The Christmas Bell Tolls (9 page)

“Hmm.”
Riley had been quiet for so long that her sentence bounced off the walls of
Maddie’s kitchen.

“What?” Darren set
the uneaten half of his sandwich on the plate. He’d forced himself to eat as
much as he had to pacify Eva, who sat beside him and watched every bite he
took. He knew she was only worried about him, and while it might be just the
situation, it brought him comfort.

“When did you and
Georgia get married?” Riley asked.

“Six years ago.
May fifteenth.”

“Well this is
interesting. Margaret Brewster got married same year, May twentieth.”

“Five days later.
Kind of an odd coincidence,” Eva said.

But Darren didn’t
believe in coincidences.
“Really?
Who did she marry?”

“One
Jackson Kent.
But, they got divorced the following February. Hang on,”
Riley leaned closer to her laptop. The tapping sound increased. “The divorce
decree was entered while she was a resident of the Lakeside Behavioral.”

“Wow. What was she
in there for?” Maddie asked.

“Records are
sealed. Let me try something else.” Again, the taps on the keyboard increased
like machine-gun fire, then ceased. “No, they’re really sealed. I can’t even
get in the back way like I sometimes can.”

“I’m going to
pretend I didn’t hear that,” Nick said.

Riley shrugged.
“Not my fault hospitals sometimes don’t shut their back doors.”

“Can you find out
how long she was in the hospital?” Eva asked.

“Maybe.”
Riley tapped away,
then
paused. “From what I can tell,
she was admitted in January, transferred from Baptist Memorial, and wasn’t
released until this August.” She typed more. “Locked out of the records, I
can’t find a forwarding address.”

“So they were
really only married for eight months before she went into the hospital?” Eva
held up her fingers.

“And he divorced
her while she was in the hospital?” Maddie added. “That’s kind of a chicken
thing to do.”

Riley glanced over
the top of her computer. “Divorce decree cites the reason he filed for divorce
is inappropriate marital conduct.”

“What? I’ve never
even heard of that.” Eva picked up the paper plates from the table and carried
them to the kitchen counter.

“That’s all I can
find about it.” Riley typed some more. “Still can’t find an address for her.”

“She’s been in the
hospital for about five years? Wow, that’s a long time.” Rafe shook his head.
“I mean, I know she was unstable, but…”

Riley stopped
typing. “Hey, I found him.”

“Her
husband?”
Maddie tossed the paper plates into the trash.

Riley nodded.
“Jackson Kent. Last known address just happens to be right here in Memphis.”

“Should we call
him? Maybe find out a little more about her?” Eva asked.

“It’s after
midnight. He probably wouldn’t be too receptive to having someone show up at
his door this late to talk about his ex-wife.” Maddie grinned. “Why don’t we
all call it a night and hit it again first thing in the morning?”

“Maybe Wilson will
have a lead by then as well,” Nick said.

Darren stood. “I
need to check in at home anyway.
Time to face Wilson.”

Eva stood beside
him. “Come on, let’s get our coats and I’ll take you home.”

Maddie and Nick
showed them out after Rafe and Riley said their goodbyes. At the door, Nick
grabbed Darren’s arm. “Look, if Wilson gives you too much of a hard time, call
me. Yes, you broke protocol, but he should understand that, given the
circumstances. If he hasn’t been able to find the information on Brewster that
Riley did, I’ll put in a call to the Director in the morning.”

“Thanks, Boss.”

“And know that
we’re all praying, Darren. God’s got this all under control.”

“I know. That’s
the only thing keeping me sane right now. Goodnight.” Darren followed Eva down
the stairs and to her car.

The defroster’s
air was almost as cold as the wind whipping around the car. Eva blew on her
hands, wishing she could remember where she left her gloves. “You really rely
on your faith, don’t you?”

Darren nodded. “I
do. I know that God loves Savannah more than I ever could.” He twisted slightly
in the seat to look at Eva. “I know you believe in God.”

“I do. It’s just…”
She shrugged. “It’s just we see so much bad every day in our jobs.
The evil that people do.
The cruelty.
It’s hard to reconcile all that with a loving God is what I have a problem
with.”

