Page 36 of Take A Chance

“Oh, God,”I mumbled, pressing the receiver back to my ear. Greta was freaking out again, only this time there were sobs bombarding my ear through the speaker.

“... and she never came back, and oh, my God, they got her.”

“Greta, snap out of it. Who got her?”

The woman devolved into a hysterical fit of blubbering and crying, and I couldn’t understand a word she was saying. “Look, I’ll be home in an hour.”

I hung up and shoved another bite of food in my mouth quickly as I dialed Wilem’s number and the call rang through. As soon as he answered I said, “Talk,” with my mouth full of food.

“Sir, she’s gone. Emma went for a walk around zero seven-thirty and she hasn't returned. I tried to send a man with her but she refused, saying she’d message me every five minutes. I should have known when she didn’t message once. Sir, I don't know what’s going on. We’ve had every available hand canvassing the block.”

“Good, good, Wilem,” I choked out, swallowing my food. “I’ll be home in an hour to help with the search. Maybe she just went shopping.”

“No, sir, she left empty-handed. Only her phone.” Wilem cleared his throat and continued.

My gut clenched. Why would Emma just walk away? And why would Greta say someone got her?

“I’m coming home.”

I hung up and stared at the passing cars. If I went to the police, they’d tell me to wait twenty-four hours, so there was nothing to do but wait, except my heart was on my sleeve. Emma wouldn’t just walk away, not after the conversations we’d had. And it wasn’t like her to not communicate. No wonder she hadn’t responded to my messages. Something was wrong.

After one more bite of food, I stood and messaged my driver to meet me in front of the building and dropped a few crisp twenties on the table for the waitress’s trouble, then walked across the road, dodging between moving cars. There had to be a simple explanation for this, but in the back of my mind, Colin’s words haunted me again. I hadn’t vetted her well enough, and now she was either in the wind—maybe stolen something from me too?—or she was in danger. With the strange man following me around lately, I believed the latter.

The ride home was torture. I made several more calls to Wilem and Greta, each one going about the same way. When I finally got Greta to calm down, we had a rational discussion about not letting Katelyn know what was happening, and I made Wilem send three men with her to the school.

The car pulled up out front. Wilem climbed in with me and rode to the house. “Nothing yet, sir. We have thirteen fully-armed men walking the streets, looking for her.”

“And she hasn’t returned? Not called?” I pinched the bridge of my nose as my chest tightened again.

“No, sir. We will find her, okay?” Wilem’s words were not reassuring at all.

“This is insane, Wil. What’s happening? You know it has to be connected to that car the other day. How could you let this happen?”

“I’m sorry, sir. She insisted it was just a walk. I thought the danger was to you.” He folded his hands in his lap and I let loose.

“I specifically told you to beef up security around Katelyn and Emma. I told you I can handle myself and they needed protection, and you failed.” He was lucky I didn’t backhand him for not doing his job. “Get out there and find her.” The car rolled to a stop, and I climbed out, storming up the walk to the front door.

Greta wasn’t home yet, so I hurried to Emma’s room. There was no note. Her purse rested on her nightstand. Her favorite jacket was still in her closet. In fact, everything was just as it should have been if she’d been out for a stroll. There was no sign that she was trying to leave because she was unhappy, which made a pit form in my stomach. This wasn’t intentional on her part.

I raked my hand through my hair and raced back down as I heard the car pull up. Gary’s voice called in happy tones, something playful he said to Katelyn. She giggled, and I stood just inside the front door, suppressing my emotions. Katelyn couldn’t know that Emma was missing. A five-year-old doesn’t need the weight of the world on her shoulders. As they approached, I forced a smile and opened the door.

“Daddy!” Katelyn exclaimed, jumping into my arms. The joy and relief I felt at seeing her could never be faked. She was my world. But the immense pressure to shelter her from the truth took every ounce of emotional strength I had.

“Hey, baby, I’m home early.”

“Daddy, want to swim? Where’s Emma? I want to show her my picture!” Katelyn’s exuberance melted my heart and almost drew tears. I smoothed her hair back and curled it around her ear.

“Baby, Emma has the day off, okay? You go run up to your room and change. I need to speak with Greta for a moment.”

Without questioning my sincerity, she nodded. “Okay, Daddy.” I set her down, and she ran off, happy as can be, and I turned toward a very pale Greta.

“Anything yet?” she asked, trembling.

“No, nothing.” I sighed and shut the door. “Look, what did you mean by ‘they got her’?” I clenched my jaw and watched her reaction. Greta shook her head and backed away.

“I meant, someone got her, sir. I meant nothing by that. I’m so overwhelmed, I didn’t know what I was saying.”

“Greta, now is not the time to hide things from me. Emma could be in danger,” I said, keeping my voice hushed. I didn’t want Katelyn to hear me. “Tell me what you know now.”

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