Not by Sight (19 page)

“What kind of woman carries a rifle to the mailbox?” Abby said.

“One who’s expecting trouble or is just plain paranoid. I waited until it got dark to snoop around some more, but Tutt caught me red-handed and brought me here.”

Abby let go of Jay and sat on the earthen floor. “He was out looking for you.”

Jay dropped down next to her and put his arm around her.

Abby relished the warmth and told Jay about her conversation with Isaiah Tutt that led to his hitting her on the head.

“Isaiah wasn’t about to show me Ella’s birth certificate,” Abby said, “because he doesn’t have one. I caught him in a lie, and he didn’t like it.”

“Now that he knows we’re on to him, he’s not letting us go. We’ve got to find a way out of here.”

Abby paused for a moment, then looked up at Jay. “He said something that’s really bugging me. He said that he wasn’t worried you’d tell anyone about Ella as long as you believed you had killed Daddy.”

“I did kill him, Abby. It was a horrible accident. Why would I say it if it wasn’t so? It was the worst day of my life. I’d like to erase it.”

“Why do you suppose he told me that?”

“Beats me. Why would he steal someone’s kid? Why would he throw two teenagers in a hole and threaten to feed them to his pigs? Who knows what drives a man like that? The guy plays by his own set of rules.”

“What are we going to do?” Abby said. “Did you tell anyone you were coming up here?”

“No one. Did you?”

Abby shook her head. “He must’ve taken my cell phone. Did he take yours?”

“Yeah. He took the battery out and tossed it into the woods. The last call I made was to work, telling them I wasn’t coming in tonight. Even if they pull my phone records, it’s not gonna tell them anything.”

“Mine either,” Abby said. “The last time I used my phone was to text you this morning.”

“Of all times for my mom to be gone. She’s not even planning to check in with me until the weekend.”

“But mine will. And she knows we’re together.”

“Abby … unless someone figures out where we are—and fast—Isaiah’s gonna kill us.”

Kate sat on the couch, vaguely aware that her father was sitting in his easy chair, thumbing through a magazine.

“You really oughta get some rest,” he said.

“So should you.” Kate barely had the strength to unfold her hands.

“I’m just turnin’ pages, waitin’ for the phone to ring.”

“Dad, it’s ten thirty—where
is
she?”

“I wish I knew, honey.”

“Abby’s scheduled to work the morning shift. She’s always in bed by now. She’s too responsible for this.” Kate wiped a tear off her cheek. “Do you think they’ve run off together? Be honest.”

“I don’t know what to think. I didn’t notice any sparks between them. Abby said they were just close friends. I believed her.”

“They both have cell phones.” Kate got up and paced in front of the fireplace. “At least one of them should have called by now. Do you think it’s time to file a missing-person report? We’ve already checked the ER and every place Abby likes to hang out. I don’t know what else to do.”

“It’s your decision, Kate. I’ll support whatever you decide.”

“Tell me what to do. I’m so confused.” Kate flopped on the couch, her face in her hands. “No one at the sheriff’s department will take this seriously—not after Abby ran them in circles, not once but twice.”

“Virgil will, and he’s ramroddin’ that outfit. They’ll follow his lead.”

“Once I open this door, there’s no turning back.”

Dad got up and sat next to Kate, his arm around her. “Have faith, honey. God’s got everything under control.”

I wish I could believe that.
Kate laid her head on her father’s shoulder and linked her arm with his. “Dad, I know you’re trying to help. And I love you for it. But I
had
faith, and look where it’s gotten me. So please … let’s not talk about trusting God. Or His plan. His timing. Or His faithfulness. Not now. Not tonight.” She kissed his stubbly cheek. “I need to handle this my way.”

But I’m not handling it! I’m completely helpless to stop this madness!

Kate’s heart raced faster than her thoughts. She got up and walked over to the fireplace mantel and picked up a framed photograph of Abby. She traced her daughter’s face with her finger, her mind assaulted with visions of horror, of all the terrible things that could have befallen her child. She fluttered her eyelashes, the image of Abby turning into a blur. She was aware of her father standing next to her, putting her cell phone in her hand.

“Honey, call Virgil.”

Kate nodded. “I can’t lose her, Dad. I just can’t.”

Abby lay in Jay’s arms, praying for help and glad to finally feel warm.

“You awake?” Jay whispered.

“Wide awake. I’m praying for a miracle. Maybe there’s a way out of here we aren’t seeing.”

“It was stupid of me to think I could just take Ella and go to the sheriff.”

“We still might.”

“Abby … face it. We’re in real trouble here. No one knows where we are or even where to begin looking.”

“God knows.”

“He’s not telling!” Jay loosened his embrace. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my voice. I’m just frustrated. I don’t want to die.”

“Me, either. But I’m not giving up. I’m not letting Isaiah Tutt break Mama’s heart all over again. At least not without a fight.” Abby was quiet for a few moments. “Jay, did Ella seem happy when you saw her?”

“She skipped down the path to the mailbox. So I suppose so. But Mrs. Tutt was stonefaced. Reminded me of my sixth-grade math teacher.”

