“I don’t know. Nothing we haven’t already done, I guess. I’m just scared. If anything happened to Abby, I’m not sure I would survive it. I can’t lose another child …”
Virgil breathed in slowly and let it out. He couldn’t allow himself to get emotionally enmeshed in this. He had to stay objective. “It’s your call whether you want to file a missing-person report.”
There was a long moment of dead air.
“Kate, you still there?”
“I’m here,” she said. “I think I’ll go home and wait a while longer. I’m probably overreacting. Abby will call home any minute, and I’ll realize all the worry was for nothing.”
“You sure?”
“As sure as I’m going to be under the circumstances. If I change my mind I can always file a report later.”
“Keep me posted,” Virgil said.
“I will. Thanks for listening. I feel a little better. Good-bye.”
Virgil stood on the porch, his mind racing. Teenagers! He was glad his boys were grown. How many times had they pulled stunts like this and worried their mother and him for nothing?
The front door opened, and Jill Beth poked her head out. “Everything okay?”
“I think so. Come on. Let’s take that walk, and I’ll fill you in.”
Abby, emptied of tears and filled with dread, lay shivering in the dark pit that might well end up being her grave. Minutes seemed like hours now. Helplessness threatened to steal her hope. How she missed the cozy home she had taken for granted. And the family she had failed to appreciate. Would she ever see them again? She regretted arguing with Hawk. And being rude to her mother. What would their last memory of her be? What kind of a Christian witness had she been?
Abby heard muffled male voices. She curled up in a fetal position, her eyes clamped shut, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest. Seconds passed, and then the squeaky door opened in the room above. Abby held her breath, her temples throbbing. Had her captor come back to kill her?
Lord, You are my protector and defender. My only hope. Help me!
She heard footsteps coming down the wood stairs, her mind barraged with graphic images of what awaited her. She wanted to scream but couldn’t find her voice.
Chapter 21
Virgil and Jill Beth walked hand in hand toward Icy’s, Virgil holding tightly to Drake’s leash and wondering how an animal that size could be so strong.
“I feel bad for Kate,” Jill Beth said. “If I’d been through what that woman’s been through, I’d never let my kids out of my sight.”
“It’s understandable that she panicked when Abby missed dinner and didn’t call.” Virgil stopped on the sidewalk as Drake watered one of the tree trunks along Puckett Street. “But my department gets these kinds of calls on a regular basis. The kids almost always show up within a few hours.”
“Kate didn’t need this on top of everything else,” Jill Beth said. “Waiting on the remains has to be torture.”
“So was having no leads at all. I’m sure Kate has considered every possibility imaginable. I just want to solve it and put an end to all the unknowns.”
“Well, if anyone can, it’s my man.”
Virgil smiled and slipped his arm around her. “From the lips of the woman who thinks I hung the moon.”
“And the stars.”
“By the way”—Virgil pulled on the leash to redirect Drake’s attention to the sidewalk—“you were right about Elliot Stafford. Kate mentioned that he’s shown an interest in her.”
“Did she elaborate?”
“Just that she would enjoy his company but not while Micah’s fate is still up in the air. Heaven knows, she loved Micah. But five years is a long time for anyone to be unsure of their marital status.”
“If you were missing, I’d wait forever.”
Virgil sighed. “So would I. Let’s hope Kate doesn’t have to.”
Abby lay frozen in the darkness, the hammering of her heart so forceful that she thought she might die of heart failure.
Lord, help me! I’m so scared!
“Git down there!” commanded the all-too-familiar voice.
Abby’s eyes flew open just as the trapdoor opened above her. She rolled over and sat up in the far corner, letting her eyes adjust to the light.
“Jump, or I’ll push,” her captor said. “But if you break a leg, I’ll hafta put you down.” He laughed.
Abby heard a loud thud and felt a gust of wind as someone hit the ground a couple feet from her.
“Y’all have a nice chat. The clock’s tickin’.”
The overhead door slammed shut, and she heard a bolt lock slide in place and