“A lot of them only speak Spanish,” Ellie says. “I’m fluent. Want me to see if they know anything?”
“Great.” Sam and Ellie quickly exchange names and phone numbers, then Sam looks at me as Ellie heads back down the street. “Where is the trail?” she asks.
“This way,” Daddy says. He’s already walking toward the side of the house, heading for the deck and the trail. “We should split up,” he calls to us over his shoulder. “I’ll take the path on the right.”
“It’s a circular trail,” I explain to Sam.
She nods toward Brenda. “You go with him,” she says, pointing to where my father disappeared around the corner of the house. She looks at me. “You come with me.”
Sam walks the trail much more slowly than I think we should, but I can tell that she’s searching the woods and undergrowth with an eagle eye. “She might have gotten lost out here,” she says. “Woods are disorienting, and this trail has some spots that might be confusing to a small child.”
“You’re right,” I say, and I begin doing what she’s doing—searching the woods as we walk, not just the trail itself. In the distance I hear my father and Brenda calling for Rainie, an echo to my own calls.
We finally reach “Little Hell Lake” and I change my call to a shout, my panic growing as I look across the tangled brush toward that murky water. But there’s no sign of Rainie. My phone rings. I stop walking and quickly pull it from my pocket, answering it without even looking at who the call is from.
“Kayla?” a woman asks.
“Yes?”
“This is Amanda from the Curtain Shop. I just—”
“I can’t talk right now, Amanda. I’ll—”
“I’m just confused about these faxes we got from you,” she says. “Why did you send them?”
“Someone there said you lost my orders and I had to resend them. But I can’t talk—”
“I’m the only person who makes customer calls,” she says, “and your order is well underway. There was no need to—”
“You’re kidding.” I stand stock-still. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Who did you speak with?”
“I’ll call you later,” I say, hanging up. I look at Sam. “I think someone called me earlier just to keep me doing busywork so she had time to take Rainie.” I hear the fear in my voice. I feel so helpless.
Sam’s phone rings before I even finish my sentence. She looks at the screen. “Your friend,” she says, pressing the speaker button so I’ll be able to hear. “Anything?” she asks Ellie.
“One of the workers saw a woman walking through the woods near the side of the house a while ago,” Ellie says. “He said it wasn’t the woman who lives there. It wasn’t Kayla. He wasn’t very close to her, but he’s pretty sure she was talking on a phone.”
I lean close to the Sam’s phone. “Did he say what she looked like?” I ask.
“Yes,” Ellie says. “He said that’s why he noticed her. She had long bright red hair.”
“Oh no,” I say, but at that very moment I hear my father’s voice.
“She’s here!” he shouts.
“We’ve got her!” Brenda calls.
“They have her!” I shout toward the phone, then start running down the rest of the trail, through the creepy circle, to the tree house, Sam close on my heels. I can see motion inside the tree house and I hear the distinctive crying of my little girl. I circle the tree to find my father carefully lowering himself down the steps, Rainie in his arms. I step forward, reaching for my daughter, a wide smile on my face. I don’t want Rainie to see me looking as frantic as I feel.
“The lady went away,” Rainie whimpers, once she’s in my arms. Her lower lip trembles. Her face is dirty and tear-streaked.
“What lady, honey?” I ask.
“She had funny glasses.” She rests her head against my shoulder. She’s too big for me to hold this way, but I’m not ready to let her go.
“Could you see yourself in her glasses?” I ask, and I feel her nod against my shoulder. I look at Sam. She’s writing something on a pad.
I set Rainie down and squat in front of her. She takes a fistful of my hair in her hand as if to keep me there.
“Did the lady help you climb up into the tree house?” I ask.
She nods. “I wanted to go up there and look at the whole world. Like we did that day,” she says. “But then she walked away.” She points down the trail. “I yelled for her to come back but she didn’t even turn around. I tried to get down but I couldn’t.” That trembling lip again, and I stand up, leaning forward to hug her. Did I nearly lose someone else I love in a fall? I really want to get my hands on that bitch.
“You were right to just stay put, sweetheart,” Daddy says. “You knew we’d find you.”
Sam has been taking this all in. Now she crouches in front of Rainie. “Hi, Rainie,” she says. “My name is Sam and I’ve been helping your family look for you. Can you tell me something? What did the lady say to you when you first saw her? You were on the deck, right?”
She nods. “She said she was Mama’s friend.” She looks up at me. “She said you were busy and you asked her to take me for a walk and soon you’d come to be with us.”
Bitch bitch bitch. And how many zillions of times had I talked to Rainie about not going anyplace with a stranger? Not enough times, obviously. I catch my father’s eye. His brows are raised in a question. Did you actually ask someone to take her for a walk? I give him an are you crazy look in response.
Sam wants to question her a little longer, but Rainie has to go potty and we head back to the house. She clutches my hand, and I don’t want to let go of her any more than she wants to let go of me.
“It’s so damn spooky back here,” Brenda says, and I want to slug her. I don’t want Rainie to fear these woods. Her backyard. Brenda’s right, though. It’s undeniable. You’d never know it’s July when you’re deep in these woods. It’s sticky hot, true, but so dark. So creepily dark.
Yet at that moment, I don’t care. The only thing in the world that matters to me right now is that my daughter is safe.
Chapter 34
ELLIE
1965
In the morning, the Hunts told me they’d decided I’d better move to another house. “We love having you here and the kids love you,” Miss Georgia said, “but we just can’t take the risk. DeeDee’s gonna need a lot of time for healing and we think it’s best—”
“I agree,” I said quickly. “I don’t want to put any of y’all at more of a risk than I already have.”
DeeDee was still asleep and I wished I could see her one more time before I left. I wanted to give her a hug and tell her what a brave girl she was, but there was no time. I packed my things, and Curry and Win pulled up out front as soon as I walked onto the porch. We were supposed to canvass an area about five miles west of where we were today. Instead, Curry was going to drive us back to the school so I could store my things and let Greg find me a new home.