Sheila wiped her eyes, then rubbed her hands against her jeans. “I had a baby when I was fifteen. I gave her up for adoption. It almost killed me. A few months later, when I got pregnant with Sadie, I made up my mind to keep her. I couldn’t let go of another one.”
Cade pulled the girl’s picture out of his pocket and handed it to Sheila. Morgan looked at it with her. “She’s beautiful,” Sheila whispered.
Morgan agreed. “She looks like Sadie.”
Sheila looked up at Morgan. “I never told Sadie. I guess I need to now.” She held the picture to her chest and turned back to Cade. “Where is Amelia?”
“No one knows.”
“And her best friend … the one she came here with … she’s dead? What … what in the world …?”
“Sheila, we need to know if Amelia has contacted you.”
“No, she hasn’t. How long has she been here?”
“She went missing three days ago.” Cade leaned forward. “Sheila, I need you to think. If she came here looking for you, she would have meant to contact you. Maybe she didn’t identify herself. Is there a time over the last couple of days that you might have seen her?”
“No! I would tell you if I had. I’ve wondered about her all these years … wished I knew where she was so I could just get a look at her …”
Cade leaned his elbows on his knees and locked his eyes on Sheila’s. “I have to ask you this, and I need you to answer me very thoughtfully and carefully. What were you doing yesterday, from the time you got up until the time you went to bed?”
Sheila’s face went pale. “You don’t think I—”
Morgan broke in. “Cade, she was here all day, taking care of Caleb. I don’t think she went anywhere.”
“I didn’t,” Sheila said. “It was my day to work in the garden. I planted begonias in the backyard and came in off and on to help with housework.”
“What about Thursday?”
Sheila shrugged. “I went to work at Marcus Gibson’s, then came and talked to you at the station. After that I didn’t leave the house.”
Morgan’s nod confirmed it.
Cade looked at McCormick and noted the “I told you so” in his eyes. He didn’t have to question Morgan’s word … but he had to consider the possibility that Sheila might have left after Morgan went to bed. It seemed implausible, however, that she would have sneaked out, met up with the girls, killed Jamie Maddox, then arranged to have her body moved to the cave.
Maybe her alibi was genuine.
Sheila looked at him, eyes wide. “You’ve got to find her, Cade. Please, she has to be all right.”
“Everything’s being done to find her,” he said. “But we wanted to let you know in case she comes here. Her parents are frantic. Please, if you do hear from her, let us know immediately.”
“Of course.”
“Her parents are staying at the Frankfurt Inn, if you’d like to get in touch with them. Their names are Bob and Lana Roarke. They’d like to talk to you.”
Sheila nodded. “I want to talk to them too. I’ll call them as soon as I tell Sadie.”
Cade and Joe got up and started for the door. Cade turned back before going out. “By the way, Sheila, have you still got a key to Marcus Gibson’s house?”
“No, I’ve never had it. I just know where he keeps it. He puts it under the doormat for me. I don’t know if he keeps it there all the time, though.”
“Have you been back there since you told us about his books?”
“No, I was afraid to.”
“Have you spoken to him at all?”
“Of course not. Why would I do that?”
Cade didn’t answer but searched Sheila’s face for any sign of deceit.
“You work for him, so I just thought he might have called you.”
“No, he hasn’t. If he did, I’d hang up. I’m scared of him.”
“Rightfully so,” McCormick said.
Satisfied that he’d gotten all Sheila would give him, Cade thanked her and promised to keep her updated.
Jonathan followed them out to their cars. “Cade, do you think the girl is alive?”
“I sure hope so. The state police are working hard to find her, and I’m doing what I can to help.”
“What did you think about Sheila’s reaction? She looked surprised, right?”
“Did to me,” McCormick said.
Cade reserved judgment.
“So you don’t think she had anything to do with it?” Jonathan asked.
