Page 114 of The Witch's Orchard
“We didn’t know, at the time, exactly what Olivia’s situation was. We understood that there were developmental delays. Understood that there were hurdles. But my Aunt Betty had been delayed. And she ended up living a pretty normal life, just slow to start. Always quiet. What’s the word they say now? ‘Introverted.’ Different. But she carved out a life for herself. At the time, I don’t think it occurred to us that Olivia—just turned five years old—wouldneverspeak. Wouldnevercommunicate like other children.”
“What happened?”
He shrugs.
“I wasn’t there. I was out on a call across town. The place still had to be policed. I was breaking up a fight between Tommy Hoyle and another man after the man accused Tommy of taking the girls for a kidnapping ransom scheme, saying Tommy’s donation campaign was all a big hoax. And if his little girl was really gone, why was he sitting in a bar drinking and not out looking for her every minute of every day? Tommy was flaming mad. Broke the other guy’s nose, laid him out. I was putting Tommy in the back of the cruiser when the call came in that Olivia had been returned and she was with Agent James.”
“So you drove back across town.”
He nods.
“I walked in. James had Olivia in the interview room in the station. There were pictures of all the suspects all over the floor, like they’d been flung off the desk. Agent James was standing there seething. Olivia was crouched on the floor, screaming. Screaming like she was trapped in a nightmare. Like nothing you’ve ever heard. She was terrified.”
“Of her kidnapper?”
“I’m sure. But that’s not all. There was a fresh red mark across her face. Apparently, James got so frustrated by Olivia’s noncooperation that she slapped her.”
“Oh.”
“Slapping the dickens out of a little girl? A little girl who’s been through that much? Can you imagine?”
“No,” I say. “It’s inexcusable.”
“Yeah,” he says, finally looking at me. “I’ve never come so close to hitting a woman. I picked Olivia up. She was fighting me. Punching me with her fists. Screaming. We took her to the hospital. They sedated her. Kathleen didn’t leave her side. She brought Nicole into the room, and they sat there with Olivia night and day. Every time Olivia came to, she screamed like someone was gonna kill her. It was horrible.”
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“You know, I spanked both my sons,” Jacobs says. “Till their butts were bright red, sometimes. Little hellions they were. But they were regular little boys. Getting into trouble half the time just to get a rise out of me. But Olivia? How could she understand something like that? Being taken, who knows where, by… who? And then she’s brought back and she doesn’t get half an hour in her mama’s arms before she’s pulled away and questioned like she’s asuspect?”
He bites his lips together until the skin around his mouth goes white. And then he says, “In the hospital, they found bruises all over her. Scrapes, too. She’d been hurt by whoever it was that took her. A social worker came that night. Too late to keep Agent James off of her, but she did a good job afterward. Helped Olivia transition back to regular life. After that, I never managed to question her. I tried, Kathleen tried. Every time, she fell into screaming. Or she would draw these spirals.”
“I’ve seen them.”
He gives me a look of surprise, like he wants to ask me how I saw the drawings, then decides he doesn’t want to know, shakes his head.
I say, “This is why you didn’t want me around, why you didn’t want me talking to Olivia.”
He nods.
“What happened after that? With Agent James?”
“I called the FBI field office, reported her. She was gone the next day. Replaced by someone else. Agent Sanchez. Seemed keen but young. Very young. For a couple weeks, it seemed like everything was just frozen. Jessica Hoyle was still missing but there were no new leads. No new evidence.”
“And then Molly was taken,” I say.
“Yes.”
I sigh. My chest rasps. My side aches. My leg throbs. I look down at my hands. My palms are still shiny with sweat.
“Olivia came here,” I tell him. “Just last night.”
I watch as surprise and anger mix on his face.
“Nicole brought her. I didn’t ask her to. But she wanted to help. They both did.”
His mouth drops open.
“It’s because of Lucy,” I say. “Olivia was willing to try to work with me because Lucy’s been taken, and I think enough time has passed that she felt like she could handle it.”
