Time Thieves (13 page)

With a heavy sigh, she walked back down to the other rooms and back to the staircase leading to her bedroom. At her bedroom, she flung the door open wide, hoping she’d picked up her clothes last night. She’d rushed out earlier without thinking she’d be bringing someone back inside.

Ward walked in, strode over to the closet, and double-checked that it was also empty. He made a half-strangled noise and crouched down.

“Sari?”

She rushed over. “Is she here?” Sari bent down. “Madge!”

The tiny woman stared up at her in terror. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“How did you get here?”

But Madge wasn’t listening. She was too busy gnawing on the fist in her mouth, staring blindly at Ward.

“It’s all right, Madge. This is a friend. He can help protect you.”

Madge’s gaze switched to Sari’s then swiveled back again to lock onto Ward. She whimpered.

“Ward, move back slowly.” Sari sat down in front of Madge and belatedly held out the cup of tea for her. “Here, take this. It will help warm you up.”

The woman’s gaze never wavered as Ward slowly backed up, leaving the field open for Sari. “He’s not going to hurt you. He’s here to help.”

Madge’s gaze never softened. Neither did it leave its position on Ward.

“Look at me, Madge?” Sari raised her voice sharply.

Madge spun her head to look at Sari, her eyes wild.

“Here, take your tea. Now just calm down.”

The old woman stared at the cup in Sari’s hands. She licked her lips.

“That’s right. Take it. It will help you to relax. We’re not going to hurt you.”

Madge reached out a shaky hand and tried to grasp the cup. It shook so severely Sari reached over and clasped both of her hands over Madge’s, steadying the cup. Madge took a deep breath, and some of the tension seemed to drain out of her. Her shoulders eased back and her gaze lost some of its wariness.

“That’s it. Take it a sip. It can’t be too hot after all this time. We carried it while searching for you,” Sari said with a gentle smile. “I’d love to know how you found my bedroom, too.”

Madge dropped her gaze and stared into the depths of the cup. Then she lifted it to her lips and took a sip, then a bigger sip. She closed her eyes and sighed. She dropped her knees and leaned back against the back of the closet wall. “Thank you.”

Settling deeper into her position, Sari smiled. “You’re welcome. See, isn’t that better?”

“Not much,” murmured Ward beside her. He’d sat down into a cross-legged position at her side. He held up his hands at the woman. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

His tone of voice was somewhat lacking. Madge whimpered and Sari shot Ward a warning look. “It’s to be expected that I’m concerned about her sudden arrival. She might be a danger to you.”

Madge’s gaze widened. She shook her head frantically. “No. I’m not going to hurt anyone. I’m trying to stay safe. To hide.”

“But by breaking into Sari’s house, you put her in danger too.”

Madge’s eyes filled with tears. She shook her head so rapidly the tears flew off to the side. “I didn’t mean to. Sorry. Sorry. So sorry.”

“Shh, it’s all right.” Sari laid a hand on Madge’s knees. “It’s all right. It’s going to be okay. He’s here to help you. To help me. We aren’t going to hurt you.”

Madge huddled into a tight ball, the hand holding the tea shaking uncontrollably. The liquid sloshed up the sides to spill onto the floor below. Sari removed the cup from her shaking fingers and handed it off to Ward. She grabbed Madge’s hand and held it tight. “Madge. You have nowhere else to go and no one to help you. Let us…please.”

But Madge curled into a tighter ball on her side and rocked back and forth. She refused to answer.

Finally, after failing to reach into Madge’s psyche and get a cognizant response, Sari turned to face Ward. “What do we do?”

He stared down at the tiny woman, pity lining his face. “I’m going to call for help.”

Sari looked from Madge to Ward and then finally bowed her head. “All right. I guess that’s the only thing left to do.”

“She needs care. Medical help. Psychological help.” He reached over and stroked her shoulder. “It’s the best thing. We can’t leave her here on the floor. She could die in the shape she’s in.”

She smiled sadly. “I know that. Make your calls. Help her.” She sighed. “I just wished I didn’t feel like I was betraying her.”

S
ari sat in
her shop several hours later. A fresh pot of tea sat on her desk beside her. Tired and dispirited, she couldn’t help but wonder how Madge was doing every time she saw the teacup. Madge had been catatonic by the time the paramedics arrived. She hadn’t moved when they’d lifted her birdlike frame onto the stretcher.

It had been sad yet reassuring to have the ambulance take her away. Surely they’d be able to help her. Ward had left soon after, stating he had paperwork to do about the incident. Now alone, she realized that they hadn’t gotten to the bottom of the problem of why Madge was so scared…and who she’d been hiding from.

Ward’s last words were to get the security system working today. Immediately.

The company was working on it now. She hoped they’d finish today. She didn’t think she’d sleep tonight after last night’s events. Then again, she wasn’t doing so well today. Tired and stressed, Sari knew she should have a nap, but her bedroom didn’t feel right. Her room needed to be cleaned up as soon as possible from the scene with Madge – she wasn’t going to want to deal with the mess later tonight.

“Excuse me.”

She spun around. The security guy was standing at her shop doorway. “Oh, hi. Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”

“No problem. I have to go and pick up a couple of things. Two of my men are working on the installations. I should be back in an hour or so.”

