Not by Sight (20 page)

Kate sat between her dad and her elder son on the living-room couch at their log home, answering questions for Chief Deputy Kevin Mann and Deputy Billy Gene Duncan, who sat in chairs facing them. This could not be happening again. The sense of déjà vu was so strong that she wanted to run. But to where? There was no escaping what was happening.

“I don’t know what else to tell you,” Kate said. “Now you know what we know.”

“And you’re sure Abby isn’t involved romantically with the Rogers boy?” Mann said.

“As sure as I
can
be.” Kate turned to her father. “Dad doesn’t think so either.”

“That’s right,” Dad said. “And I’ve paid attention. I’ve been watchin’ out for Abby.”

“Abby told me she wasn’t ready to open her heart to anyone,” Kate said. “That she’d had all the pain she could handle, dealing with her father and sister still missing. She seemed fine with just being friends with Jay.”

Mann twirled a pencil in his hand. “And you believe her?”

“Mama already told you she did.” Hawk shifted his weight, his arms folded across his chest. “Maybe y’all should be out looking for Abby instead of asking us the same questions several different ways.”

“Sorry if it seems tedious,” Mann said. “We’re just being thorough. We get calls all the time from worried parents whose kids are late coming home. Most of the time there’s a logical explanation.”

“I can’t think of any logical explanation for this,” Kate said.

Mann wrote something on Duncan’s notepad. “Try not to worry, Mrs. Cummings. The sheriff called me back in this evening so I could personally look into it. We’ll find your daughter. The girl that Abby saw in town … what can you tell me about her?”

“Just that she had the same coloring and features as my missing daughter, Riley Jo, who would be seven now. I told Abby I didn’t want to hear any more about her. We made a deal: I said I would stop bugging her about looking for the girl if she would agree to go back to her therapist.”

“Abby needs a shrink, all right,” Hawk said.

Kate elbowed her son in the ribs to silence him. “I held up my end of the bargain and stayed out of it.”

“I can add some details,” Dad said. “Abby took the cell phone picture of the little girl back to Murchison’s to see if anyone who worked there recognized her. One male clerk—I don’t recall his name—said the girl’s name was Ella. That she’d been in there with a man and woman and twin boys about three years old. The clerk figured the family lives in the area somewhere since they were buyin’ chicken feed. But they paid cash, and he didn’t have a name or address.”

“Any idea what these folks look like?” Duncan asked.

Dad shook his head. “I avoided delvin’ into it with Abby. We’ve been there before with her. It seemed obvious to me at the time that the girl had a family and Abby should leave it alone.”

“You think this is relevant?” Kate said.

“I’m not sure, ma’am.” Mann moved his gaze from Kate to Hawk to Dad—and back to Kate. “But we have to look at everything in Abby’s life as relevant while we’re fixin’ to commit all our resources to finding her. Any of you know what Abby’s been doing to find this Ella?”

“I do,” Hawk said. “Abby and Jay left flyers in businesses on Main Street and in some of Abby’s favorite hangouts. She told people she had a valuable doll she wanted to return.” Hawk rolled his eyes. “Her cell number was on the flyer.”

“Do you know if she got any responses?” Mann said.

Hawk shook his head. “No, sir. I don’t. But I’m the last person Abby would confide in about this. I agreed with Mama and Grandpa that she should drop it.”

Duncan wrote something on his pad.

“Do you know if Abby backed up her SIM card on her server?” Mann said.

Hawk nodded. “She usually does.”

“Any idea what her password is?” Mann said. “With that, we should be able to check her SIM card and see who she’s been talking to.”

Kate linked her fingers together. “I have it written down.”

“Great.” Mann glanced at Duncan’s notes. “Okay, just to recap, the last conversation with Abby took place this morning when she told you she was meeting Jay on the slope at noon?”

Kate nodded. “That’s right.”

“But none of you know where the slope is?”

“Only what I’ve already told you.”
At least three times
, Kate thought.

“Anything else Duncan and I should know about Jay Rogers?”

