The Case of the Red-Handed Rhesus (A Rue and Lakeland Mystery) (35 page)

“Where’s William?” Mama called, heading out her front door. The question, issued in a conversational tone, stopped the argument as sharply as if she’d screamed it.

“I thought he was with you and Natasha!” Lance pushed through the assembled group.

“He was, dear. Then Natasha took him out back to play hack-up-the-roses, and I haven’t seen either one of them since.”

Mama had barely finished speaking when Natasha started screaming. “Give him back! What do you think you’re doing?”

She wasn’t behind the house. She wasn’t in the roses. She was nearly at the edge of the field, chasing after a pair of people who were hauling William toward a car stopped at the end of the lane. How long had it been there? A few minutes? A few hours? Had someone hidden it in the scrub on the other side of the road? That was the only direction where hills prevented my parents from having a perfect view of the surrounding area.

Lance hurtled into the field. William thrashed mightily, slowing the pair, but not enough, and certainly not stopping them. I planted myself, my arms wrapped tightly around Sara, preventing her from chasing the chasers and preparing to shield her. Drew and his partner, along with Trudy and Darnell, had drawn guns.

Hannah froze halfway to her car, then broke into a run herself. All four guns exploded. Sara rocked backward and screamed, hands over her ears. But nobody stopped running. Hannah’s white sedan screeched down the lane and reached the road far ahead of any of the runners. She parked in the middle of the state route, partially blocking it. Though the other car could have edged around, doing so would have taken time.

The guns banged again. Sara didn’t scream this time, but she huddled against me, whimpering. Then a plume of steam rose from the other vehicle’s hood. It seethed to the ground. They weren’t shooting at any
body.
They were firing on the car. “Damn,” Drew’s partner muttered. “Aimed too high.” He flicked a finger at the steam. “Got those wheels anyhow.”

The man and woman running with William wouldn’t be going anywhere except on foot. And . . . they
weren’t
a man and woman. It was a pair of kids finally skidding to a halt. The girl looked familiar.

“Layla! You give him back, you give him back, you give him
back
! You
lied
to me!”

Now
Trudy, Darnell, and Drew ran, while Drew’s partner dropped back to use his radio. They passed Lance easily, even though he’s in good shape.

“That’s my car!” The male in the pair dropped William and extended his arms helplessly toward his vehicle. “How’m I going to get to work? Kid, let go!” Freed, William now affixed himself to his would-be kidnapper, biting the flesh on the underside of his arm. “Kid, that
hurts
!”

“Let Robby go.” Layla pulled on William’s middle until Natasha finally caught up and landed a punch on her sister’s temple.

“Go Will! Go Tasha!” Sara sprang to life in my arms. I had gone somewhat limp, and she burst free easily and sprinted after everyone else.

Mama and I were left standing beside the van, staring from each other to the unfolding scene. “Noel, who did you and Lance make
mad
?”

“I don’t know. I wish I did. I don’t know if this is even related. Tasha, stop it, she’s not fighting back!”

“Down! Down on the ground!” Nobody listened to Darnell.

Natasha continued to pound on Layla, even though the younger girl had collapsed to sitting. “What were you doing?” Natasha screamed. “What did you think you were doing? How
could
you?”

Lance arrived and pulled her off, still swinging. “Natasha, you’re not doing any good,” he said.

“She lied to me. She
lied
to me!” Natasha sobbed. “She said she was moving out of the state and wanted to see them one last time.”

“Down on the
ground
!” Darnell repeated.

My mind had stopped giving orders to the rest of my body. I wanted to run after Sara, prevent her from joining the fray, but I was frozen.
I nearly lost him. Again. I nearly lost him again. They nearly took him from me.
I staggered back against the van.

“Noel,” Mama asked. “Are you okay?”

I couldn’t even shake my head to tell her
no
, I was
not
okay; I was horrible. Hannah backed her car out of the road, then turned around in the lane and drove back down to us.

“When? When did this happen?” Lance still held Natasha tightly against him. “How did she know they’d be here, Natasha?” He was trying for a neutral tone, but he had to shout to be heard. Natasha stopped struggling. “We picked him up early. Why didn’t they think he was still in school?”

