Obsession (35 page)

Before he could say another word, Raymond interrupted him. “Shut up, will you? She doesn't need to know about him if you don't go blabbing. Don't you think she can hear you in there? She's young and stupid, but she's not deaf.”

Bruce? Who was Bruce? She tried to think who she might know by that name.

Lorraine was talking again, and then the man Raymond had reprimanded earlier jumped in. “Wait a minute. Why do we have to kill her? I tried to warn you about leaving that Greene girl with Carl, but you wouldn't listen, and look what happened. First he gets her pregnant—which would've been fine businesswise, if she hadn't lost the baby—but the next thing we know, Carl's involved again, and as usual, he messes up. Now we've got the law breathing down our necks, and it can only get worse since he went and grabbed the Matthews girl. I don't know how he thought that was going to help, but now we're stuck with her, and we've got to do something before they decide this thing really is a kidnapping and bring the Feds in. Then even Abe won't be able to help us. Look, you said the kid's attractive, right? And she's young. That means she's worth more to us alive than dead. If we play it right, we could sell her for what we usually get for a healthy baby. For pleasure, for breeding—either way, we come out ahead. I say, don't kill her. Set up a buy. Get her out of the country. What do you think, Frank? You're the legal expert.”

“Sounds good to me. The longer we keep her here—dead or alive—the higher the risk the Feds'll come in. I say, get her out as soon as we can.”

Melissa's heart pounded in her chest as she fought to control her breathing. What were they saying? What did they mean, “set up a buy”? For pleasure, breeding… surely they didn't mean to sell her to someone as a slave for sex or to have babies. She had heard of things like that, but certainly not in today's world.

“I agree,” said another voice, one she hadn't heard before… at least, not here. The voice was familiar though. “I've done a lot of things I never thought I'd do since I got involved in this business, but I've known that kid since she was a baby. I can't be a part of killing her. Still, we can't let her go, even if Abe does manage to buy us the time we need. I say, sell her and get it over with. As long as Abe keeps believing her life and his career depend on his playing along with us, I think he'll do what he can to hold the Feds off till we're safe. After that, we can count on his silence because he'll be in as deep as we are, but we've got to move fast. Even Abe can't buy us that much time.”

Bruce… Bruce Jensen? Dr. Welby?
Melissa was horrified.
No, it can't be! He's my friend. He was Dad's friend. He wouldn't be involved in something like this. He couldn't…

Raymond spoke up again. “OK, it's settled. What's this, Thursday morning? We should be able to work this out with the same contacts. Lorraine, you make the arrangements today. See if we can get her out of here by nightfall and out of the country before the weekend. We'll get busy shredding documents and erasing files and making arrangements with our contacts outside the Northwest to move the main operation to one of our other locations. We've got a lot to do if we're going to cover our trail and keep the business going somewhere else while we keep hauling in the profits. If we play this thing right and clean up our trail in time, we can all stay here in the community where we've been known and respected for years. Who's going to suspect any of us? We've got to get this thing done quick though. Agreed?”

There seemed to be a general consensus that the plan was a good one, and within minutes Melissa heard the door open and shut again.
Because she no longer heard Lorraine's voice, she could only assume that the woman had gone to arrange the transaction that would sell her, like a piece of chattel, to the highest bidder. The tears flowed then, soaking the blindfold over her eyes. She now knew that it was Thursday morning and that she had been here almost two full days. She couldn't even imagine where she might be in two more days, or what she might be forced into doing. She almost wished that Carlo were still around. Maybe he would have just killed her and gotten it over with.

It had been another sleepless night for Toni, and she had stumbled around the house dazed for most of the morning. Finally, just before noon, she had allowed April to convince her to lie down and take a nap. Almost immediately she had drifted off into a fitful sleep, plagued with visions of a young girl running for her life. This time the girl wasn't a blonde composite of Toni and Julie Greene. This time the girl's hair was auburn, flying out straight behind her as she ran like the wind. Regardless of how fast she ran though, darkness seemed to be closing in on her. Toni tried to call to her in her dream,
Hurry! Run faster!
But her voice wouldn't work, and she was helpless to assist the terrified girl. She awoke in a sweat, her heart and head pounding simultaneously.

As she lay there, trying to steady her breathing, the phone rang. She glanced at the clock next to her bed. It was three o'clock. She was shocked that she had slept so long. She grabbed the receiver next to her bed, her heart skipping a beat when she heard Abe's voice.

“Toni, I want you to listen to me very carefully—and I want you to pray like you've never prayed before. Do you understand?”

Toni was puzzled. She detected a hint of excitement in his voice, but it was tainted with sadness or fear or… something. And he
wanted her to pray. What was this sudden obsession with praying that seemed to have gripped him? “Yes, I guess so. But what—?”

“I think I'm on to something. It's so farfetched that I don't want to say anything to anyone else until I've checked it out, but I'd feel a lot better if I knew that someone was covering me… with prayer, I mean, and you're the only one I know to call for that.”

This man who had so captured her heart was becoming more complex by the day. “Abe, what are you talking about? Yes, I'll pray for you, but what's going on? Have you found out something about Melissa? Is that it? If it is, you've got to tell me.”

“I can't. At least not now, but I will just as soon as I've found out for sure myself.”

She looked at the newly installed caller I.D. on her phone. It read “Unavailable.” “Abe, where are you calling from?”

“I'm at home. I was in the office earlier but got to thinking about some things and decided to come home for a while and see if I could make some sense out of my hunch, and I think I just may have done it. As soon as I can make a couple of quick phone calls, I'm leaving, but I'll call you as soon as I know anything, I promise.”

