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“No!” she cried. “Tell me where she is! You taught at the karate school, didn’t you? Is that how you know her?”
But the paramedics had already begun their examination of the man’s leg and he simply smirked at her.
She wanted to lunge at him and beat him until Bethany’s whereabouts burst from him.
But she couldn’t.
Mason placed an arm around her shoulders and led her toward the police car.
He leaned in the driver’s door and cranked the car, turning the air on full blast. In the backseat of the car, Lacey let the tears fall. She’d been so close. At least it had felt like it.“Oh, God, help me,”she cried.“Help me find my baby, please. “
Help me,” she whispered.
“I’m trying to help you.” Mason slid in beside her and all of a sudden the backseat of the sedan felt small. His solid strength filled the area, making her want to lean on it. She didn’t bother telling him she hadn’t been appealing to him.
“You shouldn’t have come here.” His voice was tight, his anger tightly leashed.
Swiping the tears with the back of her hands, she turned and narrowed her eyes at him. “I didn’t have a choice. The more I thought about the fact that Bethany could be here, that she might be hurt or needing me or…”
She broke off and shrugged, unable to put what was in her mother’s heart into words.
His expression softened and he gave a little sigh. “Aw, Lacey, I know, but you can’t put yourself in danger like that. You’re just lucky that Janice hit Howe. If you’d been standing there when Howe came around the corner of the house, he could have had a weapon, used you for a hostage…” He shuddered and wrapped his arms around her to pull her in for a hug.
He smelled of sweat from the chase and the cologne he’d slapped on this morning, Lacey breathed deep, her heart constricting at the memories the scent evoked. He pulled back. “Did you recognize Howe?”
“No, I’ve never seen him before. He’s definitely not Bethany’s instructor. But there are four schools in various locations throughout the city. Maybe he’s at a different one than Bethany.”
“Joseph said he was a new guy at the one on Brownstock Road. Maybe the whole karate thing is just coincidence.”
She sighed. “That’s the one Bethany goes to.” She threw her hands up. “I don’t know. If she couldn’t catch a ride with a friend—I just dropped her off at the door and picked her up when she was ready. Her class was right after school and I couldn’t take the time off to stay and watch. So—” she shrugged “—I wouldn’t know everyone who worked there.” Rubbing her eyes to alleviate the headache building there, she asked, “So what now?”
“Now we—”
A rap on the window interrupted him.
Joseph.
Mason opened the door. Joseph leaned in. “Catelyn called. She said the lab got nothing on the two pictures you guys found. They’d been photocopied and the paper was standard, something you can buy anywhere. And no prints except yours.”
“Great.” Mason nodded and Lacey didn’t see any surprise on his face. Joseph had told them exactly what Mason had suspected.
Still, she couldn’t help the pang of disappointment. But the fact that Bethany had called Georgia’s cell phone reassured her that her child was still alive. Scared and in trouble maybe, but alive. She’d cling to that small thread of reassurance for now.
Daniel and Janice climbed into the front seats. Joseph would follow behind in his car. Mason buckled his seat belt. “What about the cement block he threw in the back windshield of my car? Anything on that?”
“Not yet,” Daniel said. Lacey could hear the tightness in his voice. From his body language and the fact that he completely ignored Janice, she could tell he wasn’t happy with his wife.
Janice sat silent in the seat, her chin up and her eyes straight ahead.
Mason cleared his throat. “Is he going to the hospital?”
“Yeah, we’ve got to get him checked out just to cover ourselves. Then we can grill him like a steak when he’s released.”
Mason blew out a sigh. “Then let’s head over to the homeless shelter. I want to pass Bethany’s picture around and see if anyone’s seen her.”
Finally. Something she could do. She would be in action instead of in this stagnant waiting mode.
“I need to take my wife home,” Daniel said.
