Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 06 - A Season of Change (24 page)

“I know. She told me that women at the telemarketing company were talking about us, too.”

Henry rolled his eyes. “This is ridiculous.”

“We’re not thinking about it today. Your friend installed the video cameras and Eliseo made sure all of the lights are working. Even though I fundamentally don’t like it, I feel a little safer. So I’m setting that aside and thinking about being married to you.” She pointed at his suitcases. “What shirt are you wearing?”

He looked down at his Drake Bulldogs sweatshirt. “You don’t like this?”

“Will you put a jacket on over it?”

“I suppose I could.”

“Then I’m fine. Remember, this is all about us. Right?”

He laughed and pulled her close. “You’re a nut. And I know better than to believe you.” He kissed her nose and released her, then bent over into one of the suitcases and pulled out a forest green crew neck sweater. “What if I wear this under the jacket?”

“Very nice,” Polly said, running her hand across the sweater. “I like it.”

He bent back down and took out a pair of socks. “I’ll put my sexy feet into black socks so I don’t stir up the female populace while we’re out getting married. I wouldn’t want a riot.”

Henry sat down on the edge of the bed and Polly stood beside him, combing her fingers through his hair. She’d stroked his head many times in the past, but it felt different this morning. He was hers now and she felt really proprietary. She gave a quick shudder. That needed to stop right now. It would kill her if he started behaving in the same way toward her. Ownership. Hah.

“What are you thinking about now?” he asked sliding a sock on his left foot.

“Ownership and your hair.” She kissed the top of his head.

“You own my hair?”

“No, I like your hair, but it hit me that it’s all mine now. And then I realized that it’s yours and I don’t want you thinking that you own my hair.”

“You’re strange.” He stood up and wiggled his feet into his shoes. He took a jacket off its hanger and pulled it on. “Will I do?”

“I do,” she smiled. “No, you’ll do.”

“Stop it. What time are we meeting Joss and Nate?”

“I told them we’d be there by ten. We should get going. We need to pick up the license at the courthouse first. Are you sure you’re ready for this?” she asked.

“Of course I’m sure and Dan is waiting for us.” One of Henry’s friends from college was now a district court judge and had agreed to meet them at his office today. Polly couldn’t believe this was working out so well.

“Let’s get married,” she said. “I can’t even believe I’m saying that.” She threw herself at him. “I thought I would be terrified of this day and I just feel so free. Thank you for asking me to marry you.” Polly kissed him and before he could do anything more, she broke away, grabbed his hand and pulled him to the back steps. “Let’s go!”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR

“Polly and Henry, What are you two doing here?”

Her heart sank. She had been afraid of running into Aaron Merritt in his own domain and there was no good way to explain their presence at the courthouse.

“Good morning, Aaron,” she said, turning around. What she didn’t expect to see was two deputies escorting Annalise Stephens and her brother, Simon. Aaron said something quietly to one of the deputies and they went on without him.

“You two are awfully dressed up …” Aaron stopped and looked back and forth between Henry and Polly. She could tell when realization hit. “I don’t see you. I don’t want to know what you’re doing here. If my wife found out that I knew what was going on, I’d be sleeping in my office for a month.”

“Then tell us what you’re doing with Annalise and her brother? Does this have something to do with Bruce Victor’s murder?” Polly asked.

“We just need to ask them some questions.”

“Like why they killed a man?”

Aaron chuckled. “That might come up.”

“Did you find their fingerprints or something on that utility vehicle? And where is Patrick? And did you check out that license plate? Are you sure?”

He put his hands up in protest. “Slow down! First of all, I can’t tell you what I found on the utility vehicle, but there is something fishy going on with these two. Mrs. Stephens hasn’t yet called her husband to let him know that they are here, so as soon as she does that, I’m certain he will arrive with lawyers to ensure they say nothing. As for the license plate, we have checked it, but can’t find your Barry Manush right now. Trust me, though, we are getting close to finding out what is happening with all of this.”

“I can’t believe she killed Bruce Victor,” Henry said quietly. “Why would she do that?”

“Maybe it’s as simple as finding a job for her brother.” Polly remarked.

“That doesn’t make any sense. Patrick would give her anything she wanted. All she had to do was ask.”

