Gingerbread Man (39 page)

Holly shook her head. "Don't. Please.
Just...just go. Take her out of here." Holly averted her eyes,
lowered her head.

The woman turned and carried her daughter
into the doctor's waiting car.

"You're not okay at all, are you?" Vince
asked her as the car backed up, turned around and moved away.

"No. I'm not."

"Tell me," he urged. He lifted her chin,
tried to search her eyes, but the flashing lights made them
impossible to read. “Tell me what you're feeling."

She seemed to search his face. "Why?"

"Because I care, Red. More than I wanted to,
more than I thought I could. I want to make it good for you
again."

Her tears welled, making her eyes shimmer
beneath them. "I wish you could."

"Tell me what you're feeling," he urged.

She pressed her lips tightly together, as if
willing the words to remain inside. But then they spilled out all
the same. "Why couldn't I save my own sister, Vince? Why couldn't I
be the hero, the protector, until now? Why did it have to take me
so long?" She paused, sucked in a gulp of air, and everything in
him was screaming at him to tell her what he suspected about Amanda
D'Voe, but he couldn't just yet, not until he was certain.

"Did you see all those mounds out there? My
God, why did so many kids have to die, Vince? Why did my sister
have to die? Why?"

"Not because of you," he said. "Not because
of you, Holly. You understand me?"

"She's out there. She's out there in one of
those muddy graves. Ivy." She fell against him, and he held her
tight, stroked her back, her hair. But, hell, he couldn't say much
to ease the gut wrenching feelings inside her, because he felt
them, too. All those graves in the woods.

"Over here, Vince," Jerry called. He was just
helping the chief get Amanda over the ditch onto the road. Her
yellow raincoat was splattered with gray and red.

Holly lifted her head, turned to look as they
stepped onto the muddy road. "Take that thing off her," she said,
straightening her spine, unconsciously squaring her shoulders. She
was now drawing on that core of steel she didn't know she had. But
Vince knew. She took her own raincoat off as they moved toward the
others. Jerry tossed the soiled one aside, Holly draped hers over
Amanda's shoulders.

"I found the hood," Vince said, pulling the
yellow piece from his pocket "That was smart thinking, leaving it
there so I'd know which way to go."

They stood there, on the muddy road, beside
the bakery truck, Holly touching Amanda's face. "It was Amanda's
idea," she said softly. "Wasn't it Amanda?"

Amanda didn't answer. She'd retreated
somewhere deep inside. Vince kept looking from one of them to the
other, seeing things he hadn't seen before. Similarities in their
cheekbones, in their noses, and the shape of their eyes.

"Come on, Amanda. Come on. Look at me," Holly
urged. "You're going to be all right. It's over. It's finally
over."

Amanda obeyed, meeting Holly's eyes, nodding
but only briefly. Her head came up farther, and her eyes locked on
to the bakery truck, and she just stood there, staring.

Agent Selkirk came out of the woods. He
started toward the women, and Jerry held up a hand. "Don't even
suggest questioning them about Marty's death. Not yet."

"He's right," the chief said. "We can get 'em
in out of the cold, get them warm and dry, and take their
statements there."

Selkirk started to speak, but Holly spoke
first. "You're not going to charge anyone with any crimes here,
Agent Selkirk." Her gaze shot to Vince's, fiercely protective.
"I'll say I did it. You try to prosecute Vince for Marty's death,
and I'll take the blame myself, do you understand?"

Vince's stomach knotted up. "Holly—"

Selkirk said, "We'll take your statements
inside where it's warm and dry. But I honestly don't know what
you're talking about, Ms. Newman. It's clear from what I've seen
that the man was killed in self-defense." He met Vince's eyes. "And
that's exactly what will be going into my report."

"There'll be an autopsy," Vince said
softly.

"It'll be handled."

The man meant it. Vince had told his version
of things out there, briefly, and he'd known full well Selkirk saw
right through it. The truth had been all over the front of Amanda
D'Voe's raincoat. But the Fed wasn't going to push that. Maybe he
was a decent human being after all.

Vince thrust out a hand, and shook Frank
Selkirk's. "Thanks."

