Gingerbread Man (29 page)

Vince nodded. He took a seat in the back of
the room where all the other adults had been relocated. He listened
only halfheartedly as the old man spun his horrific tale to the
wide-eyed kids who were seated around him on the floor, staring up
at him adoringly. He didn't make it too scary, Vince noted. And he
watched Reggie watching the youngest kids in the group closely,
making sure they didn't get too frightened.

Hard to believe he was a monster.

Chief Mallory came and stood in front of the
adults in the back, motioned with his hands for them to follow him,
and quietly led them all to the foyer, off the other end of the
large living room.

"What's this about. Chief?" one man
asked.

The chief drew a breath, glanced at Vince.
Vince gave him a nod of encouragement, and he returned it. "All
right, listen, I don't want to alarm anyone, here, but I have
information you people have a right to know about." He paused, drew
a breath. "We have reason to believe there could be a child
predator in the area."

The gasp that went up, the chill that went
through them all, was universal. Vince felt it move through the
parents in the room.

"I don't want anyone to panic. We don't know
for sure, but I figured it was better to let you know now, than to
risk not telling you and having something happen to one of the
kids."

"Something like what, Chief?"

He glanced at the questioner, but didn't
answer. "As I said, we're probably wrong. This is a very slight
possibility. But it is Halloween, and I think it will be best for
all of you to be alert tonight. Don't let your kids go out
trick-or-treating alone. Not even with a group of other kids. Every
parent needs to be out there. Keep them close, keep a good eye on
them, and get them home early."

Many voiced questions, but no one got loud,
and Vince could see them gazing worriedly at their kids. He saw
Holly, looking toward that glittery witch hat that poked up from
the center of the group of kids and he knew she was worried, too.
The chief just held up his hands until it got quiet again. "That's
all I can tell you, because that's all I know. Keep a close watch,
stay with 'em. That's all. Now I have to go." Turning, he headed
out. Vince took Holly's arm. "Time to go."

She shook her head. "I want to see Bethany
before we go," she said. Vince turned with her as the kids came in
hordes from the living room, and he watched the big pointy hat with
the green glitter make its way through the crowd.

Finally, the child made her way through. But
the girl wearing Bethany Stevens's hat was not Bethany Stevens.

Bethany's mother stared at the child. Panic
slowly made its way into her face as her gaze bounced from child to
child, to every corner of the room. She knew. Vince read it in her
face, and believed it. There was some kind of alarm built into
mothers where their kids were concerned. He'd seen it in action.
They knew things before there was a clear reason to know them. He
saw that moment happen in Val Stevens's eyes.

"Oh, shit, no," he muttered.

That was just about the time Bethany's mother
started screaming.

***

"HOLLY? HOLLY? DID they catch him yet?" Doris
asked of the woman who sat beside her hospital bed.

Jen Cantrell leaned closer, stroking Doris's
forehead, smoothing her hair. "It's all right, hon. It's okay, it's
me, it's Jen. I'm right here."

Doris opened her eyes, blinking them slowly.
She squinted as if it were hard to see, then tried to sit up.
"Jenny?"

"Yes, sis, I'm right here."

"Poor Ivy," Doris moaned. "She's not at
peace. She can't be at peace."

Jenny Cantrell closed her eyes tight at that
old, familiar shaft of pain. Poor Doris. "Honey, listen to me. It's
been years since we lost Ivy. And she is at peace. She's in heaven,
she's fine. You know that, right? You're here, in Dilmun. Holly
will be here soon to say good night."

"No. No, Jenny, you don't understand."

Jen managed to get her to lie back. She
poured water from a pitcher, and held it to her sister's lips, got
her to drink a little, and tried to keep her own voice soothing and
level. "You're very agitated. I'll call the nurse."

"Did Holly tell you what she and Vince found
out? Did she?"

"No, sweetie. But you just rest now. I'll
just get the nurse and then—"

Doris's hand grabbed hers as she turned to
go. "That evil man lied. He's not the killer. He's not. The man who
took my Ivy is still running free." She shook her head back and
forth, back and forth. "How can I live, how can I bear it?"

