Things had been better when it was just her and her parents—they hadn’t needed anyone else. Only her mommy had disagreed. After Katie was born, her mom wanted more kids, but for some reason, she couldn’t have them. So, when Katie was five, they had decided to adopt, and that’s how Kevin had joined their family. Kevin was eighteen months old now, and he was all her mom ever talked about.
Kevin was all her mom wanted.
She and her mom never did things together anymore; her mom was always too busy with Kevin. All Katie ever heard was Kevin this or Kevin that. Since Kevin came to live with them, her mom hadn’t read her stories or helped her with her homework or curled up on the couch on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons and have a pajama day. She wanted her mom back.
It just wasn't fair, Katie sulked.
Her brother was tugging on her hand, trying to free his from her grip, and squealing miserably because she wouldn’t let him go. Annoyed, she released his hand. Why should she have to watch him anyway? That was her mom’s job. Her mom was the one who wanted Kevin; not her. And so what if he didn’t want to sit in his stroller anymore? She had to do things all the time that she didn’t want to do. Why should Kevin be any different?
Free at last, Kevin toddled off and crawled under a table, picking up something from the floor. Glancing at her mother, when she saw there were still seven people ahead of her in the line, Katie wandered to the window. The parking lot was full. Everyone seemed to be out today running errands. She watched the cars as they parked and circled the busy lot.
Katie couldn’t wait until she was old enough to learn to drive. Sometimes, when her mommy was busy with Kevin, her daddy would let her sit on his lap in the car and pretend to drive it up and down their driveway. When she had a license and her own car, she’d be able to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted to do it. She wouldn’t have to wait for her mom or dad to take her places; she’d be free.
Wondering whether her mother would consider homeschooling her, Katie turned to check on Kevin and her heart stopped.
He was gone.
Terror welled up inside her and she looked to her mom to see if she’d noticed. But her mother hadn’t. She had her phone out and was busily typing away.
That gave her time.
Kevin couldn’t have gone far; he was only a baby.
Scanning the bank, she couldn’t see him anywhere.
Why, oh, why hadn’t she watched him?
He wasn't so bad as far as annoying, attention-hogging babies went. Sometimes he wanted to sit in her lap and listen to her read him stories. Sometimes he cried because she wouldn’t sit down and play trains with him. And sometimes he gave her great big, wet, sticky kisses on her cheek. She pretended not to like it when he did that, always complained and went running off to wash her face, but deep down she did kind of like it.
Where was he?
Maybe he’d gone outside? Kevin loved the snow. He was always sneaking out of the house whenever someone, usually her, left a door open so he could crawl through it and hold it in his chubby little hands and study it.
Running outside, Katie looked up and down the strip mall and let out a gigantic sigh of relief.
There he was.
An old lady was holding Kevin and looking around as though searching for who he belonged to.
Katie ran up to her and threw her arms around the lady’s waist. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you,” she gushed.
“Does he belong to you, dear?” the lady asked.
“Yes, I was supposed to be watching him for my mom while she was in line in the bank, but I got distracted for just a second, and when I looked up, he was gone,” Katie rambled, grabbing hold of Kevin’s hand as he grabbed at her hair.
“Tsk, tsk,” the lady shook her head. “Children watching children, what is the world coming to?”
“Thank you so much for finding him,” she said as she reached for her brother, but the woman didn’t release him.
“He’s your brother is he, dear?”
“Yes.” She wanted to just grab Kevin and run back inside before their mother noticed they were missing, but this woman had saved her brother before he’d been able to crawl into the road and get hit by a car. She couldn’t just run off without being polite.
“He doesn’t look much like you.”
“He’s adopted,” she explained, unsure why the woman cared that they didn’t look alike. Because Kevin was adopted, they didn’t share any physical features. Katie was pale-skinned with blonde hair and blue eyes; her brother had olive skin with dark hair and eyes. Maybe the old lady thought Katie was lying and Kevin wasn't her brother after all.
“Perhaps I should talk to your mother about the dangers of leaving a little girl to watch over her baby brother,” the old lady said, and took a step toward the bank.
“No, please don’t tell her. I’ll get in trouble,” Katie begged. Why couldn’t the woman just give her Kevin and let her go? An uneasy feeling began to brew in her tummy. Something felt wrong; she just couldn’t figure out what it was.
Then it hit her.
Kevin’s knees were dry.
Her brother could walk, but when he wanted to get someplace fast, he crawled. And whenever he escaped from their house to look at the snow, he always moved quickly. He would have crawled out of the bank. Therefore, his knees should be wet from crawling along the wet, snowy, footpath. But his knees were dry. Kevin hadn’t crawled from the bank on his own. Someone had carried him out.
Eyes growing wide, she looked up at the old lady and was about to demand she give her Kevin back, or she was going to scream for help when something jabbed her in the arm.
The world went swirling around her.
And then she fell.
* * * * *
10:17 A.M.
“Let me make this perfectly clear,” Jonathon announced as he entered the small interview room that someone had set them up in when they'd arrived at the police station twenty minutes ago. “I do not think that you are involved in the recent copycat doll killer abduction and murders. But you and Thomas Karl were the only two victims who survived. After you escaped, the murders stopped. Then suddenly, after twenty years, the killings start again, and then you get carjacked by the other survivor, who gets himself killed by shooting at the police. You're all that’s left; you're the only link that we have. Surely you can understand why we need to talk to you?”
Clara simply glowered at him. What a jerk. How could her opinion of Detective Jonathon Dawson change so dramatically in less than twenty-four hours? Just yesterday he had been the only thing keeping her anchored when her world had been swirling around her, and now she viewed him as possibly the most despicable person on the planet.
How could his touch, his voice, have ever calmed her? Now both grated on her nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. She didn’t want to be sitting here listening to him, but what choice did she have? They were going to interview her at some point, so she may as well just get it over with.
Naomi had insisted on coming with her, much to Clara’s relief. She didn’t think she could face Jonathon and his partner on her own, especially given the topic they wanted to question her about. Her sister was annoyed that she’d agreed to come. They’d argued about it on the drive here, but no matter how frustrated Naomi was, Clara knew her sister would support her in whatever way she could.