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“And I’ll go to Mark’s house, in case there’s any word there,” Susan added. “I’ll also phone the police.”
“Have them meet us at Josie’s house,” Meredith called as she ran with Mark and her mother out the door.
“We’ll be there in no time, Mark,” Meredith said as they climbed into the back of her car. Her mother already had the keys in the ignition.
“Does she know where she’s going?”
“I lived here for thirty years, young man,” Evelyn said. “I know these roads better than you do.”
“Who is she?” Mark asked Meredith, not letting go of her hand even when she had to use it to put on her seat belt.
“My mother.”
At another time, Mark might have felt uncomfortable knowing that, ashamed even. At the moment he just felt grateful to have two Foster women in his camp.
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” he said.
“You, too, son,” Evelyn replied. “Now just relax. That girl of mine was put on this earth for situations like this. She’ll find your little girl in time. You just wait and see.”
Mark would give half his life to have that kind of faith. But for now he was going to get by on the coattails of a woman who should hate him for not believing in her daughter, but who was too busy helping him to do so.
Meredith groaned as her mother took another sharp corner. She wasn’t sure if she was going to be ill or pass out. At the moment, she’d settle for either if it would relieve some of the pain in her stomach.
“She’s sick, Mark,” she said, her throat raw.
“Sick how?”
“I don’t know.” She hated the blank places, the missing pieces. She could feel the urgency, but couldn’t get them there. “It feels like alcohol, drugs maybe. Her head is spinning. And she’s scared.” Meredith started to cry. “She’s so scared I can barely stand it.”
“Hold on, baby,” Evelyn said from the front seat. “Mark, put your arms around her, hold her, give her what comfort you can.”
Mark did. And Meredith’s nerves settled again. The man reached her like no one else ever had. For now, she was grateful.
“WHY JOSIE?” Mark asked when Meredith’s breathing slowed to a more normal pace.
“She seems to be thinking about her,” she said. Even to herself, she sounded insane.
Mark didn’t say a word. Just continued to hold her close, breathing with her, two hearts beating side by side.
JOSIE WAS ALREADY in bed when they arrived.
“It’s a school night,” her mother said, fear in her eyes as she looked at the school principal in her doorway.
The police arrived just as Josie’s father came to the door wanting to know what was going on. And within two minutes Josie was standing before them in her yellow flowered nightgown, wide-eyed and obviously scared out of her wits.
“I d-d-don’t kn-kn-know anything,” she said, rubbing her eyes.
“Josephine Marie, if you do not start telling these people everything you know within the next five seconds you will be grounded for the rest of your life,” Josie’s father said, obviously overwrought.
Meredith knelt down in front of the child.
“Josie, loyalty is one of the most important things in life, but sometimes, to be loyal, you have to look like you’re being disloyal,” she said, her voice even. She didn’t even question her sudden tranquility. “Kelsey’s trying her best, Josie, but she’s in over her head right now and she could be dying. She needs your help.”
Josie wanted to believe her. Meredith could see it in the little girl’s eyes. “She knows you’re the only one who can help us find her,” Meredith said. “Please don’t let her down now.”
“I…”
“Please, honey, she’s not going to get into trouble. She is in trouble.”