“And why did I
believe her
?” Natasha wailed. She melted out of Lance’s arms. “She said she and her mom were getting out of this stupid little town, and couldn’t she see the twins one last time? I didn’t know she meant right now, but then they pulled up out front while you guys were all arguing, and she said she’d settle for William if Sara wouldn’t come out back. It happened so fast, and it wasn’t her mom, it was . . .” Suddenly, she leapt up. This time, instead of attacking her sister, she went after the guy, who was still struggling to free himself from William’s teeth. “Him!”

Lance lunged, but missed her, and she connected a series of kicks to the boy’s shins as she tackled him to the ground.

“Noel?
Noel?
” Mama shook me, but I still couldn’t move.

I nearly lost him. We brought him home to be safe, and someone nearly took him from home. It’s true. I can’t trust anybody.

“Hannah, help me with her!” Mama’s voice was urgent and distant. Though I felt the pressure of her hands on my shoulder, it didn’t carry the sensation of real touch.

“Noel!” Hannah got in front of me, blocking my view.

Move
, I tried to tell her.
Don’t get between me and my babies.
But my jaw and vocal cords weren’t working either, and the words stayed locked in.

“Ed! Edgar! Noel’s having a spell!”

A spell.
That’s what they called it. After I barely escaped alive from my abusive relationship with Alex, flashbacks would claim me without warning, trapping me away from friends and family and throwing me straight back into his world. It took years of therapy, along with self-defense and tae kwon do training, to overcome those horrible flashbacks. Though I wasn’t flashing
back
anywhere right now, I might as well have been.

Hannah seized the shoulder Mama wasn’t shaking. “Get her, Lenore. She’s going down.” Hannah braced me on one side and Mama on the other as my knees buckled and my legs gave way. They lowered me gently. “Head between the knees, Noel.” Hannah, who had nursed me through many such incidents, still remembered the drill. Together, she and Mama propped my knees up and pushed my head forward and down. “Breathe, honey,” said Hannah. “Don’t think about any of it. Breathe. Come on. I forget your word . . .”

“Peace,” Mama supplied. “Peace, Noel. Think peace.”

Peace.
I was supposed to shut out my memories by repeating a specific idea or word until nothing else could get in around it. I had chosen “peace.” But they didn’t understand I wasn’t stuck in memory right now, and I couldn’t stop hearing the fighting at the road’s edge.

“What did you expect me to tell you?” Layla was shouting at Natasha now. “Hey, you and your stupid friends aren’t doing much good protecting our twins, why don’t you let somebody with a clue take a shot? Would you have brought him out to see me, then?”

“I thought I was doing you a
favor.
I was trying to give you a fair shake.
I felt sorry for you.
”

“Here’s a news flash, Natasha
Oeschle.
I don’t
need
your pity party. Robby and I have it all figured out. We’re getting married next week, and we’re gonna adopt . . .”

“Shut up!” bellowed the boy, Robby.

“
Married?
You nitwit, you’re fourteen years old!”

“My dad’s going to sign the papers when we visit him tomorrow.”

“He doesn’t even have custody . . . how are you going to get to see him . . . you’re so
stupid.
”

A loud whistle interrupted them. “Quiet!” Trudy roared.

Blessed silence descended. Silence. Peace.
Peace. Peace.
Finally, I could push out the other ideas crowding me to a standstill. I don’t know how long it took, but by the time I came back to myself and persuaded my head it needed to lift, Natasha was once more screaming at Layla, whose confidence was shaken.

“You said we were getting
married
,” Layla wailed.

“You’re not only
stupid
, Layla, you’re
naive
,” Tasha shouted. “When did he start being your boyfriend, huh? Bet he started coming around after William got away from him last time.”

“Shows what you know! Robby picked Will up
wandering
that day and brought him home. He left Will in the garage and went for help. I had already practically moved in by then, you know. I got home and didn’t know Will was there. I accidentally let him out. He freaked in a strange house and bolted. Robby and Merle and I searched for
hours.
”

“You
believed
he just found the kid then left him in a
garage
? And why not call the cops after he took off, huh?”

“Cops.” Layla clearly disliked the police.

Robby broke in. “We were
going
to if he hadn’t shown up by morning. But he
did
show up, and it would have looked suspicious.”

“That’s the dumbest, worst lie I’ve ever
heard
!” Natasha screeched.