Selkirk nodded and turned to go to a car,
where he pulled out a microphone and spoke into a radio.

"Run, run, run, fast as you can," Amanda half
whispered, her voice a low monotone, and utterly chilling. Her eyes
were still glued to the bakery truck.

Holly went stiff, and turned slowly.
"Amanda?"

"Can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread
Man."

Holly followed Amanda's gaze to the side of
Marty's truck. There a brown gingerbread man with pink icing smiled
back at her in the flashing lights.

"It was always my favorite story," Amanda
said softly. She frowned, and tilted her head. "I lost my book you
know. But then I saw the picture on the side of the truck. That's
why I went to it when I got away. That's why I got inside. 'Run,
run, run, fast as you can.' I thought I could run, that he'd never
catch me if I could run with the gingerbread man."

Holly was staring at the woman. Her lips were
parted, and her eyes riveted. She reached out a hand, then drew it
back without touching. Almost as if she were afraid.

"Amanda?" Holly whispered. "Amanda this is
very important."

Amanda's eyes flickered, and she looked at
Holly.

"Where did you get the book? The one you
lost?"

Amanda frowned hard. "I... my sister got it
for me. From the library." She shook her head. "I promised I'd take
care of it, and then I lost it. God, Holly's going to be so mad
when I..." she let her voice trail off, and fixed her gaze on
Holly.

"Ivy?" Holly lifted a hand. "Is it... are you
... ?" Holly turned her stunned eyes to Vince.

He spoke softly, slowly, choosing his words
with care.

"At the hospital, they said your blood and
hers were too close a match not to be siblings. Doc thought it
might be a mistake. We wanted to run another test to be sure before
we said anything, but..."

Amanda's face twisted, lips pulled tight.
"I... remember ... oh, God, I remember. Mom and Dad and ... and...
Holly?"

"Ivy?"

"Holly!" She launched herself at her sister,
and the two clung, held, fell to their knees still locked together
sobbing, holding tight and sobbing softly.

Vince looked on, and tried to wipe the
dampness from his cheeks without drawing undue attention.

DORIS NEWMAN DIDN'T know where everyone had
gone. Dr. Graycloud had come and taken Mrs. Stevens off someplace.
All the police who had been milling around earlier had gone, and
the guard was no longer at Reginald D'Voe's door.

It was early in the morning, not even
daylight yet. The hospital was eerily quiet.

She slipped out of her room without drawing
any notice, took the elevator down, and held tightly to the large
pair of scissors she had taken earlier.

Reggie D'Voe had been the man who had taken
her little girl so long ago. And the system had let him get away
with it all this time. She wasn't going to leave justice to the
system any longer.

She crept up to his room, opened the door,
and slipped silently inside.

Then she saw that girl, Amanda, sitting
beside Reggie's bed, holding his hand, and her face was wet with
tears.

Reggie lifted his head off the pillows. His
eyes were tear-stained as well. "Mrs. Newman... Doris," he said.
And his lips were compressed tightly as if in pain. His eyes welled
with fresh tears. "I won't even ask if you can forgive me for the
wrong I have done you and your family. There is no way I can ever
make it up to you."

“Then you admit it?" she asked, rage welling
inside.

He blinked, frowned, glanced at Amanda.
Amanda said, "She doesn't know, Reg. Holly and Vince went to find
her, but she must have already left her room. She still doesn't
know what really happened to Ivy."

Reginald gasped and turned even paler. "Oh.
Oh, God, you poor woman."

"It's okay. It's okay, Mrs. Newman," Amanda
said, rising slowly to her feet. "I know what you must be thinking
right now. But we know the truth, finally. Holly knows. So does
Vince. Reggie didn't do any of this."

Doris narrowed her eyes on the girl. "How do
you know?"

Amanda looked at her in an odd way. Her blue
eyes seemed to move constantly over Doris's face, as if trying to
memorize every line. "Because Ivy escaped from her abductor. He
didn't kill her. He never killed her. She got away."

Doris's knees weakened. The scissors fell
from her hands to the floor, and she lifted a hand to her trembling
lips. "Are you telling me ... my baby ... is still alive?"

