Splintered (31 page)

She heard Tom take a deep breath as he came inside. Lily figured he was preparing himself for the fight that somehow always broke out whenever they were in the same room. He wouldn’t have to worry. She didn’t have the energy to argue.

Lily laid her head back on the couch and closed her eyes. “What do you want, Tom?”

“What do I want? Are you serious? Don’t you know—” Tom stopped speaking. She could hear him take another deep breath. When he spoke again, his soft tone made her open her eyes.

Lily’s own breath caught in her throat. Tom looked even more handsome than the day she’d married him. He had a short growth of whiskers covering his face, like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. A few white hairs were intermingled with the dark brown stubble.

That’s something new. So is his hair. He’s keeping it long on top—still parted on the side, but he’s letting the straight strands hang down loose. It gives him more of an easygoing vibe. Who knows, maybe walking out on his family has been good for him after all. I guess no responsibilities has a way of loosening a person up.

“So I got the first flight I could back into town,” she heard him finish. Lily hadn’t caught it all, but it didn’t matter.

“Are you listening to me, Lily?”

“Yes. You caught your plane and voilà, you’re here. Wonderful. Everything will be all better now.”

Tom moved closer to the couch. He hunched down on his hindquarters and stared into her eyes. “Are you high?”

“No, I’m not high.”

Tom stared harder. He put a hand on top of hers and asked again in a gentle voice that tore at her insides. “Are you high?”

“No, dammit, I’m not high. I don’t deserve to be. Why should I get to escape this nightmare when it’s my fault Maddy’s gone?”

He gave her an incredulous look.

“I told you. I’m not taking pills. Anyway, Emma cleaned the house out.”

“So, what? Staying clean is like some kind of penance?”

She shrugged.

“Why do you think Maddy’s disappearance is your fault?”

Lily shook her head. She wanted to block out the kind undertone she could hear in Tom’s voice. It was so unfamiliar, it made her skin crawl. It wasn’t what she deserved. Lily had pushed Maddy away.

Who knows what’s happening to my daughter right now, or what she’s gotten herself mixed up in? All because she’s saddled with a shitty mother.

A part of her was desperate to believe Maddy had been kidnapped. Then her daughter’s disappearance wouldn’t be her fault.

But the police know the truth. Even Emma probably figures Maddy hightailed it out of here because she couldn’t stand to be near me another second.

She didn’t blame her daughter. She couldn’t stand to be with herself either.

Tom squeezed her hand. She looked at him, blinking back tears. But before she could say anything, he started speaking.

“If Maddy’s running away is anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I left you both alone, and I am so sorry. I don’t have any excuses—reasons, sure—but there is no excuse for my behavior these past few months.”

He bolted up and started pacing in front of the couch. He ran a rough hand through his hair.

“I hated the person I’d become, Lily. I felt suffocated. I had to get away to get better.” Tom stopped moving and looked at her beseechingly. “Maddy must hate me. That’s why she ran away the day I was supposed to see her, right? She’s angry that I walked out, that I didn’t call. Mad because of the reasons why I left.”

“Is that what you think?”

He looked away, embarrassed.

“She has no clue why you walked out on us.”

Tom shook his head, confused. “You mean you didn’t tell her? I hate to say this, Lily, but I thought you would have poisoned her against me by now. Five months should have been plenty of time to fill her head with stories about my unfaithfulness.”

“She adores you, Tom. Worships you. I refused to be the one to burst her bubble. I know what it’s like when you find out a parent isn’t the person you want them to be.” She shook her head. “No. Maddy blames me for your leaving. She thinks my behavior ran you off.”

“Oh, Lily. You didn’t have to keep up that charade. She needs to know the truth.”

“Did leaving help? Have you come to terms with it?”

“You mean being gay? I won’t lie. It’s been tough. I’ve had to reprogram more than thirty years of negative thoughts about my sexuality.” Tom sat next to Lily on the couch. He took her hand. “I am so sorry for what I put you through. I never should have asked you to marry me. I knew I was gay, had known since I was ten. I thought if I could just make a family, create a life with people I loved, I could shut the door on that part of me. It turns out ignoring my true self was eating me up inside. I know now the ugliness, the hate I spewed on you was just misdirected anger. I despised myself for being gay and unfortunately, took it out on you.”

