Elizabeth's Daughter (24 page)

  “Until convicted otherwise, ma’am,” the exasperated voice replied.

  “I’m sorry to bore you, but my little baby is out there in the night. Without her food, without her blankie. She’s recently had major surgery, she need particular attention. I hate to think that she’s only being looked for during the day shift. I hate to think that I’m sitting in a warm house, waiting anxiously to hear from the law enforcement agency, and they’re not even looking for her.”

  The voice on the other end softened. “I’m sorry, ma’am. She and the kidnapper are being looked for. I assure you, anyone driving a red Corvette today had a less than peaceful day. As a matter of fact, we busted a drug dealer we’ve been trying nail, in the process of looking for your daughter.”

  “I see. Well, thank you,” Elizabeth said quietly. “I know, you’re doing everything possible.” She hung up the telephone and turned to Gail. “They won’t find Tony. He doesn’t want to be found and he won’t be found. It’s up to me. And he’s certainly not driving that Corvette around, advertising himself.” She turned and headed for the stairs. “I’m going to bed to think. Good-night, Gail.”

  Elizabeth sank onto her bed and sank into an even darker despair. She knew Tony was changing lately, but she hadn’t bothered to figure out what was wrong with him. She’d given all her attention to Amy and now
he
had Amy. That, he probably reasoned, would teach her a lesson.

  She only blamed herself. If she’d given Tony more attention, maybe they would have grown together instead of apart. When she thought about Amy, out there in the night, crying for her, Elizabeth felt she would crawl out of her skin. She couldn’t stand it, she just couldn’t stand it! How could she even stay in this bed, comfortable and warm? But where could she go to look for Tony? She could only pray with all her heart that Tony would not take out his anger or revenge, or whatever it was he was feeling, on poor little Amy, defenseless and trusting.

  Even Amy had never warmed up to Tony. No one in Elizabeth’s life had liked Tony. Why, in heaven’s name had she? It wasn’t, in point of fact, his physical beauty, which, in any case, she’d learned was too perfect to be interesting. And his own love for his good looks was unattractive in the extreme.

  No, after they were married and she’d gotten to know him better, she’d fallen for his need to be loved. He refused to talk about his childhood or his parents, who had been quite old when they’d had him, and were now both dead. So Elizabeth had never been able to learn from him what were the holes in his nurturing. But they were there. After a while she hadn’t needed him to tell her stories of childhood neglect. She was intuitively aware of it.

  Somewhere among these thoughts, she drifted into a half-sleep, only to jump awake when the telephone rang. It rang twice, she grabbed it, but no one was there.

  Frustrated, she went downstairs. It was dark and Gail was apparently asleep in her room, no light coming from under her closed door.

  Elizabeth’s hand and knee throbbed. She really needed to get some sleep if her body was to heal. She went back upstairs, went into the bathroom and switched on the light. She’d forgotten about her black eye all day, and she was curious to see what it looked like.

  She gasped. It had gotten much worse. The left side of her face was purple to her jaw bone and the inside of her eye and down along her nose was... black, there was no other word for it. And it seemed to be more swollen than in the morning. She went back to bed. Three-thirty a.m. Had Tony called and let the telephone ring twice, just to harass her? Who else would call at three-thirty?

Chapter XXVII

Three hours later, she drug herself downstairs. Gail was in the kitchen making breakfast.

  “I can’t eat anything, Gail, thanks.”

  “You have to, Elizabeth. I insist. Look at you! Your black eye is worse, you look peaked, and you’ll eat something if I have to force feed you.”

  “Did you hear the phone ring last night?”

  “No.”

  “About three-fifteen. It rang twice, I picked it up, but there was just a dial tone.”

  “I can’t imagine I would sleep through the phone ringing,” Gail said, bringing Elizabeth some toast. “I think you’re over-wrought. You wish so much that it’d ring.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “No, it rang. Right by my ear. Should I call the police?”

  “Let’s wait until we’re sure Timms and Avery are there. You know they’ll call you the instant they know anything.”

  “I suppose. I guess Tony thinks it’ll prove his point by calling and letting the phone right twice. From now on, if the phone even makes a peep, grab it.”

  “Okay.” Gail gave Elizabeth a worried look, but she didn’t say anything more.

