Colleen wasn't listening; she was checking the floors for dirt, then taking notes.
"If you don't get the children out here for me to look at, then these officers will take them away from you. Is that what you want?" Colleen said.
Jane felt like crying. What the heck was this? Why was Colleen suddenly being like this? She had been so nice the other day and now this? Now she was talking about taking Jane's kids?
Jane nodded then walked to the bedroom where the kids slept on mattresses on the floor. She walked inside and woke them up one after another and had them come out to Colleen, who asked them to take off their clothes. She then checked each and every one of them, even little Matthew, who was still very much asleep in Jane's arms as she did it.
Then Colleen walked into the bedroom and looked at the children's beds. "What is he sleeping in?" she said and pointed at Matthew.
"He sleeps with his sister. On a mattress."
"That doesn't sound very safe. You don't have a crib?"
"No. I had nothing when I came here. You know this, Colleen, why are you acting this way?"
Colleen wrote on her pad, then looked up at Jane. "I only have the children's best interest in mind, that's all. It's all about the children."
41
May 2018
"I think it's a riddle," I repeated when coming home to Sune. I had taken an Uber back while looking through the lyrics to the song on my phone. Sune was sitting in the living room with William, doing a huge puzzle. He had decided to skip his physical training today after what had happened at Nancy's house and me having to go downtown to the police station.
They had already finished half of the tiger's face. I had kept Sune updated, so he knew what was going on, yet he still didn't quite understand what I was talking about.
"What's a riddle?"
"The song. In the letter. Remember how I told you about it?"
Sune looked down at William, then told him that Daddy had to go talk to Mommy for a little. We went out on the porch and closed the sliding door behind us.
"Okay, now you can tell me," Sune said. "I just didn't want William to…you know."
"Oh, no, me either," I said. "He's getting so smart. He understands so much now."
We sat on the patio couch and looked out over the ocean. I couldn't really enjoy it, though, since so many thoughts were rambling through my mind in what felt like a constant rotation.
"I think the kidnappers are trying to tell us something," I said, "by using the line from the nursery rhyme."
"Okay, that sounds plausible, but exactly what are they telling us?"
"Ten Little Injuns, right? There are ten girls. So, the first one goes like this:
Ten little Injuns standin' in a line,
One toddled home
And then there were nine."
Sune looked at me, confused. "So, what are you saying? That Alondra toddled home? What does that even mean?"
I took in a deep breath. "I don't know. I keep searching for some deeper meaning to it, but I can't seem to find it."
A flock of pelicans floated past us, looking like their lives required no effort whatsoever. That's when I thought of something.
"What if there is none?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
I leaned forward. "What if it is exactly what it says?"
"You mean she actually toddled home?" Sune stared at me in disbelief. "You mean she is at home? I don't understand…"
I rose to my feet, still leaning on the crutch. My leg was hurting, but I had no time to feel sorry for myself.
"What do you mean, Rebekka? Rebekka?" he said, confused. "Where are you going?"
I hurried the best I could to the door, then opened it. "If I’m right, then I’m going to find Alondra."
42
May 2018
I almost ran to the sidewalk toward Nancy's house. I completely ignored the pain in my leg as I approached her house and the place where I had been sitting with her just a few hours earlier when her world had come crashing down.
My heart was in my throat as I wondered if they would even believe me.
It was, of course, her husband, Kyle, who opened the door.
"Rebekka?"
I took in a deep breath. "I know it's a bad time for you and Nancy, but can I come in?"
He looked dumbfounded. "Listen, Rebekka. We've been through a lot…Nancy is…"
"It's important," I said. "Very important."
I could tell he was about to deny me entrance when something made him change his mind. Maybe it was the look in my eyes, maybe the tone of my voice. He could tell I was being sincere.
He nodded. "Sure." He stepped aside so I could walk in. "Nancy is still out, though. If you were planning on talking to her."
"I wasn't," I said and walked into the living room while Kyle closed the door behind me.
I stood still for a few seconds, listening, as he came up behind me. "You care to tell me what’s going on?"
"Have you heard any noises today, any unusual sounds?" I asked.
He looked like he thought I was an idiot, which he probably did, but I didn't care at this point.
"I…I haven't thought about it, no."
"No knocking or hammering or…say…what's that smell?" I asked.
"Rebekka…I have…it's been a long…we're exhausted and just want to…" he sniffed the air. "That is strange. I noticed it earlier too when I was in the kitchen but didn't think anything of it. Now, I smell it again."
I walked toward a door where the smell was worse. Fumes were coming from underneath it. Invisible fumes were slowly seeping into the living room.
My heart stopped.
"What is it?" Kyle asked.
"Go get Nancy, now!"
"But…"
"Kyle, I’m serious. You need to get out of here, both of you, now!"
He rushed to get her while I walked to the front door and opened it. I walked outside and toward the garage. Fumes were oozing from underneath the garage door as well.
I called Jack as I spotted Kyle carrying Nancy outside. I signaled for him to keep going. To get as far away from the house as possible.
