After asking almost everyone, I find out that the man they thought was his 'dad' had black hair and dark glasses. No one knows where they went, but pretty soon, the entire park starts searching. I call Darrin, praying that he's the black-haired man. He's still at work, but he promises he'll be here as quickly as he can.
Wait. How did I get here? I'm yelling at Mike. His cheek is red, and my hand stings.
"I never said that," he says back to me in an even voice.
"She's been like this since the park," Darrin tells him.
I feel my face pale. "What's going on?" I look back at the two of them as they watch me. The sun has set. "I've been like what since the park? How did I get here? Where's Brent?"
"They're doing everything they can, Ivy," Mike tells me in that same voice.
Darrin replies, "We did. Everywhere. Even in the culverts." He is filthy. How did he get like that?
"They have a Samber alert out for him," Mike explains.
"No. Not my baby. Not my precious boy! Please, Mike. Where is he?" Visions of myself running around the park and surrounding area slowly come back to me. That explains it. I lost my mind. Just like Mom did when Dad left her.
"We'll find him, Ivy," Mike tells me quietly.
"This isn't your fault."
"But it is! Why don't you blame me?" He should. He should be furious with me.
"Because you'd never wish for this. How could you have known?"
Darrin speaks behind me. "We'll find him."
Michael starts shaking, and glancing at him, I see tears streaming down his face. I throw my arms around him.
I keep apologizing, and the guys just cry quietly.
Michael
My son is missing! Kidnapped! I know that has to be it. Darrin assures me they searched everywhere. I'm scared to death some kind of foul play is involved. Oh, my sweet boy!
Darrin's phone rings. That provides enough distraction to stop the tears.
Ivy tells me she's going to go lie down on the couch. She was totally out of her mind earlier, spewing nonsense and becoming combative. When she'd slapped me, Darrin had started getting angry, but I stopped him from doing anything. Keeping her calm gave me something to do, a way to focus. Now that she's walked away, I don't know what to do with myself. I can't let myself start freaking out, even though the inclination nibbles at my heels, wanting to swallow me whole. I just can't let it.
He'd gone crawling through all kinds of grime and muck looking for our boy. He told me he was so relieved when he didn't find him in the culverts, the huge drainpipes that take excess rainwater and redirect it to the bay. They contain several catches, so there's no way Brent slipped through those and into the water. We have that knowledge at least.
Ivy says a child saw a man pick up Brent and leave with him. A man with black hair.
"He wouldn't hurt him, would he?" I ask Darrin.
His shoulders slump. "You think it's him too, don't you?" His lip trembles. "No one can find the bastard."
Even though he protests like he doesn't want to get me dirty, I pull him into my arms anyway.
"Shh. Darrin, please don't talk like that." The mega-high-morals super cop has left the man I love. He married a murderer and sounds like he's willing to kill someone.
"I mean it, though." He kisses my cheek and then tells me he's going to go clean up.
I head into the kitchen, fighting my own demons.
Popcorn. With artificial flavoring. So not like me.
I stuff two or three popped kernels into my mouth. They taste like ashes. That doesn't stop me from bringing more to my mouth, chewing, and swallowing. My stomach is going to hate me.
He has my son. It has to be Drake.
"Do you know Emily had a miscarriage? I lost a baby. So now you'll never have children," echoes in my horrific memory. The doctors tried to repair the damage done to try and regain my fertility, but they were unsuccessful. Drake wanted me to be childless.
I groan. The news coverage. He must've seen it. Sh*t. He's still extracting his revenge.
He's going to hurt him. He may even kill him.
I lose the battle against my panicked crying.
No comments:
Post a Comment