“You don’t have to come. There’s nothing you can do, really.”
“I’ll be there,” she said, ending the call and rushing for her boots.
“What happened?”
She had almost forgotten Ryan’s presence. “I... I have to go. Lydia’s missing. Her coat is missing, too. I have to...”
Lightheaded suddenly from the shock and fear, she started to sway. He grabbed her, his strength the only solid thing in her world right now.
“I’m sure she didn’t go far. We’ll find her. I’ll drive you to the Moore house and on the way I’ll call my dad. He can meet me at his hangar and we can take his bird up to look.”
She nodded, feverishly wishing this were all a bad dream and she could wake up back in his arms, worrying about nothing but a broken heart.
Chapter Twenty-Four
LATER, HE HAD NO SOLID MEMORY OF THE DRIVE BETWEENShelter Springs and Haven Point. He knew he broke several traffic laws but he didn’t give a damn.
All he could think about was that poor little girl, alone and defenseless on a snowy December night, and all the horrible things that might have happened to her.
“Where could she have gone?” Holly said as they approached the Haven Point town limits. “None of this makes sense. She’s never doneanythinglike this before. Why would she go out into the cold in the middle of a Christmas party?”
He had no good answer to that and could only squeeze her hand.
“We’ll find her,” he vowed.
“You don’t know that. Children disappear all the time.”
“She can’t have gotten far.”
“Unless someone took her.”
He hadn’t even made space in his thoughts for that kind of dark scenario. Holly obviously had. She hadn’t stopped shaking since that damn phone call. She was falling apart and he hated that he had no way to help her through this.
“Does she know anyone else in Haven Point? Any of the Moore neighbors?”
“I don’t think so.” She hesitated. “She did make friends with a little boy at the wedding. Remember, she danced with him.”
He vaguely recalled Lydia taking to several different children at the reception. She was a social kid, apparently, who loved to make new friends.
“Maybe she went there. Any idea where he lives?”
“No. I don’t even know his name. I’m not sure Lydia does. How would she possibly know where he lives? She barely knows her own address, and only because I’ve drilled it into her a hundred times. It doesn’t make any sense that she would leave in the middle of a family party to look for a boy she barely knows.”
As he drove past the park where he had encountered Holly and Lydia and walked through the light displays, he remembered the little girl’s unalloyed delight there.
He suddenly braked, filled with the unwavering conviction they should look there.
He wasn’t sure where the idea came from or why it was so strong. Later, he thought perhaps Lydia had a fleet of guardian angels who had planted it in his brain.
“What about here?” He gestured toward the park as they approached the parking lot.
Holly looked at the park, the vibrant colors reflecting on her features through the window.
“She loved our visit there. On the day of the wedding we drove past during the daytime and she begged me to stop. Obviously we couldn’t, as we had somewhere else to be.”
“What do you think? Since we’re here, should we take a look? Or would we be better off hurrying to the Moore house to join the official search? Your choice.”
Her features looked taut with indecision and fear. “Let’s check,” she finally said. “It’s not a very big park. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes to cover it, with both of us looking. We might be wasting our time but I would rather look now so we can rule it out.”
