Vanished

“You'd better get some sleep at some point. Or you're going to fall apart when we really need you.” She nodded, but she couldn't imagine ever sleeping again …not until Teddy was returned. How was she going to live without him? She couldn't touch him or hold him or know where he was, or if he was safe, or decently cared for …she suddenly longed for the powdery smell of his neck and his hair …his laughter …the chubby little arms around her neck, or the way he looked at her that told her just how much he loved her. How was she going to survive without him until they found him? As she thought of it, she almost swooned, and then she felt a firm hand on her arm, as though pulling her back from her own terrors. “Marielle, hang on …we're going to find him.” She nodded and stood up, realizing that she had some very difficult things to say to Malcolm.

“Are you going to say anything to my husband about Charles?” She looked concerned, but not really worried. If she had to tell him, she would. It was as simple as that. This was no time to hide anything, if it could hurt Teddy.

“I'm going to tell him that, like many people at this point, Charles Delauney is a possible suspect. I'm not really sure he would do anything. But I can tell you right now, I don't like him. I don't like the threats he made, or the idea that he's so angry you have a child again, and he doesn't. I think in his own crazy way, he still loves you. He says he wants you back. And in his mind that's enough reason for you to come running back to him, because he says so.” He didn't tell her what Charles had said about her marriage to Malcolm, that it was all a fraud and a sham, and everyone in town knew that he had other women, that people said she lived like a nun, and Malcolm didn't give a damn about her. Charles Delauney seemed to feel that that was all reason enough for her to leave him. He had also said that he didn't think Marielle loved Malcolm, and that she had married him for all the wrong reasons, because she had no one in her life at the time and she was afraid and shaky after her release from the clinic in Switzerland. He said she'd been looking for a father and not a husband. But seeing Delauney with his wild looks, and crazed airs, it was easy to see why she would have. Taylor could see the appeal of a man like Malcolm Patterson and yet he could also understand why a girl of eighteen would have been drawn to Delauney. He was colorful and handsome and wild and full of romance, but men like that were dangerous too …men like that did foolish things …like beat their wives … or make terrible threats and accusations. But did they kidnap other people's children? Was that part of it? That was the question. Taylor didn't know the answer to that one. But one thing was certain, if he had done it, he hadn't done it for the money. And perhaps that was why there was no request for ransom. He would have just hired people to take the boy away from her, and conceal him. But what would he do with him once he had him?

John Taylor stood up then and walked her slowly out of the room, and she thanked him again for the warning about what he was going to have to tell Malcolm. She turned and looked at John Taylor for a last moment, with a worried frown. It was all so confusing. “Do you really think he'd do a thing like that? Charles, I mean.” It was hard to believe. He had always been wild and uncontrolled but not like this …she couldn't believe he would really take Teddy. Did he hate her that much then? It was hard to imagine.

“I don't know.” Taylor was honest with her. “I wish I knew the answer.”

She nodded, and went back to the chaos in the main living room. Malcolm was standing there, looking grim, with an FBI man on either side, and she introduced him to John Taylor.

“I've been waiting to see you,” Malcolm growled, seemingly unimpressed by Taylor.

“I've been out talking to some people about the case.” His eyes never looked once at Marielle. He knew better than that. But he also wasn't sure, as he watched Malcolm, that he disagreed with Delauney. There seemed to be no warmth toward Marielle, no visible support, only Malcolm's own concern, and his grief at losing his only son. Instead of asking for John's help, he demanded that he find him. “We're all set for a possible ransom request, sir,” John Taylor said with a respect he didn't feel. In fact, he had already decided, he didn't like him.

“So am I,” Malcolm said. “The U.S. Treasury Department is sending us marked notes this morning.”

“We'll have to be very careful how that's handled.” It had been a disaster in the Lindbergh case, and John didn't want anything going wrong this time. “I'd like to speak to you this afternoon, if you have time.” John wanted to know if there was anyone he suspected, or was afraid of. And as he had with Marielle, he wanted to see him alone, but he also wanted to give Marielle time to tell him about Charles Delauney.