"The nurse was there? Why?" I asked.
"She helps out with the dismissal procedures."
"Okay. Have you talked to her?" I asked.
I had met Mrs. Baker when Julie was hit by a basketball in the head at PE one day and had to come home with a mild concussion. She was a sweet old lady who had been with the school for decades and knew each and every child.
"Not yet," he said. "We haven't been able to reach her. She's not the type who picks up her cell phone while driving. But it's still early in the afternoon. I’ve sent a patrol car out to her home but haven't heard from them yet. Now, if you'll get off the phone, then maybe I could call her again."
"Of course," I said.
"We're also having all their phones traced, and I’m waiting for an answer from that. I’m hoping that at least one of the girls left her phone on silent instead of shutting it off completely. I don't know why it takes so long, but apparently, it does."
I nodded, feeling a lump in my throat. "Keep me updated."
"Of course, Rebekka. And I meant what I said. I will do everything I can."
I pressed away a tear. "I know you will, Jack. I know you will."
Then we hung up.
14
May 2018
Julie held Alicia's hand tightly in hers as the gunmen yelled at them to hand over their phones and put them in the basket that one of the men walked through the bus carrying. No one dared to defy them. Julie looked at her phone in her other hand. It had been shut off when leaving the school, but she had turned it on when she realized the trip was taking longer than usual and when she no longer recognized anything outside the windows. While the gunmen yelled at a girl in front for not wanting to give them her phone, Julie quickly opened messenger and sent her mother a text. The gunman approached her, holding out the basket, his eyes staring at her from behind the pantyhose. The hose made his face distorted and creepy.
"Come on," he said and waved the gun. "I don't have all day."
The man smiled behind the pantyhose, revealing a couple of missing teeth.
"Now!"
Julie reached over and put the phone inside the basket just when the display lit up to let her know that the text was sent. Julie gasped, worried that the man would see it, but the other gunman spoke to him, and he turned his head right at the moment when the phone lit up.
By the time he turned his head back, the phone had gone dark again. Julie held her breath and realized she had been squeezing Alicia's hand hard. As the man turned back, she looked at the young girl next to her. She then tried to let go of her hand, but Alicia wouldn't let her. She put her hand back inside of hers as the bus driver started to yell from the front of the bus.
"Time to get out. Leave your seats, leave your backpacks, and get out."
Alicia and Julie exchanged a quick glance. Julie then looked out the window. "Here?" she mumbled. "What's here?"
They did as they were told and walked out in a line onto the road. Some of the girls were whimpering; others had started to cry. Julie tried hard to remain calm.
"Now, get in," one of the gunmen said and pointed at the two vans parked in front of them. The girls looked at one another with confused eyes.
"I…wanna go home," a little girl cried.
"Shut up," the gunman said and pointed the gun at her.
"I want my mommy," the girl continued, now completely out of it. The gunman was obviously frustrated by her and was about to hit her, when Julie let go of Alicia's hand, ran to the girl, and grabbed her. Julie pulled her back in the line. The girl was still crying helplessly, but Julie held her close to make sure she stayed in the line. She felt the girl shaking. She shushed her when she cried loudly.
"GET IN!" the gunman repeated.
Holding the little girl close, Julie helped her get into the van, then jumped in herself, Alicia right behind them. As soon as all the girls were in, one gunman pulled the sliding door closed and now they were sitting in complete darkness. Julie felt Alicia squeeze her hand hard as the engine roared and the van began to move.
15
April 1991
Jane had been in the bathroom for way too long. She knew Bob would soon begin to ask questions, yet she couldn't get herself to go out to him. In her hand, she was holding the pregnancy test, and she kept staring at it like she expected the result to change if only she looked at it long enough.
There was a knock.
"Are you okay?"
"I…I'm coming out in a bit."
"Okay. Just checkin'."
Jane looked at her face in the mirror. She had no idea how to react to this news. A baby? A real live baby was growing inside of her?
She was thrilled. Of course, she was, but also terrified at the thought. Was she too young? Had she lived enough, or would she regret having a child when she was only twenty years old? She wasn't even old enough to drink alcohol yet. Would she be missing out on her entire youth? Was it too soon?
Another knock. "Baby, you're scaring me here. Are you sure you're okay?"
Jane swallowed, then looked down at the stick. Yes, she was okay. Probably. Everything was going to be okay, wasn't it? Maybe this was exactly what their marriage needed?
Terrified, she put her hand on the handle and opened the door. Bob waited outside.
"What's going on?" he asked, throwing out his arms.
She showed him the stick in her shaking hand.
"What's this?"
He grabbed it and looked at it, then turned it in the light. Finally, he lifted his eyes and met hers.
"I-is th-this what I think it is?"
Jane bit her lip, then nodded.
"Yes."
Bob's eyes grew wide. His mouth was gaping. "A-re y-y-ou, I mean are we…does this mean I'm…?"
She nodded again, holding her breath. Bob let out a gasp, then tumbled backward.
