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“She’s hanging in there. More important, how are you doing?”
“The investigation’s moving along. We’re searching all the stores. If we find her here, great. In the meantime, we’ll call in an Amber Alert, which will broadcast the details nationwide and alert all appropriate authorities.”
“Do you think there’s any chance the woman is still here somewhere?”
Dan shrugged. “That’s impossible to know. I hope she is, but if she isn’t, it’ll be hours before we know for sure, because it’s going to take time to do a complete search of all the stores. Hell, there are five anchor stores here. That alone is a massive job.”
“Oh, Dan, you’ve got to find Olivia. You’ve just got to. Glynnis has already been through so much. If something has happened to Olivia, it…it would destroy her.”
“Believe me, I want to find that child just as much as you do.”
Just then, the boy walked back to them. “I’m hungry, Aunt Kat.”
“I’m sorry, Michael.” Turning back to Dan, she said, “I promised Michael some food. That’s where we were headed.”
“You go on. And after you get your food, you can take it to the management office. They’ve got a waiting room there that’s a lot more comfortable than the little office at Corinne’s Closet.”
“But Glynnis is waiting for us at the store.”
“I’m going there now. I’ll get her and bring her to where you are.”
“Okay. See you in a little while.”
When Dan got to the store, he saw Glynnis March out front.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t stand sitting back in that office one minute longer.”
Now that Dan knew more about her situation, he felt even worse for her. She was showing the strain of the past hour. It hurt to see the plea in her eyes, because he had no good news for her. “That’s okay. I actually came back to tell you that I thought it would be okay for you to come to the management office now.”
She looked stricken. “Oh.”
“That doesn’t mean you should give up hope. Or that we have. It only means that I don’t think your little girl will be brought back here. Just to be sure, though, that guard—” he inclined his head in the direction of the security guard standing nearby “—will stay here, even after the store is locked up.”
She nodded. “All right. Thank you.”
“Wait for me here. I’ll go in and tell the manager she can lock up.”
When Dan came back outside, she said, “Kat told me you’re her brother. When you introduced yourself, I was so frightened, I don’t think I even heard your name.”
He smiled. “It’s Dan. Dan O’Neill.”
“And I’m Glynnis, but you already knew that.”
“I wish we could have met under happier circumstances.”
“Me, too.”
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Dan wondered what was going through her mind. He hoped she wasn’t blaming herself, but he was afraid she was. He wanted to tell her that no matter how careful a parent was, things like this happened. He also wanted to tell her he understood how helpless she was feeling. But he knew neither would be a comfort to her, so he said nothing.
When they reached the management office, he ushered her inside, where Kat and the boy were already seated around the coffee table. The smell of french fries made Dan’s stomach grumble, and he realized he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. He glanced at his watch. Almost five-thirty. Soon everyone would be getting hungry and they would have to be fed. Dan had been prepared for this contingency and had asked several of the food venues to stay open for just that purpose. The men could eat in shifts; that way, the search could continue without interruption.
Dan left the women and the boy in the outer waiting area and walked back into the manager’s office, which he’d commandeered for his own. It was time to call each of his men to get a progress report.
After that, he would decide if they needed to call in any neighboring law enforcement personnel to speed things along.
He picked up the phone.
At eight o’clock, when the search for Olivia had been going on for more than four hours with no good news, Gregg and Sabrina finally arrived at the mall.
Glynnis broke down when she saw them. “Thank God you’re here.” She tried not to cry, but one look at her brother’s worried face and she couldn’t hold back the tears.
“I’m sorry, Glynnie. We went to Columbus,” Gregg said, folding her into his arms. “I wanted to meet with this possible new vendor and Sabrina wanted to finish up her shopping there.”
“We were just sick when we heard what happened,” Sabrina said.
“I’m just glad you’re here now.”
When she was calm, she filled them in on everything she hadn’t been able to say in her message. Throughout, Sabrina held her hand.
Glynnis loved Sabrina. Their relationship had been awkward in the beginning, because Sabrina was Ben’s daughter, and Glynnis hadn’t found out about her existence until Ben had died.
