Willow Pond (33 page)

She and Phillip Austin were married on October 11, 1927. Their son, Todd, was born the following September 7.

Dennis thought back, remembering. He and Maggie had celebrated Andy’s birthday on September 17. Andy Evans and Todd Austin were exactly the same age.

He flipped forward and read a couple of paragraphs about a place called Bacchanal. Then he skipped to another page and read some more.

“Iris Nickerson, Todd’s nanny, didn’t see the kidnapper’s face because he was wearing a clown’s mask, but she did her best to describe him to the police …”

Dennis felt slightly ill. A few months earlier he and Maggie had taken Andy to the circus. When the boy had seen the clowns he’d kicked and screamed with terror. He had made such a commotion it had been impossible for them to stay. When he’d asked Maggie what was wrong, she avoided answering him. It wasn’t until he pressed her that she admitted she thought Andy was afraid of clowns, but she never said why. Could he possibly have a vague memory of his kidnapping?

He read on. “Todd was a good baby. I loved him more than I’d ever loved anyone. I couldn’t bear to be separated from him, even for an hour. My favorite time with him was after his bath. When he was a tiny infant, I cradled him in my arms and rocked him to sleep. As he got older, he wanted a bedtime story. When I finished reading the story, he still wanted me to rock him to sleep. To this day I still feel the soft weight of him snuggled against me. Part of me died the day Todd disappeared.”

Maggie told him often that Andy loved being read to, especially the Winnie the Pooh books. He remembered a poem the little boy liked, one he could recite himself, word-for-word.

It must have been awful for Laura Austin to lose her baby and never see him again. He recalled the bottomless look of love Maggie wore whenever she watched Andy play. Dennis counted from September 1928 to April 1930, nineteen months. Far too long for a mother to be without her child.

What should he do? As much as he liked Maggie, Laura Kingsley had the right to know what had happened to her son. Also, maybe, just maybe, there’d be some kind of finder’s fee in it for him.

Chapter Sixty

Dennis sat on the front stoop watching an old orange tabby chase a fly. The cat belonged to the bloke in the flat next to Maggie’s and was old and slow. The stupid thing fell over every time he went to swat the fly. Finally the cat gave up, curled into an orange ball and went to sleep on the ledge. The fly disappeared with the wind. Dennis wished human dilemmas could be solved by sleep, but all sleeping did was delay facing the problems, like he was doing now.

He went back inside the flat and found Maggie sitting at the kitchen table, hunched over a ledger book.

“Why don’t you come sit outside with me, Maggie?” Dennis asked. “It’s such a beautiful night.”

“Maybe later. I’m going over the books for Mr. Hendler.”

“This can’t wait.”

Maggie glanced up from the ledger book, frowning. “What could be so important that it can’t wait until I’m finished?”

Maybe it was her tone, maybe it was his need to understand, but Dennis couldn’t help himself. “Where do I start?” he asked. “Let’s see. How about with all those people who are looking for you? Like Virginia Kingsley?”

She swallowed hard. “What are you talking about?”

He gazed into her brown eyes. “You look like a scared little rabbit. Where’s Andy?”

“At Steve’s.”

“Good. Just wanted to be sure he’s not here.”

“Why?”

“Take it easy, Nancy.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, but he saw her lips tremble. “My name’s Maggie.”

“Bosh. It’s Nancy Evans. To be more precise, it’s Nancy Margaret Evans Pierce. Smart of you to change your name but keep it legal. I thought it would take me a long time to find out your real name, but it only took a few days.”

“What’s this all about?”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her down onto the couch next to him. “Tell me about Andy’s father, Nancy.”

“I already told you about him.”

“You told me about someone, but I doubt he’s Andy’s father.” He thrust a piece of paper at her, one marked Medical Diagnosis. “Smashing reading, this.”

She grabbed it from him and her eyes widened. “Where did you find this?”

“You aren’t Andy’s mother. You can’t be.”

“What of it? He’s adopted. When he’s older I plan to tell him. Until then, keep your mouth shut.”

“I was amazed when I found this.” He opened the book he’d been hiding under a cushion in the couch and pointed to a picture of Laura and Phillip. “He looks so much like these people.”