Jen went still. She didn't turn, didn't look,
just stood there, going cold all over. "Hubey Welles confessed,
Doris. Honey, don't you remember?"

"He was going to get the death penalty. By
confessing to other crimes, he got life instead. That's why he said
he did it."

Jen swallowed the bile that rose in her
throat. "Doris, honey, how do you know all of this?"

"Vince and Holly spoke to him. They went to
see him in prison. Holly remembered about the eyes being different,
and Vince figured it out."

Turning slowly, Jen examined her younger
sister's face, searching it for signs of dementia or delusion.
Surely this couldn't be true. "Are you saying the man who killed
Ivy is still running around free somewhere?"

"I'll find him. I swear, Jenny, I'll kill him
myself. All this time, I thought... and he was—how can I bear
it?"

Jen's heart seemed to turn to liquid in her
chest. "Oh, Doris. Oh, sweetie, no. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She sank
onto the edge of the bed, stroking her sister's hair. It reminded
her of when they were girls together. Doris would come home all
upset over some trivial thing, and cry. God, she'd always been so
sensitive. It was always Jen who would hold her, comfort her, just
the way she was doing now.

Jen held her tight, whispering and trying to
comfort while depressing the call button with a free hand. Images
of her sweet, angelic niece played through her mind, and tears
choked her, as her own deepest fears came back to haunt her, just
as surely as her sister's had.

***

IT WAS AS if the world slowed down. Holly
watched through a thick, distorted glass, heard as if listening
from the farthest end of a tunnel. Panic. Mothers, gripping their
children so hard their nails dug into the vinyl shoulders of their
store-bought costumes. Val Stevens was running from room to room,
shouting for Bethany over and over again. The chief hadn't gone six
steps from the house when he heard the commotion and came tearing
back. He, Jerry, and Vince spoke rapidly to one another before
springing into action. The chief yanked the radio from his belt and
spoke to Ray out by the gate. Jerry grabbed a phone and punched
numbers. Vince started organizing men to search.

Reginald was white as a sheet, and trying to
catch up with Val, to calm her. Everyone was in motion. Everyone
was moving, shouting, talking, searching, doing something.

Everyone except for Holly. And one other
person.

Amanda.

She sat stone still near the fireplace in the
rocking chair her uncle had occupied moments before, her expression
blank, eyes vacant. She looked the way Holly felt Stunned. Shocked.
Paralyzed. And for just one moment their eyes met, and Holly knew
they were experiencing this in very similar ways.

"Snap out of it, Red." Vince's voice was
firm, his hands tight on her forearms. "There's no time for this.
Come on, focus. I need your help here. I need you pissed. Up and
fighting, like you've been doing up to now. Don't quit on me."

She blinked, and made herself look at him.
Her knees felt like water. She hadn't realized it before, but now
she felt the shaking, the tightness in her chest as her breaths
came faster, and her heart began to batter her rib cage. She hadn't
felt the panic attack creeping up on her yet. Vince had spotted it
before she had.

"No," he commanded. "Don't you do this,
Holly. Not now. There's no time for it now." His arm clamped around
her waist like a vise, he propelled her to the punch bowl, scooped
up a half melted finger from one of the ice hands, and laid it
against the nape of her neck.

She sucked in a breath at the coldness on her
skin, but then steadied herself, let the ice do its work. It was
effective. She covered his hand with her own to keep the ice there,
lifted her head and looked Vince squarely in the eye.
"Bethany?"

"Missing. We've got all the exits covered,
and the chief is leading a room-by-room search. We've got
reinforcements on the way."

"State police?"

He nodded, taking her back toward the
fireplace, setting her down. She looked at Amanda, knowing the
woman was still lost in fear, the way Holly had been only moments
ago. Holly took her hand, squeezed it hard. "Fight it, Amanda. If I
can do it, so can you." Taking the melting ice finger from her own
neck, Holly laid it across the back of Amanda's. The blue eyes
fluttered, met hers briefly.

Vince gave a shrill whistle. Silence fell. "I
want all parents and children here by the fireplace, now."

The lights were up now, as parents and
children gathered hesitantly, their eyes wide and frightened and
wet and suspicious when they fell on each other.

