clown.

It dawned on Reese as he fixed the image in his mind that, if the man was
the one they were looking for, he might very well be using the oddity of his
features to his advantage. Most children loved clowns. What better way to
approach a child than with humor?

'So, Hope, what do you think?"

'It's the man, Uncle Reese. It's the man who touched my hair and told me I
was pretty." The connotation behind the words make Reese sick, but he hid
his feelings as he leaned forward and gave her a big hug.

'Thank you so much, honey. You've been a big help."

'You're welcome," she said, and then looked up at Mary. "Mommy,
may I go outside and play on my swing until supper?"

'Yes."

With the innocence of youth, and unaware of the dangers she had skirted,
Hope was out the back door, leaving the adults speechless.

'Just like that," Daniel said.

Mary leaned her head against Daniel's shoulder. "She's little, and
thank God, was unaffected by the incident."

Daniel looked at Reese. "What are the odds that the man Hope saw is the
man you're looking for?" Reese shrugged. "Probably far less than we'd
like, but we can't afford to ignore anything."

"If there's something else we can do, don't hesitate to ask."

'Will do," Reese said. "Kelly, pack it up. I want to get back to
the department and get this out to the officers."

'Are you going to go public with the picture?" Mary asked.

'We can't... at least not yet. If he's who we're looking for, we don't want
to give him a chance to run. "

'Yes, of course. I wasn't thinking. I just want this man found."

'Thanks to your daughter, it might happen." Mary walked the two
officers to the door and then stopped Reese just before he exited.

'Will you let us know what happens?"

"You know we will."

Mary stood and watched until they drove away. As she started back in the
house, a car backfired at the corner of the block. She jumped and spun, her
eyes wide and startled. Only after she realized what she'd heard, did she start
to relax. She stepped inside, scanning the area with a nervous glance as if she
half-expected to find danger lurking nearby, then she shut the door and went
back into the kitchen. Daniel was standing at the window, watching Hope play.
She put her arms around his waist and laid her head in the middle of his back.
As they stood together in silence, she felt a shudder run through him.

'Daniel?"

"What?"

'What are you thinking?"

'How do we keep her safe?" Then he turned around and took Mary in his
arms. "I'm not referring to just this incident. How do we ever let her out
of our sight again?"

Mary knew how he felt, but she'd learned the hard way that living in fear
was not really living at all.

'We love her with all our hearts, teach her everything we know to help her
make the right choices, and after that, Daniel, it's all up to God."
"God? Where was he when those two little girls were taken? Why are men like
that allowed to live? Tell me that."

Mary had lived with negative thinking for six years and it had nearly killed
her.

'God doesn't do that stuff, Daniel, but he's there to help us through it
when it happens."

Daniel sighed. "I know. I didn't mean what I said; it's just that this
is scary as hell."

'I know, but for Hope's sake, we've got to keep everything as ordinary as
possible."

'Yes, I know you're right, but it's not going to be easy."

Mary slid her arms around his neck and then kissed the small indentation on
his chin.

'Who said being a parent was going to be easy?" Daniel took one look at
the expression on Mary's face and groaned beneath his breath.

'Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" "Probably, but
it's going to have to wait."

"This doesn't have to wait," Daniel said, and slanted his mouth
across Mary's lips.

It was just after midnight when Mary woke and found herself alone. She lay
there for a moment, listening to the sounds within the house. Somewhere a
faucet was dripping. She could hear the occasional plink as the water hit
something metal. Outside, a wind had come up, causing one of the limbs of the
live oak to rub against the window nearest the bed.

The intermittent scratch of wood against glass set her nerves on edge. Still
wondering where Daniel had gone, she got out of bed and went across the hall to
check on Hope. The room was dark, lit only by the Little Mermaid nightlight
plugged in near her bed. God... six years of her daughter's life that she could
barely remember. She was past wondering how this had happened. That she had
them back in her life was all that she would let matter.

A gust of wind rattled the windows across the hall. She looked up just as a
streak of lightning slashed through the darkness. One second it was there,
brilliant and dangerous in all its fury, and then it was gone. She shivered as
she reached for the curtains, pulling them shut and hoping that the approaching
storm wouldn't disturb Hope's sleep. Another gust of wind slammed against the
house, followed by a second clap of thunder. Hope seemed undisturbed by the
noise. Satisfied that her daughter was well, she pulled the covers back over
her shoulders and then went in search of Daniel.