Finders Keepers (2 page)

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Authors: Fern Michaels

BOOK: Finders Keepers
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P
ART
I
1
Ashton Falls, Tennessee
1957-1965
 
Grace Larson leaned over to kiss her husband's cheek. “You're running late tonight, sport,” she teased her husband.
“Hmmm, you smell good. How's your cold?”
“Better. Hannah felt a little feverish this afternoon. She's sleeping in the stroller. Jelly is watching her.”
Ben Larson closed the ledger and placed it in the drawer. Suddenly he turned, heading for the front door. “Why in the world is Jelly barking like that? The pumps are closed, and the sign is up. You better check on him while I lock up and turn off the lights.”
“You know Jelly. He barks when the wind blows.” She listened for a moment. “He stopped barking. Guess your customer drove away. You look tired, honey. I hope you aren't coming down with my cold. It's terrible to get a cold in the summer. I hate it that you have to work here on the weekends, Ben.”
Ben sighed. “I know you do, Grace. We've been through all this. We're saving for Hannah's college tuition. The first Larson to go to college is not something to take lightly. You and Hannah are the most important things in the world to me.”
“I love you, Ben Larson. That day you sat down next to me in kindergarten class and said, ‘My name is Ben, what's yours,' was the day I fell in love with you. Do you want to know something else? I'm going to love you forever and ever.”
“And I'm going to love you forever and ever, too. We're both going to love Hannah forever and ever, too. How are we going to handle it when she goes to kindergarten? What if she sits next to a boy and falls in love with him on her first day?”
“We'll handle it, Ben. We're a family, remember. As long as we stick together and present a united front, we can do anything. Do you agree?”
Ben hugged his wife. “Let's get our daughter and our dog and head home.”
Grace grabbed her pocketbook and turned the knob of the door. “Hannah's
gone
! Ben, she's
gone
. So is Jelly. He broke the rope. Ben, do something.”
“Take it easy, Grace. She probably woke up and had to go to the bathroom. She knows where the bathroom is. Jelly broke the rope because it was old and frayed. He would never let anything happen to Hannah Banana.” This last was said over his shoulder as he raced toward the rest room at the back of the station.
“She isn't here, Ben. Where's Jelly? Oh, Ben, she's gone! Someone stole our little girl. Call the sheriff. Ben, call the sheriff right now! Oh, God, oh, God. Hurry, Ben. That's why Jelly was barking. Do you think it was your dad, Ben? That was a stupid thing to say. Jelly would never bark at your dad.”
Ben slammed at the door until he remembered he'd locked it. His hands shook so badly he could barely fit the key into the lock. Within seconds he had Sheriff Evans on the phone. He blurted out that Hannah was missing. “Right now, Sheriff. I need you to come here right now. Grace is falling apart on me. I'm going to call the rectory and ask Father Mitchell to ring the bell. As soon as that bell rings everyone in town will be on the square. We have to move fast, Elmo. Don't tell me to be calm. My daughter and my dog are missing. This is a peaceful community, so don't tell me one of our town citizens walked off with Hannah. Hurry, Elmo.”
“Ben . . . What if some stranger took her? I didn't hear a car, did you? Hannah wouldn't wander off. She's afraid of the road and the cars. Besides, Jelly would have herded her back to the station. Golden retrievers are very protective. That's why we got him for Hannah. Oh, God, Ben, what if we never get her back? We don't have any money, so it can't be a ransom kidnapping. Some crazy person stole her. I just know it.”
“Shhh. Try to be calm, Grace. I refuse to believe someone just drove up and took our daughter. That's insane. I'm sure Hannah woke up and decided to go for a walk. Jelly got upset and broke his rope. He's with her. Try to hang on to that.”
Ashton's only patrol car skidded to a stop. Sheriff Elmo Evans motioned for Grace and Ben to get into the car just as the church bell pealed three ominous bursts of sound that signaled a town emergency. Within minutes most of Ashton's seven thousand inhabitants would assemble in the small town square to do what they could for one of their own.
Grace burst into tears at the sound of the traffic on the square. People came on foot, on bicycles, in cars and trucks. Within minutes the sheriff called out a game plan and assigned areas to be covered. “We think the dog is with the little girl. He's protective and answers to the name of Jelly, as you all know. Do not, I repeat, do not spook the dog. My deputy is going to hand out flares to the head of each group. If you see Hannah or the dog, light it up. I put in a call to the state troopers, so we'll have some additional help.”
“What about the FBI, Sheriff?” someone shouted.
“I'm working on that, Cyrus. Get moving. It looks like it might rain before long. We don't want that little girl shivering and getting wet.”
Grace wept as she clung to her husband. “Go with your mother, Grace. I'm going to help search.”
“Will you find her, Ben?”
“Yes.” He hated himself for the lie, but he didn't know what else to say.
“I'm going back to the station to wait. Jelly will go back there because Hannah's stroller is there. I'm going, Ben. I'll sit there all night if I have to.”
“Do what you have to do, honey.” To Emma Andrews, Grace's mother, he said, “Stay with her, Emma.”
“Of course, Ben. Father Mitchell turned the lights on in the church. Roy Clark turned on every light in town. I don't know how he did that, but he did. So Hannah and Jelly can find their way in the dark, I suppose.”
“Hannah's afraid of the dark, Mom,” Grace sobbed.
“Shhh. She won't be afraid if Jelly is with her. He'll keep her warm, too. In case she wants to lie down somewhere to go to sleep.”
Grace's shoulders shook. “Hannah's coming down with a cold. She felt feverish this afternoon. She fell asleep in the stroller, and I didn't want to wake her. God, why didn't I just pick her up and take her in the store? It's my fault, Mom, I never should have left her alone.”
“Honey, this is Ashton Falls. You had no way of knowing something like this could happen. This is a peaceful, law-abiding town. It's going to be all right, Grace. God won't let harm come to Hannah.”
“Then where is she, Mom?” Grace screamed, her voice rising to such a high pitch that Emma Andrews flinched.
 
