Bring the Light by Annette Montez Kolda

Author:Annette Montez Kolda [Kolda, Annette Montez]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: latino; immigration; kidnapping; ransom; baby; suspense; nun
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2022-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

With police cars all over the neighborhood, Walter and Mabel convinced Isabel and Marcelino to hide out in their house for the time being.

There were constant updates on the local cable news about the kidnapped baby. Isabel wished she could understand what the reporters were saying. The app was no good at translating the TV.

“I have an idea.” Walter called his daughter in Colorado who instructed him how to put closed captions on the TV.

He pressed buttons on the TV remote control and Spanish captions appeared along the bottom of the screen.

“It’s Spanish,” Isabel told Marcelino. “Look.”

“Spanish.” Marcelino squinted at the TV. Isabel wondered if he could read. Or maybe he needed glasses? Just in case, she read the captions in a loud whisper between bites of grilled cheese, trying not to wake the baby.

“The child’s been missing for two hours,” the reporter said. “The Travis County Sherriff’s office has brought in their canine unit to search the woods behind the foster family’s house. I’m told by a source that wishes to remain anonymous that the girl dropped something or left something behind. The source telling me that item, whatever it may be, its scent is being used by the canine unit to search for the girl and the baby.”

Her shoes. Isabel and Marcelino looked to the glass doors at the back of house, beyond which lay the woods and the river.

Mabel looked to Walter. “Canine unit.” She too looked to the dense trees beyond the glass doors. They all four approached the back of the house and looked out. At first, nothing looked different, the helicopter had moved on to a more distant location. But then Isabel saw the fluid movements of a black German shepherd in the underbrush. Its police handler followed, holding the dog’s leash. She stepped aside, behind the wall, afraid of being spotted, her heart hammering. Would the dog sniff her all the way up here to the house on top of the hill?

She went back and sat cross-legged on the floor next to the chair where her baby slept. She read the captions on the news. The young blond with the wavy hair reported the same news again and again. Missing baby, undocumented unaccompanied minor, searching the woods with dogs. Isabel stopped reading. Instead, she watched her baby sleep. Gabriela looked perfect—her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. All her parts were normal, but to Isabel, the little, tiny features were extraordinary. She didn’t know why, it just seemed amazing to think that this was the baby that she carried for all those months. Horrible months.

“Gabriela.” She didn’t want to wake her; she just wanted to say her baby’s name.

“Gabriela is a beautiful name.” Mabel stood close. She carried the phone to translate her words.

Isabel didn’t feel like talking. She’d abandoned her sandwich on the side table next to the couch, not hungry anymore. She thought about dogs sniffing her shoes and searching for her in the woods. “Will the dogs find me here?” She reached up and took Mabel’s hand.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.