Web of Lies (25 page)
When she did, she’d be screaming.
E
rin’s question pierced me like a poison-tipped arrow. That catch in her voice . . .
“What do you
mean
, where’s Kelly? She’s at school with you.”
Erin dragged in a breath. “She was, but something happened. We have two classes in a row together, and during the first one someone from the principal’s office came to get her. Said she had an emergency phone call. Kelly left and never came back. I picked up her backpack and took it to the next class, but she never showed up there either.”
The poison leaked across my chest. “Did she leave her cell phone?”
“No, she always keeps it in her back pocket. But I called it like five times and she never answered.”
Breath froze in my lungs. I blinked rapidly.
Wait a minute, Annie, just wait; there’ll be an explanation.
“Maybe she’s with Stephen. Did you try him?”
“Oh no, I should have. I just thought maybe you’d — ”
“It’s okay, I’ll do it. Keep your phone on; I’ll call you right back.” My heart pumped dreading beats as I punched off the line. First I tried auto-dialing Kelly. Surely Erin was wrong. My daughter would pick up.
One ring. A second. Third, fourth, fifth. “Hey, this is Kelly Kingston. Leave me a message and I’ll — ”
“Come
on
, Kelly.” I jabbed off the line, hit her auto-dial once more. Again her canned voice. The hammer against my ribs kicked into double time. I auto-dialed Stephen, silently pleading. “Do you know where Kelly is?”
Surprised silence. “Why, have you been trying to call her?”
“Stephen, don’t answer my question with a question!
Do
you know where she is?”
“Here, as far as I know. What’s going on? Why are you asking?”
“Because she’s not there! Erin says she was called out from class for an emergency phone call and never came back.”
“Wait, Mom.” The words congealed. “What are you talking about?”
The tone of my voice brought Jenna to the kitchen threshold, forehead etched. Chelsea was close behind her. Tears clawed my eyes. “Kelly’s missing,” I blurted to them, then told Stephen what I knew. Jenna’s cheeks drained to paste. Chelsea brought her hands to her mouth.
Annie, keep calm. There’ll be an explanation.
“Stephen, the principal told me he’d keep an eye on Kelly. Would you go check with his office?”
“Okay, I’m walking there right now.” Stephen’s voice rode on puffs of air. In the background I could hear the high school hall noises of trudging feet and laughter. I threw a helpless look at Jenna. How dare anyone laugh at a time like this? “Mrs. Winger isn’t here today, remember?” Stephen said. “Mike’s funeral is this afternoon. So I don’t know who told Kelly to come to the office. Hold on, I’m here.”
Muffled noises. Stephen, talking to a female. She sounded young. My son’s tone sharpened. “I can’t believe you — ” He cut himself off, his words clearing. “Mom, some idiot junior is filling in at the front desk. She says Kelly got a call from a detective named Tim Branch or something like that. He said there was an emergency and Kelly had to come to the phone right away. The principal wasn’t in the office and this girl didn’t even think to find him first. She just went and got Kelly.”
Tim Blanche?
“Kelly came and talked to the man on the phone, then got real upset and ran out.”
My eyes fixated on the floor, brain scrambling to concoct a reason,
any
reason, for Blanche to call my daughter without telling me. And what could he possibly say to make her run — where? Out of the school building?
Alone?
“I picked up her backpack, but she never showed up at the next class either.”
My legs weakened. I sank into a chair.
“What,
what
?” Jenna gripped the table. Chelsea lowered herself into a seat across from me, her eyes never leaving my face.
“Okay, Stephen.” I forced calm into my voice. “I’ll call Detective Blanche. There has to be a reason for what happened. I’ll get back to you.”
“Okay. Man, it better be good, scaring us like this. I’m gonna strangle that cop.”
I hung up. Quickly told Jenna and Chelsea what I heard. Then with shaking fingers I blipped through incoming calls until I found Blanche’s direct number. I hit the send button, barely breathing while the phone rang, my heart twisting up my throat. A voice inside my head whispered the truth, but I would not listen.
Blanche’s answering machine picked up. I exhaled in panicked frustration. “He’s not in his office! Jenna, would you read me the police station number?”
