Chasing Second Chances (14 page)

* * * *

The only thing he was more worried about than not finding Kate’s children was Lloyd, Bryan thought as he sat behind one of the wooden desks in the doctor’s lounge, his laptop in front of him.

At first, he had merely been worried that Kate would realize she still had feelings for Lloyd, but now, he was more worried that Lloyd would try to win Kate back deliberately, the fact that Lloyd had gone so far as to have him investigated proof that he was an opponent not to be taken lightly.

Lloyd had him investigated because he suspected that he could have played a role in the kidnapping of the children? That was bullshit. Lloyd had him investigated because he wanted to have an ace up his sleeve, and boy, did he use it.

Well, he wasn’t just going to let that go, nor was he just going to sit around anymore.

He considered getting a private investigator of his own but decided to start by digging around on the internet first. Now that he thought about it, he did not really know much about Lloyd. The fact that he was Kate’s ex-husband had been enough for him.

Not anymore.

Not surprisingly, he found a lot of information about Lloyd Marrick, and he went through most of the pages, picking out all the important details and banking them in his memory.

He was too absorbed in his task that he did not notice someone else approaching, nearly jumping when he heard a voice from behind him.

“Doing some research on Lloyd Marrick, I see,” the man said, peering over his shoulder and adjusting his glasses as he looked at the screen. “Are you planning on investing in his company or going up against him in a lawsuit?”

“Dr. Quinn,” Bryan acknowledged as he turned around. “You could say it’s something like that.”

“He doesn’t look very intimidating in person.” Dr. Quinn sat on the couch.

“You’ve seen him?” Bryan’s annoyance turned into interest.

“I saw him—when was that?—the other day, I think, while I was visiting my sister-in-law in New Jersey.”

“He was in New Jersey?”

“Yes, and with a woman no less.”

“A woman?”

“A young woman,” Dr. Quinn answered. “He was probably on a date. I can only imagine how complicated dating must be for a guy like him.”

“Are you sure it was him?” Bryan asked, wanting to be certain.

“It was him, all right. I’ve seen him enough on TV. He looked thinner in the flesh, too.”

Bryan grew silent, thinking. He knew that it was probably Lloyd Dr. Quinn had seen, since Lloyd had been away. But what was he doing with another woman?

He shrugged. For all he knew, it could just be a client. Then again, Dr. Quinn could also be right and Lloyd was on a date, which meant he wasn’t as much of a rival as Bryan thought he was, which he hoped was the case.

At any rate, he felt suddenly confused and deciding he needed a cup of coffee, he excused himself, making his way to the vending machine on the second floor, which was the one that had the coffee he wanted.

There, to his surprise, he met Anne.

“Dr. Knowles.” She smiled at him. “I thought you were on leave.”

“There was an emergency I couldn’t ignore.”

“I see.”

“But the patient has stabilized. I just need to run a few more tests in an hour.”

“That’s good.”

“You’re on duty?”

“Yes,” Anne answered. “How’s Kate?”

“She’s okay. I mean, she’s okay given the circumstances. She’s a strong woman.”

“Don’t I know that.”

Anne got her cup, then stood aside, letting Bryan get his.

“If I was in Kate’s shoes, I’d probably have gone crazy by now,” Anne continued. “Not only because of the missing children, but all that pressure living in the same house with two men. If that’s not complicated, I don’t know what is.”

“Lloyd’s just staying at her house until the kids are found,” Bryan said, minimizing the issue.

“Bet you don’t like it, though,” Anne said.

“I don’t,” he admitted. “But I trust Kate, especially now that we no longer have secrets from each other.”

“You don’t?” Anne looked surprised. “Well, that must mean she told you, then. I knew her conscience wouldn’t be able to handle it.” She took a sip from her cup. “I admire you, Dr. Knowles. Not every man would be able to trust a woman so soon, if ever at all, after she’s kissed another man.”

That gave Bryan pause. “Kissed another man?”

“Then again, she didn’t really mean to kiss Lloyd, so I guess…” Anne stopped, her expression turning into one of worry as she looked at him. “She didn’t tell you that, did she?”