“This has something to do with Melissa, doesn't it? I want to come with you.”

“No way. I need you to stay right where you are and pray. Let me handle the rest of it.”

“But I—”

He hung up before she could say another word. For the first time in two days she felt hopeful. Her exhaustion was forgotten as a surge of adrenaline urged her out of bed. Impulsively she slid her shoes on and grabbed a purse, then hurried from her room, almost colliding with April as she dashed down the hall.

“My dear, what—?”

“I've got to go,” she announced, heading for the front door. “I'll call you as soon as I can.” Halfway out the door she stopped and turned back. “Pray, April. I don't even know what to ask you to pray for. Just pray.”

Jumping into her car, she backed out of the driveway and steered toward Abe's apartment. She had never been there before, but she knew where it was and that it wouldn't take long to get there. Maybe she could catch him before he left. Surely if he saw how determined she was, he would take her with him.

She drove the short distance in record time, only to find herself perplexed by the seeming maze of separate buildings within the complex. Parking as close as she could to the building she assumed would house his apartment, she hurried to the front to look for number nineteen. It was two doors down. Rushing toward it, she pounded on the front door. She was shocked when it creaked open. She couldn't imagine anyone as careful and well-trained as Abe not closing and locking his door if he weren't there. Maybe he was still inside.

She pushed the door open and called out. “Abe? Abe, it's me, Toni. Are you in here?” There was no answer. She told herself she should leave, but curiosity tugged her inside. Stepping into his living room, she glanced around, calling his name a couple more times just in case. Still no response. She walked toward the hallway, thinking he might be in the bedroom. “Abe?” There were four doors off the hallway—a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a closet. She knocked on each door and checked them all. Finally she returned to the living room, telling herself she had no business snooping through his apartment and that she should have stayed home and prayed as he asked her to. Before heading back to the front door, she noticed a couple of books lying on a table next to the recliner. Picking them up to see what they were, she sat down in the recliner, stunned. The older, larger book appeared to be a copy of the Old Testament, although in a slightly different order than she was used to. The other one was a New Testament, filled with underlined verses and comments written in the margins. A small notebook, full of questions and observations, sat on the table next to them.

Could these be Abe's
, she wondered.
Could these books and notes explain his sudden interest in praying?
Ignoring her guilt feelings over
invading his privacy, she began to read through the notes. It appeared he had been on quite a spiritual journey, a search for answers that, if the notes told the true story, had ended in the greatest discovery anyone can ever make. On the final couple of pages she read a note that brought tears of joy to her eyes.

Wednesday morning, September 1. This is it! This is the truth I've been looking for. Jesus, the way, the truth, the life. The perfect sacrifice. Now I understand. Thank you, God!

“Oh yes, thank you, God,” she said aloud. “Thank you for leading him to your Son.”

As she wiped the tears from her eyes and prepared to go back home and pray as Abe had asked her to do, some additional notes caught her eye, notes written after the Wednesday morning entry she had just read.

Where is she, God? What's the connection here? What am I missing? Baby-selling ring. 1988-1999, at least. Must be bigger than I ever imagined. Who's the key guy? Sol took care of all the legal connections for me, so I don't even know who the lawyer was, but there had to be one, probably local. And a doctor, no doubt. Who else, God? Who?

The final entry, written just below the preceding note, consisted of just three words, written in capital letters and underlined several times:
SOL! EAGLE LAKE.

What exactly the notation meant, Toni had no idea, but she was sure it had to do with the hunch he was following up on today. If Abe had gone to Eagle Lake to look for his uncle or for Melissa or for any other reason, then she would go too.

As she headed out the front door, being careful to close it behind her, she realized how quickly Abe must have run out of the house, probably just minutes before she had arrived. How would she ever find him? It was a big lake, full of forest service roads, side trails, campgrounds, and cabins. He could be anywhere.

Help me, Father
, she prayed as she climbed into her car.
I have no idea where to go. But you know, Lord. You know where he is, and you
know where Melissa is. Oh, Father, keep her safe, and please lead me to Abe. We've got to find her quickly, before it's too late….

Pulling out into the street, she headed for the northbound freeway, praying as she drove, sensing in her heart that God was directing her. It wasn't until she was approaching the entrance to Eagle Lake that she knew exactly where to find Abe.

CHAPTER 17

I
t had been almost two hours, a long wait in the cover of the surrounding trees, but Abe didn't dare allow his impatience to push him into doing something foolish. If his hunch was correct, and with a Ford Explorer and a Buick sedan parked in front of his uncle's old fishing cabin, this would not be a good time for him to march up to the front door and knock. He only prayed that the vehicles parked out front belonged to some of Sol's fishing buddies and that they were all there for a perfectly legitimate and innocent reason. As badly as he wanted to find and rescue Melissa, he didn't want it to be here.

He glanced at his watch. It was almost four, and his stomach was beginning to rumble. He wished he'd had lunch before he left, or at least thought to bring along something to eat and a thermos of coffee. He had left so quickly that, apart from his nine-millimeter and his cellular phone, he had come empty-handed. He was glad that, despite
the cloudless sky, the temperature was fairly cool. Resigned to a long wait, he was about to settle down on the soft dirt around the towering pine that served as his cover when he thought he heard a sound in the trees behind him. Crouching down with his gun in his hand, he turned toward the sound, waited—and listened.

“Abe?”

The voice was nothing more than a whisper in the breeze. He wasn't even sure he had heard it.