Shortly before ten o'clock a misty rain started to fall. Grace huddled with her mother under the garage overhang. Her grip on the stroller and Jelly's frayed rope turned her knuckles white. At midnight, when thunder and lightning lit up the sky, the state troopers called a halt to the search.
A state trooper in a yellow slicker approached Grace. “Ma'am, your husband wants me to take you and your mother home. He wants you to know the roadblocks are in place, and the FBI will be here shortly.”
“What good is a roadblock? It's been five hours. Whoever took Hannah is long gone. No, no, I can't leave. Jelly will come back here. He won't know what to do if he doesn't see me. I can't go home. I don't want to go home. Don't you understand, I have to stay here.”
“Ma'am, I do understand. The weather is only going to get worse. Will you at least go inside? Mr. Delaney gave me the key to the garage. You can watch from the window.”
“Do what he says, Grace. You have a cold as it is. You can't afford to get pneumonia,” Emma said.
Inside, out of the rain, the sound of thunder was less ominous. “They aren't going to find her, Mom. I know it as sure as I know I have to take another breath to stay alive. Hannah isn't coming back.”
“Grace, I refuse to listen to talk like this. I want you to stop it right now.”
“Mom, if they couldn't find her in five hours, she isn't here to be found. Someone took her in a car. That's why Jelly was barking. Ashton Falls is a small town. They covered it in less than three hours. I know she isn't here, and so do you, Mom, so stop pretending. My baby is gone, and I'm never going to get her back. I don't know what to do. How are Ben and I going to handle this? Hannah was our life.”
“Listen to me, Grace. God never gives you more than you can handle. I want you to remember that.”
“I don't want to hear religious platitudes right now. What kind of god would let someone take my child? What kind of god would make me suffer like this? Don't tell me He's testing me either. I want my baby, Mom. Where's Ben?”
“I don't know, Grace. He's probably with his father and your dad. He won't give up.”
“Mom, go home or go see Ben's mother. I'm better off being by myself. If Ben calls, tell him I'm here.”
“I don't like leaving you alone like this.”
“I'm not going anywhere. Mom.”
The moment Emma Andrews left the service station, Grace walked outside to sit down next to the stroller, the frayed rope clutched to her breast. Every five minutes she called her daughter's name until her voice was little more than a raspy croak. She cried, great gulping sobs, her whole body shaking with agony.
Shortly before dawn, Ben, his father, and Grace's father returned to the garage. “I'm taking you home, Grace. I can see by looking at you you're running a fever. I don't want to hear another word. Jelly knows the way home. If . . . when he comes back, he'll head straight for the house.”
Grace allowed herself to be led to the car.
“Ben, we're all just going through the motions. She's gone. We're wasting time combing the area. We need to go on television and radio. Too many hours have gone by. I feel it here, Ben. We're too late. I should have gone out there the minute Jelly started to bark. Why didn't I go out there, Ben?”
“Because Jelly barks at the wind. This is not your fault, Grace.”
“You look so tired, Ben. I'm so sorry.”
Ben wrapped his arms around his wife. “We'll find her, Grace. I know we will. Hannah belongs to us. We have to believe she'll come back to us.”
Grace didn't believe any such thing. She knew Ben didn't believe his own words either. He was trying to make her feel better. For her husband's sake she nodded and prayed she was wrong.
 
