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“Hello.”
“Hi, Elizabeth, this is Joe’s dad, Tony. Can you put him on the line?”
“He’s not here. He went home hours ago.”
A brief moment of silence filled the air. “He’s not there? He never came home last night. I was calling to wake him up and have him come home before the kids woke up.”
“Well, if he’s not here and he’s not home, where is he?” The commanding surge of panic whipping through her nearly knocked her off her feet.
“I don’t know. Meet me outside and we’ll take a quick look around,” Tony replied.
Elizabeth ran downstairs, quickly slid her feet into her boots, and bolted out the door as she flung her coat over her shoulders. She glanced across her yard and over to Joe’s, Tony was walking in her direction. He scanned the area.
She glanced down to find a set of footprints in the newly fallen snow; they led from her sidewalk, over her driveway, along the hedge that stood between her yard and Joe’s, and headed in the direction of the street. It was obvious Joe had simply walked around the hedge to get to his house. Glancing up she watched Tony as he walked along the hedge toward the street. He’d nearly reached the street already before he stopped abruptly, and studied the ground. His olive skin turned white as the newly fallen snow.
“What is it, Tony?” she asked.
He glanced up at her. “Go back around the hedge the other way,” he demanded as he pointed in the opposite direction she walked.
A lump formed in her throat, cutting off her air supply. Her lungs felt empty. She squeezed in a breath, and quickly turned as she was directed. Tony also turned and walked in the opposite direction of the street.
When she met up with him at the end of the hedge, he reached out, placed his hand around her arm, and led her into the garage.
“You’re scaring me. What did you see over there?”
Even with his thirty-plus years on the police force, he was unable to hide the concern in his eyes from her. If she hadn’t known that information about the man, she probably wouldn’t be as scared as she felt right now. But for a man with that background, to look as worried as he did right now, whatever he saw by the street, couldn’t be good.
“Elizabeth, I need you to stay in the house here for the time being and stay calm for the sake of the kids. We need to get them up and out of here ASAP so I can call the police and Nick. I need to know you can do that before we go into the house. Can you do that?” he asked. His voice forced calm.
She fought the tears that burned behind her eyes. “Yes, but what did you see?”
“Judging from the footprints in the snow, it appears there were several people in the yard, and maybe a struggle occurred.”
“You think someone kidnapped Joe?” Her voice squeaked. She blinked back her tears, and knowing she needed to pull it together for the kids’ sakes, she drew in a couple of deep breaths, in an attempt to calm herself.
“Maybe, I don’t know. We need to call the police. But right now, let’s quickly go in there, get the kids up, dressed, and ready for school.”
She followed him into the house. The kids were already stirring about. She went into Molly’s room and quickly rushed her along. Tony did the same with Max. In less than 10 minutes, the kids were ready for school and it wasn’t even 7:00 a.m. yet.
“Grandpa, where is Dad?” Max questioned as he rubbed his tired eyes with his fisted hands.
“He had to leave early today to go to work downtown with Sam. Elizabeth is going to take you to school today.”
Max stood there in what appeared to be a confused state. “Grandpa, we take the bus to school, and it’s too early to go to school now. And I’m hungry.”
“As a special treat, Elizabeth is going to take you to McDonald's for breakfast before school today. Now run along with her,” Tony said in a firm voice as he pulled out his wallet and handed her some cash.
She loaded the kids into Joe’s truck, backed out of the driveway, and headed toward McDonald's, doing her best to hide her worry. She parked the truck in the McDonalds parking lot, helped Molly out of her car seat and they went inside for breakfast.
Suddenly, she realized she didn’t even know where their school was. “Max, do you know how to get to your school from here.”
He shook his head, but he was able to tell her the name of the school so she got directions from a McDonalds’ employee.
While the kids ate, she sipped on her coffee. Worry consumed her. What had happened to Joe? Where did he go? Who did he struggle with?
After dropping the kids off at school, she returned home to find several squad cars lining the street, and Nick’s truck parked at the end of the road. She pulled into her driveway, and then immediately headed toward Nick and Tony who stood on Joe’s porch talking to what appeared to be a couple of plain clothes officers.
She pointed to the cell phone strapped to Nick’s hip, and he handed it to her. She called Mr. Kent to tell him that she wouldn’t be in the office today. That was all the information she offered him. She handed the phone back to Nick and waited for him to finish his conversation. As she waited, she watched the officers examine the area where the struggle had taken place. One officer snapped pictures from the curb; pictures of the footprints and where they trailed, she assumed. Another officer carried a clipboard and wrote stuff down as he combed over the area. She wondered what he was writing. A couple of others milled around the yard, mostly congregating by the portion of the hedge bordering the street.
