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“Won’t the police be doing the same thing?” she asked.
“Probably,” Alex said. “And they’ll probably find them. But I think it would be a good idea for us to be there if and when they do track them down. This guy’s dangerous. An armed standoff with Tyler as a hostage would not be in the boy’s best interests.”
Kara shivered. The image was too much to even consider. Her stomach heaved and she turned away, gripping her belly and doubling over. She vomited in the bushes. Alex swore, and Mel gripped Kara’s shoulders, held her hair back.
“Kara?”
She heard Jimmy’s voice, closed her eyes and wished she could stop retching, but she couldn’t. A second later his hands replaced Mel’s on her shoulders. “Kara, are you okay?”
Finally under control, she nodded, tried to straighten. Alex handed her a handkerchief and she wiped her mouth.
Jimmy was searching her face, and his own looked helpless. She said, “Don’t. Don’t waste a minute worrying about me. You’ve got more man enough on your plate right now. I’m fine.”
He shot a look past her at Alex. “She should be home. I don’t want her going through all this and I can’t take care of her—”
“You don’t need to take care of me.”
Her words brought a wounded look to his face. “Please, Kara. Go to your mother’s. You’re wrung out. You look ready to drop.”
She drew a breath, ready to argue with him. But then it occurred to her that she could help Maya track down the lowlife animals who were using a small child the way they were. “What’s happening, Jimmy? What are the police doing?”
“Everything that can be done. They’re organizing volunteers to search the woods, bringing in dogs to try to pick up Tyler’s scent, setting up roadblocks.” He looked her up and down. “There’s nothing you can do here, Kara. Ty’s gonna need you when he gets back. And if he sees you falling apart... “
She nodded. “I’ll go home.”
“Have some of Selene’s special tea. Maybe some chicken soup or something to settle your belly.”
“Call the minute you hear anything.”
“I’ll drive her,” Selene said. Her eyes said more, but the look in them was for Kara alone.
Jim nodded. “I’ll check in on you.” Then almost as if on impulse, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her close. “Thank you, Kara.”
“For what? I haven’t done anything.” But God, his arms felt good around her just then, even though she wouldn’t let herself melt into them or embrace him in return. She wished she could stay wrapped in those arms forever. If only he loved her.
“You don’t know what you’ve done,” he said. “I’m glad you’re here with me. I wouldn’t want to go through this without you.”
She couldn’t say the words that wanted so badly to be said. That she loved him. Always would. Instead she said, “He’ll be okay, Jimmy. I know he will.”
He walked with her out to the road, put her into Selene’s little car and closed the door. Then he stood there and watched until Selene had driven them out of sight.
When she couldn’t look back at him any longer, Kara finally turned to her sister.
Selene had that look in her eyes. That intense, almost eerie look she got sometimes. “What is it, Selene?” Kara asked.
Selene blinked and glanced her way, saying nothing.
“You know something,” Kara blurted, reading her sister’s expression. What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on, Selene, spill. You’ve got an inkling. A feeling. Something.”
Selene nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think it would be a good idea to let the police be the ones to find him. When Alex was saying what he said, I saw... something. A flash. But there was shouting and gunfire, and I had a terrible feeling about Tyler.”
“Any idea where he is?”
Selene shook her head. Kara reached for the cell phone on the dash. When Maya picked up, Kara asked her if she’d found anything yet