"Now what, Rebekka?" Jack asked.
"You need to come."
He sighed. "Really? This better be good. I’m busy."
I ignored his remark. The fumes were reaching my nostrils, and I backed up.
"Just come, will you? And bring an ambulance and the firefighters as well."
43
May 2018
They arrived less than three minutes later. One of the advantages of living in a small town, I guess. The police station and fire department were just down the road from us.
I stood with Kyle and Nancy—who had woken up—and their son J.T. on the sidewalk while the firefighters drove up in their big trucks, then swarmed the driveway. Nancy threw up on the pavement, then complained about not feeling well.
"It's like something's wrong with my heart, Kyle," she wailed and bent over, clinging to her husband. "It's beating funny, Kyle. It's beating funny! Why is it doing that?"
Dressed in full gear, the firefighters opened the garage door where Nancy's car was parked.
It was still running.
"Someone's in there," one of them yelled when he looked inside it.
My heart stopped. This was exactly what I had feared.
Kyle didn't look too well either and, seconds later, he too bent over and threw up, then held his hands to his head while the firefighters leaned inside the open window of the car and desperately tried to pull the person out. I could hear them yelling at one another that she was strapped down.
"Bring something to cut her loose."
A second later, they pulled out a small body and rushed her out into the driveway. An arm poked out. It was missing two fingers.
"Alondra!" Nancy said, then tried to run to her, but Kyle held her back forcefully. Almost without breathing, I watched as they performed CPR on the girl, then pulled out the defibrill
ator and used that on her, but after several desperate attempts had to give up.
All eyes turned to look at Nancy and Kyle.
"NOOOOO!"
Nancy screamed, finally getting loose from Kyle's grip—or maybe he let her go since he too realized it was over. Nancy ran to her daughter, letting out a weeping scream that went straight through every bone in my body. Kyle sunk to his knees and threw up again, while Nancy took her daughter frantically in her arms. The firefighters pulled away and took off their helmets in respect, while Nancy screamed and carried her daughter around, not knowing where to go or why she was even doing it, just screaming and crying loudly, letting her pain out.
Finally, she turned toward her husband.
"She was in there all this time, Kyle. She was in there, in our own home and we didn't…we didn't know, Kyle. We didn't. We could have saved her, Kyle. We could have saved her!"
Saying this, Nancy sunk to her knees, sobbing. She held her daughter tightly to her chest, rocking her back and forth, her cries in such deep a despair it made me want to scream.
"We need to get you all to the hospital," a firefighter said and placed a compassionate hand on her shoulder. "You have all been exposed to the carbon monoxide."
Like it was their cue in some cruel horror show, the paramedics from the ambulance rushed to her and separated her from her dead daughter, then put her on a stretcher and rolled her away, while Nancy was still yelling her daughter's name.
44
May 2018
Julie breathed raggedly. There was very little oxygen left inside the box truck and, along with the excruciating heat, it had made them all sleepy. Several of the girls had dozed off and hadn't woken up at all during the day. Julie grabbed a package of cereal and started to eat from it, then flushed the dry mass down with water. Many of the other girls had stopped eating, and she couldn't blame them at this point. The stench inside the coffin made it hard to muster any type of appetite, and they had begun asking themselves, what did it matter anyway?
Julie still had hope. How she kept it was a mystery. But she had it. She wasn't going to give up anytime soon. She would rather die fighting for her life. But that was just her. That was who she was.
She crunched another handful of cheerios and looked at Nikki in the corner. Her fever was constant. It was neither going up nor down, but she had hardly been awake at all the past two days, and it worried Julie.
She looked up at the hatch above them, where Alondra had disappeared. She kept wondering if she would come back from there. She tried not to, but she couldn't stop thinking about her and what they had done to her. She liked to imagine that she had been sent home. That maybe the kidnappers had asked for a ransom, and as soon as they got the money, they let her go. She liked that thought, that Alondra was back with her parents, playing on the beach or at least hugging her mother again and not stuck here in this stinky underground tomb.
Because if it could happen to her, then it might happen to the rest of them too. They would get to go home. It was still possible. It had to be.
Alicia came up next to Julie and sat down with a deep sigh. Julie handed her the box of cereal. Alicia shook her head.
"You should eat," Julie said. "You haven't had anything all day."
They had thrown more boxes of cereal down when taking Alondra out. Some of them had spilled all over the floor. The girls had screamed in panic when they closed the hatch again, and darkness had once again surrounded them. There was a small lamp in the corner under the ceiling, but it wasn't lighting up the entire box truck, and it was getting weaker by the day. It had gone out a few times, then come back on, with the result that the girls screamed in panic till it returned. Julie dreaded the day it would turn out completely. What would happen then? Would they just leave them there in complete darkness? Julie prepared herself for it to happen and, every day, she memorized where everything was. Where the toilet boxes were and where the food and water were. She even practiced finding it all closing her eyes, so she would be able to get by in complete darkness.
