Suspicions (27 page)

Stacey called Jason’s cell phone, but it went
straight to voice mail.

“My party was cancelled,” she said after the
beep. “Where are you? Please call me when you get this
message.”

Where could he be, she wondered. Then
thought, the Stones. Maybe they saw when Jason left. Stacey picked
up the phone and hesitated, still worried about her mistake with
Deanna and what Amanda would say. Finally her concern for her
family overcame her fear over talking to Amanda. The phone rang
several times before Amanda finally answered. “No, I haven't seen
them. We've been gone most of the day. We just got back home
ourselves.”

Obviously Amanda hadn't spoken to her niece.
Stacey was about to hang up the phone when Amanda cut in. “By the
way, I found another bottle of that perfume Mark's sister left
here.” Amanda laughed. “That girl is always leaving things here.
Did you still want to smell it?”

Stacey was distracted by her worry over Jason
and the kids. “Maybe another time. Thanks, Amanda.” She hung up the
phone.

Pulling open the desk drawer, she took out
their address book so she could call some of their friends. No one
had seen them.

I need to calm down and think, she commanded
herself. They probably just went out for a drive.

A knock at the front door interrupted her
thoughts. It was Amanda. She seemed embarrassed. “I just wanted to
thank you for all your help this last week.”

Stacey was not in the mood to chat. “Don't
worry about it, Amanda. I didn't really do that much.”

“But you did. I really appreciate your
support.” She lifted something in her hand. “I brought that perfume
for you to smell.” Amanda lifted the stopper and tilted the bottle
toward Stacey's nose.

Stacey just wanted her to leave so she could
look for her family. Quickly sniffing the floral scent, she said,
“I'm just glad Kyle's okay.”

“Me, too.” Amanda put the stopper back in the
bottle.

“I've really got to go now. I haven't found
Jason and the kids yet.”

“Oh. Well, good luck.” Amanda turned and
walked back across the street.

Closing the door, Stacey turned her thoughts
back to her missing family. She didn't know what to do next. She
didn't want to call the police. Not after the treatment they'd
given her and Jason recently.

Maybe Jason left a note on the refrigerator,
Stacey thought. On the way to the kitchen she passed through the
family room and again noticed the floral scent. She recognized it
immediately since she had just smelled it in the bottle Amanda had
brought over.

Then she remembered when she had smelled it
before. That night Patricia brought the Beautiful You products into
the bedroom. She remembered smelling it that night.

Patricia's been here.

Did Jason go somewhere with Patricia? Stacey
wondered. Why would he do that after what he said earlier? What
happened here? And why is the scent Kyle remembers from his
kidnapper the same scent I remember Patricia wearing. Could
Patricia be the one who took Kyle? Why would she do that?

Then, as she realized that Patricia could
have been the one who killed Gary Tomlison, and that she now had
Stacey’s family, terror pulsed over her in waves.

For a moment she had trouble thinking clearly
as her imagination ran wild.

What should I do? What should I do? her mind
screamed.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and
forced herself to stop and think.

The police, she thought. I’ll call Detective
Perkins. A moment later he was on the phone.

“I think Patricia Summers has taken my
family,” she began.

“Who is she and why would she do that, Mrs.
Hunter?” he asked, obviously skeptical of her statement.

“She’s my supervisor. And I’m not sure why
she would take them. But I came home from an appointment she set up
and my family was gone. And then I smelled her perfume.”

“I don’t think that proves anything.”

“But it was the same perfume Kyle Stone said
his kidnapper wore.”

There was silence on the other end, then,
“How can you be sure of that?”

“Amanda, Kyle’s mom, she brought over a
bottle of the perfume. I smelled it and I recognized it.”

“You have to understand my position, Mrs.
Hunter. Just the other day you were accusing Mark Stone and his
niece of kidnapping Kyle. Now you’re saying it was some woman named
Patricia Summers.”