She strode to the refrigerator and read it off the white magnet that listed the county’s emergency numbers. I dialed again.
“Redding Police Department.”
“This is Annie Kingston. I need to talk to Detective Tim Blanche right away.”
“All right. I’ll put you through to his off — ”
“No, wait, he’s not in his office! Please
find
him.” I closed my eyes and waited, desperate prayers filtering through my head.
Blanche came on the line. I told him what happened. “Please, Tim,
please
tell me you called her.”
“Annie, I didn’t call your daughter out of school. Why would I? I’ve been out chasing leads on Neese and just got back.”
“Somebody else, then. Someone from your department.”
“Look, if something like that happened, I’d know about it. Nobody’s called her.”
My windpipe squeezed shut.
Oh, God, no.
“Whoever called her said he was you. He got her to
leave the school
, Tim.”
“All right, just hold on. We’ll look for her. I’ll send officers to the school. If she’s not there, we’ll put out an alert.”
“Okay.” How could I sound so calm? How could my fingers hold the phone? Alerts were for children who’d been kidnapped. Who wound up dead.
He spouted assurances I barely heard. I clicked off the line and locked eyes with my sister, my limbs icing over.
“It’ll be okay.” Jenna’s tone belied her fright. “It’s just some big mistake.”
Yes, a mistake. That’s all. Any minute now we’d straighten it out. I would accept any explanation, even the sick joke of some other student.
Anything.
But deep within I knew. I could feel my daughter out there somewhere, snatched away, terrified and helpless.
Praying for me to save her.
K
elly swam at the bottom of a thick, dark ocean. Terrifying dreams wrapped around her chest like seaweed — a call at school, a man in a car, a dim little room . . . Her arms pushed through the mucky water, legs kicking. Slowly she
rose. Her body felt heavy, drained. Push, kick . . . push, kick . . .
She broke the surface.
Her eyes opened.
Dim red light. Shelves on a wall. A small, dirty oval window. The smell of dust and . . . something. A close, buggy kind of smell. A concrete floor.
Little things crept on it.
The truth punched her in the stomach.
The spider room.
Shock kicked through her body. Kelly jerked up straight, head pivoting. No, no, no, she
hated
spiders. Wildly she stared at the floor, the walls, the shelves. They were
everywhere
. Something tickled the back of her hand. A little white one. She screamed, shook it off.
She scrambled to her feet, running both hands up and down her legs, her arms, around her neck. Were they on her head? Her back? She shrieked and swiped herself again and again. Bent over and streaked violent fingers through her hair.
How was she here; what happened?
Oh, please, God
— her feet were bare! What if she stepped on a spider? Kelly’s mind exploded. The call, the car, that man . . . dragged through a kitchen, down steps, into this room . . . that killer with the spiders, and the jar at her house, and those people he kidnapped, and
her mom
!
Did he have Mom too? Where was she? In another room with more spiders? Was she dead? Kelly moaned. What was that man going to
do
to them?
Panic seized her throat. She wailed and threw herself at the door, yanking at the knob. It wouldn’t budge, though she rattled and pulled it.
Please, please!
It wouldn’t turn, it wouldn’t turn. Her nerves singed. She was locked in here; she’d be bitten to death. Her fist thudded against the wood. “Let me out!
Please.
Let me
out
!”
She begged and shrieked. Pounded and pounded and pounded . . . until her hand bruised and all energy drained away. Sobbing, she sagged against the wood. This couldn’t be real; how could it be happening? What if the man never came back; what if she was in here forever? What if he
did
come back —
Movement on her arm. She gasped, struck at it. A fly buzzed from her skin.
Spiders!
Kelly wrenched away from the door. They could be anywhere: the walls, the floor. She couldn’t touch anything. She had to stand in the middle of the room and watch her bare feet —
What if they came down from the ceiling?
She threw her head back, squinted up. Saw one crawling straight above her.
Her feet eased one sideways step. Her shoulders drew in. She brought both hands to her mouth, shuddering. She would not move from this spot.
Oh, God, where are You? Please help me! Please send somebody! Where’s my mom?
Kelly cried. Cried and sobbed until her chest burned. Her knees shook, but she didn’t dare sit down. How long could she stand here?
The door rattled. She sucked in air, froze.