“Maybe Patri
ck doesn’t trust her brother. I certainly wouldn’t.”

Aaron patted Polly on the shoulder. “I’m going to do my job now. They aren’t under arrest, only here to answer some questions. You two be good today and when you tell this story and I know you will, be sure to leave out any mention of our conversation.”

He turned and walked away, saying, “I didn’t see them. I didn’t see them.”

“Do you really think it’s as easy as that?” Henry asked Polly. “That Annalise manipulated things through murder.”

“No I don’t. I don’t think they did it even though there is something strange between the two of them. I can’t believe either of them has the presence of mind to commit a murder, much less cover one up. They couldn’t bear to be that close to blood and grime.”

“You’re right,” Henry nodded.

Polly’s phone rang.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have turned this off.” She pulled it out of her purse and saw that it was a call from Jeff.

“He knows I’m busy. This is probably important.” She stepped aside and said, “Hello?”

“Polly, I’m sorry to interrupt your morning, but have you looked at your email?”

“No, why?”

“Don’t hang up. Just look at your email.”

Polly felt a strange flutter in her stomach. Something was wrong. She swiped her phone to her email app and opened it and when she saw the familiar “igotyou” address, looked around for a bench and began walking toward it while opening the email.

You think you’ve won just because he’s in your house? You should never have let him take the little girl to school this morning. He never saw it coming, but she did. If you want her
back, you’d better give him up.

She sank down onto a bench.

“Polly what’s wrong?” Henry asked.

She put the phone in front of him and watched his face turn pale. “What in the hell?” she asked, then realized Jeff was waiting for her. “Jeff?” she said. “What did your email say?”

Tell pretty girl she might want to check her email immediately if she doesn’t want her world to end.

“Okay. Would you call Ken? This person has taken Rebecca.”

“What?”

“Is Sarah working in the outer office?”

“Yes.”

“Shut your door and make the call. Henry and I will be there as fast as we can. I don’t want her to be alone when she finds out.”

“The door is shut,” he said. “Are you sure?”

“I’m going to call the school and double check, but I’m pretty sure. We’ll be back soon.”

Polly stood up and ran for the door of the courthouse, out to Henry’s truck. He took her arm as they ran together and released her when they approached so he could get in and drive. Before her belt was fully on, he pulled out of the parking space. It should only take fifteen minutes to get to Bellingwood once he negotiated the streets of Boone.

The first call she made was to the elementary school. She’d gotten to know the secretary over the last few weeks, “Sharon?” she asked.

“Good morning, Polly. How is Sarah feeling? Rebecca came in and told us that she had to go because her mom had gotten sick again.”

“Okay. That’s what happened.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Umm, I’ll have Ken call you in a bit. I think Rebecca has been kidnapped.”

“Oh, Polly! I’ll tell the principal. Did it happen here?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll talk to you later. Thanks so much, Sharon.”

Polly turned to Henry. “I think Rebecca might know the person who kidnapped her. She never would have gone with a stranger. She’s too smart for that.”

“What did the school say?”

“Rebecca was the one who went in to tell them that she had to go. With her mother’s illness, they didn’t think a thing of it. I wondered what this person threatened her with. She didn’t give Sharon a single hint that something was wrong.”

He made the turn to go north and picked up speed. “Polly, Joss and Nate are waiting for us.”

“Oh crap. Thanks,” she said and placed another call.

“Joss?”

“Hi Polly. Are you ready for the big day? We’re so excited for you. Nate and I were just talking about our wedding day and how this makes so much more sense than the insanity we lived through.”

“We’re not coming. There’s a problem in Bellingwood. The psycho who has been vandalizing Sycamore House just kidnapped Rebecca.”

“No!” Joss gasped. “What can we do?”

“Nothing yet. Henry and I are halfway home, but we’re not getting married today. I’m sorry for making you change your schedules around for nothing.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll head out now and meet you at Sycamore House. Just tell us what we can do when we get there.”

“Thank you.”

Polly hung up and looked at the phone in her hand. “I should be doing something else,” she said.

“Are you going to respond to the email?” he asked.
             

“I’ve tried to avoid that because I didn’t want to encourage her, but I’m going to have to say something.”

She entered text in an email, speaking out loud as she typed.