“I don’t know what I would do if we got the chance to take Ella and she started crying,” Abby said, “and begged us to let her go. She doesn’t know any other life than this one, and leaving it would probably be traumatic.”

“You would rather she end up like Mrs. Tutt,” Jay said, “marrying some backwoods hillbilly and toting a rifle to the mailbox? She belongs at the Cummings house. She has the right to grow up at Angel View. And your mama has the right to have her baby girl back.”

“I know. I just wonder if Ella would ever get over it. If she would ever love us like we do her.”

Abby felt a tear fall on her arm, and it wasn’t hers.

Jay held her tighter. “I’m sorry I brought this on you, Abby. I’m sorry I shot your father. I’m sorry I didn’t know Isaiah had kidnapped Riley Jo. I’m sorry I never told my mom and stepdad. It never occurred to me the little girl with Isaiah wasn’t his daughter. I just never connected the dots until I heard his voice on the phone.”

“Why would you?” Abby said. “And there’s no point in beating yourself up. You were just a scared kid.”

“Old enough to know that I should’ve reported the shooting.”

“And just old enough to be terrified of going to jail and losing your father’s love. You didn’t do anything malicious, Jay. And, if it helps, I forgive you for shooting Daddy. I get that it was totally an accident.”

Jay sobbed quietly.

Abby let herself cry with him for a few minutes, then forced herself to stop.

“It’s important that we stay clearheaded,” she said, wishing she had a box of tissues. “There might be a way out of here if we just think it through.”

Chapter 22

Abby nestled next to Jay, her body aching and sore from having fallen to the ground, and her head throbbing where Isaiah had hit her. She had never been more scared in her life.

Lord, unless You help us, we’re not going to get out of this alive.

How ironic it was that she had grown close to the young man who had accidentally killed her father and started the chain reaction that had left her family devastated. She refused to blame Jay. This was Isaiah Tutt’s fault. He was the adult. Kidnapping Riley Jo was unconscionable. And he was about to steal another daughter from Kate Cummings. Did the man have no conscience? No soul?

“Abby, are you awake?” Jay whispered.

“Uh-huh.”

“Isaiah’s probably gone to bed.”

“Or is out digging our graves,” Abby added, immediately wishing she hadn’t.

Jay didn’t respond for perhaps an entire minute. Finally he said, “Abby … I want you to know how much your friendship has meant to me. I’ve never had anyone in my life I could open up with. I’d give anything to not be the one who took your father from you.”

Abby covered his mouth with her hand. “Don’t do this. I told you I don’t blame you.”

A tear trickled down the side of Jay’s face. He gently took her wrist and removed her hand. “No matter what happens, I want you to know I don’t regret one minute of the time we’ve spent together.”

“You’re talking like it’s over,” Abby said. “We’re getting out of here. Have faith.”

“I’m trying. But face it, we’re trapped. And Isaiah’s calling the shots.”

“Shh. Did you hear that?” Abby held her breath and listened intently.

“No. What’d it sound like?”

“Footsteps. Someone’s coming.”

The squeaky door slowly opened and closed, and then the light came on in the room overhead and footsteps descended the wooden stairs.

Jay pulled Abby to her feet. She held so tightly to him that her fingernails were pushing into his arm.

Seconds later, a face peered through the grate in the trapdoor. “Y’all down there?”

“Ella?” Abby whispered.

“How come you know my name?”

“I know all about you,” Abby said. “Can you get us out of here?”

“Yep. But if Pa finds out, he’ll be hoppin’ mad, so you hafta be really, really quiet.”

Abby heard the bolt lock slide back and Ella grunting as she strained to open the door.

A few seconds later, the trapdoor was wide open, and the girl, the spitting image of Riley Jo, stood staring at them. She bent down and grabbed something and let it slide down one wall. Abby touched it and realized it was a flexible rope ladder.

“It’s kinda wobbly,” Ella said. “But Pa’s got it hooked real good up here.”

“You go first.” Jay helped Abby get her foot in the bottom rung. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Abby pushed past her soreness and tried not to groan as she climbed out. She reached out to Jay as he neared the top and pulled him up.

“Come on,” Ella said. “I brung a flashlight so y’all could see to git outta them woods.”

“How’d you know we were down there?” Jay said.

“I heard Otha and Pa talkin’ ’bout it. He ain’t lettin’ you go. I don’t understand why, but I know it ain’t right.”

“Aren’t you afraid he’ll know you let us out?”

Ella shrugged. “Pa’s always mad at me. I git whippin’s all the time, whether I done somethin’ or not. I heard him tell Otha I’ve been like a rock in his shoe since my real ma died. When I’m fourteen, he’s makin’ me marry Bobby Lee Hoover.”

Abby’s heart sank. It was all she could do not to reach out and hug her sister.

“Come on,” Ella said. “You best git movin’.”

Abby and Jay followed Ella down a narrow aisle between shelving filled with jars of home-canned goods. They climbed the wooden steps, and Ella opened the creaky outside door and stopped abruptly. Abby heard her gasp.

“Pa!”

“Whaddya think you’re doin’?” Isaiah Tutt’s voice sent a chill up Abby’s spine. “Did you think I wouldn’t hear you sneakin’ outta the house?”