Kate Collins - Sleeping with Anemone

“He’s lost the scent,” Aaron explained. “We’ll continue across the road to see if he can pick it up, but my guess is that the kidnappers had a vehicle waiting here.”

My heart sank as I stared up the dark, windswept road. A half mile ahead was a junction, with on-ramps that led to an interstate highway. Tara could be headed anywhere in the country.

I turned to study Uniworld’s Distribution Center on the other side of the road, where at least two dozen semitrailers were parked in rows between the road and the loading docks, and even at night, trucks were loading and unloading. I watched as a semi backed up to one of the bays, where an overhead door was raised to move the cargo inside.

“Can you search for my niece over there?” I asked Officer Aaron, pointing toward the warehouse.

“If Eros picks up the scent,” he said, “you bet we will.”

We crossed the highway and Eros was again given the command to search. The dog sniffed the air for a moment, put his nose to the ground, and headed into the parking lot, weaving in and out of the big rigs. Alongside one trailer, he stopped and barked.

Officer Aaron crouched down to shine his flashlight underneath, then called back to us, “Looks like the same kind of headband, but in green.”

It had to be Tara’s. I clasped my gloved hands together and whispered a quick prayer. It seemed as though Tara had ducked under the truck to hide and lost her headband there. But where was she now? Surely if she could see us or the cops, she’d come out of hiding.

And how had she managed to lose two headbands? Mine were on so tight they pinched my scalp. She would have had to take them off. But why now?

“Marco,” I cried, “I think Tara’s leaving a trail.”

“That’s why it’s so vital to have a search dog,” he replied.

The wind had grown fierce, blowing the snow into spirals. I pulled my scarf up to cover my nose and mouth and watched anxiously as Eros worked his way down the trucks parked at the loading docks. All at once he began to strain at his leash, leading his handler into an empty bay, where they disappeared from sight. Moments later, I heard a bark.

“Eros found something!” I called to Marco. “Maybe it’s the third headband. Come on!”

As we approached the empty bay, I heard the squawk of the police radio, followed by Aaron’s response: “County eight-one. I have a ten-zero and need a supervisor.”

A ten-zero? I glanced at Marco for an explanation.

He sighed heavily. “A dead body.”

A search dog’s goal is to locate the source of the scent.

I leaned against Marco, so light-headed I thought the ground was going to swallow me.

Please, God, not Tara. I’d never forgive myself if I brought this tragedy upon her-indeed, upon our whole family. I couldn’t begin to imagine the heartbreak of losing her.

“Take a deep breath,” Marco said. “Do you want to sit down?”

I shook my head. “Marco, please, would you go see? I need to know how-what happened.”

He gazed at me for a moment, as though unsure. “Stay here, then.”

I paced back and forth, trembling in fear, counting the minutes until Marco returned. When at last he came around the corner, I held my breath.

“It’s okay, Sunshine. It’s not Tara.”

I burst into tears of relief, burying my face in his coat. Marco held me. “It’s a blond woman. She matches the description Tara’s friends gave.”

“How did she die?”

“It looks like she was run over.”

I shuddered, trying not to picture it, and wiped icy teardrops off my eyelashes. “But why did Eros bark?”

“He found Tara’s black headband in front of the loading dock door. Aaron called for backup so they can search the warehouse.”

“Marco, if Tara comes through this, I won’t get involved in any protests ever again.”

“Can I get that in writing?”

After four squad cars unloaded more cops, Aaron briefed his sergeant, who immediately had all employees vacated from the warehouse. Within ten minutes, grumbling workers shuffled outside to wait while Eros tracked inside off-leash. I huddled against Marco, waiting, worrying, praying, until finally we heard the squawk of the sergeant’s radio as Aaron reported in. The sergeant turned to give his men a thumbs-up. “He found her.”

I stared at Marco in astonishment. “They found Tara! Oh, my God, they found her!”

Marco put his arms around me and nearly lifted me off the ground in an exuberant hug. As we waited near the doorway, I heard the sergeant contact his men at the Expo Center so they could tell Kathy and Jordan the joyous news. The sergeant spotted me standing with Marco and came toward us.

“I thought you were on your way home,” he said to me.

“This seemed more important.”

Officer Aaron appeared at the door and motioned for me to come forward. “Your niece wants to talk to you.”

I stepped inside the big warehouse to find one of the sheriff’s deputies with Tara, whose petite body was enveloped in an oversized black wool coat. Tara held out her arms to me, as she used to when she was little and wanted to be picked up. I ran to her and hugged her against me. “I’m so glad you’re safe. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

Tara’s face was pale but her eyes blazed with anger. “I was Tasered, Aunt Abby! It hurt, and I couldn’t move.”

“I’m so sorry.” I hugged her again. Tara couldn’t begin to understand how sorry I was.

Breathlessly, Tara began to relate her escape. “A creepy woman in a bad blond wig Tasered me in the bathroom, then wrapped this smelly coat around me, dragged me through the lobby and outside where her scuzzball boyfriend was waiting. The Taser had worn off when they shoved me into a junky old van sitting in the parking lot, but I pretended like it hadn’t so she wouldn’t use it on me again. I waited until she was climbing into the passenger seat; then I jumped out and ran to hide among the cars.

“I thought maybe Dad had forgotten to lock his car-he does that a lot-so I ran there, but I couldn’t get in. That’s when I dropped one of my headbands, to let you know I’d gotten away. Did you find my headband trail? Is that how you knew to come here?”

“Yes! The search dog followed your trail straight here. That was fast thinking, Tara.”

“I knew I had to do something. But the creeps caught me again and tied my hands together. Then they put tape over my mouth and drove me over here. They parked the van behind a big semitruck, then started arguing, so I managed to get out again.”

“I can’t believe you got away twice.”

“It wasn’t that hard. They tied my hands in front, so it was easy to get the tape off my mouth. And they forgot to tie my feet. They weren’t very smart, as far as kidnappers go.”

I wanted to laugh, but the seriousness of the situation kept me from it. “Do you know what the kidnappers were arguing about?”

Tara rubbed her eyes. I could tell she was exhausted. “The scuzzball wanted to take me inside the warehouse, but Blondie said that was a stupid idea. She wanted to go where no one would hear them.”

Where no one would hear them? That was ominous enough to make me shudder.

“Do you remember anything else they said, any names they might have mentioned?”

She rubbed her eyes again. “No. They were starting to yell real loud, and the wind was howling all around us, so I pushed down on the door handle with my boot and wiggled out like a worm. Then Blondie came after me again and chased me all over the parking lot, while the dude in the hood drove around in his van, trying to stop me from getting away. I was yelling for help, but no one was there, and the wind was so loud, I don’t know if I would’ve been heard, anyway.