The Larson family spent the following three days doing radio and television interviews, pleading with the person who took their child to return her to her family. Reporters wrote touching, poignant stories about Hannah Larson and her dog Jelly, to no avail.
Four days after Hannah's disappearance, Grace woke and knew she had to go to the garage. She threw on the first clothes her hands came in contact with. “I don't care, Ben. I'm going to the station. I have to wait. Forever if necessary. I can't stand being here in this house. I'll put the coffee on for you before I leave.”
Ben sat on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. He wished he could cry. He wished he could walk downstairs and hear Hannah shout, “Daddy, Daddy!” He wished his wife wouldn't stare into space, and he wished she wouldn't sleep in the chair in Hannah's bedroom. He needed to put his arms around her, needed to feel the warmth of her because he felt ice-cold all the way to his soul. He felt like he was living with a stranger, someone he'd just met who didn't particularly like him. He sighed. Maybe today would be better than yesterday. Maybe.
It's a beautiful morning,
Grace thought. The birds were chirping, the air was fragrant with the scent of pine everywhere. The early dew sparkled on the grass that was greener than emeralds. Hannah had always been an early bird and would rush outside in the summer months with Jelly to run barefoot through the small fenced yard, laughing and giggling as she wiggled her bare toes in the wet grass.
Dear God, where is she?
 
“Grace, what brings you to the station so early this morning?” Jonah Delaney asked, his eyes going to the pink stroller still leaning against the bright red Coca-Cola cooler.
“I had to come here, Jonah. Do you mind if I sit here? If it's a problem, I can go around to the side.”
“Of course it isn't a problem. You can sit here as long as you like. I'll fetch you some coffee, Grace. Would you like a sticky bun or some toast. You're looking peaked to me.”
“Coffee will be fine. I won't get in your way.” She leaned over to sniff the stroller. “It still smells like her, all powdery and fresh. You know, clean. If she doesn't come back, do you think the smell will stay, Jonah?”
“I'm sure it will, Grace.”
A long time later Grace looked up at the big rusty-looking clock over the Coke cooler, surprised that it was three o'clock. If Hannah was at home, she'd just be waking up from her nap. Tears blurred her vision when she moved from one bench to the other. When she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, she swiped at them with the sleeve of her dress. She was out of her chair a moment later.
JELLY!
“Jonah, come quick. Help me! It's Jelly. He's back. Hurry, Jonah. He can hardly walk.”

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