“William didn’t understand,” Layla insisted.

“William
hates
the circle-dot man!” Will yelled.

“Robby’s one of the good guys. He wanted to
help.
”

“That’s not what William says!”

“Who
knows
what William says. Nobody understands him.”

“William
hates
the circle-dot man,” Natasha shouted. “How do you not get that?”

It made perfect sense to me. Lance held William doubled over in his arms. Sara stood at Lance’s elbow on one side, and Natasha sat at the other. The police couldn’t get around them to arrest Layla and Robby. They needed me. But I couldn’t move.

“Natasha, get out of my way,” Trudy finally snapped, and Lance suddenly cleared the children aside to make room for law enforcement.

I rolled to my knees, then stood.

“Easy,” said Hannah.

“I’m good.” I wasn’t. I started across to my family anyway.

Hannah caught my arm on the first lurch. “Let’s take it slow.” She held onto me all the way across the field.

“Hey, William.” I tried to catch my son’s attention, but he wasn’t listening. I sat, collapsed really, and motioned Lance to hand him to me.

He cocked an eyebrow as if to ask,
you sure
? He had doubtless seen the episode beside the van.

I nodded. As I enfolded William in my embrace, needing to feel the aliveness of his struggling little body, Sara sniffled loudly. “Do I still get my braids?” she asked Hannah.

“I think there’s going to be a delay.” Hannah stroked Sara’s messy hair. “But I’ll get you braided, baby doll. We may have to start today and finish up next week, but we’ll get you there.”

“And I’ll have a million?”

“About.”

“All the way to my knees?”

“Honey, mine only go halfway down my back. I’ll make yours as long as mine. I promise.”

Sara studied her a minute. “Okay,” she said. Then she burst into loud, hiccupping tears.

“Hey, hey, hey now.” Lance picked her up. “It’s over. It’s over.” Only it wasn’t. Not even nearly. Darnell said there were at least two groups. We had one. The wrong one. A pair of kids, and while they might be capable of grabbing a child or cutting into the monkey enclosures, I doubted either of them had the physical strength to decapitate someone or take down a deputy.

Natasha and Layla continued to hurl insults at one another as Layla was crammed into the cruiser. “Tasha, be quiet. I’ll never get him calm with you yelling across the lawn.” In another moment, Layla was inside and out of shouting range anyway.

Robby kicked up some kind of a scuffle at the car, and I finally captured my son’s attention. “William. William.” I pointed at the boy beside the police car. “Do you hate him? Is he the circle-dot man?”

Sometimes, even when I asked William a question needing a specific answer, he wouldn’t give me a reply I comprehended. But not this time. Now, he suddenly quieted and followed the line of my pointing finger, then imitated it with his own. “Yes. Yes, yes, yes,” he howled. “William hates the circle-dot man!”

“Is
that
the circle-dot car?” William didn’t follow my finger as I pointed to the much closer, all too close, pizza car. Will remained fixed on Robby, who was now finally being stuffed into the cruiser beside Layla. But he said, “Yes. William
hates
that circle-dot car. I do, I do, I do.”

I rocked him and cuddled him. “Me too, baby. Mom hates the circle-dot car, too.”

Dear Nora:

I may have been wrong about my neighbor. All this time, and I never knew what a sweetheart he could be. The
very day
after your column ran, he came over to apologize about my dog. He said he couldn’t do much about his cat’s behavior, but he hoped I’d understand. He was so
nice!
He even brought me a pan of brownies. How did he
know
those are my favorites? I’ve been parceling them out over the last few days.

They’ve been wonderful for my constitution, if you don’t mind my saying so. Who knew sweets could help you in “that” way? I’m going to make him my mother’s famous figgy pudding by way of thanks.

Pooped

Dear Pooped:

I’m glad to know everything worked out in the end.

Nora

I fell asleep having already lost recollection of most of the previous day’s events. The weekend passed in a haze. I held onto the most intense images, but the police department blurred into nightmares of Drew towering over me asking me about the circle-dot man. Sleep was elusive, and Lance and I found ourselves awake and holding onto our babies, jumping at every tiny noise in the house. At some point Sunday night, my body overrode my psyche, and I drifted into a deep sleep for the first time in days. When I finally woke up Monday morning, I was alone in Mama and Daddy’s bed.