The worry was clear on Jonathan’s face. The past year had built his trust for Sheila, but he never fully trusted his residents. Drug addiction was a deadly master, and it always had the potential to lure them back. People whose minds were set on drugs would do almost anything for a fix.
“If her alibi is real, I don’t see how she could have done it,” Cade said.
McCormick looked as relieved as Jonathan. “My thinking too. And it wouldn’t make sense for her to do anything to those girls. What would she have to gain?”
Jonathan shook his head. “No, I think we can trust her on this.”
As McCormick got into his car and drove away, Jonathan looked into Cade’s face.
“Hey, man. I’m sorry about your proposal not working out.”
Cade just shook his head. “I couldn’t believe it. Who would have ever dreamed?”
“So when are you going to try again?”
“When things blow over, I guess. I just want it to be memorable, you know? Something we can tell our grandkids.”
Jonathan glanced back up at the door, making sure Morgan hadn’t come out. “You sure Blair doesn’t suspect?”
“Positive. She has no idea.”
“You know, the way you do it is not as important as just doing it.”
“But she deserves romance. A knight in shining armor, sweeping her off her feet. I want her to feel like the luckiest girl in the world.”
“She will, buddy. Trust me, she will. Just ask her. You’ve got the ring. Put it on her finger.”
Cade blew out a heavy sigh. “When the time is right. But I promise. I won’t take much longer.”
CHAPTER 26
I have a sister and you never told me?” Sadie felt as if the floor had just opened beneath her, threatening to swallow her whole. “How could you keep a thing like that from me?”
Sheila sat down on the edge of Sadie’s bed and looked up at her through her tears. “What good would it have done? She wasn’t a part of our lives. I didn’t know where she was. I didn’t even know her name.”
Sadie gaped at her mother, searching for a way to tell her how she felt—that her past, her identity, seemed unbalanced now. Her mother had withheld vital information about who she was and who had come before her. She had a sister. Someone who could have shared the burdens, lightened the load, made her less lonely …
She leaned back against her bedroom wall and just stared at Sheila. Her mother had been crying when she came into the room and closed the door, and she was still upset. Sadie was torn between comforting her and railing at her.
“She’s only a year older than me?” Sadie’s question came out hollow.
“That’s right, baby.”
The bitter taste of her mother’s deceit twisted her face. “I always wanted a sister, Mom. I would love to have known. Even a half sister …”
Sheila shook her head. “Oh, no. Not half, baby. Whole. You have the same daddy.”
Sadie didn’t know why that made it even worse, but she straightened now and took a step toward her mother. “I can’t believe you kept this quiet!”
“What was the point in telling you? The records were sealed. There was no way for you to find her. At least, that’s what I thought until this.” She wiped her face and drew in a deep breath. “Baby, you have to understand. I gave her up because I was fifteen and pregnant, and Mick was no help. He was a musician, in and out of town, and the last thing he wanted was a commitment.”
“But you stayed with him
and had another baby?”
“Not really. I met him when he was in town doing a gig at this club I wasn’t even old enough to get into. He happened to come back a few months after I gave her up, and like a loyal groupie, I did it all again. You know I’ve always been stupid with men. But when I got pregnant with you, I decided I wouldn’t give you up. I might have to raise you alone, but at least I’d know where you were.”
What kind of man was her father to take advantage of a kid, not once, but twice? There’d been times in her life when she’d longed to meet him, but when she’d learned of his early death from a drug overdose, those dreams had died.
Now she knew she was better off.
She slid down the wall and sat on the floor, trying to imagine the different paths she and her sister had taken. She looked down at the picture, amazed at how they resembled each other. They wore their hair the same, and looked the same size. Yet Amelia looked more polished, more privileged. Had she gotten parents like Morgan and Jonathan? Had they doted on her and protected her? Had they read her to sleep at night, tucked her into bed, wakened her with kisses?
She’d dreamed of all that as a child. “Mom, if they find her, do you want a relationship with her?”
