MARY CLARK - Piece of My Heart

“Yet you eventually left,” Marcy noted.

“One night, he was hallucinating. He was absolutely convinced that I was fighting him with an army of soldiers. He was yelling at people who weren’t even there, and then he physically attacked me. I realized I had to leave him for my own safety and for Bella’s. After that incident, I got a restraining order to prevent him from contacting either of us. I didn’t think things could get worse, until he violated the court order. He broke into the house I had rented, armed with a knife, and accused me of brainwashing Bella against him. Bella was trembling with fear. I threw myself in front of Bella to protect her, certain that he was going to kill both of us. He raised the knife, and I begged him, sobbing, to take my life if he had to, but to spare hers. He suddenly turned around and ran from the house. After that, I finally got permission from the court to change my name and relocate with our daughter. I literally have not spoken to anyone from my former life beyond a few trusted friends until now. I want to help you, Mrs. Buckley, but I can’t let Danny find me.”

“I don’t want Danny to find you either, Roseanne, but I need to find him . He has my son, and what you’ve told me about your ex-husband makes me fear even more for his life.”

“I haven’t spoken to him for nearly four years,” Roseanne said. “We had our apartment in Washington, D.C. It’s in an old historic building that Danny absolutely cherished. He would never sell it. But, if I had to guess, he’s in Delaware, not the city. We used to have a little townhouse a quarter mile from the beach. But after the motorcycle accident, he grew more and more paranoid. He wanted more land, more privacy. He bought a place north of the main beach community, outside of Cape Henlopen State Park.”

As Roseanne recited the address, Marcy was texting the incoming information as fast as she could to Laurie, who would know how to use it.

“This is amazing, Roseanne. Thank you so much. I know it can’t be easy to realize that Daniel might be involved in all of this.”

“Okay, there’s one more thing I need to tell you. If you’re thinking about calling the local police there in Delaware? Don’t do that.”

Marcy’s brow knitted, wondering why Roseanne would advise her against calling the police. “Luckily, my husband’s family has close contacts with law enforcement. I’m sure they’ll be able to get cooperation.”

Roseanne sighed on the other end of the line. “Danny’s older brother, Charlie, is the chief of the Rehoboth police. He’s in total denial about Danny’s condition, and abused his power trying to keep me from getting the court orders I needed to protect me and Bella. If it weren’t for him, Danny would have ended up in prison for breaking into my home and attacking me with a knife in front of my child. I’m so sorry, Mrs. Buckley, but I just have to warn you: if you call Charlie, he’s going to tell Danny that cops are looking for him, and if he feels cornered, I’m terrified of what Danny might do to your boy.”

Chapter 56

A half mile outside Cape Henlopen State Park, a hundred and twenty miles from his family’s home, Johnny Buckley sat at the foot of the bed inside his assigned room.

He unfolded the piece of paper that the man had given him the previous night. He read it for what must have been the twentieth time. He didn’t even need to sound out the syllables anymore. A detective named Jennifer Langland confirmed that “police are operating on the assumption that Johnny Buckley was abducted by a stranger.” But there was one sentence he could not forget: According to a law enforcement source, the missing boy was adopted by the Buckleys as a newborn.

The top of the page said it was from something called New York Crime Beat, but Johnny decided that the whole thing was a lie. This wasn’t a real newspaper or anything, just a sheet of paper from the man’s printer. Anyone who knew how to use a computer could write whatever they wanted and claim they found it on the internet. Obviously, the man had made up this fake article to be mean to Johnny.

Because that’s what the man was: mean. A mean bully who said things and did things just to hurt people.

My name is Johnny, Jonathan Alexander Buckley , he whispered to himself quietly . My parents—my real parents—are Andrew and Marcy Buckley. My name is definitely not Danny!

He fell silent as the sound of footsteps echoed down the stairs. The man’s voice. “I think I am going to tell him the truth tomorrow about who I actually am.”

It was followed by the woman’s voice. “What about me? How should I introduce myself?” This was the first time that Johnny had ever heard the woman come downstairs. He had started to wonder if perhaps she was a prisoner, like him, being kept in a separate room upstairs.

“As my wife, of course. My beautiful, loving, and loyal wife. He’s a wonderful boy, Roseanne. You’ll come to love him just as much as we love Bella.”

“I’m sorry again that I took Bella away from you.” To Johnny, there was something funny about the lady’s voice. She sounded sort of like a cartoon character. Ever since he first heard her voice, he had thought of her as the one person who might be willing to save him. Now that he could hear her more clearly, he thought she sounded nice. She definitely didn’t seem as scary as the man.

“But then you came back,” the man said. “And we’re a family again. And now we have Danny Jr., too.”

If the woman had left this awful house once before, maybe she wanted to leave now, just like him. Maybe she, too, had been pretending to like the man, because The more I know I can trust you, the more privileges I can give you. Maybe they could team up together and help each other escape.

But to do that, he needed to see her.

Johnny folded up the sheet of paper, stashed it beneath his mattress, and stepped quietly to the bedroom door. His hand shook as he reached for the knob. He would take one quick peek at the woman and see if she looked like someone he could trust.

If the man spotted him, Johnny would say he needed to go to the bathroom. The man would believe him, Johnny assured himself, because Johnny had been on perfect behavior for days.

With a growing sense of terror, Johnny left his room and crept down the hallway toward the bathroom. Two more steps, and he’d be able to see around the corner into the living room, where the voices were coming from.

He craned his neck and scanned the room for the woman. For a second, he let himself hope that she might spot him and give him a reassuring wink or a smile. Instead, he saw the man sitting alone on the sofa, his back to Johnny.

And then he heard the cartoon voice, even though no one else was in the room: I love you to the moon and back, Daniel.

Johnny’s gasp of astonishment brought the man immediately to his feet. “Why are you out of your room?” he thundered. “Were you trying to leave this house?”

Johnny’s voice quivered as he forced himself to answer. “I… I have to go to the bathroom. I can’t hold it anymore.”

The man stared at him for five full seconds before sighing. “Next time, yell for me to come get you. I need to know where you are at all times. You know the rules.”

“Yes, sir.”

“We talked about this, Danny. Yes, who ?”

“Yes… Daddy.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Inside his head, Johnny was screaming, but he could see the man was delighted. He decided to take one more chance. “I thought I heard someone else out here. I got scared something was wrong.”

The man’s face went blank with sudden confusion, as if he had awoken from a daze. “No, just the TV is all.”