Please don’t hurt Rebecca. Whatever we can do to work this out,
we will. Tell me what you want.

“That should be good,” he said and she sent it, hoping that whoever did this hadn’t completely lost their mind. What was she thinking, though? For someone to go this far, they had to have some level of insanity. What was she going to say to Sarah? Polly had brought the two into her home so they could have a safe place to live. They might have been safer if they’d never known her. That poor little girl was probably scared to death. She’d already faced so much in her short life and now this.

Polly looked up as the truck slowed down. He’d come to the stop sign and was turning right. Only a few more miles and she’d be there. Tapping the phone, she refreshed the email app.

Nothing yet.

Henry pulled up in front of Sycamore House. They’d managed to arrive before Ken Wallers. That was saying something about how fast he’d driven. Polly checked her phone one more time. There it was.

“Just a second, Henry.” Polly read it out loud to him.

Take off your ring and hand it to him. When he finds us under his nose, he’d better have it. I’ve waited a long time for him. It’s all that matters now.

She looked at Henry. His eyes were filled with terror. “I have no idea who this is, Polly. It sounds as if she’s gone off the deep end. This isn’t even sane.”

Polly looked down at her hands, closed her right over her left and then slipped the ring off and handed it to him. “I’m not silly enough to believe that she can hurt us by demanding a fake gesture from you. Do whatever you have to do. Say whatever you have to say to keep Rebecca safe. Don’t think for a minute that it will hurt me or change anything. Got it?”

“You are a smart woman, Polly. That’s why I love you so much.” He reached across the console and took her hand, holding it a little longer as she slipped the ring into his warm palm.

“What do you think she meant when she said you’d find them under your nose?”

“I guess I should check the hotel and the winery. I could ask Dad and Len to check the workshop. But there are people in those places all day long. I don’t know how she’d get in without someone seeing her, especially with Rebecca in tow. Everyone knows that Sarah and Rebecca are staying here with you. They’d react if they saw Rebecca with a stranger during a school day.”

Sirens accompanied the arrival of Ken Wallers and two other Bellingwood police cars. Polly and Henry got out of the truck.

“Tell me what you know,” Ken said, reaching out to shake Henry’s hand.

Polly showed him the email exchange and he shook his head. “Have you talked to her mother yet?” he asked.

“No. I told Jeff to wait until we were here. I figured she might want to know that you are working on it,” Polly responded.

“She’s here now?”

“She’s in the office, working for Jeff.”

“Then let’s go inside,” he said.

Ken led the way into the office. When Sarah looked up at them, her smile turned to concern. “Is something wrong?”

Jeff came out of his office and stood behind her while Polly walked over and knelt down, taking Sarah’s hand, then looked up at Ken. He nodded for her to proceed. “Sarah, we think Rebecca has been kidnapped.”

Sarah grabbed her throat and strangled out, “What? Who? Why would they take Rebecca?”

“I’m so sorry, Sarah. It’s my fault,” Polly said.

“It’s not your fault,” Ken Wallers interrupted. “Mrs. Heater, the person who has been vandalizing Sycamore House and threatening Polly and Henry, took your daughter. We are going to find her.”

“How did they get her out of school?” Sarah spun on Polly. “She went to school this morning, right?”

Polly nodded. “Henry took her, dropped her off and at some point, this person approached Rebecca and made her tell the office that she was leaving. I think they used your illness.”

“And this person wants to hurt you?”

“I really am sorry, Sarah. If I had thought they would escalate to this and hurt people around me, I would never have invited the two of you to live with me.”

Sarah couldn’t say anything more as tears flowed freely down her face. Then she looked up. “What do they want? I don’t have anything.”

Henry groaned. “They … she wants me. She’s angry because I’m with Polly. I don’t even know who it could be.” He turned and gave Ken a pleading look. “I’ve been thinking through every woman I’ve ever dated. None of them were infatuated with me. I had my heart broken more often than I was the heart breaker.”

Sarah laid her head on her arms on the desk, the sobs breaking through the room. Jeff bent down beside her and rubbed her back. She looked up. “Do you have any idea where this person has taken her?”

Henry said, “I think we should look at the hotel and the worksite at the winery. I’ll call Dad and have him check the workshop. She said they were right under my nose. Those are the places where you’d find me.