Sheila didn’t hesitate. “Well, of course I would. I’ve always wondered about her. I knew I’d done the right thing, that she would get a good home, but I felt so guilty and so mad at myself. I hope they took good care of her. I hope she didn’t run off looking for me to get away from them.” She took the picture back. “What if she’s dead, Sadie? What if something happened to her because she came to look for me?”
“She can’t be dead,” Sadie whispered. “She just can’t be. They’ll find her soon.”
“I have to go talk to them.” Sheila got up and went to the mirror, began wiping the mascara out from under her eyes.
“Talk to who?”
“The parents. I have questions for them.” Sheila turned back to Sadie. “Baby, please don’t be mad at me. I’m sorry I kept it from you, but this is a crisis, and I need you now.”
Sadie wanted to cling to her anger, nurse it for a while. It was righteous anger, and her mother deserved it. But her tears were real, and her remorse seemed genuine.
Sadie accepted her mother’s hug. “I’ll go with you. I’ll see if Morgan will let us use the car.”
Sadie thought the Frankfurt Inn looked like a German chalet, transplanted from the mountains to the ocean. The marquee out front welcomed the Georgia Nurse’s Association and the Caliburt wedding party.
They had called ahead to see if the Roarkes could see them now. Though it was 11:00 p.m., the couple had seemed anxious to see them.
Sheila pulled into a space next to a car with Alabama plates, but she didn’t get out. Instead, she looked in the rearview mirror, straightened her hair, and dabbed some lip gloss on her lips. “Can’t imagine what they already think of me, knowing I’ve been to prison and all. I want to look respectable.”
“You look fine, Mom.”
Sadie followed her mother out of the car and they went inside. They were both trembling as they got onto the elevator to ride to the fourth floor.
Lana Roarke was waiting at the door when they got off. The pain in her eyes was even more intense than that in Sheila’s. “Oh, my! You look just like her. Your eyes, your hair …”
Sadie stood back, letting the couple look her mother over.
Sheila put her arm around Sadie’s shoulders and drew her forward. “This is Sadie, my other daughter. She was born a year after Amelia.”
They invited them in, and Sadie followed her mother to a couch by the window. The air was tense, and she felt awkward. Clearly, Sheila did too. There was a legal pad on the bed, with pages full of scrawled notes torn off. Stacks of posters with the girls’ pictures and a plea to call with information sat all over the room—on the dresser, the desk, in a chair, on the floor. Maybe they’d let her take a stack.
Bob Roarke moved one of the stacks off of a chair and sat down to face them. “Sheila, have you had any contact with our daughter at all?”
“The police asked me that. I told them I hadn’t. I wish I had, though. All these years …” Her voice broke off, and tears rushed to her eyes again. “This is all my fault. She came here looking for me, and now look what’s happened.”
Sadie looked down at her feet, wishing for something to say to ease the awkwardness. “Those posters … do you think we could take some? We could put them up …”
“Yes, of course.” Lana sprang up and got Sadie a stack. “This picture was taken on her last birthday. We took her and Jamie down to Florida. It was a good time. Kinko’s got them printed fast tonight.”
Sheila cleared her throat. “You seem like such nice people. Why would she have run off looking for me?”
Lana slid her hands into her pockets and turned her sad eyes to Sheila. “She was curious about you. I think it had a lot to do with her being an only child. She always wondered if she had siblings. What her mother looked like. And she wondered why she was given up. She romanticized you, Sheila. We told her from the time she was little that she was adopted. We wanted her to know that we chose her, that we considered her a special gift from God. But instead, I think it made her feel more lonely as she got older.”
“What about her friend?” Sadie asked.
“Jamie’s been her best friend for years. They brought her car.” Bob paced across the room as he spoke. “Jamie’s parents hadn’t been that involved in her life since she went to college. They didn’t even know she was missing.”
“They must be in shock.”
