Page 35 of Little Dolls

“I know. That’s the only thing that gets me through the day. Anyway, this isn’t about Grace; it’s about Jimmy Wallander and trying to find him before it’s too late.”

Determinedly, Allina stalked to the door, and Jonathon followed, doubting that anything in the Bennett family had nothing to do with Grace, he suspected she dominated their thoughts, both conscious and subconscious.

Heather and Liam's heads snapped up when they entered the room. “Do you know anything?” Liam asked, standing uncertainly.

“No, not yet; I'm sorry,” Jonathon replied, taking a seat at the table.

Liam Wallander remained standing. “But it’s them, right? The ones who’ve been killing kids and leaving them with dolls. They have Jimmy; they're going to do that to him.”

“We don’t know that.” Heather crushed the baby tighter in her arms, and the little girl squawked her protest.

“For goodness sake, Heather, put her down.” Liam snapped at his wife as he downed another cup of coffee.

“No.” Heather held the child tighter again, and the baby began to wail.

“Stop it! She doesn’t like you holding her that tight; give her here.” Liam tried to wrestle the baby from his wife’s arms.

“No! Don’t! Leave her! I need to hold her!” Heather shrieked.

“Mr. and Mrs. Wallander,” Jonathon interrupted. He and Allina both moved to physically stop the couple. “I know this is hard, but we need you focused right now. Why don’t you put the baby down for a bit? Maybe one of our officers can take her, give her a bottle, and put her to sleep for you,” he suggested.

“I can't let her go,” Heather cried softly.

Allina kneeled beside the woman. “I know you want to hold on to her, but she’s upset. Maybe it would be better if she weren’t here while we talk about your son,” she gently suggested.

“But she’s just a baby; she doesn’t know what we’re talking about,” Heather protested.

“But she knows her mommy and daddy are upset,” Allina reminded her.

Reluctantly, Heather allowed Allina to pry the baby from her arms, but her eyes remained glued to the child as Allina took her from the room. Once they were gone, the woman wrapped her arms around herself while Liam poured himself another cup of coffee and drank most of it in one go.

“I know you want to hold her to make sure she’s safe, but she’ll be fine, and you can get her as soon as we’re done talking,” Jonathon assured her as he returned to his seat.

“Jimmy was with you, and he wasn't safe,” Liam muttered under his breath.

“Are you saying it’s my fault?” Heather raged. “How dare you. Howdareyou!” she bounded to her feet and beat her fists on her husband’s chest. “Maybe if you were home more often, if you did something to help, then I wouldn’t have to drag him along to the library after school to try to get my assignments done. I'm doing this for us so that we can have a better life.”

Jonathon wanted to intervene but suspected it wouldn’t do any good. Perhaps letting them get out their bottled-up fears and frustrations would help them to focus better.

“A better life? We were doing just fine. I never cared about a better life. I just wanted our family to be happy, and now our son is gone,” Liam returned fire.

For a moment, Heather remained frozen in place. Then her tears came in a rush, and she sagged against her husband. “It’s my fault,” she sobbed. “I should have been watching him. What was wrong with me? It’s my fault. It’s my fault.”

His anger faded, and Liam held her with one arm, patting her awkwardly on the back. He didn’t say anything though, and Jonathon suspected that part of him did blame his wife.

Allina reentered the room. “Everything okay in here?”

“Just ask us your questions,” Liam muttered, half dragging his wife back to the table and pushing her into a chair.

Once they were all seated, Jonathon began, “Have either of you noticed anyone paying special attention to your family, particularly Jimmy?”

“I haven’t,” Liam replied.

“Mrs. Wallander?” Jonathon prompted

The woman simply looked at him as though he were speaking a foreign language. She seemed to be quickly sliding into shock.

“Heather, for goodness’ sake, answer them. How else are we going to get Jimmy back?” Liam gave his wife a sharp poke in the side.

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