Or were they more convinced than ever that Emily had met the same fate as Sadie Cross? That ten years from now, no trace of Tesss daughter would have turned up, either?
But there was a difference in the two cases. A week after Emilys disappearance, a note had been discovered on the windshield of a vehicle parked in Tesss driveway. The message, apparently written by a child, read: I come home soon mama.
Those words tore at Tesss heart, gave her yet another faint ray of hope to cling to. Emily was still alive. She was still out there somewhere. The police couldnt stop looking for her now. They couldnt.
What about the note? She forced herself to speak in a rational tone, even though her mind raged against the terrible images of her daughter, alone and hurt, crying out for her mother. It has to mean something.
Lieutenant Dave Conyers, the lead detective on Emilys case had been standing across the room staring out the window ever since Tess arrived. He was a tall man, thin, good-looking, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. He turned now and faced her.
Like everyone else present, he looked exhausted, haggard and guilt-ridden, his face revealing all too plainly that he wished he were anywhere in the world but here in the same room with Tess. I told you what the results were from the crime lab. They ran all kinds of tests on the paper, including electrostatic detection. A partial fingerprint was detected under ultraviolet, but when we scanned the print and ran it through the database, we didnt get a hit. Nor was it Emilys.
Emily had been fingerprinted and issued a photo ID containing all her vital statistics her first year in pre-school. The program had been conducted by Naomi Crosss group, the Childrens Rescue Network, to aid the police in just such a contingency. Tess had readily agreed to participate in the effort, but shed never thought she would actually need the card. No parent did.
We also had a handwriting expert compare the note with some of Emilys school papers, Lieutenant Conyers continued. But his analysis was inconclusive. I hate like hell to say this, but the note could be a hoax.
No! Tess said stubbornly. I dont believe that. It was from Emily. I know it was.
Thats what you want to believe. Thats what we all want to believe, but the expert couldnt make that determination. Evidently, printing, especially by a child as young as Emily, is a lot harder to analyze than cursive writing. He glanced at Tess. Youre Emilys mother, and you werent so certain at first the note was from her.
I know, but maybe thats because she had to write it under duress. She was scared. Even an adults handwriting would be affected under similar circumstances.
Thats true enough, Conyers agreed. But the note itself doesnt make much sense when you think about it. A message from a kidnapper is usually either a ransom demand or a taunt to the police or to the childs parents. Why would the kidnapper allow Emily to write such a note, and then risk being caught by delivering it?
I dont know, Tess said numbly. To let me know that shes alive?
No one said anything, but Tess could sense their doubt. And on some level, she knew Lieutenant Conyers was right. The note didnt make sense. For one thing, it had been placed on the windshield of Naomi Crosss Jeep Cherokee instead of Tesss Ford Explorer. Naomi had been to see Tess that day, and her vehicle had been the only one in the driveway because Tesss was parked in the garage. The SUVs were so similar in color that the initial assumption was that the kidnapper had mistaken Naomis vehicle for Tesss, even though Tesss was a much older model.
But maybe that wasnt the case. Maybe someone had deliberately put the note on Naomis car to torment her as well as Tess.
Could anyone really be that cruel or that sick?
A day ago, Tess wouldnt have believed it possible to plunge any deeper into despair. But now that the search for Emily was being scaled down, now that everyone else was going back to their normal lives, she knew what it felt like to be truly alone and helpless. This, the final step, was perhaps the most agonizing of all.
Something of her anguish must have shown on her face because Sergeant Abby Cross, a detective in the Criminal Investigations Unit and Naomis sister, said gently, I know how all this must sound to you, Tess, but in spite of the setbacks, the search will continue. Calls are still trickling in on the hotline, and well follow them up. We wont give up on Emily. We wont forget about her.
Abby shoved back a lock of dark, glossy hair as she stared at Tess. She wasnt as beautiful as her sister, Naomi, nor as tall and willowy, but there was compassion in her brown eyes. A softness in her smile in spite of her years in law enforcement.
