Read Online Through the Darkness by Marcia Talley - Free Book Online Page A

ten-month-old grandson who’s missing. Pulling the alarm was the only way I could think of to flush everyone out of the building so we could search for him.” I was already feeling a twinge of regret for all the man-hours I wasted when a white and yellow EMS vehicle pulled in next to the ladder truck, adding to the blockade, and my vague sense of remorse. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
    One of the policemen stepped forward. “We’ve met before, Mrs. Ives. I’m Ron Powers, and this is Officer Will Dunham and Captain Tom May of the Annapolis Fire Department.”
    â€œOf course, I remember you,” I said, extending my hand. The last time I’d seen Officer Powers, he’d rescued me from a wrecked van after some crooks had taken me and my friend, Naddie Bromley, on a high-speed chase up Interstate 97. I recognized the serious gray eyes, but Powers had shaved his mustache since we’d said good-bye to one another in the emergency room after the crash, and somewhere along the way his chin had acquired a half-inch scar that only emphasized the resolute squareness of his jaw.
    â€œSo, there’s no fire.” It was a statement, not a question.
    â€œNo fire.”
    Powers turned to Captain May. “The ladder and the tanker can head back, Tom, but we may need an EMT, so ask them to stick around, will you? Is there someplace inside where we can talk?” he asked, addressing Paul rather than me.
    â€œThey have a conference room.”
    â€œThat would be fine.”
    As I led the officers into Paradiso, Powers asked, “You said it’s your grandson who is missing. Are you his caretaker?”
    â€œNo, my daughter and her husband run this spa. Timmy disappeared from the day care center when my daughter stepped out of the room for a minute.”
    Disappeared . I couldn’t bring myself to use the word taken . Even then, as irrational as it seemed, I must have harbored some small hope that Timmy had escaped from his playpen, crawled off on some private infant adventure, and would be found napping quietly behind a curtain, say, or nestled comfortably in a pile of towels. But it was going on an hour past his feeding time, in which case Timmy—never one to pass up a meal—would most certainly have been howling from whatever hidey hole he’d gotten himself into.
    â€œHas anyone been in the day care center since your daughter found the child missing?”
    â€œNo, just me. Emily…” I started to explain about Emily being called away to the loading dock, but what would that have accomplished? Making lame excuses for my daughter wouldn’t bring Timmy back. I lowered my eyes to avoid Ron Powers’s unblinking, uncompromising gaze. Don’t these people read the newspaper? Watch television? His eyes were accusing. Never leave a child unattended. Never!
    â€œWould you like to see it?” I asked.
    Powers nodded, then turned to Paul. “Mr. Ives, while your wife takes me to the day care center, will you show Officer Dunham to the conference room, then locate the child’s parents and have them meet me there in, say, ten minutes?”
    Reluctantly, or so it seemed to me, Paul released my hand. His lips brushed my cheek. “Are you going to be okay?”
    â€œI think so, Paul. I’m doing something, at least. That helps a little.”
    Two minutes later I wasn’t so sure. I escorted Officer Powers to Puddle Ducks, but once there, I found I couldn’t go in. Even though the lights were on and the afternoon sun streamed through the French doors, the nursery seemed dark, the cheerful murals making a mockery of the playpen, its vast emptiness burning like a hole in the center of the room.
    Officer Powers produced latex gloves from his pocket and slipped them on. He circled Timmy’s playpen, bent at the waist and peered into it, but didn’t touch anything. “Is that Timmy’s toy?” he asked,