Hannah Alexander - A Killing Frost

“She is probably still mad, and just doesn’t realize you’re worried,” he said.

“I know she likes to go to the park alone sometimes,” Heather said. “She goes to see the animals in the zoo, and she’s mature enough to go by herself.”

Tyrell held his reply. An eleven-year-old had no business walking unaccompanied along the streets of Kansas City, even in the bright morning sunlight. But remarking about that right now would not be helpful.

“Any ideas?” he asked.

“One, and it terrifies me. We heard a report that two people were seen earlier this morning abducting a redheaded child only two blocks from our apartment. The police are following all leads.”

Tyrell closed his eyes as a sick dizziness threatened to flatten him. He felt a hand on his arm. Jama’s hand. She squeezed, and he saw her eyes filling with dread.

“So if that is what happened,” he said over the phone, keeping his voice calm for the sake of his sister and Jama, “are there any leads?”

“Reports are that this couple has headed east on I- 70.”

“Toward St. Louis, then.”

There was a catch in his sister’s breathing, and a gasp from Jama, who squeezed more tightly-no longer giving strength, but needing it.

“Heather Danae, you’ve got to keep it together.” Remaining calm no longer seemed possible, yet he needed to do so anyway.

“She’s everything to me,” Heather said. “If I’d paid more attention to her this morning-”

“Right now regrets and second-guessing yourself won’t help.”

“This could be something more than a random incident,” Heather said.

“Why would you think that?”

“The couple are suspected to be killers. They may be the two who went on a rampage and killed several people across state lines, two of them doctors. This couple is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.”

The words were a kick in the gut, and the strength went out of Tyrell. He found a chair and sat in it. Jama sank down beside him, close.

“Mark was moonlighting on an E.R. shift a week or so ago, and a man came in demanding painkillers,” Heather said. “Mark didn’t comply.”

Tyrell understood. He’d heard enough of his brother-in-law’s stories to imagine the variety of people treated in the Emergency Department. Weekends were the worst, when “patients” tried to con the E.R. docs into giving out narcotics, opiates and other addictive drugs. Mark had been around long enough to know when he was being scammed.

“One of the other docs had his car window smashed in the doctors’ parking lot that night,” Heather said. “Mark parks there, too.”

“You think Mark was the target, but the guy got the wrong car?”

“I do. Mark tells me not to jump to conclusions. The man stole Mark’s prescription pad, then tried to have a script filled at a pharmacy. The pharmacist checked it out-saw something wasn’t right. Mark called the police, and the thief, Clancy Reneker, was arrested. He went into a rage, broke away from the officers, and then he and a woman went on a rampage across Kansas, Missouri and Illinois.”

Tyrell couldn’t bear the thought of his beautiful, precocious niece in the hands of drugged killers, especially someone bent on revenge.

“I don’t think I can take this,” Heather whispered. “If those people kill my daughter, I’ll die with her.”

“Now stop that,” Tyrell said gently. “Don’t jump to conclusions. Just go with what you know. You’ve prepared yourselves for the worst. Let’s back off a little and think where else she might be. Might she have just gone to the zoo and forgotten to charge her cell phone?”

“She charged it last night.”

“Okay, then, what if she’s still so upset over your argument the other night that this time she went against character and intentionally turned it off.”

“She wouldn’t-”

“She’s eleven. She’ll be a teenager before you know it, and you know how she thinks she can conquer the world.”

Heather was silent for a moment. “Renee fosters that concept, you know.” There was a return to poise in Heather’s voice.

“Of course.”

“Mark and Renee and Chet are all at the zoo looking for her now. The police are conducting a massive search of the area.”

“Then I hope we’ll hear very soon that Doriann has been found and is in deep trouble with her parents. I’ll have a few things to say to her, myself.”

There was a soft sigh. “Glass half-full, right?”

“Cup overflowing.”

“I love you, Tyrell. I wish you were here. I’m just so…very scared.”

“I know.” Me, too. Terrified.

“Tell me how Dad’s doing.”

“We haven’t seen him yet, but I guess you’ve been told he’s out of surgery. Thanks to Jama, they caught the problem and it should be fixed now.”

“Jama’s the hero of the day. When’s she going to become my sister-in-law?”

“That hasn’t been decided.”

“Tell her I want to be matron of honor.”

Tyrell understood her need for the small talk. “Renee already spoke for it.”

“I feel a good catfight coming on.”

Ordinarily, Tyrell would chuckle politely at the continued, loving rivalry of his twin sisters. He couldn’t work up a smile, and he was glad Heather couldn’t see his face.

“Don’t tell Dad about this, Tyrell.”

“Not until you’ve found Doriann and it’s all over.”

“Are we going to find her?”

“Any minute.”

“From your mouth to God’s ear.”

“You realize, don’t you, that we can’t tell Mom, either,” Tyrell said. “If we do, it’ll be like telling Dad.”

Heather’s silence stretched into infinity. Being a son who had long ago stopped confiding every thought and action to his parents, he couldn’t identify, but he could sympathize. Possibly more than all the other Mercer siblings, Heather depended on her family for emotional support. She and Mark were devoted to each other, but their schedules were demanding and often staggered. Heather needed to talk to her mother about what was happening.

Tyrell knew this.

“Then we don’t tell Mom, either,” she said in a wobbly voice.

“For Dad’s sake,” Tyrell said. “We can fake it for a few minutes.”

“Or a few hours.”

“Whatever it takes. I’m here for you, sis.”

The small amount of information Jama had heard pounded through her ears. Her heart pumped with such force that she could feel the rhythm of it as she breathed in and out. She tried hard to remain calm.

Tyrell’s shoulders slumped as soon as he disconnected the call, as if he had been holding himself erect for the sake of his sister even though she couldn’t see him.

“I got the gist of the conversation,” Jama told him. “Fill me in.”

His face grew paler as he explained. A deep chill settled in the pit of Jama’s stomach as she listened.

Tyrell leaned his elbows against the table, his face more ashen than Jama had seen it in four and a half years.

Witty, lively Doriann, too intelligent for her own good, filled with faith and joy, was the delight of the whole Mercer clan. She could beat her grandpa at chess, she had a tender heart for the wounded, animal or human. One of her best friends in the world was Monty’s hunting hound, Humphrey.

Fran was proud that her brilliant, redheaded granddaughter looked just like her at the same age. And had the same assertive and gregarious personality.

Tyrell continued to recount Heather’s side of the conversation, numbing Jama with helplessness as she took it all in.

“I’m still clinging to the hope that Doriann is at the zoo and just hasn’t been found yet,” Tyrell said.

“You could be right,” Jama said, in spite of her conviction to the contrary.