Hand Me Down Evil (Hand Me Down Trilogy) (3 page)

And I did not appreciate people like Henry who knew nothing about Mom but thought that they had a right to talk about her in such derogatory terms. She was a very intelligent scientist. Before she left, she had been working on an experiment that would have transformed the world of human genetic engineering.

Mom had said that if her experiment were a success, it would revolutionize science and man’s ability to combat disease naturally. I started to open my mouth to tell Henry that my mother was a good person. But when I realized that anything I said would not convince him otherwise, I bit my lip and took a step back.

Ken returned and informed us that Amber was not in the store and that he had searched for her in the crowd without success. He also said that the bomb squad was on its way to investigate the explosion. The chief detective suspected that the fire was caused by a bomb that had been planted under my car.

A bomb? Who would want to plant a bomb under the Taurus? If foul play caused the explosion, then foul play could have had something to do with Amber’s disappearance. Did the woman in the white car set the bomb there? Amber had told Phyllis that the woman was hiding behind my car. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was going to be a long evening.

At that brief moment when I was standing in darkness in front of Mitchell’s with the moon high overhead and the storm brewing to the west, I began to realize that Amber was truly missing. But how? Something tugged at my subconscious, urging me to search for my sister in the woods, but the woods seemed so dark and deep, and I did not know where to start.

Phyllis was on her way to the hospital, and I had absolutely no one to help me. And Tally was home with Eleanor. To make matters worse, I felt that I needed to hurry and get back to Tally. I sensed that Tally was in danger.

Henry and Ken assured me that they would send out a search team immediately to look for Amber, and as they moved to their patrol car, I could hear them radio headquarters about a missing child.

I
did not have much faith in the police. Last year, the chief of police had called off the search for Mom after only a couple of days.

So I resolved to find Amber myself. I recalled reading a newspaper article once that said something like the first hour after a child disappears is called the “golden hour” because if you don’t find the child within that hour, then your chances of finding him or her diminish greatly after that.

Still, I bet I could do a better job than the authorities. They could care less about Mom or Amber. They just go to the police station to collect a paycheck.

Amber and Mom are a part of my life. They are my family. People don’t normally care about each other as much unless they have a bond of some sort between them. The police could care less about my family. Even though the police have more resources to conduct a search, they don’t have the motivation, the drive that I have.

Yet I stood frozen, unable to move, paralyzed as thoughts twirled in my mind about Mom and Amber.

When a streak of lightening lit the sky for a split second, I happened to glance toward the light post on the south side of Mitchell’s Market, and it was there that I saw him.

He was leaning against the post with his hands tucked in the pockets of his faded blue jeans. He wore sneakers, a white t-shirt, and a blue and white varsity jacket with the words “Grayling High School” embroidered on the front pocket.

His brown straight hair was combed back neatly. Although I could not see him too clearly, I could tell that his deep brown eyes were focused on me, scanning me from head to toe. He looked mysterious, out of place, and incredibly handsome and tall.

It was Mark Greenbaum from last year’s chemistry class. Although I had stolen many casual glances at him in school, he never seemed to notice me or any other girl for that matter. Everyone knew him as the high school quarterback who was consistently on the honor roll. We regarded him as someone every girl wanted to date. But he never went out with anyone, at least no one I knew.

And now in my moment of turmoil, when my entire world was falling apart, when I was completely bewildered, there he was across the road, staring at me.

What was he doing there?

What was more mysterious about his presence was that I had lived in Grayling all my life, and I had never seen him at Mitchell’s Market. Mark lived on the other side of town. He had no business at Mitchell’s. And he had no right to come into my world at this moment when the last thing I needed was to be distracted. But there he was. And for reasons I could not completely understand, I was glad he was there.

I felt a chill move up my spine as he left his place by the post and started walking toward me.

M
ark stopped suddenly when he reached my car and stood there for several minutes, surveying the wreckage.

The police had already wrapped yellow tape around the perimeter of the scene. Mark seemed very interested in observing the Taurus. He paused for a moment directly behind the tape and scanned the charred front end of the car.

Then he turned his attention to me, looking carefully in my direction.

Embarrassed, I glanced down at my shoes so as not to make it obvious that I had been staring at him.

I was barely aware that Ken, one of the police officers, had approached me. He told me that the police department put out a full alert about Amber’s disappearance and that the Crawford County Sheriff was also assisting in the search.

“We’re also going to get a group of volunteers together, as is usually the case, when we search for a missing person,” Ken explained.

A search. A missing person
. Those words sounded so cold and frightening!

I had seen searches for missing people reported on television, but I never thought that I would be going through this again after my mother left.

Was Mom’s disappearance related to what happened today? I could not understand how two people in one family could simply vanish. And the bomb? I wondered if the lady planted the bomb underneath my car. Was the bomb meant for me? I would have to tell the police every detail that I could remember about what Amber told me about the woman. My thoughts were anything but coherent.

After more patrol cars arrived at the scene, Officer Henry returned to ask me a few questions. He pulled out his note pad again. I gave him another description of what Amber looked like, what she was wearing, and the approximate time I saw her climb into the Taurus with Phyllis. He assured me that two officers were already on their way to Grayling General Hospital to question Phyllis if she were conscious.

With Officer Henry listening attentively, I recounted the day’s events, including Amber’s statements about seeing a lady through the window and my own account of having spotted the white car that followed them. Henry took notes as I talked, and then he rushed off toward his patrol vehicle to radio headquarters.

The crowd that had gathered outside the store began to disperse.

Mark was busy talking to a couple of women carrying grocery bags. They had apparently been shopping inside when the explosion occurred.