In fact, Sabrina was the one who came to Ivy to break the news—something Ben had asked her to do in a letter he’d left with his lawyer. That was tough on her. Her mother, Isabel—Ben’s only legal wife—was hysterical over Ben’s double life and mortified by the scandal it had caused in their little town. She would have felt completely betrayed by Sabrina if she’d known of her daughter’s involvement with her husband’s other family.
Sabrina had been put in a horrible position, which only became more difficult as she got to know Glynnis and the children, whom she’d immediately loved.
And then, complicating matters even further, she fell in love with Gregg. For a while, no one who knew the story thought it could possibly have a happy ending, but it did. In fact, Gregg and Sabrina were one of the happiest couples Glynnis had ever known. And not long ago, their happiness had become complete when, on their daughter Samantha’s christening day, Sabrina’s mother had forgiven Sabrina and the two had reconciled.
Isabel was remarried now, which was a whole other story.
Thinking back over the rocky road they’d all traveled, Glynnis knew they were lucky to have ended up a loving family unit. Glynnis would have loved Sabrina under any circumstances, simply because she made Gregg so happy. It was a bonus that she was such a wonderful person and someone Glynnis would have enjoyed having as a friend even if they hadn’t been related.
When Glynnis finished explaining everything, Gregg said he’d like to talk to the cop in charge.
“That’s the other thing I wanted to tell you,” Glynnis said. “He’s Kat’s brother.”
Gregg turned to Kat. “I didn’t know you had a brother on the police force.”
“Dan’s six years older than me and he’s lived in Chicago since he was twenty. He was with the Chicago PD for more than seventeen years. Three months ago he decided he needed a change, so he moved back to Ivy, and now he’s a lieutenant with the Ivy Police Department.”
“That’s good news,” Gregg said. “He’s probably got a lot more experience than most of the cops on the force.”
“Yes,” Kat said. “He does. And believe me, he’ll do everything possible to find Olivia. Everything.”
“I’d still like to talk to him.”
“Then let’s go see if we can find him,” Kat said.
“I’ll stay here with Glynnis and Michael,” Sabrina said. She smiled down at Michael, who hadn’t left her side since she’d arrived.
After Kat and Gregg left them, Sabrina said, “Are you doing okay? Is there anything I can get you? Something to eat?”
Glynnis shook her head. The thought of food made her feel sick.
“What about you, Michael?” Sabrina said.
“He ate earlier,” Glynnis said.
“A cookie, maybe?”
Glynnis knew Sabrina just needed to feel she was doing something useful, even if it was only feeding them. God knows Glynnis understood. She’d felt totally useless for hours. She looked down at Michael, who gave her a hopeful smile. “Are the shops in the food court still open?”
“Not all of them, but the cookie place was when we came in.”
“I’ll walk out with you,” Glynnis said.
They bought Michael his cookie and then slowly walked back to the management office. Gregg and Kat rejoined them a bit later. Gregg sat next to Glynnis and squeezed her hand. “Lieutenant O’Neill knows what he’s doing, Glynnie. He’ll find her.”
But as the clock moved inexorably forward, Glynnis’s hopes began to fade. If Livvy had been in the mall, surely they would have found her by now.
Finally Sabrina rose. “Glynnis, Gregg is going to stay with you, but I’ve got to go. I told Mrs. Phillips I’d be back for Samantha by ten-thirty, and it’s almost that now.”
Glynnis looked at her sister-in-law. “It’s okay. I understand.”
“How about if I take Michael with me? He can spend the night with us.” Michael, head leaning against Glynnis’s shoulder, had fallen asleep an hour ago. “In fact, you can spend the night with us, too. I don’t think you should be alone if…” Sabrina, looking stricken, let her voice trail off.
“If they don’t find Olivia tonight,” Glynnis finished for her. Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t think they’re going to.”
“Oh, honey,” Kat said. “They might. They haven’t finished searching everywhere yet. That woman might have found a hiding place.”
Glynnis shook her head. She knew Olivia was not in the mall, because if she had been, that woman—whoever she was—would not have been able to keep her quiet. Livvy was nothing if not vocal. If she was anywhere within hearing distance, the police would have discovered them.
Gregg, who’d been out front talking to the security people, walked back into the office. “You going to leave now?” he said to Sabrina.