He shook his head, a look of defeat etched into his face. “I’m sorry I left the way I did, severing the ties between me and Maddy. At the time, I thought it would be best to cut off all contact so I could focus on myself. That was wrong, and I know that now. I can’t believe I might never get the chance to see her again. To never hold her in my arms and apologize for all my mistakes. What are we going to do?”

When Tom began to cry, Lily pulled him into her arms. Her body invited him in, but the thoughts in her head were cold.

Must be nice to be able to walk away from your life in order to get your shit together. That’s one luxury I was never afforded.

Like an old friend, the anger returned. It fueled her, made the sadness retreat. She could feel herself stepping back into that familiar-fitting role, the one she’d started playing as a young girl—mask your feelings, keep a stiff upper lip, put other people’s feelings before your own.

I wonder if it’s too late in the day to have Dr. Marx call in a prescription.

When Maddy slid back into awareness, she thought she might be dreaming. She felt like she was floating. Then she heard the lapping of water and realized she
was
floating, but this wasn’t a dream. She was in a boat.

With a large rumble, a motor roared to life. Panic grabbed a hold of her. She had her eyes open, but everything was dark. She raised her head up off the bottom of the boat, then tried to follow with the rest of her body, but a thick material stopped her from sitting up. She realized the darkness was caused by some sort of tarp.

The quick movement brought on a wave of dizziness, so she laid her head back down. She felt like she was going to throw up. The pain in the back of her head thudded rapidly, but it couldn’t quite keep time with her heartbeat. She knew she’d gone into tachycardia again. She tried to raise her hands.

If I could just get my thumb into my mouth, maybe I could trick my heart into jumping back into its normal rhythm.

The handcuffs clinked against the side of the boat. There wasn’t enough slack.

“One more movement out of you, and I’ll throw you overboard,” Hank shouted over the noise of a trolling motor he must have attached to the boat. “You’ll be gator bait.”

Maddy forced herself to be still. She wondered where they were and how long she’d been out
.
It felt like the boat was increasing in speed. The tarp blew up in the breeze and a triangle of light poured into her cramped compartment. She shivered uncontrollably. Even the sauna-like atmosphere did nothing to help ease her chills. The idea of infection crossed her mind. The cotton material of her heavy sweatshirt had fused with a couple of the open wounds on her chest.

Once her eyes adjusted to the new light, she could see trees. Oaks, pines, cypresses—all bunched together along a bank of water. Then a wooden structure came into view. Maddy knew the landmark. It was the observation deck at Lettuce Lake Park, on one bank of the Hillsborough River. She and her mom had climbed its three-story tower plenty of times.

We’re still in town!

Maddy tried to remember the lessons she’d learned while stuck in that little brown visitor’s center the day her seventh-grade class went there on a field trip. She’d only been half paying attention, thinking how she’d rather be outside walking along the wooden boardwalk that ran parallel to the river. A game of who could spot the most wildlife was much more fun than learning facts about the river.

Lying in the boat, Maddy couldn’t tell if they were headed north or south, but she hoped fate would be on her side and a canoer or kayaker would see them. Then the absurdity of that thought hit her and a bubble of laughter welled up inside.

What would the kayaker do, sternly wave his paddle at the speeding boater racing down the river? No, I’m on my own
.

The constant movement of the boat added to her queasiness. She didn’t know how many more hits to the head she could take.

Pain. That’s all I’ve felt for days. Physical pain combined with emotional torture and constant terror.

Silent tears fell from Maddy’s eyes. With everything and everyone she loved stripped away, she realized that as screwed up as her life had gotten, she was the one who had created all the chaos. She’d taken her life for granted, made bad choices, and had ultimately been hunted down by a predator for it.

All these months, Maddy had looked the other way when it came to her dad’s failings, instead deciding to hone in on her mom’s weaknesses. When he’d abandoned them, Maddy had thrown tantrums like a child, that’s how badly she wanted him back.