Certain he thought she was a liar, Stacey
felt her composure slipping. “I know it sounds crazy, but I’m
telling you the truth.”

He sighed. “I’ll tell you what. When one of
my men has some free time this evening, I’ll send him over to talk
to this Patricia Summers. Okay?”

Biting her lip to keep from crying, Stacey
just nodded her head.

“In the meantime, sit tight. I’m sure your
family will be home before you know it. And when they get there,
give me a call so I can let my man know he doesn’t have to bother
Ms. Summers.”

“Fine,” Stacey managed to say before hanging
up.

Knowing it was up to her to help her family,
she knew the first thing she needed to figure out was where
Patricia may have taken them.

Then she remembered the mud on Patricia’s
shoes the other night.

Does Patricia have some other property she
owns? Is that where she kept Kyle? Where is this property? Maybe
there’s something at her house that would give me a clue.

She had the presence of mind to bring a
flashlight.

Parking several houses away from Patricia’s
house, she carefully made her way to the back door. It was locked
tight. Then she checked all the windows. The only one she found
open was a bathroom window and it was rather narrow.

After removing the screen, Stacey looked
around for something to stand on to boost herself through the
window. She spotted a large planter and dragged it under the
bathroom window, hoisting herself in through the opening. It was a
tight fit, but she made it.

As she stood in the bathroom doorway, she
pulled the flashlight out of her coat pocket and flicked it on. She
had not been in Patricia’s house before but as she shined the light
into the adjoining room, she could tell it was Patricia’s bedroom.
A four-poster bed was centered against the largest wall, with a
nightstand on either side. The dresser was huge and ornate, with an
oversized mirror hanging in the middle.

Opening all the drawers, she didn’t see
anything giving a clue as to where Patricia was keeping her family.
She left the master bedroom and went down the hall. The next room
was a guest bedroom. Stacey did not go in there but continued on
down the hall.

As she stopped and looked up and down the
hallway at all the doors, she flashed back to the nightmare she’d
had a few days before.

The hallway was dark and seemed to stretch
on for miles. There were dozens of closed doors lining the
passageway. Stacey could hear Nikki crying, calling out for her
mother to help her. Frantically running up and down the hallway,
Stacey opened doors, searching for her precious six-year-old
daughter. “I’m coming,” she screamed. “Mommy’s coming!”

It’s starting to come true, she thought as
she started hyperventilating. Sinking to the floor, she put her
head between her knees and took several slow, deep breaths until
she could calm down.

Resting her head in her hands, she massaged
her forehead, trying to stave off the growing headache. I have to
remain calm, she ordered herself as she slowly stood. Breathing
deeply, Stacey went toward the final door. It looked like an
office.

A large desk with several papers scattered on
top of it took up half of one wall. After shining the flashlight
across the papers, Stacey saw they were mostly related to Beautiful
You cosmetics. She opened the first drawer and found desk supplies.
The next drawer had some papers in them, which Stacey pulled out
and spread on the floor.

Shining the flashlight across the papers, she
quickly found one that might be helpful. It was a rental agreement
for a piece of property on the outskirts of town that had been
rented within the last month. Stacey found a piece of paper and
wrote down the address. Then, putting the papers back where she had
found them, she walked down the hall toward the master bedroom.

Just as she reached the doorway to the guest
bedroom, she heard the sound of the front door opening. Rooted to
the spot, she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on
end.

The sound of a woman humming filled the air,
which snapped Stacey out of her stupor, and she backed into the
guest bedroom, clicking off the flashlight. Her eyes had adjusted
to the darkness enough to enable her to see a large chair in the
corner. She quickly hid behind it and tried to slow her
breathing.

The sound of footsteps came down the hall but
seemed to end at the office. Stacey silently prayed Patricia would
not need to use the bathroom; the screen was still out of the
window.

The humming was coming from the office now.
It sounded very cheery. After several minutes Stacey could hear
Patricia walking back toward the front door.