  “I think I’ll try calling Michelle.” Elizabeth got Michelle’s number out of her purse and dialed.

  “Hi, Michelle, this is Gail... the person who called you the other day about the condo Tony was interested in?”

  “I don’t understand what went on,” Michelle’s kitten voice said. “I called with the information you asked for and first thing I know, I’m talking with Tony. Do you live with Tony?”

  “Well, yes. I have a little confession to make. You see, I’m his housekeeper. I didn’t hear about the condo through a friend, Tony had chatted with me about it. And it sounded like what I’ve been looking for. But you know, I didn’t want to tell him I’m thinking about leaving. It just so happens that I’ve been thinking about moving to San Diego. So the other night when his girl friend answered the phone... “

  “His girl friend?”

  “Yes. Anyway, when she answered the phone and you asked for me, Mr. Antonella just went and took the phone from her. He’s like that sometimes. Sometimes he won’t even let me take my own calls.”

  “His girl friend,” Michelle said again.

  “Yes,” Elizabeth-as-Gail answered. “Yes. She lives here too.”

  “Really!” Michelle said with disgust.

  “Anyway, the reason I’m calling is to get the information you had for me. Is there another condo available?”

  “Yes. Two, in fact. A one bedroom and a two bedroom.”

  “I suppose Mr. Antonella was looking at the two bedroom.”

  “Yes. But this unit I’m talking about is a different one.”

  “Oh, good,” Elizabeth said. “I hope it’s not too close to the one he’s interested in. I mean, if we both happened to move into the same complex, I wouldn’t want to be bumping into him.”

  “No. They’re not at all adjacent. The two bedroom available is... let’s see, number 410 and the one Tony is considering is 37.”

  “I see. Well, could you give me the address? I might sneak down and take a peek today or tomorrow. If I like what I see, I’ll give you a call.”

  Michelle gave her the address and said she hoped she’d see something she liked.

  “I’m wondering,” Elizabeth said to Michelle, as if a last thought, “If you’ve seen Tony yesterday or today? I haven’t seen him, not that it’s that unusual, he has a way of disappearing for days sometimes. But I’d be embarrassed to run into him down there... if I do happen to get away today.”

  “No,” Michelle answered. “I haven’t seen or heard anything of him. He’s about to lose his condo. Among other things,” she added quietly. “You might want to go by 37 too since it might be available after all. In which case you really wouldn’t have any worry about running into him.”

  “Wouldn’t that be nice?” Elizabeth said. “Thanks so much, Michelle. You’ve been a great help.”

  She hung up and turned to Gail. “I don’t think he’s down there at all. That poor girl has sure been duped.”

  “Well,” Gail said with disgust, “she’s not the only poor girl who’s been duped.”

  “Yes, I remember who the other poor girl is, and I don’t even need to look in the mirror to be reminded.”

  The telephone rang under Elizabeth’s hand. “Hello? Peter!”

  “Elizabeth! What’s going on there?”

  “Oh, Peter, you won’t believe it. Wait, how do you know something’s going on?”

  “Because a thin old man with high cheek bones, a long, thin nose and a shock of white hair, appeared on the front stairway last night and told me.”

  Elizabeth collapsed onto the couch. “Grandfather!”

  “Yes. Clear as day, even more defined than the day he walked through the front door when I was on the porch.”

  “What did he... want?”

  “He said that I should ‘tell Elizabeth to listen and watch, to not be afraid.’ He said someone is trying to reach you. That you must keep your mind open. And then he said an odd thing. He said it was best that you have the amethyst.”

  “Not
the
amethyst, Peter,” Elizabeth said. “Amethyst... that’s Amy’s real name. Oh, Peter! Tony kidnapped Amy yesterday.”

  “What do you mean, ‘kidnapped?’ “

  “I mean, he broke into the house and stole her. Last Thursday night, I faced Tony with evidence that he was having an affair. He attacked me and I kicked him out.”

  “Why didn’t you call me? Are you all right?”

  “I’m cut up and I have a black eye.”

  “You called the police?”

  “Only after he took Amy. But I should have when he attacked me. I had no idea how far he’d go.”

  “What have the police done?”

  “They don’t know anything more this morning than they did yesterday afternoon.” Suddenly Elizabeth couldn’t stand the sound of those bleak words. How hopeless it all seemed, and how helpless she felt. She began to cry.