“Will the system be done today?”

“Yes, it will – providing we have everything with us here. We’ll do our best though. No worries.” With a bright smile, he walked out the front door. She stood at the front window, teacup in hand, and stared out. She couldn’t focus on anything. She just wanted to lie down and sleep.

Sighing heavily, she walked over to the stairs and went up. At the entrance to her room, she stopped and grimaced. How could the simple act of picking up one tiny woman cause such a mess? There were plastic wrappers and dirt from the paramedics’ shoes. Her bed had been moved to make way for the stretcher, her shoes and clothing had been shoved to one side to reach Madge. Small she might have been, but she’d nestled deep into the space she’d chosen.

Sari put her tea down on her night table and proceeded to get to work.

Twenty minutes later, she’d stripped the bed and remade it, cleaned up the garbage, and had vacuumed the floor. She walked over to her closet and bent down to straighten that section of her room. Shoes first. She paired them up and moved a couple to the far side, then moved the hangers over to where they’d been before. As she went to straighten them, she thought she saw something on the floor. She bent deeper into the small space. It was a clasp. Not on the floor but on the back wall, right at the floor. She frowned. It was almost impossible to see. There was a fine crack leading upward, and she pushed the hangers as far back as they’d go. She’d automatically taken her same bedroom when she came back and had yet to go through her childhood belongings. She shoved the way too small clothing out of her way. There. The crack ended about halfway up the closet at another latch. This clasp was painted yellow, the same as the wall. And it was broken open.

Excited, she pushed on the wall. A small door opened.

*

Ward shook his
head. The woman in the bed in front of him was absolutely tiny. And frail. He couldn’t give her an age, but would guess her to be in her early eighties or thereabouts. In fact, she could be in her sixties. Her skin was thin and translucent, her veins giving a gray cast to the skin covering them. According to the doctors, she was dehydrated and desperately in need of nutrients, but was in essence healthy.

Her mental state was yet to be determined. She hadn’t spoken since she’d left Sari’s house.

He had a report to write up and as it stood right now, he couldn’t say much. Sari had woken up in the middle of the night to find a complete stranger hiding out in her attic. There was no explanation as to who she was or how she’d gotten in.

He ran his fingers through his hair.

Bizarre.

“Hey, Ward. Your girlfriend is keeping you busy.” Jeremy walked over. “I didn’t figure you’d still be here.”

“Hmmm?” Ward refocused on his partner. “What was that about a girlfriend?” He finally clued in. “Oh, you mean Sari. As much as I’d like it to be, she’s not my girlfriend.”

“Sure. Like I’m going to listen to that.” Jeremy smacked him on the shoulder. “And what kind of weird shit is this?” He nodded to the woman lying in front of them. “Is that correct – Sari found her in the attic, freezing and terrified?”

“And when Sari took me to where she’d seen her last, she wasn’t there. We searched the house and Madge here,” Ward tilted his head at the sleeping woman, “was hiding in the back of Sari’s bedroom closet. Now how the hell she found her way there in that mess of a house, I don’t know.”

His friend grinned. “I’ve heard the house is haunted.”

“It’s a whole lot more than that. From the outside, you’d have no idea. Even inside, unless you know where you’re going, it’s easy to get turned around. The place is old and it’s huge.”

“I wonder how she got inside in the first place. It’s not like Sari lives downtown or that the house is easily accessible. It’s fenced, it’s set back from the curb, and although there are neighbors on either side, the property is big enough that it’s as if there was no one around.” He shook his head. “And how could she have gotten into the attic?”

“Many people knew her family from before. Her father was well loved – he was a character, but a friendly one. I used to spend hours in his shop.” Ward shrugged. “Maybe more people know about it than I thought.”

“Oh, and here I thought that you were spending that time with Sari.”

Ward grinned. “We were ten. Spending time with Sari back then
was
spending time with her father. And vice versa.”

“Not the mother.” Jeremy frowned. “I don’t remember hearing much about her.”

“She’s a different sort. As reserved as Sari’s father was friendly. She was one of those women with perfect makeup in place at seven in the morning and at eleven at night – whereas Sari’s father would look rumpled at seven in the morning and eleven at night. They were chalk and cheese.”

“Funny how opposites attract, isn’t it?”

“Yes. But I don’t know how well the relationship was working. Would it have survived the years if he hadn’t disappeared? I don’t know.”

“Do you suspect the wife of having something to do with his disappearance?”

Ward twisted his lips. “I’ve certainly considered the possibility over the years, but I just don’t see it. She’s not likely to get her hands dirty.”

“She could have hired someone.”

With a grimace, Ward nodded. “Which is why I considered it. He’s gone. He hasn’t popped up in another city as far as we can tell. There’s no sign of a body. It’s like he just vanished into thin air.”

“It happens sometimes. Cold cases are terrible. For everyone.”

They both stared silently at the sleeping woman. “This is one strange turn of events.”

“No,” Ward said. “This is a second strange turn of events. Remember, Sari’s house was broken into a week ago as well. We haven’t found those two men either.”

“True enough. Back to the office then. Check the missing persons files. Maybe she’ll show up there.”

With a backward glance at Madge, Ward walked out of the hospital and headed to the office. It was going to be a long day.

*