Lord, give me
the words.
Darren let out a slow breath. “I understand what you mean. I
used to struggle with that, too.
Especially when Georgia was
diagnosed and got so sick.
And then again with Savannah’s heart
condition. And asthma.”

“How do you deal
with it? Accept it? Keep your faith so strong and resilient?”

“It took me a long
time, but I finally just accepted the fact that there isn’t always an answer.
There are just some things in this world that I’ll never understand. Taking
someone so good is one of them. Allowing a child to be born with a defect is
another. I can’t try to find reason for everything. It’d drive me crazy.”

“So you just
accept what is?” Eva shook her head and stared out the front windshield.
“That’s hard.”

“It is. That’s
faith. I have to believe that while I may not understand everything, and I
certainly may not like everything, there
is
a reason for each and every
thing that happens on this earth, even if I never know what that is this side
of paradise.”

“And you’re okay
with that?”

“I have to be.
It’s
how I can make it through every day when there’s so
much awfulness in the day-to-day world.” He smiled. “Then on the other hand, I
watch Savy sleeping peacefully and I’m in awe at the beauty and wonder on this
earth. It’s a balance.”

“Good and bad.
Ying and yang.”

“Yes.”

Eva nodded in
silence,
then
put the car in gear. He’d been as honest
and open as he could be about his faith. But he realized he needed to be open
and honest about something else as well. This would be harder.

“Eva, I owe you an
apology.” He could barely push the words out.

“Whatever
for?”
She cut a look at him, then concentrated on the road unfurling in
the darkness.

“When we agreed to
stop seeing each other—”

She laughed, but
it was humorless.
“When you called it off, Darren.
Call it for what it is.”

He started to
protest,
then
realized she was right. And that was
just something else he needed to apologize about. “You’re right. I called it
off. I was unfair, and I let assumptions make that decision for me.”

She shot him
another glance. “I’m not following you.”

No matter how he
tried to explain, he would sound like a jerk. Maybe he was a jerk. He sure felt
like one. “When we were dating, I came to really care about you.
A lot.”

“And I cared about
you a lot.”

A pregnant pause
filled the cold space between them.

“So why did you
call it off?” Her voice was softer than he deserved. “I never really
understood.”

“I should have
been more honest with you. Tell you what I was feeling.”

“Which was?”

At least the
darkness hid the blush that had to flame his cheeks. “I thought you weren’t
ready to be serious.”

“What?” She jerked
her stare to him, held it for a split second,
then
looked back at the road. “You didn’t think I was ready to be serious? What does
that mean?”

Trying to explain
himself…yeah, he felt more like a jerk than ever. But he owed it to her. “I
didn’t think you were ready to be in a serious relationship.”

“Then what did you
think I wanted?
Just to hang out with you?”
She shook
her head. “Darren, you knew I cared about you a lot. You knew I wasn’t seeing
anyone else. Why would you think I wasn’t ready to be in a serious
relationship? I thought that’s where we were headed.”

“I knew you dated
a lot of guys. I’d seen how you would break it off when one got too close.
You’d complained about clingy guys before.”

“Clingy,
yes.
Guys who bordered on stalking.
Guys who suffocated me.”
She pulled up to the stop sign and
stared at him. “Not you. You didn’t try to control me. You didn’t try to change
who I was.
Who I am.”

“I’m sorry. I
should have talked with you.”

“Why didn’t you?”
Even with only the dim the lights of the dashboard, the evidence of her pain
was obvious.

“I was too
scared.” There, he’d said it.

“Scared?
Of what?”

He glanced at the
side mirror. Why couldn’t a car come up behind them at the stop sign and save
him from her gut-punching stare? “I had started to fall in love with you, Eva,
and I thought you weren’t ready. I was scared for you to break my
heart…Savannah’s. I couldn’t risk that.”

“So you broke it
off with me first?” She gave that dry laugh of hers.
“Seriously?”

“In hindsight, I’m
not proud of myself.” He ran a hand over his face. He was so tired.
Physically, emotionally, spiritually…exhausted.
But he had
to be honest with her. She’d put her career on the line for him—for
Savannah—today, and he owed her the truth of how he’d felt.

