Obsession (36 page)

“Abe, where are you?”

The voice was slightly louder this time and definitely more familiar. Keeping his own voice low, he answered. “Toni, is that you?”

“Yes. Where are you?”

“Stay still. Don't move. I'll come to you.”

Walking carefully, noiselessly, in the direction of her voice, he found her less than fifty feet from where he had been standing. He could hardly believe his eyes.

“What in the world—”

“I told you. I wanted to come with you.”

“And I told you to stay home and pray. How in the world did you find me?”

“My dad was a private detective, remember? He trained me well.”

Abe stifled a smile. He admired her determination—or
chutzpah
, as Aunt Sophie would call it—but was less than thrilled to have her show up unannounced to complicate the situation. He shook his head. “You're really something, you know that? You just might make a detective yet.”

She smiled. “I know. Can I stay?”

“Would you leave if I asked you to?”

“No.”

He hesitated. “Come on. Let's get back over here where I can keep my eye on the cabin but where they can't see us. Just keep quiet and do what I tell you. Got it?” “

Yes, sir.”

Abe studied her face. “Are you trying to be funny?”

“No, sir.” This time he saw the corners of her mouth twitch. He shook his head again and took her by the hand. “Come on, Miss Private Eye. You can tell me your story while we wait.”

Back in the shelter of the huge pine, Abe resumed his watch while Toni explained how she had ended up at his side. When she got to the part about letting herself into his apartment, he was shocked and more than a little disgusted with himself for being so careless as to have left his door unlocked. When she got to the part about finding his notebook next to his
Tanakh
and New Testament, she really had his attention.

“I know I shouldn't have read it,” she said, “but I remembered what you said about privacy not being the issue right now, and that Melissa's safety was the most important thing. When I saw your note about your uncle and Eagle Lake, I decided you must have come up here to look for him, or Melissa… or something. Anyway, I jumped in my car and headed up here without a clue as to how I was going to find you—until I came to the entrance to the lake, that is. Then I remembered that day when you brought me up here and you told me how your uncle used to bring you here to his cabin to go fishing. You even showed me where it was, remember? I have to admit though, it took me a while to find it again. This place is really hidden.”

So that was it, but how had she known to leave her car behind and walk in? Surely she hadn't seen his Honda—he had left it well-camouflaged. The idea that her Taurus might be parked in plain sight somewhere made him nervous. Before he could ask her about it, she answered.

“Don't worry. I knew I shouldn't come driving up to the cabin and announce my arrival. Private detective training 101. I parked it behind some trees in a nearby picnic area and walked the rest of the way. The hard part was figuring out where you were. I didn't know if you were inside or…” She paused, her blue eyes searching his. “Abe, what do you expect to find in there? What's going on in that cabin?”

“I wish I knew,” he said, trying not to get swept away with his emotions. He had to keep focused on his reason for being here, and there was nothing that distracted him more easily than gazing into the depths of Toni's eyes. “Those two vehicles out front tell me there are several people in there—assuming they're not out on the lake fishing somewhere—but I have no idea who they are. It's probably nothing more than that, an innocent fishing trip, but…”

“But you think Melissa might be in there, don't you?”

He hesitated. “I think it's possible.”

“Abe, we've got to get her out.”

“First we have to make sure she's there. If she is, then I've got to call for backup.”

“Just how do we find out?”

“We wait. Somebody has to go in or come out of there sooner or later.”

Toni's eyes were still holding his, and he had to fight the impulse to take her in his arms. What was she thinking? What was she feeling? Even in the midst of her concern for her sister's welfare, was she wrestling with the same impulses? If she knew what he had come to suspect about his Uncle Sol—and why he suspected it—would she ever want to be in his arms again? As much as he wanted to believe that the faith they now shared, as well as the forgiveness each of them had received from God, would enable her to forgive him and to give their relationship a chance, he seriously doubted it. Maybe there were some things that were so bad only God could forgive them.

“I know there's more to all this than you're telling me,” she said finally, “and I won't push you to tell me now. But when it's all over, I want to know… everything.”

He swallowed, then nodded. “All right. I owe you that.” He turned away, momentarily too ashamed to look at her. As he did, the cabin door opened and a woman stepped out. She looked familiar, but he couldn't place her. Then, as Toni peered around him, she gasped.

“Lorraine Murdock,” she whispered. “My dad's secretary.”

Of course. That's where he had seen her before. “Didn't you say she quit just before he died?” he asked, his voice barely audible as the woman climbed into the driver's seat of the Buick.

“Yes, and with very little explanation. Something about moving away unexpectedly with her boyfriend, Carl something-or-other. I can't remember his last name, only that he was quite attractive and… I don't know, smooth, I guess… in a slimy sort of way, if you know what I mean. I never could understand what she saw in him.”

“Hmm. How well did you know her?”

“Not well at all. She only worked for Dad for a few months, after Claire took an early retirement to take care of her grandchildren full-time. Claire had been with Dad since soon after Mom died, but Lorraine… Come to think of it, it was Dr. Jensen who recommended her to my dad. He said she was fairly new in town, one of his patients, and that she'd mentioned she needed a job and had secretarial experience.”

Abe raised his eyebrows. “Bruce Jensen recommended her to your father? That's interesting.”

Toni looked puzzled. “Why? What does Bruce have to do with…?” Her eyes opened wide. “Oh, Abe, you don't think…”

Abe looked back toward the cabin as the Buick pulled away. He remembered thinking that at least one doctor had to be in on this baby-selling business and wondering who it might be. “I don't know exactly, but things sure are starting to fall into place here, especially when you consider the doctor's involvement in your dad's autopsy and his original reaction to your request for one.”

