Caroline's Child by Debbie Macomber

Author:Debbie Macomber [Macomber, Debbie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488032981
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 1998-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

THE CALLS LAWMEN DREADED MOST WERE domestic violence and missing children. Frank Hennessey was no exception. The report of a missing child made his blood run cold. He preferred dealing with a drunken belligerent husband any day of the week if it meant he didn’t have to see the face of a parent whose child couldn’t be found. Frank had never married, never had children, but he’d been a firsthand witness to the agony parents endure when their child disappears. All his years of law enforcement had convinced him there was no deeper pain than the loss of a child.

The call that Maggie Daniels had gone missing came minutes before Frank was due to go off duty. Grady Weston phoned it in. There’d only been one other time Frank had heard Grady sound the way he did this evening, and that was the day his parents had drowned in a flash flood.

“Are you sure she hasn’t fallen asleep somewhere in the house?” Frank felt obliged to ask.

“We’re sure, Frank.” Grady’s impatience crackled over the telephone line.

“Was she upset about anything?”

“No, she was excited about visiting the ranch,” Caroline answered, apparently from one of the extensions.

“Maggie didn’t run away, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Grady told him angrily.

In fact, Frank’s questions had been leading to that assumption. It was the most common scenario, even with kids this young. He sighed heavily. He hadn’t been around children much, but he’d taken a real liking to Caroline’s fatherless child. She was a sweetheart, and the thought of anything happening to her made his insides twist.

“Are you coming out to take a report or not?” Grady demanded.

“I’m on my way.” Frank replaced the receiver. Grady sounded as worried and frustrated as he would if he were the child’s father. In situations such as this the families were often impatient and angry, lashing out at authority because of their own helplessness. Frank had seen it before. Some of the cases he’d worked on came with happy endings. The lost child was found safe and promptly returned to the parents.

The other cases, two in his career, would forever haunt him. Missing. He’d come to think of it as the ugliest word in the English language. The first child had turned up dead; the second was never seen again.

Although the highway was deserted, Frank ran the lights on his patrol car as he sped toward the Yellow Rose Ranch. The entire forty minutes it took him to drive from town, he kept hoping against hope that by the time he arrived, Maggie would’ve been found. He wasn’t a superstitious man, nor did he believe in intuition, but his gut told him that wouldn’t be the case.

He was right.

No sooner had he pulled into the yard than the door opened and Grady hurried onto the porch. Caroline was with him, looking paler than he’d ever seen her. Grady’s eyes were dark with anxiety.

“Thank you for coming,” Caroline said, her voice determined.

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