Page 30 of One Cry Too Loud
“It’s complicated,”Eli said. “Everything is complicated, but feelings especially are.” He shrugged. “Anyway, a couple of months ago, we were able to move past it for whatever reason. We’ve been building something beautiful ever since.” His eyes seemed to look past me. “All three of us. I really hope you can bring Cindy back to us.”
“As do I,” a voice sounded from the other side of the room. Like lemmings, we all turned to look. A slender woman with long, sandy hair and pronounced cheek bones was standing by the back door. Her face held the sort of spent, tired look that only a parent worried about the welfare of their child could achieve. I had no doubt it was Alice. Her eyes zeroed in on Holly.
“My God. You look just like her.” Tears began to form in her eyes. I could tell she was used to that. “Same mouth, same noise, same hair. God, you have the same everything.” She rushed toward her and slammed into Holly, scooping her into a hug. When Alice pulled away, her face was red and wet with tears. “You are her, aren’t you? You’re Cindy’s birth mother?”
“I am,” Holly replied, shaking. “I heard about what happened. I want to-I came to help.”
Alice looked at her for a long moment. “Okay,” she finally replied. “Then let me tell you what happened to my-toourdaughter.”
CHAPTER 20
“I’m sorry. I’m a terrible host. Can I get you something to drink? Maybe some finger sandwiches?” She looked past us. “Eli, would you get these people some food before they start to think we’re philistines or something?”
“We’re fine,” I said. “That High Priestess lady offered us all of that when we came in. We’re really just looking for any information that might help us find Cindy.”
She was hand in hand with Holly, who looked a touch uncomfortable, as they walked toward the couches at the far end of the room.
“You really were sent by the spirit, weren’t you?” Alice asked. “You know, I will admit I was a bit skeptical when High Priestess Monetella told me about her dream. I had no idea what the three of clubs meant, but now here you are, shining beacons of hope in my darkest hour. It really does prove that the spirit is always working toward the greater good.”
“We’re not really a club,” I muttered. “But that’s beside the point. What can you tell us about the night Cindy was taken?”
“Oh, it was a terrible night,” Alice said. She wasn’t looking at me, though. Her focus and all her attention was lasered in on Holly, whose hand she was still holding as they sat down at acouch as far away from us as they could and still be in the living room. “Cindy was very hyper that night,veryhyper. I couldn’t get her to go to sleep no matter what I did. It was almost two o’clock in the morning before I could finally get her to close her eyes, and on the way back to my room, I heard a rumbling. That was when the break in happened.”
“Was she like that a lot? Was it hard to get her to sleep?” Holly asked.
“More often than I would have liked,” Alice replied. “I always wondered, does hyperactivity run in your family?”
“None of us have ever been diagnosed with it,” Holly replied. “Maybe people in Joe's family did. I’m not too sure, I’m afraid.”
“Who is Joe?” Alice asked.
“That’s Cindy’s birth father,” Holly explained.
“His name is Joe?” Alice mused, seeming puzzled at the thought. “That does explain a lot.”
“It does?” Holly asked.
“As I’m sure you know, spiritually speaking, the name Joseph signifies an increase, something or someone that adds. I suppose, in this case, energy is what was added,” Alice said. “Of course, that’s only one of the reasons I find it fascinating.”
“This lesson in spirituality is fascinating and all, but can we get back to the breaking and entering?” Kat asked. “Time is of the essence, after all.”
“Of course,” Alice said. “I’m afraid, in that regard, there isn’t much to tell. A man came in. He was dressed formally and a motorcycle helmet on with the visor pulled down to cover his eyes.”
“Formally?” I asked.
“In a tuxedo,” she explained.
“The person who broke into your home was wearing a tuxedo?” Kat asked, obviously as surprised by the idea as I was.
“And a motorcycle helmet. I gather from your tone that this isn’t normal attire for a burglary,” Alice said.
“It’s not something I’ve ever heard of,” Kat said.
“Maybe he wanted to mark the occasion,” Alice said. “In any event, our altercation did not last long. He hit me in the side of the head with something. I was out nearly as soon as I hit the floor. When I woke up, Eli was standing over me and he told me Cindy wasn’t in her room.”
“And you didn’t hear anything while this man in a tuxedo broke into the house, knocked Alice out, and took a child against her will?” I asked, looking over at the man.
He had a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, which he swallowed down sloppily as she answered. “I was in the shower.”