He put the book into her hands and she glanced at the picture. “Please—”

“Does anyone else know he’s Todd Austin?”

“Don’t do this to me.”

“I won’t tell anyone your little secret if you do me a favor.”

“Tell me what you want, then get out of here. I never want to see you again.”

“Now, now, Nancy,” he said with a wink. “Don’t spoil my fun.”

She glared at him. “Stop playing games and get out.”

Dennis hesitated a moment before he said what was on his mind. “You and your boyfriend came into a lot of dough, didn’t you? Well, that’s where I come in.”

“I didn’t get a cent.”

“What about the ransom?”

“Rudy got it all. I have no idea where he is or if he’s even alive. Andy and I live on what I make at the jewelry shop. If you came here looking for money you came to the wrong place.”

He frowned. “Not again. Not another—”

“Scheme gone bad?”

“But you have the golden child,” he said, shaking his head. “He must be worth something.”

“Are you threatening my son?”

Dennis laughed. “He’s not your son, and if I went to the bobbies and told them about the little tyke, you’d spend the rest of your life in jail. Is that what you want?”

“Leave me and my son alone.”

“Sure I will, if you get me what I want. You’ll do that, won’t you, Maggie? You don’t want the poor kid to get hurt.”

She sobbed. “No.”

“Twenty-five thousand is a nice round figure.”

“Where the hell do you expect me to get that kind of money?”

“That’s your problem. Just keep in mind your precious boy isn’t safe until you do.”

“I’ll kill you if you lay a hand on him.”

The door opened and Andy, Steve and Terri walked in. “It’s ten of two and I thought you were picking Andy up at one,” Terri said. “Steve’s got a three o’clock dental appointment.”

Maggie quickly wiped tears off her cheeks. “I lost track of time.”

Dennis smiled at Maggie. “You hit the jackpot with this one, Maggie. That face is worth a million.” He patted her on the back and headed into the kitchen.

“I have to go,” Terri said. “Walk me outside.” Once they stood by Terri’s car, she frowned at Maggie. “What’s going on? You’re acting odd.”

“Everything’s fine. We had a disagreement, that’s all.”

Terri patted her arm. “He’s an odd fish, luv. Be careful. I’ll ring you later.”

***

Maggie worked until nine o’clock every Tuesday night. Some Tuesdays her boss stayed until closing and other times he left at seven. He told her he planned to start keeping the shop open late on Friday nights, too, but he didn’t expect her to work late two nights a week.

He’d had a cold for over a week, and by Tuesday he was so tired he left at four o’clock. She was busy until nearly seven-thirty with two couples coming in for engagement rings and an elderly man looking for a necklace to give his wife for their fiftieth wedding anniversary. From the bits of information the old man told her, Maggie was almost certain his wife had been in the previous week to buy a gold watch for him.

After more than half an hour, the gentleman found a necklace he liked and bought it, along with a pair of gold, heart-shaped earrings. Maggie waited another half an hour after he left and when no more customers came, she locked the door and pulled down the shade.

She took the key, went to one of the display cases and opened it. Then she removed two rings. One was an emerald surrounded by diamond chips. The other, the most valuable ring in the store, was a three and a half carat teardrop-shaped diamond. She dropped them into her purse and went to another display case. From it she removed a diamond and emerald bracelet.

She stood motionless, looking at the jewelry and thinking about what she was doing. If she got caught, she’d go to prison. Then what would happen to Andy? The authorities would probably find out the truth about him, and she’d lose him forever. She couldn’t risk that. She returned the jewelry to the display cases, locked up the store and went home.

Andy was spending the night at Steve’s again. When she got home she saw Dennis’ car parked outside. He’d made her give him a key and would be waiting inside. This wasn’t going to be a happy homecoming, since she hadn’t brought him any money. She took a deep breath for courage and opened the front door.

The first thing Maggie noticed when she stepped into the foyer of 74 Onslow Gardens was that someone had thrown her mail on the floor. Every day the housekeeper put all the first floor tenants’ mail in neat piles on a table in the foyer. On nights that she worked late, Dennis usually took hers in, or else her neighbor slid it under the door.