Tess had liked Abby at once, and she wanted to believe her now. Wanted to take solace in Abbys assurances. She was a good cop. With the help of an ex-FBI profiler, shed cracked the Sara Beth Brodie case. She was working on Emilys case now, and Tess wished that she was in charge instead of Dave Conyers. Abby had found Sara Beth. Maybe she could find Emily, too.
But in ten years, not even Abby Cross had been able to locate Sadie, her own niece, and Naomi had been forced to endure that slow death, to exist in the terrible purgatory of never knowing what had happened to her child.
One by one, Tess studied the faces around her, and she knew that the same thought was paramount on everyones mind. In the last ten years, three of Edens children had gone missing. Only one of them had returned. If they didnt find Emily, if they never determined what had happened to Sadie, how many more children would be taken? How many more parents would have to suffer?
TESS, WAIT A MINUTE!
Tess had been heading across the parking lot to her car, but she paused now as someone called out her name. Turning, she saw Naomi Cross hurry across the asphalt toward her. Even from a distance, even in her despair, Tess marveled at the womans extraordinary beauty. She was tall and thin, with a flawless complexion and large brown eyes rimmed with thick lashes. She looked like a model as she hurried across the parking lot toward Tess.
By comparison, Tess knew her own looks had suffered since her daughters disappearance, so much so she hardly recognized herself in the mirror these days. Shed lost weight, and her face, thin to begin with, now appeared pale and gaunt. Her blue eyes were shadowed with grief and exhaustion, and her hair hung in a limp ponytail down her back. For Tess, makeup and hair appointments had become a thing of the past. It was all she could do to drag herself out of bed each morning and get dressed.
But it was more than Naomi Crosss looks that provided a stark contrast. She exuded a strength and quiet dignity, garnered from her tragedy, that Tess knew she would never be able to muster.
Naomi stopped beside Tess and placed a hand on her arm. Are you okay?
Tess let out a ragged breath. No. How could I be, after what they just told me in there?
I know what youre feeling, Naomi said gently. When it first happens, you think nothing could be worse than learning your child has disappeared. But then comes the day when the police stop actively searching for her. When the volunteers all go home, the command center is shut down, and your daughter becomes just another face on a milk carton. Life returns to normal for everyone but you. Naomi paused. Thats when your faith is most sorely tested.
Tess wrapped her arms around her middle. Im not sure I have any faith left. She searched the early-morning sky. White clouds scattered across an intense, blinding blue, and the sun hovered in the east. It was late August, still hot and humid, the temperature marching steadily upward to the nineties. But in spite of the heat, Tess thought she could detect a hint of fall in the air. Or maybe it was her mood. Maybe it was a portent. The seasons would be changing soon. Would her daughter still be missing?
I want her to come home. I want to hold her in my arms again. Shes just a baby. She didnt deserve this. How could something like this happen? she asked angrily.
When Naomi reached a hand to touch her arm, Tess flinched away. Immediately remorse set in. Naomi had been nothing but kindness. Im sorry, Tess whispered, putting a trembling hand to her face. I didnt mean to lash out at you like that. I dont do that. I dont
Lose control? Fall to pieces? Maybe it would help if you did.
Tess wished she could fall apart. She wished she could scream at the injustice and cruelty of a world that would allow this to happen to an innocent child. She wished she could just let go, beat her fists against her chest, tear her hair, do something, anything, to give rein to her rage. But losing control wouldnt help Emily, and control was about all Tess had left.
She glanced at Naomi and the hollowness inside her deepened. How do you do it? After all these years, how do you keep going?
Naomi glanced away. Sometimes it might be easier to just give up, to lose all hope. To accept what fate has doled out to me. But then I think about Sadie out there somewhere, wondering if Im still looking for her, and I make one more phone call. I follow up on that last lead. I do the next interview because if she is still alive, I want her to know that I havent given up. That Ill never give up.
I wont give up, either, Tess said fiercely. But the police have.
Naomi squeezed her hand. I know it seems that way now, but the case will remain open. Leads will be followed. My sister has put a major career change on hold until they find Emily.
Tess lifted her head. Career change?