Oh, dear Lord, he's not happy?
Barely had Jane finished the thought and wondered if he too thought it was too early when Bob let out a loud shriek of joy. He grabbed her and lifted her in the air.
"I'm gonna be a daddy!!!"
Jane laughed as he spun her around, holding her around the waist.
"I'm gonna be a daddy!" he repeated. "Ha-ha!"
He put her down, held her face between his hands, and rained kisses down on her. "I can't believe it," he said between kisses. "I am the luckiest man alive. I'm gonna be a real daddy. You have no idea how happy that makes me. You did this. You made me this happy!"
Jane nodded and kissed him back, tears rolling across her cheeks. "I'm happy too."
Bob threw out his arms. "This demands a celebration!"
He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the kitchen. He helped her sit down, then grabbed the phone and called The Pier House Restaurant and reserved a table for the same night. Jane rubbed her stomach, happy yet nervous. Bob hung up, then clasped his hands.
"What can I get you? Something to drink? Water? No, don't get up. I’m gonna spoil you from now on. I’m gonna spoil you rotten. You need a foot massage? Here, let me give you one."
Jane leaned back in the chair with a chuckle while Bob grabbed her feet and started to rub them. Jane closed her eyes and enjoyed it. She loved foot massages more than anything.
"I can't believe I’m gonna be a daddy," he said while rubbing her toes. "And best of all is that now you can quit that silly job."
Jane opened her eyes. "What?"
"Yeah. There's no need for you to work anymore. You're gonna be a mama. And you will be the best one."
"But…But I don't want to quit my job," she said and pulled her foot out of his hands.
"Excuse me?" he said.
"I love my job. I never meant to quit it just because we have children."
"But how are you going to be a mom?" he asked. "I don't understand?"
She shrugged. "Lots of women do it."
He got up from his chair with an angry motion, causing the chair to skid across the floor.
"You mean to
tell me you want to be like them?"
"What are you talking about? Lots of women do both?"
Jane was so surprised by his reaction. It wasn't something they had ever discussed since she assumed that they agreed on it. She loved her work and her co-workers, plus it meant she had a little extra for herself every month. She liked having a little money to spend. With her not working, money would be tight.
Bob grabbed a plate from the counter and threw it across the kitchen. It smashed against the wall and shattered onto the floor.
"And they are terrible mothers. Do you want to be like them, huh? Do you want to be a TERRIBLE mother too?"
Jane stared at the shattered pieces of the plate, wondering what to do. This was important to her. She wasn't going to let go of her job like that. How could she? It was all she had. It was what kept her sane.
"I can do both, Bob. Listen to me. My mom worked. Your mother worked. It's possible."
That threw Bob into a regular fit. He grabbed the chair he had been sitting on and threw it through the air. It hit the cabinets and made a dent in the wood. Jane shrieked as it flew above her head.
Bob stood above her, pointing his finger at her, his cheeks burning in anger, his eyes on fire.
"No woman of mine will be working. You hear me?" he snorted.
"Okay. Okay," Jane said, holding her hands up to protect herself. He had never hit her, but for the first time, she feared that he would.
"If it means so much to you, I'll quit. Just please stop yelling, please."
16
May 2018
The wait was unbearable. I couldn't sit still; I couldn't stand walking around; I couldn't bear looking at the phone; and I couldn't not look at it. I was constantly pacing around the kitchen, looking at the phone, then putting it down, only to return a few seconds later to look at it.
I just wanted this to be over. I just wanted my Julie back.
William brought me his favorite stuffed animal, an orca that we bought for him at SeaWorld. He handed it to me for comfort, so now I was walking around nervously with a dog-sized stuffed orca under my arm.
The worst part was not being able to do anything. My Julie was out there somewhere, and I didn't know where or who was with her. Was she safe? Was she hungry? Julie was always starving at this time of day after coming home from school.
That was when my phone made a sound. I rushed to the counter and picked it up, then stopped breathing.
"What is it?" Sune asked, approaching me.
"I…It's from Julie…a text…"
I pressed a button and immediately tried to call her back, but only got her voicemail again. I groaned, annoyed.
"You got a text from her? From Julie? Well, what does it say?" he asked.
"I…it's just…it doesn’t really say anything. It's just a…" I looked up and met Sune's eyes. "She wrote her own name."
I swallowed and sat down heavily in the chair.
"So, it just says Julie?"
I nodded and bit my lip. A tear escaped my eye, and I wiped it away.
"But that means she's fine, right?" Sune asked. "Why are you crying?"
I looked up at him and wiped away another tear. "A few months ago, I had a talk with Julie about bullying and peer pressure. Realizing she would soon be going into middle school, I knew that some of the kids might start smoking and drinking at some point within the next few years. So, we decided that she should have a code word. A word she could write to me, so I would know that she was in trouble and to come get her. A word that if her friends grabbed her phone, they wouldn't know she was asking for me to come for her and wouldn't bully her for it. You know, so they wouldn't come after her saying she was calling for her mama, that she was running home to mommy, stuff like that."