Toni clutched his arm, and once again he was fighting his impulses. “Abe, surely someone like Dr. Jensen, someone who's known us most of our lives, wouldn't…”

“I pray not,” Abe answered, steeling himself against his own mixed emotions as he kept his eyes trained on the cabin door. He had to stay clearheaded. Now that Lorraine had left, it was possible that someone else could surface at any moment, and he needed to be ready to make
split-second decisions. “Just like I pray my uncle isn't part of this. But no matter who's involved, Toni, if Melissa's in there, we're going to get her out.”

Her hand still on his arm, Toni was quiet for a moment, then said, “Abe, I read something else in your notebook. I… read what you wrote about Jesus, about his being the perfect sacrifice, the only way to God….”

Abe's resolve melted, and he turned to her, his voice soft. “You know then. You know that I prayed and asked God to forgive me for my sins because of… what Jesus did, because of his blood sacrifice, because I came to believe that he is Israel's Messiah, and… the Messiah of the Gentiles.”

She nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “Yes. I know.” Gently, she reached up and laid her hand against his cheek. “And I'm so glad. I…”

He kissed her then, gently, tenderly, without thinking or reasoning, and she returned the kiss in such a way that all else faded from his mind. Could it be? Was there still a chance for them even after what he had done years earlier, and which, undoubtedly, was about to come to light? He longed to believe it, longed to—

He heard men's voices coming from the direction of the cabin, and he released her, turning toward the sound. There, walking down the steps toward the Explorer were three men. Abe's heart sank as he recognized each one. As he had suspected, Bruce Jensen was one of them, as was Frank Madson, a longtime River View attorney. The third man, his dark wavy hair streaked with gray, was Sol—Solomon Jacob Levitz, his very own uncle whom he had loved and admired since he was a little boy.
Oh, please, God
, he prayed silently.
Please let there be some other explanation for all this. Three old friends on a fishing trip, or…
But what was Lorraine Murdock doing there? Wasn't she supposed to have left town with her boyfriend, Carl? If these men were here on a fishing trip, why would she… ?

Wait a minute. Carl… Carlo. What had Toni said about Lorraine's boyfriend? He was attractive and smooth in a slimy sort of way.
Suddenly Abe had a hunch that Carl and Carlo were one and the same. The description would fit a guy like that perfectly, and Carlo would be just the kind of name that would entice a naïve young girl.

“She's in there,” he said. “I know it now.”

“How do you know? Who were those other two men with Dr. Jensen? Did you recognize them?”

The men climbed into the Explorer, with Frank Madson in the driver's seat, and drove away as Abe turned back toward Toni. How foolish he had been to think, even for a moment, that she would be able to forgive his part in all this. Even if Melissa was still alive, and even if he could get her out of there safely, it would never make up for what Toni and her sister had been through.

“I'm so sorry,” he whispered. “I am so sorry, Toni.”

“What do you mean?” Her eyes were searching his again. “Abe, I don't understand.”

“I'll… explain it all to you… afterward. I promise. First, I've got to take advantage of the situation. I'm going to take a look in there while they're gone and see if I can see anything.”

He turned to go, but she grabbed his arm. “Abe, tell me. Who were those other two men?”

Abe's jaw twitched. “One was Frank Madson, an attorney. The other was… my uncle.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Abe, what do you think that means? Is Melissa… ?”

“I'm going to find out. You wait here… and don't move. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “Be careful. I'll be praying.”

His jaw twitched again, and he was gone.

Melissa lay very still in the darkness, wondering how long it would be until Raymond came in to take her to the drop-off point she had
heard them discussing before the others left. Apparently Lorraine had made the necessary arrangements earlier in the day and then returned to tell them about it. It seemed Melissa was to be flown out of the country on a private jet early the next morning. She never did hear them mention her final destination, only that it was somewhere in the Middle East and that she had “brought a good price.” For a long time afterward, Melissa had listened to them discussing their own future plans, amazed at how they could so easily go on with their lives knowing that she was being sent away to live—and possibly die—in some foreign land where she knew no one and had no chance of ever escaping and returning home. She had heard Bruce Jensen ask Lorraine when she planned to return to Seattle, and Melissa had judged by the doctor's response to her answer that it must be right away. The others seemed to indicate that they planned to stay right where they were, confident that Abe had held off the law long enough for them to cover their tracks and return to their respectable lifestyles, and that he would continue to keep his mouth shut in order to protect himself.

What amazed Melissa most of all, though, was that such an operation could be going on right in the middle of River View, a relatively small, uneventful town where she had always felt safe, and where, she imagined, most of its residents felt the same way. Still, here were several apparently prominent and respected citizens of that very town involved in what she had deduced to be an extremely profitable baby-selling scheme, one that had been going on for several years and extended to countries all over the world. Somehow, because of her father's involvement with Julie Greene, who had voluntarily but ignorantly become a part of this enterprise, Melissa had landed right in the middle of the whole mess. Now she was going to pay a huge price, possibly even greater than Julie's.

In between crying and praying, Melissa thought a lot about Julie Greene. Julie hadn't been much older than she, and yet she had allowed Carlo to get her pregnant. Had she realized that her baby, once born, would be taken from her and sold to the highest bidder?
Or had she naively believed that Carlo would someday marry her and they would all be a happy little family? What must she have thought when she began to hemorrhage and realized she was going to lose the baby? Did she beg Carlo to get her some medical help? Had he refused? Or had he waited until she was too weak to resist and then pretended to be taking her for help, only to take her instead out to the middle of the lake, drop her over the side, and watch her drown? How terrified and betrayed Julie must have felt in the last few moments of her life. If April knew the details of her granddaughter's death, it would be even harder on her than it already was. Melissa prayed she would never find out. What about Toni? What would happen to her once she was faced with the fact that her sister might never come home again? Poor Toni. First Mom, then Dad, and now…