The sound of a key in a lock. The door swung open. The man stepped inside, holding her cell phone. Kelly shrank from him, eyes wide.
He glared at her. “Stop making so much noise.”
Her throat closed up. She couldn’t even swallow.
His mouth twisted into a slow smile. “Well. Like your new place?”
Kelly’s heart beat out of her chest. She clutched her arms, trembling.
“What’s the matter, girl? Can’t you talk?”
Air shook in her lungs. “Wh – who are you?” Her voice barely worked. “Why did you bring me here?”
“Who
am
I?” He barked out a laugh. “Man, the chloroform must have played with your head. Don’t you remember the name Orwin Neese? A little present in a jar, left at your house?”
She stared at him, trying to make sense of it. “Please let me out.”
“What’s the matter, you scared of spiders?”
She nodded.
More laughter burst from him. “Oh ho, that’s funny! But then, you should be. Especially of certain ones in here.”
No!
She looked frantically around her feet.
“Don’t worry, you seem to be safe at the moment. Just watch where you step.” He sniggered. “You hear the stories about that girl Amy Flyte being in here? And the man-with-no-name? They got bit by two of the deadly ones. I moved their bodies out this morning.”
Kelly’s muscles went cold. Any minute now she’d faint.
No, no, I can’t be on the floor!
She blinked hard, trying to clear her head.
“Oh, relax, not all of them are poisonous. Some won’t hurt much when they bite.” He grinned. “Then again, others’ll hurt so bad, you’ll
wish
you were dead.”
Tears spilled out of Kelly’s eyes. “Where’s my mom?”
“How should I know?”
She was safe? Then everything he said on the phone was a lie. “
Please
let me out; I won’t tell anyone. You won’t even have to take me anywhere. I’ll just run away and you’ll never see me again.”
He sighed. “Wish I could do that.”
The cell phone in his hand rang. Kelly gasped. The ring tone from home! She grabbed for it, but he yanked away. “Nuh-uh. No can do.”
“Let me talk to my mom!”
His mouth drew down in fake sympathy. “Aw, you think she’s worried about you? She probably doesn’t even know you’re missing.”
Yes, she did. Mom would know. Erin would have called her by now, or Stephen or somebody. Kelly couldn’t let herself believe that no one even knew she was gone. The ringing continued. “
Please
let me have it.”
“Well. Tell you what.” He smirked. “I’ll make you a little bargain . . .”
M
y mind had turned to Styrofoam, airy and weightless. Clear thinking vanished; logic fled. In their place a cold, seeping fear.
Please, God, I can’t stand this; let Kelly be all right!
Before calling Stephen back, I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to sound like I’d fallen into a bottomless chasm.
He answered immediately. I told him of my conversation with Blanche.
Stephen snorted. “Like the police are going to do anything. Forget them;
I’ll
find her. The principal’s already put out a call over the speaker system. I’ll let you know soon as I hear anything.”
“Okay.”
See, Annie? She’s there, at school somewhere.
“Good.”
“Mom, I
will
take care of my sister. Call you back soon.”
The line silenced. Within half a minute the phone rang. It was the high school principal, telling me he’d checked on Kelly just thirty minutes before she disappeared. She’d been fine. He assured me all would be well. She
had
to be there. They were searching the buildings for her, and the grounds . . .
I thanked him, my voice like steel wire, and hung up.
Milt Waking called, already alerted. I didn’t have the energy to talk to him. Jenna took the phone and told him what little we knew. He told her he’d do whatever possible to help.
Chelsea drew her chair close to mine, her hand on my arm. I knew she was praying. Jenna hugged me hard, then paced the kitchen like a caged lion.
Dave arrived, his face a mask of shock and dread. He’d just gotten off the phone with an hysterical Erin, who insisted Kelly wasn’t anywhere on school grounds. I pressed against his chest, shaking, seeking strength. He held me, murmuring that everything would be all right.
More empty assurances.
We waited. I sat again in the kitchen chair, Chelsea on one side and Dave on the other. Jenna paced and fretted.
This is what all those parents have gone through,
I thought. Those whose children had vanished. How did they stand it when no word came? How did they
survive
? Every second flattened out, every minute an eternity . . .