“We all are.” Bob went to the window. “If Amelia was all right, I know she would have called us by now. She wouldn’t keep hiding out, knowing her friend was murdered.”
“Maybe she doesn’t know,” Sadie said. “Maybe they got into a fight or something, and split up.”
“Maybe,” Lana said. “I’ve thought of that. They didn’t always get along.”
“Someone’s seen them.” Sadie was doing her best to sound definite. “Someone knows where they were. They’ll come forward. They have to.”
Sheila stood. “The man they arrested for the first girl’s murder … I worked for him a couple of times last week. I’ve been thinking. It’s far-fetched, but what if they somehow found out where I worked? Went there to find me and ran into him?”
The wheels in Sadie’s mind started turning …
Could that, indeed, have happened? There were a few people who knew where Sheila was working. Everyone at Hanover House knew. Others in town had known through word of mouth. There was no reason for secrecy.
If Amelia had gone to Marcus Gibson’s, then he might have had something to do with her disappearance … and Jamie’s murder. Dread shivered through her, and her mind wandered away from the conversation. She started making a plan.
Tomorrow morning she would enlist Blair’s help. Together, they could find her.
CHAPTER 27
Sheila retreated to her room as soon as they got back to Hanover House. Sadie hoped she would get some sleep. Sadie tried, but rest was far from her mind. Instead, she lay in bed, praying for her sister. When morning light softened the shadows in her room, she got up and got ready to search for Amelia.
She took the stack of posters and some tacks and walked to the newspaper office, stopping at every pole to put up a sign. When she finally reached the office, she found Blair on the phone with her friend at the Chatham County morgue, trying to get information about Jamie’s cause of death. Sadie sat down in her office, listening and trying to glean what she could about what might have happened to the girl. But there was no new information.
When Blair hung up, she leaned on her desk and looked into Sadie’s eyes. “I guess your mom told you.”
She nodded. “Yeah, she did. Did Cade tell you?”
“Yes. Are you all right?”
She didn’t want to cry right here in front of Blair. It would just slow them down. “Can we w
ork on this story, Blair? With your help, I know we can find Amelia, maybe in time to save her.”
“That’s just what I was thinking. I already have some ideas, honey. We can work on it after church.”
“I can’t go to church today,” Sadie said. “I’m too distracted, and time could be running out for Amelia. Mom and I met Amelia’s parents last night. And it occurred to us that Amelia and Jamie might have found out where Mom worked. Maybe they went to Marcus Gibson’s instead of Hanover House. We could go and ask him—”
“Whoa, wait a minute.” Blair shook her head. “No way we’re doing that. Cade is interviewing Gibson. Let’s leave that to him.”
Sadie’s hopes deflated. “Then what’s your idea?”
“I was thinking we need to put ourselves in Amelia’s shoes. If she and her friend made it to Cape Refuge, where would they have gone first?”
Sadie thought for a moment. “Hanover House?”
“If they knew she lived there. But her parents didn’t think she did. They thought she only knew that Sheila lived in Cape Refuge. So first they’d have to ask questions, find out where she was. Who would they ask?”
Sadie closed her eyes and tried to think like Amelia might. “Well, they’d come into town over the Tybee bridge. The first thing they’d see would be that Texaco station and its convenience store.”
“Right. They might have gone in there and asked.”
They stared at each other for a long moment.
“Let’s go,” Blair said.
They hurried out to the car, and Blair drove across town. Sadie looked out the window, struggling not to cry. Her sister had been here somewhere on this island, looking for her mother. Something horrible had happened to her and her friend. Had she wound up dead, like Jamie, and just hadn’t yet been found? Was she lodged in another cave, tethered to a stone wall, and floating in the salt water?
Or was she alive somewhere, held hostage by a madman? Lord, let me find her alive.
In moments they’d made their way around the island, to the line of businesses Amelia and Jamie might have seen coming into Cape Refuge. They pulled into the Texaco station at the intersection, a block down from the bridge.