Page 43 of Operation: Valiant Angel

Kimberly patted her shoulder. She pointed to the couch. “Of course. Take a seat and relax for five or ten minutes. I’d rather go cover for you for a few minutes than risk your headache getting so bad you have to go home and then have to cover for you forthe rest of the day.” Kimberly gave her a supportive small smile and then she left the room, closing the door behind herself.

Reina took the opportunity to take pictures with her phone of the forms in Lilly Carona’s file. Then she refiled the folder, knowing that within the next few days, Kimberly was sure to pull it to transfer it to the no longer enrolled drawer and if it was missing, Kimberly would surely suspect her of taking it.

Ten minutes later, she returned to the classroom. She assured Kimberly the headache was dull, and that she was fine to carry on. Throughout the rest of the day, she considered what to do with the information in the pictures on her phone. She had Lilly’s address and her mother’s phone number as well as the mother’s employment information. There were also two emergency contacts listed. She could drive by the home address. But what if Ashley Carona was outside and saw her? Would she have to have an excuse for being there?

Glancing at the wall of drying paintings the children made last Friday, Lilly’s sledding scene picture hung with the others. She could take it and deliver it to their home. Yes, that’s what she’d do. Now she just had to sneak the picture out. Later, near the end of the day, Kay was in the bathroom, and she was alone with the kids. She took down the picture and rolled it, stuffing it into the arm of her coat to hide it. Now that she had a plan, she felt more relaxed.

It was dark outside when Reina left work, carrying her winter coat. At her car, she removed Lilly’s picture and placed it on the passenger seat before donning her coat. She pulled the picture up from Lilly’s file that had her home address and then plugged it into her maps app.

Reina was nervous as she drove to Lilly’s address. She wasn’t completely familiar with all of Cedar Rapids, but she knew thispart of town was a nice area. The homes were newer than the one she lived in, a little bigger, and on larger lots.

She wished she was pulling up on it in daylight because not all the homes had clear street numbers on them. When the maps program told her she’d arrived at her destination, she pulled over to the side of the road and looked at the nearest homes. The address was twelve-forty-two, which would put it on the right-hand side of the street. The problem was that house was circled with a high, chain-link fence. She got out of her car and walked up to the fence, which was secured with a lock. Within the fence, the skeletal structure of a charred, half collapsed home greeted her. It looked like it had recently burned. Even though the air was still, she could smell the remnants of the flames.

Tears welled up in her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. Is this why Lilly had been removed from school? Was she okay? Or had she been injured or killed in the fire?

“Hey, what are you doing over there?” a male voice called to her from the man who’d just stepped out onto the porch of the house across the street.

“Nothing,” she called back. She took a few steps away from the fence and turned to face the man who still stood on the porch. “What happened to this house?”

“What do you mean, what happened? It burned down last week,” he answered, descending the stairs.

She walked across the street. “How terrible. I’m not sure if this is the house I was looking for or not. Did Ashley and Lilly Carona live there? Was that house twelve-forty-two?”

“No, twelve-forty-two is that house,” he said, pointing to the small ranch home to the left of the burned house.

“Oh, odd. My maps app told me this was twelve-forty-two. I sure hope no one was hurt in the fire.”

“Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case,” the man said without elaborating.

“Sorry to hear that,” she said, taking a step away from him.

“But the woman and child in twelve-forty-two aren’t there any longer. They moved out on Saturday. A moving van was there,” he volunteered.

“They did?” she asked, surprised. Why would Ashley Carona pay for the next week’s tuition on Friday if she was moving out on Saturday, unless the move was local?

“Yeah,” he confirmed. Then he turned and returned to the porch.

“Do you know them? Do you know where they moved?” she asked.

“No, can’t say I do.”

“Thank you for the help.” Reina watched him disappear behind his closed front door. Then she approached the dark house he had identified as where Ashley and Lilly Carona lived.

It was a small brick ranch with an attached two-car garage. The curtains were drawn in the front and there didn’t appear to be any lights on inside. She tried the front door. It was locked. Not sure what she was looking for, or even why she was doing it, she circled around the garage, heading towards the back yard. Behind the garage was a service door in to it. She found the door unlocked.

Stepping into the garage, she activated the flashlight on her phone and swept the inside with the beam of light. The garage was empty. Whatever may have been on the shelves that lined two walls was now gone. Reina had a moment of indecisionwhen she found the door that led into the house unlocked. Should she go in?

Deciding she’d come this far; she took a deep breath and pushed the door open. “Hello,” she called. Only silence greeted her.

Reina made her way through the laundry and utility room, past the washer and dryer, furnace, and hot water heater. The shelves above the washer and dryer were empty. She walked through every room, opened cabinet doors and drawers in the kitchen and two bathrooms. She opened closet doors in each of the three bedrooms. All were empty. The carpets showed the impressions of where the furniture had been. She clearly made out where beds, tables, and dressers had been arranged in the rooms.

She wasn’t sure what she’d been looking for. But Reina found nothing. Retracing her steps, she ended up back in the laundry room. The flashlight on her phone, still leading the way, illuminated the glass dryer door. Inside were clothes and the unmistakable brown fur that could only be a stuffed animal. She opened the door to find the outfit Lilly had worn to school on Friday and her special brown bear that she’d named Lovie, and brought as her special item to school. It was her comfort bear that she snuggled with at naptime and presumably night time as well.

Reina sifted through the remainder of the clothing in the dryer. Several of Lilly’s outfits were in there as well as clothes that obviously belonged to her mom, even though Reina rarely saw Ashley out of scrubs. How did Ashley forget a load of clothes when she moved? A load including Lilly’s Lovie? And certainly, it would have been missed. Why hadn’t they come back to retrieve it? Maybe Ashley hadn’t had time to yet and would? Reina wrestled with what she should do. Should she take the bear and try to find them? Or leave it in the dryer in case Ashleycame back. Maybe she really hadn’t fully moved out yet, even though it looked like it.

After several moments of indecision, Reina placed the items back into the dryer. It could have been that Ashley had been working shifts at the hospital since she moved and would come back. Once back in her car, Reina brought up Ashley’s phone number. She’d call her. She wouldn’t admit to being at Ashley’s house, but she would ask about dropping off the picture and pretend she didn’t know they’d moved. Glancing at the painting on the seat, Reina noticed Lilly had what she believed to be Lovie clutched in the sledder’s arms. She’d bring that up with Ashley too, in hopes Ashley would volunteer information, such as Lovie being lost or left behind.

Once she had it all thought out, she dialed the number. The call went right to voicemail. Not even one ring. Reina wasn’t sure, but she thought that meant a phone was off. She didn’t leave a message. She did have Ashley’s work phone number. She could try that.

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