She checked her watch. 8:45 p.m. Dennis had said he’d be there by 6:00 p.m. after picking up Andy at her friend Terri’s house. She’d been terrified he might have done something to the boy, but reasoned that he wouldn’t. He was good with the child. Besides, he couldn’t expect any money if he did anything.

She slid the key in the lock, then frowned when she discovered it had been broken. Her heart pounded. What if whoever had broken the lock was still inside? But what about Andy? Was he all right?

She eased the door open and peered around. She heard nothing. Stepping inside, she almost tripped over one of the living room chairs. For a brief second she thought of going for help, but she knew she had to go through this alone. She walked across the carpeted hallway, then turned to the right and found the living room in disarray. The curtains had been torn from the windows and the couch was toppled to the side. She saw no sign of either Andy or Dennis.

She stepped carefully over the mess, heading to the kitchen, where she found Dennis in front of the cooker, lying on his side in a widening pool of blood. His body was still warm to the touch. After she placed her fingers to his cheek, she vomited everything she’d eaten that day. Then she scrambled up and screamed Andy’s name over and over, racing through the rooms, throwing furniture over, looking in closets and under beds, sofas and chairs until every inch of the house had been searched. The child was nowhere to be found.

Shaking convulsively, she returned to the kitchen and stared at Dennis’ dead body. Something white gleamed among all the red: a sheet of paper propped up on the stove. She grabbed at it and barely managed to keep her stomach down when her skirt brushed Dennis’ face. With trembling hands she unfolded the paper and read the words: “Todd’s gone again. Goodbye!”

Rudy had found her. He’d taken the boy again. But how? She thought she’d covered her tracks well, and it made no sense for him to just show up here now. If he’d been hunting for her, he should have found her long before.

She glanced at the note again and noticed something familiar about the handwriting, even though it was obviously disguised. The large loop in the capital letter G on the word ‘Gone’ was what caught her eye, and she remembered back, years before. She shook her head. No. It couldn’t be. Not him. It couldn’t be his handwriting. He never would have been involved in such a thing. Besides, he and Rudy didn’t even know each other, she didn’t think. Still, she’d seen him write the capital letter G in his name that way.

There was one person she had to contact before she called the police. In the hall closet she found the telephone directory and quickly located the listing she wanted. A woman answered the phone on the second ring.

“Virginia Kingsley?”

“Who is this?”

“I’m Nancy Evans. I need you to come right away.” She recited her address. “Don’t delay. It’s a matter of life and death.”

Chapter Sixty-One

Virginia stood in front of Maggie’s door, trying to remain calm. This woman had kept Todd from his family for a year and a half. When Nancy Evans opened the door Virginia would have to restrain herself from putting her hands around the woman’s neck and choking the life out of her. That wouldn’t do anyone any good, especially Todd. The thought of the little boy sent a little thrill through her. Was he behind that door right now? She put her hand up to knock and the door flung open. She looked into the face of Nancy Evans and saw fear in the woman’s brown eyes. Virginia took a few steps inside and saw the condition of the living room. Something was very wrong.

Nancy’s voice trembled. “You’ve got to help me.”

“Why should I do anything for you?” Virginia glared at the woman, looking her up and down. “Is Todd here?”

Tears spilled from Nancy’s eyes. “No.”

Virginia took three steps toward her and stopped. Nancy kept repeating, “I’m so sorry, so very, very sorry.”

“Is Todd all right?”

“I don’t know. Oh my God! I don’t know!” She handed Virginia the note. “I need your help. Rudy broke in here, murdered my friend and kidnapped him again.”

Virginia raised her eyebrows “That’s impossible. What friend are you talking about? Where is he?”

Virginia followed Nancy into the kitchen and was soon looking into the frozen face of a man she didn’t know. He’d been dead for at least a couple of hours. Nancy stood in the kitchen doorway, too squeamish to look at the corpse. Cool as a cucumber, Virginia thought. Couldn’t handle a dead body, but capable of keeping a child away from his mother.

“So you called me and not the police, thinking I’d help you? Maybe you killed this guy. I know one thing for certain: Rudy didn’t. So maybe it was you. You’re capable of anything, aren’t you, Miss Evans?”

“How do you know Rudy didn’t do this?”