Yet the thought terrified her.
Alicia grabbed the cereal box and took a handful of cheerios and ate them, crunching loudly. Julie smiled, relieved. Those that ate were the ones who would survive the longest. And Julie wanted Alicia to stay with her. She wanted Nikki to also, but she wasn't sure she would. Julie had given up on getting her to eat and knew that she didn't have long anymore.
The thought was tormenting.
Julie glanced up toward the hatch once again, thinking about Alondra and sunlight and fresh air, when there was a noise above them, and the hatch was opened. Julie stood up and took in a couple of deep breaths. The few girls that were still awake rushed to the place beneath the hatch and started to scream.
Another pantyhose-covered face peeked down at them.
"Please," Julie said. "There are sick children down here. Please, let us out or at least take the sick ones out, please, sir."
She pleaded, but the man didn't listen. He sunk the ladder down and started to descend. Halfway down, the ladder was surrounded by the girls, trying to grab onto it, but seeing the rifle swung over his shoulder, they backed up. The man looked around, then pointed at Emmy.
"Her. Yes, you. Come here. You're next."
45
May 2018
"You saved their lives."
Jack had brought me a bouquet of flowers. He was standing in the doorway holding them out to me.
"This is from all of us in the fire and police department. We thought you would like a little token of appreciation for your heroic action."
I grabbed the flowers, then started to cry again. I had been crying all night and morning. I couldn't un-see the images of Nancy holding her dead daughter in her arms, and they kept haunting me.
"I really don't think there was anything heroic…"
"Can I come in?" Jack asked.
I sighed. "Why not? You want some coffee?"
"That would be perfect, thanks."
We went to the kitchen where William was playing on his iPad. Sune was at his physical training, and Tobias was playing some game on his computer. It had been a very quiet morning except for my crying.
I put the flowers in water and handed Jack a cup of coffee. I wasn't using the crutch today, but still holding onto things when needed. I was still in pain, but it wasn't too bad anymore.
"I really don't feel like I deserve them," I said and placed the flowers on our breakfast counter.
"Are you kidding me?" Jack said. "If it weren't for you, the entire family would have ended up getting killed. Carbon Monoxide is no joke. That car had been running for at least six hours, they say. The fumes were seeping into the house. Nancy and Kyle owe you their lives. Not to mention their son's."
I sat down heavily. "That may be, but had I come sooner, then I could have saved the girl too. If I had come earlier, if only I had figured the riddle out earlier. I keep thinking about it, that even an hour earlier might have made a huge difference."
"It's very easy to think that way, but you have to stop it. In my line of work, there is always a what if, but I can't let myself think that way. What happened happened; there is nothing you can do to change it."
"So basically, you just have to become a cold bastard," I said with an exhausted scoff. He wasn't exactly making me feel better about myself. I wasn't someone who could just turn that sort of thing off.
"If that's what it takes, then yes."
I sipped my coffee. It tasted horrible, but then again, everything seemed to taste like that stench I had smelled inside of Nancy's house. I hadn't been able to get anything down ever since. It all tasted like that smell.
The stench of death sneaking up on you.
"So, the kidnappers placed her in the car and strapped her down for us to find?" I asked. "Why would they do that?"
Jack shrugged. "Beats me. We still haven't received any demands from them. It's certainly not textbook. We have, however, arrested Mr. Meckler. We're charging h
im with accessory to kidnapping. We think we have enough."
I nodded and sipped more coffee. "That sounds good. Still doesn’t give us our kids back, though, does it?"
"Hopefully, the search of his house will lead to something. We’re getting information about all of his whereabouts over the past several months, you know, from credit cards and phone companies and access to his phone and computers. It is my hope that this will bring us closer to where they are keeping your kids."
"Let's hope so," I said with a deep exhale. "Let's hope so."
46
June 1999
In family court, Jane sat still, mouth gaping as she listened to Colleen telling the judge why she believed Jane wasn't fit to take proper care of her own children.
"She has no job; she has no way of providing for them," she said. "Feeding five children is a big expense. It is a lot of work. It's not easy to do on your own. On several occasions during my visits, her home has been observed to be highly unsanitary. The fridge was almost empty. Jane just came out of a very abusive relationship, one that left her daughter, Anna, hurt and Jane hospitalized. She couldn't manage to protect the child from her father's rage, even though she was in the same room when it happened. My conclusion is that she is simply emotionally exhausted; she is terribly traumatized and needs professional help. Having five children to attend to is not good for someone in her state."
Someone in my state? What is that supposed to mean? I am not in any state. I am here and feel better than ever.
But Jane wasn't allowed to say anything. All she could do was sit there and listen to Colleen's arguments and accusations, most of which she found to be extremely insulting.
"Furthermore, she refused to participate in drug treatment despite admitting that she smoked marijuana—and I quote, your honor— "whenever I get the urge," and she has missed two child-safety conferences provided to her by the shelter, and therefore I believe she poses an imminent risk to the children's lives and health."