He chose to leave. Mom chose to stay. But no, that hadn’t been good enough. Why couldn’t I see how much Mom cared?

Her mom may have not been able to show love the way Maddy wanted her to, but she demonstrated her love by being there every day. And instead of showing appreciation, Maddy had slammed doors in her mom’s face, skipped school, and lied to the police.

The boat slowed.

I just want to go home, MomMom.

“I thought you were worried that sharing information with me would come back to bite you in the ass,” Emma told Rocky. They were standing near his car, outside the Frys’ house once again.

Wallace grunted. “Yeah, well, the investigation seems to have hit a brick wall.” He rubbed at the gold clip attached to his tie. “I thought that ‘two heads’ theory of yours might help. So? Do you want to take a look around the house or not?”

“Definitely.” Though Emma abhorred the idea of walking into that bedroom again, anything seemed preferable to sitting in between Lily and Tom on the Eastins’ couch, waiting for the phone to ring.

Wallace got Emma up to speed on his investigation, providing her all the details she’d asked for earlier but couldn’t get out of him. He started with Daniel Fry, then moved on to Daniel’s abduction of Katie Norris and the subsequent SWAT team rescue.

“I interrogated Daniel myself. The kid was a blubbering mess. It didn’t take long to figure out he’s a bit slow.”

“What’d he say?”

“That Maddy came to the house of her own free will. He said Maddy’s dad had ditched her and her mom was beating her.”

“Bullshit!”

“I’d have to agree. It didn’t quite match up with the rest of his story or the crime scene. Anyway, Daniel said Hank was training Maddy to be Daniel’s wife. That he had to teach her how to serve him properly.”

Emma winced at the thought of what that probably meant. To mask her emotions, she balled her hands into fists and dug her nails into the palms.

“I tried to get specifics,” Wallace was saying, “but the harder I went at him, the more emotional he became. Finally he lost it and started hitting himself in the head. A doctor’s evaluating him now to check his competency level.”

“Did the Crime Scene Unit clear the backyard?”

Though the statement seemed cryptic on the surface, Wallace understood what she meant. “Yeah. They brought out equipment, but the dirt on the property hasn’t been disturbed. Maddy’s not buried out there.”

“And you’re sure Katie saw Hank Fry leaving the house carrying a girl over his shoulder?”

“Yeah. She wasn’t able to make a positive ID, but Katie Norris confirmed the girl had strawberry-blonde hair. She also heard the name Maddy used. We haven’t located Hank Fry yet, but a BOLO’s been put out on his van.”

A Be On the Look Out bulletin would ensure every cop would be searching for Fry’s vehicle. If he was anywhere in the area, he’d be found.

As she and Rocky walked into the house, Emma snapped on a pair of latex gloves. “So what are we looking for? Your crime scene guys already went through the house.”

“Yes, but let’s take a second pass. See if we can find anything indicating a location Fry might hide out in. We have to assume he took Maddy with him.” Wallace offered an encouraging smile. “That’s a
good
sign. He wants her alive, or he would have left her for dead at the house.”

Emma thought of the blood in the bedroom and the nightmare Maddy must have endured, being held captive there for three days. Her knees buckled.

Wallace placed a hand on her arm to steady her. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Emma shrugged him off and walked away, keeping her back to him. She coughed a couple of times, trying to hide the constant rush of emotions hitting her.

Get yourself together, Parker.

She couldn’t afford weepiness; she needed a clear mind. There’d be time enough to break down later.

“Let’s split up,” she said. “I’ll take Hank Fry’s bedroom first. Stay close though. That way you can fill me in on the list of items removed from the room. It’ll help give me a look into this guy’s head.”

“Sure.”

In a loud voice from the bathroom, Wallace said, “For two single guys, they kept the house unusually clean. Especially Hank’s bedroom. The guy likes order. You should see his garage. He’s converted it into a wood shop. The place is immaculate.”

She reached her hand inside the pocket of a pair of pants hanging in the closet. “What else did you find?”

“We removed some hard-core bondage magazines and graphic sex DVDs.”

“Young girls?”

“Young looking, but most likely still of age.”