Page 110 of Reckoning

“My assistant, Briar Lowe. Someone has to cover the shipping office today.”

“So, what’s with the ‘send him’ comment?” he asked.

“She’s contacting someone for me. That’s what it’s about.” Then David sat down on the sofa beside Greta, took her in his arms, and cried with her.

* * *

Tate was dawdling this morning, reticent to start work. Something was happening, and somehow Briar was connected. He had the sensation of everything moving in slow motion, and a ringing in his ears. And then his cell phone began to ring. He knew before he looked that it was her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“My boss’s ten-year-old daughter was missing from her bed this morning. They’re hysterical. The police are there questioning the parents and have yet to even post an alert to be on the lookout for her. Don’t be mad, but I told him you would help him for free, if he wanted it. He said yes.”

“I’m never going to be mad at you,” Tate said. “I suppose there are cops everywhere, but I know how to wade through them.”

“Thank you, darling, thank you. Mandy is such a little sweetheart. I cannot bear to think of what might be happening.”

Tate flashed on Trevor Bennett and never hesitated. “Send me the address. I’ll be there within the hour.”

She texted him the address, then buckled down to work, knowing today was going to be chaos without David here.

* * *

The house at the address turned out to be a mansion. The gates on the property were wide open, and a police car was still parked at the house, although it appeared the others were gone when Tate drove up. He parked beside the squad car and was walking up the steps when a uniformed officer stopped him at the entrance.

“The family isn’t taking visitors,” he said.

“I’m not a visitor. I was asked to come. Tell David Gregory that Tate Bandy is here.”

Within seconds, David pushed past the cop and held out his hand. “Thank you for coming. I’m David Gregory. Please come in.”

Tate followed him inside, met Greta, then sat down with them and let them talk, because the first thing he kept seeing were stairsteps. Going up and down. Up and down, and that didn’t make sense.

“Your daughter is ten?” Tate asked.

“Yes. She’s what makes our world turn, and I’m scared shitless by what could be happening to her,” David said.

Tate nodded. “I need to see her bedroom,” he said, as David’s phone rang.

“Greta, will you please show Tate to her room?”

Greta was small and slender, with almost as much gray hair as David. She was shattered by what was happening but readily agreed.

“Yes, of course,” she said, and led the way.

The first image in Tate’s mind when he entered the room was seeing a man picking up a little girl and carrying her out into the hall. “Do you have staff on the premises?” Tate asked.

“No. I have a weekly cleaning service. There’s a gardener who comes weekly to mow, and that’s it,” she said.

The image of the child in the man’s arms was gone now, but he kept seeing the same stairs. Up and down. Up and down. A few moments later, he went back downstairs. He was about to start searching the house when he saw the photos lining the mantel above the fireplace and walked over.

“This is Mandy and you and David. Who’s this boy?”

Greta’s eyes welled. “Our son, Scott. We gave him a cruise as a gift after he graduated college, and during the cruise he fell overboard. His body was never recovered. I wanted to die too. Nine months later, a young girl who we knew as one of Scott’s friends showed up at our door. She was one of five other graduates who’d gone on the cruise with Scott, and she tells us she’s nine months pregnant with Scott’s child. She wasn’t going to keep the baby, but wanted us to know. David told her when she had it, we wanted a DNA test to prove it was Scott’s, and that if it was, we would pay her medical bills and keep the baby. Long story short, Mandy is technically our granddaughter, and she knows her birth daddy is dead and we’re grandparents, but she calls us Mommy and Daddy, because that’s how she needs her world to be.”

Tate’s heart was pounding. The man he’d seen picking Mandy up was the same man from the picture. Scott Gregory wasn’t dead, but he didn’t understand why he would steal his own daughter, or not let his parents know he was alive.

When David came back into the room, Tate asked if he could search the exterior of the property.