How he probably
still felt, if he had the ability to concentrate on anything besides finding
his daughter at the moment.

Eva turned the car
onto his road. The one-point-four miles to his driveway felt like the longest
he’d ridden in silence in a very, very long time.

“I was falling in
love with you, too, Darren.”

“Wilson will have
us fired if he finds out what we’re doing.” Darren pulled into Jackson Kent’s
driveway.

Rafe chuckled.
“Let him try.”

The wind whistled
outside of Darren’s car. The early news forecaster warned that snow would fall
this morning, accumulating at least a couple of inches before nightfall.
Everyone was on the road, stocking up on supplies. The news reported extra
units from the electric and gas companies were on standby for outages.
It promised to be a long afternoon and evening for emergency crews
everywhere in the state.

“He better bring a
sack lunch if he plans to take us on, my brother, because it’ll be an all-day
event,” Rafe joked.

Eva wished she
could be as nonchalant as Rafe was about getting into trouble, but she had to
admit she was worried. Peter had left her a voice mail this morning, furious
that she’d gone to the lab last night. He’d been clear that she was to stay
away from the investigation. Still, there was no other place she’d be than getting
out of this car right now.

Darren locked the
doors with a press of the button,
then
shut the driver
door. The wind blasted against the three of them. “At least he’s getting the
warrant to pull the information from the shoe store.”

“After
Agent Lacey had to put his feet to the fire.”

“But maybe they’ll
get her address. Some lead on Savannah.”

Eva swallowed. It
was hard enough to deal with her emotions about Savannah being gone overnight
like this…she couldn’t imagine how hard it had to have been for Darren to be
home, without his daughter safe and sound at home with him.

Rafe led the way
up the stairs to the house of Jackson Kent. “Want me to take lead on this one?”

Darren nodded,
then
looked at Eva. “Sure you want to be involved? Nick can
pull strings and probably save mine and Rafe’s job if he has to, but we don’t
have any pull over the powers that be at TBI.”

“I’m in. Wild
horses couldn’t keep me away from this.” She straightened her badge, making it
visible.

Darren gave her a
shy smile and followed his best friend. She fell in behind Darren. After their
conversation when she dropped him off last night, neither could be sure of
where they stood with each other, but it wasn’t the time to figure it out.

Later.
Surely they’d get a chance to figure…this, whatever
this
was…out later.
Eva had to believe that. She couldn’t let Darren just walk out of her life.

Not again.

Rafe’s heavy
rapping on the door pulled her attention. Footsteps echoed from inside. She
imagined Mr. Kent might not be too happy to find badged agents at his front
door before eight on a Saturday morning.

The door jerked
open, revealing a man about Darren’s age, with a striking resemblance to
Darren. Same shade of dark blonde hair.
Same wide forehead.
Same strong jawline.
“Can I help you?”

Rafe flashed his
badge. “Jackson Kent?”

The man nodded.
“What’s this about?”

“FBI.
We have a few questions for you.”

“About?”

“May we come in?”
Darren asked.

Mr. Kent
hesitated, then opened the door all the way and motioned them inside.

The living room
was small, but cozy. A couch, chair, small end table, and a full-wall
entertainment center that housed a television and all the accessories filled
the room.

Mr. Kent waved
them toward the couch. “Take a seat, I guess.” He dropped into the only chair
in the room. “Now, what’s this about?”

“Margaret
Brewster.
Your ex-wife.”
Rafe leaned forward from his
seat on the far end of the couch.

Darren sat crushed
between Rafe and Eva.

“Last time I heard
from her, she was still in the nut house. She’s crazy, you know.” Mr. Kent
fingered the hem of his tattered flannel shirt.

“Tell us about
that.”

“About
what?
Her being crazy?
That’s actually being
generous, by the way.”

Rafe nodded.

“Look, I don’t
know what she told you, but
I
—”

“Pretend we don’t
know a thing about her. Just tell us the story of how you met and married and
then divorced.” Darren sat a little straighter.

“We went out maybe
two or three times, not many. We weren’t dating by any stretch of the
imagination. But, one thing led to another, and the next thing I know, she told
me she was pregnant and we needed to get married.”