  “Don’t cry, Elizabeth, please don’t cry,” Peter said. “I’ll be there in a few minutes and we’ll figure out where Tony is.”

  “Don’t cry, Pet,” Gail said, patting Elizabeth’s shoulder. “You don’t want to lose your energy.”

  “You’re right,” Elizabeth acknowledged, collecting herself, “both of you. But I feel I need to cry! Oh, Peter, did you happen to call about three a.m. last night and let it ring only twice?”

  “No, Elizabeth. But that was when your grandfather appeared to me. I wanted to call you immediately, but I waited until this morning. I thought I should see if the... visitation seemed as real in the daylight as it did in the middle of the night. And it does. Anyway, you should have the police tap your phone,” Peter suggested.

  “They already have.”

  “Good! Okay, I’m on my way. See you in a little bit.”

  Elizabeth turned to Gail. “He’s coming.”

  “I’ll make some more breakfast,” Gail said, getting busy. “In the meantime, perhaps you’d fill me in on what’s all this talk about your grandfather?”

  The telephone rang again. Elizabeth grabbed it before one ring was finished.

  “Mrs. Antonella? This is officer Timms. I just got on duty and got your message from last night. I’m calling to let you know that nothing concrete has turned up yet, but we’re working on it.”

  “Thank you, Officer Timms. I guess I don’t need to tell you how anxious I am. Oh, by the way, do you have any record of my phone ringing last night, about three-fifteen?”

  “Just a sec.” Officer Timms came back directly. “No. Why?”

  “The phone rang twice, but when I picked it up, there was just a dial tone.”

  “The equipment won’t register a non-connection.”

  “I see,” Elizabeth said. “Well, thanks again.” She hung up and turned to Gail. “The equipment doesn’t register a non-connection.”

  Gail nodded. “If someone wants to reach you, they’ll call again, won’t they?”

  “I suppose.”

  The phone rang yet again under Elizabeth’s hand. She grabbed it up. “Hello? Oh! Mrs. Vargas!” She exchanged a look of dismay with Gail.

  “Hello Elizabeth. I’m in China, working on some international adoptions. I’ve just received an Amber Alert about Amy.”

  “Tony took her. We... we’ve had a falling out. His behavior has become so erratic and... anyway, he took her yesterday.”

  “Have you heard anything?”

  “No. And I’m just....”

  “I understand, Elizabeth. I’ve worked with kidnappings before. I have a remarkable team, and I’ll get them on it immediately. I’ll be back in a couple of days. Right now, I must get off the phone as my plane is about to take off. Stay strong. For Amy’s sake, you must stay strong.”

  “I will Mrs. Vargas. Thank you, I will.” She hung up and turned to Gail. “I completely forgot about her in all this madness.”

  “That’s understandable,” Gail comforted. “What did she say?”

  “The most important thing she said was that she has had to deal with kidnappings before and she will put her team on finding Amy. That’s good.”

  “That’s very, very good,” Gail agreed. “Her people are amazing.”

  At that moment, Peter arrived. They told him about the conversation with Mrs. Vargas and he then filled Gail in on the paranormal events occurring at the old house, adding details for Elizabeth’s benefit.

  The three of them brain-stormed for several hours, trying to out-guess Tony. But they only realized that, between the three of them, they knew next to nothing about him, and were certainly incapable of conjecturing where he might go to hide.

  “Well, you two,” Elizabeth said in the middle of the afternoon when it seemed that they had covered more ground about Tony than possible and still had gotten nowhere, “I can’t endure sitting around here any longer. The police haven’t called, Tony hasn’t called. And it’s late afternoon. Soon it’ll be night again, and I cannot endure another night like last night.

  “This is what I think we ought to do. Peter, I think you should go home for any clues that might manifest. Gail, you stay here and answer the phone. I’m going to go driving.”

  “What will driving accomplish?” Gail asked. “You won’t just run into him.”

  “You never know. Anyway, I can’t even think anymore, just sitting here. At least if I’m in motion, I’ll be able to think.”

  Gail shrugged. “Well, whatever you feel is best.”

  “I just need two things now, or I think I’ll go crazy, I need to be alone and I need to be in motion.”