"We need to try to piece together what
happened," Vince said.

"Piece together, my ass! We should be
searching for Bethany!"

"I just want to take my children home, where
they're safe!"

Vince held up his hands for silence, but,
just when it quieted down, Val Stevens's shrieking made its way
from somewhere above as she raced through the house in search of
her daughter. If Reggie had caught up to her at all, she had
apparently shaken him again.

Holly gripped Vince's arm. "Go. Take care of
Val, and then help with the search. I can handle this part."

"Are you sure?"

She held his gaze, clenched her jaw, nodded.
"You don't want anyone to leave just yet, you need a headcount to
make sure no one else is missing, you need to try to get an account
from those who last saw Bethany, and you're probably going to want
a list of who is here. It's not like I haven't been through the
drill. I've got it. Go."

The woman screamed again, and Vince went. He
paused only once on the way, to pull Doc Graycloud from the group
gathered there, then the two headed up the stairs after Val
Stevens.

Holly looked at the people who stood around
her, drew a breath, and cleared her throat. "The state police are
on their way. Rest assured they'll block off every road out of
town, and begin a search immediately. I know the procedure by
heart."

"How?" someone asked.

She tilted her head. "I've lived through it."
She lowered her head briefly, to swallow down the lump that rose in
her throat then raised it again. "And I work for the police
department. In fact I was one of the people who helped Jim and the
boys develop Dilmun's contingincy plan for missing children, and it
is now in full effect. Now the thing is, we can't let anyone leave
just yet. You all need to stay put until we get this organized.
Anything different means we risk Bethany slipping through the
cracks. You understand?"

Several heads nodded. A few people sat down,
resigned, it seemed.

"Good." Holly glanced down at Amanda. She was
rocking slightly back and forth in her chair. She didn't look good.
If she was going to get a guest list, she'd have to get it from
Reggie.

"Everyone look around you, see if you can
think of anyone who was here earlier who isn't here now. If you do,
come up to me and tell me privately. Meanwhile, just make sure you
still have sight of those you came with, sit here, and wait. Suzy
Cooper, where are you hon?" Holly asked.

The little girl who'd been wearing Bethany's
hat raised her hand. Her face was tear-streaked and red. She clung
closer to her mother, and held Bethany's hat in one hand.

Holly moved closer, knelt down, and saw
herself in the little girl's eyes. In her face. In her horror and
guilt and fear. Gently, Holly brushed wet tendrils off the child's
cheeks. "Suzy, you didn't do anything wrong, okay? You need to know
that. No one's mad at you, and you didn't do one thing wrong. You
understand?"

Sniffling, the child nodded.

"In fact, you might be able to help us find
Bethany more than anyone else can. Do you want to try that?"

Suzy nodded again.

"You're such a good girl. And so brave. Now,
can you remember when you ended up wearing Bethany's hat?"

Suzy's lower lip trembled. "She g-gave it to
me. Mine fell off and I couldn't find it, and I started to cry, so
Bethany gave me her hat to wear."

"That's good, very good. Now do you remember
where you were when that happened?"

Again, the jerky little nod. One black curl
fell, and stuck to her cheek, glued there by tears. "We were
outside. It was when Mr. D'Voe led us around the front yard."

Amanda's head lifted slowly. "She never made
it back inside," she whispered.

Holly looked through the faces in the crowd,
spotted her uncle, sighed in relief. "Uncle Marty, I need you to
keep everyone here. Don't let anyone leave. I'll be right
back."

"You got it, hon." He came to the front of
the room and took a spot beside Amanda, patting her shoulder gently
as Holly raced up the stairs. She found Vince and Dr. Graycloud in
the first bedroom at the top. Val Stevens lay in a large bed. Her
eyes were closed, but moved rapidly beneath the thin lids. Her
chest rose and fell in staccato breaths. An empty hypodermic needle
lay on the bedside stand.

"Vince, I think Bethany was taken during the
parade around the lawn. It doesn't look like she ever made it back
into the house."

Lights flashed through the outer windows as
the state police converged on the house. Behind Holly, Chief
Mallory and Reggie entered the room.