Marcia Talley - Through the Darkness

“I think that’s what I had in mind when I reached for the handle on the fire alarm,” I said, not the least bit apologetically. “I know the contractor has installed the equipment and the wiring for a P.A. system in the spa, but I don’t think they’ve finished with it yet.”

Officer Powers’s index finger swung in an arc from one corner of the room to the other, pointing out a pair of surveillance cameras that I hadn’t noticed before. “Are those working?”

My heart, quite literally, skipped a beat. If someone had snatched Timmy from his playpen, what a godsend those cameras would be! But I didn’t hold out much hope of that. The same outfit that installed the public address system was supposed to be installing the monitoring station for the surveillance cameras, and as late as last week, Dante had told me they had been waiting for parts.

“I don’t know, Officer Powers. You’ll have to ask my son-in-law.”

Powers grunted, then circled the room once again, more slowly this time, checking out the furniture and the toys and the games while the second hand on the clock ticked relentlessly on. It was maddening how slowly the man was moving.

“We’ll need to seal off this room until the evidence technicians can get here,” he said at long last. “Can this door be locked?”

“Emily has a key.”

“Good. Why don’t you go get it, then. I’ll wait here until you get back.”

Grateful that something was going to be done that involved the active collection of evidence, I hustled off to the conference room, where I found only Garnelle and my daughter. Emily was sitting bolt upright in a chair, stiff as a poker and about as responsive. From her ramblings, I deduced that the key was in her purse, but she didn’t have the slightest idea where that purse might be.

“Where’s Dante?” I asked Garnelle, who was standing at the refreshment station, fixing a mug of coffee. “And my husband?”

“Outside with Officer Dunham.” Garnelle added a generous amount of milk and two packets of sugar to the coffee, stirred, and brought it over to Emily. “Here you go, honey. Drink some of this.”

Emily wrapped both hands around the mug but made no move to drink it.

“They’re taking down names, addresses, and telephone numbers,” Garnelle added. “Then Dunham says they’ll start letting people go home.”

As if they knew we were talking about them, Paul and Dante suddenly appeared, followed by Officer Dunham. “Reinforcements have arrived, thank God,” Paul announced, coming to stand by my side.

“Officer Powers needs to secure the nursery,” I informed my son-in-law. “Can you take him a key?”

Dante executed a rapid U-turn and left the room.

A few minutes later he was back, accompanied by Ron Powers. “Everyone take a seat,” Powers ordered, taking charge.

“Coffee?” asked Garnelle.

“Yes, thank you. That would be nice. Black, no sugar… Okay,” he continued, accepting the steaming mug from Garnelle. “So, who was the last person to see the child?”

Emily blew her nose noisily into a tissue. “The child’s name is Timmy.”

“Sorry. Timmy. Who was the last person to see Timmy?”

“I was,” Emily snuffled.

“And that was, what time?”

“Five minutes after one.”

I glanced at my watch. Two o’clock. Timmy had been missing for nearly an hour.

Powers looked up from the notes he was scribbling with a ballpoint pen into a slender, flip-top notebook. “Anybody else see the little, uh, Timmy, in the nursery?”

Emily shot out of her chair. “What difference does it make who else saw him? I saw him!”

I started to say that I had seen Timmy, but then I remembered that I hadn’t. I’d accompanied Paul to reception, then gone straight to Dante’s office. I’d not stopped by the nursery at all, knowing that I’d be going there later to play with Timmy.

Powers turned to my son-in-law and asked, “And where were you between one and one-thirty this afternoon, Mr. Shemansky?”

Dante bristled. “Surely you don’t think that I -”

“I’m just trying to establish where everyone was at the time Timmy disappeared,” Powers insisted. “I’ll be asking everyone the same question.”

Dante looked only slightly mollified. “I was right here, being interviewed by a reporter from Shape magazine. Hope Katz. Last time I saw her, she was heading for the garden with everyone else.”

François appeared at the conference room door carrying a fresh carafe of coffee and a plate of sandwiches. He paused on the threshold, as if waiting for permission to enter. “I thought you could use something to eat.”

When nobody said anything, François crossed the room and placed the plate of sandwiches on the credenza next to me. I recognized his turkey wraps with apples and cabbage; his sweet potato and portabella wrap; his famous crustless, almond-butter finger sandwiches. My stomach lurched, and I pushed the platter away. If I took a single bite, even of one of François’s delectable sandwiches, I knew I’d throw up.

“And you are?” Powers asked, his eyes following the platter.

François favored the officer with a withering glance. He flourished the carafe, the hot liquid slopping dangerously close to its lip. “Do you mind if I set it down first?”

Powers flapped his hand dismissively, waiting.

François exchanged the full carafe for the empty one, then pulled himself up to his full six-foot-two. “I am François Lesperance, executive chef at Spa Paradiso.”

“And where were you, Mr. Lesperance, between one and one-thirty today?”

“In the kitchen, supervising the lunch preparation. You may check with my staff.”

Powers scribbled something, then turned to Paul, one eyebrow raised.

Paul alibied for Garnelle and vice versa.

Dante, who had been growing increasingly red-faced as he sat in a corner, fidgeting with a pencil, suddenly erupted. “What the hell does any of this have to do with finding Timmy, you asshole! The longer you screw around with us here, the farther away the SOB who took Timmy can get with him.”

Emily chimed in. “Other than wasting time asking us damn fool questions, what the hell are you doing, anyway?”

I sighed. At least they were agreeing on something.

If Powers was upset by their insults, he didn’t show it. “Let me assure you that we’re doing everything within our powers to return your son to you,” he said calmly. “There’s only one road in and out of the Bay Ridge community. The minute we learned the nature of your 911 call, we set up a roadblock at the entrance. We’ve been stopping every car coming out of your community.”

“Aren’t you going to issue an Amber Alert? Whoever took Tim could be miles away by now!”

Powers shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another. “Once we determine that an abduction has occurred-”

“What?” I thought Dante would fly across the room and attack the man. “Of course an abduction has occurred, you moron!”

Paul laid a restraining hand on Dante’s arm. “It won’t help to insult the officer.”

Dante’s eyes blazed. “This is such bullshit!”

Emily glared. “They always suspect the parents.”

I waved both hands in the air. “Time out!” When I had everyone’s attention, I turned to the officer and said, “I know you’re just doing your job, Officer Powers, and that you have to eliminate us as suspects, but I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say that we’re all willing to take a lie detector test to prove we had absolutely nothing to do with Timmy’s disappearance. Once that’s out of the way, you can move on to other more promising suspects.”

“Test me right now,” Emily insisted. “Get the guy with the polygraph down here right now and let’s do it!”