Amanda nodded. A tear ran slowly down her
cheek. "She got away," the girl went on. "And wound up wandering,
lost and alone in a storm."

"And that's where I found her," Reginald
D'Voe said softly.

Doris frowned, her gaze shifting from him to
his niece and back again. "You—
you
found her?"

"She was delirious," Amanda said. "She told
Reggie that her father was the one who hurt her. Her abductor was a
sick man, who used to make her call him 'Daddy.' She was confused,
and she'd been drugged a lot of the time. So her mind was muddled.
She didn't remember who she really was."

"She couldn't even remember her real name,"
Reginald went on. "I thought I was protecting her from an abusive
parent, like the one who tortured me as a boy. I claimed her as my
own niece, and I raised her. I swear to God, Mrs. Newman, I didn't
know she was your daughter. I didn't know."

"You saved me, Reggie," the girl said. "You
saved me, and you cherished me, and you helped me to heal."

Doris blinked, her eyes sliding to the young
woman, who was moving slowly closer to her. She looked at the blue,
blue eyes. The soft, light-brown hair that had once been blonde.
The shape of her nose and chin. And she saw ... what she was almost
afraid to believe she was seeing. "Ivy?"

The girl nodded. "Mommy." She moved into
Doris's arms, and hugged her as Doris closed her eyes and started
weeping, holding her daughter as if she'd never let go, ever
again.

* * *

VlNCE AND HOLLY opened the door to Reg's
room, saw what was going on inside, and withdrew quietly. "Let's
give them some time," Holly whispered. "They've lost so much time.
They need it. God, I just want to sit down. I'm so tired."

Vince held Holly to his side, led her to the
nearest place he could think of where they could find quiet, which
turned out to be Dr. Graycloud's office. He knew the man wouldn't
mind. He set her down in a comfortable chair, knelt in front of
her, and peeled off her shoes.

"How many bodies?" she asked. She was
drained, emotionally, physically, mentally.

"I don't know."

"Come on Vince, someone's counted the mounds
by now. You've been on your phone ten times since we got back here.
And it'll be in the papers by tomorrow anyway. How many?"

He sighed, not wanting to tell her. He had
hoped for a lighter moment, but maybe it was impossible, given the
circumstances. "Fifteen is the best guess so far. Seventeen when
you add in the two most recent victims in Syracuse. He'd have
probably buried them here as well, but I found them before he moved
them. Selkirk said there were four others whose bodies were found
before Marty had buried them."

“That's twenty-one." She closed her eyes.
“Twenty-one innocent little girls."

“Twenty girls. One was a boy. Bobby Prague."
Vince shook his head. "He must have got in the way, seen too much,
something. Marty never took boys."

Holly winced. "And how many more victims did
dear Uncle Marty leave scarred and damaged, who lived to tell the
tale?"

"No one's even begun to count yet." Vince
tugged a blanket off a gurney in the hall, just outside the door,
then came back in and draped it over her. "But, he did have a prior
conviction."

She sat up in the chair. "He
what?”

"Before he married your aunt, he served two
years for molesting three seven-year-old girls."

She narrowed her eyes. "Two years? And that's
it? They just let him go after that?"

"Yep. Even though they knew full well he'd do
it again."

She swallowed hard. "That's not right. Why
didn't you know about it? You must have checked for convicted sex
offenders in the area."

"He lived in a different state, used a
different name. Local authorities are supposed to be notified when
a convicted sex offender moves into their area, but it doesn't
always happen. Marty fell through the cracks. A lot of them fall
through the cracks." He shook his head. "What's even harder to take
is that your cousins, when they were contacted by California State
Police to be notified about all of this, said their father had
molested them. They told their mother, and she refused to believe
them."

"That's why they left home," Holly said
softly. "I kind of pieced that together on my own over the past
several hours."

“They found the gray van he used for the
abductions, you know. He kept it in an old barn, outside town,"
Vince said. "This could have been prevented. All those kids could
still be alive, if he had been taken out of society permanently the
first time he was convicted. Or if his wife had believed her
children and filed charges against him."

"What about Bethany?" Holly asked.

Vince shook his head. "Doc says she wasn't
raped. You and your sister got to her in time."