Slowly, Bryan shook his head.

“Oh, shit. I’m…”

“I won’t tell her,” Bryan assured her. “So you need not worry. Thanks for telling me, Anne.”

He left without waiting for her to speak again, his cup in hand. Part of him wanted to throw it against a wall but he managed to hold onto it, ditching it in the wastebasket in the men’s room as soon as he entered, after which he ran his hands through his hair in frustration and leaned over the sink.

Kate had kissed Lloyd.

And she had not told him, not even after he had told her everything, even though she had promised there would be no more secrets between them.

Just when he thought they were finally going strong, that everything was going to be perfect between them, everything started to fall apart, and just like that, he felt as if his entire world had been plunged into darkness.

Chapter Eighteen

Darkness.

Cold.

Dust.

Stench.

Nick wrinkled his nose as he shone his flashlight around the empty cottage, shuddering to think that two children had once been kept there.

Just an hour ago, they had received a report that one of K-9 units had picked up a scent at the cottage, which was in another dense patch of woods several miles from where Charlene’s body had been found, following an order that had been given for them to widen the search. He, along with Agent Wilkins, Sgt. Manning and the team from the Boston crime lab, had quickly made their way there, hoping to find some valuable clues that could lead them to Lena and Jack Evans.

So far, they had found nothing, but less than a minute had passed, and so he remained hopeful.

“Lieutenant!” He turned his head as he heard a cry from a member of the crime scene investigation unit, Deborah. “I think you should see this.”

Quickly, he went over to her, holding his breath. He let it go when he saw the small, reddish brown stains on the wood.

“Blood,” Deborah said, holding up the purple-tipped cotton swab.

He frowned.

“It’s more of a spatter, though,” Deborah added. “Inconsistent with a stab wound.”

“It might be the kidnapper’s,” he suggested.

“Or it might be from one of the children,” Agent Wilkins said as he approached them.

His frown deepened. The man had no shred of optimism in him.

“We’ll be able to find out if it’s a match to the DNA of any of the Evans children as soon as we get back to the lab,” Deborah said. “Or a match to the DNA we found under Charlene’s fingernails.”

“There’s a spatter here, as well,” another crime scene operative, Ron, spoke from across the room. “Although it’s negative for blood.” He sniffed the cotton swab in his hand. “Might be urine.”

“We can check it for epithelials,” Agent Wilkins said.

“There’s some strands of hair, here as well,” Ron said, picking up a strand with his tweezers. “They don’t look human.”

“It could very well be hair from a raccoon, which could match the other strand of hair found on Charlene’s shirt,” Nick offered.

Ron nodded.

“No fingerprints here on the doorknob,” the third crime scene operative, Kyle, announced.

“They were careful,” Agent Wilkins remarked. “The kidnapper must have worn gloves here like he did at the Evans residence.”

“Not that careful, though,” Sgt. Manning said, appearing with an empty water bottle in her gloved hand. “I found this hidden under some leaves outside. Someone must have hastily tried to dispose of it.”

“Good job, Sergeant,” Nick praised.

“That’s not all,” Sgt. Manning continued. She took off the cap of the bottle and shone her flashlight on the mouth of the bottle. “There’s lipstick.”

“Charlene Morrow wasn’t wearing any lipstick when she was found,” Ron recalled.

“Which means there are likely two perpetrators, a male—the one whose skin Charlene scraped—and a female.”

“That would make sense,” Agent Wilkins said. “Someone would have to watch the children while Charlene’s body was disposed of. Besides, kidnapping two kids isn’t something just one person can easily accomplish. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a third person involved.”

That Nick had to agree with. All along, he had suspected that two people were involved, even suspecting Charlene and her boyfriend in the beginning. Up until now, a part of him still suspected the boyfriend, though now, he knew there was also another woman involved. Was she the guy’s real girlfriend, both of them having only used Charlene and then discarded her when she was no longer needed? Or was she a victim like Charlene, being used by the guy who was the mastermind of it all?

He shook his head. He would save his questions for later. For now, he had to find answers, clues.