“Just that his mother is in Las Vegas right now,” Kate said. “And at some point, I suppose you’re going to have to locate her and tell her he’s missing.”

Missing.
Saying the word out loud sent terror through every fiber of Kate’s being. Seven dreaded letters that had haunted her for five torturous years. A single word with the power to steal her joy, her peace, and her future. Not this time! She wasn’t hanging that word on the empty grave of another loved one. She wasn’t giving up until they found Abby—no matter what.

Abby clung to Ella as Isaiah shoved the door open with his foot, holding a sawed-off shotgun in his hands.

“Well, ain’t this a lick?” Isaiah said, his gaze moving from Abby to Jay to Ella.

“I heard you talkin’ to Otha.” Ella hung her head. “I wanted to see what was down here.”

“Curiosity’s one thing. Turnin’ them loose is another! That makes you worse than a sneak. You’re a traitor.”

“I’m sorry, Pa.” Ella held her palms in front of her face. “I was wrong to do it.”

Isaiah grabbed her arm and slammed her against the wall. “Git over there and shut up.” He looked at Abby and Jay. “Git back in the hole. Now! I ain’t ready to finish you off just yet. But you give me one reason, and I’ll shoot you dead right here, right now.”

Abby backed up and climbed down the ladder. Jay jumped.

“As for you,” Isaiah shouted at Ella, “that’s the last straw. You ain’t been worth a plug nickel from the git-go.”

Abby heard the sound of a hand slapping flesh, and Ella whimpered.
Lord, help her!

“I’m sorry, Pa. I promise I won’t do it no more.”

“I ain’t givin’ you the chance.”

Abby heard scuffling, and a few seconds later, Isaiah stood looking down at them, holding Ella by her hair. She was crying.

“Please, Pa. Don’t throw me down there,” Ella begged. “I’m sorry. I … I know I did wrong.”

“Sorry ain’t good enough. I can’t trust you no more. Go on now. Git!” Isaiah gave her a hard shove, and Ella fell into the hole.

Abby gasped as Jay scrambled and caught Ella with his arms, the force of her fall knocking them to the ground.

“I’m done with all o’ you.” Isaiah pulled up the ladder, slammed the trapdoor shut, and slid the bolt lock.

Jay let Ella get up and then stood, rubbing his arm.

“You wanted your sister back,” Isaiah said mockingly. “She’s all yours—for the rest o’ your life. But you best talk fast. It’s gonna be a short reunion.”

Abby kept her eyes on Jay, unable to find her voice as Isaiah walked back up the wooden steps and out the creaky door.

Ella stood facing the wall, sobbing quietly into her hands.

Abby thought her heart would break. She put her hand on Ella’s shoulder, glad that the child seemed receptive to her touch. “It’s going to be okay, sweetie.”

“No, it ain’t.” Ella shook her head. “Pa’s really mad. You don’t know how he gits.”

“Otha will come looking for you,” Abby said. “She’s your stepmother, right?”

Ella nodded. “Why did Pa say I was your sister? I ain’t never seen you before.”

“Not since you were old enough to remember. But I used to give you piggyback rides, and tell you stories, and rock you to sleep.”

Ella turned around, her eyes wide. “So he’s your pa too?”

“No, my father’s dead.”

Ella cocked her head. “Well, if we don’t have the same ma or the same pa, why are you my sister?”

Abby looked over at Jay and then at Ella. “Isaiah hasn’t told you the truth.”

“He lies to Otha sometimes. She pretends to believe him so he won’t git mad. But I know she don’t.”

“Sit with us and let me explain some things.” Abby sat on the ground next to Jay, not surprised when Ella remained standing.

“You don’t have to be afraid of us, sweetie. My name is Abby Cummings. This is Jay Rogers. We came to find you.”

Ella dropped to the ground and sat facing them. “Why? I ain’t lost.”