Abbys applied for acceptance at the FBI Academy, but no matter if shes accepted or not, shes not going anywhere until Emily is found. Thats how committed she is. Naomi glanced over her shoulder at the sheriffs station. They all are, Tess. You have to remain committed, too. There are things you can do on your own to find your daughter, and the Childrens Rescue Network can help you.
Ill do anything, Tess said brokenly. You know that.
Naomi nodded. The first thing is to stay connected with as many of the missing-childrens networks and foundations around the country as you can.
There were so many of them, Tess had discovered. Most of them founded in memory of someones missing child, just like the Childrens Rescue Network had been founded in Sadie Crosss memory. A year from now, ten years from now, would such a foundation be Tesss only consolation, her only connection to a daughter she loved more that life itself?
Youll want to keep Emilys story in the news and her picture in front of the public as much as you can, Naomi said. And youll have to find creative ways of doing that now that media interest is waning. You might also want to think about starting a Web site. We can help you with that.
Tess wasnt as proficient on a computer as she should be in this day and age, but she knew about the Internets power, its ability to reach millions of people in the space of a heartbeat. The rest she would learn.
What else?
Naomi paused. You can go proactive.
What do you mean?
If the note I found is genuine, then the kidnapper has already made contact once, and he was willing to risk detection to do so. You could do another round of television and radio interviews, asking for your daughters safe return. Its possible the kidnapper will respond to your pleas.
Tess seized on her words. Then you think the note was genuine. You dont think it was a hoax as the police seem to.
Im not an expert, Naomi cautioned. But I can tell you this. For a split second after I found that message, it crossed my mind that it was from Sadie. I know that sounds crazy. Shes fifteen years old now, almost a young woman, but I guess a part of me still thinks of her exactly as she was the last time I saw her. A shadow darkened her expression, but her eyes were bright and dry. The point Im trying to make is that the note touched me in some way. I think a child wrote it.
Relief welled inside Tess. I think so, too. I think that child was Emily.
If she did write it, then we have to assume shes still alive. And if shes alive, someone may have seen her. A neighbor or a family member of the kidnapper may have suspicions, but for whatever reason, hasnt come forward. You may have to increase the reward offer, and you may also want to consider hiring a private-detective firm to look at the investigation in a different way.
Tesss heart sank. Immediately after Emilys disappearance, shed drained her savings to set up a ten-thousand-dollar reward for information pertaining to the kidnapping. That was all the money she had in the world, and her cleaning service had suffered a major financial setback, primarily because she wasnt around to supervise and coordinate the work.
For the last three weeks, shed haunted the sheriffs station every day, looking for any scrap of information, any bit of news that would give her hope, that would give her confidence the police were doing everything that could be done to find her daughter. Shed worked with the volunteers, stuffing envelopes, answering phones, passing out pictures locally and to the organizations that could distribute them state-and nationwide. No job was too tedious or too overwhelming for her to tackle. She would do anything in her power to bring her daughter home, but Naomi was asking her to do the one thing she could not do. She couldnt raise the reward offer. Not alone.
As if reading her mind, Naomi said sympathetically, The CRN can set up a fund to help you out financially, but itll still be expensive. And it could take a while for the donations to mount up. Is there anyone who can help you out immediately?
Tess shook her head. Emily and I have no family except for my mother, and shes certainly not a wealthy woman.
What about Emilys father?
Tess grew instantly defensive. What about him?
I know hes dead, but what about his family? Could they help?
Uh, no, Tess said awkwardly, realizing her initial response must have seemed a little strange. Theyre on a fixed income, too. They wouldnt be able to help. Not that his mother would if she could, Tess thought. Mildred Campbell had been dead set against her sons marriage to Tess, and her attitude hadnt softened even when Tess had nursed Alan through the worst of his illness, when shed kept vigil night and day at his deathbed. The child Tess had been carrying had only served to remind the grief-stricken woman that as one life began another was ending.
And now it was Emilys life on the line.
What about her father?
A shudder racked Tess at the mere thought of her secret being revealed after all these years. Emily was in grave danger at the hands of her kidnapper, but the note proved she was still alive. She could still be found and rescued.