AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Holding her breath, Mandy glanced back down the hall toward the front door and listened for returning footsteps. Then entered the room.
She tried the file drawers that lined one wall.Locked.
Then she moved behind the deputy’s desk. Her toe bumped a brown paper grocery sack on the floor by his chair.
She awkwardly bent down and saw something in a plastic bag. She held her breath and tugged at it. Pulled it free.
Horror shot through her just as the front door of the deputy’s office squealed open. “Miss! Miss—are you here?” The woman’s footsteps came closer.
Mandy stood frozen.
She held Bonnie, her favorite old doll from childhood—the one with the flaming-red hair and freckles. Red gashes crisscrossed the doll like gaping wounds.
In black permanent marker someone had crudely lettered DEAD across her chest.
“What are you doing!” The cleaning lady rushed forward, her eyes flashing anger. “You must not be in here. Put that down!”
Mandy looked at her blankly and held out her doll. “It’s mine. He used my Bonnie to do this.”
The woman recoiled at the sight, crossing herself feverishly.“Madre de Dios!”
Waves of nausea rose in Mandy’s throat. She felt hot...cold. Sank to the floor, trying not to give in to the darkness closing in on her. Then another terrifying thought hit her like a sharp slap in the face.Jolie.
Her dad hadn’t intended to turn at that corner out on Main a few minutes ago. The way he’d slammed on his brakes at the last moment meant he’d probably seen her and then decided to go...where?The cabin?
“How do I call the deputy?” Mandy cried, struggling up into Rafe’s chair. A sharp pain shot through her lower back. With a guttural moan, she wrapped her arms around her belly and doubled over.
The cleaning woman’s eyes widened.
“Tell me! How do I call Rafe from here?” She pawed through the neat stack of papers on his desk, jerked at one of the desk drawers.Locked.
The Rolodex by the phone held no card forRafferty.She tore a phone book off the shelf behind the desk and scrambled through it—no listing there, either.
Closing her eyes tight, she desperately tried to remember his home number. And then she remembered someone who lived much closer.Matt.
Her fingers shook as she tried to punch the numbers on the desk phone.Please, please be home.
JOLIE PACKED THElast of the canned pop into the cooler, then tossed in a package of hot dogs, a pint of potato salad, and coleslaw she’d purchased at the store on the way home.
Done.
She set the cooler out on the front porch, then went back in for the picnic basket, wishing she could share Mandy’s excitement over having a picnic.
But Matt had left an emptiness in her heart that was too great to ever fill. How could she have been so wrong about him?
Still...the days at the hospital with Dad had blessed the Maxwells with a silver lining.
During the hours in that ICU waiting room, Thea, Cassie, and Jolie had begun talking more openly than they ever had before.
They weren’t all great friends yet. Cassie, in particular, still seemed to resent Jolie. Maybe they could never be really close. But there was new hope, a new basis for communication.Family.
With time, perhaps they could regain all they’d thrown away over the years.
Dolly wandered over to the porch, Sadie bumping along at her heels. “Hi, girls,” Jolie murmured. “Want some of your favorite crackers?”
The llama’s head came up, her ears pricked forward. She snorted. Backed away.
“You don’t want your crackers? Just a minute.” She bent to retrieve a handful from the box she’d left at the corner of the porch.
