Page 42 of Operation: Discovery

Dee wanted to keep as much of the talk about human trafficking away from Rebecca as she could. Rebecca was safe out at Wayside and letting her know how close to home this case might be would cause her to worry or fear for her safety.

Before she could stop Moira, she went on. “Someone took a little boy about a week ago and my son was almost taken. Now, I can’t stop worrying that it will happen again.”

Dee held her breath, expecting Rebecca to be silent or send them both out. She didn’t do well under stress and bringing up anything having to do with her past was like building a wall between them. Rebecca’s face softened. “I’m so sorry. That must be terrifying.”

Moira nodded. “The worst part is I don’t know when this fear will end. When will I be able to go to town and not hold him close at my side? When will I put him on the bus and not want to tug him back? I’ve been worried all day because he’d out of my sight.”

Rebecca nodded. “Brendon would tell me to pray if I was feeling that way. I’m still not sure how to, or what to say, but I’m trying.”

Dee took a step back and let the conversation continue between the two women. Unlikely friends brought together by painful circumstances.

“I don’t know much about prayer, either. I saw the little chapel back behind the cabins.” Moira glanced to Dee with unfamiliarity creasing her brow.

“I haven’t been out there.” Rebecca gripped the drive bar on the wheels of her chair.

“I’ll ask Brendon if there’s a way to get there. I think he told me that there was,” Dee offered.

“Thanks.” Rebecca gave a soft, brief smile. “You’d better go if you’re going to get there early. I can have Sam come in and help me with my leg exercises. He told me he was willing to help me with anything I need.”

Dee didn’t want to look too closely at that success. Relying on Sam meant she was opening up a little. She made sure Rebecca was fine and needed nothing else before she headed for the parking lot with Moira. Ever since Brendon’s car had been bombed, she’d been uneasy getting in her car. Bombers often kept setting bombs until they were caught and as far as she knew, the bomber was still on the loose.

Moira fastened herself in and sighed. “Thank you for understanding and driving me.”

Dee waved off the sentiment. “I don’t mind. I’ve been worried about Adam, too. School seems so safe until you have to let your children go.” She tried to relate with her own school experience, but she’d never dropped a child off at school.

“I don’t think I’m equipped to educate him from home, but I’ve been thinking about nothing else all day.” Moira glanced out the window. “I hope he only has good things to say when he gets in the car.”

The power of positivity couldn’t outweigh the power of prayer, but Moira was still new to her faith, having only just attended church for the first time the day before. “I’m sure he’ll have good things to say.” She wondered how the school day had played out with the recent loss of one of Adam’s classmates. A classmate who had been a neighbor.

Dee drove toward Piper’s Ridge, glad for a small town where signs easily pointed the way to the school. It was a large brick building that was mostly on one level except for two large areas that she assumed were probably a gym and theater or perhaps two gyms, since Piper’s Ridge loved high school sports.

There was a line of three cars waiting already and Dee pulled in behind them, leaving her car running. No one got out of their vehicles and there was no one standing around by the front doors.

Moira sighed loudly. “I was so worried it would be full of people waiting. If that was the case, anyone could grab a child as they walked out of the school.”

Dee hadn’t thought about that, but they were still early. Parents of the youngest children could come and wait by the doors. Some teachers might not let students go with anyone but a parent, meaning lots of adults could flock to those doors soon.

“Have you ever picked him up from school before?” Dee asked.

Moira shook her head. “I’ve never needed to and didn’t have the means. We don’t own a car. When he started school, there were a lot of children walking from the neighborhood, so they all went to school together and walked home together.” She shrugged. “I was usually at work.”

Moira hadn’t mentioned a job since she’d come to Wayside and Dee suspected she was between jobs. The part of her that wanted to solve every problem head-on wanted to find Moira a job at Wayside and make sure she was never in the type of danger or need that would necessitate giving blood to buy school supplies again.

“Isn’t that . . .?” Moira pointed to a woman walking along the side of the school building close to the wall on the grass, not on the sidewalk near the cars.

Dee stared for a moment but had to agree. The woman looked just like the nurse she’d seen at the blood drive and the church. What was she doing at the school if not looking for children?

“Take the wheel.” Dee reached for the door handle.

“What? Are you out of your mind?” Moira screeched. “You can’t go after her. She wouldn’t hesitate to take you.”

Dee gripped the door, thinking of all the possible things that could go wrong, and not a single one of them were worse than what would happen if she did nothing.

“I won’t sit by and watch as she picks up another defenseless child.” She tugged her phone from the pocket of her scrubs. “Call for help if you see anything happen. If I’m not back when the line is clear, call the police and drive home. Don’t wait for me.”

“But …” Moira pleaded.

Dee didn’t wait to hear the rest of what Moira might say because the nurse was too close to a group of students coming out of the building. She had to hurry to intercept the woman.

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