Not by Sight (23 page)

“There’s a meadow, but it’s flat and not even close to the side of the mountain. The helicopter’s on the way. Maybe search and rescue will spot something. I’ve dispatched investigators to go over the truck for evidence.”

“Good,” Virgil said. “We also need to get with Kate Cummings and Sue Ann Stump and fetch a piece of Abby and Jay’s clothing. Maybe the hounds can pick up their scents.”

Chapter 26

Kate had been sitting so long, she almost felt as if she were part of the living-room couch. She heard the front door open and close. Seconds later, her dad came over and sat next to her. They shared the silence for half a minute, and she felt no urge to fill it with words.

Finally Dad said, “How’re you doin’?”

Kate tucked a flyaway lock of hair behind her ear. “I’m numb. I can’t deal with any more pain. I just can’t.”

“Heard anything from Virgil?”

“Yes,” she said. “He called about thirty minutes ago and said the Benton County Sheriff’s office was sending their helicopter to search the mountain.”

Dad took her hand. “That’s a good thing. With all those capable folks out lookin’ for Abby, they’ll find her.”

“Alive?” The instant Kate said the word, she wished she hadn’t.

Her father squeezed her hand.

“You can’t go thinkin’ the worst. There’s bound to be a logical explanation for this.”

“Dad, we don’t even know what
this
is. My mind is racing with a dozen possibilities, none of them logical. Abby wouldn’t worry me like this on purpose. Something’s wrong.”

Her father didn’t say anything. What could he say? He had to be as scared as she was.

“It’s not like I don’t have a valid reason for thinking the worst,” Kate said. “I never thought anything tragic could happen to this family. Five years ago I found out it can.”

Hawk came down the stairs and stood looking at them. “Did you get bad news?”

Kate reached out and clasped Hawk’s hand. “No. Virgil is borrowing a helicopter from another department and is going to search the mountain by air.”

“I passed my afternoon tours off to Eduardo,” Hawk said. “I’m fixin’ to take the jeep up yonder and look for Abby myself.”

Kate gazed into her son’s somber dark eyes. “Virgil’s people are doing everything they can.”

“Well, they haven’t found her. I can’t just sit around and do nothing like I did before.” Hawk swallowed hard, his jaw set. “When Daddy and Riley Jo disappeared, I let everyone convince me to wait on the authorities. I’m not making that mistake again.”

Of course you’re not
. “Promise me you’ll be careful,” Kate said.

Hawk kissed her cheek. “You know I will. I’ll call you.”

Kate’s cell phone rang, and she glanced at the screen.

“It’s Virgil.” She felt as if her heart were falling off the side of a ridge. She breathed in slowly and put the phone to her ear.

“Hello, Virgil. I have you on speakerphone. Dad and Hawk are with me.”

“Good.” Virgil’s voice sounded confident. “I’m happy to report that we found Jay’s truck.”

“Where?”

“Parked in the woods. About a half mile north of Fox Trail Road and Summit. I just got here. My investigators are going over it, looking for clues—fingerprints, DNA evidence, and anything to confirm that Abby was riding in the bed of the truck. There doesn’t appear to be any sign of a struggle.”

Kate exhaled. “Thank God.” She lifted her gaze and looked squarely into Hawk’s eyes, wondering how that cliché had slipped out.

“You might oughta thank the sheriff.
He’s
doing all the work.” Hawk started for the front door. “I’m going up there.”

“Virgil, excuse me a moment …” Kate covered the receiver with her hand. “Hawk, do you really think that’s a good idea?”

“I want to see what they’re doing, Mama. That way I can call you with updates.”

“Son, Virgil’s already doing that. He’s got things under control.”

Hawk rolled his eyes. “Sorry if I don’t trust the authorities to get this right. They aren’t exactly batting a thousand. I just want to keep an eye on things. I’ll stay out of their way. They won’t even know I’m there.”

Kate studied her firstborn. How could she not admire his tenacity? Or respect the fact that he was a grown man, capable of making his own decisions? “All right then.”

“Don’t worry, Mama. We’re gonna find Abby. She’s coming home—healthy and happy—and with her head in the clouds, same as always.” Hawk opened the front door and left.

Kate locked gazes with her father, who hadn’t said a word. He was probably silently praying.

“Sorry for the interruption, Virgil,” Kate said. “What do we do now?”

“Sit tight and let my people and Chief Mitchell’s people do their job. I’ve sent a deputy to your house to pick up an article of Abby’s clothing. We’re bringing in the hounds. If Abby was in the back of Jay’s truck, the dogs should be able to track her.”

Virgil stood leaning on his squad car next to Foggy Ridge Police Chief Reggie Mitchell, watching the first team of investigators search Jay’s truck. The second team was combing the nearby woods. A third team, consisting of his deputies and Reggie’s police officers, were gathered and waiting for the bloodhounds to arrive. Kevin Mann had already found a muddy trail and cast three distinct sets of footprints. But the trail stopped at a creek, and he couldn’t tell where it picked up on the other side. They needed the bloodhounds for that.

“I appreciate your help with this,” Virgil said.

“Glad to lend support.” Reggie’s dark skin glistened with perspiration. “I’m like you—I want to be out here where the action is so I can free up every available officer I’ve got. The Cummings family’s had a tough go of it, and I want to find Abby as much as anyone. Plus I went to high school with Jay’s mother. She dated one of my basketball teammates—first interracial couple at Foggy Ridge High School. Created quite a stir, as I recall.”

“Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since then.” Virgil lifted his Stetson and wiped his forehead. He spotted Kevin Mann and motioned for him to come over. “Where are we with the bloodhounds?”