“Was she?
Pregnant, I mean?” Darren asked.

“I thought so. She
had a positive pregnancy test thing. It was enough for me.” Mr. Kent looked a
little sheepish, especially as he made eye-contact with Eva. “I would never
turn my back on a kid of mine.”

Eva smiled. These
days, not every man would stand up for his responsibilities.

“So we got
married. We got a little apartment. It was an adjustment. She played a good
part, like she was dedicating herself to be a good wife and mother.” He shook
his head. “Man, she was good. She had justification for everything I’d
question.”

“What do you
mean?” Rafe asked.

“Like, she
couldn’t schedule any of her doctor appointments at times when I could meet her
during my lunch hour because her doctor covered for the emergency room during
that hour. She brought home pictures of the ultrasound though.
A boy.
Even a video.”
He leaned
back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. “She had an answer for everything.
Like she was so sensitive about the weight gain that I
couldn’t touch her stomach.
She wore the biggest and longest maternity
shirts she could find. She said it was a high risk pregnancy, so she had to be
extra cautious.”

He made eye
contact with Eva,
then
switched to Rafe. “I didn’t
want to make her uncomfortable so I never questioned it.
Never
asked too many questions.
Just did what she asked.”

Darren shifted on
the couch.

“We got a crib,
decorated the nursery. Keep in
mind,
I didn’t know
what pregnancy was like. I hadn’t ever been with a pregnant chick. It never
occurred to me to ask about anything. I didn’t have any reason to not believe
what she told me.”

Eva had the
strangest sensation creeping into her gut. Rafe and Darren must have had it,
too, because Rafe nodded.

Mr. Kent rubbed
his palms against his thighs. “And then one morning, I woke up to find a note
on the bed where Mags shoulda been. It said she was in labor and she’d tried to
wake me up, but couldn’t.”

His cheeks flashed
red. “By this time, everything had gotten a little too serious for me. The
bills were piling up and Mags was always on me about the hours I worked, but
construction jobs were getting harder and harder to come by. Every so often,
I’d taken to having a beer or two with the guys before coming home.” His face
burned now. “So, she might have tried to wake me up and I could’ve waved her
off.”

“What happened?”
Eva’s mouth was so
dry,
cotton would be moist by
comparison.

“The note said
she’d taken a cab to the hospital. I called Baptist Memorial, where she’d told
me she’d pre-registered, and asked if my wife, Margaret Kent had been admitted
yet. The woman on the phone told me she hadn’t yet. So, of course, I got
dressed and raced over there. I was relieved I hadn’t missed the birth.”

“Of
course.”
Eva could imagine the panic he felt.
The
fear.
And probably a little bit of self-loathing that Mags hadn’t been
able to wake him up. A part of Eva felt for Mags, despite everything she knew
about her.

“I got to the
hospital and followed the signs to labor and delivery. I checked in at the
nurses’ station there, and they had no record of her. I was confused because
I’d talked to someone and they’d told me she hadn’t been admitted yet,
not that she wasn’t there
.”

“I’m confused. She
wasn’t there?” Rafe asked.

“Exactly,
man.
I mean, that’s exactly what I thought. So one of the nurses gets on
the phone with somebody and she is talking, but looking at me like I’m a little
crazy. Know what I mean?”

Darren nodded. “I
do.”

“She finally hangs
up and tells me someone is coming to meet me to take me to my wife. So
naturally, at this point, I’m wondering what in the world is going on.”

Eva was wondering
the same thing herself.

“Get this, a
doctor comes and takes me to a conference style room and starts asking me all
sorts of questions. Like who is Mags’ OB and had I ever felt the baby kick and
stuff like that. Naturally, I’m worried, so I just flat-out ask him if
something happened to the baby. And that’s when he lays it on me.”

Jackson Kent said
nothing more, just shook his head and mumbled, “I couldn’t believe it.”

A moment of
silence passed.
Then another.

Eva couldn’t wait
any longer. “What happened to the baby?”

His gaze locked
onto Eva’s. “That’s just it. There wasn’t a baby. There was never a baby.”