For Joy's Sake. Tara Taylor Quinn

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ Maybe more so. Much as she adored Colin, Julie found a greater understanding with the woman he’d married.

      Plates of crepes were set down and, when they were empty, snatched back up as efficiently as she could manage without being rude. Ignoring the look between her brother and his wife—one that meant they were sharing silent thoughts about her—she was out the door before they were.

      She’d been spending time with Joy for two days and was still the only one who could get any kind of response out of her. Lila and Sara wanted to give her a few hours alone with Joy that morning. She hadn’t told Colin or Chantel about the little girl yet. Not that she could say a whole lot anyway. But she hadn’t even mentioned that she was working directly, one-on-one, with a single child.

      Reading to kids, doing puppet plays with them, having them paint and draw—her most common activities at the Stand—was fulfilling. Worthy expenditures of time.

      And there was still that step back from personal intimacy. Allowing her to keep her private self safely tucked away inside.

      It was how she wanted it.

      And yet, here was Joy, who seemed to need her in a way no one else ever had. And she hadn’t been so eager to face a day since the night her beautiful, promising young world had crashed around her feet.

      In jeans and a blue, button-down tapered shirt, she grabbed an art satchel out of the back seat of her BMW after she’d parked in the secured lot behind the Stand and headed inside the grounds. No one was sure what Joy might have seen the morning her aunt was beaten and her mother went missing.

      No one knew what she’d seen before that, either.

      Or experienced herself at the hands of her father. There’d been no outward signs of physical abuse—for which Julie was incredibly thankful.

      But that didn’t mean the man hadn’t hit her. Only that he hadn’t done so with enough force to break bones. Or leave scars.

      Sara and others were convinced that Joy’s silence was indicative of severe emotional trauma. But until the aunt could be questioned—other than the brief inquiry made by police as she was being loaded into an ambulance at the neighbor’s—Joy was the only one who could tell them what had happened.

      And that was where Julie came in.

      * * *

      EDWARD CALLED, WANTING to meet for lunch again on Friday. And again, Hunter rearranged his schedule. Preparations for the two benefits he had going that night were running smoothly. He was half an hour ahead of schedule, as usual. There’d been some last-minute security issues and road closures with a 10K run he had set to kick off at six the next morning, but those were being handled. And Saturday night’s event to raise money for a political campaign was a roast. Other than arranging the venue, ordering food and drink, and taking care of the guest list and seating, his staff of three had little to do for that one.

      He’d be attending the roast and had asked Julie to be his date for the evening. Or rather, had offered to take her so she could taste the desserts. He’d hired the same company to provide an after-dinner sweets table for her gala. She’d politely declined his invitation.

      He’d originally thought he’d take Mandy—a first for him, mixing her pleasure relationship with business—but changed his mind. And was thinking of Julie again as he pulled into the posh resort where Edward had a room and saw the older man waiting for him at the valet post. Not an unusual occurrence if they were going out somewhere. They weren’t; Edward was just that badly in need of company.

      His white shirt neatly pressed, his shined shoes pristine, the doctor held out a hand to Hunter as he stepped up to the curb. Edward had recently come back from the police station.

      “If this was a stranger abduction, there’d be more chance that she’s already gone,” Edward told him, speaking of his beloved daughter as they sat on the patio of the resort’s Mexican eatery, the ocean restless in the distance. “But since she’s most likely with Shawn, they think there’s a good chance of finding her alive. Many abusers tend to become conciliatory, protective, even loving, after an attack. Our hope is Shawn is that type of abuser. If he lashes out when he’s drunk, we have a fairly good chance, too. As long as Cara can keep him away from the booze.”

      Hunter shifted in his seat. He felt completely out of his element. And figured that if Edward’s daughter had been able to keep her husband away from whatever caused his heinous acts, she’d have prevented their current situation.

      Watching the doctor rub at a nonexistent smudge on his water glass, Hunter felt for the guy. He didn’t expect great things of himself in the hero department. But for Edward, a man who’d dedicated himself to saving lives, being unable to save your own daughter had to be akin to burning in hell.

      Remembering how frustrated and distraught his father would get when he lost a patient, Hunter looked out to sea.

      He had to give his head a shake. The ocean had been a refuge for him back then, too, anytime his dad came home without the patience to deal with the sound of his mother’s voice. He’d go out to the beach. To surf. To lose the sound of his parents’ anger in the roar of the waves.

      And then he’d go home, his usual cheery self, tell a joke, or if things were really bad, ask his dad to watch sports or go to the putting green. Soon all would be well again.

      But this, a missing daughter...

      “Is everyone positive that she didn’t go with him willingly?” Hunter asked. Maybe it was a horrible question to ask, except that it was a truth Edward had been living with for a decade. His daughter had forsaken family to be with a man who hurt her. So maybe the idea that her disappearance might have been voluntary wasn’t as alarming as the thought that his daughter was being held hostage by a maniac.

      Nodding, Edward looked older than he had at the beginning of the week. Older than his fifty-two years. The lines around his eyes seemed more pronounced. “Among other things, she didn’t take her cell phone with her,” he said.

      Hunter shifted again, wondering if a cool breeze would be along soon.

      “But if they had to leave in a hurry, what with Mary’s...situation and all...”

      He really wanted to come through for his dad and Betty. For Edward.

      The older man’s smile was knowing. Sad. Almost as though he was giving up.

      “They found her purse,” the doctor said. “Three hours north of here. It’d been thrown in a twenty-four-hour box-store trash can and was only found by accident. Her wallet was gone, but inside there was some ID cards, makeup, a handheld electronic reader with children’s books loaded and moist wipes. They’re going through it now.”

      “Hopefully they’ll learn something...”

      “Hopefully.” The doctor didn’t sound hopeful.

      “It’s a start,” he continued. “More than they had before...”

      Struggling to find anything in his repertoire for a situation such as this, Hunter dug deep. And still came up empty.

      “I need a favor.” It was as though Edward had read his mind.

      “Anything,” Hunter said, probably too eagerly. Anything he could do, he would СКАЧАТЬ