“They’re en route from Fayetteville,” Kevin said. “About thirty minutes out.”

Virgil glanced at his watch. “Make sure your team is briefed and ready to go the second they arrive. I don’t need to tell you that time is everything if we hope to find those kids.”

“No, sir. I know what’s at stake here.” Kevin pushed his wavy red hair off his sweaty forehead. “We’re on it. But we’ve sure got our work cut out for us. The trees and ground cover are dense, and that canopy doesn’t let in much light.

“It’s a challenge. But if those hounds pick up a scent, we have to be prepared to go wherever they take us.”

Kevin nodded. “We will be, sir.”

Reggie perked up and seemed to be listening intently. “Hear that?”

Deep reverberations echoed eerily across the wide Arkansas sky, getting closer and louder.

“Search and rescue’s here.” Virgil turned to Kevin. “Be sure you maintain communications with them. Between air support and our teams on the ground, we ought to spot those kids if they’re out here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kevin jogged over to where the search team was standing, and Virgil turned to Reggie. “So have you kept up with Jay’s mother since high school?”

“Some,” Reggie said. “At reunions. Homecoming games. I run into her in town once in a while. Why?”

“I don’t know. She strikes me as being a little strange. Seems more annoyed that Jay created a problem for her than she is about him being missing.”

Reggie laughed. “Sue Ann thinks about Sue Ann first. Hasn’t changed that much since high school.”

“Well, I don’t suppose anyone would be happy about having their honeymoon interrupted.”

Deputy Billy Gene Duncan came out of the woods and hurried over to Virgil, carrying something in his gloved hand.

“Sir, I think I might’ve found Abby’s iPhone. SIM card’s gone. But the initials AKC are written on the back in white marker—like her mama told us.”

“Where’d you find it?” Virgil said.

“In the woods. Not far from where Kevin found them footprints.”

Virgil patted him on the back. “Good work, Billy Gene. Dust it for prints. Abby’s SIM card records didn’t tell us anything useful. But fingerprints just might.”

Abby nestled next to Jay, Ella lying with her head in Abby’s lap. The only sound in the dark pit was the sound of their breathing … and as long as they had breath, Abby wasn’t giving up. She had prayed until she didn’t know what else to say. What more could she ask for? Surely God had heard her prayers for help. Surely He would answer.

The thought that everything she believed about God might be a myth crossed Abby’s mind, but she quickly dismissed it. There was no way she had manufactured the joy that welled up in her after she got out of the pew, walked down to the front of the church, and made her profession of faith. That decision had been life-changing.

But God had never tested her faith until now. What if He didn’t answer her prayers? What if he let Isaiah hurt her—or kill her? Would she still believe God was good?

Lord, I love You. I do. And I want to live with You in heaven—someday. I don’t want to die yet. I’ve just begun to live my life. Mama needs me. She won’t handle losing me, too. And my sister deserves a real life. It’s so unfair that she had to live with Isaiah and Otha. Please … just help us get out of here.

Abby heard the outside door open and close. Terror seized her and rendered her mute.

Ella squealed and sat up straight, clinging to Abby’s shirt with both hands. She was trembling.

Abby and Jay shared a terrified glance as he rose, defiant and protective. His knees had to be shaking.

A few seconds later, a thirtyish woman with her hair tied back looked down at them through the grate in the trapdoor.

“Otha!” Ella cried.

“I come to git y’all outta there, but we ain’t got much time. Isaiah’s out sloppin’ them pigs and can’t see the root cellar. But you hafta take Ella with you. He’s plannin’ to kill her.”

“We will!” Abby said. “That’s why we’re here.”

“Isaiah said y’all was here to make trouble—to tell lies ’bout how Ella come to be.”

“No,” Abby said, “we—”

“Hush! It don’t matter now. Ella ain’t safe here no more.” Otha slid back the latch and strained as she opened the trapdoor. “You tell the law her mama died when she was born and her pa never did take to her. That’s the plain truth of it. They can find her a proper home.”

“Isaiah lied to you!” Abby said. “Her mother didn’t die in childbirth. Ella isn’t even his. Isaiah stole her—kidnapped her. He led you to believe Ella was his by his first wife. But she’s not. I know because she’s my sister.”

Otha slid the ladder down the wall. “What’re you talkin’ about?”

“It’s true. I was there,” Jay said. “Five years ago, I accidentally shot Ella’s real father when I was out target practicing.”

While Jay told Otha the short version of what had happened that day, Abby helped Ella get her foot on the bottom rung and pushed her up the ladder.

“I didn’t know Isaiah wasn’t her dad,” Jay said. “I was just a scared kid who wanted to go home and forget it ever happened.”

“Isaiah took my sister,” Abby said, following Ella up the ladder. “He changed her name and passed her off as his daughter. I don’t know where he buried my daddy. But my family’s been grieving terribly ever since. None of them know the truth yet.”

“I’ve heard enough.” Otha looked as though she’d seen a ghost. “Don’t tell me no more. Just git Ella to a safe place where Isaiah can’t find her.”

Abby reached the top and climbed out, Jay on her heels.

“How do we get off the property?” Jay said.

“Go due south.” Otha pointed to her left. “You’ll come to a stone well. Keep goin’ straight, on past them pear trees, till you come to the fence. Look for a big hole in the barbed wire. Slip through there and run like lightnin’, else you’re gonna end up full o’ buckshot. The minute Isaiah sees y’all escaped, he’s gonna hightail it after you with his shotgun—and he’ll be fightin’ mad. Now git! I gotta make up a story ’bout how you got out and hope he don’t take it out on me.”

Ella looked up at Otha with the saddest eyes Abby had ever seen.