If customers who had heard the blast ran outside immediately after the episode, then how did Amber disappear without anyone seeing her? Why didn’t Phyllis notice what happened to Amber? Of course, Phyllis could have been knocked unconscious in the explosion. She did have a rather large gash on her forehead, and she appeared confused in the ambulance.

What if the woman in the white car had coaxed Amber out of the Taurus after the blast? It would only have taken the lady a minute to snatch her.

But then again, Amber could have lost consciousness in the explosion. Or worse. I shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to my sister.

Today’s events convinced me that Mom’s disappearance was somehow related to Amber’s. It was too much of a coincidence that two members of a family had vanished. Mom would never leave her children. Never. I had to find her.

As thoughts whirled in my mind, I took a few steps backward, away from the police sirens and glaring lights. Away from the horrible chemical stench of burning metal.

If Amber had in fact made it out of the car herself, then she might be nearby. But where could she have gone? I twirled around and scanned my surroundings. The woods.

P
erhaps Amber was out there alone. Maybe she was hungry, cold, frightened.

As I turned to face the woods, I caught a slight glimpse at the edge of my vision of a splash of blue and white hue against the green shrubs and brown tree barks. Could that be Amber in there? She was wearing a blue windbreaker the last time I had seen her.

I lingered at the periphery of the woods for a brief moment, surveying my surroundings. Darkness had settled upon Grayling. Without hesitating, I left the noise and glaring police vehicle lights behind me, and I pressed my way into the woods.

“Amber,” I yelled out. “Amber.”

There were all sorts of strange noises in the thickets at sunset. Crickets and beavers and raccoons made the underbrush their home. A brown squirrel darted out from behind a bush and scampered up a tree.

Time was running short. I thought about the golden hour. If I didn’t find Amber within the next half hour, then chances are that I would never find her. At first I walked fast, searching for the glistening blue and white image that I had seen, and then I slackened my pace as I shielded my eyes from low hanging tree branches.

There was no sign of Amber.

After only a few minutes, I realized how senseless it was for me to roam around in the woods in the darkness, not knowing whether or not Amber was even in there. I bent down, put my head in my hands, and began to sob.

In the distance, there was a faint murmur. Someone was close by, calling my name.

“Celia!”

It was a male’s voice. “Celia!”

Weary and tired, I stood up and spun around. Mark was standing behind me.

I stared at him in total bewilderment.

“What are you doing alone in the woods this time of night?” he asked me.

“I’m looking for my sister Amber. She was in the car when the blast occurred, but now she’s missing,” I said, trying to sound calm.

“What made you think she was in here?”

“I caught a glimpse of something move around here, something blue. She was wearing a blue windbreaker today. I’m not sure what happened to her. That was my car engulfed in flames, you know.”

Mark turned on his heels, walked a few feet toward a clearing, dropped to his knees, yanked a blue wild flower out of the ground, and brought it to me. In the clearing was a scattering of tall wild flowers with vibrant white, blue and yellow hues. “Could you possibly have seen this swaying in the wind?” he asked.

I sighed wearily.

“Yea, I think I’m losing my mind. It’s possible, though, that Amber could have wandered into the woods,” I said.

“I know, but she’s not here,” he said. His face took on a serious tone.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “How would you know if she was or wasn’t in the woods?”

He had sounded too confident in his response. I gave him a searching look.

“I mean I don’t believe she would be in these woods,” Mark said, avoiding my gaze.

It occurred to me that this was the first time Mark had ever talked to me. There was a hint of compassion in his voice.

I examined my surroundings. The woods were dense and dark and uninviting.

The sounds of sirens grew louder as even more patrol cars arrived just a few yards away.

Mark and I stood gazing at each other for a brief moment. He appeared concerned, but I could not be sure how he felt. In school, he had not even glanced my way even though I secretly had a crush on him, and now there he was.

What was Mark doing on this side of town? Why did he follow me into the woods?

I
lluminated by the glow of the moon, Mark’s face was youthful and striking. There was a look in his eyes that made him appear courageous, undisturbed by the events that had unfolded just beyond the woods.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity.

Mark raised an eyebrow and gave a slight shrug. “I happened to have been on my way to Mitchell’s Market when I heard the explosion. I parked my car and slid out to see what was going on. Did you say that your Taurus is the car that was involved in the blast?”

“Yes, that’s my car.”

“You should go back and talk to the police officers,” he suggested. “You’re not going to find Amber by yourself in these dark woods. Besides, a storm is headed our way.”

I gave him a stiff smile but decided not to say anything. I did not believe for a moment that he was actually headed to Mitchell’s Market since I’d never seen him there.

“I did not know you shop at Mitchell’s,” I said.

He paused for a moment, appeared to be mulling over what to say, and then decided to come clean.

“All right. I wasn’t actually going to Mitchell’s,” he confessed. Mark’s lips pressed together into a thin line as he hesitated for a moment, and then he said, “Actually, I was just driving by and heard the explosion.”

I did not believe his second explanation either for some reason.

There was stone silence in the woods. We looked at each other briefly, in a curious way, and then we started walking back toward the main road.

When we reached our destination, Mark put his hand on my shoulder and said, “I’m confident your sister is fine. But let the police search for her. And make sure you tell them everything you know that will help them find her.”

“Okay,” I said, not wanting to voice my displeasure at his suggestion that I put my faith in the police.

He probably had heard about Mom’s disappearance since everyone in Grayling knew who Victoria Lawrence was. The local news reporters had made a big deal about her sudden departure, especially since she was a scientist who was working on a top secret project. Afterwards, I endured lots of curious looks at school. Surely, Mark must have heard all of the rumors.