“Yes. And if it’s okay with Glynnis, I’ll take Michael home with me.”
“Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” Glynnis said. “But I won’t be coming. When they finish here, I’m going home.”
“You shouldn’t be alone,” Sabrina said. She looked at Kat. “Don’t you agree?”
“Yes, I do.”
“But what if Livvy or that woman who took her should call? I have to be there.”
“How could they call? You said you didn’t know the woman. Do you think she knows you?” This question came from Dan O’Neill, who had walked in behind Gregg.
“No, I don’t think she knows me, although I can’t be sure. But Olivia has an ID tag inside her jacket, sewed on to the lining in front. It’s required at her day care center. The tag lists her name and our phone number.”
“You’re right, then. You should be at home,” Kat said. “Don’t worry, Sabrina. I’ll stay with her. In fact, I’ll call Bill right now and tell him.” Out came her cell phone before Glynnis could even think of protesting. Not that she wanted to. She had no desire to be at home alone.
“I just came back to give you a status report,” Lieutenant O’Neill said. “We’ve finished searching all the stores and the areas behind each store, as well as all the places in the inside of the mall. Everything is locked up now, and the mall’s been emptied of all the shoppers and most of the store employees. The only ones left are a few maintenance people, the mall manager and his assistant, and the security personnel.”
Glynnis’s shoulders sagged. Even though she’d been afraid the woman who took Olivia was long gone, it was one thing to fear something and another thing entirely to know it for sure.
“Now that we’re sure your daughter isn’t in the mall,” the lieutenant continued, “I called Chief Crandall, and he’ll take care of issuing an Amber Alert. Do you know what that is?”
“It’s a nationwide alert system, isn’t it?” Gregg asked.
“Yes. A description of Olivia, along with her photo and the photo of the woman from the security tape will be faxed to primary radio stations under the Emergency Alert System. In turn, that information will be sent by them to area TV stations and radio stations. The radio stations will interrupt their programming to broadcast the information and TV and cable stations will run a ‘crawl’ on the screen along with the photos. In some places, the authorities will even incorporate electronic highway billboards. Every possible avenue will be covered. We’re also setting up an 800-number hotline for people to call.”
Glynnis nodded, unable to speak.
“Chief Crandall said to tell you we’ll work on this night and day until we find your daughter.”
“Th-thank you,” Glynnis managed.
“Yes, thank you,” Gregg and Sabrina echoed.
“Now I think you should go home and try to get some sleep,” Dan O’Neill said.
But everyone in the room knew Glynnis wouldn’t sleep tonight.
Not until Olivia was home again and safe in her own bed, would Glynnis be able to sleep again.
Chapter Three
“What if they don’t find her?”
Gregg looked at his wife, who was in the process of undressing for bed. She’d voiced the question he’d tried not to think about, yet it had hovered at the back of his mind like a poisonous snake waiting to strike. “They’ll find her.”
“But Gregg,” Sabrina insisted, her green eyes clouded with worry, “what if they don’t?” She lowered her voice, although no one could possibly hear her. Samantha, their one-year-old, and Michael had been asleep for hours, and Glynnis was at her own home with Kat. “It would destroy Glynnis. I’m not sure she could survive.” She shook her head. “God. Hasn’t she been through enough? I know other people think she’s really strong, and she is, but everyone has a breaking point.” She unfastened her bra and tossed it on the bed.
“Let’s not talk about this, okay?”
“I think we have to talk about it, because if the unthinkable happens and they don’t find Livvy…or they find her—” Sabrina swallowed “—they…find her body…we have to be prepared. Glynnis will need us more than ever before.” She reached for her nightgown.
Gregg knew Sabrina was right, but he didn’t want to say the words out loud. To do so would give them a reality he couldn’t acknowledge. “I’m sorry, I can’t talk about this.” He put the shoes he had just removed back on. “I know I won’t sleep. I’m going for a walk. I need fresh air.”
“Gregg, it’s midnight.”
“I won’t be gone long.”
“Gregg…”
“What?” He didn’t look at her, although under normal circumstances he would rather look at Sabrina than anyone else in the world.
“Running away won’t solve anything,” she said gently.
“I’m not running away.”