At the sound of the lock being turned in the
front door, Stacey jumped up and ran to the front window. She could
see Patricia climb into the driver’s side of her car, then turn and
talk to someone in the backseat. Stacey couldn’t see anyone
there.

As Patricia pulled away from the curb, a
little head popped up in the backseat. Stacey was horrified to see
Patricia’s hand swing back quickly, the head disappearing from
view. She could not tell if it was Robby or Nikki.

What is she doing to my children? Stacey’s
mind screamed.

Briefly considering calling the police,
Stacey rapidly dismissed the idea, not wanting to waste time trying
to convince Perkins that Patricia really had taken her family.
Instead, she ran back to the bathroom window and climbed out,
careful to replace the screen so Patricia wouldn’t know she had
been there.

Out of breath by the time she reached her own
car, she had to quickly look at a map to find the way to get to the
address she had written down. Once she reached the house, she drove
by once and saw Jason’s car parked in the carport, although
Patricia’s car wasn’t there.

Confused to see Jason’s car, almost as if
he’d come voluntarily, Stacey hesitated. What if she was wrong?
What if Patricia had been telling the truth the other night and
Jason had been lying all along? What if they really did want to be
together?

Even if he doesn’t love me, Stacey thought as
sadness knifed through her, he loves our children. He would never
allow Patricia to harm them. And when I saw her driving away from
her house, Jason was not in the car with her, yet at least one of
the children was.

Leaving her car a safe distance from the
house, she ran toward the house until she found a spot close enough
to watch for any activity without being observed. There were no
other houses in the area.

All was quiet at Patricia’s place. The only
light came from a back room, which was hidden from view if anyone
were to drive up to the front of the house. Slowly approaching the
window, she saw the curtains were drawn, leaving a small space
uncovered.

Standing on her tiptoes, she could see the
corner of a bed and nothing else. She felt something squishy on her
shoes and saw that her feet were muddy. There was no grass here,
only wet dirt.

This must be where Patricia had been the
other night, Stacey realized.

While staring in through the crack, a slight
motion caught her eye. Her focus was beginning to get blurry from
staring and she had to blink several times to clear it.

There. She saw it again. A man’s foot came
into view. He was lying on the bed and rope bound his feet. It must
be Jason.

He’s not there by choice! She thought,
elated.

Reaching up to tap the window, she yanked her
hand back when Patricia walked into the room, a full glass in her
hand. Unnerved to realize she had not heard her drive up, Stacey
watched as Patricia leaned toward Jason. She couldn’t see what she
was doing, but when Patricia stood again, Stacey could see the
level of the liquid in the glass had diminished.

What is she doing? And where are my children?
The thought filled her with a desperate fear.

Tiptoeing to the side of the house and
peeking out toward the driveway, Stacey could see Patricia’s car
parked behind Jason’s, but she couldn’t see anything in the back
seat. Cautiously, she walked toward Patricia’s car and looked into
the back. Robby slept on the seat. But where was Nikki?

When Stacey tapped on the window he stirred.
She tapped again and he came fully awake. At the sight of her he
sat up straight and she motioned for him to open the locked door.
When he lifted the lock, she yanked the door open and pulled him
into her arms.

“Are you okay? Where’s Nikki?”

Robby shook his head. “I don’t know.” Then he
looked at her, confusion spreading over his face. “Why did Mrs.
Summers take us?”

“I don’t know, Robby. But we have to get
Nikki and Daddy and get away from here.”

He nodded. “I think Daddy’s inside the
house.”

Stacey bit her lip, wondering how Patricia
would react to Robby being gone. “Come on, Robby. Let’s get you out
of here.”

He hesitated. “But she said she was coming
right back.”

Stacey glanced around but didn’t see anyone.
“It’s okay, sweetie. We’ll hurry.”

“My shoe fell off,” Robby said, picking it up
from the floor and shoving it on.

As she was helping him climb out of the car,
she felt a sharp pain in her head.