“This is the only home you remember,” Abby replied, feeling as if someone else were talking, “but you lived somewhere else until you were two. Your real name is Riley Jo Cummings. Your parents are Kate and Micah Cummings. You have two big brothers, Hawk and Jesse. And I’m your sister, Abby. You disappeared when you were two years old, and so did our daddy, Micah. Your family’s been looking for you ever since, and Mama has been very sad and misses you terribly. We all have.”

“I don’t know nothin’ about none o’ you.” Ella’s voice shook. “That ain’t what Pa told me.”

“You said yourself that he lies,” Jay added.

Ella rocked, her arms folded tightly across her chest. “I got twin brothers, Ronny and Donny. Them and Pa and Otha’s my only kin. Well, ’cept for Uncle Walter and Granny Faye.”

“I’m sure you love them,” Abby said. “I’m not trying to take that away from you, sweetie. But it’s important to know where you came from. You want the truth, don’t you?”

Ella kept rocking and avoided eye contact. “Why does Pa want y’all dead?”

“Because”—Abby cupped her sister’s chin in her hand—“we know the truth, and he’s scared of getting into trouble. Isaiah broke the law when he brought you here to live and kept the sheriff and your real family from knowing about it.”

A tear spilled down Ella’s cheek. “Pa don’t want me. Why didn’t he let me live with my real ma? Why’d he lie?”

“I don’t know,” Abby said. “But I
do
know that your real family loves you and wants you. We’ve been trying to find you since you and Daddy went missing.”

Ella put her hands over her ears and started to cry.

Abby got up on her knees and pulled her sister into her arms, rocking gently from side to side, crying with her and thinking how sad it was that they were both going to die without their mother ever knowing the truth.

Chapter 23

Virgil glanced out his office window at the Raleigh County Courthouse and, through the maple branches, saw that dawn had turned the Friday morning sky a simmering shade of hot pink. Why hadn’t Abby Cummings contacted Kate? Was she playing games? Or was she in trouble?

There was a knock at his open door. Virgil looked up just as Kevin walked in.

“Still haven’t found the Rogers kid’s mother,” Kevin said. “We’ve got the Vegas PD checking out hotels for Mr. and Mrs. Richie Stump.”

“You need to go home and get some shut-eye,” Virgil said. “I appreciate that you were so willing to pull a double shift. I wanted my best man on this.”

“Just wish I had a clue where to go with it,” Kevin said. “Abby’s SIM card records didn’t raise any red flags. The last time she used her cell phone was yesterday morning, when she sent Jay a text. We compared her day-to-day calls and texts over the past month, and most of them were between her and Jay. Also a few with her family members. There were two calls, both under a minute long, from a prepaid cell, the last one day before yesterday. That could be significant—or simply the wrong number. There’s no way to know. I hate to say it, but it’s almost as if Abby and her friend vanished, same as her dad and sis. Raises serious questions about whether the same person or persons is at it again.”

“But why wait five years?”

“I dunno, Sheriff. Maybe this Ella’s the real deal and someone didn’t want Abby getting any closer.”

Virgil rubbed his chin. “But what are the odds? Abby’s got a pattern of doing this. And if someone had Riley Jo, why would they stay in the area? Seems far-fetched. ”

“I’m not convinced that’s what happened. But Abby and Jay are nowhere to be found. And since they seem to be responsible kids, I think we have to consider everything.”

A knock on the door caused Virgil to turn.

Billy Gene stood in the doorway. “Sir, we found Mrs. Cummings’s Odyssey. It was parked on Perkins, a block over from the Sycamore Apartments, where the Rogers kid and his mom live. It was parallel parked, nice and neat. Left unlocked. Nothin’ looks fishy. We’re gonna start collectin’ evidence. You wanna tell Mrs. Cummings, or should I?”

“I’ll do it,” Virgil said.

“Looks like I’m gonna have to wait on that shut-eye,” Kevin said. “I’ll head over to Perkins Street and make sure we don’t miss a beat.”

Virgil nodded his approval. “Thanks. I’ll call Kate and meet you over there in a few minutes. Keep looking for Jay’s truck, and try the apartment again. It’s possible those two kids have been in there all night and didn’t want to be discovered.”