Нора Робертс - Hideaway

“I don’t think you’ve met Deputy Wilson. Michaela, this is Julia Cooper.”

“Ma’am.”

Beside Red, the dark-skinned beauty with the honey-glazed eyes looked all spit and polish in her khaki uniform. Barely old enough to drink, Julia thought, and standing like a soldier in her high-shine shoes.

“Caitlyn’s in the living room with her father. Her grandfather’s here, too.”

“Let me ask you first. Are you sure the kid didn’t just run off from home?”

“There’s no question of that, Red. You’ll see for yourself when you talk to her. She’s settled down, but that child was terrified, and she’d damn well been terrorized. She wanted to call nine-one-one and her father.”

“Okay then. Let’s get to it.”

He went inside, his deputy a half step behind him.

From Aidan’s lap, Cate gave him an unblinking once-over. “Are you really the sheriff?”

“That’s right.” He pulled a badge out of his pocket, showed her. “It says so right here. Red Buckman,” he said to Aidan. “You’re Caitlyn’s dad?”

“Yes, Aidan Sullivan.”

“And you’re okay with us talking to her?”

“Yes. You’re okay to talk to Sheriff Buckman, aren’t you, Cate?”

“I was going to call nine-one-one, but Dillon found me before I could. So Julia did.”

“That was the right thing. Take a seat, Mic,” he told the deputy—who shot him a look at the “Mic” but complied. Red sat on the coffee table so he’d be face-to-face with Cate. “How about you tell me what happened, right from the start?”

“We had lots of people at Sullivan’s Rest because my great-grandda died.”

“I heard that. I’m sorry about your great-grandda. Did you know the people who were there?”

“Mostly. After people got up to talk about him, to tell stories and everything, I got to change into play clothes, and play outside with my cousins and the kids. And after a while, we were going to play hide-and-seek. Boyd was It, and I had my hiding place picked out.”

She frowned at that, just an instant, then told her story.

Red didn’t interrupt, only stood a moment when Maggie came in with Hugh Sullivan. He took his coffee, nodded at Cate. “You keep going, honey.”

He saw Aidan’s stricken face when she spoke of the threats—broken fingers, the gun—watched the father of the child battle tears.

In her chair, Michaela took meticulous notes, and watched everyone.

“Then I saw the light. I heard the ocean first,” she corrected, then told the rest.

“You must’ve been really scared.”

“Everything kept shaking, even inside. I had to make it stop when I pretended to sleep or he’d know.”

“How’d you think to use the sheets to make a rope?”

“I saw it in a movie. I thought it would be easier, but I couldn’t tear them, so they were big and thick to tie.”

“You never saw their faces.”

“I saw the one by the tree for a second. He had a beard and he had blond hair.”

“Would you know if you saw him again?”

“I don’t know.” She cringed back against her father. “Do I have to?”

“We won’t worry about that. How about names? Did they ever say a name?”

“I don’t think so. Wait— On the phone, when I pretended to be asleep, he called the person he talked to ‘lover.’ That’s not really a name, I guess.”

“Do you know about how long it took for you to get here from when you climbed out of the window?”

She shook her head. “It seemed like forever. It was dark, and it was cold, and everything hurt. I was afraid they’d find me, or maybe a bear would come and eat me.” She laid her head back against Aidan. “I just wanted to go home.”

“I bet you did. How about if I talk to your dad and grandpa for a bit. Maybe Dil can show you his room.”

“I want to hear. It happened to me. I want to hear.”

“She’s right.” When she crawled from Aidan’s lap to his, Hugh stroked her. “It happened to her.”

“All right then. We’re going to need a list of everyone at the house. Guests, staff, outside vendors.”

“You’ll have it.”

“When we’ve got that, we’re going to go over when people left, how they left. For right this minute, tell me when you first noticed Cate was missing.”

“It was Nina, her nanny.”

“Full name?”

“Nina Torez. She’s been with us for six years—nearly seven,” he corrected. “When Catey didn’t come in with the other kids, Nina went to look for her. When she couldn’t find her, she came to us. Everyone looked. I think it was after six, maybe close to seven, I think, when Nina came in, worried.”

“Just before seven,” Hugh put in. “We spread out in groups, to look through the house, the outbuildings, outside. Nina had found Cate’s hair clip over by the garage.”

“I lost my barrettes.”

“We’ll get you new ones,” Hugh promised.

“We were about to call the police,” Aidan continued, “when the phone rang.”

“Which phone?”

“The house phone.”

“What time?”

“About eight. Yes, close to eight. It was a man’s voice. He said he had Cate, and if we called the police, the FBI, if we told anyone, he’d … hurt her. He said it would cost ten million, cash, to get her back, unharmed, and he’d call with further instructions.”

“Some of us still wanted to call the police.” Hugh continued to stroke, then turned Cate’s face to his. “We were so afraid for you. But my daughter-in-law was near hysterics by then, and she was adamantly against it. We decided to wait—the hardest thing I’ve ever done. To arrange for the money, and wait.” He kissed the top of Cate’s head. “And pray.”

“The second call came in about ten-thirty. He said we had until midnight tomorrow—that would be tonight now. He’d contact us again to say where to bring the money, then he’d tell us where to find Cate.”

“Aidan and I talked, and we agreed to demand we speak to Cate, to be sure…”

“She screamed. She called for me.” Aidan dropped his head in his hands.

“Cate, you said one of the men drove away for a little while?”

“He did. They went outside. I heard them through the window. I saw the taillights.”

“Do you know how long he was gone?”

“I don’t know, but when he left I got the nails out of the window and started to make the sheets. And he came back before I could get out.”

“But you got out right after.”

“I was afraid they’d come back to the room and see I had the window open, and the sheets. So I climbed out.”

“You’re a smart kid. Hey, Dillon, what time did you come down and find Cate?”

“I don’t know exactly. I just woke up hungry, and thought about the fried chicken.”

“I can tell you Dillon woke me up right before one.”

“All right then.” He had the timeline in his head, got to his feet. “I’m going to let you take this girl home. We’re going to need to talk to the nanny, and the others still at the house. I’d like to do that this morning.”

“Whenever you want.”

“Let’s say around eight? Give you all time to settle in, get a little sleep.” He looked back at Cate. He had brown eyes, and put a smile in them for her. “I might need to talk to you again sometime, Cate. That okay with you?”

“Yes. Will you catch them?”

“That’s the plan. Meanwhile, you do some thinking, and if you think of anything—any little thing—you let me know.” He pulled a card out of his pocket. “That’s me, and the number at my office, and the number at home. Got my email, too. You keep that.”

After giving her leg a pat, Red got up, eased around the table. “We’ll be there around eight. We’re going to need to look around the place, especially where Cate saw the man who took her. And we’ll need to talk to everyone in the household. Get that list of guests and staff and so on.”