No One to Hear Them Scream: Alice and Dudley Thriller by Peggy Webb

Author:Peggy Webb [Webb, Peggy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Premiere Books
Published: 2024-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

NIGHT VISION

32

The Memphis Zoo

The scene in Memphis was all too familiar to Alice, an array of police cars and surveillance vans gathered at the spot where the victim was last seen; uniformed officers in huddles, comparing notes and drinking strong coffee from Styrofoam cups; a tent with metal chairs and folding tables; the sobbing single mother, clutching her daughter’s tennis shoes, found in the service area behind the monkey cage. Everything appearing larger and somewhat surreal in the glow of lights set to illuminate the area around the tent.

Alice immediately thought of Lucy, her bare feet lacerated.

Was Dudley right? Was the Chameleon alive and still taking little curly haired girls? She wanted to gather up her dog and race back home, screaming for Lucy.

Instead, she called Mary Jane on her mobile. “Is everything all right there?”

“Yes. Madeline is playing dolls with Lucy. She calls her the other fairy godmother.”

A chunk broke off her heart. “She’s turning to her storybooks to make sense of what happened. Is that good or bad?”

“It’s neither, Alice. It’s a child’s way. You can ask Jen if you want to. She got here about an hour after you left.”

“Jen’s there?”

“Yes. She thought we might need some hands-on help.”

“That’s an understatement! Where’s Dudley.”

“Outside.”

Alarm skittered through Alice. “Is something out there?”

“No. He just said he was going to check the perimeter. For the tenth time.”

“Okay. Better safe than sorry. Right?”

“Right. Quit worrying and go find that little girl.”

After Thunder imprinted the scent item, he immediately raced to the area behind the monkey cage. Recent rain enhanced the air scents, and Thunder set off toward the edge of zoo where Overton Park segued into a gentrified neighborhood. A few children were still in their dimly lit front yards, playing in the glow from the bulbs on their front porches, their parents nowhere in sight.

Alice wanted to grab them all, race inside, and say, “Don’t you know how easy it is to snatch your child while nobody is looking?” She wanted to hug the young mothers and say, “Don’t ever look away. Ever. I don’t want you to feel what I did after Sam was gone.”

But she didn’t have time for interference or introspection. Thunder raced through the neighborhood, confident in the little girl’s scent, held close to the ground by the heavy evening air.

He didn’t need the streetlights that made it possible for her to keep up with him without using her flashlight. His night vision made the terrain as clear to him as if it were lit by the high beams of her flashlight.

When the other side of the rain front came through and the first drops hit the street, Alice pulled on her rain parka but didn’t bother with the hood. The bush hat she wore in case the search led into heavy woods or brush would protect her from the drizzle.

Thunder kept loping ahead, still on the scent. Tracking dogs, depending on a scent trail left on the ground, would have long since been stymied in their search, their trail washed away as the rain began to come down in sheets.

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