Page 31 of The Kidnapped

“This is where we would go all the time when you were little,” Olivia said.

“I don’t remember much, so it’s still hard, trying to separate what’s real from what’s not,” Hollis replied.

They were sitting on a blanket in the middle of a grassy park. Nearby, children were playing with each other on the playground equipment. There was a birthday party going on underneath the open lodge, which someone could rent for a few hours, and pink, red, and purple balloons brought Hollis back to that ever-present balloon in her mind.

“Mom, did we ever get balloons here?” she asked.

“I don’t know. We might have. Why do you ask?”

“I have this memory of you handing me a balloon. There was grass. That’s really all I remember, though.”

“You know what, I think you’re right,” her mom said, turning to her with a smile. “On the weekends, there were usually vendors here. Some sold ice cream, but there was one guy who sold balloons. Now that we’re talking about it, I remember they interviewed him back then. All the vendors were interviewed.”

“Really?”

“We came here at least once a week. Sometimes, more often, if the weather was good. I can’t remember a specific time I bought you a balloon, but I’m sure I gave in at least once. I do remember buying you a popsicle from the ice cream man, though. Oh, there was another little girl who was looking at you and was disappointed because she didn’t have one. You walked over and offered her a lick of yours. I think you were about three then.” Olivia chuckled. “It was adorable. Her mom said she couldn’t have sugar, though, or she’d never go to sleep.” Olivia coughed then. “Anyway, when you went missing, the police wanted to talk to anyone who might have come in contact with you, so they asked where we went. I told them we were here a lot. They spoke with all the vendors, parents who brought their kids here, and even the people from the parks department who might have seen you here.”

“Mom, how did Dad manage to do this?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

Hollis stared out at the kids running back up after sliding down on the equipment.

“He’s not a stupid man, but he’s also not joining MENSA anytime soon. Yet, somehow, he always seemed to know when someone was getting close enough to figure out what he’d done, and we’d pack up and go.”

“Well, I imagine when you know that you’ve done something wrong and that people are looking for you, you get good at thinking on your feet.”

“All I remember is a really long drive right after it happened. I know now that we left from here and went to Michigan first, but later, when I would ask him why we’d driven for so many days before, he just told me we’d gone from one side of Canada to the other and asked me how I couldn’t remember seeing the things we saw along the way. He’d bring up some things we stopped to do that I did not remember, making me feel bad almost for not remembering these cool things that we supposedly did. When I’d ask to see pictures, he said we couldn’t afford a camera back then. Once, I asked him what happened to the camera we did have because he had that one photo album, and he said he’d sold it to get money for the trip. He always had a reason or explanation, and I feel like such an idiot for falling for it.”

“You were five years old, Hollis,” her mom replied.

“And I believed him this whole time.”

“No, you didn’t,” her mom pointed out. “You didn’t entirely, or you wouldn’t have ended up here with me, honey. Those memories you have that never made sense until now, the fact that you picked up that book and you recognized a little girl who looked like you, and that you kept asking him all those questions for years – all of that tells me that you knew something wasn’t right. You trusted your instincts and read that chapter in Kenna’s book. You are not at fault for what your father did. You’re not to blame for believing the lies your dad told you, Hollis.”

“Had I put it all together earlier, though…”

“No, you can’t think like that,” her mom told her. “Trust me; I’ve been through all the would have, could have, should haves. It never did any good. It just made things worse.” She coughed again. “And, as much as I’d love to stay out here with you, honey, I’m getting tired. I think we should head back home.”

“Sure,” Hollis replied, standing up.

She packed up the little picnic basket they’d brought with them and helped her mom back to the car. The trip home was a short one, and she got her mom into her nightgown and into bed for a nap.

Then, Hollis went out to the living room and decided to get some work done before she would have to make dinner. She’d been given another high-profile murder case to check out and verify some facts, and she wanted to get a head start. Being a researcher on a true crime show wasn’t exactly Hollis’s cup of tea, but she still wanted to do a good job for Kenna and the families of the victims. The paycheck also wasn’t much, but it was more than she’d been making in Vancouver. She still paid rent there on an apartment she wasn’t sure she’d be going back to anytime soon, but since breaking her lease was even more expensive, she couldn’t do that just yet.

Hollis finished up what she needed to and went to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she found what she wanted, pulled it out, and started chopping. Not long after that, though, she heard a loud thump on the other side of the wall, coming from her mother’s bedroom. Hollis dropped the knife and the carrots and rushed to the bedroom door. She opened it and found her mother on the floor next to her bed.

“Mom!”

Kneeling beside her, Hollis could see she had a small gash above her eyebrow that was bleeding, and she wasn’t responding. Hollis quickly covered it with her hand and reached for her mom’s cell phone, which was on the table. She hit the emergency button.

“911. What is your emergency?”

“My mom fell! She’s bleeding, and she’s unconscious,” she yelled.

“Okay. Can you give me some information while I get the ambulance sent your way?”

Hollis answered all of the questions as she held one hand to her mother’s forehead, trying to staunch the blood. She stayed on the line with the dispatcher until she heard the sirens. Quickly, she hung up and realized she’d have to leave her mom on the floor to unlock the front door and get the paramedics to her. She ran, opened the door, and motioned for them to come inside. They came in with a stretcher and asked her questions that she did her best to answer, but she hadn’t been there as it unfolded, so she didn’t know exactly what had happened. She could see a little blood on the edge of the table by her mother’s bed, so it was possible her mom was trying to get out of bed and slipped somehow, hitting her head, but Hollis didn’t know.

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