He returned to the room he was previously in, searching more thoroughly, shining his flashlight on every inch of the floor and the walls, testing for any loose floorboards, peeking inside every hole.

Nothing.

He was about to give up, about to force open one of the windows, the one that still had the pane intact, to let in some air into the room so that he could breathe, when suddenly, he noticed something on the window.

Like the other window in the room, this one was dusty, but there were gaps in the dust and when he stepped back, he realized that there was a message on written on the glass.

A message in a child’s handwriting.

Help me Mommy.

What made his heart seem to stop, though, was the name written below the message.

Lena.

* * * *

All clear, Lena thought as she peeked out of her bedroom.

From where she stood, she could see the bathroom door at the end of the hall, which was not completely shut, and she could hear the sound of the water running from inside, along with the voices of Jack and the woman with the curly hair.

Jack was being given a bath, just as she had thought.

And it was the perfect chance for her to escape.

Slowly, she tiptoed down the hall, glancing back at the bathroom door after every few steps to make sure the woman with the curly hair had not seen her. At the top of the stairs, she paused, the sound of Jack’s laughter making her feel a little bad about leaving him. She told herself, though, that he would be all right and making a silent promise that she would come back for him, she continued down the stairs, still on her tiptoes.

Once she reached the bottom, she looked around, afraid she would see the girl called Vicky with the red hair or the man with the ring on his lip called Bill. Each time she saw it, she shuddered to think of how painful it must feel, although Bill certainly didn’t seem to be bothered by it. It was one of the things that made him scary, making her want to run away and hide under a table each time she saw him.

Unable to see any of them, she heaved a sigh of relief and walked towards the kitchen, thinking of using the back door.

It was bolted but she managed to undo the bolt after the third try. Grinning triumphantly, she opened the door very slowly so that it would not creak and when she had opened it halfway, she slipped through, crawling across the backyard towards the fence gate at the side of the house that led to the driveway.

Now what?

The fence was too tall, just as she thought it would be, which meant she had to stand on something to get over it.

She went back to the backyard, searching for something she could use, and seeing the metal chairs, she started to pull one towards the gate, having a hard time because it was heavy and she was still trying to be quiet.

Just when she had placed the chair against the gate, though, she stiffened, hearing the sound of a car pulling up the driveway.

Oh no.

For a moment, she thought about going back to the house but thinking she had already come so far, she stayed, waiting until she heard the garage door close before standing on the chair, going over the fence and then running towards the street.

“Hey! Come back here!” She heard Vicky’s voice from behind her, shouting.

She kept going.

She heard footsteps following her but didn’t glance back. She just kept going.

Please don’t let them catch me. Please don’t…

She felt strong arms wrap around her, grabbing her and then pinning her to the ground.

“No!”

“Be quiet, Le…Lani, or you’re going to get it,” Vicky threatened.

“Let me go! My name is Lena, not Lani! Help!”

Vicky placed a hand over her mouth. “Listen, Lena. If you behave, I’m going to give you a bunny but if you don’t…”

Lena bit her hand. “I don’t want a bunny! I want my Mommy!”

“Why you little…”

“What’s going on here?”

At the sound of Bill’s voice, both Lena and Vicky grew quiet.

Lena shivered, the look on Bill’s face letting her know she was really in trouble now.

Big trouble.

“Help!”

* * * *

Across the street, Gwen set down the tray of empty plastic medicine cups in her hand beside the window, her freshly trimmed eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make sense of the scene she had just witnessed.

She had been working as Mrs. Stevens’ nurse for six months now and yet, she had never seen a child in the neighborhood before.

She had never seen those two young ones who had dragged the child away, either, trying their best to subdue her as they brought her back inside the house.

Mrs. Lawrence’s children perhaps and her granddaughter?

But then, as far as she knew, Mrs. Lawrence did not have any children. Mrs. Stevens often spoke of her with an expression of pity, in fact, saying that even though she wasn’t in the best of health, she was still better off than the other woman, who would not have any children to care for her—or pay for someone to care for her—when she ailed and grew old.

The child did not look like Mrs. Lawrence, as well, nor like the two who had changed after her.

Gwen scratched her chin.

It was very strange, indeed.