Page 10 of Christmas Past
“When? When did she throw up?”
“I got the feeling right before I called you. That’s why I called.”
She’d called him less than an hour ago. There was a good chance the child was still alive.
His brain kicked into high gear. There’d been no fresh tire tracks onBella's drive when he’d pulled in. The storm had eased, the snow just falling lightly by then. With no fresh tracks, she had to have been at the cottage at least several minutes before his arrival.
And it hadn’t taken him that long to drive out there after her phone call. Something was off. Not adding up.She couldn't have been town. So where would she have first seen Camille?
“And that’s the last thing you felt?”
She shook her head. Looked at him. “When you walked down the hall, toward the bedrooms…”
He’d checked them, but his glance had been cursory. Enough to see there’d been no sign of a child. But he hadn’t looked for a trap door. Or one that led to the attic. He hadn’t even looked under the bed.
Not that a three-year-old would have been quiet under there. But if she was hurt, sick unconscious…
Bella wouldn’t have just shoved her under a bed. He was certain of that.
Jumping up, Chad half ran down the hall. Checked first one room and then the other. Behind the doors, under clothes in the hamper. In the shower. And under both beds. Mostly because he didn't know what else a lawman like himself was supposed to do.
And was left with the impression that he’d been the only one to disturb any of the space that morning. He was also a bit…ashamed of himself.
“You don’t believe me.” Bella stood there, hugging herself again. And looking as disappointed in him as he’d ever seen any woman look.
Including his ex-fiancée when she’d been breaking up with him.
“You still think I have a hurt little girl here.”
“Tell me what you felt when I walked down the hall.”
He couldn’t compel her to do so. But he looked her right in the eye. And allowed himself to plead.
“Closed in,” she said. “Like I couldn’t get through whatever was closing me in. Walls maybe. And it was dark. Black dark.”
Camille was still alive then. If Bella had still been aware of her in the past twenty minutes.
Unless…closed in. Black dark.
Had someone buried the child? Was that whatBella had witnessed? And then run from? It made more sense than to think that she was telling him all of this by way of confessing her own wrong doing. Unless she’d inadvertently hurt the child…tried to cover up…then been assuaged by guilt…
No, witnessing something seemed more likely. He noticed the window above her sink. Glass she could easily have been looking through as she worked...
Pushing her out of his way, he rushed to the front room, tore open the door, and ran around the entire perimeter of the house. Looking for any sign of a break in the snow. A pile of it. Signifying where ground had been moved.
When there was no immediate sign, he moved further afield. Noting that the snow was deep. And undisturbed in every direction leading from her house.
By the time he was back in the front, Bella was outside. She’d pulled on mule-like fur topped boots and a thick wool-looking poncho.
“You honestly think I hid a child in my yard?” she asked.
Her tone led him to believe she thought the whole idea preposterous. Ludicrous. And not only because of the weather.
Chad stopped in his tracks. Looked back over the past three quarters of an hour. From the time he’d answered her call.
He’d been so desperate to find Camille. What had he missed here? Where did Bella fit in to it all?
His mind replayed facts.