"And that word was her own name?"
"Yes. It was something I read in an article somewhere and thought it was clever. This tells me she is in trouble somehow."
"And exactly how were you supposed to find her then, according to your clever plan?" Sune asked.
I lifted my eyes again. Suddenly, a small hope was springing into them. "The app," I said and grabbed my phone from the counter. "You know the one you always say is only for paranoid and overly controlling helicopter moms?"
"The map-one?"
"Yes. It shows me where she is at all times if her phone is turned on. And if she managed to send me this text, then her phone must have been turned on. She must have turned it on even though she usually keeps it shut off on the bus."
I opened the app, tapping hard and frantically on the glass of my phone.
"Well?" Sune said as I zoomed out on the map. Julie's picture showed up, and her whereabouts were pinned on the map.
"Bingo."
17
May 2018
I called up detective Ryder and told him, but refused to tell him exactly where the app had told me Julie was until he promised to bring me along. There was no way I was going to stay home while knowing where my daughter was. A few minutes later, he drove up in our driveway, and I got into the car.
"You're a very stubborn woman, do you know that?" he asked.
"I've heard that before," I said.
"Okay. So where are we going?"
I opened the app and showed him.
He looked surprised. "That far inland, huh?"
"Apparently so," I said while Jack got the car back onto the road and rushed off. He put the sirens on to clear the roads. Behind us followed three other police cars.
"Once we get there, I want you to stay in the car, you hear me?" he said as we passed a couple of cars that drove onto the side of the road to let us by. "I can't worry about you too. It's the children before anything."
"Naturally," I said. "Let's just find them, okay?"
"I couldn't agree more," he said took a turn so sharp I banged my head against the window.
"Ouch."
"You're the one who wanted to tag along," he said.
I rubbed the side of my head but didn't argue with him. I could tell he was annoyed by me.
"I could have you arrested, you know. For withholding evidence in an ongoing investigation," he continued.
"Then, why didn't you?" I asked.
"Not enough time. Frankly, right now, I just want the girls back."
"Then we can at least agree on something," I said.
He made an annoyed sound as we came across the bridges and hit the mainland. According to the map, Julie was close to St. John's River and Lake Poinsett. We had been there once to go on an airboat ride back in February where we had seen two grown gators and several babies. It was a very remote area with lots of swamps surrounding it. I kept thinking of a logical explanation to why the girls would end up out there, but the most plausible one I could come up with was that the bus driver had somehow lost his mind, maybe gone senile or something and thought they were going on a field trip.
"It's not moving," I said. "Her position on the map. They're standing still. Maybe they parked the bus and are waiting to be found?"
Or maybe the phone has been turned off. You know the location on the map remains in the same place if the phone is turned off.
"One can hope," Jack said and sped up. I had never gone so fast in any car before. Luckily, Jack was a good driver.
As we continued, the residential areas disappeared, and soon there was nothing but swampy marshland on either side of the road. Cows and horses were grassing in the fields surrounded by water, and I wondered how they kept the gators from eating them.
We drove for what felt like forever, going straight forward through swampy and rural areas until we finally came closer to the place where the map told me Julie was. My heart pounded in my chest as we approached the spot, then passed it.
18
May 2018
"Stop. Stop the car!"
I yelled at Jack. I could hardly breathe. This couldn't be true!
"STOP!"
He looked at me, then hit the brakes. The car came to a sudden halt, t
hen skidded sideways. The cars behind us stopped just as abruptly and ended up on the side of the road.
"What? Why?"
"We passed it," I said. “It was back there. Look." I showed him the map. He looked confused.
"But there was nothing back there."
"There has to be," I said. "We have to go back."
Jack turned the car around and drove back slowly. When we reached the spot on the map, I told him to stop again. I got out and looked. There was nothing there but trees, bushes, and shrubbery. And water. Water on each side of the road.
"They're not here," Jack said as he came out to me.
A lot of words came to me involving Sherlock and no…but I held it back. This was no time to be witty or even provocative. I felt the panic knocking again. It threatened to overpower me.
"It can't be," I said. "The map says she's here, look. She should be here with her phone."
Jack took in a deep breath. "Or maybe…" he turned around and then ran toward a row of trees. "Stay here."
He almost disappeared in between the trees; then everything went eerily quiet.
"Jack?"
He didn't answer, so I tried again, this time slightly more nervous. "Jack? Where did you go? Did you find anything?"
The officers from the other cars came up to me.
"Where did he go?" one of them asked.
I shrugged. "In there somewhere."
There was a sound on their radios, and they immediately started to run toward where Jack had disappeared. My heart stood still as I heard them yelling, and then turmoil followed.
What the heck is going on?
My knees felt weak as I stood there, staring, wondering exactly what they were doing, or more importantly, what they had found.
Was it their bodies?
Stop it, Rebekka. You can't do this to yourself.